I am SURE Arsenal will get their first win at Anfield in a decade, Chelsea should have beaten Liverpool by ten goals
IT’S more than ten years since Arsenal last won at Anfield — yet I have never been as confident of an away win as I am for today’s game.
I watched Liverpool’s goalless draw at Chelsea the other day and they were an absolute mess.
How Chelsea didn’t beat them by ten goals, I’ll never know.
They were all over the place and looked as though they didn’t know what they were doing.
I don’t have a clue what kind of team Jurgen Klopp will pick today — and I don’t think he’s got much more of an idea.
He made six changes at Chelsea after last week’s 4-1 defeat by Manchester City, but the players he brought in were no better than those he’d left out, so he’s probably going to have to go back to Plan A.
Liverpool’s problem at the moment is that none of them are delivering.
They are low on confidence, conceding goals and there are cracks now developing throughout the team.
The main issue is that instead of playing as a team, they’re playing as individuals. And that’s just a recipe for disaster.
I used to love playing at Anfield, even when I was getting dog’s abuse from the Kop for all those years.
The only time I didn’t enjoy it was playing for an England XI in Alan Hansen’s testimonial in 1988 when I was part of a team full of individuals.
Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush tore me to bits that day because all my team-mates were looking after themselves and playing with one eye on the forthcoming Euros.
That game did my international career no good whatsoever because everyone looked at me and said, ‘He’s rubbish’.
It left me feeling very alone, scared and humiliated. But without that experience I don’t think Arsenal would have gone to Anfield the following season and won the title with Mickey Thomas’ famous last-gasp goal.
Because the one lesson I learnt that day was we absolutely had to play as a team.
Myself, David O’Leary and Steve Bould knew if we were left to our devices, we wouldn’t have been good enough to keep them out.
But because we all played as a collective, and were prepared to go that extra yard to help each other out, we pulled off one of the greatest results in the history of the game.
That’s why I am so confident that Arsenal will triumph on Sunday. They are playing as a proper team and Liverpool are playing for themselves.
We saw Jordan Henderson arguing with Alisson at Stamford Bridge the other night and their back four was wide open for most of that game.
They have a real problem at right-back, which has been going on for far too long, and they should try to move Trent Alexander-Arnold on if they get the chance.
But is Joe Gomez going to be any better there? I don’t think so.
Then again, they’ve got problems in lots of positions.
When I look at that squad, I think they need to rip it up and instigate a complete overhaul. But I’m not totally convinced Klopp is up for that.
He seems really bored and I can see him leaving at the end of the season.
He’s had such an easy ride during his time in England because when you have a team full of amazing players, they don’t need managing.
When I was working with Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, we turned into the best coaches in the world with Sol Campbell, Kanu and Lassana Diarra at the spine of the team.
But when they moved on and we were left with lesser players, all of a sudden we had to work our arses off. That’s what is happening at Liverpool now.
Jurgen is having to work super hard with a bunch of big-time players who have enjoyed a lot of success but are now starting to lose confidence in him and are questioning his decisions.
Football management is a 24/7 job and you don’t have any kind of a life.
I used to laugh at my contract, which said my working hours were between nine and five.
I’m very blessed to be sitting here in my garden looking at my sheep and little pigs. I can do whatever I want at the weekend and I don’t even have to watch the game on the telly if I don’t fancy it.
But Jurgen is only a few months younger than me and he’s still having to live and breathe the job.
He’ll be on the phone night and day, constantly stressing about the next game, trying to work out who is fit and who’s injured and all the while planning ahead and thinking about the next transfer window.
Sir Alex Ferguson was a master at constantly regenerating his squad at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger wasn’t bad at it with Arsenal either.
But Klopp has never really had to do that with Liverpool until now. So he needs to go again or make way for someone else to do it.
The only way I can see Liverpool troubling Arsenal is if they get off to a flying start and Mo Salah can spark them with an early goal.
Mikel Arteta pulled a masterstroke by playing Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back when Arsenal beat them at the Emirates in October.
But Tomi is now injured and I’m not quite so confident about Oleksandr Zinchenko if he has Salah running at him.
That’s a bigger concern for me than Rob Holding having to deputise for William Saliba at centre-half.
I love Holding to bits because he has a wonderful attitude but I watched his last two games against Crystal Palace and Leeds, and he hardly touched the ball.
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He was so comfortable playing in a team full of confidence and working together as a unit that I reckoned I could have done that job — and I’m 56 years old!
I know that a lot of people are looking at today’s game and predicting it could be a real turning point in the title race, but I honestly can’t see it.
The real tests for Arsenal are coming at Manchester City and Newcastle.
Sunday, it should be a straightforward three points.