Okay, I'll get my complaints out of the way first:
- Playing Holding and Chambers together was suicidal. There's no reason Kos couldn't play, and Monreal would have been the better choice to deputize. I'd have used Holding before Chambers, but neither were better than Monreal. Gibbs would have been fine on the left.
- I thought it was nuts to leave Coquelin out there so long with a yellow card. I was yelling for Xhaka. But when he came in, he looked pretty bad--and picked up a yellow as well. Coquelin finished the game (but was very fortunate to do so). So maybe I'm complaining about myself.
- Walcott should not have taken that penalty. Alexis and Ramsey at least would be ahead of them in the pecking order.
- [edited to add] The fans who left the Emirates early, and those who stayed and booed at the end. With supporters like that, it's amazing Arsenal has done so well so long.
I'm not going to bitch about Arsenal mistakes. Both teams made plenty, but both teams looked fairly crisp when allowed to play, and put enormous energy into the play. The Liverpool goals were excellent. I thought Cech went down too early on the second (from Lallana), but he's the pro and made some good saves on the day. Liverpool played defense just well enough, and both Coutinho and Mane found the upper left corner when given the opportunity. The officiating was fine. In short, it was a great game and the better eleven won it.
I'll be checking to see how serious Ramsey's injury is. It looked like a hamstring issue. Midfield is where we can afford to lose a player, though, so it's not crucial if Ramsey has to take a month off.
I'm going to try to take a more relaxed view this season. I didn't watch any other games. It's probably Wenger's last season with Arsenal. I love him, but it's time.
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