Match Reaction v Liverpool (away)

[selassie]

I don't think that's true at all.

I don’t but I do, I genuinely see both sides of the argument but I’m leaning towards Mikel making do with the garbage he has, that’s why he sets us up like that in these games? I dunno...

[I am invisible]

It’s pretty much the same shape, line up and tactics that we used in the two previous games against a Liverpool: twice it worked and we got a result; this time we lost. Them’s the breaks.

There was no great difference in how the 3 games played out from what I saw - Liverpool dominated all 3 in much the same way, we looked to counter and attack down the flanks, and this time it went their way. Tbh they could have easily won all 3 games, but then equally we might also have snatched another unlikely draw, or maybe even a cheeky win, In this one, if Lacazette had buried those two chances in the second half.

Personally speaking, I think the fact that we’re all this disappointed that we didn’t get something from an away game against one of the two best teams in Europe is Itself a sign (or symptom) of progress. Don’t forget this is still 95% Wenger and Emery’s unbalanced squad with all of the same weaknesses, flaws and limited players - this time last year my ambitions wouldn’t have extended any further than trying to keep the score down to 5! I certainly wouldn’t have ever thought there was a chance we could nick a tactical win.

[Letters]

I do, that's why i wrote it...

We had such a defensive lineup that defeat was inevitable simply because there was very little threat going forward

And yet, had Laca not shat himself we'd have equalised and maybe got something.
Liverpool are a level above us - they're a level above everyone. You go there and attack them and you're going to get walloped.
Arteta was pragmatic and rightly so, on another night it might have worked.

[Mac76]

And yet, had Laca not shat himself we'd have equalised and maybe got something.
Liverpool are a level above us - they're a level above everyone. You go there and attack them and you're going to get walloped.
Arteta was pragmatic and rightly so, on another night it might have worked.

but as i've said i don't think Liverpool played that well - we need to be less supine - sure iu'm not talking abotu leaving ourselves wide open to counter attacks but such a defensive lineup was alays going to make it hard - it's all very well talking about the Laca chance, but LIverpool messed up a few chances but they created so many in general that victory was inevitable - we hardly created any

you said you missed the first half, if you'd seen it i don't think you;d be saying what you're saying tbh - we were truly awful

[Niall_Quinn]

And yet, had Laca not shat himself we'd have equalised and maybe got something.
Liverpool are a level above us - they're a level above everyone. You go there and attack them and you're going to get walloped.
Arteta was pragmatic and rightly so, on another night it might have worked.

Rubbish. If you have a 100 mile journey to make by car, and put 50 miles worth of petrol in the tank, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go because you aren't getting there. That was a fearful performance. It lacked the slightest ambition. If Laca had scored another hoof and fluke Liverpool would have exited training mode, scored, then gone back to training mode. They were so totally in control of the game it was an embarrassment to Arsenal Football Club and everyone involved with it.

I haven't seen an Arsenal team this uninventive or uninspiring since the darkest days of the 80s.

[Letters]

you said you missed the first half, if you'd seen it i don't think you;d be saying what you're saying tbh - we were truly awful

That's fair comment, only saw the second and was happy enough with our performance in that half.
Klopp was pretty happy with Liverpool's performance.
I don't think we should draw too many conclusions from losing at Anfield, no-one will get much there this year.
The manner of it you can debate I guess but in the part I saw we restricted them to a few change, had a couple on the break ourselves. We're just not at their level so I'm fine with a bit of pragmatism.
Arteta is at least going into games with a plan which is progress.

[Mac76]

That's fair comment, only saw the second and was happy enough with our performance in that half.
Klopp was pretty happy with Liverpool's performance.
I don't think we should draw too many conclusions from losing at Anfield, no-one will get much there this year.
The manner of it you can debate I guess but in the part I saw we restricted them to a few change, had a couple on the break ourselves. We're just not at their level so I'm fine with a bit of pragmatism.
Arteta is at least going into games with a plan which is progress.

it's not whether we lost, it's how we lost and the inevitability of it

i'm tired of all this lazy "well, it was Liverpool at Anfield" - so what? we're The Arsenal and we should go there to do more than just incessantly pass the ball sideways until we fuck up and concede another goal

[Marc Overmars]

This is just how we play now, even against weaker opposition. It’s pretty shit and unimaginative football but I’ll hold on to the hope that Arteta has stripped everything back to the basics so that he can build something worth paying to see as time goes on.

Hopefully the younger players are brave enough to have a go there tonight.

[Letters]

Rubbish. If you have a 100 mile journey to make by car, and put 50 miles worth of petrol in the tank, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go because you aren't getting there. That was a fearful performance. It lacked the slightest ambition. If Laca had scored another hoof and fluke Liverpool would have exited training mode, scored, then gone back to training mode. They were so totally in control of the game it was an embarrassment to Arsenal Football Club and everyone involved with it.

I haven't seen an Arsenal team this uninventive or uninspiring since the darkest days of the 80s.

So you weren't happy when we went into these games with no plan and got thumped.
Now you're not happy when we do go into these games with a more pragmatic approach. Sure, we still lost but we made a game of it. Entirely possible that had Laca equalised Liverpool would have gone up a gear but...well, they're better than us.

What do you want? I mean, we all want us to go into these games feeling we can take the game to them and have a good chance of winning, but we're not at that level yet.

[Mac76]

So you weren't happy when we went into these games with no plan and got thumped.
Now you're not happy when we do go into these games with a more pragmatic approach. Sure, we still lost but we made a game of it. Entirely possible that had Laca equalised Liverpool would have gone up a gear but...well, they're better than us.

What do you want? I mean, we all want us to go into these games feeling we can take the game to them and have a good chance of winning, but we're not at that level yet.

aren't we? - we beat them in the Community shield, we beat Man City and Chelsea in the FA cup

he's gone backwards since then