Unai Emery Picks Out Positives From 3-1 Liverpool Defeat

Unai Emery remains positive with Arsenal despite a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.

The Gunners were picked apart in the second half by the Liverpool front line as Mohamed Salah scored a penalty and another from the edge of the Arsenal box.

David Luiz had a torrid time dealing with the Egyptian and made two blunders for him to take advantage off. Emery took a defensive approach of fielding a 4-4-2 formation but it simply didnot work against the European Champions.

“In the first half we worked together. We were doing some very good transitions and we had some chances, but in the second half the penalty was very soft,” Emery said after the match.

“After 2-0 our reaction was good. We needed to attack and take a different moment in the match. Yes we are disappointed we lost 3-1, but watching some players we can be optimistic. We need to improve in possession and countering the pressure but Liverpool is the best team with this.

“We have to be realistic but we can fight closer to them. For me today, without the result there were some good periods we showed.”

He further added, “We were a little more deep but we also had the positivity to try to score. In the first half, the best chance was for us with Pepe. The key was the second goal, it was a really soft penalty. I don’t think it was enough, but our reaction after that was good.

“The impact of Lucas [Torreira], [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan was good. Joe Willock also made another step today. I am positive because we are going to improve. We can be happy with different players and how they are working.”

Arsenal have failed their first acid test of the season and they are about to face a second one next weekend against Tottenham Hotspur.