Arsenal Vs Liverpool: Strength becoming a weakness

Arsenal’s passing in their 3-3 draw against Liverpool was extremely loose and wayward. Their play in possession used to be a strength; on Friday, it was a key shortcoming and major issue.

Arsene Wenger is a pass-first manager. He always wants his teams to control games through their domination of possession. Death by a thousand passes, it often feels like. And when it is executed well, it is a strategy that is not only beautiful to watch but is extremely effective. Arsenal have achieved wonderfully consistent success implementing it.

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However, that could not have been farther from the truth on Friday night. As Liverpool prepared to travel to the Emirates, a stadium that the Gunners have built into a fortress this season, having only lost one game to Manchester United, a match that they enjoyed full command of and should have won comfortably, it was not especially surprising how their hosts would play.

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Wenger, somewhat infuriatingly, plays the same way every game, or at least a very similar way. Infamously, he believes that he can set his team up in the same manner and that they should play to a standard that forces the opposition to adapt to them, not the other way around. Some, myself included, would call that foolish. Nevertheless, that is the strategy that Wenger has always implemented.

The problem on Friday night, though, was that the way of playing that he always demands of his players was executed extremely poorly. Arsenal’s play in possession was painfully loose, especially in the first half. They gifted the ball to Liverpool on several occasions, which only compounded the defensive pressure that they were already under.

Arsenal had a 75% pass success rate as a team. Contrast that to an average of 84% in the Premier League this season, and it is easy to see where their problems lay against Liverpool. Worryingly, they couldn’t keep the ball.

These are the individual pass completion rates for the starting XI: Petr Cech: 48%; Hector Bellerin: 76%; Laurent Koscielny: 74%; Nacho Monreal: 92%; Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 88%; Jack Wilshere 79%; Granit Xhaka: 77%; Alex Iwobi: 67%; Mesut Ozil 83%; Alexis Sanchez: 60%; Alexandre Lacazette: 62%.

That is extremely low. And what is most worrying is that this is supposed to be the strength of the team. Arsenal have never been good at defending. They were always going to struggle to contain Liverpool’s searing attack. But the counterpoint to that was that they could control the game through neat, tidy and creative play in possession. That was far from the case.

Next: Arsenal Vs Liverpool: 5 things we learned

This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of the performance that needs to be addressed moving forward. If a Wenger side cannot command games through their passing, then they have major problems… When is Santi Cazorla coming back?