Liverpool put in an uncharacteristically lifeless performance at the Emirates on Sunday to fall to a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal, in a game which could have major consequences for the title race.
Victory in North London would have put Liverpool eight points ahead of the Gunners, as well as affording them extra breathing space against the title-winning machine operated by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
One would have thought Liverpool would be fired up for the occasion. Instead, they failed to muster a single shot on target in the first half and, even after a lucky break with an own goal gave them an equaliser just before the break, they failed to kick on in the second period and win out.
Though manager Jurgen Klopp had to contend with several injury issues coming into the game, his team selection nonetheless raised more than a few eyebrows. Analysing Sunday's massive game, Irish pundits Eamon Dunphy and John Giles both criticised Klopp for his selection of Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the tactics employed for his right-back.
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Dunphy and Giles critical of Liverpool team selection v Arsenal
John Giles was a special guest on Eamon Dunphy's The Stand podcast this week and the beloved Irish pundits discussed Liverpool's defeat at Arsenal.
Dunphy was heavily critical of Liverpool's defence, who had a serious off day at the Emirates. He criticised Virgil van Dijk for his role in the second Arsenal goal, before going in on Trent Alexander-Arnold for his anonymous display at right-back.
Jurgen Klopp also received criticism from Dunphy for his positioning of Alexander-Arnold and general defensive setup:
I thought he picked the wrong team in a big way. He left out Nunez, he didn't play Andy Robertson - which perhaps was understandable - but he didn't play Elliott, which I didn't think was understandable.
That aside, the performance of Alexander-Arnold, the position he played in, I thought was crazy. I'm a big Klopp fan, I'm a big Liverpool supporter. He played as a kind of outside-right and never defended at all.
In the first half, Arsenal ripped them apart. There was no defence, they were breaking through the middle. That went on for 45 minutes. They could have had three or possibly four goals but they only had one.
One of the things that was wrong was that they only had three defenders. Effectively, they had Konaté, van Dijk, and Joe Gomez.
Gomez is a really good right-back, and a really good player I think, but he's playing left-back, which is a different position. He was getting dragged in because Trent was missing in action. He was standing on the touchline on the right-hand side. He trotted back but in no way could he be described as a defender. He didn't put pressure on the ball...I just didn't understand it.
Watching Arsenal's first goal is a perfect example of what Dunphy criticises Klopp for. With Alexander-Arnold nowhere to be seen in defence, the Liverpool defensive setup is stretched. The movement of Van Dijk and Konaté across to the right creates space through the centre for Kai Havertz to exploit and, in covering his two fellow defenders, Joe Gomez then leaves Bukayo Saka free to slot home the rebound.
Giles would double down on Dunphy's point, saying that he was surprised that Klopp had not been more wary with his team selection.
He noted that Alexander-Arnold had only recently returned from an injury lay-off and, given his shaky defensive performance, questioned whether he had fully recovered. Regardless, he said Klopp had been naive not to be prepared for the threat posed by Arsenal's wingers Saka and Gabriel Martinelli:
One thing about Arsenal is that they always play with two wingers, and most of the teams in the Premier League don't play with two wingers. Their wingers were particularly good against Liverpool.
With the way that Liverpool played the other day, especially in the first half when Alexander-Arnold wasn't in the right-back position, they were wide open on both sides. They weren't very well set on the left-back position either.
He [Alexander-Arnold] was out with injury. Now, I'm not making any excuses for him, because if he's out with injury he shouldn't be playing. But if you're playing in that way and you know before the match starts that Arsenal are going to have wingers, you've got to have full-backs.
A back three can't get out wide at the right time or the proper time. That was a mistake for Liverpool...there's not many teams play with wingers, Arsenal are an exception in that - and they're two very, very good wingers. You've got to account for them. Liverpool didn't, and Arsenal did tear them apart.
Both Saka and Martinelli were on the scoresheet on Sunday, with Martinelli in particular having one of his best performances of the season up against Alexander-Arnold.
Sunday's defeat does not by any means put paid to Liverpool's title hopes - far from it, in fact. Klopp's team still control their own destiny, but will likely need a flawless end to the season - and a victory over Manchester City - to stop Pep Guardiola's City juggernaut.
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