Liverpool look like Arsenal 5 years ago

A bruising evening at the Stadium of Light ended in frustration, but the pundits’ reaction only underlined how differently Arsenal and Liverpool are viewed at the moment.

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I watched Arsenal’s weekend draw at Sunderland in the inappropriately named Victory pub upstairs at Waterloo station.

I had to resort to it because weeks ago I had planned to meet my Aunt Susan and Uncle Joe and hadn’t made the appointment. That’s stupid for me. I’m pretty happy with how things turned out. You all know how the game ended, but once the game was over, I took a few seconds, returned to the table conversation, let the game play out, and continued to enjoy my evening. I’m not sure I would have reacted that way watching at home.

Of course it’s disgusting to lose two points in the circumstances we did, but honestly, if you had asked me an hour earlier, would I have taken a point? I would have ripped your hand off for that. A hostile crowd, a goal from nothing – well no, not nothing, a free kick that should never have been given; a big, physical team defending their box in numbers and a referee in Craig Pawson who seemed very happy to follow the North East model and let the home team do what they want. It was difficult to see a comeback for Arsenal.

And yet.

Not only did they find a way back, but they played Sunderland away from their own ground for a good half hour. The equalizer was a thing of beauty at four as Declan Rice won the ball, found Ebere Eze, to Merino, he played in Saka on the right.

Could Saka finish on his right foot? A stunning laser etched finish on the inside of the first post, a definitive answer to that question. Leandro Trossard’s strike to put us 2-1 up was even better as finding his way into space on the edge of the box, he found a yard and went a mile with an absolute ripper that went up and up as it flew into the net.

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It should have been the match winner, it deserved to be. Unfortunately, Sunderland had other ideas. They rolled the dice with a triple attack change. With the number of attacking players Arsenal are missing, it would always be difficult to answer the same way.

Mosquera for Eze was understandable to me, given the situation we found ourselves in and our much-vaunted defensive strength, but maybe Mikel will watch the last 20 minutes now and think he may have invited Sunderland over.

Even then, it required a split-second of judgment on the part of David Raya, who rushed out of his goal to try to recover the ball, leaving Brobbey to improvise a finish and send the Stadium of Light – and, apparently, the rest of the football world into raptures.

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I realized earlier this morning that, due to my two and a half year absence from this site, I hadn’t written about David Raya at all and, as someone who counts two Brentford season ticket holders among his closest friends, I had plenty – okay, okay – a few exposure to it before signing it.

I didn’t want him, I thought he was error prone and certainly not an improvement over the dear old Rammers.

I was wrong.

I think Raya has been an exceptional signing and I’m happy to have her. He made a mistake on Saturday, but I’d much rather have a goalkeeper who comes to get the ball and help his defense than a goalkeeper who doesn’t. I won’t name names, but you just have to think of the last Spanish goalkeeper we had to appreciate the difference.

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The reaction on Saturday night got me thinking, with pundits and commentators talking about how brilliant Sunderland were on Saturday night. From where I sat, Sunderland manhandled us as much as they wanted, Craig Pawson’s failure to foul the man of the match, Dan Ballard’s early nudge to Mikel Merino’s head, setting the scene – there were countless late challenges that went just as unpunished later in the game. They had two ball breaks in our area and scored on each of them.

Thanks, by the way, to Dermot Gallagher, whose defense of the “if anything, merino jumps in Ballard’s elbow” challenge reminded us of the old line like “Oh, I’m terribly sorry for headbutting your shoe, Mr. Begbie.” Cretin.

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I guess through gritted teeth you have to give Sunderland credit for ensuring we didn’t have a breakup of the ball in their box. This was of course illustrated in the last significant action of the match, when Ballard reacted by denying (again!) Mikel Merino who was about to shoot a rebound off Calafiori’s header.

I understand for the Sunderland fans and players, especially Dan Ballard – who grew up at Arsenal – and Granit Xhaka, that this will have felt like a victory for them. But that wasn’t the case. And the fact that it was received as such tells you a bit about how this Arsenal team is currently perceived.

It’s almost a bit like when Rocky cuts Ivan Drago for the first time at the end of Rocky IV – “see! He’s not a machine!”

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I think people look at this Arsenal team now and, apart from idiots like Jamie O’Hara – surely Richarlison’s only rival in the competition to become the most ridiculously pathetic man in the world – they don’t see any weakness. How many times have you heard someone say “no excuses” about us now? This team, this team has been precisely equipped to win the Premier League and the Champions League and the outside world knows it.

Our only problem is that in reality, we are not the Ivan Drago of this story. The Ivan Drago of this story is a few hundred miles to the northwest and they have just hammered the surely incumbent Premier League champions.

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They looked really good doing it too, didn’t they? I’m sure they want their title back, but is their re-emergence as a serious threat to Arsenal real?

Or is it a mirage, reinforced by their performance against a Liverpool side currently attempting the most pathetic title defense since Oliver McCall surrendered his title to Lennox Lewis at Wembley in 1997?

Honestly, watching Liverpool at the weekend – well, they looked like us five years ago. It was very weird to watch, but also very fun! Long may this continue.

Have a good weekend everyone, let’s hope there will be no (more) injuries during this last international block.