11 months ago
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Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
The Reds felt they could have had all three points against Arsenal but will take positives from another strong performance.
On Saturday against Arsenal, Liverpool were the better side by the numbers, creating nearly twice the expected goals and attacking threat as their opponents after conceding a fourth-minute opener to their London opposition.
The Reds also missed the game’s best scoring chance on a five against one break and saw one of the clearest cases of handling in the box by Arsenal inexplicably waved away. Add it all up, and a 1-1 draw could have felt disappointing.
For goalkeeper Alisson, though, there’s no time to dwell on the what if of the situation, and instead the focus needs to be on another quality performance against a top opponent that keeps Liverpool in the thick of the title race.
“We don’t take frustration because we played a really good game,” he noted. “Of course we wanted the three points, but as a team that is rebuilding, that is trying to be solid and find consistency, the performance was amazing.”
Whether one looks to take more good or ill from Saturday’s result, there’s not much time to dwell on it with just two days off over Christmas before the Reds have to put the boots back on and face off against Burnley on Boxing Day.
After that, though, there’s nearly a full week break before Newcastle come to Anfield on New Year’s Day, with the congested Christmas fixture list this time arguably shaking out more favourably for the Reds than any others.
“We want to be there at the top for the rest of the season,” the Brazilian added. “We know it’s early to talk about trophies at this moment, but we have to take these performances to create the mentality for a winning team.
“If you can perform as we did today against a side as strong as Arsenal, if we can replay that against the other teams, which is not easy, then we can achieve big things. We are on the way, but we stay with our two feet on the ground.
“This is a moment to be humble, to recognise that we can still improve, but it’s a moment to be confident about the quality that this team has and to build up the trust.”
