However, Mignolet believes the Reds were good defensively on the day, but did admit that there are “lessons to learn”. “At half time, I was really happy about having it because we could speak about everything and it was clear – our mistakes were so big so it was easy to speak about them because the players already felt it, but couldn’t change it in the game”.
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Theo Walcott scored a few moments after seeing his penalty saved by Simon Mignolet but the first half ended level at 1-1 following Philippe Coutinho’s brilliant free-kick goal.
Fighting back to lose by a 3-4 scoreline with Liverpool leading 1-4 at one stage, it was a hard afternoon for Arsenal supporters to bear with the loss coming on the back of a frustrating summer in the transfer window. That’s what happened with the deflection.
“The game is not over unfortunately, and Arsenal were not in a good way but we gave them the path [back into the match] again”.
“The first 20 minutes of the second half was how we should play”, Mignolet said.
City may have dominated the ball but they had just four shots on target throughout the match, while the Black Cats had three and were away from home. We needed 45 minutes-plus to get the free kick and it was the genius of Phil [Coutinho].
Theo Walcott, positioned back on the right side of midfield, squandered the ideal opportunity to put Arsenal in front from the penalty spot, but responded with a calm finish across goal just 68 seconds later.
A lot of people are questioning the title credentials of Arsenal, but we are perhaps the most stable club and squad of players and there was plenty of reason for optimism from the performances of our other Premier League rivals yesterday. So far I would say that Arsenal do not have too much to worry about, but will we still be able to say that tonight?
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Glenn is ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent.
