Yesterday Liverpool needed a win at Crystal Palace to keep their title hopes alive. The Reds went 3-0 up in the first 60 minutes and pushed for more goals, hoping to cut into Man City's goal differential advantage.
When Damien Delaney scored to make the score 3-1, Liverpool's hubris was exposed. The Reds pushed even higher to restore a 3 goal winning margin. Yannick Bolasie (formerly of Plymouth Argyle) burned past England right back Glen Johnson and found Dwight Gayle (the former Peterborough player) to make it 3-2. Minutes later, Martin Skrtel inexplicably was caught in no man's land as Glenn Murray (formerly of Rochdale) chested the ball into the path of Gayle for the equalizer. In less than 10 minutes, not only had Liverpool's precious margin of victory disintegrated, they crucially lost the 3 points.
Credit to Crystal Palace. What Tony Pulis has done with this team is nothing short of miraculous. Before Pulis was hired, Palace looked doomed to relegation. But their form this spring has been spectacular, they've beaten both Liverpool and Chelsea at home and Everton away, all with players who have spent a majority of their careers in the lower divisions.
I was not a fan of Pulis's at Stoke, but he has this Palace team playing a more entertaining style, believe it or not. At Stoke, Pulis won games with long throws, physicality, and conservative defending. Palace defends deep and plays physically, but they also have been ruthless on the counter this spring. Bolasie and Jason Puncheon have been very good on the wings. Mile Jedinak has had a great season in central midfield. Joe Ledley and Scott Dann were inspired Pulis January signings. Julian Speroni, who is out of contract this summer, has been great in goal.
But make no mistake, Palace was safe, and they had nothing to play for yesterday. It showed for 75 minutes. And Liverpool bottled it. All to try to better their goal difference. On the 2nd and 3rd goals, Liverpool's defenders were caught well out of position. There is no excuse for such foolish defending when you have a lead and need the win.
Many have drawn comparisons to Arsenal's 4-4 draw from 4-0 up at St James Park a few years ago. To me, this was a bit different. The goals came over a 40 minute period after Arsenal was down to 10 men and Phil Dowd made a number of controversial decisions to help the home team. I was actually reminded of two different matches in Arsenal history.
First was the 3-2 loss to Wigan in 2010. While Arsenal's title chances weren't nearly as strong in that match, there still was a slight chance of winning the title, and it completely faded away with 3 goals in 10 minutes. A Fabianski error and some very poor defending from the likes of Sylvester led to the loss after leading 2-0 after 80 minutes.
The other was the 2-2 draw at St Andrews in 2008 where Clichy foolishly gave away the penalty that killed Arsenal's title bid. I was only reminded of this because Luis Suarez "pulled a Gallas" by weeping uncontrollably on the pitch after the full time whistle.
We've stormed into 4th after it looked to be in jeopardy a month ago. If we win the FA Cup in 2 weeks, this could be the best season in a decade. And on top of that, in the last week we've seen John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, and Suarez cry. What a great week!
On to other potentially Arsenal-related news, Thomas Muller is reportedly unhappy at Bayern Munich. Links to Man United have been very strong, as Muller is a player who got his promotion to first team football under Louis Van Gaal. But given the logjam of strikers United have already (and their rumored pursuit of Cavani), it's hard to see how Muller will get more time on the pitch at United than he does at Bayern right now. Muller won't get paid as much as Rooney, and he isn't better than van Persie. Not yet anyway.
Muller is versatile. He can play as a second striker or on the wings. But United already have Mata, Kagawa, and Rooney who play in these positions behind Van Persie. It would surely make more sense for them to add a quicker player on the wing to add something different to their attack. Muller would face competition from numerous similar players for playing time.
Arsenal would seem to be a much more attractive option. Muller would almost surely slot in as the first choice striker immediately. He's a much more clinical striker than Giroud but his versatility means he could slot in to a different position and play with Giroud if necessary.
Muller is a player who I've rated very highly since I first saw him win the Golden Boot for Germany at the 2010 World Cup at the age of 20. Bayern's additions of Gotze and Lewandowski have marginalized his importance for the Bavarian giants, and if he wants to leave to play first team football, we would seem to be a genuine option.
He would be an upgrade on Giroud up front, we would have Champions League football to offer, and our contingent of Germans could help Muller settle in quickly. We also have Andries Jonker, Van Gaal's former number 2 at Bayern.
Jonker, who will be Arsenal's new director of youth development next season, was instrumental in the development and eventual promotion of Alaba, Badstuber, and Muller in his time at Bayern Munich. He's a very highly rated coach who the Bayern players genuinely loved to play for when he was the interim boss after Van Gaal was sacked. Perhaps a chance to reunite with Jonker, combined with Champions League football and a clearer path to the first team, can persuade Muller to come to North London rather than Old Trafford.
Muller can be the "world class striker" Gooners are crying out for. Sign him up, Arsene!
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