Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Premier League stars will struggle to keep it going till May
Well, we appear to have solved the conundrum of why every Premier League player is knackered come June. Considering the ferocity of this game, it is more of a surprise they make it into September. [LNB]There are another 37 instalments of this, plus European matches and domestic cups. Those new to English football, such as Marouane Chamakh of Arsenal, left almost wide-eyed at their first experience of the Premier League in the raw. [LNB]Meanwhile stalwarts, the outstanding Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher of Liverpool in particular, merely girded their loins for another year of the usual. [LNB]CLICK HERE TO READ MATT LAWTON'S MATCH REPORT Wide open: Marouane Chamakh, escaping from Jamie Carragher, encountered an interesting debut to Premier League football[LNB]With the scheduling of a prime fixture on the opening weekend of the season, if the intention of the Premier League was to blow away bitter memories of the World Cup, the decision was vindicated. [LNB]Here was the perfect antidote to the residue of gloom that has settled on the English game since the retreat from Bloemfontein. [LNB]The Premier League may be gloriously cosmopolitan, and locals may be the minority (79 of the 198 who started this weekend), but there is something truly English in football played this way and the most remarkable aspect is how quickly those introduced to the game from abroad embrace it. [LNB]There were just five Englishmen in the 22 starters - four Liverpool, one Arsenal - yet from the start the pace was fast, the action furious, the standard high. At this level any player who is slightly below par - Andrey Arshavin for Arsenal, Joe Cole for Liverpool- is quickly exposed. [LNB]Jack Wilshere lasted only 59 minutes on his full Premier League debut for Arsenal, but he did enough in that time to justify his inclusion and suggest an impressive degree of comfort. [LNB]Maybe it was this that caused Cole to lunge impetuously at defender Laurent Koscielny shortly before half-time, earning the first red card of his career. He would certainly not have enjoyed continued unflattering comparisons with a rival such as Wilshere, 10 years his junior. [LNB] Standing his ground: Jack Wilshere fared well on his full Premier League debut for Arsenal, getting to grips with Javier Mascherano[LNB]It sums up the nature of this game, and of the Premier League, that the most abandoned challenges of the afternoon were perpetrated by the two players whose presence is synonymous with fantasy. [LNB]Cole was sent off for his demolition of Koscielny by a corner flag, Wilshere was fortunate to escape similar retribution for a studs-up challenge on Javier Mascherano five minutes earlier. Either way, for a newcomer like Chamakh it must have been a revelation. [LNB]If these are the playmakers, what the hell must the hatchet men be like? [LNB]Many considered Cole hard done by and, after a few reviews of the video, perhaps he was. Roy Hodgson, the Liverpool manager and as ever a voice of reason, said he thought Cole was trying hard to cut out the pass up the line but misjudged his desperate block and caught the player. Arsene Wenger agreed that Cole was not a nasty player and a serious foul would be out of character. [LNB]Yet, had defender Koscielny committed the same foul on Cole, nobody would have given him the benefit of the doubt. It would have been perceived as a dirty defender trying to kick a creative player out of the game. Liverpool may appeal, but probably won't get far. [LNB] Red rage: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson defended new signing Joe Cole after his red card[LNB]So, in the circumstances, Wilshere was fortunate. He had a good hour, used the ball intelligently, restricted risk-taking dribbles to a minimum, kept Arsenal's midfield ticking in the absence of Cesc Fabregas but when he did take a heavy touch his reaction, launching a doomed recovery attempt which caught Mascherano painfully, was every bit as reckless as Cole's tackle.[LNB] It came earlier, though, so perhaps referee Martin Atkinson was not as fearful of the game getting out of hand at the time. Maybe he thought this part of an ongoing battle with Mascherano, who as Liverpool's enforcer has been known to get the odd one in himself. [LNB]Maybe Atkinson is simply a sentimental sort and did not want to dismiss a teenager on his debut. Whatever his reasoning, he showed Wilshere clemency that Cole was denied. Not that being reduced to 10 greatly affected Liverpool. [LNB]They took the lead after 46 minutes, could have increased it and it was only in the last 20 minutes that Arsenal came strongly back into the game. Wenger's decision to stick with two of his least effective forwards, Arshavin and Chamakh, was eventually justified as they combined to create the equalising goal, even if it needed Pepe Reina to help it into his own net. [LNB] Fever pitch: Chamakh looks on as Reina fumbles in Arsenal's dramatic equaliser to silence a bouncing Anfield[LNB]Yet if this, and the late dismissal of Koscielny for two bookable offences, make the denouement appear scrappy, it did not feel that way. It just felt very English, as it so often does when these most continentally flavoured teams meet. [LNB]Remember the 4-4 draw at Anfield - Arshavin scored all four for the away team - when Arsenal were said to have nothing to play for, or the epic Champions League quarter-final in 2008? What this lacked in goals it compensated for in sheer intensity. Even the crowd were at fever pitch. [LNB]They will never be able to keep that up until May; and the same goes for the players.[LNB] Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1: Joe Cole sees red as late Pepe Reina blunder gifts Gunners a share of the spoils at AnfieldLiverpool plan to appeal Joe Cole's opening day red cardLiverpool 1 Arsenal 1: How the action unfolded at AnfieldLIVERPOOL FC
