Arsenal were 'not at the requested level' against Liverpool, admits Arsene Wenger

The Gunners were thrashed 4-0 at Anfield and looked anonymous at times

Wenger was far from happy with his team’s display (Getty)

Arsène Wenger admitted Arsenal’s performance was “not at the requested level,” after his team were thrashed by Liverpool.

Goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge condemned Arsenal to a second loss in as many matches.

Arsenal were without shape and passion during the defeat, which leaves them 16th in the Premier League table ahead of the international break.

When asked what had gone wrong at Anfield, Wenger replied, “Everything,” before adding, “From the fist to the last minute, not physically, not technically not mentally we were not at the level and we were punished. It was a tough day.

“You can analyse the chances we gave away but overall the performance was not at the requested level.”

Liverpool’s attack will gain the headlines but it was their midfield that laid the platform for victory. Arsenal, by comparison, were timid in that area of the pitch. “It is true that today that we were an easy opponent for Liverpool,” Wenger admitted.

Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, believes the result will enable his players to realise they are capable of dealing with a more intensive schedule this season.

“Today was excellent,” he said. “That was the biggest challenge for us today: we need to learn that we can do things like this every three or four days because that will be like it is every three or four days. We wanted to show our strength against another very strong side.”

Klopp had left Simon Mignolet out of his squad for the game, replacing him with Loris Karius. He would not confirm whether the decision was taken because Karius will be Liverpool’s goalkeeper for cup matches this season and that includes the Champions League.

“The intensity for a goalkeeper is different,” he reasoned. “It’s not a physical intensity, it’s a mental intensity. We have three strong goalkeepers and we will need all three. I told him yesterday and he did not exactly give me a hug. But for this game, we needed Loris.

“One-hundred-per-cent, Simon will play against Manchester City (in Liverpool’s next game).”