What price one point? Liverpool 1 - Arsenal 1

Well, Liverpool managed a draw against Arsenal. Good enough, given the balance of the match and the performances of the two teams. One might even say that Liverpool was lucky to come away with this one point. Arsenal missed several good chances, had a seemingly legitimate shout for a penalty turned down and dominated the midfield after Xabi Alonso's substitution.

Compared to the performance against Baksitas, this was a marked improvement by Liverpool. They defended much better, for one thing. It was positively godsent not to concede an own goal for the third match running. But there is an obvious lack of creativity going forward, more pronounced than ever in light of the recent exploits of Arsenal and Manchester United, both teams achieving a brand of football to which Liverpool dare not aspire. Heck, even Chelsea managed a 6-0 hammering of Manchester City over the weekend.

Still, it could be said that creative, attacking football is not a pre-requisite for successful teams. Chelsea won two Premiership titles without ever much caring to be entertaining while they were grinding out results.

The problem is that Liverpool is not grinding out the wins. Although undefeated in the Premiership, the team lies sixth and behind Blackburn, of all indignities. After just one quarter of the season, they have already settled too many matches in draws that should have been victories. At the end of the season, surely the team will lament the points dropped in the draws againt Portsmouth, Birmingham and the beleaguered Tottenham.

Of course, this draw against Arsenal is not one of the ones Liverpool should or could have won.
All things considered, a point against a clearly superior Arsenal team is a good point to have gained. However, this is a point earned at the expense of injuries to Torres, Alonso and Mascherano. Without Torres, one hardly knows where the goals are going to come from. Crouch seems the best bet of the forward line, but I am afraid Benitez's persistence with not starting Crouch might even drive him away from Liverpool.

I am reserving space for yet another mention of Voronin, the non-striking wonder. Benitez must have liked something about him, but all I am seeing so far is a rather cumbersome player with a distinct lack of pace and grace, and the unfortunate tendency to waste good chances. Whenever a good pass or cross falls to him, I groan in anticipation of an off-target shot or a complete failure to connect. It's gotten to where I am hoping not to see a pony-tailed figure in the penalty box when Liverpool is mounting an attack.

I am beginning to think that the Premiership is a no-go zone for Ukrainian strikers named Andriy. Maybe Benitez should have learnt something from the Shiva experiment at Chelsea and there is no doubting that Shevchenko is the more accomplished player. Looking at the Guardian's ever-so helpful players statistics page, I find that Voronin has played 10 internationals (with 8 starts) this season and not yet managed to score. Hmm, I suppose Liverpool is actually lucky that he is managing a better goals:games ratio with club than he has with country??

Here's hoping that third time's the charm! Prove me wrong, Andriy!!