Arsenal is unable to do two fundamental things as a team and their attacks have become muffing, according to Gary Neville.
The Gunners were left after they had only come from their journey to Manchester United with a 1-1 draw, despite the lion's share of opportunities and possession.
Mikel Arteta stormed out of his interview after the game when he was asked about the title challenge of his team after the draw left them 15 points behind Liverpool.
It has been an injuries season for Arsenal and they were again forced to fill Mikel Merino as an improvised striker, but Neville came down hard in his assessment after the game.
“Arsenal cannot counterattack, and when they have the ball in the last third part, they can't really innovate and go through,” he shot on the Gary Neville podcast on Sunday.
'So the three ways in which you score goals in Games-Set pieces that they have been pretty good at were not so great today, but set pieces that they did well on other two areas that you mainly score goals are when you are in possession, dominate the game as a to the top team, or when you are counterattacks and really go fast.
'They notice that they must always come back and recycle and play it over the field.
'Predictable. Safe. They sometimes do well, but they need players who can communicate with each other and can accelerate playing in the last third part. That's what top players do.
'Liverpool is better in the last third than she and the attacking statistics show that.
“Arsenal is very well defensive, although I thought United had three or four big chances in the second half, but they still gave only one goal through their goalkeeper and back four.”
Arsenal was the toast of Europe only five days earlier when they called a 7-1 win over PSV in Eindhoven in the Champions League.
That was the most that Arsenal had scored in a match since their 7-3 victory victory over Newcastle in December 2012, and then the experts thought they had turned a corner.
“Do they need a striker? I'm not that sure, “Theo Walcott Purred on TNT sports.
Daniel Sturridge chimde in it: 'We talked about PSV who tried, but Arsenal was like putting it to bed, it's time to go asleep. They had that murderous instinct, were not showboating or overly confident.
“They were fluent, created so many opportunities, it was a professional versions.”
That night was threw as a turning point after Arsenal had gone two games without scoring and Arteta saw it as such.
“It clearly gave us a lot of joy, trust and faith. In football it is not what we did three days ago or today, it will be what we will do tomorrow, “he said.
Arsenal, however, is now confronted with the same questions about their attack with Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are all injured.
This is not the first time that Neville has been torn in. Last month, after they were lost at home with West Ham at home, he said: 'Arsenal has sometimes become pretty rigid, pretty sufficient to watch.
'This obsession with set pieces that overtake the entire game, exacerbated by the presence of the set piece coach (Nicolas Jover) on the touchline and sets more focus on set pieces.
'And it is, no, I think the freedom has disappeared a bit from them.
'And I know that they have lost (Bukayo) Saka, (Gabriel) Jesus, and (Kai) Havertz, those big strokes are and that is a big problem for Arsenal, but I still have the feeling that they should do the work against West Ham at home.
'It's a defense, but then you have to plan it. I know they didn't want to do business in the January transfer window – they thought there was not entirely the value in the market or they could not get the player who would come in and have an impact on them.
“But they left themselves briefly, there is no doubt about that and they have fallen short. Even without players you mentioned, they still have to do that work.
'The last two seasons they went very close and I have had a lot of admiration, felt that you went very close.
'This season is more a problem than the last two, because when the city was not there, the team that had to be there was Arsenal in my mind, because of their growth and how close they got.
'They will not be, it will not look, and that is the big shock and surprise, and I think this will be the one who will be the hardest in the boardroom, and (with) Mikel Arteta, and the dressing room and the player, because they desperately won a title and they felt like they were getting closer. It's a blow.
'Yesterday (Saturday), look, it can happen, and they can say that Liverpool is doing well, but Liverpool has dropped points in these last eight games, Liverpool has signed two in the last three, they pulled four in their last eight (before the man City City) – Arsenal had a chance to get closer. They could have gone within five points.
“It's really a big blow. Questions will be asked because, a bit like that Leicester season, when a few of the teams did not win, you start asking questions to those teams and say, “Wait for a moment, Leicester won it.” It is that kind of season where it is for the taking. '