Per Mertesacker says he was disappointed with Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool, because the team were “always on the back foot”.
Arsene Wenger’s side had 36 per cent possession at Anfield and managed three shots on target compared to the home side’s 10.
Mertesacker says Arsenal set up to prevent counter-attacks after last season’s 5-1 defeat on Merseyside, but the German was frustrated that the Gunners were unable to dictate the game.
"We realised we had to stick together and find space [and knew] if we got chances in the second half we could score"
“If you remember last year we had a very different performance to what we had today,” the defender told Arsenal Player. “We tried to stop Raheem Sterling going through on the back four with his speed. We didn’t find our own game.
“We realised we had to stick together and find space [and knew] if we got chances in the second half we could have scored. We did and then we tried to defend in the last minute, which we did but not as good as I thought [we could have].
“Overall we have to take responsibility for our game - we want to dictate but we were on always on the back foot. I’m not really pleased with the performance but we take the point now and we’re looking forward to December 26.
“We have to dig in now and try to beat QPR. When you compare [the 2-2 draw] to last year, this is a much better result, but I’m not very pleased with our performance. We can do much better and we have to find it.”
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