If Jürgen Klopp had been forced to pick, this game would no doubt have been the lowest priority of the three. But as well as keeping the quadruple dream very much alive, this win allowed Liverpool to deal a significant psychological blow to Arsenal, whose losing streak now extends to three games. Mikel Arteta and his players face 12 days to stew over that reality.
It’s times like these where managers earn their money. For the second season running, Arsenal is at serious risk of squandering a positive first half of the season and being left with nothing, and it’s up to Arteta to calm any jitters.
As a result, it was strange to see him effectively snap in the aftermath of this defeat. As well as suggesting his side ‘probably’ has a mental block when it comes to finishing (The Guardian), he took aim at the perceived injustice of the result: "Merit-wise, performance-wise, there is no question who deserved to win this game," said Arteta. That’s per Miguel Delaney.
Does the modern manager believe everything is — or at least should be — under his control? Granted, attempting to tame the sport’s inherent randomness is essentially the job description, but the way some coaches speak about games that don’t conform to the expected goals model is remarkable.
Clearly, Arsenal did not merit a win. Its performance was not worthy of progression. It failed to finish its chances in key moments, it lost its grip on a match that had been one-way traffic for 45 minutes, and it headed a ball into its own net.
Maybe once or twice, the manager’s best bet is to back his players, deflecting blame elsewhere and keeping morale high. But when it becomes a pattern, there is a risk of appearing clueless — the Arsenal players are not too stupid to know they are in a slump, and they are looking to Arteta for solutions. Instead, he produced the kind of head-loss that wouldn't look out of place on The Traitors.
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