Arsenal v. Liverpool; liveblogging the second half

All right kids… second half will kickoff in about 4 minutes. I have to shift some stuff in the garage to make room for the wood. Be right back.

Uhhh…. the FSC graphic just said that Liverpool had 55% of the possession. Really?

Jesus, according to the stats Arsenal are getting destroyed. Liverpool have 7 shots, 4 on goal and Arsenal have managed just 2 shots. And yes, Liverpool have 55% of the possession.

Cesc is out, Diaby in… Second half is underway.

49′ — Liverpool is dominating the game, Arsenal is still playing the high line and, now the word is that Cesc had ligament damage in his knee. How will they respond?

50′ — Adebayor responds… with a disgraceful dive.

57′ — The boys are playing hard but they can’t seem to get anything going. Liverpool with 60% of the possession now.

62′ — Yay! Webb sends off Adebayor for a dive by Arbeloa. Good job Howard Webb, someone seriously needs to send these matches to the FA for review. Webb’s bias against Arsenal is so fucking transparent it’s not even funny.

67′ — van Persie yellow now. Webb’s having a great game.

70′ — Sagna yellow probably could have been a red, very high tackle intended to take the man. Webb shows some lieniency. Babel on to add more attacking to Liverpool.

73′ — Carragher goes in the book for a foul on van Persie. Was he last man? No Keith, he’s not a scouse, Webb calls the game against Arsenal whether it’s Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, or anyone.

75′ — Gerrard dives and then shows up the ref, the “respect” campaign has been a joke since day one. Where’s the yellow for Gerrard, Webb?

80′ — Is Liverpool playing for the draw?

81′ — Lucas commits his 18th foul of the game and finally picks up a yellow. Robbie Keane off. I hope he slips in the shower.

82′ — Arsenal corner. Whatever happens with this match I am very proud of this 10 man team.

88′ — Song has put in a massive performance, his final ball is not quite up to snuff, but he ran his heart out and harassed the Liverpool midfield.

90′ — 3 minutes added. Arsenal looking tired, they have to dig deep to keep this score line.

91′ — Eboue on, Nasri off. Crowd claps. Good job Goonahs.

93′ — Arsenal free kick, wasted by Almunia. That was funny, though, Wenger directing people, Almunia takes the kick at the center circle and flies it straight out of touch.

The boys showed some real heart today, fighting back from a 10 man squad to beat Liverpool plus 12th man Howard Webb. I’d like to see Wenger take Webb to task for that game, he was a complete disgrace and actually caused more tension on the pitch than he solved. I’d also like to see Arsenal challenge the red card, but that won’t happen because the ban will be just one game and they don’t want to risk an extra match added.

Right, look for the Good, Bad, and Ugly tomorrow. I’m off to collect some wood.

Arsenal v. Liverpool; liveblogging the first half

“Change of plans… LEG IT!” — Dave “Cinzano Bianco” Lister

Well, it snowed, a lot and the roads around my house are completely covered in a nice layer of snow, with a nice thick layer of ice as the base.

I’m going no where. :(

That said, I haven’t lost power and I have a line on a truckload of wood (that’s why god made Craigslist). So, I’m going to hunker down, watch the game on FSC and give my loyal reader (Hi Matt) a blow by blow. Get your mind out of the gutter, you cocksandwich.

Ahead of the match there’s some talk about Arsenal signing Andrei Arshavin. Now I know I promised not to talk about transfers, but you don’t understand. Just mentioning Andrei Arshavin, Andrei Arshavin, Arshavin,  Arshavin, gets me like eleventy billion hits.

But seriously, I will be very disappointed if Wenger gave £20m to that racist ass Zenit team for a cup tied Andrei Arshavin. There have to be equally good, better conditioned, non-cup tied players available for less money.

As everyone is pointing out, with the Villa win yesterday putting them in 3rd place, the Villa game upcoming on Boxing Day, and 4th place Man U a mere 2 points ahead of Arsenal but with two games in hand, this is the make or break match of the season.

Yeah, I know, if Arsenal slip 11 points behind Liverpool with a loss today, the boss will point out how the 1997/98 Gunners came from 11 points behind to beat defending champs Man U but in reality that seems highly unlikely. Someone on this team would have to break out of their shell and become PFA player of the year for that to happen.

Ok.. HEY! Good news, Rafa is still recovering from his kidney stone surgery and won’t be able to make it. Now, if only Gerrard and Alsonso and Mascherano could all be out…

I’ll be back when the lineups are announced.

Squads:

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Djourou, Gallas, Clichy, Denilson, Fabregas, Song Billong, Nasri, Adebayor, Van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Diaby, Vela, Ramsey, Silvestre, Wilshere, Eboue.
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Kuyt, Leiva Lucas, Alonso, Riera, Gerrard, Keane. Subs: Cavalieri, Hyypia, Benayoun, Babel, Ngog, Plessis, El Zhar.

No Mascherano but as I expected, Keane gets the nod… damn.

The guys lineup and shake hands, those grey Liverpool kits are about as ugly as a kit can get.

3′ — tense opening minutes, with both sides content to sit back and crowd the midfield.

4′ — Webb is inserting himsefl into the fixture very early. I think he’s called 5 fouls already, mostly in favor of Arsenal.

7′ — 10th foul, van Persie has a mowhawk. Unless you are 38 years old or older, you shouldn’t have a mowhawk.

10′ — the crowd is up and screaming as Keane is played onside by a wandering Clichy and lays the ball off for a Gerrard shot. Easy save for Almunia but disasterous communication on defense as Clichy makes his first gaffe of this game. Come on Clichy, get your head in the game.

14′ — Clichy wastes a great opportunity. GET IN THE GAME BOYS.

17′ — I think Arsenal is playing a 4-5-1 with van Persie playing a very deep, defensive role.

20′ — Keane gets a yellow for an over the top tackle. It could have been a red. Clichy is slow to get up. Would Silvestre come in?  Yep, he’s warming up in his goose down.

24′ — ROBIN! van Persie shows his class and strength as he fights off Carragher to win a Nasri pass, chests it down and powers in a shot with his Chocolate Leg.  Great goal, great goal.

27′ — Keane is giving everyone fits back there. He’s got a lot to prove and he’s really putting a physical stamp on this game. Also, ladies and gentlement, Expobill is is in the house!  Welcome, Bill.

30′  — mesmerizing play from Arsenal leads to nothing. Come on boys, have a crack! Also, I want to point out that Song is having a good game, watch him.

39′ — Sorry, I had daddy duties. Not much happened anyway. Denilson is having a tough match and Adebayor picks up a yellow card for a very light foul. That’s a Webb v. Arsenal yellow if I ever saw one.

42′ — Arsenal are struck playing their “8 men in the opponent’s box ball holdery bullshit.” And of course, it’s Keane. F*cking hell.

45′ — Liverpool have belief, they are shooting from all over the pitch, Arsenal are in disarray.

The half time whistle couldn’t have come at a better time. Cesc limps off anf that has to be a concern. I know that Wenger wants to play “attacking football” but why is it that we need to attack with 8 men? WITH THE LEAD??? Maybe we could, you know, keep Sagna back or something? Or attack with 6 men, or play the long ball against them, you know, we have the lead.

Not any more. 1-1 and it could have been 1-2 if Gerrard had just a little better final touch today. So far, we’re seeing that “typical Arsenal” and I hope the manager has a solution at half time.

Second half over here.