Arsenal answered their critics with a massive shrug of their shoulders as they capitulated at Anfield thanks to another poor first half display.
The shock was, of course, Alexis being dropped, not so much what happened after that.
Treated like a toddler who refuses to share, Arsene Wenger took the Chilean’s favourite toy away from him. It was a bold call from the Arsenal manager, but not one he was making arbitrarily. Despite all his running around, Alexis has been generally poor since the turn of the year. His selfishness more a liability than a help. His attitude towards his teammates coupled with the constant Juventus stories can’t have helped either.
Still, this seemed a strange game to leave him out, especially given how vital it was. What a mistake it turned out to be, but let’s not pretend like we’ve been good in first halves when Alexis has started.
He’s off in the summer, I think that’s perfectly clear now.
Before the game, Wenger said that it was a tactical decision, that we were going to have to go long. That excuse didn’t really cut it. There were no footballing reasons behind his benching.
Despite Wenger saying we would go to Anfield to play and not park a bus, we started the game with a bus firmly parked up. First do not lose was the mantra that had clearly been drilled into the team since the last played. Then, if you can, hit on the break down the flanks and cross it to Giroud.
It took less than nine minutes for Liverpool to find a way past our defence.
It was at this point I decided that I’d just do the rest of the match report using tweets:
10 – 20 mins
https://twitter.com/PR_WhoRu/status/838082614863020034
https://twitter.com/7amkickoff/status/838082641505079297
20 -30 minutes
https://twitter.com/IndianKaizer/status/838082111185747968
30 mins
https://twitter.com/HayleyWright/status/838087245110333441
https://twitter.com/BetBright/status/838087696144875520
https://twitter.com/TorontoGooner/status/838087713823801344
https://twitter.com/rockthecasbah77/status/838088036923625473
40 – 45 minutes
https://twitter.com/HayleyWright/status/838089975086346240
https://twitter.com/rockthecasbah77/status/838090244733960192
45 – 55 minutes
https://twitter.com/arsenaloFka/status/838095744112414726
55-65 minutes
65-75 minutes
https://twitter.com/6Gooner/status/838101050301247488
https://twitter.com/YankeeGunner/status/838102371087560704
https://twitter.com/ryan_defreitas/status/838103380455194625
85-90 minutes
https://twitter.com/Evertxn/status/838105485886750722