Early title talk hushed at the Emirates

Brendan Rodgers will be hopeful that his team will bounce back

On a night when the top two of the Premier League clashed against each other, it was Arsenal who came out on top as they tore apart a listless Liverpool. The scoreline may show only 2-0 to Arsenal, but for people watching the game, it could easily have been half a dozen goals.

Slick interplay, neat triangles, clever one-two’s, it was a vintage Arsenal display. All the talk about Liverpool being title contenders were swept away by an Arsenal side which had everything that the opposition lacked.

Be it passing, vision, creative, intelligent runs, it was Arsenal all over. Liverpool, to be fair, shone in phases; but while at times some of the play was enterprising, it was never convincing as they were overrun in the midfield and with the passes being intercepted the forward duo of Suarez and Sturridge were kept quiet as they fleeted in and out of the game.

Liverpool’s game-plan was hampered by muddling up of tactics, as the players kept wandering around listlessly.

Time and again Ramsey, Ozil, Arteta and the brilliant Cazorla just waltzed past the midfield only to be blocked by last ditch defending. Rodgers has to accept his fault and while the midfield trio of Henderson, Gerrard and Lucas are head and shoulders above some of the other mid-table teams, it is still a work in progress as proved by the ruthlessness of the Arsenal attacks.

Most of the times this season, Liverpool have been quick to get off the blocks and the players have played with a clear focus regarding their role in the squad. But here they were sluggish from the start.

Liverpool prevailed in the initial 15 minutes, but when Arsenal picked up the pace, Liverpool were left floundering as Sagna found to his when he put in a cutback-cum-cross, which Cazorla buried at the second attempt with a fine volley after his initial header hit against the post.

Some of the play on display at Emirates must have reminded fans of the time when they played at Highbury, such was the standard of football on display. Rodgers tried to change things at half-time by introducing Coutinho as Liverpool went back to the more standard formation of a 4-4-2, but things still weren’t looking up and Ramsey buried in a fine volley-cum-shot.

Ramsey has enjoyed a personal resurgence this season built on the momentum at the end of the last season and has carried on with results which has delighted everyone around him. The Welshman at one point of time was touted the next big thing before the horrendous injury which almost broke his psyche, but now the Welshman has come full circle.

Liverpool though should feel aggrieved about the time when the referee called for the play to be stopped when Luis Suarez had executed a quick free kick to free Sturridge. While Sagna committed a blatant foul and was rightly booked, Liverpool will rue that error as things could have turned out differently. If’s and but’s are not what games are built upon and in hindsight everyone looks like a genius, but it was the small things combined with a plan which was Arsenal’s most positive outcome.

After a week, in which there were two home defeats for Arsenal at the Emirates, much was expected from Liverpool, but for the time-being, Liverpool still have a lot of work to do and lots of gaps to fill, which have to be rightly addressed. By the end of the weekend, Liverpool have a good chance of dropping out of the top four. It is again back to the drawing board for Liverpool as they seek to reestablish their credential for a place in the top four and show that they still have the panache to match the best.