The boo boys were back and in full force as Arsenal slumped once again on the opening day of a new season. This time, the loss was against a Liverpool team that absolutely ripped the London side apart in an incredible second half display.
Arsenal, to their credit, did make a fight of it by scoring two goals and making it 4-3 with just a few minutes to go but that fourth goal never came for the Gunners and the fans inside the Emirates Stadium let Arsene Wenger and the team know exactly what they felt.
The London club though have time on their hands seeing as to how this was just the first game of a long Premier League season but Wenger needs to work quickly and turn things around. The Gunners don’t have a lot of time on their hands and need to play Leicester City, who also lost on the first game, next and here are three ways the team can bounce back as they prepare for a trip to the King Power Stadium.
Recall the players
Arsene Wenger had spoken about a long off-season and how the likes of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud a break due to their excursions in Euro 2016 but the fact of the matter is Arsenal are weaker without the trio and that was in evidence yesterday.
While Giroud might still be booed for missing chances, he still provides Arsenal with a decent threat up front. Ozil is the heartbeat when it comes to creating chances and without the German in the side, Arsenal were poor yesterday. The same applies for Koscielny, who could have done a better job in defence than Rob Holding and Calum Chambers.
While bringing them into the side now and expecting them to start against Leicester does seem impossible, the players can be pushed a little harder to hopefully get them match ready sooner rather than later.
Work on the physical conditioning
After the match, Arsene Wenger stated that the players were not physically ready. As quoted by the Guardian after the game, the Arsenal manager also spoke a bit about how rushing players back did not help.
“We pushed players today like Ramsey. It is an impossible situation to get players back from the Euros and prepare. We played a very good first half and were unlucky to concede a goal just before half-time and after that, we paid for a lack of experience. We are not ready physically.”
That might be a legitimate concern but the manager knew about the European competition and the Copa American being held during the summer. He still should have dealt with this possible problem a while back.
Chelsea also suffered from a poor preseason last time around but Antonio Conte seems to have done his bit to ensure nothing of the sort happens this season. Arsenal still have time on their hands to take care of the physical conditioning of the players, even if it does cost them a match or two.
The worst thing the side can do now is not work on the physicality of the team and play games continuously that would actually make it worse for them over the long run.
Try to work on the opposition’s weaknesses
Liverpool conceded a goal thanks to a magical moment from Alberto Moreno, not only did he concede a penalty, which Theo Walcott missed, but he was nowhere to be seen when the Arsenal man score the opening goal of the game.
That should have sent alarm bells ringing for Arsenal to target Moreno, who has often been the weak link for Liverpool but the Gunners did not do enough of that. They should have also targeted Simon Mignolet, who is known to go missing in games but they barely tested him as well.
This might have been just the first game of the season but the Gunners should know who to target from the opposition and that is one way of ensuring they can get more points from their upcoming games.
The season is still fresh and a lot of things can happen but Arsenal have to work hard to ensure they do not lose any more ground as they continue their search for an elusive Premier League title.