Arsenal: 4 positives from the 4-0 Liverpool hammering

Losing 4-0 is never, ever welcome. To be outclassed in any fixture will never be easy to stomach. Arsenal were comfortably beaten by Liverpool on Saturday and there are no qualms over the scoreline.

Few envisaged a different outcome. On one side is a team challenging for the Premier League title bursting with players who’ve been alongside one another for years, mastering their craft under one of the finest managers in the world.

Then in the other corner is the youngest squad in the division who’re yet to have played double figures worth of matches together. Yes, Mikel Arteta has been in the job for nearly two years, but this group is nothing like the one he inherited.

‘Work in progress’ is apt.

Arsenal: 4 positives from the 4-0 Liverpool hammering as Mikel Arteta’s side see ten-match unbeaten run ended at Anfield

Even considering the already well-known gulf in class, there were aspects of the defeat that were concerning. The structure of the team had fallen apart as soon as the second goal went in, and the sloppiness that seeped into many of the players in the second half was an unusual reaction to what had transpired in the first half.

The result leaves Arsenal fifth in the Premier League table, exactly where they were before kick-off. Results had gone their way prior to them taking to the Anfield turf, and the goal of being the best of the rest remains firmly within their sights.

Was it all bad? No, it was not.

Everything about this team is based on progress: are there signs of the team growing as a unit, improving in certain aspects and showing competitiveness where they otherwise wouldn’t have? While the analysis will look at the worrying elements of the performance, there were also positives to take, even in such a heavy loss.

1. The Belief Within the Team

The Arteta critics have been in full voice in the aftermath of Saturday’s defeat. Looking at the underlying metrics of the season – goals scored, xG and chances created – there is reason to be concerned.

Losing at Anfield shouldn’t be the springboard for a pile on, though. Arsenal were beaten by a team miles ahead of them in their development and few expected any different.

What Arsenal did do, however, was come to play.

Even in horrific defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, the belief within the squad was evident in the early exchanges. On this occasion, and for longer this time, Arsenal played with real confidence that they could turn up at Anfield and get a result.

The team was near enough the same from the previous outing, with the same youthful and inexperienced personnel, and the word that has become Arteta’s buzzword, unity, was evident as the group believed in themselves and the manager’s approach. They thought that playing the way they know against one of the toughest opponents in Europe would get them a result.

It didn’t. Obviously. In the end the Reds superiority was far beyond what Arsenal were capable of, but for a large period of the game they didn’t let the opposition or the occasion get to them. Whether or not it is getting the performances and results that most would like, this team truly believes they’re heading in the right direction.

That is something to draw solace from.

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