Mikel Arteta claims 'we want more' as he hits back at criticism over Arsenal's conservative play style

He might claim otherwise, but it was apparent that Mikel Arteta has been stung by the discourse that surrounded Arsenal's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool prior to the international break. Given an opportunity to wax lyrical about Mikel Merino, hat-trick hero of Spain's evisceration of Turkey in World Cup qualifiers, Arteta chose to dig a bit deeper down the timeline.

"I heard some comments about how we played with three midfielders [at Anfield], defensive midfielders I think was the narrative," said Arteta. "Mikel [Merino] has to play in an attacking midfielder. I don't know when was the last attacking midfielder to score three goals. So it's very interesting to learn what perception is, especially when you lose a football match."

Arsenal had indeed lost their first football match of the season, Dominik Szoboszlai's late free kick swinging a tense, low shot encounter in Liverpool's direction at Anfield. In the aftermath, Arteta's approach was roundly questioned, particularly his decision to start Merino in midfield rather than hand Eberechi Eze a debut or perhaps even gamble with the fitness of Martin Odegaard as he recovered from a shoulder injury.

Arsenal -- without Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Ben White, sweating on Odegaard's availability -- had had more shots than their hosts, had kept the league's best attack to 16 penalty box touches to their own 29 and drawn a comparable level of caution out of Liverpool to that which they displayed. It took a moment of peerless brilliance from Szoboszlai to break a 22-game unbeaten run against the "Big Six." And yet, the assessment of many after the game mirrored that of Gary Neville, who said: "Liverpool believe they should be winning these matches and I'm not sure Arsenal do. They're happy not to lose and it's costing them."

Asked to expand on why that was the perception of Arsenal, Arteta, who had evidently been aware of the "three defensive midfielders" line that had been floating around social media, insisted: I don't know [the narrative] because I don't read that. But obviously, after reviewing the match and analysing it, it's a very different perspective or opinion than the one that I have in relation to that. You have to respect every opinion. At the end, the opinion is going to be different if you win or lose. You have to accept that."

Like many managers, Arteta seems able to ingest the debate around his club without ever seeing it, celebrating David Raya's excellence on the eve of his 100th game for the Gunners but noting "I was hammered when I bought him".

Ultimately it is easy to see why Arteta was so peevish about the general view of his team's performance last time out. The Arsenal manager might have a habit of drifting towards caution and no one would confuse their attacking style with the occasionally reckless abandon with which Saturday's opponent Ange Postecoglou set up Tottenham in his first season in charge. However when Arteta was able to name his full strength side for most of a season they scored a club record 91 goals in the Premier League. They were putting up two expected goals per game, plenty of which might have come from set pieces but when you are scoring them with the consistency that the Gunners do they cannot be easily washed out.

Arsenal's attacking output dropped dramatically last season, as it should have given the absences of Saka, Odegaard, Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, among many others. Those first two are world class players, it would be stranger if there was not a drop off. Despite that absence of personnel, it was hard to catch much sense of a team "happy not to lose" when they ran 11 goals past Liverpool and Manchester City in last season's Premier League. The 10 men fighting to the last to cling on to a 2-1 lead at the Etihad didn't seem happy with a point when they conceded late on.

That team responded to the devastation in Manchester by running nine past Leicester, Paris Saint-Germain and Southampton and Arteta sees determination in his squad this time around too. He wanted a game "in the next three days" to get the Liverpool loss out of his players' systems. Instead he watched on with delight as the likes of Merino, Noni Madueke and new signing Piero Hincapie excelled for their national sides.

"We want more," he said of the collective feeling after the Liverpool game. "We want to want more of those games. And reviewing what we've done and as well the circumstances that we've had, not only in the way that we play but in other areas, there is still room to improve for sure. And that's very good because the team is already at a really high level."

That augurs poorly for Nottingham Forest. Arteta might claim otherwise but criticism of his side's approach seems to have got to him. If the same is true of his players, expect them to bite back on Saturday afternoon.

Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest -- viewing information

• Date: Saturday, Sep. 13 | Time: 10 a.m. ET
• Location: Emirates Stadium -- London
• Live stream: Peacock
• Odds: Arsenal -275; Draw +375; Nottingham Forest +700