Robbie Fowler puts Liverpool's defensive collapse against Arsenal down to mentality

Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has questioned his old side's mentality after they blew a comfortable 2-0 lead over Arsenal.

Goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah gave the visitors a two-goal cushion early on in the second half at the Emirates Stadium on Friday (22 December).

However, Arsenal were able to come back through a five-minute blitz as goals from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil put the hosts 3-2 in front.

Liverpool did manage to salvage a draw as Roberto Firmino's equalising strike eventually ended the game in a thrilling stalemate.

However, there were more concerning matters for everyone involved at the Merseyside club as it felt more like a case of two dropped points.

It also perhaps showed to Fowler that despite conceding three goals in their last eight games in all competitions before the draw, the tendency to collapse is always a possibility, with the Reds notably surrendering a 3-0 lead against Sevilla in November.

"I asked myself afterwards how it happened," Fowler wrote in his Mirror column. "How could a team in total control, who should have been five ahead at half-time, got from a match-winning position to trailing in the space of five minutes?

"The answer must be mentality...and sadly it looks like Liverpool are beginning to actually believe the criticism that was so viciously aimed at them earlier in the season. If you look at what happened, Arsenal were all over the place, they were outplayed and looked scared to death of Liverpool's pace and movement.

"If you were Liverpool at 2-0 and then you concede, then you have to believe you are so much the better side you can go down the other end and score again. At will."

Fowler adds that plenty of other top teams are no strangers to conceding goals and have managed to weather the impending storms much better than Liverpool have.

"Instead, they [Liverpool] seemed to collectively say, 'here we go again', just because they conceded a goal," he added. "That's a problem, because no side – not even Manchester City at the moment – go through matches without conceding.

"The top teams concede all the time but back themselves to score again. Liverpool seem to think one goal against them spells trouble. And again, I can only assume that's a mentality thing. Didn't Liverpool have the best defensive record of all the top teams over the past two months, even City?

"You'd never have guessed it, and I think that's ­because it always lurks there deep in the mindset once something has been exposed."