Liverpool defeat underlined where Arteta's Arsenal still need to improve
Stefan Bienkowski
- 20 Nov 2021 13:40 CST
- 3 min read
Arsenal were uncomfortably confronted by the cold, hard light of day on Saturday when they arrived at Anfield and were then torn apart by Liverpool.
Despite an impressive run of form that had seen his side march up the Premier League table, Mikel Arteta’s side were forced to confront the fact that plenty more work needed to be done as Liverpool put four goals past them with relative ease.
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And while few would have expected Arsenal to arrive at Anfield and wrestle all three points off Jurgen Klopp’s side, goals from Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane & Co. certainly underlined where the London side are still faltering.
Diogoal!
📺 Watch Liverpool v Arsenal on Saturday Night Football on Sky Sportspic.twitter.com/i7uLHzFo9D— Sky Sports (@SkySports) November 20, 2021
An untested defence gets tested
Prior to Saturday’s humbling defeat, Arteta’s Arsenal side had not only gone on an unbeaten run that spanned 10 games but they had done so off the back of an impressive defensive record.
Indeed, the London club had conceded just four goals in that run of games and went into Saturday’s game confident that they would be able to keep an eye on Salah & Co.
However, what instead happened was that Arteta’s side finally faced a truly impressive array of attacking players and whether it was poor marking from set-pieces or simply playing too high against the incredible pace of Mane, Salah and Jota, Arsenal’s back line were truly taught a lesson.
Arsenal have undoubtedly improved in defence this season, but they’re still some way off keeping the best players in the world at bay.
The gulf in class is so large, and is made more apparent by when Arsenal try to go toe-to-toe - to do things that they are not good enough to do, or rather, good enough to do consistently. But then, what can you do but topolish your approach by keep doing it again?..
— Arsenal Column (@ArsenalColumn) November 20, 2021
A lack of proper depth
Another glaring difference between Arsenal and Liverpool throughout the match was the quality on each bench.
While Klopp was able to bring on Takumi Minamino and Jordan Henderson in the second half to continue squeezing the visitors, Arteta instead had to turn to under-performing or simply untested players like Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Martin Odegaard and Mohamed Elneny.
Couple that with the fact that Arsenal are still relying on inconsistent stars like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Gabriel and it’s clear that Arteta’s side are still a number of players short of putting together a squad good enough to match the best sides.
