Unai Emery’s rope -a-dope tactics nearly pay off

1974, Rumble in the Jungle, Ali v Foreman.

George Foreman was considered by many to be the favorite to win the fight due to his superior punching power.

Instead of coming out to fight fire with fire, Muhammad Ali went on the back foot, encouraging Foreman to come at him.

By lying against the ropes, much of the Foreman’s punch’s energy was absorbed by the ropes’ elasticity rather than Ali’s body.

Despite seemingly taking a pummelling, Ali won the fight when Foreman became tired from the beating he was delivering and rope-a-dope was born.

Against Liverpool, Unai Emery attempted to reenact one of the greatest fights of all time on the football field.

Liverpool are the European champions. They finished 2nd last year with a points tally that would have won the league in almost any other season. They lost just one game and finished the season with the two of the three league’s top scorers. They are better than Arsenal. They are stronger than Arsenal.

Emery knew that his Arsenal side could not match Liverpool man for man. Especially with Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney all out. He had to come up with a tactic that would see Arsenal sacrifice going toe to toe with Liverpool and take advantage when the opportunity arose.

And it so nearly worked. Emery was let down by his players who, when the opportunity arose, failed to take advantage.

For the opening 10 minutes Liverpool were getting in behind Arsenal and peppering balls into the box. The Gunners were under the cosh.

Out of nowhere, Arsenal had the chance to take the lead!

Adrián came racing out of his area to clear a forward pass, he slide in and succeeded only in deflecting the ball into Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s path and the Arsenal striker went for the lob but it landed just wide.

8 minutes later Arsenal had another great chance.

A strong break by Dani Ceballos lead the charge up the pitch. On the edge of the box he found Nicolas Pépé, who could only shoot straight at Adrian. Clearest chance of the match.

Despite being under the cosh for the first 20 minutes, Arsenal should really had been leading but failing to take 2 great chances.

Emery’s tactics were becoming clear. Sit back, defend, absorb Liverpool’s attack and look to counter punch when the opportunity arises.

It was working, but then 4 minutes before half time Arsenal concedes from a corner.

Arsenal has been doing so well to hold out, so to concede from a corner would have frustrated all.

2 minutes into the second half, a moment of madness from David Luiz as he pulled Mo Salah’s shirt in the penalty area giving away a penalty.

In the space of 7 on-field minutes, Emery’s best laid plans had been ripped up as Arsenal found themselves 2-0 down.

You can not adopt rope-a-dope tactics if you are behind and the game eventually finished 3-1.

Emery got a lot of criticism from many fans after the game for being tactically naive. But he got his tactics spot on. What he could not count on was Aubameyang and Pepe not taking their chances; and David Luiz giving away a silly penalty straight after half time.

When the goals Arsenal conceded are reviewed, there is little Emery could have done about them.

The 1st was a from a corner where Matteo Guendouzi was fouled, the second a penalty, the 3rd a fabulous finish by Salah. The game was not littered with the defensive errors caused the demise of Arsenal’s recent trips to Anfield.

Sport will always be a game of what ifs.

What if one of Frazer’s booming punches knocked out Ali? he would have been criticised for his rope-a-dope tactics.

What if Aubameyang or Pepe scored their chances within the first 18 minutes? We might have been sitting here this morning talking about an Unai Emery masterclass.

The reality is Arsenal lost 3-1 and another defeat at Anfield.

Still 2nd in the league though.

Keenos

Match Report: Liverpool 3 – 1 Arsenal

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Liverpool (1) 3 Arsenal (0) 1
Premier League
Anfield Stadium, Anfield Rd, Liverpool L4 0TH
Saturday, 24th August 2019. Kick-off time: 5.30pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal; Mattéo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka; Joe Willock, Nicolas Pépé, Dani Ceballos; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Substitutes: Emiliano Martínez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira, Calum Chambers, Reiss Nelson, Sead Kolašinac.
Scorers: Lucas Torreira (85 min)
Yellow Cards: David Luiz
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 47%
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance 53,298

Despite our poor record in the past few years at Anfield, overall, it was a better performance than the scoreline suggests. After all, it won’t be every week that we meet the European champions at their spiritual home, nor will we be overawed by the cacophony of their supporters either. But Arsenal did enough this afternoon to suggest that once our new signings bed in properly and get used to the general sturm und drang of the Premiership, then we will be a force to be reckoned with again.

The match itself started in the time prescribed manner that most away teams face at the Anfield Stadium; high intesity play bolstered by incredible vocal support by their crowd. Somehow we managed to weather the storm admirably, and it has to be said that early on in the game, both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the stunning new kid in town, Ivory Coast international, 24-year-old Nicolas Pépé came close to opening the account in our favour.

Wow. And when was the last time that you saw anyone dribble (yes, dribble) past Virgil van Dijk or cause this often impenetrable defence so many issues? Mark my words, Nicolas Pépé will be truly indespensible to us over the course of time. Overall, our first half play was mainly one of containment, with occasional smash-and-grab raids on Adrián’s goal, which led to several heart-stopping moments with our strikers becoming dangerously close to scoring. It also has to be said that when Liverpool took the lead just five minutes before the break, it was against the run of play at that time. A deceptive Trent Alexander-Arnold corner whipped in to our six-yeard box, and in the ensuing confusion that so often occurs in these situations, the man we didn’t think would score, Joël Matip, actually did. There should really have been a VAR inquest because Mattéo Guendouzi was held in a headlock as the ball flew into the Arsenal net, but the referee didn’t appear to have neither the appetite nor the necessary desire to request one.

Whatever happened at half-time, one can merely speculate, but whatever was said, Liverpool appeared to benefit from the manager’s talk more than we did. Less than five minutes after the restart, David Luiz appeared tohave a rush of blood to the head and tug at Reds’ striker Mo Salah’s shirt; everyone from Ireland to India (let alone those in the stadium) could see that it was a blatant penalty, so with no further ado, the bantam Egyptian international wasted no time in extending his team’s lead. Ten minutes later it was all over; Mo Salah slipped past David Luiz on the touchline in an almost ghost-like manner, and just seconds later drilled the ball past Bernd Leno into the corner of the Arsenal net following a truly unstoppable run towards the goal.

But still we never gave up, unlike in previous years at Anfield. Despite being three down, Arsenal constantly made huge efforts to construct movements in the opposition half, and it was one of these that led to our goal. Lucas Torreira (one of our three substitutes that were introduced late to the party) managed to get the ball past Adrián with just five minutes left on the clock. Despite some late frenetic activity, we were unable to add any more goals to the tally, so regretfully we returned to North London with no points on the board, although we still remained second in the Premiership, behind the victors of this contest in Liverpool today.

Despite the disappointment, there were some good things to take away from Anfield. We had desire, structure and a team ethic that we haven’t seen in an Arsenal side at Anfield for quite a while now; and in Nicolas Pépé, we have a real star in the making here. And we had 47% possession too; keep those heads up! Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates on Sunday, 1st September at 4.30pm (Premier League). Be there. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.