Lightweight teenage midfield found wanting

IT’S a pity there are no Premiership points awarded for the fan’s contribution off the pitch.

If there were, perhaps we Gooners would’ve cancelled out Peter Crouch’s perfect hat-trick at Anfield on Saturday, as we shamed an increasingly taciturn Kop, with the sort of staunch, stentorian support, that left me feeling proud and which proved to be some slight consolation for such a slovenly performance.

However after trouncing the Scousers in our three previous meetings, with our “under strength” cup sides banging in nine of 12 goals against them, I guess Benitez was bound to catch a break at some point. Along with everyone else, I might have taken the Mickey out of the Rafa’s incessant tinkering with his team, but the Spaniard was spot on on Saturday, trumping Arsène’s reliance on a teenage midfield, with the relatively mature, Argentinian World Cup war-horse.