Arsenal spent most of Sunday afternoon falling to the pitch any time a Liverpool player glanced in their general direction. As has been the case more often than not under Mikel Arteta, referee Andy Madley was largely content to officiate them naively and give them the benefit of the doubt—and the fouls they were seeking.
Liverpool by comparison tried to stay on their feet. And they were punished for it when Madley and VAR lead Stuart Attwell ignored a clear, obvious, and quite significant pull on the shirt
of Alexander Isak by Jurrien Timber that prevented the Liverpool striker from a scoring a goal. Amongst commentators, pundits, and neutral fans there was universal agreement it should have been a penalty.
In the wake of the incident and Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat in a game where they largely dominated a passive, cynical, and ultra-defensive Arsenal side whose footballing cowardice made mockery of their status as defending Premier League champions, the conclusion has been sadly unavoidable: Liverpool probably need to dive more.
“I don’t know what they expect from us,” was the reaction of midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai following the match. “Maybe we need to dive or something. I don’t think we are the type of team to do that, but from now on we might need to because if Alex falls it’s a clear penalty. Timber doesn’t care about the ball and if he doesn’t pull Alex’s shirt, Alex can head it in the goal.”
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola and captain Virgil van Dijk made similar statements following the match, and it’s difficult to come to any other conclusion. Arsenal’s cynical and toxic approach to football, a Galacticos squad tasked with playing in the style of Jose Mourinho or Tony Pulis rather than Pep Guariola or Jürgen Klopp, isn’t pleasant.
Last season, their so-called meatwall approach to contesting the penalty area as though it were a rugby scrum became a widespread talking point amongst football fans. There was a near-universal belief that it was damaging the game. They somehow were never punished for it, and it helped them to win the league.
Heading into 2026-27, then, there was plenty of talk—including from the league itself—of trying to not allow that approach to continue. Yet for all the talk, on Sunday they were officiated in exactly the same naive and trusting way by referee Madly and VAR lead Attwell. And Liverpool lost a game because they were too honest.
“It is not our type of play,” Szoboszlai reiterated when asked about the signal being sent by the Premier League and its officials that Liverpool will have to embrace diving in order to be officated fairly. “I don’t ever think in this moment, oh, let me wait for someone to touch me and then I’ll fall down, but I don’t think you can see this differently.”
