• Premier League

Szczesny: Defeat to Liverpool 'f*****g embarrassing'

Daniel Sturridge was impressed with Liverpool's team ethic but Wojciech Szczesny was not so impressed by Arsenal's performance © PA Photos

Enlarge

Wojciech Szczesny described Arsenal's heavy 5-1 defeat to Liverpool as "f*****g embarrassing" in a post on his official Facebook page.

Two goals each from Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling plus one from Daniel Sturridge saw Liverpool run riot over Arsene Wenger's side at Anfield on Saturday, before several key players of Arsenal's squad took to personal social media accounts to apologise for the nature of the defeat.

Manager Wenger admitted the performance "raises some questions" with the battle for the Premier League title beginning to tighten.

With several key fixtures on the horizon - including Manchester United in the league and Bayern Munich in the Champions League - Wenger admitted his team's showing was "naïve" and only the fans gave a credible performance for the entirety of the drubbing.

"It was a very poor day. We were poor defensively, offensively," Wenger told BT Sport. "Only our fans were good for 90 minutes. All the rest, we were poor. Liverpool played very well, so congratulations to them. But it was a poor performance on a day when we couldn't afford it.

"Of course it raises some questions today because we were caught many times and were naive. Defensively we need to be more stable. Today we were too open. From the front to the back we were not at the level we are used to."

Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers was quick to hail what he described an "incredible performance" from the home side, in which they scored five goals against Arsenal at Anfield for only the third time in their history.

"It was an incredible performance," Rodgers said. "It's not the first time we've been outstanding at home, but everything about us today was incredible. Everything was outstanding.

"We've been getting better and better. We've got a lot of young players, developing well. But for us it's just about improving."

Sturridge scored Liverpool's fourth goal to cap a devastating opening 20 minutes and the striker echoed the teamwork ethic in his post-match interview.

"We went out there and did what the manager told us," Sturridge said. "The first 20 minutes were unbelievable and it's about the team. We worked as a team and we are getting results.

"It starts form the back and the boys have been excellent. Martin Skrtel got two goals and Raheem Sterling two and got a well-earned man of the match for all the hard work he has put in."

5-1. Get in pic.twitter.com/8vPEFbM0rs

— jon flanagan (@jon_flan93) February 8, 2014

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd