Liverpool v Arsenal

Emery on Liverpool going unbeaten wrote:Can Liverpool match that astonishing achievement? As Manchester City found out last year it’s a very tall order, but our head coach thinks it could happen in 2019.

"They can do that because they are doing it at the moment," said Unai Emery.

"We played against Liverpool three years ago with Sevilla in the final of the Europa League and I look then, at this progress, in this process and they are a very good example.

Klopp wrote:On how Liverpool can defeat Arsenal on Saturday…

To do much better than we did at Arsenal would be a good idea because we were, especially defending-wise, not as good as we can be or as good as we were after that. I think it was the period of the Napoli game as well when we didn’t do too well in Naples, so we needed these couple of weeks for adjusting a few things. We did that. They are strong, they are good with the ball, they are very lively, the counter-attacks are crazy quick. With Aubameyang and Lacazette [it is] an outstanding striking couple up front. Being creative in behind, being quick on the wings, having power with Iwobi and all that stuff, it’s just a really good team. That’s what we prepare for. Because it was not that long ago [we played them last], it was November, we used the game we played for analysis and it gave us a lot of information, important information. Still, it will be difficult.

i hope we dont see back 3 with Lich and XHAKA as side backs
also Hope Ramsey start

Ozil has withdrawn from the squad due to "knee pain" despite training today.

Mustafi trained. We'll see if he's thrown back in.

Anfield terrifies me. We've gotten some real beatings there recently and I've no confidence we'd be able to cope with a Liverpool team playing with max intensity and confidence. Our only hope is if Liverpool have one eye on City and play within themselves a bit.

I've a feeling we'll line-up as:

Leno; Sokratis, Koscielny, Mustafi; Lichtsteiner, Torreira, XHAKA, Guendouzi, Kolasinac; Ramsey, Iwobi; Aubameyang

Lichtsteiner and Kolasinac vs Mane and Salah

wenger knew also. but emery knows better.

so it will be this usual thing with Ozil won't it? play a game or two, some mysterious injuries, rinse then repeat. As for the game, I don't care we PTB or whatever, just play not to lose. We will be skinned playing head on against them with our squad atm.

We're gonna be mauled so bad today

I wasn't too far away with my guess.

Official line-up:

Leno; Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mustafi; Maitland-Niles, Torreira, XHAKA, Kolasinac; Ramsey, Iwobi; Aubameyang

Subs: Cech, Koscielny, Elneny, Guendouzi, Willock, Saka, Lacazette

Is it a 4-4-1-1??

It is indeed a 4-4-1-1. Though I imagine AMN will be doing a lot of defending on his flank.

Maitland-Niles with his first goal for us. Great moment.

But ruined by the comedy show that is our defence.

Last thing we needed was to turn this into a shoot-out.

Yikes lets the flood begins, the gate was just opened >.<

This defending

We all knew it, but watching it is painful. Can't believe these are professional defenders.

It will be a slaughter. Pool can not have an easier game

Lichtsteiner sucks. I regret ever thinking he'd be a reliable signing for a year or two. He's well past it.

Torreira has struggled big time out there as well. He's chasing shadows.

Iwobi and AMN have been our best players. Ramsey and Auba have been ghosts.

Torreira suffering physically like manyPL newcomers midway in their first season
-----
Emery fraud but but excuses

All it takes is a single pass to cut through the whole team, has been similar for past 3-4 games. At first it was bad individual defending but now our collective defending is even more pathetic. Our both central defenders made that Firmino goal be world class.

28 is the most goals Arsenal have ever conceded in a Premier League season after 20 games.

— Orbinho (@Orbinho) December 29, 2018

fraud
fraud

fraud

I thought Emery had improved our defending in midfield... before today.

It's the same problem every time we go to Anfield these days. Midfield gets drawn up the pitch, Liverpool just play one or two quick passes and are in.

Officially quitting Arsenal this season. Not watching another game till next season. Too many problems to sort out.

The amount of times we get mauled by top teams is sickening.

I might quit until they sign about six new defenders.

Holding injured and we've no idea what level he'll be out when he returns.

Lichtsteiner, Koscielny and Monreal are old and done.

Mustafi and Kolasinac are garbage. No amount of coaching is going to improve these guys.

Mavropanos is our lord and saviour.

I think Monreal is still class but basically you have him, Holding and maybe Mavropanos. Sokratis may be decent next to good players but the jury is out. Beyond those guys, our entire remaining defence clearly doesn't deserve to play for Arsenal. Any team in this league can score 2-3 goals on us home or away on any given weekend, let alone Liverpool.

I would love for us to sign 2-3 defenders in January. We have other issues but without a good backline, we will never have a chance. So many of us blamed Wenger for our defensive frailties but the personnel themselves are clearly the main issue.

Defenders can be signed in a transfer window but I’m not sure Emery is someone who can organize a good defense without damaging the attack. He does not seem to be able to create a good defence without fielding 9 defensive players.

Honestly I’m so disappointed that I wouldn’t mind looking at another managerial change in the summer. Maybe Emery can help us win the EL and get us into the CL but he does not seem like someone you let build your club up further than that.

I kinda agree. Individuals will continue to let us down, and it's easy to blame them entirely. But I look at this game and think, where was the help from the rest of the team? What defensive system do we even have?

Emery came in and talked up pressing, but it's already gone out the window. We tried it tonight but were bypassed easily.

We signed Torreira to stiffen up the midfield, but he and XHAKA were, again, bypassed easily. Liverpool had a free run at our backline every attack.

This is why we lose these games so badly. Our mediocre defenders are under constant pressure because the team is incapable of adapting and reacting to teams like Liverpool.

I just want us to commit to a style. As it is, Emery is trying multiple things at once and is producing something with no real plan.

I would say from the outside that today is not the game after which you draw conclusions about Emery and his future

Away at Anfield, in this moment, in this season, is a tough, tough game to survive.
And IMO the result was two goals too high. Liverpool should have had one penalty less, Arsenal one more.

Emery has produced an inconsistent, messy picture so far, but an interesting one no less.

He better get Özil on board quickly though, if he continues to alienate his best player noone can make excuses for him

Worse teams than us go to Anfield and don't lose 5-1. I didn't expect us to win, but I expect something approach halfway competent from a team six months into a new manager's reign. That performance suggested we've been doing nothing during that time.

Maybe in isolation you can brush the result aside, but we've been mediocre all season long. Whether it's by the old eye test, or what the stats say, we're a worse team offensively and defensively than we were last season. That is far from the position we should be in after moving on from Wenger.

And yeah, there are tonnes of factors going into this. But I like to compare us to Spurs when Pochettino came in and Liverpool when Klopp came in, and you could see right away what those coaches wanted to do to those teams. With Emery you can't. The only thing we can say is that he wants to run more and work harder, hence his treatment of Ozil. But since that win over Spurs, we haven't been able to do even that.

tbh the arsenal players looked like they were scared to death of liverpool. panic set in every time liverpool had the ball. lots of work to do but this guy needs 2 seasons at least imo.