A good loss (we bounced back)

Some quick reactions after the game.

We were seated really close to the pitch. 6 rows back almost right behind the goal. It was cold and wet and miserable. The end result didn't help. I guess my colleagues enjoyed the view because that's the end where Liverpool scored their 2 goals. The Liverpool fans were in good voice, and they really do sing almost throughout the game. But the Arsenal fans were almost a match for them, especially in the first half when we really outplayed them I thought (watching the game later on tv showed this to be a slight misperception. More on this later). But we had nothing to show for it, and I had a feeling that it would come back to haunt us. There is a reason why they are second in the table, way ahead of us on points. They are a good side, and you don't outplay a good team for an entire game.

I could not really see the patterns on play being seated so low on the pitch but I could sense that we were playing well, and I thought we had the better passages of play and more shots. The half-time stats confirmed this but showed we only took one more shot than them, and none on target. We seemed to adapt to the terrible conditions better and were in control for the most part. Liverpool were surprisingly, ineffective.

While there are downsides to being seated so low, there are some advantages. IF your team scores at that end, you would have had a great view of the goal. Also, being close to the action means you have a better sense of the speed of the game. Watching a game from afar is a bit deceptive and sometimes you think, "Why is Laca/Xhaka (take your pick) so slow to react to that?" But being closer to the action means you gain a better appreciation that many events on the pitch happen in a split second, and most of us would fare worse than Xhaka, as alien as that notion may be. Besides speed, you also see more clearly the trickery and dribbling artistry which players like Martinelli bring to the game. He was the one of the few bright sparks for us.

Back to the perception that we were having a good game... That's what it felt like with the noise but it was misleading. I realise now it was the crowd really getting behind the team and cheering every tackle we won, every bruising encounter we came out on top of, and the chances we missed were but half chances for the most part. But a good team figures things out, and while I was returning to my seat for the second half (which had just kicked off), my heart sank when I heard the roars of the Liverpool fans, but it was ruled out for offside I think. But the reprieve would only be temporary.

Funny thing is, I missed seeing how they scored the first goal because I was bemoaning the fact that Odegaard missed that golden opportunity. A good team hardly makes mistakes but when they do, you had better capitalise on it. A young team invariably is less efficient at converting such chances and it has been a feature of our performances this season. Still, at least they are creating chances. (Watching it on tv later also showed us the difference in how chances are created and taken, between a mature side at the top of their game, and a promising but still raw in comparison youthful team.)

So, after Odegaard missed, I was texting one of my Arsenal friends and missed seeing the first goal. I didn't celebrate of course, but the Liverpool fan seated behind me jumped up and down and shook my shoulders! I didn't react, which must have mystified her. Heh. After that, she didn't do it again - she probably suspected something was off hahaha...

Halfway through the second half, there was another distraction when a Liverpool fan got into it with an Arsenal fan and the police got involved. The Arsenal fan was then removed from the stadium. After the game, someone asked the Liverpool fan who was involved in the incident what had transpired, and he said that the Arsenal fan had called him a "Paki", and that his friends also challenged him by asking "What's wrong with that?" I am glad they took action if that was true. Sing and support and banter, but don't cross the line.

At one goal down we were still technically in it, but that's mainly on paper. Liverpool are too good a team to give us anything and when we conceded another, the game was over. There were still some 30 minutes left but we never looked like our first half selves for the rest of the game. It felt like a balloon deflating, and I guess the best teams do that to you. Just as we do it to others who are not at our level. So I spent the rest of the game listening to the red fans sing and some of it was pretty good I must confess. A song about Jota became a sort of earworm and I couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of the night.

Further reflections after reading social media reactions, and watching the game on tv. We had to be at our very best to keep Liverpool quiet in the first half. And this was a Liverpool team not playing particularly well then but turning up the heat in the second half, and we could not really live with them. 

This is what makes top teams great. They are used to the pressure. They find the balance between playing within themselves and turning the screws when they have to. Arsenal are a very young and inexperienced team, but one that knows they can be very good - because they have done it before, but against lesser teams. Against the best teams, that level is not quite enough. Nor do good teams allow you to play your best. You have less time on the ball and that Liverpool press is intense and one of the best I've ever seen.

Arsenal had to raise their game, but the stress got to some of them. Odegaard and Saka didn't have particularly good nights. They have been better. It is one thing to be cool and calm when your opponents aren't that good. It is different when the heat is on, and you still try to be calm. It is just not the same. Odegaard in missing that chance, epitomised this point. He didn't snatch at the chance which Lacazette laid on for him after a rare mistake by Thiago. He took a touch, and took his shot but unfortunately, Allison was up to it. Fine margins. A top player would have taken that same touch, but would have used the time which that touch opened up for him, to take a better shot. I know this sounds harsh but I only say this because I think Odegaard will eventually be world class - he isn't far off. He could have passed it into the net beyond the keeper, or sat the keeper down by feinting, and then lifting the ball over him. He can be that good, eventually.

Martinelli on the other hand, seemed to thrive on the pressure. He had one of his best games in a while and watching the game on TV made this even more apparent. If he had better teammates who were not caught on their heels like Laca, or who were not their usual confident self like Odegaard, we could have scored a goal or two from the chances created by the young Brazilian. His miss at the end was cruel. It would have been just reward for him even in a losing cause.

Laca was frustrating again. He does all the other stuff reasonably well enough but he cannot handle the physicality of it. His touch is often poor, especially with back to goal. Liverpool sniff out weaknesses ruthlessly and relentlessly. When he gets the ball, he is crowded out immediately and if he does not get rid of the ball quick enough, we turn it over. I feel his mentality is not razor sharp enough - he is often a split second too slow.

I guess it is a sign of progress that I was not too disappointed with the loss. We gave a good account of ourselves against one of the top 2 or 3 teams in Europe if not the world. Someone said on social media that Liverpool were there for the taking and I think that notion is ludicrous. Liverpool were not their fluent best in the first half, and it took everything we had just to be on par. To suggest that we could somehow do "more" to take advantage of Liverpool not playing well is naive.

Peak performance for an individual or a team involves both competency (you have to be good enough and that comes from talent and hard work) and confidence (that comes from repetition in training and in-game e.g. you have done it before, many times both in controlled conditions in training, and also under pressure in games against similar competition). Confidence is what allows you to trust yourself, and find that elusive balance between aggression and relaxation. Or what we call being in the flow, or in the zone. When we don't trust ourselves, we tense up, choke, try too hard and performance suffers (just like my golf game).

That's why I think winning is a habit. You win once, you think you can possibly repeat it. Keep doing it and it changes from possibly to probably. There are still doubts, and if you suffer a bad loss, it affects that confidence, that probability.  Anyone who has no doubts is a psychopath or the winningest team/player of all time.

PS We bounced back nicely to beat Villa, who were surprisingly bad and didn't live up to the hype. That was mightily impressive. A team cannot play at its best all the time, but a good team will always find a way to win.