Liverpool Match Posts

10 Jan 2026 09:10:49
Personally I thought we played a solid game against a good team, and we are clearly lacking up top, with having no available strikers!
Gakpo is not an upgrade on Luiz Diaz, and is so predictable, which means we have no width that side! Great bench option, but need an upgrade here.


Kerkez had his best game in a red shirt, defended strongly in tough situations, and used his energy pushing back timber.
We need time, but can see progression!

09 Jan 2026 14:52:56
I was surprised that it didn't kick off more last night when Martinelli (i) threw the ball at Bradley on the floor, (ii) put his foot/ lower leg into Bradley twice when he was laying on the floor, (iii) aggressively tried to lift him and throw/ roll him off the pitch, when it seemed fairly obvious that Bradley had sustained a nasty injury.

Now the dust has settled, I'm obviously glad that no Liverpool players got themselves into trouble and suspended by retaliating but in the heat of the moment, I was really surprised that nobody in our team lost it, or none of the subs got involved as it was right on the touchline.

Do you think it's because we're such a well disciplined team, or just not got any nasty/ fighter types? I can think of plenty of players down the years who would have launched Martinelli into the stands.

At least he apologised quickly after the match, and fair play also to Slot for his calm and reasoned comments after the match. He made a good point in linking the incident to the ever increasing amount of time wasting and faking injuries. Ed01: Mac Allister was at it again last night. Utterly embarrassing. The introduction of the rule where players would have to go off the field if they had treatment from the physio hasn't worked. Maybe it did a bit to start with but now the physio just stays in his seat, the player still rolls around on the floor with a fake injury and the moment the ref beckons the physio on, the player gets up. I think the rule should be taken further. Any player who stays on the floor for more than 10 seconds has to leave the field of play for a full two minutes.

09 Jan 2026 15:58:42
Darwin would of flattened him.

{Ed025's Note - he would have missed John.. :)

09 Jan 2026 16:33:11
That made me chuckle ed025, well done.

{Ed025's Note - cheers mate..

09 Jan 2026 20:16:04
The problem with that RR is that the genuine ones get punished for getting hurt. You shouldn't go down to ten men other than for a red card in my opinion. The play acting is out of control though and ruins the game. Its un-sportsmanlike.

10 Jan 2026 02:07:31
Hahaha! Ed25, that;s hilarious mate nice one. About right isn't it lol.

09 Jan 2026 14:45:20
My take on the game yesterday, with all things taken into consideration, like no strikers, our lack of confidence, this mediocre run we're on, the fact that every man n his dog ( including me) thought we'd get beat, was if we can play like we did in the 2nd half, meaning take the initiative and take the game to the opponents, believe in ourselves esp with the strikers coming back soon, then we would have a good chance of securing top4 this season, but its a big if we play that way from now on .

09 Jan 2026 08:42:04
Great performance last night - Arne has steadied the ship over the past 10 games, culminating in last night. Playing this controlled, possession based football looks ideal against Europe's elite, but he now needs to learn how to get through low block teams - or round them like City used to do.

For this, we probably need to have one less midfielder, and keep Frimpong on the wing, meaning we need a new right back with Conor out @ Ed's, were we interested in Kayode last season and there are rumours he has a £35m buy out clause. He would be ideal.

{Ed025's Note - "great performance" Joe????, you never got out your own half in the first period mate and i dont think you had a shot on target in the whole game FFS, you are very easily pleased it seems..

09 Jan 2026 09:19:14
People are just seeing the result and ignoring how we actually played.
The only chance we probably had was a pen for wirtz. beyond that we were standardly useless in attack.

09 Jan 2026 10:02:11
@ed025, you are right, the first half we defended more but there were glimpses of us getting through their midfield and defence. But the second half we dominated and in all honesty, I didn't really see Arsenal do much to really scare us either, and we're weren't playing with a proper striker/ centre forward.

{Ed025's Note - you were the better side overall CE but nobody deserved to win that game mate, a very poor advert for the premier division of English football imo..

09 Jan 2026 10:35:06
Salah, Isak and Ekitike definitely would have given us more cutting edge.

09 Jan 2026 11:56:20
I think calling it a great performance is a bit of a stretch but it was certainly a good performance overall. We were a bit passive in the first half an hour or so but once we got a foothold in the game Arsenal couldn't get near us and ended up getting very frustrated.

The shots on target stat is a bit of a red herring though Ed, Arsenal had 4 shots on target but none were even remotely threatening. We can all just head to ball into the keepers hands or shoot from stupid angles to pad the stats out.

We had by far the best chance of the game and had some good situations where we were just off with the final ball. We also could've had a penalty on another day. Yes Wirtz had overrun the ball but there's no doubt that Trossard tripped him and I think it's a free kick anywhere else on the pitch.

For balance Arsenal had some good situations too in the first half and could've scored with the last touch of the game but they wouldn't have deserved it.

All in all it was a decent performance. Not anywhere close to where we want to ultimately end up but in the context of this season we did very well.

09 Jan 2026 13:31:11
I said it in an earlier post.

For the current PL champs and the potential PL champs elect, that was a rubbishshow.

If that was Barcelona vs Real, people would have been going on about poor the Spanish league is.

From a neutral. perspective, it was not a great advertisement for football.
That game will, not be used to every try and convince people that football is an exciting sport.

09 Jan 2026 08:41:33
Champions? We didn't play like champions. You can throw roses at the performance last night if you want but not for me. The mighty Liverpool champions of England playing for a draw against set piece Arsenal. Well done ibou, you may not be flavour of the month but at least you stood up and showed fight when defending Bradley.

{Ed025's Note - champions against champions elect John, i was bored to tears mate..

09 Jan 2026 10:31:06
Piss poor ed25. Bottlers v cheats.

09 Jan 2026 10:36:54
Were we playing for a draw? struggled in the 1st 20-25 mins but after that we were the better side.

09 Jan 2026 13:39:45
Define better florian?

09 Jan 2026 15:22:15
We had a team out without any recognised forwards available no cutting edge so we had to play that way Arsenal are champions elect and they were rubbish to be honest they are not a great side they are a dead ball team boring to watch . We are boring to but if we had our forward line we would of beaten them but hey ho we have taken five points of them this season andi hope they lose the league by one point to city .

Arsenal have some excellent players but a manic manager the Martineli incident is something i would expect from a player being coached by Arteta and Arteta never condoned Martinelis disgusting behaviour shows what horrible individual he is.

09 Jan 2026 07:48:45
Pleasantly surprised by some of the qualities shown by the reds last night.

Full backs solid and full of energy.

Midfield dominant for most of the game with far better combination play between them.

Centre backs dominant.

Maybe could've had a penalty on another day.

My main frustration was that frimpong had the beating of hincapie and lewis Skelly but didn't take them on often enough and when he did the quality or decision making wasn't good enough. However, he was probably our main attacking threat on the night and played well.

We have to attempt to sign Guehi now. What are we saving by waiting? Maybe £15m if you consider a signing on fee.

Some of the good stuff tonight has to be the template for Ty rest of the reason with a sprinkling of risk taking when we've created the chance to do so, especially with frimpong 1 v 1 out wide.

{Ed025's Note - you were half decent second half LTV but that first half you were pathetic mate..

08 Jan 2026 22:43:08
Oi ED001 I'm going to need you to explain to me how I should feel after that? I'm more confused than when my ex girlfriend told me she had a Willy.

{Ed001's Note - personally I am disappointed, we played for a draw and failed to make a single good chance. I don't care that they are top of the league, we are the reigning champions and we are giving away the title with a whimper. Pathetic.}

09 Jan 2026 00:12:28
Agree Ed. We are Liverpool and it's not in the clubs DNA to play for a draw no matter the circumstance each season. I cannot remember the last manager when we were afraid to win.

09 Jan 2026 00:12:46
Fully agree, Ed1. I genuinely don't understand how this mentality can creep in after winning the league - it makes absolutely no sense. Weak tactics, weak management. We could've beaten these today, but instead we chose not to. That's what makes it so infuriating.

The performance was better but it's because of the kind of game it was, I think - the hype around it. I can't watch that and feel like we're progressing because we're likely back to the same old boring football against Barnsley and Burnley.

I'd like to think if we had Ekitike we could've won this game but who really knows - another draw, not progress as some are mentioning, we're stuck in the mud still.

09 Jan 2026 00:37:34
That's really harsh. We would have loved that away performance last season. We were without all our strikers. Damn fine away performance. Thought we bossed 2nd half, and gave them few chances in the first.

Sorry, but I think we are improving.

09 Jan 2026 00:50:04
You lot are insane. What do you actually want here? Even at our very best going away to Arsenal is a tough game and one you can always lose.

We played very well tonight after the first 25 minutes and controlled the game.

I disagree that we played for a draw, if that's the case then so did Arsenal. With the season we've had so far and bearing in mind we're missing our entire forward line, that was a really good performance and with a bit more luck we could've nicked it.

There's not many teams in the league that are capable of going to The Emirates in any season and dominating them like we did tonight.

I'd have loved the win of course but to say you're disappointed with that is a bit entitled to say the least.

09 Jan 2026 00:58:32
I couldn't watch the match so I apologise in advance if what I say is inaccurate. But just going off the match stats, we had 7 shots total with 0 on target. We didn't even work the keeper throughout the game. So I find it hard to believe that we didn't set out not to lose first and foremost.

09 Jan 2026 01:14:35
In any other season under any other manager everyone would be delighted with that point and performance tonight. We've got points at the Etihad under klopp where we were dominated and we were delighted. Houllier and Rafa constantly parked the bus against big teams. Of course we lacked cutting edge, we were without maybe £300m worth of attacking talent.

09 Jan 2026 02:43:55
I get why people want to frame this as a good result, but I really can't agree with it.

Yes, Arsenal away isn;'t easy. Yes, we had players missing. But context matters both ways - we're the reigning champions and we've just watched a Liverpool side produce 0 shots on target across 90 minutes. That isn't progress.

We had possession spells, and control yet did absolutely nothing with it. Control without threat isn't dominance, it's sterility.

If this was a freak one off, fine. But it isn't. We've seen this all season safe football, slow build up, no risk, no incision. Saying "we could've nicked it with luck" is exactly the problem - Liverpool shouldn't be relying on luck to nick games.

Missing attackers explains the lack of cutting edge, but it doesn't explain the mentality. At no point did it feel like we went there to win. And when you're reigning champions, that mindset is fatal.

A point isn't a disaster but pretending it's some kind of step forward is papering over cracks. We didn't lose, but we didn't look like champions either.

09 Jan 2026 03:17:02
Happy with that. We'll win more than we lose if we play like that second half. Arsenal had a much stronger bench and we able to use all their subs maybe bar one. Better result for us all things considered. Nothing to fear if we get them in the CL or FA Cup.

09 Jan 2026 05:30:22
I'm not upset by the performance but I can't agree with 'improvement' we cannot look either defensively sound and remain toothless. We're not mid table.

Plus k still don't see anything special in this Arsenal side, they look decent because the leagues the weakest it's been in a decade.

09 Jan 2026 07:58:43
Salah we haven't looked like Champions all season that ship has sailed mate.

You need a reality check, we've had a poor season everyone expected Arsenal to batter us last night. In reality we were the better side and restricted them to very little whilst controlling the game for the majority.

If you think luck has nothing to do with football, especially in tight games then I'm not sure what you've been watching all your life. We created good situations and had the ball bounced differently or VAR given a foul on Wirtz (I've seen them given) then we would've won.

Sure it's not the free flowing attacking football we all want but given we are playing away at the team who's top of the league with the best defence in the league that's nothing to be ashamed of. Take the little wins when they come mate it was a good performance in a very difficult game and showed that we can compete with the teams at the top of the table.

I know it's not what we want or what we expected at the start of the season but it's a process and this game is a small step in the right direction.

I think your dislike of Slot is clouding your judgment somewhat.

09 Jan 2026 08:02:03
I think that Slot could have been more adventurous with substitutions to try and win the game when we had our tails up and had momentum in the second half, it felt like if the game went on we would eventually have scored somehow. That's the only thing I can really fault him for though, we are still more than a bit disjointed attacking-wise, we do everything else well and then fail with the final ball or the final decision almost every time, a little more composure and we will win games comfortably.

However considering we had no center forward (Arsenal had a center forward but they might as well not have, Gyokeres had 8 touches all game) to attack the spaces in behind, you'd have to say it was a good performance.

I understand this 'we are Liverpool, we shouldn't have results like these' stuff only up to a certain extent, I'm disappointed that we didn't come away with the points when we looked the better team, maybe there are similar feelings to that game against City in Klopp's last season when he said it was the best performance we ever had at the Etihad, but considering where we are at this season with form and momentum, and the injuries we have, that second half was a real surprise because it looked like we were well up for it.

09 Jan 2026 09:07:46
I just think it's a pity, an opportunity lost, to go back to back champions. If we approached this season with aggressive, attacking and progressive football, we'd be up there. Arsenal ain't all that, City are erratic and Chelsea are just Chelsea.

Shout out to Villa too this year and in the absence of Liverpool winning it I'd like to see them do it. That would be a good kick in the stones for Arteta and his miserable gang of followers to watch Emery lifting what they desire!

09 Jan 2026 09:35:01
We were reminiscent of Sean Dyches Burnley when they held their own in the league. How anyone finds that acceptable is beyond help.

09 Jan 2026 10:38:09
Are villa playing aggressive, attacking, progressive football, shankly's ghost?

09 Jan 2026 10:43:48
Well obviously nothing is going to be good enough now because were champions who aren't going to be champions. But everyone deep down knows that was a good result lastnight without Isak, Ekitike and Salah. All this while Arsenal were able to call upon attacking players like Saka, Madueke, Gyokeres, Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, Eze and Odegaard.

09 Jan 2026 10:52:57
They were there for the taking in the second half but the final ball was lacking and we didn't play with enough bravery. Up until that point I was happy with the gameplan to keep it tight but we needed to go for the kill. It's about smelling blood and making your dominance count.

I know we were lacking a 9 but I still felt we had enough quality to hurt them if players had gambled in the box.

There was a moment when Frimpong was ahead of the defenders and chose to pass it backwards to Wirtz. Outside of his final ball he had an alright game but he needs to be braver.

08 Jan 2026 22:53:48
I thought that was much better tonight. Just need some thrust up top.

{Ed025's Note - first half was abysmal MLG, but it did improve 2nd half mate..

08 Jan 2026 23:34:14
Can't fault the effort, but we had nothing going forward. Hopefully that was just cos the closest thing we had to a striker was a half fit Gakpo.

09 Jan 2026 09:39:12
Thought the lads gave their all last night .
No Ekitike Isak or Salah …. Yes we struggled up front. So I'm happy with a draw .
Not happy with Martinelli…. Classless!
Hope Connor's injury isn't as bad as it look.

08 Jan 2026 22:36:33
The more I think about what Martinelli did the more annoyed I get. If someone has a serious injury and you move them it can cause more damage and pain. He threw the ball at Bradley, stuck his knee in his back then tried to man handle him off the pitch. It was disgusting and he needs banning.

09 Jan 2026 01:01:43
Just saw it and it was absolutely inexcusable what he did. The shove was completely unnecessary and could have caused more damage. He definitely should have seen a card for that.

09 Jan 2026 05:31:49
Wouldn't even mind as much but Arsenal are horrific for time wasting. Signs there rattled, still expect city to win the league.

08 Jan 2026 22:31:12
Fair play to the team tonight, still looked disjointed and knackered but the 80th min, big injury to Bradley which is a concern, but a game of two halves. Arsenal were better in first half, we were better in second with Arteta choosing to sit off again, could have nicked a goal but felt a draw was probably fair.

Can't be bothered bashing Slot etc for being so slow at times with subs etc it is what it is, but have to say Martinelli should really be punished for that push, could of made Bradley's injury far worse. Complete idiot of a player.

{Ed025's Note - nobody was better first half STD it was absolutely crap, Liverpool were the better team 2nd but failed to create a chance

08 Jan 2026 22:28:25
We dominated the 2nd half, always going to hard to score considering we had no Ekitike, Isak or Salah . good to see the players working hard with a steely determination, Arsenal aren't a great team are they, they're just big, strong n win set pieces, but that's how the prem league is going this year.

08 Jan 2026 22:22:04
Good gutsy performance that, really enjoyed our determination to not get beat. Wirtz Should've had a pen as well. kerkez had great game nullified saka after 1st 15-20mins. Such a shame bradley getting that injury at end, u just know it is a bad 1.
Martinelli lost for a good slap.

08 Jan 2026 22:24:25
Neville's quote:

I'm actually fuming with Martinelli. Honestly, I don't know how the Liverpool players didn't go over there and whack him, to be honest with you and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful, that.

08 Jan 2026 22:39:57
That's why everyone hates Arsenal. They are dirty, filthy cheats and are an awful football team. They really are the image of their manager.

I hope Ibou got hold of Martinelli in the tunnel gave him a slap, he deserved it. What an absolute scumbag.

I can't say I'm surprised that an Arsenal player did that though they are a horrible, horrible side.