COMMENT: In the two years since the Reds blitzed their rivals 5-1 at Anfield, The Gunners have progressed while the Merseysiders are again playing catch up
There is no Luis Suarez, no Steven Gerrard and no Raheem Sterling. Only Daniel Sturridge remains from the Liverpool side that scorched Arsenal 5-1 in February 2014, but given the lengthy periods the striker spends sidelined, he is almost as much of an absentee as the aforementioned trio.
Rewinding back to that winter afternoon, when the Reds had inflicted the heaviest Anfield defeat on the North Londoners since April 1964, Arsene Wenger’s men were stung four times inside 20 minutes by an attacking blur so sharp and so devastating, it disorientated the visitors to the point of the manager suggesting perhaps his best course of action was to “go home and not say too much.”
Just like his team, there was nothing the Frenchman could offer in response to Liverpool’s scintillating show in the final third. If anything, the scoreline could’ve been more bloated in favour of the irrepressible hosts. At the end of that 2013-14 season, the Merseysiders missed out on the league title by two points, scoring 101 goals in the process while looking down at the Gunners sat in fourth spot.
But that was then.
Almost two years on, Arsenal arrive at Anfield on Wednesday as league leaders, 12 points ahead of the Reds. The shift has been swift, severe and can be analysed through a key aspect: transfer policy. Liverpool lost Suarez to Barcelona, surrendered Sterling to Manchester City and watched Gerrard move to LA Galaxy. Over the same period, Arsenal added the services of Alexis Sanchez - beating the Merseyside club to the Chile ace's signature - and secured the goalkeeping expertise of Petr Cech.
As quality was being drained out of L4, it was being pumped into N7.
In the two summer transfer windows since the 5-1 performance so explosive BT commissioned an advert in its honour, Liverpool have brought in recruits for a sum in excess of £185 million to offset the departures of the key trio.
Mario Balotelli and Lazar Markovic, who cost a combined £36m in 2014, are out on season-long loans. The Italian has been sidelined since late September with a troublesome groin injury that required surgery. He has only managed four appearances and one goal for AC Milan in Serie A this season. Markovic, meanwhile, has accrued just seven Super Lig starts for Fenerbahce. Rickie Lambert, who also arrived in the summer of 2014 for £4m, was sold to West Brom last July for a loss of £1m. They combined to contribute just 10 goals in all competitions last season.
Sanchez, who was Liverpool’s primary target but was pursued more clinically by Arsenal during the World Cup, delivered a total of 25 on his own, accompanied by 12 assists. Santi Cazorla’s grin was greater than Ronaldinho’s when the club announced his signing during a Puma kit launch in Carnaby Street on 10 July, 2014. Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini exchanged high-fives and fist bumps. They were all immediately convinced that getting Sanchez after luring Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid the season prior, meant Arsenal were taking seismic steps to enter the title conversation again.
Last summer, former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers oversaw seven new signings, with Christian Benteke becoming the club’s second most expensive recruit in history behind Andy Carroll, following a £32.5m move from Aston Villa. It was the Northern Irishman who shipped the Geordie out of Anfield citing stylistic issues, yet he heavily pushed for the Belgian striker. The 25-year-old is far more similar to Carroll than he is to Sanchez, whom Rodgers wanted the year before.
Despite being Liverpool’s top scorer with seven goals, Benteke’s strengths sitting in direct contrast to that of the team is proving problematic. While seven players were familiarising themselves with new surroundings at Melwood, Wenger opted for just one senior signing: Cech for £10m from Chelsea. Blues captain John Terry was quick to remark that the stopper “will strengthen them for sure. He will save them 12 to 15 points a season.”
Arsenal have clearly prioritised genuine quality over quantity. The comical days of them acquiring an injured Kim Kallstrom on loan are long gone. As is Wenger’s feeling of “working for other clubs” by developing top talents only to see them pack up for pastures new.
Since the 5-1 skewering of Arsenal, Liverpool have made only one weighty show of ambition: hiring Jurgen Klopp. They have failed to lure top-level players to L4 in recent seasons, but in the German they have a charismatic managerial heavyweight, who commands the buy-in of all connected to the club.
Just as Arsenal followed up the move for Ozil with deals for Sanchez and Cech, Liverpool must ensure their summer business is as authoritative as the unveiling of Klopp in order to realise their mantra of “existing to win trophies.”
Regardless of the fee you pay for a player, or the status they hold prior to joining, no transfer is guaranteed to be a certifiable hit. However, spending on star quality can make a statement, change the mood and galvanise a squad.
Wenger has seen his charges lift the FA Cup twice in succession, a point the Reds boss has referenced when talking about cultivating a winning culture. That success as well as their elevated ambition in the market has transformed the mentality at Arsenal.
Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, have long been “big fans” of the way the Gunners are run. In September 2010, a month before their takeover of the club was confirmed, John Henry and Tom Werner watched a game at the Emirates and met with Wenger and Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis to discuss their business model.
FSG cannot afford ignore how their rivals have evolved in recent campaigns. When the North Londoners did the absolute un-Arsenal thing of putting in a ballsy bid for Suarez in the summer of 2013, Henry enquired as to “what are they smoking over at the Emirates?.” However, such audaciousness would be welcomed from Liverpool at the end of the season.
The owners have repeatedly insisted they’re willing to compete with the very best in the market and that they “have only one driving ambition at Liverpool and that is the quest to win the Premier League playing the kind of football our supporters want to see.”
Luring Klopp was step one, they now have to follow through or face falling further behind their closest top-four rival in terms of financial might and wage structure.
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