Arsenal: Why the loss to Liverpool actually came off as a success

Arsenal are getting battered around the internet for their loss to Liverpool, but all things considered, the aftermath is a smashing success.

You’d think, looking at all the post-match reports, that Arsenal were splatted 5-0 at Anfield, showed zero fight, rolled over and simply died. That isn’t what happened. An individual mistake gave the match to Liverpool, and while that doesn’t justify the loss, the fight that this club put up wasn’t like the fight (or lack thereof) that we saw in the 5-1 loss last year at Anfield.

The club has improved. The tactical decisions were questionable, but a lot of it proved effective. The only major grief that I have is in how little Alexandre Lacazette was used. And, of course, my frustration with David Luiz, but such is life.

More than that though, beyond just the performance of the team, coming out of Anfield is hardly the dark and dreary wasteland that it might seem.

Think about it like this—here we are in third place in the Premier League table, where many including myself thought we’d finish, and Anfield is already out of the way.

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Anfield away is going to be the hardest match this year. It showed last year too. The Jurgen Klopp project is paying off in a big way and they look like the team to beat this year. We didn’t beat them, obviously, but despite what the scoreline and some outlets are saying, we did put up a good fight.

An improved fight.

If you had told me that coming out of week three against Anfield, we would be third in the table after Tottenham and Manchester United both lost to bottom-half clubs, I’d take it in a heartbeat. We still hold our fate in our hands and while we might have capitalized more on their slip-ups, you can’t just ignore the improvements that are so obviously there. Nicolas Pepe, for instance, was tremendous despite his flubbed finishing.

I can’t believe I’m already in the “everyone chill out” phase, especially given the overall standing of the Premier League table, but here I am, urging you to chill out and appreciate that the opportunity is there for us to finish in third place, as expected.

And with Spurs at the Emirates this coming week, we can fire a significant shot to the rest of the league that you can’t trust the phony, biased headlines anymore. This is not the same Arsenal.