For those who have viewed Arsene Wenger as a fixed point amid football's changing times, there is an air of tragedy about the way his endgame is playing out.

It certainly feels like an ending, given the shocking depths of Arsenal’s first half capitulation to Liverpool on Saturday and then the post-match conversation where the Wenger denials which would once give us cause to laugh and cheer his sheer cussedness sounded like the meanderings of a man staggering around in the depths of the forest, looking for the slightest shard of light.

The inquisition was dominated, of course, by the unfathomable and quite dreadful decision to keep Alexis Sanchez – the player who so concerned Jurgen Klopp that Liverpool’s mid-week training had been built around him – on the bench.

Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Brad Jones Let Giroud’s shot through his legs too easily and perhaps could have done better with Debuchy’s opener, too. 3 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Kolo Toure Too easily beaten for Giroud’s goal, he looked slow and cumbersome throughout but nevertheless found time for some of his typical buccaneering runs forward. 4 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Martin Skrtel At fault for Arsenal’s equaliser when he allowed Debuchy to steal in at the back post but made up for that error with the equaliser, a howitzer off an injured forehead. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Mamadou Sakho There is a good player waiting to break out – but Sakho still looks shaky when pressurised by fast attackers. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Jordan Henderson Neat and tidy at points, but in this remodelled, strikerless Liverpool system he appears less able to cut defences open with passes and driving runs. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Lucas Leiva How Coutinho benefits from having a player of his defensive responsibility mopping up behind him. Almost scored too, with a late run into the box. 8 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Steven Gerrard Willed his team on in the last ten minutes as is his wont. Less influential than before but still such a massive influence on this team. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Lazar Markovic Far, far better than he has been so far in a left wing-back role. Missed two good opportunities to put Liverpool in front but Rodgers may yet have found a gem in the 20-year-old. 7 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Philippe Coutinho Livelier than he has been since last season, the Brazilian looks far more comfortable with Lucas behind him. Perfectly-placed shot found the corner to put his side ahead but guilty of missed opportunities thereafter. 8 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Raheem Sterling Left Debuchy for dead midway through the second half in a reminder of his luminous skill and, along with Coutinho, was Liverpool’s biggest threat throughout. 7 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Adam Lallana Does not and indeed has never looked worth £25m. Flitted in and out of the game with sporadic touches of skill. 5 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Wojciech Szczesny Could do nothing about either Coutinho’s well-placed shot or Skrtel’s bullet header. 7 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Calum Chambers He will be a fine player, but he looked overawed by Coutinho and Lallana’s movement. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Mathieu Debuchy Struggled defensively but contributed meaningfully at the other end of the pitch, popping up with a crucial equaliser right on half time. 7 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Per Mertesacker A mistake waiting to happen. Looked rickety early on as Sterling and Coutinho drove at him and should have at least attempted to stop Skrtel powering past him for the equalising header. 4 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Kieran Gibbs Was fortunate that most of Liverpool’s threat was confined to the left wing. Got forward well as is his custom. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Quieter than the bullocking figure of recent weeks, he struggled to impose himself on the game. 6 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Mathieu Flamini Struggled early to track Coutinho and received a yellow for hauling him down. Could have been sent off after clashing with Lallana. 5 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Alexis Sanchez A peripheral presence but won the free kick from Gerrard that led to Debuchy’s goal. Oddly quiet thereafter and eventually departed the field. 5 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Santi Cazorla An effervescent display. Allowed further forward in the second half, he responded with a serving shot that travelled narrowly wide and the delicious cutback from which Giroud put Arsenal ahead. 8 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Danny Welbeck Quiet before he was hurt in a clash with Sakho midway through the second half, and limped on ineffectually thereafter. 7 GETTY IMAGES Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings Olivier Giroud Hit a snapshot over on 62 minutes, and was often played wide in the first half. But he made the crucial intervention by slotting home Cazorla’s cross. 7 GETTY IMAGES

This had been so because Arsenal had wanted to go “more direct,” Wenger said, explaining to one journalist that “what I call direct is when the goalkeeper kicks direct to the striker.” It was hard to deduce whether this was sarcasm though it was frankly nonsense, given that nothing on the Anfield field suggested such a strategy, it is hard to recall Arsenal ever employing such a strategy and, even had they done so, Arsenal’s best player could have been accommodated with Oliver Giroud and Danny Welbeck.

In one of the Anfield back corridors, before leaving the stadium, Wenger seemed to hint that there was something he was not telling us about Sanchez . Asked had he dropped him for the ‘good of the team’, he laughed. “I will explain that later, one time. If you make a decision, you make a decision. People are always emotional in their analysis to this kind of decision.”

Sanchez certainly seems psychologically divorced from the team and sick to the stomach of the failure. That was patently clear when he arrived straight after the interval, gesticulating at and remonstrating with Nacho Monreal, whose positioning irritated him, much as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s did in Munich two weeks ago.

Sir Alex Ferguson was never averse to taking action against an ego like that. No-one, bar Eric Cantona, was bigger than his precious team. But Manchester United would usually go and win while the ego looked on from the side. And if the team was as pitifully meek as this Arsenal, then Ferguson would have been up on his feet, hauling players off after 20 minutes.

Wenger is not the master of his destiny in that way and a realisation of the fact is coursing through his team. The most shocking part of Saturday’s first half was the sight of Francis Coquelin and Granit Xhaka, terrorised by Liverpool players who hunted in packs and mentally spent. Neither should have seen the half hour out. It is almost beside the point that Wenger’s full-backs were utterly absent when each of the decisive first half goals were scored, by Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.

The gulf between the sides before Sanchez’s arrival triggered a modicum of professionalism took us back to a Wenger team’s 5-1 annihilation three years ago, by a Brendan Rodgers team who were 3-0 up inside 20 minutes. Yet even in the depths of that February 2014 defeat, we witnessed Jack Wilshere snapping at the Liverpool midfield like his life depended upon it. No, there had been no Arsenal quite like this in recent memory, within the L4 postcode.

Wenger needs to ask himself if he is taking this team forward (Getty)

For Liverpool, the 3-1 win was a reminder of what their Firmino, Mane, Philippe Coutinho, and Adam Lallana can bring, with Lallana best of them all. It is against so-called ‘lesser’ opposition who harry them that the side feel the absence of a hard-running midfielder. Burnley will be a far tougher proposition, at Anfield on Sunday.