They're Off

I wrote a blog this morning to put down in words my feelings towards the start of the season. It was entitled Under Starters Orders with every intention of following it up with the post called They're Off. Little did I know at the time that it was likely to be the most apposite title I could come up with for a blog post.

So the season is up and running and we have gained a creditable draw. This season I have decided to forgo my armchair fr a view from the bar stool in an attempt to save money on a Sky Sports subscription. Maybe I'll even get a view from the stands occasionally.

Today's pub of choice was not as full as in previous visits but still with plenty of atmosphere. A few anti Liverpool (as opposed to pro Arsenal) voices were around but in the main it was a Reds pub. Plenty of TVs and yet still plenty of places not to get a good view.

So the game. Well I suppose I was as disappointed at the end as most reds fans, although looking back in hindsight I would think that a draw was probably a fair result. Arsenal dominated posession but didn't produce anything particualrly incisive, wheras we played well on the break but let ourselves be put under too much pressure for my liking.

What I was most disappointed with was the fact that we didn't start playing like we can until we were down to ten men. I was very optimistic when I saw the starting line up. It looked suitably attack minded. yet we didn't retain possession well at all and therefore didn't make the impact that we should have.

The best chances fell to us in the first half, but they should have been more bountiful. Ngog can score goals but he needs a higher ratio of chances than Torres so we need to be able to ceate them for him.

The Cole sending off was the turning point of the game. Should he have gone. I can see why he was sent off. It is one of those challenges that if you don't get it right it can look terrible. He had his foot raised and from a distance that can look dangerous. He wasn't helped by the Arsenal right back making the most of the tackle but it was achallenge he didn't have to make.

The second half was a football game of its own. It had twists and turns, a stunning strike by Ngog to put us into the lead and a terrible blunder by Pepe to conced two of the three points. Reina is still the best keeper in the Premiership and now he has his seasons blunder out of the way we can go from strength to strength.

So the positives from today were many. The attitude was excellent, particularly in the second half. Jovanovic looks a class signing, Ngog will gain confidence, our bench looked as strong as any we've had for a long time, we started to see the positiveimpact that Roy has had on the training ground (no zonal marking).

Negatives? - Well Cole will miss 3 games (pending an appeal) and he didn't really show what he can do. And we did take time to come out of the traps. With our next game against the financial muscle of Manchester City, it will take a 90 minute performance to put our first win on the board at Eastlands. But there were enough signs today to show that we shouldn't fear anyone.