Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger slams 4-0 defeat by Liverpool as 'disastrous' and 'shocking' but refuses to answer questions over his future

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Arsene Wenger blasted Arsenal for a performance he called ‘absolutely disastrous’ after they were thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool.

He came under ferocious fire from TV pundits with Gary Neville, Graeme Souness, Jamie Carragher — and even Thierry Henry — ripping into him.

Souness said Arsenal ‘played like schoolboys’ and Neville called for all their players to be put on the transfer list.  

Arsene Wenger labelled his side's performance as 'disastrous' and 'shocking'

Wenger questioned the performance of his players after they were thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool

The Arsenal manager turned on his own players, as did a number of Sky Sports pundits 

Mesut Ozil last night apologised to the fans, saying: ‘We were simply not good enough. Gunners, I’m sorry.’

Liverpool tore Arsenal to shreds, with Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Daniel Sturridge scoring.

‘We were an easy opponent for Liverpool,’ admitted Wenger, whose side failed to muster a single shot on target. 

'We have played three games,' he added. 'We have played one home game and two away games. Given our first two games, our performances were quite good, but (this) performance was not acceptable at that level. It's true we were an easy opponent for Liverpool.'

Liverpool went ahead through Roberto Firmino before Sadio Mane added a second shortly before half-time. 

Mohamed Salah scored a third 12 minutes into the second half and Daniel Sturridge rounded off an emphatic victory when he converted the winger's cross. 

Mohamed Salah was allowed to run free from his own half as he scored Liverpool's third goal

Asked about a number of chants calling for his dismissal, he said: 'I do not want to answer that. That's part of the crowd's feeling. If I'm the problem, I'm sorry.'  

Former striker Thierry Henry, working as a pundit for Sky Sports, had to turn his back to the game during the second half given how poor an Arsenal display it was.

Graeme Souness was even more scathing in his criticism, singling out Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez as two players who should have done better. 

Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez started the match but was substituted shortly into the second half 

He said: 'I've officially given up on them [Arsenal]. There was always something about Arsenal I liked. 

'Unless they were playing against Tottenham or Liverpool, I always looked forward to watching them and hoping they'd do well. Ozil and Sanchez were a disgrace today.' 

Jurgen Klopp, by contrast, was thrilled with Liverpool's style. He played the bulk of the team that started against Hoffenheim last Wednesday and he said: 'We wanted to show our ambitions against a very strong side. The performance was perfect and the results is the result of the performance.

'We decided for rhythm and confidence. They all looked so positive after the Hoffenheim game in training I thought come on let's try again.'