Don Hutchison has accused Liverpool of ‘bordering on arrogance’ with their performance during the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, branding the Reds as ‘sloppy’ and ‘lazy’ at times in the match.
Jurgen Klopp’s side fell to a deserved loss at the Emirates Stadium, with the calamitous mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker for Gabriel Martinelli’s goal summing up the team’s overall display, and the 52-year-old didn’t hold back in his verdict on his former club.
Speaking on Premier League Productions, Hutchison said of LFC: “We were watching the game, and the way Liverpool played was very casual, bordering on arrogance at times. They took chances at the back, sloppy, lazy, a yard short with the ball. When you’re [playing against] Arsenal, that’s where you need to be ruthless.”
The Scot also turned on the Liverpool captain over the Gunners’ first two goals, saying about Bukayo Saka’s opener: “It’s strange how Van Dijk there got sucked into [Martin] Odegaard. I think when you look back at that, Van Dijk will be devastated. He was never getting near Odegaard in terms of that pass.”
In analysing the Martinelli goal, the 52-year-old raged: “Look at this first time. Van Dijk has options – head it back to the goalkeeper or to the full-back. This is where I talk about the arrogance. When he does this and it comes off, he looks like a Rolls-Royce, but when it doesn’t he looks casual and arrogant.”
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We can’t really disagree with Hutchison on this one – Liverpool were far too lackadaisical overall on Sunday, and turning in such a disjointed performance away to a direct title rival was a recipe for disaster, with Arsenal duly taking full advantage.
Moments such as the aforementioned Van Dijk/Alisson howler, along with Ryan Gravenberch being castigated by Klopp for substandard pressing in the lead-up to the Saka goal, summed up the strange and ill-timed sloppiness from the Reds.
The manner in which we dismantled Bournemouth, Norwich and Chelsea in the preceding two weeks suggested that we were playing some of our best football of the season and could go to north London full of confidence, but unfortunately that seemed to manifest itself in the form of arrogance, as the pundit called it.
Liverpool are still top of the table for now, but the momentum is with Manchester City amid their flawless start to 2024. If we want to remain at the summit for the rest of the season, a swift and sizeable improvement on the Arsenal game is needed, starting with a convincing three points against Burnley on Saturday.
#Ep100 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️