O'Donnell's Observations: Tale of 2 teams
by Paul O'Donnell
And I don't mean Manchester United and Chelsea either. On Saturday there were two matches that were far more revealing; one about a team that believes it is better than it is, and another about a young team that can be better, much better than they realize.
This weekend's match at Anfield vividly illustrated why this Liverpool team is again an unlikely candidate for the title which has eluded them since the inception of the EPL.
The match could be used to illustrate the tactic that in boxing is called "letting your opponent punch himself out" as Stoke City survived the onslaught they invited and won a massive point at Anfield. On a day when the Reds could have established their claim to the top spot with a decisive win on their own home ground against a relegation candidate Liverpool huffed and puffed and indeed did punch themselves out. And it wasn't because Gerrard and Torres were not out there either.
There are bunkers, and then there are bunkers and this match went from the ridiculous to the utterly sublime. Late in the opening half there was one stretch of nearly 7 minutes where Stoke never did get the ball out of their own end. The game took on the look of a training ground exercise on a short field and still Liverpool could not score. Time and time again shots were skewered over, wide and then even wider. Of Liverpool's 30 shots only 6 were were on frame while Stoke managed only 2 and neither was on frame. The Reds tallied 76% possession time which I thought was actually understated and registered 19 corner kicks and still no goal. The match was so one-sided that Pepe Reina was not forced to make a save at all.
Well, actually they did which was disallowed for a reason nobody seems to know according to Rafa. A Gerrard free kick seemed to end the frustration for Liverpool but was disallowed for some as yet unknown reason.
You know what, if they couldn't score from the run of play in this match they didn't deserve to win the game. During the reign of Rafa Benitez the Reds have failed to step up in decisive league games so often it has become their trademark. Last weekends win over Man United tantalized the fans and had them thinking that perhaps that run was over. It isn't.
Liverpool shied away from the glare of the spotlight once again and failed to take advantage when it was handed to them on a silver platter. A match against EPL first timers at a pivotal time in the early going of the new season, with them unbeaten and on their own hallowed ground of Anfield, and they simply didn't measure up to the task at hand. This one was a match where Liverpool showed its hand that as a challenger for the title this team remains a pretender.
Despite their obvious quality Rafa's teams seem to lack the attitude, the mental preparation to actually achieve what they claim to be striving for, an EPL title. Whenever they seem to be grasping for the ring they shy away from grabbing it firmly almost as if they fear it will burn their fingers.
While I'm not saying the title was lost Saturday they certainly didn't tell their opponents they were truly serious about it either. Next May we may look back and see this weekend and those two lost points as a turning point in yet another aborted attempt to achieve what has eluded them for so long. Champions win the matches they are supposed to win and Liverpool has again failed to do that.
Meanwhile Arsenal didn't fail to take advantage of Liverpool's lackluster performance illustrating for all to see the difference between the two teams. The young Gunners will end the weekend alone on top of the league.
At the Reebok the Gunners saw Davies and Bolton take the lead before they shook off the cobwebs and established control of the contest. Bolton, feeling emboldened by taking the lead inadvertently opened up the game with their zeal to score a decisive 2nd goal playing into the hands of the young Gunners. They quickly turned the frowns of Wenger into broad smiles and ran off 3 unanswered goals in a match that illustrated their strengths and how to beat them too.
Whatever you do in a match against this Arsenal side you must not get away from a deliberate, possession oriented game; don't run at them leaving empty space and don't let matters degenerate into a free wheeling affair. You do, you get buried by their pace, energy, running off the ball, one-touch passing and skillful use of the width of the pitch.
In other words, play Arsenal football against them and you will lose, and Bolton did.
In the true big match of the weekend Man United would travel to Stamford Bridge where Chelsea has not lost an EPL match in over 4 1/2 years (now 85 games). United scored first on a delightful interplay and precise passing in the 17th minute from Ji Sung Park before Van der Sar had to be substituted in the 36th (Kuszack). Chelsea would equalize in the 80th via Salmon Kalou's header from a free kick for the draw in a high energy up tempo match of the two teams that are most likely to challenge for the league trophy.
West Ham turned a page and in Gianfranco Zola's first match in charge the Hammers dispatched Newcastle, a team in free fall on the pitch and off, 3-1 behind a brace from David Di Michele in his debut appearance for the club. Matt Etherington added the 3rd before Owen pulled one back for the hapless Magpies.
Sunderland won a Midlands Derby 2-0 after Stewart Downing missed yet another penalty kick for Boro on what may have been the match winner (at the time it was a scoreless deadlock) behind a brace from late sub Michael Chopra.
In another Midlands Derby Aston Villa defeated West Brom 2-1 taking a 2-0 lead on goals from Carew and Agbonlahor within a minute of each other before Morrison answered for WBA. Martin O'Neill's Villa are establishing that their challenge for a spot among the elite in the league is very real indeed and the weekend will end with them in 4th.
Blackburn stopped the bleeding, having conceded 8 goals in the last two games, by handing Fulham a clean sheet at Ewood Park winning it 1-0 on a Matt Derbyshire strike in the 84th minute.
Man City clubbed Pompey 6-0 with six different goal scorers while Everton recovered from 2 down to get a draw at Hull City and frustration at White Hart Lane builds as Spurs end in a scoreless draw with Wigan.
In MLS Bruce Arena got his first win at LA with the Galaxy riding the wave of a Landon Donovan hat trick 5-2 over DC United. This wasn't the sort of match the final score may lead you to believe it was; DC actually scored first in this one. Like last season LA, at the bottom of the table in the West, is trying to mount a late season run to a playoff spot and that fact surely spurred them on to recovering from the slow start. LA is in the unenviable and rare position of leading MLS in both goals scored and goals conceded which explains why they're not farther up the table.
