Arsenal’s Pre-Season Tour Ends with a 2-1 Defeat to Liverpool in Philadelphia
- The Gunners fell short against their Premier League rivals despite dominating the second half
- Mikel Arteta emphasized the need for his team to inflict more damage in the final third
- Arsenal’s US pre-season tour concludes with a focus on improving their attacking prowess
By Isaan Khan
Arsenal’s pre-season tour in the United States came to an end with a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in Philadelphia. Despite dominating the second half, the Gunners were unable to find an equalizer, leading manager Mikel Arteta to stress the importance of punishing teams when on top.
The Gunners fell behind to two first-half goals before pulling one back through Kai Havertz. While they improved in the second half, they couldn’t find another goal to claw back the Reds. The tour saw the north London club give playing time to youngsters such as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, as well as completing the signing of defender Riccardo Calafiori in Philadelphia.
Arteta emphasized the need for his team to be more clinical, stating, “We have to punish teams. Especially with the aggression that we played with and the amount of times that we won the ball in dangerous areas and then not enough happened.”
Mikel Arteta has called for his Arsenal side to be more clinical following their loss to Liverpool
Goals from Mo Salah and Fabio Carvalho gave Arne Slot’s side a 2-1 win over the Gunners
Arteta was pleased with the performance of the academy players he brought to the US, stating, “I’m really pleased with all of them. Unfortunately, I wanted to give opportunities to all of them, we didn’t have enough time to do so.”
The manager also addressed the omission of Calafiori from tonight’s squad, saying, “We had to manage him. He had a very busy 48 hours before his flight. Then it was the jetlag and he hasn’t trained with the team yet. We want to build him slowly, to get to know him first. We will have plenty of time to see him.”
