From 0–2 to 3–2: Analysing Arsenal’s five-minute comeback against Liverpool
It is safe to say that Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool is among the fixtures which never fail to entertain the fans and the 3–3 draw at the Emirates didn’t prove to be any different. Jurgen Klopp’s men took a two-goal lead early in the 2nd half and it looked like a replay of the 4–0 humiliation in the reverse fixture at Anfield was on the cards.
The clock read exactly 52:55 when Alexis Sanchez pulled one back to make 1–2 and in almost five minutes from then, the score read, Arsenal 3–2 Liverpool. The spirit to fight back after going 2 goals down was exhibited yet again by Arsenal as they did against Manchester United but the only difference being that the Gunners were up against a certain David De Gea who has been in the form of his life this season while here, there was simply no stopping them.
Let’s look into each of Arsenal’s goals in detail to find out if the problem for Klopp is really his back four or if it’s just a clichéd excuse made by the fans, media and many other experts who refuse to look at the underlying issues in other departments.
Arsenal 1–2 Liverpool (53rd minute)
A couple of minutes after Liverpool scored their second, Arsenal’s passing started to click as the Gunners wasted no time before storming forward to attack the Reds’ porous defence. Let us look at two important frames moments before the goal to find out what exactly happened.
The image above was seconds before the goal. Mesut Ozil was on the ball with both James Milner and Emre Can trying to close him down but the German playmaker squeezed out a pass in between the two to find Granit Xhaka. On the right flank, Bellerin (circled yellow) was waiting to make his run and Mane (circled blue) who was the left winger, kept an eye on him. Iwobi was ready to make a run from outside to inside the box (red arrow mark) so space was vacated for Bellerin to run into and also to be an additional option inside the box.
The image above shows the scenario a few seconds later. Iwobi ran into the box, thereby pulling Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson along with him and space was created. Bellerin (circled yellow) made the right decision and ran into the space while Mane (circled blue) switched off and didn’t follow Bellerin.
The Spaniard had no pressure on him as he took his time to look up and found Sanchez who made a late run into the far post. It is true that Gomez didn’t do a great job of marking Sanchez as he didn’t stop the Chilean from heading it from close range but had Mane tracked back along with his man, he may have well avoided the cross or at least applied pressure and forced Bellerin into an inaccurate cross. Having seen the first one, let’s move on to the equaliser…
Arsenal 2–2 Liverpool (56th min)
This was the scenario before Xhaka had received and taken the shot. As you can see in the image (top frame) Iwobi received the ball out wide and tried to take Robertson 1v1. The Liverpool left-back was on his toes and forced Iwobi to go inwards. Here, you can clearly see Mane had followed Bellerin all the way to the penalty area (blue square) and it was probably because Mane had realised that he left the Arsenal right-back completely free to assist Sanchez for the first goal. So both Robertson and Mane had their men in check while you can see that Milner (circled yellow) was being drawn towards Iwobi and wasn’t wary of Xhaka, who was right in front of him in space.
The bottom frame of the image shows the scenario a couple of seconds later. Bellerin (circled red) didn’t stop his run despite reaching the box and thus got into an offside position. This made Mane’s job easier as he didn’t have to follow Bellerin anymore and hence the Senegal winger joined Robertson to close down Iwobi’s angle.
Iwobi didn’t have a better passing option than Xhaka as the latter didn’t have Milner anywhere near him. It is strange how Milner (circled yellow) was drawn wider despite Liverpool having a comfortable 2v2 scenario there. There was absolutely no reason for him to go wider at the cost of leaving a reputed long-range shooter like Xhaka in that much space.
The first observation about this goal was that Mignolet made a mess of what could have been at least, parried away for a corner. Yes, the goalkeeper could have saved the shot but it is also high-time that critics make themselves aware of such basic errors occurring in other areas of the pitch.
Arsenal 3–2 Liverpool (57th min)
Once the Gunners got the equaliser, the pressure was high and it was nearly impossible for Liverpool to play their way out into Arsenal’s half. Klopp’s men tried to play out from the left flank using Robertson but the pressure from Iwobi, Wilshere and Xhaka forced him into making a bad pass. Wilshere won back possession and played the ball to Xhaka. The Swiss midfielder had Ozil, Sanchez and Lacazette in place to immediately initiate the attack.
As you can see in the image above, the back four of Liverpool had the front three of Arsenal well covered and the problem was rather in their midfield. Milner (circled red) found himself in an irrelevant position yet again as he was occupying the space which Klavan was already there to cover. On the other hand, Can was stuck in a dilemma of closing down Xhaka or covering Ozil who was about to receive the pass.
Xhaka’s pass to Ozil was enough to beat Can (circled yellow) and this troubled the Liverpool back-four as right-back Joe Gomez (circled blue) got drawn by Sanchez on to his right. It was too late for Milner (circled red) to do anything and by then Liverpool looked like they were seconds away from danger. Ozil played a simple give-and-go with Lacazette to find himself 1v1 with Mignolet and a precise chip put Arsenal in front for the first time in the game.
Although the goal involved individual brilliance from both Lacazette (for his back-heel pass) and Ozil, it is puzzling what Milner was doing there when Klavan was right behind his back, covering the same space as himself. If you take a look at the image where Xhaka’s about to release the pass to Ozil, it is fair to expect Milner to charge forward to either close down Xhaka or cover Ozil and shout out the instruction to Can if he can go for Xhaka or stay with Ozil. Given that Milner came on as a substitute to wear the captain’s armband, it is normal to expect at least so much intent and communication.
Due credit also needs to be given to the Gunners for choosing to be adventurous and taking the game to Liverpool. Arsenal were a little too rigid or immobile while trying to attack till Klopp’s men got the second goal. But the minute they went 0–2 down, they really pushed higher up the pitch and put in some crisp passing moves to nicely milk the ball around. This was made possible especially owing to the midfield trio of Xhaka, Ozil & Wilshere as the both Xhaka & Ozil positioned themselves deep into the attacking half, Wilshere was just behind the two to stop any potential counter-attack and to press immediately whenever Arsenal lost possession.
As you can see, the Arsenal central midfielders had merely 3 touches in their own half during those intense 5 minutes. The Gunners also had an extremely high defensive line despite the pace that the ‘Fab 4’ of Liverpool could have used on the counter. The ball hardly entered Liverpool’s attacking half with Arsenal midfielders pressing hard and if the midfield was by-passed then the high defensively line complimented them by putting off any potential counter and playing it back to the midfielders.
Conclusion
However, the images we saw open the doors to a lot of other questions for the coach, fans, media and the critics to ponder:
Could Milner have done more to avoid at least one of the Arsenal goals? Had Henderson avoided the injury and stayed on for the whole game, would have he done a better job in the two situations? If no, then is Liverpool’s requirement a pure defensive midfielder than a centre-back? Is it better to temporarily deploy Emre Can as the defensive midfielder with Georginio Wijnaldum and Philippe Coutinho ahead of him?
Klopp admitted that there was a lot to learn from the appalling five minutes at the Emirates and there is no doubt that he would have made his fair share of observations. It will be interesting to see how the Liverpool boss is going to address all of the issues given that they are entering one of the busiest phases of the season.
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