Liverpool vs Arsenal - 31.08.2025 - KO 16:30

[KSE Comedy Club]

Can't believe the clown is specifically mentioning Eze, probably would have blamed Dowman too for not simulating another penalty if he'd brought him on for long enough.

That’s a further embarrassing statement from him after an embarrassing management performance.

Eze & Odegaard should have started.

He is acting as if two giants went at it in fisticuffs and a draw was the only conceivable result, but one gets gifted a bat to knock the other out.
Fact is Liverpool were shit and instead of using that to our advantage, he set up ready to make excuses when it all went wrong.

I’m convinced he played hoping to draw and maybe nick a win.

He’s done for me I’m afraid.
Today’s game confirmed he is a loser.

[dazthegooner]

Well the spud press (media) are saying that they were justified in not signing Eze after one match

[HCZ_Reborn]

Cult of Arteta idiots arguing that we had players out and Liverpool didn’t play adventurously either

The reason Liverpool played the way they did is because they know their own vulnerabilities and conceded four goals

The reason we played the way we did is Arteta

[Marc Overmars]

I think Arteta has intentions to win but the problem is that he believes the only way we can possibly win is to play this way.

Even prime Mourinho had elite attackers who could counter and transition very quickly. What Arteta brings to these games is far worse and worthy of ridicule. It’s only ever about nullifying and using physicality and set pieces to bludgeon our way through.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

I think Arteta has intentions to win but the problem is that he believes the only way we can possibly win is to play this way.

Even prime Mourinho had elite attackers who could counter and transition very quickly. What Arteta brings to these games is far worse and worthy of ridicule. It’s only ever about nullifying and using physicality and set pieces to bludgeon our way through.

It also seems he believes the only way to score a goal is to take advantage of a mistake from the opposition or a moment of brilliance, at least he repeated that refrain shortly after the match.

This is something that baffles me as it is extremely unPeplike. That's why sometimes I argue I'm not sure he has an identity and knows how he wants his team to play, and by "play" I don't mean defend, but go after a game, score and win (the aim of the game, let's not forget)

It's really a shame that after six years, he still can't think of a way to actually play the game in a manner that leads to these outcomes instead of being a parasite that continually capitalises on people's mistakes.

No matter how many trophies he wins (or not in this case), no one is ever going to remember that kind of football.... at least not for the right reasons.

[Letters]

I think Arteta has intentions to win but the problem is that he believes the only way we can possibly win is to play this way.

Even prime Mourinho had elite attackers who could counter and transition very quickly. What Arteta brings to these games is far worse and worthy of ridicule. It’s only ever about nullifying and using physicality and set pieces to bludgeon our way through.

And maybe you could justify that last season when we didn't have a striker worthy of the name. But now we do. But if they're not getting service then they're not going to be effective.

[IBK]

Part of me wants to say that some of the comments on here are a bit knee jerky after 3 games. We are several first team players down already; this was probably the most difficult fixture in the league, and a close tie was decided by one moment of absolute magic from Szoboszlai. Apart from that we made Liverpool, and their much vaunted attack, look pretty ordinary.

But there's no doubt that this was very disappointing, more so because this game encapsulated why there is a justified feeling that Arteta will not take us from nearly men to champions. This was a check list of what has held us back (and I fear will continue to do so).

- Safety first approach and team selection.
- Injuries to key players (seriously, WTF is going on here? - with Havertz; Saka; White; Saliba; Norgaard all down before or within 3 games of the season staring and Odegard half fit).
- Subs made too late.
- Undone by a moment of brilliance (more on this below).
- Playing with the handbrake on.

In an effort to be fair/measured - while I was disappointed but not surprised to see Merino in for Odegard, I can see the logic of being conservative starting at Anfield. I thought we were solid in the first half and it made sense to assess their threat and not do anything silly.

What frustrated me was that having seen that they weren't offering much, the manager did not change things up much earlier than he did. With the attacking options now at our disposal, it became pretty clear in the second half that Arteta was basically playing for a draw. Like for like subs (and I put Eze on for the lamentable Martinelli and Dowman on for Madueke in this category) rely on individuals to produce something rather than doing something different with the system to change up what was a pretty ponderous performance going forwards. I think that the 'hope for a goal but happy with a draw' approach was summed up with Dowman coming on. As much as we are high on Max - tasking a 15 year old to produce the goal we needed was very strange. Our defenders played well and Liverpool's forward line was quiet. Our subs should have been made earlier, and we should have taken the game to them.

And this is the rub. We look like a conservative team playing percentages and more interested in stats than actually putting the ball in the net. We can point all we like to Liverpool not looking that great, and being lucky, but that is what champions do. they find a way to win when not playing well, and have individuals who step up to produce when needed. We don't (at least if our set pieces are off). There is something about Liverpool scoring late winners and worldies out of nothing. It's an attitude and a self-belief, and I can't help but feel that our whole approach to this game ran counter to this. Let's face it - we rarely do either.

One or two people on here questioned whether more signings would fundamentally alter what is our manager's Achilles heel. It's still very early in the season, but this question is already raising its head.

[HCZ_Reborn]

A very sober analysis. To sum up my feelings, the shame yesterday wasn’t in losing…..that was a worldie strike, I don’t think Raya could have saved it simply because of where it lands in the top left hand corner of the net.

The shame was seeing that Liverpool were vulnerable yet still playing for a draw and going safety first. No one thinks we should have gone Gung Ho, I think that would have been stupid.

Whilst I think sky sports pundits are full of shit, they did state the obvious which is that our attacks are robotic. No one wants to try anything individualist, we’ve got Martinelli who I don’t know what’s wrong with him….his position is under threat as it should be and instead of thriving under the pressure his confidence is gone.

The joke is we are high risk when trying to play out from the back, but we often don’t have players making runs into the box so that even when the wingers do get in behind there’s no one to pull it back to.

The galling thing is Arteta simply doesn’t accept this, he states that we went to Anfield trying to win. I simply don’t know how he can say this.

[Marc Overmars]

Only positives I take from this are that Madueke and Mosquera appeared to be capable replacements for Saka and Saliba.

35 games to go so not exactly devastated about the result, just fed up with this coach and his lack of imagination.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

You guys summed it up perfectly.

No one feels like the season is over because of the loss, it's the manner of it that's upsetting, the refusal to rise to the big occasion and be brave once again (especially since few expected us to win anyway)

If Klopp is still interested in management, it would be quite an interesting prospect to have him manage a team brimming with so much potential.

It's a real shame Arteta doesn't understand how good he has it here, but really we shouldn't be shocked as he's never managed a modern football club (what I mean is he's only seen the stability of Citeh and Arsenal and we all know that 99.9% of clubs do not operate like this.... just look at what Nuno is going through with Edu).