BORING OR EFFECTIVE? Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal | Redmen Originals Podcast

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Paul Machin (0:30)

Hello, everyone. Welcome along to the Redmen Originals Podcast with me, Paul Machen. I'm joined by Chris Pajak, Chloe Bloxham and Dan Club for this one. Yeah, we are going to talk about Liverpool losing to Arsenal.

I'm interested to see how everyone gets through this one, to be honest.

This was the first one of the season, which is mad for such a big game. It's the biggest arrival or whatever. That I really could just do with just moving on and playing the next game. But for the sake of the format, we will get through it. And I will call more upon other people's takes on this thing. And then obviously after that, we've got two games of football to look ahead to, midweek, early kickoff for games of Fenerbahce, and then our way to Crystal Palace and everything in between. So yes, Dan, I've not spoken to you at all about this game. How are you feeling about that game as a whole?

Dan Clubb (1:27)

Yeah, a little bit deflated by it all. I think because maybe foolishly, I've allowed myself to dream, maybe to wonder what it might have looked like had we been sat here basking in a victory yesterday.

And I think especially given the manner of the defeat, obviously we're going to pour over the finer details of it and maybe some of the decisions that went against us and some of the moments and the fine margins of it all. But I think generally because there for the taking is too grandiose an expression, maybe, but we were definitely like, it was definitely within our grasp. It was definitely a game we could have potentially won. And I think now it just hurts that a little bit more because of that, because they didn't outplay us. They weren't better than us necessarily. If we'd have just been slightly better in certain moments, and maybe they'd have been slightly worse in certain moments, having a completely different conversation. So that again makes it a little bit harder to take, I think now. But I was overall, I was okay with our performance, but there's certain aspects of performance that I am a little bit frustrated and disappointed by, I think.

Paul Machin (2:30)

Yeah. There's nine points between us in the league now, Chris, which is where that so much that sort of frustration and disappointment boils down to, I think, post-match. But I tend to agree with Dan that I didn't see a gulf in class between the two teams by any stretch of the imagination. Now, some of that, we discussed this on the Three Takeaways podcast last night, could be game-state dependence. Arsenal have no great need to come out, so does put the onus on Liverpool to take the ball and make something happen with it, of course. But again, as a glass of full individual, I would tend to lean more towards the former and say, I agree with Dan, that I wouldn't say we have their number or whatever, but I didn't feel on edge, I didn't feel like Arsenal were going to run away with the game at any point.

If that had been a 0-0 draw, I think we probably would have come away frustrated we've not gotten the winner as opposed to the way it did actually work out.

Chris Pajak (3:25)

Yeah, I think for me, obviously, we're going to talk about their goal and the manner in which we conceded it, but I think that was the turning point of the entire game, wasn't it?

Arsenal's game plan before the goal and after the goal was completely different, so you're absolutely right in what you're saying there. We don't know how Arsenal would have continued to play. Would they have just played the same way that they were in the first 20 minutes or so of the game? Maybe, and then maybe we'd be sitting here thinking, well, we weren't really in the game because we weren't in the first 20 minutes. We were given a bit of a run around in the first 20 minutes, but once it did change, once they decided to sit back, not really attack us, Liverpool were the dominant force. I thought from 20 to 45, we were exceptional, just without us creating those real shots on target. Might be one of the things that you could say there, but the Macalester chance is huge. The back end of the first half, and it fell to the exact right person as well. That's what makes you even more disappointed, doesn't it? But I just think I'm disappointed because I really dislike the way Arsenal go about playing football, and I really dislike everything that they do. And it doesn't seem right that they play like that because we're used to 25 years of them being all about football under Arsene Wenger, and then all of a sudden, they're anti-football.