Anfield Choir Falls Flat

To the astonishment of many, especially on Merseyside, the F.A. Cup holders have fallen at the first hurdle, dismissed from the competition by an Arsenal side resolute in defence and full of flair in attack, on an Anfield day that began like a protest meeting, was transformed briefly into a choral festival and faded into despondency as the home side’s early domination of possession failed to produce clear cut chances.

By contrast, the fluent Gunners looked dangerous almost every time they advanced. As early as the 19th minute, the outstanding Tomas Rosicky burst through but the pass was fractionally over paced, then eight minutes before half time he took a pass from Hleb first time and swept the ball past a surprised Dudek. And on the stroke of half time, the same player jinked his way to the edge of the box and with three Liverpool players close by, calmly sent a low shot into the far corner.

Even after the industrious Dirk Kuyt knocked in Crouch’s header with almost 20 minutes remaining, Arsenal seemed supremely unruffled and in the 84th minute Thierry Henry put the game beyond doubt with a piece of stunning acceleration that took him past Jamie Carragher, after which the majestic finish was a formality and chants of not walking alone, or being moved, sadly irrelevant.