Look it’s always going to be backs to the wall at Anfield but I just think people are ignoring the obvious.

If you took Matip, Robertson and Alexander Arnold all out of that Liverpool defence yesterday do you think it would have affected their performance? Well that’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in with 3 out of the back 4 not available and having to rely on an outbound Monreal and midfielder playing out of position on the other Side.

Liverpool are undefeated at Anfield in the last 42 games. What were people expecting with our critical players missing and others still lacking fitness after their exploits for country this summer.

Emery goes to Anfield and plays attacking line up and loses 5-1 and gets the blame for poor tactics, Emery changes it and puts together a more robust team that does slightly better but still loses and he gets blamed for being too defensive. He can’t win.

By what sprinkle of fairy dust do you think playing out from the back is going to suddenly work? Or that the defensive mindset of the entire team will magically come good?

The shape and tactics are broken and Emery doesn't seem to be able coach either with any kind of pattern or regularity. Switching players every.match and trying some other formation isn't helping at all.

Klopp always had a plan and it could be seen. What is Emery's?

People who want Emery sacked after 3 games are the type of people that dialled 999 when KFC ran out of chicken last year.

Klopps plan is almost 5 years in the making! 14 months into his reign the same questions existed about him that exist about Emery now. Are we holding Emery to account at higher level than Klopp and Guardiola again.

The reason why he’s changing line ups is due to the need to integrate a large number of new players together because of the shod he was left by the previous manager.

What do you mean, that was an emergency.

Gaz has already said that his reaction may have been ott. I didn't say I wanted him sacked either and have previously stated that I think it's reasonable to expect an improvement by Christmas. After 18 months and 3 transfer windows, there should be a visible improvement in how Arsenal play.

Don't get me wrong, I had no illusions about beating Liverpool at Anfield, either yesterday or anytime soon. The problem I have is that I'm not seeing the foundations of any grand vision coming together as repeated and obvious issues keep playing out over and over. At the moment that is too much of a continuance of the Wenger trademarks for my liking.

Who is our best 11? I have no idea because we're not seeing any of them play together for more than a match at a time. Create the identity and then Emery can start pissing around with squad rotation.

Klopp fi ished 8th in his first season. Yes some players played badly but had Pépé taken his chances the game might well have been different. Luiz is shite as a defender and always will be. Holding and Sockratis for me at the back.

Guardian write up quite positive. Says there was little to choose between the two teams and once the new signings settle in we will be a force.

I am sorry but you are operating on unproved assumptions - that Bellerin will return just as good as he was when he got injured - very good probability of this; that Holding is able to be an effective CB - the jury is out on that as we will see whether him and Sokaritis/Luiz can form an effective pairing plus he only had short period to prove his worth and we will see what happens when other managers start looking for his weaknesses ala Chambers; that Tierney is good enough to play in the EPL and he will be injury free. The back 4 yesterday may well be the regulars until Christmas and even beyond. You are trying to find excuses that lack foundation.

He joined Liverpool on 8 October 2015 - has made a Europa Final - matched by Emery, and made 2 CL finals, one of which he won. I await our CL final appearances.

Basically you are suggesting that Monreal is a better full back than Tierney and Maitland Niles is better than Bellerin.

Total cobblers

We lost yesterday because of 2 individual errors from Luiz. That is all. Drop the guy

People who want Emery sacked after 3 games are the type of people who take their own personal pool cue to the pub with them.

Klopp inherited a squad with Firmino, Henderson, Milner , Coutinho, Clyne In it. A stronger base

Emery inherited Bellerin, Lacazette and Aubameyang. He’s going to need more time.

Agree with this 100%. Thought it was one of our big problems last season - that squad wasn't good enough to win the league, but it was good enough to do better than we did. Top four was well within our reach.

Apart from our full backs we now have our starting 11, whatever it is, available. Let's give them a proper run of games without dropping players after one bad performance.

He misplaced too many passes from playing out of defence today. I counted at least 3. And his fumble leading to a throw in was a culmination of his lack of confidence/ composure. His body language indicated that he knew he had a very poor game.

I don’t think he’s dropping players he’s rotating. People are making an assumption he doesn’t know his best 11 when fit.

People are complaining we didn’t play Torreira for example however he had a hectic Copa America that was disrupted with fever and he lost 3 kilos. There’s probably a reason he’s being used sparingly as he should be one of the first names on the team sheet

Well precisely. Misplaced 3 passes doesn’t make him the worst player on the pitch, and even if he we was, my question would be why you are bothering to single him out at all? No one played well. His sharpness, speed and excellence pass won us the game at Newcastle.

If you're an Arsenal fan who called for Emery to be sacked after losing 3-1 to the Champions League winners who finished on 97 points last term you really need to take a look at yourself and perhaps reflect on what being a loyal supporter is all about. And then find another team

I was being conservative. But I wouldn't argue with with that.

People who want Emery sacked after 3 games find Jim Davidson funny

Singling him out just for the Pool game. I think he did very poorly. Ok, maybe Luiz was more culpable. Mind you, I still like him a lot more, than with a few of the Arsenal first teamers.

Yay. Joelinton opens the scoring

Yep

1 - Nil.

Shame that.

I keep thinking of him as being Joe Linton.

Tottenham

-0

Injury time 6 minutes! Still 1-0!

I think some people are giving Sokratis a bit too much slack. His attempt to get to the corner for Liverpool’s first was so poor it was laughable, with the amusement being for someone who dislikes Arsenal. Obviously Luiz has drawn attention away from him but as others have said, if Mustafi had made Luiz’ errors for Liverpool’s penalty and third goal, the criticism he’d have got would have been way beyond what Luiz has received.

Moreover, I’d add Sokratis for the first goal to that observation, as well as Koscielny’s performance in the Europa final. I can sort of understand the latter as when he had Mertesacker to look after him, he was a fine player. It was also before the nature of his departure left a bad taste in the mouth. But as a general rule I think many have been too quick to focus on Mustafi’s mistakes while ignoring those of others. Mustafi started well at Arsenal and didn’t give away two early goals like Luiz has in his first three games. It’s frightening to think if Mustafi leaves the initial alternative to Luiz or Sokratis is the overrated (I exclude DHD from that observation) Holding.

One other point is that two of our good chances would surely have been disallowed via VAR. Pépé handled the ball with his first opportunity and Aubameyang was just offside with his second half chance. However, those two players did miss in the initial 45 minutes when I expected more. Aubameyang with his lob when their keeper booted the ball out to him, and Pépé when through outstanding play and pace he gave himself a one on one with the keeper.

Isn't football a great game. own and out yesterday and Spurs lose and belief omes back.

And England sorry Bengland beat the Aussies with na fantastic 135 not out.

So spurs have lost to Newcastle who we beat.

The only way forward for them now is to sack their manager for not getting more out of the players, sack Kane, sack Ericsson, sack levy, get rid of that new ground because there’s no alternative approach that works right.

Keep moaning about yesterday lads

I haven’t seen anyone say he played well though. I was a bit worried how unsure he was. Bit bemused you’re mentioning Mustafi.

I may be jinxing us for the upcoming NLD but I had a feeling that the wheels may come off at Tottenham this season. Its tough to maintain top 4 with 5 other clubs around you and you don't spend, etc.

I expect us to do well against them. Liverpool right now you really have to see as playing Real Madrid, Juve, PSG or Barca. They are on another level and as I have said, 3-1 isnt as bad as it seems considering where we are and where they are right now.

I've always liked Steve Bruce (after looking at the Tottenham game) probably the only Man Utd person I like. I don't like Hughes, hated Fergie but he's warmed on me a wee bit. I've come to respect and even like a wee bit Gary Neville and Roy Keane.

We have seen some amazing Ashes matches over the years, but that surely has to be the most unexpected win of all? I would say Stokes' innings shades the heroics of Botham and Willis back in 1981. I never thought I'd see that comeback bettered.

That was some of the most compelling sport I’ve seen since, well, the cricket World Cup final. Magnificent innings by Stokes and tremendous grit from Leach. What a win.

Compare the criticism Mustafi gets to others who make as many mistakes as him, and at at this point a much higher rate. When people start being fair towards Mustafi, I’ll stop mentioning him. It’s easy.

Or the alternative, you like him because he’s German and his mistakes were actually that bad, that frequent, for that long, for 30 million odd quid.

Potato potato.

We may well end up pining for the glory days of Sylverter.

I wonder whether another rummage through our rivals garbage will yield any more gems like this.

What with his efforts the business end of the WC and now this, Stokes is one hell of a cricketer. Hats off.

He should be ok for the cups and Europa but Holding Sokratis is a far better pair. As both are naturally defensive.

We just don’t spend enough on our defence. I think we are clearing the decks by selling Monreal and Iwobi to generate funds for another centre half of high value.

Yesterday's performance was shite, Top Gun. Absolute shite. We are not Burnley, Watford or Brighton. We are Arsenal. We parked the bus to an embarrassing extent. Nobody was suggesting that we should go all out gung-ho attack. But a team can try to compete with a defensive emphasis. Liverpool have arguably the best fullback pairing in world football. Our tactic was to give them all the time and space they wanted while putting no pressure whatsoever on their midfield. Playing oit from the back to an absurd extent against one of the two best teams in world football at pressing high. If we take that approach in our away games against the rest of the top 6 we will be lucky to get anything. Hopefully, we will see a very different performance next weekend.