Dominic Fifield gets the reaction of Freddie Ljungberg as Arsenal's season appears to be in danger of disintegrating.

Freddie Ljungberg admitted last night that Arsenal's crisis of confidence has left players "scared" to retain possession. A side who had swept all before them on a 49-match unbeaten streak only two years ago have been reduced to playing an unfamiliar long-ball game as they struggle to secure a place in next season's Champions League.

Arsene Wenger's side suffered their ninth defeat of the league season at Anfield on Tuesday. The 1-0 loss was their seventh away from Highbury and leaves them four points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.

While time remains for them to muster a recovery, the side's more experienced players appear stripped of self-belief with Ljungberg, Robert Pires and even Thierry Henry rendered virtually anonymous on Merseyside.

Their trademark zest appears to be draining away with Emmanuel Adebayor's physical presence up front seeming to encourage a more direct approach.

"If people say we're not the team we were, that's a valid point," said Ljungberg in the wake of the defeat to Luis Garcia's late goal. "We know that teams will want to try and play a physical game against us, with a lot of long balls like Liverpool did. But it's our responsibility to try to get the ball down and play with it.

"Unfortunately I think that we've maybe become a bit scared of holding the ball and that means we just end up kicking it long as well. That's not our strength. It's not a good thing for us to end up playing like that.

"We're 10 points behind Liverpool and it will be very hard for us to make that up, and we're four behind Tottenham. We do have Liverpool and Spurs at home still so hopefully we can make the gap smaller, but we know how tough it will be now.

"Liverpool were our main rivals. We were looking to at least overtake them and get their place. Now it looks a lot harder for us to do that and the way it happened, with a goal so late, makes it feel harder."

Wenger has found his options seriously undermined by injuries, with Sol Campbell, Lauren, Dennis Bergkamp, Jose Antonio Reyes and Ashley Cole all rehabilitating. That has forced the Frenchman to employ younger players, with their understandable inconsistencies exacerbated by the failings of more senior players around them.

Yet with Real Madrid looming large, each Premiership defeat jeopardises the chances of qualifying for next year's Champions League, with the possibility of losing Henry at the end of the season lingering.

"We tried to do the best we could at Liverpool," added Ljungberg, whose own contribution on Merseyside was negligible. "We have a lot of guys having to play in different positions, especially at the back.

"They're not used to it and they're doing the best they can. We know that and can't expect any more from them. It's difficult having to cope with the injuries we've got, but we should still not have lost at Liverpool.

"There are no excuses and I accept that you might say we've been saying that too often. There have been games this season where we have deserved to lose. And when we are being made to pay for making mistakes, we know we need to work on them and solve them. We have lost seven games away from home and that is definitely too many. You know whenever you go to play Liverpool at Anfield it's going to be difficult.

"I'm not looking at the rest of the games we've played away because we have been poor, but winning at Anfield is always difficult. We held a bit of an inquest in the dressingroom last year when we lost at Liverpool. It wasn't the same this time but everybody was very disappointed after the game."