Mikel Arteta critics accusing Arsenal of 'ugly' football miss the mark after Liverpool claims

In the wake of the defeat to Liverpool, the Gunners and manager Mikel Arteta in particularhave faced growing scrutiny around the way he plays. From fans to pundits, how Arsenal approached the match at Anfieldhas been a hot topic of discussion.

Words like 'cowardly', 'conservative', and 'scared' have been bandied around like a game of Countdown. Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel took things the furthest with the following wild suggestion.

"I have never in my life ever wanted a team to win a game of football more than Liverpool today. Arsenal bring an ugly brand of football to our game," he said on Viaplay following Liverpool's 1-0 win. "I don't want to insult Arsenal, but their brand of football is so annoying to watch, it's designed to exploit opponents while waiting for set-pieces."

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Bear in mind that after the first half hour, Arsenal had managed seven touches in the Liverpool box and stopped the home side from having any. I certainly did come away from the game with sincere disappointment in how the Gunners approached the match, but I didn't get the sense they'd been humbled by one of the greatest footballing sides.

Arne Slot and Liverpool were just as guilty of a cautious approach to the match, but, as usual, Arsenal were the centre of attention; the only reason was, of course, the result. Based on how the game was played, they could easily have been the ones on the end of a stunning free-kick - sadly, Declan Rice sent his way over the bar.

So are the accusations that Mikel Arteta plays an 'ugly' brand of football true? Well, however you want to quantify Arteta's style, the reality is that it has transformed the club from a side that would regular concede threes, fours and fives at places like Anfield into one that saw them lose for the first time against a Big Six side since April 2023, a game where City did indeed put four past them.

It was like in this moment Arteta said to himself: 'Enough!' From that point forward, they would be a tougher side to beat, and as a result, in the following season, 2023/24, Arsenal would go the closest they have to a league title win in the last 20 years, finishing just two points off City, dropping points in only two games in the whole of the second half of the campaign.

Yet City just happened to be even more perfect than they were. It turned out the hard-fought 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium that season would be the three-point swing that could have crowned them champions.

Arsenal went there that day to defend and hit on the break. But when you compare that match to this game at Anfield, there was much more impetus this time around; ironically, they've come out of it with fewer points.

In that 2023/24 season, Arteta managed to record 28 league wins, more than the Invincibles' 26. They scored more than Thierry Henry’s side from that season too (91 > 73).

But they didn’t win the league, and therefore, for many, it still stands as a failure. Football has changed since those days, and based upon how Pep Guardiola’s brand of football ended trophyless last season and has begun with two defeats from three games with a trip to the Emirates Stadium in just over a fortnight, that too perhaps highlights the next shift in the sport.

Make no mistake, Arteta is desperate to win as a coach. While he can certainly be scrutinised for having the handbrake on too often and not being proactive or risky enough to change things in the game, the foundation of his methods has bore fruit. They have taken Arsenal out of irrelevance in terms of competitiveness and re-established them as title challengers for the first time in close to 20 years.

Arsenal enter every season among the favourites for every competition they enter. Arsenal fans go into every season now knowing they have genuine aims of trying to win something. That is a privilege as a football fan, and well over 90% of clubs do not have that trait.

Until Arsenal no longer has that, until they regress and Arteta's methods no longer see his side compete, then who are we to complain? Have concerns, have questions, and have criticisms, but the bottom line is that is that Arteta is making Arsenal a side who are very difficult to beat and very competitive - come the end of the season, we will see if it has worked.