We lost this game for many reasons and was one of them is [the psychological impact] of Liverpool making it 1-1 just before half-time.
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“You are in a catch-22 situation with the Euros”. After suffering through a slow start to their last campaign, he hopes the win at the Emirates can push players to jump out to a more promising first month of the season.
It was very soon 4-1 to Klopp’s transformed side after a superb run by new signing Mane, who broke down the right flank and raced past two Arsenal defenders before firing a rasping left-foot shot into the far corner.
“We didn’t recover properly and we paid for the lack of experience at the back and the fact some players are not ready physically to last 90 minutes at that level”.
“We have to be ready next week because we go to Leicester”. So are we still the first choice in England?
“We are not stupid”, he said. “But we’ve got to be a little bit more disciplined at times, especially myself if I’m playing that role in the team”.
Shkodran Mustafi is expected to sign for the Gunners in the coming days as a reaction to the injuries suffered by Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, but the 24-year-old’s arrival might not be enough. “You have to sometimes accept that you can not control absolutely everything”.
And he also opted against involving Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil in his squad after their exertions at Euro 2016 – while Aaron Ramsey, who reached the semi-finals with Wales, was forced off with a hamstring injury in the second half.
Both players will undergo tests on Monday.
Arsenal were rewarded for a positive half of football with a goal from Theo Walcott in the 30th minute.
Arsenal notched two goals after that but were always struggling to get back into the game and could not find an equaliser as the game wore on.
“The manager (Jurgen Klopp) said a lot of things we needed to improve on in the second half and I felt we did that”.
“Sometimes you just need something different and I think Alexis can be that guy”.
“If you celebrate too early, life gives you always a knock”. This season’s title race is set to be more competitive than ever, with at least six teams in with a legitimate chance.
“But when the season starts, we can’t compete in the market”.
“We came out the traps firing and got the second, third and fourth [goals]”.
“That’s really important. It gives us on one side confidence and the knowledge that we can score goals”.
Joe Gomez is the other alternative at left-back, but is now injured.
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“It’s hard but it’s the Premier League, and nothing should be easy in this league so we need to be ready”.
