Advantage Arsenal after the weekend, but football is mad

Morning.

So, Arsenal remain top of the table after Liverpool were somehow held to a 2-2 draw by Man Utd yesterday. It was one of those games that reminds you for all you think you know and understand about football, there is always the potential for some mad, arbitrary stuff to happen. United didn’t have a shot in the first half, Liverpool had 15.

Man Utd’s defending for the Liverpool opener was non-existent, and at the break it looked the game would only go one way. Then a small mistake by Jarell Quansah was ruthlessly punished by Bruno Fernandes and Liverpool were level. Obviously it pains me to say this, but that’s a really impressive finish, and with their first shot the scores were level. Kobbie Mainoo made it 2-1, but Aaron Wan Bissaka made a clumsy challenge in the United box – and although he didn’t even touch Harvey Elliot, a penalty was given and upheld. Mo Salah made it 2-2.

Then it was about whether or not United could hang on. To say Liverpool were wasteful is something of an understatement. Darwin Nunez had a moment where he could have scored or cut back for an easy goal, but made a mess of it. Luis Diaz whacked over from close range late on. United looked like a shambles because they are a shambles, but the game and the result tell you that there is an inherent randomness to football that can always manifest itself.

In the Guardian, Jonathan Wilson writes, “Erik ten Hag’s genius has been to take an everyday pratfall and turn it into a philosophy.

“Lay people may think there is some correlation between how many shots a team has and how many goals they score, but Ten Hag is way beyond that. Liverpool had 87 shots in three games against United this season and didn’t win any of them.”

During the week, I tried to imagine what Mikel Arteta was thinking when he watched the Chelsea 4-3 Man Utd game on Thursday evening. The next day, he was asked about it in his press conference, and said something about how the quality in the Premier…

Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/04/advantage-arsenal-after-the-weekend-but-football-is-mad/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-04-08 06:52:52

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.