Deja vu for Arsenal in season opening loss to Liverpool
Arsenal opened the 2016/17 season with a wild 4-3 loss at home to Liverpool. Seeing Arsene Wenger's side struggle on opening day is nothing new, but this match only served to highlight the weaknesses with the team he has built.
Arsenal have a history of coming out of the gates slowly. Sunday’s loss meant they’ve only won one of their last seven opening matches; a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace that came at the start of the 2014/15 season. But even without their poor track record at first kick, things looked bleak from the start for Arsene Wenger's men.
Arsenal started the match crippled by injuries and absences. They were down to their fourth and fifth-choice center backs, with 20-year-old new signing Rob Holding starting alongside Calum Chambers, a promising defender, but whose career at Arsenal has been marked with the same inconsistency that plagues the entire squad. Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Joel Campbell also missed out, while new signing Granit Xhaka was left to ponder proceedings from the sideline, leaving the Gunners with a less-than-ideal first eleven to face Jurgen Klopp and his "heavy metal" Liverpool.
And it wasn't all bad for Arsenal. As has become customary, they battled valiantly before ultimately failing, and there were bright spots. Not least was Theo Walcott's continued campaign to be Arsenal's Top Striker, and the World's Oldest 27-Year-Old shook off the ignominy of missing an early penalty to provide the opener for the Gunners. Starting with such an inexperienced center back duo was always going to be a risk though, and the strain started to show as Liverpool continued to exert pressure throughout the second half.
Where Arsenal struggled, Liverpool shined. Jurgen Klopp has had half a season and a preseason to work with these Reds, and they're starting to truly look like the team Klopp was expected to create when he touched down on Merseyside. Arsenal supporters were like prisoners in their own stadium, forced to watch the Jurgen Show as punishment for some as-yet-unnamed crime. Liverpool played with pace, creativity, and directness, but above all with an urgency that has seemed distinctly lacking in London of late.
We didn't learn much from Arsenal's performance that we didn't already know. Even when fully healthy they're weak in the center of defense, and outside of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, there's no one you'd really call a bonafide match winner. Usually it takes longer than one match for Arsenal's weaknesses to become glaringly obvious, but this loss may be a blessing in disguise in the end, with the transfer window still open and possibilities aplenty.
MORE FROM FOX SOCCER:
Liverpool now lead 2-1.
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) August 14, 2016
Check out the brilliant bending strike from Philippe Coutinho that put @LFC on the board! https://t.co/6fC6VKXRWY
