Second half goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino ended Arsenal’s five game run, giving Liverpool a 2-0 win.
After a fairly even first half, the Gunners had a great chance to go ahead but Alisson made a fantastic save from Martin Odegaard, and a few minutes later Jota fired in at the near post. Poor defending handed Liverpool their second.
Gabriel Martinelli was the stand-out performer in red and white, but the Gunners nefer looked like bridging the gap on the night, even if the Brazilian did fire just wide near the end.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool report and see the goals here
Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
COYG. Beat Villa. This night will be forgotten.
At least you can see the gap getting closer to closing. Up the Gun.
Have a feeling we will never beat a top team again with this clueless manager.
Shut up mate. Go troll somewhere else.
You’re either a troll or it’s so much worse.
Or both of the above, god help him!
You’re trolling or stupid. I dont know which is worse.
Liverpool trajectory is downwards. Our is upwards.
You had some funs for a couple of years. I give you that
I love the meltdowns certain sections have after one defeat.
WWWWLDWWWWW………. L
L??? Oh for fuck sake! We suck. Sack the manager. Fuck this! Worst team in the league. Gunna get relegated.
And these are usually the same people that a few seasons back were like “We need a rebuild, this whole club is rotten and we need to start again”. So you want a rebuild and one which instantly allows us to beat City and Liverpool.
Cool. Good luck with that.
Ignore them, Brutha Hats… they will go away, many already have.
I hope this doesn’t violate terms and conditions but what a boring existence you must have
Attempt to get the most downvoted post ever?
You’re really Sam Allardyce’s agent aren’t you?
moron
Yeah, agree about Laca. Caught on his heels too many times. Love his passion and commitment but that only gets you so far.
Still not sure why we cross the ball for him. Have we ever scored from a lofted cross in the Arteta era. Seriously. Think about it. Has it ever happened?
There was that one against Newcastle last season when Auba did a leaping kick to pop in a knee-high cross from the left. Which is my way of agreeing with you.
Haha! Well remembered! I feel like I remember a Saka header? At home. Tierney assist possibly? It’s all very hazy. I may have made it up.
But yeah, slim pickings. Doesn’t stop Cedric banging 8 in a game.
Bellerin assist. Sheffield United at home at the start of last season.
Imagine if we still had Giroud…how criminally underrated he was…
I think he was rated just about right.
Just because he won the champions league, doesn’t mean he really did a great deal. Didn’t even play a single minute in the final.
No he was underrated. Downright criticized by our own fans.
Wasn’t the fans who got rid though, was it?
Nah Giroud was very underated…people just hold that drought against him which was incredibly frustrating i must admit. But it wasn’t his fault there was no other option at the time.
There was also that tournament with France, I forget what it’s called.
I tend to agree with you on most occasions, Mr Hats – but you’re talking bollocks here. Big, brilliant in the air, seriously good at hold-up play. Had a knack for scoring key goals. Second only to the great TH as France top-scorer (and by only 5 goals)… all-time top scorer (above Platini, I might add). Already smacked 11 goals and 4 assists in 20 games for Milan (9 as substitute), including winning them the derby vs Inter. Grossly under-rated at Arse – with this current team, he’d be banging ’em in. Oh – and we could have had him… Read more »
He wasn’t clinical enough and we got Aubameyang a far superior striker.
‘Far superior’. Not by a long shot. Giroud was and probably still is a better player. Auba has the speed over him and that’s it. Auba missed some absolute sitters while here also. Whats the strike rate and goals scored between Giroud, Laca and Auba i genuinely want to know. One thing for sure we definitely got more value out of Giroud in terms of transfer fee.
The real problem here is that Auba should have been brought in much earlier to play with and start ahead of Giroud.
Aubameyang was vastly superior as a striker. Look at the ratio of goals he scored compared to Giroud. Without him I cannot believe we would have won the FA Cup. Yes Giroud was a fine player but not consistent enough or a clinically a finisher as Aubameyang was.
At his best, Auba was a goal machine. But when he was going through bad spells he contributed little else. Giroud had a fair strike rate, but even when he wasn’t scoring, contributed with assists and in the build-up. He was involved in a lot of Ramsey’s goals! One of the reasons he’s still playing at 35 is that he was never that quick to begin with, but he has a great football brain, and made up for it in other ways. ¢h€£$ĸi’s goal in the cup final against us was a typical example of a Giroud assist. And remember… Read more »
And, for an elderly geezer settling in to a brand new league (Serie A), he’s banged in 11 in 20 for Milan (plus 4 assists).
Strange then, that he’s second only to Henry as France’s best ever goal-scorer (and only by 5 goals). Above, Platini, Trezeguet, Benzema, Grieztmann, Zidana… hmmm?
In the Premier League.
Giroud 180 matches. 73 goals
Aub. 128 matches. 68 goals
I hope that answers the question at how much better Aubameyang was as as a striker.
As a finisher sure Auba was better but giroud’s all round play was significantly superior. Lets put it this way, Auba relied on a well functioning attack for tap-ins but Giroud could make things happen out of nothing – (scorpion kick, brace at anfield, volley v west ham etc.)
can you list assists with this stat?
I though Arteta should have played with a false 9 just like Pep does, this would have given us the option of passing through the Middle Laca doesn’t score
I would have taken Giroud back in Jan!
I think Giroud would be perfect for Arsenal, especially now that we have a very capable team giving all the service he need. Unfortunately, he is not young and getting him is not exactly moving forward.
Agreed. A 25-year old Giroud would be perfect in this team, but that train has long left the station.
someone named Vlahovic would be perfect. instead he preferred being trounced 3-0 at home to Villareal
For 1 million squid!
I agree with you, we’re quite poor at lofted crosses. With that in mind, I think we need to be more clinical with runners from midfield, good passes, and good finishing.
Wish Emile came on for Laca. Laca ran out of gas and had to ask for out. On the other hand, ESR might get to play a little central striker like Arteta suggested. With Odegaaard out, Arsenal just lost the cohesion in the middle, and the only attacking threat left was Martinelli.
Laca is a great guy everyone love, He is a great captain too showing the passion in every game he played. But we need the goals from him and unfortunately that is not happening. Give me Giroud anyway.
There was a moment when he rolled his hands to the bench in the classic sub gesture. Next min, they’re leaving him on and pulling Ode?
Martinelli was the best player on the pitch tonight.
Completely agree, just needed a strong striker in the box to help him.
first half superb performance, Pool upped it second half with greater strength in depth.
Jota…again…..
apart from the score I really enjoyed the game, is that weird?
That game was very very even – both teams had 4 decent chances. They took two of theirs. We didn’t.
I’d agree with you, but for me Partey was head and shoulders above every other player tonight. Him and Gabi were fantastic.
I agree. He got little support though. The other players did not find enough space in threatening areas to receive the ball.
I saw in the Klopp or Henderson Interview they were praising Trent… I watched him get roasted multiple times! Odd!
I think with TAA it’s his attacking genius that’s usually what makes him stand out.
He’s the only full-back I know who is his side’s best playmaker. Though I think defensively he’s good rather than great. Martinelli gave him a couple of frights today.
I always thought Trent was great until this game.
How is Cedric a 5.5? If anything I thought he dealt with Diaz and Mane very very well.
Odegard does F all and misses a big chance and is still a 6.
The bias against some players is unbelievable sometimes.
Anyways why does it even matter, what matters is that we are still 50 miles behind the top-2.
Yeah I thought Cedric was our second or third best player depending on how you feel about Partey. Cedric came up as high as Saka regularly to press and cover, he covered a ton of ground really well.
He played well, especially in the first half, but was at fault for both goals so that sort of negates the rest of his play to be honest.
First goal is 80% on Rambo, tbh – routine near-post stop that he’d save 19 times out of 20 in training. One could argue the difference on the night was the two keepers – Allison had a blinder.
Yes Blogs is definitely biased against Cedric. I also thought he was quite good, a 6.5 or 7.
What? Intriguing, I very strongly (albeit in a slightly inebriated state) felt that Cedric basically threw the game by himself. I think everybody put in a good shift, but it’s is unbelievable looking at what Cedric does on the two goals. It’s like a clip from Benny Hill, for both goals he just sprints away from where he should be. I’d honestly give him a 3 and rest 6+.
Terrible take
Don’t think Cedric expected Saka to do what he did on the second. Also the first goal about 5 players got split by the pass and Ramsdale was poor.
Remember that we were chasing the equaliser on the break at that point: Cedric has every right to assume a player of Saka’s quality will manage to lift the ball over his opponent rather than hoofing it straight into him!
Saka was fatigued by that point and lost the milliseconds/concentration needed to clear it comfortably, in which case Cedric if off to the races down the right flank.
One goal should have been an easy save for Ramsdale. The other was Saka’s mistake plus some Liverpool brilliance. Ramsdale and Saka should never play for us again.
I even hesitate to call it a Saka mistake, 9 times out of 10 that just goes out for a throw in. Just seemed a bit unlucky with how the ball bounced. I suppose the main thing is that Liverpool capitalised on their opportunities, we didn’t and that’s why there’s a gap between the teams.
I upvoted this because I agree with the rest but it’s definitely a mistake. If he were 15 yards higher up the pitch I’d agree but he’s in the RB zone and just walked it onto pressure when he could’ve just kicked it into touch when there was that heavy pressure on. As he’s played full-back before it was especially odd. It’s no big deal, he’s young and everybody makes mistakes but I do think that one was on him.
I completely agree with you. I thought he was at fault for both goals. If Tommy had been playing, I’m fairly sure his better positional play and never-say-die attitude would have resulted in him cutting out both attacks or done enough to make them ineffective. Once the play is past Cedric, he’s a spectator. While Ramsdale should have done better on the first, Cedric should not have left him so exposed. As for the second, he’s out of position and does little to try and rescue the situation. Cedric may be better up the field (although most of our attacking… Read more »
I thought he was alright, maybe a 6.5. Blogs barely mentions that Saka was largely responsible for the 2nd goal; he could’ve just run the ball out instead of hand it off. Somehow he blames all of that on Cedric. I love Saka but sometimes I feel he could score an own-goal hattrick and still get a 6.5 on this site.
Yeah, we have a tendency to belittle Cedric’s work rate simply because it is Cedric. I think he was quite good. And by the way, if his side is leaking, it means the midfielder and forward on that side are also not helping as much as they should. It’s a team effort. If Saka had put the ball out of touch, then probably we’d have avoided a second goal.
Cedders has become Blog’s new Laca – there’s a 5.5 ceiling, irregardless!
“” (T)he response to the defeat was amazing and it showed the connection that has been built between the side and the supporters. “”
Its pathetic that the fans celebrate defeats now. We are Arsenal, not Brentford.
Thank God our players and the majority of fans don’t have attitude. Perhaps you should support Brentford, you sure don’t support this team.
They didn’t celebrate the defeat, they celebrated the players.
Fuck off Spurs
So unbelievably sad hahaha
“Mourning every loss is like missing out on the love of your life because she isn’t a supermodel”.
Arsene Wenger’s Secret Lovechild
The only pathetic thing is your comment, mate.
Against sides like this, even when playing at our maximum, it’s the fine margins that make the difference. Maybe with a bit more experience, growth and luck, Ødegaard and Martinelli score and Ramsdale saves. Still a lot more to come from this side, glad to hear that the Emirates faithful can see that as well.
Agreed. Both goals were mistakes (Ramsdale a weak hand, Saka an error in possession) but we were decent in the first half and let’s face it Liverpool are a stronger side and spanked us at Anfield; we’ve improved since then and we could have grabbed a goal from Martinelli (who was quite good today, that run was brilliant) and 1-2 would’ve been a fairer scoreline but we should’nt get too disheartened by a 2-0 to one of the strongest sides in the league, especially as Alisson made a good save and Martinelli was close.
Thought Martinelli was excellent going forwards and back. Somehow he seemed isolated often in attack – he, Xhaka and Tierney seemed less than the sum of their parts.
Indeed. I would love if Tierney had Tavares speed and physic and he was called Tavarney.
And if Xhaka had AMN s mobility. And he was called…
Tierney is about the fastest member of our squad right now. I think he’d be more menacing if he were to use his right foot too. He’d be quite good.
Tierney is rapid but I think Tavares might be faster with the ball at his feet
Gransley-Maitland-Nilaka
Thanks
Grainsley Mannit-Naka.
Up until their first goal we controlled the game, great performance but the switched off. Martinelli is gonna be a world beater. Diaz was a shrewd signing for them. The top two are in a different league… but just look at where ‘pool were when Klopp first took over.
Well, in fairness they reached the CL final in 2.5 years, something that I fear is not going to happen for us…
But Klopp was already a proven manager with title-winning and CL experience. Mikel is learning, and has the potential to get there too. Let’s be patient.
You have to accept that Liverpool is an incredible team and they are my favourites for the league. However on this performance, i think we are not that far from Liverpool. This summer is very crucial to get us much closer to the top 2. Bring on Villa and roast them properly. Exciting times!!!!!!!
Agree. Couple more decent signings and we will be getting close.
Yeah, Liverpool’s subs were Salah & Firmino – that’s a very difficult bench to deal with. If we can add a few more quality players this summer and we can match them next season. Current team is so exciting & have growth ahead of them. COYG
We were very unlucky tonight, simple as that.
and the more chances the top sides DON’T miss the luckier they get? It was a very close game but even when Liverpool are not at their very best they know more than Arsenal about how to get the job done.
Agreed, this was a must win for them too. If we go on another 5 game run this will be forgotten fast.
I do hope indeed that this game helps Liverpool win the league over City, that would give it some meaning at least.
Cmon man
Cedric and Gabi both much higher
Different opinion
I think Martinelli needs to a lot of practicing and advice on his game. He is quite selfish at times. All in all, it was an okay game.
Is different French for wrong
Klopp miserable face in the first half was definitely worth a 10.
God Liverpool are fucking annoying.
I hate it when he always goes crying to the fourth officials like he does. If that were to be an Arsenal manager doing that it’d get torchlighted in all newspapers and TV shows.
He really is a proper fuckwit.
Disappointed by the empty seats at 85 minutes plus. The squad didn’t lose composure, even though playing a markedly superior side.
Blame the Premier League for the 8.15pm kick-off. People got to get home on trains and go to work the next day.
@blogs, I think Cedric running forward to receive pass from Saka! I could be wrong. It was a good idea but unfortunately for us, it got intercepted and the scored. I didn’t expect much from this game, just wanted us to give a good fight. I think we did, other than 2 silly goals we gave.
Too low for Martinelli, he was superb. An 8 or 9. He did Trent several times. All round a bit harsh on ratings I think. Odegaard was good, a 7. Pressed very hard and was directing things nicely, especially first half. Took an exceptional save to keep him from scoring. We played well, we should have scored at least one. Liverpool are exceptional. Bit naive from Saka in giving away the ball in the lead up to the goal. But not going to bag the guy, he’s exceptional. I am not downhearted at all. We played well, especially first half… Read more »
Agree mostly but Gabi loses the 8 or 9 for missing a very good chance late on.
Giving Cedric a 5.5?!? Thats absolutrly criminal. Were you watching the same game? He shutdown Diaz and made great tackles all game. He easily had the best game he’s ever had for us today and I doubt even Tomi would of done better today. The hate is real…
True, He was excellent, Diaz is an exceptional player but he couldn’t get going tonight. I swear I have seen blogs rate bellerin 7 for performance a lot worse then that of cedric today.
props to the fans that stayed and supported the team, but i think you’re forgetting that half the stadium was empty before the match was over, so it’s a weird moment for talking about the bond between the fans and the team. i understand it’s a late match on a wednesday, but still. just stay in your seat for ten more minutes and actually support your team until the end ffs.
If I’m at a match I stay until I’m practically asked to leave. Being Scottish and petty in equal measures I’m getting every bloody penny of value from a football match. I’ll read the program on the train and take any leftover snacks home.
excellent!
Thought we played well. Deserved a goal. Recent games against city and Liverpool have been close. Small margins. This is good.
The seeming inevitability of this loss leaves me angry and frustrated. We never seem able to pull off some of the odd surprises other teams are capable of.
Crystal Palace has taken 4 points from City this season.
A noisy neighbour did the double on them!
West Ham beat Liverpool 3 – 2 earlier on.
I hope this sorry situation changes soon. Enough of this, please.
Crystal Palace, noisy neighbour, and West Ham are all below us in the table.
This is my point. They are below us on the table, and that means we are better, I guess.
So, the question is: how come poorer teams can beat the top teams and we always lose?
Even fans accept a loss even before a ball is kicked!
This mentality must change!
Make no mistake, we lost yesterday because we never believed we could win. And conversely, Liverpool won because they believed they will.
I think that’s the point. Why are worse teams able to get results against the top sides but the games against Arsenal always go the way they’re “supposed” to?
I would still rather have the consistency of winning the majority of games against the ‘other’ 15 teams.
It’s that consistency that will see us claim 4th. Not results against the top 3.
Because top teams respect us and don’t underestimate us like they do with teams like Crystal Palace.
Martinelli trying to take on Liverpool single handed and nearly managing it. What a player. Odegaard who I love was fairly anonymous. Should have come over to link up with Gabi more? ESR gave us a little boost when he came on
A better player than Xhaxa could do what odegaard does but on the left side of the pitch, But Xhaxa is doing a good job providing balance right now.
None of the midfielders, on either side, had much of the ball in the centre of the park. Everything went wide. The exception was Partey, but only in our own half.
The point is: just imagine a ‘Xhaka’ with Partey’s pace, deft feet and general athleticism. It would wake up our left flank big time!
Harsh for most players but esp Cedric. That goal was sakas fault.
Cedric was excellent.
The scores are low especially the defenders. We were up against the best and matched them most of the way.
Playing like that we lose to 2 team, draw with ¢hel$ki and beat the rest and when we do players get 7,8 and 9. Not 5.5
Martinelli MOTM, Partey a close second. The rest OK. Weren’t doing too badly until first Liverpool goal – Ramsdale should have had that. Firmino’s goal a quality finish – bad luck moments before when Saka’s attempted clearance came back in off Robertson. Result shows we’re probably at about the right place in the table.
Tierney and martilinelli side was good
But Cedric and Saka side was poor .
We are dying for sharp striker.
How is no one mentioning Partey? Best player on the pitch (Gabi was great as well). He dealt with a lot of awkward situations (those feet!) and provided some lovely passes through the midfield and across the pitch. Also made some couple defensive interventions. Overall, proud of the effort from the whole team.
Some of the lads will be disappointed in themselves, Odegaard and Saka particularly. Good thing Arteta took them off because it’s better to have them both rested for the next games.
I trust they’ll both analyse this game, make some tweaks and be back to their best on Saturday. On to the next one!
I think Arsenal played.
Arteta, I believe, is a tactician.
He now needs to find a better mojo for Arsenal to beat a team like Liverpool
Actually thought Saka was poor on the night. Wasn’t great going forward and he lapsed a few times defensively. I fully understand why he didn’t but i thought maybe Arteta could have sprung a surprise on Klopp by starting Pepe and bring on Saka but with Tomi missing his trust in Pepe is probably lower than usual. Laca not for lack of effort always comes up short in these games. A better striker rounds the keeper and buries that. But Laca was still able to make something out of it presenting Odegaard with the chance. Which i thought was more… Read more »
Just thought to let you know that it is only easy to round the keeper if he goes to ground. Alisson didn’t
And do not underestimate Alisson’s quality – he had a blinder.
I don’t understand why everyone is claiming that Cedric isn’t at all at fault for the goals. The second one he is ridiculously out of position. That shouldn’t however be the only take away from ultimately a really good performance from him, but possibly his only mistakes in the game were punished by goals. His job isn’t to push ahead of saka when we are in our defensive 3rd, he should of been dropping behind to give saka a safe outlet and possible back up if saka loses possession. He instead pushed ahead in an attempt to counter attack, which… Read more »
That’s fair. I would say on the first goal he wasn’t the only one who got killed by that pass and he was doing his job which was keeping an eye on Mane. Maybe he should have been more tucked in..
It wasn’t successful because Saka (much as I love him) cocked up a pretty routine chip-clearance over the top of an onrushing opponent. We were chasing the equaliser and Cedric had every right to try to create the break-out down the right flank.
Saka had a lapse of concentration. End of story.
As exciting as this team’s future looks, isn’t this just the same old arsenal we’ve seen the last 15 years? Capable of playing with the best teams, but always stumble and they never actually beat them. Didn’t Arsenal let Wenger go because this wasn’t good enough?
I get that you dislike Cedric bolgs but with all due respect, the 2-0 is firmly on Saka, he balls’d up, it’s ok to say that, not gonna make him less of a prodigy
Saka’s brilliant but he was pretty poor today, his touch was heavy and he looked kind of off. I might benefit from a game or two rotation/rest with Pepe coming on to give him a recharge.
I thought Cedric was quite solid
During the broadcast Lee Dixon made a point that arteta blows the whistle, stops play and ask players what’s next?
itwas said in a tone of surprise I thought. Heck I did that with all my teams. 6s and up
i really like lee’s comments btw. Well grounded
Very disappointing night from the perspective that we had a good first half and could’ve made a bigger impact. Unfortunately, the difference as Arteta said was in the box, maybe if we had more quality up front we could’ve made that impact. It was a game of close margins I think, small lapses of concentration and bad luck ultimately worked against us. Nonetheless, even as an Arteta skeptic this game shows that we are making progress. The team is building an identity. The passes are crisper, there is a nostalgic-Wengeresque style to it, and I think we as fans can… Read more »
Sadness. What could have been.
Much to admire last night but feel comments and rating for Xhaka are generous. He can’t tackle or run so is reduced to cynical fouls and passed the ball backwards or sideways so many times last night that it impacted negatively on any chance to get up a head of steam.
We praise them when they play well so we have to be fair here; Ramsdale and Odegaard were terrible.
It’s all well and good looking pretty against lesser teams but this was yet another match against a ‘top’ team where Odegaard looked totally out of his depth and he cost us the game – just like at Old Trafford.
Missing a piss easy chance is not the sign of a great player I’m afraid…
Odegaard scored at Old Trafford.
And that chance last night was not ‘piss easy’
There’s a reason Odegaard is playing for a club aspiring to qualify to play in the Champions League rather than one who can still actually win it
Finishing not his strong suit anyway, maybe he could have cooked that play a little longer? Maybe not, when there is caos in the box it usually rushes the blood.
Alisson played a blinder – the save from MO was top-drawed. One could even say the real difference on the night was the two keepers.
Very good first half performance where we matched Liverpol in every facet of the game but two unfortunate errors by Ramdsale and Saka cost us dearly (Yep, they’re actually human after all…) Odegaard has been brilliant of late but I think he should have scored with his chance circa 52 mins. Kudos to Unai Emery who has taken Villareal into the quarter finals of the Champions League at the expense of Juventus (and they won the Europa League last season) Although he was never my 1st choice as manager I think he was much better than his fiercest critics would… Read more »
esr needs a run in the side but where?it seems granit is one of the undroppables whenever he comes on unless he scores he’s pretty anonymousand it seems to me that where he playing.Saturday will be very interesting.
Don’t know why Mik doesn’t try ESR in the forward mid position Xhaka currently occupies (and largely just gets in the way!). Tell the lad he needs to put in a definsive shift and give it go… can’t hurt. He’s faster than Granit, not shabby on tackling and a LOT more likely to nick us a goal.
I think Martinelli deserves more, he was the best player on the pitch IMO. Agree that Partey was great. Liverpool deserved to win but with slight luck we really could have gotten something out of it, we didn’t give them an inch in the first half.
Ramsdale will feel a bit down this am as I’m sure he will be thinking he could have done a bit better for each goal.
This result is not on our defence, we are simply short on the attack. I think we had more and better chances before the goals. But do not blame our young and talented attackers, because it is on the management. They let go Auba without a proper replacement. Anyway Soares was excellent all night
This result is entirely on our defence – shocker from Rambo at his near post for their first (after defence allowed the Scouse so much time to run it in); fast asleep on Firminho ghosting in near post for their second.
Agreed on all ratings, but the most telling is the Bonus. I believe, except for the malcontents among us, that we can see Arteta’s vision forming and most are behind him. We aren’t in Liverpool’s orbit yet, but I have no doubt we will be soon and for good.
Perspective is never more NB than after a loss like this one:
Bottom line – both teams created four good scoring chances.
They took 2 of theirs, we took none of ours.
Small margins.
But a big improvement, nonetheless.
I feel as though the match was a lot closer than the scoreline, and player ratings suggest…. That one Allison save (Martin O. shot) was the difference
Auba is scoring again, but we don’t need a striker…