What went wrong against Liverpool?
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad walked away defeated by Liverpool in Philadelphia last night in our last game of the American pre-season tour. There’s were some promising moments throughout the match, but we seemed to lack the hunger and cohesiveness that was needed to beat what, frankly, wasn’t an unstoppable or star studded Liverpool side, which for me, has shown a lot of our weakness’s and a lot to improve on. Here’s a rundown of what I think went wrong.
Firstly, I hate blaming individual players and calling them out too much, especially when it’s a friendly game, but two players who I personally think need to sell this summer, just weren’t good enough and that’s Zinchenko and Jesus. Zinchenko made multiple mistakes and was caught out far too easily with Salah for the first goal, not being able to catch him for pace at all and put Gabriel in a bad position because he couldn’t keep up, not only that but he gave the ball away in some dangerous positions and just doesn’t look like the reliable Zinchenko we used to see week in week out.
Jesus for me wasn’t good enough either, he had chances he should have finished, and he lacked that energy that he used to ooze of. On a good day, he can be unstoppable, but he’s lost that edge about him that once made him one of the best strikers in the premier league and although I love him, Kai Havertz was incredible last season and I think the fact that he was the only scorer speaks for itself and I think if he doesn’t play at centre forward this season it would be a mistake.
For me, we were just wasteful of chances and this goes for most of the team, in the first half we looked lost and Liverpool took advantage of that and saw our weakness’s. Kiwior was playing at centre back and of course that’s not his natural position and I don’t blame him for being caught out a few times but the midfield were also getting run through and Liverpool were slicing through us. We had plenty of opportunities but couldn’t make them count.
We were punished on the counter attack and I think it was a good match for Arteta to analyse for the upcoming season, it should teach us a few valuable lessons and gives Arteta a lot of decisions to make regarding who will be playing consistent first team football this season.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Zinchenko and reliable in the same sentence?!!
Thought Kiwior is a natural center back. You are right about Jesus and Zinny. That’s what pre season is for we learn and move on. No more playing Harvetz in midfield please
It’s unfortunate that Arsenal is still dilly dallying regarding the sale of Jesus and Zinny and Nketia and the likes.
Without any disrespect to these ones they can not be part of a team that wants to win the premier league.
We need to break the banks or do all that is necessary to get Nico and Merino or Nico and Gyokeres.
Otherwise we are in for another heart break come May 2025.
My take please.
Jesus is not going to get twenty goals that is why we definitely need a rop class striker Hopefully Nelso Nketiah Jesus and Partey will be sold and if at all possible Merino Gykores coming to the Emirates Arsenal also need aback up goalkeeper if Ramsdale is, sold as Hen where near good enough I feel Arsenal may regret selling Smith Rowe as he, would have been a beter player to keep than Vieira Despite the signing of Calafiori i think its beem a disappointing transfer window, so far
Jesus was bought to score goals and he has not done that for 3 seasons now. Has he scored 17 goals in a season? Im not sure. If he can’t score goals, then he should be treated like others, move him on. Zinch has not been what he was bought for, the ship should sail before he becomes a liability and unsellable.
Man-City outgrew them and right now, I thing Arsenal has outgrown them both, it’s time to move on and not be unnecessarily emotional.
Frankly everyone knows he was bought for what he brings off the ball rather than on it. We need to give him a chance this year than after that we may move on.
After Hojlund’s goal vs Heaven a few days ago, the process of Salah’s goal showed the importance of a physically-dominant CB like Saliba and a powerful CF like Zirkzee again
Liverpool’s CF successfully played with his back to goal against our CB and pass the ball to Salah
And Liverpool’s second goal started with Jesus’ inability to do hold-up play, which made us lose the ball in our area
Arsenal need to sell Nketiah and other players immediately, to sign a stronger CF or false-nine
@Gai, football is evolving Jesus and Nkethiah arn’t the types of CF that can help Arsenal at the moment. At some point in an Era SAguero was the big deal for City but as football evolves PEPG realises the need to get a CF forward in the mould of Halaand. Arsenal needs a change too.
It’s just a pre season game. Stop with the sensationalism.
The whining and moaning seems to have already started before a single ball had been kicked in the league or CL.
Calm your skins down.
🤦♂️
Who are you to tell people how to feel about results of their club? You and fellow Arteta brigade everyday come here and tell people to do this or do that feel this or feel that!
It is as if you have a share of Arteta’s salary.
It’s funny you all think you have an authority over all Arsenal fans. In your heads maybe..
So people are going to moan all they want what are you going to do?
HH,
there is no need for personal agression, he only having a whine and moan of his own.
“What are you going to do?” – lol we are not in a playground!
It’s tiresome Pat. Especially coming from someone who spends half his time on JA moaning about other fans.
Moaning and complaining about the team or the government whatever they do is very much part of life and enjoyment.
Just imagine, there are people who moaned and still moan about the invincibles (too many draws, lowest points tally, yada Yada Yada, etc…) why should a checkbook manager with zero trophies be spared?
Mikel has won a trophy, the FA Cup.
That was the “deadwood trophies”.
You can’t have your cake and eat it. I know you are all for double standards regarding Arteta but still…
*trophy
Very odd comments. How is it “double standards’ when it is a simple fact that Arteta won the FA cup with Arsenal. And what on earth are “deadwood trophies”?
It has taken time but the knights of the round table have started gathering. Devag, Arsenal1881 where are you to complete the circle?
hi HH old friend, i presume you meant 1886, a knight hey, i suppose i am Sir Arsenal1886 then, thank you HH, quite an accolade from an acolyte
A trophy is a trophy, duh 🙄
What double standards would that be HH ?
That FA Cup was won with the so called “deadwoods” by Arteta blind followers. He has failed since then to win a single FA cup game. So it was all the deadwood doing not him.
Double standard is calling players who won him his only trophy deadwood when he has failed to win anything with his own expensive players.
I don’t think arteta said that. But I have a feeling that this season we may challenge on all fronts with our quality backups and rotation. If not well…
Arteta did not say that it is his self-appointed speakers of JA who said it repeatedly countless times.
I am not convinced we can even keep our 2nd place this season without a proper finisher. Havertz as a striker will be figured out by opponents by October maximum. Having a proper striker and Kai alongside him will give us the unpredictability.
The FA cup was won by Arsenal with Arteta coaching the the team.
It is factually inaccurate to state that we have not won an FA cup game since. However, most fans would agree that our recent record in the FA cup has been poor.
It was simply stated that Arteta won the FA cup. This was a very good achievement at the time which and it struck as odd that an Arsenal fan would refer to it in such dismissive language.
I, for one, do not refer to our previous players as “deadwood”. However, like many others, I felt that many of the players in the team that won the FA cup were not of sufficient quality to mount a serious PL title challenge.
Ooh but its okay to refer to the invincibles in a dismissive language because it wasn’t Arteta who won it right?
Regarding the FA Cup after winning it we have been knocked out at first try every season as far as I remember.
Care to correct me on how many FA Cup games has Arteta won since the 2020 triumph?
Well I’ve never called any of those players ‘deadwood’, so your first reply to me means sweet Fanny Adams 😂
I am the happiest person alive until I read your posts.
We still need to sign more players as its going to be a very long season considering we are in champions league. I think last season we were quiet lucky our main players did not get injuries, especially saliba, saka, odegaard, white, rice
Calm Down? , I don’t want to be dead by the time they get this right , love Jesus,s effort and Zin is pro,s pro and a great influence on our squad but neither can be first choice. The mistakes from Zin? being honest last year I saw the beginning,s of it, and for Jesus for us to win it all we need everything we had and more this year plus a legitimate 20 to 30 goal scorer who can finish of the ton,s of chances we create every match, and he is NOT that.
We didn’t learn anything new, did we? We knew Zinchenko is not a left back, and we knew Jesus is too wasteful, far too often. I would play KH has CF over Jesus, if that’s are only choice. Martinelli looked really average, and I am hoping that is lack of fitness. He really needs to kick on this season.
Jesus, Zinny, and Martinelli are our worst three performers and are why we lost the title last season They never stepped up and are supposed to be good first-team regulars
For me the main problem is in midfield.Havertz is an attacking midfielder or a striker,so playing him as a number 8 made the midffield weak.I know some cannot agree with me but this happen to us last Season several times making Arsenal to lose those games.Example Arsenal vs Bayern champions league second leg,also vs Aston Villa.80% of the games Havertz started in midfield and Jesus as a striker we lost or ended in a draw.So let’s play Havertz as a number 9 where he has performed so far but as a number 8 NO.Remembering he cannot bench Ordegaad as a number 10
Easy fix:
No more gambling with Havertz in midfield.
Zinchenko should come no where near that team.
It’s time we start being serious about a proper striker.
Well Summarized.
+ 1 energetic midfielder
I also agree with Twinlights. + Eze
I think the main point is we failed to convert a number of chances, specially in the second half. This highlights the need for a clinical striker and I hope Arteta and edu realise this. Although we scored lot of goals in the last season, we failed to convert many number of chances, which if converted could have won us the PL title, so a clinical striker is essential.
chaotic first half, steady second half, just a friendly remember and not our starting XI vs Wolves in a big way
the inconvenient truth is Partey can no longer stay with the pace of the game, even a slower pace friendly, his inconsistency in performance is now a factor too – what was once our strength could be a weakness targeted by opponents
risk outweighs the reward
Merino is great addition, but I think we need one more to secure midfield
@Arsenal1886 Remember you using City as a reference for us not needing a striker recently. If I’m correct we had 5 of our 6 attacking options from last season on tour in: Jesus, Havertz, Oodergard, Trossard & Martinelli. We managed to score 4 goals across 3 games. City on the other hand scored 7 goals in the same period nearly double our output.
They were also without KDB, Foden, Bernardo, Doku & Alvarez, 5 out of their 7 attacking options from last season.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this turns out but it’s not looking the best based on performances in preseason.
Also Using City as a reason for not needing a srtiker is interesting, especially when you consider the fact that Haaland scored 2 in total over preseason, not a lot but this equals the same amount of goals that Jesus and Havertz scored in the same period. And this was also without his normal teammates in attack.
But I guess we’ll see
Excellent facts Tun.
I understand this fascination with city115, but we are not them in any way, shape or form.
Let MA manage his way, as he’s an individual and NOT a Pep clone!!
Exactly that! he should manage in his own way i completely agree.
What works for one team at one time may not necessarily work for another during another
thanks Tun – just reading my post again and no mention of goal output, but i will re-iterate that just a pre-season exhibition match in the US, calm down, result zero importance to PL season ahead
3 games of which Saka played none, Rice played none, Saliba played none, Raya played none, Gabriel played one and Havertz played one (and scored) – that is the spine of our team there
as I said, our XI vs Wolves will look very different
any way just a friendly, clam down, i forget what your point was, did you have one?
@Arsenal1886 – I’m referring to previous comments made on a recent article. The article about Havertz being our main striker next season. You stated that we do not need a striker due to having multiple scorers in the team.
Of course it’s just preseason, but a lack of ruthlessness in attack against weaker defensive setups e.g. Bournemouth & UTD show inefficiency and a lack of cutting edge.
Like I said we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out, especially if we do not buy a striker, but I wouldn’t want to risk it and hope were not caught out like last season vs Villa, Fulham & West Ham
As pointed out earlier we had 4 of our 5 main attacking options. Rice is not a goal scorer and neither is Raya or Saliba last time I checked.
This spine excuse is redundant, especially when looking at teams e.g. City who you used as a reference for why we don’t need a striker. City didn’t have their spine and had no issues scoring in all games.
So once again, the point is that we do need a striker and comparing us to City in terms of attacking threat may lead to a false sense of superiority. Preseason or not I expect attacking players to get more than one goal each. Your reference in City’s attackers managed to achieve this small feat
I agree with you 100%. We lost the title and ecl in a matter of days. But l would also add Jorginho in there as well. When Thomas Partey was brought back into the team, Rice playing 8 and Havertz playing false 9 the team started winning.
I’d say let Gabriel Jesus be the back up to Saka. We buy a top striker to be backed up by Kai and a top left winger to be deputised by Martinelli.
If only the manager can stop playing Havertz in the midfield. Almost all the matches we lost last campaign were with Havertz at midfield. Almost all in which Rice played as 8 saw a win and many goals scored.
I don’t understand what the manager is trying to experiment for so long.
By contrast, why can’t he play Zinchenko in midfield. he is not a defender please. Is this manager and his technical team serious?