Gunners fans at the Emirates Stadium on
Sunday had seen it all before
Brand new season, same old problems for Arsenal.
When Granit Xhaka was signed for £35 million at
the start of the summer transfer window,
Gunners fans were rightly excited by what was
expected to follow. Instead, Arsene Wenger’s side
came into their opening game of the
season relying
on an inexperienced, unproven centre-back pairing
they had never fielded in the Premier League
before.
While transfers will be the main talking point in the
aftermath of Arsenal’s dismal defeat to Liverpool,
Jurgen Klopp's tactical victory over the league’s
longest-serving manager should not be overlooked.
Klopp and his assistant Zeljko Buvac spent much of
the match pacing up and down the technical area,
screaming instructions at their players and
encouraging them to challenge Arsenal’s young
defenders.
Shkodran Mustafi is expected to sign for the
Gunners in the coming days as a reaction to the
injuries suffered by Per Mertesacker and Gabriel,
but the 24-year-old's arrival might not be
enough. Several first-team players, including Mesut
Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, were
absent for the visit of Klopp’s men and that is the
excuse Wenger will undoubtedly look to when he
is asked to explain the defeat. Arsenal once again
showed character and spirit to bring the score back
to 4-3 with 13 minutes to go, but it was typical of
them in that the improvement only arrived
after they had made life much harder for
themselves than they needed to.
Liverpool are the first team to score four goals at
the Emirates Stadium since Chelsea in 2009 and
Philippe Coutinho orchestrated most of
the scintillating football Klopp’s men played,
scoring two goals. The 19 passes leading up to his
second goal plus Sadio Mane’s unchallenged run
into the Arsenal box for Liverpool's fourth were
lessons in sharp, purposeful football. Both teams
came into the game off the back of impressive pre-
season results, but Liverpool's 4-0 thrashing of
Barcelona now looks much more significant than
Arsenal's victory over Manchester City.
Chants of "spend some f****** money" directed
at Wenger by a large section of the home
supporters are nothing new. Arsenal's failure to buy
an outfield player in last summer's transfer window
arguably cost them the Premier League title and it
must be put right in what remains of the current
transfer window if they are to compete with their
improved domestic rivals. This season's title race is
set to be more competitive than ever, with at least
six teams in with a legitimate chance, and unless
Wenger invests in at least two top-class players in
the coming weeks the Gunners will be left behind.
Beyond the transfer problem, several other
questions will be asked by Arsenal fans after this
match. Why did Theo Walcott step up to take the
penalty when the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Aaron
Ramsey were on the pitch? How is Joel Campbell
not even deserving of a place on the bench despite
having such a fantastic pre-season? Was it the
correct decision to start 20-year-old Rob Holding, a
youngster who has never played a Premier League
game, when Nacho Monreal is able to fill in at
centre-back?
READ MORE | Coutinho inspires
Liverpool past Arsenal
There are a few positives for Wenger to take, of
course; Walcott's goal may be the tonic he
needed to kick-start his season and return to
scoring form, while the introduction of Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain in the second half showed exactly why
he should be given a place in the starting XI. They
will be overshadowed, though, by a full-time score
which many fans will see as another damning
indictment of the club's current regime.
Not for the first time, boos were heard at the final
whistle. It was an almost predictable performance
from an Arsenal side who should have been
ambitious enough to have already secured
the reinforcements needed to mount a genuine
challenge to win the Premier League this season.
Wenger still has time to buy, and the hope will be
that this result is enough of a wake-up call to spur
him into action. For now, Arsenal have returned
with the same old problems.
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