Arsenal limped away from Anfield on Sunday evening with only a point to their name after Martin Skrtel’s 97th-minute header earned Liverpool a point at the death.
The Gunners’ last league visit to Anfield ended with a far more miserable 5-1 defeat, but manager Arsene Wenger said that loss may have played on his team’s mind this weekend, per Tom Williams of Agence France-Presse:
Arsene Wenger asked to explain Arsenal's poor first half. "Maybe bad memories from last year."
According to WhoScored, Liverpool enjoyed the huge majority of offensive pressure and had 27 shots at goal compared to Arsenal’s seven.
Wenger was left to admit that his team didn’t enjoy enough possession to gain a proper foothold in the game, per Squawka, having to come back from a goal down in order to clinch their result:
Arsene Wenger: "We had problems today because we did not have enough possession in the game. After we took the lead we let them come at us."
Even though Olivier Giroud put the Merseyside visitors into a lead early in the second half, the Reds continued to assert their threat on Wojciech Szczesny’s net, albeit with some below-par accuracy.
However, even Wenger conceded the north Londoners didn’t deserve to win, per the official Premier League Twitter account:
"It was an intense game … but overall maybe a fair result" – Wenger on his side's 2-2 draw at Anfield #LIVARS http://t.co/L0DKK8TtET
Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport), Wenger went on to praise several of Brendan Rodgers’ players for their display, picking out goalscorer Philippe Coutinho as one:
It was important for us to come back before half time—1-1 was a good result. Goalscorer Olivier Giroud was quite sick overnight and he became more influential in the second half. Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho in the first half caused us problems as did Raheem Sterling. We gave them more problems after the break.
His Liverpool counterpart Rodgers was equally disappointed not to have taken a victory from the clash, having seen his team dominate for periods but fail to make the most of their chances at goal.
Incredibly, Rodgers lumped blame on the state of his club’s home ground in stating Liverpool were prevented from playing at their usual pace because of the Anfield turf, per BBC Sport:
It was an outstanding performance, our passing and movement on the pitch, which is terrible, was superb. We deserved to be one up at half-time and I don’t think it was a free-kick in the build-up to their second. Alexis Sanchez dived for me and the referee bought it, but we have to defend better. We lost three duels and we need to win the first one.
Despite their 3-0 loss at Old Trafford last weekend, Rodgers went on to note his belief that things are improving for Liverpool, who he sees as moving back to their previous heights:
I’m delighted with our performances this week against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Arsenal, it shows we are getting back to where we are. At half-time we asked for more of the same with the same movement and then we showed great character to fight back from 2-1 down with 10 men.
I don’t think before this week we have been close to that level of speed and thought. You have to be creative as a coach to find a system that brings you back to that.
The failure to exploit chances in front of goal was but the latest example of how much this Reds outfit has missed an accomplished goalscorer of Daniel Sturridge’s quality this season.
Commenting on the absent striker’s chances of making a return in the new year and the impact he’ll have, Rodgers added: “That will be really exciting for this team. Put him back in and we will be back to that flow in our game and results hopefully.”
Liverpool vs. Arsenal: Brendan Rodgers and Arsene Wenger Post-Match Reaction – Bleacher Report
