Arteta - We fought, we tried and we believed

Mikel Arteta was proud of how we competed at Anfield on Monday night, but he regrets how we quickly we surrendered our first-half lead.

Alex Lacazette put us ahead following a quick break - and a mistake from Andy Robertson - but Robertson made amends with a goal of his own after Sadio Mane had equalised two minutes after our opener.

 

Diogo Jota finished us off but Arteta feels we could have done more to protect our precious advantage.

 

"We need to make sure that we don't concede the type of goal that we conceded," he told Arsenal.com.

 

"Again, it's Liverpool's quality. They put you under pressure on the first, second, third, fourth ball. They keep going, they have bodies, they have quality. You put them under pressure with a perfect high press and van Dijk hits an 80-yard ball to Mo Salah's chest. This is quality, that's why they paid £80m for this guy, you know?

 

"We are on a different journey, they have been together for five years, they were unable to do that after one, two, three seasons. They were unable to play this level but they have really good coaches, they recruited really well, they have improved the players that they had and they have real belief in what they do."

 

Arteta spoke before the game of Liverpool's "quick waves" and those waves looked like engulfing us towards the end of the first half. But we regrouped and held our own after the break.

 

"They were awesome [in the second half]," said the manager. "The effort they put in, the way they were pressing the front three, the way they went, the midfield players were tracking back every time. They hit the perfect ball, the second ball... We tried and they believed.

 

"That's what I asked of them before the game, to believe. To play here with character and to play our way and now we just accept that they were better and that they are better at the moment and that we have to improve. This is the level that we have to reach. We will come back on Thursday and try to win again."