Some quick thoughts for me after a very busy week at work:
1. Arsenal played some beautiful flowing football; Liverpool hoofed it forward and hoped it would "stick" to a clearly injured Torres. Who is now even more injured.
2. Alonso is clearly the glue to our midfield and the creative heartbeat of our team. Hope he comes back soon. Very soon.
3. Did anyone even notice Fabregas in the first half? I thought Mascherano had him in his pocket until the 30-something minute.
4. It was no coincidence that Arsenal scored once Mascherano was injured. 4b - would've been nice to have brought on Sissoko or even Lucas for the Monster. Shame Alonso, Torres and Voronin had been hauled off by then.
5. Gerrard's goal. I don't think it was a fluke that he hit it where he did. Rafa and the gang must've done their homework and seen Arsenal's defensive wall is as robust as a house of cards. Expect Manure to hammer it at the wall if they get a free-kick in the same sort of area this weekend. Rafa 1, Arsene 0.
6. Reina should've saved the goal - it was so poorly hit, more like prodded, and it was straight at him. If he had had a moment to set himself, I'm sure I'd be writing about a Liverpool win.
7. Having said that, Fabregas showed good presence of mind to shoot early.
8. Yes Arsenal missed two open goals and hit the post twice, but Liverpool had the best chances and, despite being passed off the park in the first two thirds of the pitch, Almunia really kept Arsenal in it. Fantastic saves from Gerrard (twice), Crouch and Riise put Arsenal in the position to be able to rescue a point. Gallas's fantastic block also saved a certain goal.
9. Same old Arsenal - a million passes in the first half but no shots for Pepe to save.
10. Four points from six against Everton and Arsenal isn't bad and against two of the big four, we can feel we could have had six points from six (the Chelsea game). We're still unbeaten in the league and looked like we were getting a bit of spark and belief back.
11. Gerrard looked to be regaining his form.
12. Rafa is churning out the results. They're not pretty right now, but our league form is very solid. If we can keep this run going and then kick it up a gear in January we may be serving great big dollops of humble pie to our critics come June.
13. The less said about the Champions League the better.