As the rain poured from the clouds above the Emirates today, Martin Atkinson blew the full time whistle, and the boos rung around for a brief period of anger, emanating from the present Arsenal fans. They were not happy.
Liverpool fans represented the complete antithesis, with joyous chants and songs in delight at their first League win of the season against a side whom they have not beaten away from home in 11 long years. They have caught Arsenal at just the right time, as their morale is low, and squad is thin, but nothing went right for the Gunners today.
It started with an injury to Laurent Koscielny, who limped off, only just clinging on to the ability to walk on two feet, seemingly in agony with a back injury. Who did Wenger have on the bench to replace him? A teenager of course, a young Spanish defender, Ignasi Miquel, who to be fair played quite well considering his inexperience.
Emmanuel Frimpong was also impressive, with his driving runs and aggressive attitude to the game, but it is his latter mentioned quality which is also a weakness. An intimidating square up with Jordan Henderson inside five minutes saw him perhaps harshly yellow carded, but with behaviour like that, he needed a warning from the referee to calm himself down.
Many predicted, with Frimpong's feisty play, that he may be seeing a red card brandished in his face very soon, and indeed it was, when a 50-50 ball on the floor was kicked away from him just as Frimpong went in for the tackle, catching Lucas strongly on the shin and sending him flying.
The promising Henri Lansbury came on soon after, but nothing could stop the laughably unlucky goal that Arsenal were to concede 8 minutes after Frimpong's dismissal. A scramble in the Arsenal box saw a clearance rebound off Aaron Ramsey to bounce painfully into the net past an impressive Sczcesny.
Arsenal needed a goal quickly, but instead, Arsene Wenger sent on Nicklas Bendtner, who unsurprsingly had little impact on the game. Luis Suarez however, a substitute who is always a dangerous addition to any side, came on for Carroll and finished off the Arsenal with a very well worked goal which had Arsenal heads in hands.
It leave Arsenal still to score a goal this season; two games played, one draw and one loss, with a Champions League qualifier soon approaching and a Manchester United crunch game to follow in which Frimpong will be unavailable due to suspension, and perhaps Koscielny with injury.
Miserable news for Arsenal fans may be consoled by the news that Samir Nasri's move to Manchester City has fallen through due to problems with negotiations of pay. This news comes from Canal Plus, a French news website, who claim Nasri is now likely to stay with Arsenal for this season at least.
For some, it may be good news, for others, it is another excuse for Arsene Wenger not to spend on new players. Arsenal must buy some players to revive their squad and their sorry start to the season, and it is down to Wenger to deal with the troubles, otherwise, it will be another trophy-less season at the Emirates.
