Arsenal 2 - 2 Liverpool Player ratings & match reaction

[KSE Comedy Club]

Fucking disgraceful, and I'm not talking about the ref.

This entire 'sitting on a 1 goal lead' bullshit is pathetic - it's clearly not working as evidenced from the last 4 or 5 games.

Arteta 1

Rest of the team - I really can't be arsed!

Sorry but WTF is he trying to achieve this season, cause it isn't winning the league / trophy!
We've gone from having pretty much the best defence & attack in the league at the end of last season to the opposite.

9 goals conceded in the last 5 games
Strikers that can't shoot on target if they tried (except for Saka)

Seriously this shit cannot continue, we are going to be out of everything by March and facing a battle for top four.

The last 5 games have been the worst football displays since Arteta took over imo, we are going BACKWARDS!!!!

[Marc Overmars]

We don’t have enough up front to win the league, we’ve always suspected that. It was the defence that got us within touching distance and now that’s down the toilet I’m not exactly sure where we stand. We may just have to ride out this first part of the season with the stodgy crap and hope that we turn into a different animal again after Christmas.

I am getting irritated though with the constant backs to the wall jobs. We should still be capable of scoring goals and winning games when things have gone against us. Liverpool didn’t exactly have us under the kosh in the second half but the fact we were offering so little meant they could just wait for a moment to strike and with the dangerous players they have they were always going to get a chance.

[KSE Comedy Club]

We don’t have enough up front to win the league, we’ve always suspected that. It was the defence that got us within touching distance and now that’s down the toilet I’m not exactly sure where we stand. We may just have to ride out this first part of the season with the stodgy crap and hope that we turn into a different animal again after Christmas.

I am getting irritated though with the constant backs to the wall jobs. We should still be capable of scoring goals and winning games when things have gone against us.

Me too - I genuinely cannot believe what I am watching right now.

Our attack needed strengthening but it wasn't as bad as it is right now.
We hardly get a shot on target these days.

2nd half we were playing like we were a man down again. There is no excuse for it.

We managed to best Liverpool for 25 mins of the 1st half, scored 2 goals and went in on top.
We came out looking like we were in trouble and sat back for the majority of the 2nd - for now reason.

Then Liverpool take possession, start moving the ball around and gain confidence.
Then our defence start getting more stretched as they are constantly under pressure - and then two of them go off potentially injured (so predictable)

We spend more time than ever passing back to Raya as well, from forward attacking positions too ffs!
I think I counted at least 5 times were in the final third, in a good position, and the ball ended up with Raya (and not a shot at goal) - why?!?

We need a whole mindset change this week or we are fucked.

Newcastle and Chelsea will destroy us if we do this shit again in the next two games.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Oh and Martinelli is done.

He has lost everything that made him great, except for his crosses from the wing to some extent.
His pace is gone & he can't shoot on target.

Now we can see why we tried to go for Nico Williams.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Wrong thread.

[Letters]

We don’t have enough up front to win the league.

This.

I've seen the highlights now and honestly, I don't feel that hard done by.
Could have been a penalty - I guess, but it would have been soft.
The ref stopped play when we may well have scored a winner - yes, but we shouldn't be relying on last minute calls to go our way to win games.
The truth is we don't have enough of a cutting edge up front. We aren't clinical. And that's going to cost you.
Most other games where we've dropped points I think we have some cause for complaint but not yesterday, not really. We should have had enough to beat Liverpool.

Now I've calmed down a bit I'm less willing to write us off, but you can barely afford any slips to get the better of City and we've already made a couple. We have to stop that if we're going to have a chance.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I think the annoyance with refereeing decisions is less about results and more about not feeling like we are refereed in a fair and consistent way.

The stuff with Van Dijk was handbags, I don’t care about that

I don’t think the penalty shout was stonewall and I’d feel a little aggrieved if it went against us, but I am absolutely convinced that such a decision would be given against us.


However what’s more frustrating is that Havertz should have just planted it in the empty net and then it would have been academic

I think it’s fair to say had that goal been put in by Liverpool near the end, we’d have called for a foul because Kiwior did lean into copy and paste with his arm, but the other way? That’s never getting given against us.


What annoyed me yesterday was a) being wasteful and b) the negative and defensive attitude we took up in the second half rather than trying to kill the game off

And whilst I agree we lack the quality up front (I’ve certainly said so enough) I do think if we had gone for it without being silly, we’d have won.

[Letters]

I think the annoyance with refereeing decisions is less about results and more about not feeling like we are refereed in a fair and consistent way.

For me it's a bit of both. Some of the results we've had this season where we've dropped points are because of refereeing decisions where I agree it feels like we've been targeted.
But yesterday while a couple of decisions could have gone a different other way it didn't feel that blatant and the dropped points were entirely our own fault.

[Mac76]

Tbf given the state of our defence by the end of the game, and the fact that we were actually trying to go forward when Liverpool got their equaliser, shows why we can need to be a bit defensive at times

But as i keep saying there are three reasons for it being justified that Arteta is too cautious

1. Not buying a striker

2. Not giving enough minutes to players who we need to come through and get the experience to match their ability. Nwaneri and Lewis Skelly (and also arguably Nicholls) should have started the Shaktar game and also against Saints, that way when brought on in a game against Liverpool they have more experience to draw on

3. Not being more positive in situations like vs Brighton and vs Bournemouth. Trying to be defensive yielded 1 point from 6 in those games, if we'd won one of them by keeping the extra attacker on the pitch it would have been a much better return - it's what Guardiola or Klopp would have done and they're the last two managers to win the PL

[Mac76]

Oh and in terms of player ratings I'd give everyone an 8, in the circumstances they played very well and the two goals were excellent

Arteta gets 5 as his failings are starting to eat into our chances of success