Result: Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 28 September 2020
Venue: Anfield
Starting lineup: Leno, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Bellerin, Xhaka, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Runarsson, Gabriel, Kolasinac, Ceballos, Saka, Pepe, Nketiah
A dominant Liverpool inflicted a first defeat of the season on Arsenal as they bounced back from going behind to secure a 3-1 victory at Anfield.
The Gunners took the lead against the run of play thanks to Lacazette’s scruffy finish but the champions hit back with two goals from Mane and Robertson before the break.
The Gunners had a great chance to equalise after the break but after Alisson denied Lacazette the hosts came on strong again and closed the game out thanks to substitute Jota’s debut goal with two minutes remaining.
Pre-game
Mikel Arteta admitted pre-game that with a host of fit players to choose from, he found it very difficult whittling his travelling squad down to 18. The big news was the return of Kieran Tierney to the starting lineup. The Scot took up a position on the left of a three-man defence that also featured David Luiz – in for Gabriel – and Rob Holding. In midfield, Mo Elneny was given the nod ahead of Dani Ceballos while Willian and Alex Lacazette pipped Pepe and Eddie Nketiah to starting berths. The likes of Willock and Nelson stayed back in London with the usual absentees.
First half
This was a very tough 45 minutes for Arteta’s men who did their best to defend from the front and stay compact but just couldn’t handle the sheer relentlessness of Klopp’s unit. The home side dominated possession (70%-30%), had 11 attempts on goal – five on target – and a couple of goals to their name. That we were only one goal behind at the break was something of a miracle.
Sadio Mane signalled the Reds’ intent to press high by barrelling into Bellerin and Tierney inside the first three minutes. The Senegal striker picked up a booking for the latter with his arm flung with intent into the Scot’s face. Might it have been a red card? On another day, quite possibly.
The chances started to flow not long after. David Luiz did well to clear a Van Dijk header from a dangerous Alexander-Arnold cross, Leno blocked a Mane effort from the same source and the right-back hit the bar with a long-range effort that deflected off Bellerin.
Despite Liverpool snapping into challenges, we stubbornly stuck to our philosophy of playing from the keeper and, while admirable, it also led to a chance for Wijnaldum after we gave the ball away on the edge of our box. The Dutchman’s effort was tame.
Up to the 25th minutes, our main problem was an inability to break through the lines. When that finally happened, we scored, completely against the run of play. The initial part of the move involved slick football as Maitland-Niles, Tierney, Aubameyang and Xhaka worked the ball to Lacazette on the halfway line. The Frenchman then fed Maitland-Niles again darting down the left flank. So far, so stylish. Then things descended into comedy. The England international’s cross should have been bread and butter for Robertson, but the Scot panicked, accidentally deflecting the ball backwards where Lacazette was on hand to mishit the ball past Alisson. (1-0)
It proved to be our only effort of the half. Soon the Liverpool onslaught started again and inside ten minutes we’d conceded twice. First Mane tapped in after Leno parried Salah’s shot into his path (1-1) and not long after Robertson nicked in at the back post after another dangerous Alexander-Arnold cross caused havoc. (2-1)
If that was disappointing, so too was a poor touch by Maitland-Niles who was put clean through on goal by a long ball by Luiz. Alisson snuffed out the danger.
Second half
Arteta obviously told his players to be more positive and it was noticeable how far further forward Elneny and Xhaka tried to play. We looked a bit better but Liverpool still looked relatively comfortable. Interestingly, it was the Swiss who was sacrificed at the hour mark as Ceballos was sent into the fray.
The Spaniard was quick to make an impact. A brilliant pass set Lacazette free on goal but the Frenchman, despite taking a touch to set himself, couldn’t beat Alisson who blocked with ease. If that had been Aubameyang, we’d likely have been on level terms.
At the other end, Mane swivelled and fired just wide. Another curler by the Senegalese forced Leno to pluck the ball out of the air. Into the final 15 minutes and Firmino had a further effort deflected for a corner.
New boy Jota, on as a sub, then had two chances in quick succession. He hit high and wide with his first attempt and then curled into the side netting. The second should have been the death of us. Let off the hook, could we make the home side pay by grabbing a late equaliser? No. Jota had yet another chance, this time taking it with a controlled volley that trickled in off the post. (3-1)
Aubameyang, who had a very quiet game, did attempt to reduce the deficit in stoppage time with a darting run but his lay-off towards Nketiah didn’t come off. The whistle went soon after.
All in all, not a hugely surprising result. We don’t have much time to chew things over. We’ll be back at Anfield in less than 72 hours to play the Reds in the Carabao Cup. We can expect heavy rotation for that game with Sheffield United coming to the Emirates on Sunday.
Other teams making great signings all over the place and then there’s us playing virtually the same 11 as last season but for the addition of Elneny. I wonder if that’s the assurances Auba was given when he signed the new deal
Yep, the same damned eleven (pus Willian and Leno), who won the Cup, the Shield beat Liverpool twice, Chel$ki and $iteh. Pathetic really. We should have let Auba go to Barca to freshen things up a bit.
Hah. Panic button already. F*cks sake. This is the bloody champions, has everybody forgotten? We gave a good account of ourselves – thoroughly outplayed on paper don’t get me wrong, but could’ve easily snatched the draw or heck might even win if Lacazette was more clinical. Most important now is how the team reacts; and I agree with you on one point though, let’s get Aouar over the line.
True..Liverpool at Anfield..difficult ask
Maybe it’s just the Laca miss that is pinching in a lot of us!!
Bet you said something along these same lines years ago whole the spuds were wasting their Bale money. Hey, it’s Liverpool, league champions (by 19 points), whom we trailed by 43 points at the end of last season. We aren’t going to be facing them every week.
AMN was poor. Missed Martinez. Worried about Pepe.
AMN has never offered anything other than excellent man marking. With Gabriel adapting we should be able to play Tierney at LWB.
AMN is good he had an off day today most of our players did. But then ARTETA should’ve never benched Gabriel the team picked itself Tierney LWB Gabriel keeps his place etc etc but ARTETA made that mistake and it cost us
Martinez wouldn’t have mattered at all. Our wins over then involved us soaking up massive amounts of pressure and getting outshot 6 or 7 to 1 and converting virtually all of our shots on target into goals. That’s not going to routinely work against one of the top sides in Europe
He brings a presence that Leno just doesn’t have. I just prefer a bigger goalie who can collect. I feel more comfortable
and I think the team do too.
I mean I prefer Martínez too and think we made the wrong choice, but Leno was good. What did he do wrong? He’s a very good goalie, I just think Martínez is a very very good goalie. Either way having 1, preferably 2 upgrades in midfield is far more important than the slight difference between Leno and Martínez. If we don’t get that out won’t matter much. Because our current midfield isnt getting us back to top 4.
Except that Leno was one of the best keepers in the entire pl the past 2 years. Massively underrated by arsenal fans for some bizarre reason
Recency bias
Right because the difference between us winning and losing this game was a calm presence from a big strapping keeper who’s sheer girth would have intimidated and nullified the Liverpool attack. Outstanding analysis.
One who is virtually the same size as Leno by the way. We’re not talking ospina here
True nothing the goalie could do for any of the goals
Disagree actually, a stronger hand on the first would have pushed the ball further away and he could have made himself bigger for the second. Would Martinez have done better, who knows, but Leno probably could have prevented at least one of them.
Leno is poor didnt come off his line to command the box and waits to the last second to get rid of the ball
Rubbish.
Thought Leno was at fault for the first and third goals simply by not being proactive and coming to catch the initial easy deliveries into the box which were than cleared poorly.
Willian and Bellerin were shocking for Robertsons goal.
PEPE is garbage you saw him come on and under press while Bellerin had the ball he kept coming towards the ball towards Bellerin when he should be going the other direction trying together behind the defender. He came so close to Bellerin , Bellerin had to tell him to go like its common sense the guy lacks a footballing brain
What frustrates me is the fact he only has one foot. Would he be worth £140m if he could use both feet? Also, my left foot was a bit rubbish so I spent ages working on it in training so it was no longer an issue. Why is someone being paid so much unable to do the same?
AMN was excellent defensively…ran his arse off tracking down..still needs to work on the final ball going forward though
Would give him full marks for running his socks off up and down against an intensive Pool press
AMN is different gravy simmering away….
That may be all well and good in the Championship but we need to be on a much higher level. Would Athletico Madrid play someone who ‘still needed to work on the final ball’? At this level that should no longer be an issue, surely?
Easy to point a finger at a single player and it makes sense but ask yourself. How was Bellerin better on the other side? How was Auba better ahead of him or Willian on the other side (who didn’t look like taking on the full back and that’s his strength). How was Xhaka better and I’ll say it Elneny was very good when pressed and pressing. He looked the only player willing to put in a foot at the end of a good collective team press. Our central defence wasn’t poor but you get punished if guys come at you… Read more »
Miss Emi’s ability to get us started from the back. Leno looks like he has cement in his legs
Martinez had what 9 -10 games, good games, but who to say he will do it over a season.
i seem to remember Leno making many world class saves, when we where in the shit.
Do you think it might be that Martinez played in a more secure defence, since Arteta took over.
i like Martinez, but he is not the one to take us forward0
Wrong Line up. Correct Sub. Lacazette is spent cartridge. Ftom his position he should be banging them in. Yet scores 1 in every 10 big chances. This makes a difference. The game would be easily 2-2 at the final whistle.
Defensive organization was whack, I think Gabriel would have done better.
Would be quite happy not to see Luis play again.
Really? We lack in midfield. We were well organised at the back. Xhaka and Elneny? State of it
What an absolute waste of time. I’ve seen more ambitious line ups in the local Tesco.
Let’s be honest it was a 1 dimensional lineup that just played safe and gave them nothing to think about. With a step back this Artetaball is looking rather like emeryball. We’ve sold our best keeper and there’s 3 or 4 players either past it or not good enough to progress this club. And where the hell was our new £30m commanding CB, motm in his first two games?
Arteta defaulting to experience over merit is seriously disappointing.
I cant really understand those criticising Arteta already, but its a free world and everbody entitled to their own opinion. We are playing the current EPL champion, recent European champion, one of the best, if not the best team in Europe, coached by one of the best coaches in the world, and we, coached by a rookie, who who made Arsenal a force to contend with within a few weeks of taking over, won the FA cup, outfoxed the best coach in the world, Pep his mentor, and Kopp, arguably the second best in the world, all within less than… Read more »
Gabriel is no faster than Tierney who himself was given a torrid time by Salah all night..let’s just accept that the opposition players and play was better..no shame in losing to Mugsmashers at Anfield..and believe you me we had them earn their win right through the game
I mean they had to be in top gear throughout to win it..unlike previous years wherein we have seen them stroll through
Yeah at least now they have to be bang at it or we’ll have them. That’s a big improvement.
Playing Gabriel would allow Tierney to actually play his position where he’d be much more useful. Keira and Ran into worked well to crown out on the counter, most times he cut in on his right foot, they tackled him and recycled possession again.
We just weren’t very good that’s all. That’s fine, unlike with Emery I’m not worried because Arteta is more intelligent.
However I posted earlier that statistically we performed better in this same fixture last season.
*** Keita and Fabinho worked well to crowd out AMN on the counter.
Only positive we did not lose by 5-1. After seeing first half performance, I was prepared for that. Hope this will open eyes of our board and they will sign some MFs
Sign them muthafuckers
They were really pressing hard in first half as they came up with plan. We couldn’t cope up. Second half was better. I know it is easy to call things in hindsight but from start I felt, we should have started with Gabriel and Ceballos
1000% agree. Cannot understand at all why Gabriel and Ceballos were not out there at the start. Still wondering what’s going on with Saliba.
5-1?
Only Laca could have scored two more…
Interesting that Mane only gets a yellow card for a blatant red card offence. That would have changed the game, no doubt. Can’t help but feel we’ve been robbed (despite Liverpool having been the better side throughout otherwise).
blatant red card offence?
Yes, definitely two yellows there. A few fouls with no decision our way but overall we could not complain about result -just Mane’s involvement in it.
While the wins over them in the cup & community shield were terrific, the reality is we’re not in the same league as Liverpool at this point and aren’t going to win a lot of games where we get outshot almost 6 to 1. The success of our season is going to depend on improving our win total against the smaller teams which is why we seem to be pushing for a new midfield.
Actually we’re both in Premier League.
Haha
Agreed. The course of this season will be determined far more by upcoming results against SU, Leicester and MU than what we did at Anfield. 15 or 16 other sides will also go there and come away with nothing to show for it. We’re a work in progress, were organised and worked hard – move on.
Probably more than 15 or 16 – last season only Burnley managed to snatch a point at Anfield.
To be honest, Martinez shouldn’t have been sold at whatever cost.
No it seems Leno is not quite as good …
I found myself wondering if Emi would have caught some of those parries, but to be fair, Leno is now competing against the nostalgia of peak FA Cup + Community Shield Martinez. That’s going to be hard to beat.
He didn’t look as confident on the ball to me, eg he hung onto it too long a few times and put us in trouble when we were passing it around at the back.
Liverpool were on us really fast to be fair. I’m not sure Emi quite had to deal with that.
I wondered if our keeper and defenders were asked to delay their passes to draw Liverpool in. It made for some nervous moments, and we got away with it for the most part.
A few times the delays even let us breakout into the midfield in plenty of space. Unfortunately we couldn’t make anything out of those chances, and the ball quickly came back to the centre halves.
I dunno I thought we did it better before. It gave their players more time to anticipate the passes and get on the next guy to put him under pressure.
The way they press is INSANE. At certain point when we were knocking it round the back, I counted SIX of their players pressing our box…
When do we stop with the whinging and jump at berating Leno at every chance that we get?
I think a lot of people have memory issues here and totally forget about how the entire fan base was singing the praises for Leno before he got injured.
Let me remind you that it was Arteta who sold Martinez and Leno has got nothing to do about it. Stop sucking his confidence away you lot by giving him the stick on his Social Media accounts which I am sure a lot of you must be doing by now.
We all need to get over Emi sale now.
That’s difficult to do when we have a keeper who can’t catch the ball and punches it into trouble. Leno always makes me nervous and I think he has the same effect on the defence. It was stupid to sell Martinez.
All I’m saying is – he’s gone, so no point in labouring decision. Put it with Gnabry, RVP, Henry and every other sale.
With all due respect, that fucking idiotic.
Leno looks a bit flappy lately but let’s not forget how good he’s been. Martinez was superb but we’ll never know how he would respond to a clanger or prolonged scutiny.
He’s certainly good but I do wonder if we are seeing the difference a bit more vs stronger opposition.
Not much point worrying about it anyway, as people keep pointing out it’s done now
Rubbish. Arteta has become so risk averse and passive. That starting XI wasn’t even top 6 quality. A game and opportunity that has totally passed us by.
Laca and Auba must have been on the lash last night. Both massively lacking sharpness.
Just if…
Lacazette would have scored that 2nd chance…
Liverpool are a really really good team but the boys did give them a game.
It just requires something extra to get a win or point at their place.
This wasn’t that night and hope for the next one!
Poor cover on crosses and wide positions generally. I’m losing faith with Hector: he can’t defend properly now and isn’t a forward either. How many goals have we shipped on his back post?
At the second time of asking Willian chipped in with defending in a similar scenario. That’s more to do with defensive awareness from both wingback and the forward
Willian was more at fault for the first goal than any other person. He didn’t cover Robertson’s run. All this constant berating of Bellerin is getting annoying.
you are right cuz
Nah man, if you watch the goal back; Bellerin runs to the middle and ends up jumping into the back of Holding, only to deflect the ball to Robertson, who’s free 6 yards out.
Yes, Willian should have tracked back (like he did later on) but Bellerin is and has always been poor defensively.
I for one want him gone, and would take £25/£30 for him in heartbeat. Problem is no one is presented to pay that much…
Give them a game? We defended for about 80 minutes. I think we had 3 shots. Our front 3 cost us nearly 180 million. We were completely out played by a superior team that embarrasses us.
Leno is a poor man’s Manuel Nuer
Can’t help but see the flaws in his game now since Emi left. This is going to go on all season for everyone isn’t it. Leno is still a very good keeper and was one of our best players last season. I thought he could have done a bit better for the first goal today but he’ll have better days.
He’s a poor man’s Martinez
Player of the season in 2019
Ha. Great one there, just top thinking.
EVERY KEEPER is a poor man’s Nuer – currently the best keeping breathing.
Good heavens.
Fuck off all you Leno haters. He was the player of the season with Auba before his injury.
What a toxic fanbase we can have at times.
Meh. Inevitable. No midfield, no chance.
Hopefully this will add weight before the window closes to sign a creative MF
“High pressing” was Klopp’s first words in English. Arsenal never managed to play out from behind, but lost the ball every time(!). Arsenal players are simply not good enough without the ball, in this match Elneny and Bellerin hid when they got a chance. Luiz is terrible at it and Xhaka ran to find someone to stand behind.
We lost the ball all the time yet Laca scored one from our counter, missed one on one with the keeper, and Auba and Nketiah almost scored one at the death.
Pathetic comment.
Disappointed but this performance is already better than some of our previous meetings at Anfield. This was no capitulation, just the gap of quality in the squad. We tried but ultimately failed. Now we just need to give Arteta the tools to fight with.
I don’t understand why we’re giving Liverpool so much respect like they’re prime Barcelona. Just play the balls through the channel and have our attackers run onto it. It’s not that hard. Ceballos was cutting them apart time after time and, if not for some poor decisions and finishing, we would have been right in that game. Wrong attitude from the start cost us.
Exactly this.
Hmm, for all their adequacy, neither Xhaka or Elneny seem to be able to play the ball upfront when under pressure. Ceballos prefers a speculative forward pass when coming under the press, which usually leads to a good attacking situation… We need more of that next time we play them. Their press is designed to encourage you to pass backwards, so maybe we need to figure out how to make a speculative forward pass in such situations count for more – could be attackers occupy the 3 channels at all times waiting for such passes when the press starts… Maybe… Read more »
Word!
couldn’t have said it better myself
Yep if the gentleman in your picture was a bit more clinical it would be a different scoreline.
Sigh…
Haha..yeah it’s not that hard to pass through channels against this Pool team who just had 99 points last season!! I think Arteta knows better and tried to play the way he thot wud be best for us to get a result outta it…the boys tried really hard but the opposition was a better team..hard luck but let’s hope for a better result against the Sheffield United!
Spot on! We lost that game before the kick off. There was £200 million just rotting on our bench. Liverpool are not that good if you attack them, look at Leeds the other week. That was a dismal line up from Arteta and negative from the start. I cannot wait to see the back of this shite 343 with Auba still coving back at LB.
BAD TEAM SELECTION by Arteta this is a first
We really missed Martinez. He gave us calmness in defense that we will never have.
Aruba is wasted out on the wing in games like that. Barely touched the ball and not really a dribbler to create something. Need him on the end of things instead.
Not sure who Aruba is, bloody autocorrect. Auba obviously.
On the end of the chances lack scuffed… yeah I agree
Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I want to take you to Bermuda Bahama, come on pretty mama
Rubbish. Arteta has become so risk averse and passive. That starting XI wasn’t even top 6 quality. A game and opportunity that has totally passed us by.
What opportunity? We were playing Pool at Anfield…even the mightiest have struggled there in recent times…relax!
HOLDING, AMN, XHAKA and in patches LENO were POOR. Leno on the 2nd goal Martinez would’ve saved that
Holding and Bellerin had some communication errors. But I feel like Rob did a great job in finding an answer to almost every question they asked him.
Our first half was atrocious! Couldn’t believe my eyes. Felt like our boys lacked courage and the game plan didn’t help!
Not being able to play three midfielders in our setups will hurt our season if we continue like this.
Absolutely dominated in the first half
Gabriel should’ve started, Tierney or Saka should’ve started at Lwb there was no need to unbalance the team when we had a capable CB who’s aggressive and fast in Gabriel ARTETA made a mistake but he’ll learn
The decision to play Luiz instead of Gabriel was a sensitive one. What if Gabriel had a really bad day and got terrorized? His confidence would have been shattered. That is the last thing we need!
Patronising commentators, saying Arsenal were well disciplined and we’re harder to beat under Arteta. Piss off, we were lucky we weren’t destroyed here. We showed no ambition what so ever and scored a flukey goal. The defence was shit, dropping Gabriel for Tierney backfired, as Salah mugged him off all the first half. AMN was appalling, Auba non existent, but he had no service. Ceballos was our best player and he got 20 minutes. Xhaka is pants and unless he was injured it was perhaps telling he was subbed instead of Elneny, who in fairness wasn’t bad. Holding isn’t good… Read more »
Xhaka is useless in a game like this, where he hasnt got all the time and space in the world to pick his passes – and panics at any pressure. He has improved significantly in his defensive side especially in his positioning since Arteta took over, but I still dont see him being good enough to perform at the highest level. Elneny is a decent defensive cover, get things done but nothing too spectacular. At the moment I’d rather pair him with ceballos against opponents that press high.
And to think Leeds United played this same Liverpool team off the park! Our performance today was both shocking and underwhelming!
I don’t get it. We set up pretty much the same way we did against them in the league last time and in the Community Shield, and also against City in the FA Cup and got results. We were not quite as good today as we were in those games; but we had a game plan, and if not for some suspect finishing, we could have gone away with a point against the best team in Europe who haven’t lost a game at their home in 3 years. But it seems like you were expecting a walk in park. This… Read more »
You are deluded, as FMT points out, Leeds put 3 past them and Liverpool were lucky to scrape through. We were shite, plain and simple so don’t try to portray this as a game plan. If our game plan all season against teams that are above us we may as well not bother. Football matches are there to be won so don’t try to compartmentalise any game. Our 2 strikers cost 100 million, we have Pepe who cost 72 million. Champions league winners, League winners. We beat City and Chelsea because we played aggressively against them. We bottled it tonight… Read more »
Leeds were first game of the season, Liverpool were still rusty. We were shite, no one’s denying that, think of it as Fulham playing us at the Emirates, where we are Fulham, and Liverpool are Arsenal. There’s a massive gap in terms of how far these teams are in terms of development. Liverpool is a fully developed side, one of the two best teams in Europe. You think just being aggressive wouldn’t have have played into their hands? Even then, there were moments in the 2nd half where we took control and did well. I would take those as positives… Read more »
My expectations are that we compete and try to win football matches. We basically defended for 80 minutes and we didn’t muster a shot until about 60 minutes, other than a fortuitous goal. For a club the size and reputation of Arsenal it is not good enough. I am not saying we should go there and play them off the park, but at least try to string a few moves together, instead of shitting yourselves. Most of the team played poorly and were very negative. Tierney at one point had acres of space ahead of him, Xhaka was covering left… Read more »
Yes, yes, yes. This exactly spot on. Totally my thoughts. Why should we accept this performance as good enough? It isn’t just this game either, this team is going backwards into their shell week by week.
I’m just realistic in my expectations. There was a point in the Emery era when watching Arsenal was a pain in the ass. We were conceding 25 shots against Watford. I see improvement. I see space for more improvement. Grinding out results. Patterns of play. That for now is enough. I expect us to compete for top 4. Not compete with Liverpool. And in that, I believe I’m being fair.
We sold the wrong keeper ☹️
And what’s worse is we all knew before he left ??♂️
Guys relax.
The team did put in a good shift and we even had a reasonable chance for a draw.
Liverpool has not lost at home in 61 games, it will require some special and extraordinary to win there.
This is Arteta’s first full season. It will take some time.
COYG
My sentiments exactly. ?
IKR. I think Arsenal team wasn’t without faults(perhaps too many against Champions) but they played well and could have come with something in a better day. About team selection and Leno hindsight is 20/20. Personally I would have liked Nkeitah or even Pepe instead of Laca. I think he just didn’t have the confidence even with a goal already. I actually I wonder if Arteta would put Pepe in (false) number 9 against high line team coz Pepe has the pace to break the line.
It’s not like Laca is doing great in anything else.
I think the team is functioning better as a unit but I don’t really agree that we played well tonight.
Last year in this same fixture : 48% possession, 9 shots, 3 shots on target, 516 passes, 86% passing accuracy, 5 fouls, 4 offsides.
Tonight’s fixture: 33% possession, 4 shots, 3 shots on target, 390 passes, 75% passing accuracy, 7 fouls, 5 offsides.
The scores were the exact same too. The stats don’t lie unfortunately
The referee seemed intent in ignoring a succession of Liverpool fouls, all I saw was Keita pushing everyone in a white shirt all evening and Pawson saw nothing.
Arsenal weren’t at their best but Pawson was crap.
Listen bro. we are past whining on pushes coz we have given as much and toughen up recently. The thing is we didn’t have creativity in mid areas until Ceballos checked in, and couldn’t score a half a chance
Van Dijk seems to be able to just fall and gets a whistle every bloody time.
WE LOOKED LIKE UNAI EMERY’s team out there. Thats why i’m angry im more angry at the manner of the LOSS than the loss
Unai Emery’s team against Watford, yes.
Two and a half things off my chest. 1) Our press is hollow. we press right but stand off the man with the ball so it’s easy to pass around it and all of a sudden we look vulnerable 2) when we win it we panic under the press and give it away with ease. Elneny love him or hate him looked the only one with an idea how to play it away from the press till Ceballos came on. Great call from Arteta because those two weren’t panicked and actually combined to create that final chance Laca should have… Read more »
True Elneny was the best…before Ceballos arrived
I’ll be interested to see some statistical analysis. They are a great team but I feel like we shot ourselves in the foot with unforced errors. It felt like a lot of stray passes and bad decisions from the back. Also very poor wing coverage given the fact we were playing Liverpool.
Also what a terrible starting XI. Where’s Saka, Ceballos, Pepe, Gabriel? Add to that the inability to play Guendouzi, Torreira, Ozil and we have a second XI team playing the best team in the world. Basically telegraphing that we didn’t come for any points.
I don’t get half the downvotes tonight. Match statistics are a fact not an opinion. Can I read your source please, for research??
I’m seeing similar data that suggests tonight wasn’t an improvement from last season’s fixture aside from aerial duels won.
We’re better than that. Our passing was bad, our forwards were off, what is going on with Lacazette and where the hell is Auba since he signed that bloody contract? Two games he’s been invisible. That ref was a bad joke and we didn’t play like we can. Lets get the win on Thursday.
A forward needs to get the ball in order to score. Barely got the back because Luiz, AMN and Co were too busy kicking it off Liverpool players.
Wow. Slagging off Auba, a la’ Ozil. It’s begun already. ?
Firstly I want to congratulate Liverpool on their back to back titles. Was always going to be a very tough game, really showed the levels and the need for us to reinvest in the team.
Look, they haven’t lost at home in an age and suffered one single draw last year. What I see is Arsenal defending as a team, generally being much more structured and solid. Were we at the races? Not particularly but we didn’t roll over, didn’t make it easy for them, didn’t commit any glaring errors and played until the last moment.
I think we are getting markedly better and I don’t expect 38 wins this season. Liverpool away is one of those you just do your best to take anything from.
Well said mate. People are expecting miracles from a team that is still being rebuilt – it ain’t gonna happen. Yet.
time to bring in SALIBA I 100% sure Saliba would have done better than Holding today
I just saw Holding play the best he’s done since returning from the cruciate injury but why let critical judgement get in the way of omniscience.
Holding was left isolated with mane all game and stood up to his task. Wasn’t perfect but I thought he had a good game under the circumstances. Normally mane would get more joy in a 1v1. Maybe is best game since his injury.
This guy’s a troll.
What else did we expect? Liverpool have the term Champions written all over them. They were relentless as a unit and just kept going even after their third goal. Full credits to them. The gap is huge at the moment between Liverpool and us. It is going to take a lot of work to get there and a good start would to sign some quality midfielders. I thought that is where we lost the match. Let our owners cry all they want about the crisis situation and the lack of funds.. but they just have got to look at Liverpool… Read more »
Laaaaaa ca zette zette zette
Put the ball into the net
Good reminder what elite football looks like. Something to aspire to.
I love/hate these Liverpool games for exactly that reason
Not the worst performance. If Laca had scored we might be having a different conversation but fine margins etc. This is where we are as a team. Do your thing Edu!
Last away win ag top six was in 2015! Whats is wrong with us? Wish I got the answer.
Yep. That stat (in the league) would have died last season but Wolves dropped out of the top 6.
The truth is if that stat remains at the end of this season then it’s a sign of stagnation.
However I’m still optimistic as Anfield is a tough ask any way. At least when we win there (in the league) it will be in front of angry Scousers.
Till then we wait?
I never want to see that bald fraud lacazette leading the line again
31 year old Auba playing at LW in these sort of games is just madness. He needs to be up front with another winger such as Saka at LW. If that’s Auba there instead of Laca, he scores.
Onwards and upwards. We’re work in progress and lost away to the champions and possibly the second best team in the world. I can live with that. Nevertheless, what I’d do for a creative midfielder (no, not Ozil).
You had me until your last three words.
Bemoaning our midfield creativity and then inferring that we don’t need Ozil is like having an overgrown garden and moaning about how unsightly it is, when there’s a still reasonably good (and somewhat expensive) lawnmower in the shed.
We’re the last club who can afford to waste money and resources at the moment – and yet, here we are.
Shit performance.
We were garbage in the first half and not much better in the second. No Arsenal attacking threat made it nice and comfortable for Liverpool. Felt sorry for Aubameyang, who hardly saw the ball. Lacazette proved again that he’s not in the top class of Pl strikers with that awful miss. And 72million Pepe can’t even take a corner! At least Ceballos was decent when he came on.
Massively disappointing night. We need to spend in the next week.
Glad you said it, everyone was sub-par unfortunately. Best chance to draw at Anfield in ages with no fans but the score-line ended up the same as last season.
Arsenal and Arteta have to be very shrewd with whatever transfer business we do from now on. That’s the only way I see the quality improving.
That’s why I’m worried about this pursuit of Aouar. He’s too similar to Ceballos. We did the same thing with Lacazette before he joined and look where we are now. Giroud 2.0
Signing players that will sell shirts but can’t deliver when it really counts.
Not going to lay into the lads because they gave it a good go – it was certainly no mauling and a reasonably respectable performance. The result is no big surprise because Liverpool are a different class at the moment, although I think 3-1 flatters them a little. My one slight criticism of the team selection is that I would have maybe played Ceballos instead of Elneny and kept Gabriel in for Luiz, but even then, things may have been beyond us. At least it’s still very early in the season and that’s Anfield out of the way. We live… Read more »
Glad to see your optimism Q. Though I looked into what the commentators and fellow gooners are saying about improvement but it’s not true unfortunately.
Tonight wasn’t an improvement statistically from the 2019 fixture. I would post why but I’ve already mentioned it and don’t want to spam.
I guess Arteta is charismatic enough that folks are overlooking this
What exactly is Pepe doing?
Didn’t get to see the replays properly , but wasn’t jota’s one a handball
funny that var didnt even look at it but think you are right
If we’re going to mix it with the big boys then we need to take the few chances you get and be at our very sharpest. Laca’s miss & Pepe’s corners summed up our lack of attacking care. Too many wayward passes when we got the ball as well. Bottom line is we have a lot of players who aren’t top level & Liverpool are a few notches above us. No shame in the defeat but we have to be much better of we want to be like them – shows how far we have to go.
Expected , but a little disappointing anyhow. Not due to the difference in quality of the players, the likes of Elneny and Xhaka will never be good enough against the playstyle of Klopp’s Liverpool,but more to that we looked like a doomed team from the beginning. You need to go out there and have the inner drive to win your duels, like Leeds did in the previous game. And when you play out from the back against Pool, you need to vary between long snd short, too predictable.
Most disappointing , Willian , lost his legs after one match?
Elneny I think was good today, showed some good touches and dribbling..rest I totally agree…especially Willian who seems done and dusted post the Fulham game…strange!
Team was scared to play tonight. We lost this game before the match had even started. Midfield was poor and don’t remember one player taking on and beating a Liverpool player tonight. If Liverpool had to win by 5/6 goals tonight, they would of. Tonight really made me realise the gap in quality between the two teams.
Liverpool played top gear throughout..Mane, Salah, Fabinho excellent…their press excellent too….so to say they would have won 5 or 6 -1 if they would have wanted is overstating a bit…we made them work at top gear for their win, especially the second half. No doubt the gulf between the teams is what eventually reflected on the result. As far as the midfield, Elneny showed intent with a couple of nice dribbles and drives as well as interceptions but guess he was the one man mid field against their lot..what to say! Xhaka..did he play today?!
Since Vieira left we still hasnt replaced him. Thats what we are missing. A solid wold class midfielder capable of both winning the ball and attacking. We need those midfielders to join now. Maybe not as good but at least closer to pires and viera than what we have right now.
No, sorry. Gonna have to take the bait here, because it appears some people really need it spelled out to them, no offence. *Puts needle on the vinyl. Players like Patrick Vieira are a one off. You’ll be lucky if you see another complete all round player like that in your lifetime. For the billionth time, we already have a player currently on our books who could have helped make a difference though and given us a better chance – had he been allowed to play. Any other Premiership club – with perhaps the exception of Man City and possibly… Read more »
he would have been a passanger just like every game against the top sides he played in the last 4/5 years . turn it in .
We Arsenal fans need to get about the obsession with Emi. Absolutely nobody was beating down our door to make an offer for Leno (or for that matter, Elneny, Ozil etc etc). If one is to harbor hope of improving the midfield with Aouar or Partey, selling Emi was the only option.
Plus, Leno was far from our worst player today.