Arthur's Column // 5th October 2022

It's never pleasant to lose a game of football but sometimes you just have to admit that you were up against an extremely talented team.

That was the case last night when we lost 2-0 to Liverpool. They have world class players and showed their qualities in the Champions League game.

The positives Giovanni will take from the Anfield performance will be the performance of Leon King. The teenager has a bright future, for sure.

He coped with the pressure and defended well. He will also learn from the penalty he conceded. I really like the look of Leon. He can defend.

As part of a back three, Ben Davies also got a game in. Being left sided, Ben brings a natural balance to the team.

And, of course, we could see just how special a goalkeeper Allan McGregor is. His ability has never been in doubt but, at 40, he reminded us all.

Allan was exceptional and produced four saves right out of the top drawer. We always have a chance in any game as long as he is between the sticks.

We spent much of the game in our own half but when we did venture into the final third we looked capable.

Alisson made two excellent saves in the final five minutes to deny Rabbi Matondo and Antonio Colak. Had we scored it would have made for an interesting final few moments in the game.

The defeat, however, leaves us with zero points from three games. We now accept that we are fighting to finish in third place.

We will probably need four points to do that so a point at Ibrox next Wednesday against Liverpool would be a great start. We then need to beat Ajax, of course.

Anything away from home at Napoli would be a major bonus.

However, more importantly, we are back to SPFL business this week and we need to focus on beating St Mirren. We are right at the top of the League table beside Cetic and we need to keep winning every week.

The 4-0 win at Hearts last weekend was very heartening. We played really well. It gives us extra belief that we can become Champions.

But we need to back that up in every game between now and mid-November. We play seven league games in that period and we need 21 points.

I'm confident we can do it. I think we can keep clean sheets because we look solid.

At the other end, we have goalscorers. Antonio and Alfredo Morelos will see to that. They will find the next plenty of times in the next few domestic games.

They have the quality beside them to have plenty of chances created and they will make sure opportunities are converted into goals.