Brendan Rodgers sees positives but Liverpool remain a mess

A third decent performance in a week saw Martin Skrtel salvage a point with a header in the seventh minute of added time as they drew 2-2 with Arsenal.

While the lack of a cutting edge was still evident the pace, pressing and passing which was associated with their run to second place last season appears to be returning to a degree - though Brendan Rodgers' insistence that the Reds "played better and dominated more" than the equivalent fixture last year, which Liverpool won 5-1, was some way off the mark.

Key to Liverpool's success will be the return to fitness of Daniel Sturridge, who has not played for the club since August 31 after sustaining a thigh injury on international duty.

In his absence others have had to weigh in with goals but they have not done nearly enough and Skrtel's late effort - following substitute Fabio Borini's dismissal for two yellow cards - after Philippe Coutinho's opener took their tally to just 21 in 17 matches.

They were nearly made to pay dearly after Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud turned things around either side of half-time and Sturridge's comeback cannot come soon enough.

"I actually think we played better, and dominated more, than last year, when we won 5-1... For me the key is we are moving in the right direction with one defeat in eight so if we continue with that work-rate and mentality we will turn the draws into victories..

"When we play our game and get back to that level we are a difficult team to play against.

"Hopefully it will bring us in to what we have had in my time here, being stronger in the second half of the season."

There was a time when this match would have been one of those rare fixtures that might genuinely merit Sky's over-the-top "Super Sunday" tag. Those days are long gone, however. Both sides have a had a spectacular fall from grace, and many neutrals watching on Sunday would have turned the television off wondering why they had even bothered.

Put simply, Arsenal and Liverpool are so far off the standard set by this season’s title contenders that it beggars belief. Liverpool lost one player from their starting XI over the summer and, while Luis Suarez was a genuine world class talent, Liverpool’s regression this season could take years to recover from. They remain porous at the back and, as a whole, offer little goal threat - Sturridge's return will improve this, but he can't be expected to carry the whole team. The effort is there, but that is about all at the moment.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have once again, despite having money available to spend, failed to sign the required reinforcements. They are in desperate need of a ball-playing midfielder at the base of their midfield. Wenger and Rodgers can talk about momentum and mentality as much as they like but the cold, hard facts are that both sides do not have the required quality to sustain any sort of title challenge now or in the coming years. In fact, it would not be a huge surprise if both missed out on a top four place.

Michael Cox (The Guardian): In truth, neither side deserved the victory. Arsenal were outplayed throughout and troubled by Liverpool’s movement while for the second consecutive weekend Rodgers’ side were let down by poor play in both penalty areas. It was unquestionably an eventful match, but it underlined why Liverpool and Arsenal are not involved in this season’s title race – both have consistent problems in terms of organisation.

Mark Ogden (The Telegraph): Did Liverpool really come within a whisker of ending their 24-year title drought just over six months ago? Is this really the team that was destroying opponents at home and away as they surged towards to the top of the Premier League? With Luis Suárez sold and Daniel Sturridge injured since August, the answer is clearly no, but the deterioration on the pitch has gone beyond the loss of two key players. Liverpool’s confidence has disappeared, their fans no longer appear to believe and Steven Gerrard has grown old in the space of seven months.