An insipid first half, a valiant, albeit shortlived, fightback and a nervous final 20 minutes which saw us thumbing the self-destruct button (we’re looking at you Mathieu you crazy bastard).
Here’s how the players rated, and remember, you can add your own ratings and comments below.
Szczesny was a beast today, might have been a bit of a soft first goal but some of the saves he made were vital, saves I don’t think he would have made a year or two ago.
And that run from Ozil in the 2nd half, fuck me.
Two points dropped, but we’re not the sort to do things the easy way. COYG!
Why does Wenger always leave subs so late. I would have brought Podolski on for Gnabry and Chamberlain on for Flamini/Arteta in the 60-65th minute. I’m sure we would have got our goal and won the match if he had.
Nobody bite my head off, I’m just voicing an opinion, but Szcz’s footwork was awful for the 1st goal, preventing him from dropping down fast enough as his balance was off. I absolutely love him, and I think he is a wonderful keeper, but if Fabianski had made that error he would have had more criticism. Arseblog rarely condemns Woijeich even when he has off days. As I said, every keeper makes mistakes, and he doesn’t make many, just think sometimes positive criticism of him gets shot down a little too fast around here. Having said that, nobody really shone… Read more »
Sleepwalking in first half was not acceptable. Ozil needs to be more consistent and track back once he loses the ball.
Can’t understand the logic of the thumbs down for that. Are people saying that the first half was an acceptable level of performance. It did feel like we were sleepwalking through it.
Ozil was good in the second half though. That dribble was excellent.
Time to drop gnabry for me. Can’t use him week in week out. Still needs a lot of development.
Damn, games like these I’d expect a certain Theo Walcott to pop out of nowhere and score. Miss you Theo.
Ozil was pure class, you’re a madman
Didn’t watched first half i assume?
Wasn’t he like everybody else in the 1st half?. Man can’t do it all on his own! though in the second half he almost did. He was brilliant for me….
Koscielny, Mertesacker & Flamini has played well in the 1st half. Ozil was losing ball like a kid. Only second half was very good.
That dribble past the Saints defence… He’s starting to get into his rhythm.. I guess that’s one of the few positives to take from this game..
We had some 10 games like these last season. So chill. Arsenal is a club that depends a lot on attitude. Remember the defeat against Bayern Munich at home last season and how we came back. The draw at Southampton will pump in a fresh spirit to go out and battle during our period of difficult fixtures.
Only problem is now we’re relying on city and Chelsea to slip up
Only watched the first half and everyone bar the 2 CBs were utter shite.
Arsenal still needs a defensive midfielder. Arteta is too slow, a poor tackler, and keeps passing the ball to the defenders, no forward movement. We going to miss flamini vs utd and liverpool.
Arteta was poor throughout but Lallana’s goal really showed it. He let Lallana get ahead of him first and his lack of pace meant he didn’t even come close to catching him. I hope it was just down to him being unfit, because we’re gonna need a lot better in the games coming up
Coming off injury/inactivity… I think he’ll bounce back.
I’m sorry but Lallana’s goal was down to Arteta sleepwalking. He didn’t even bother to run with him, he just left it in the hands of the defence and they scored. Have a look at the replay, he barely tracks back with Lallana. Very stupid move.
Arteta is quite a good tackler but we miss Ramsey he is by far our best tackler.
I know he isn’t a defensive midfielder per se, but he works so much that he can be (and is) both an attacking and defensive midfielder. Arteta/Flamini then make sure they are in position when Ramsey runs forward.
Ramsey + Flamini/Arteta in the center for me is perfect.
I really dislike the Arteta/Flamini pairing and agree that Ramsey’s pace and motor would have made the difference today. Wish Ox was fit enough/could have gotten a run instead of Arteta to try and match the pace of Lallana/Rodriguez/Shaw.
errrrrghhhhh sooooo angry
how has Wenger’s comment about Ramsey come to be taken as 4-6 weeks, can’t find confirmation anywhere?
Worst 1st half ever by an Arsenal team. Stepped up a bit after the break. But of course, we Arsenalled ourselves by conceading the second goal immediately afterwards. Hope it’s just a bad day in the office.
That’s rather over the top. I can remember some pretty dreadful Arsenal performances, some of them lasting 90 mins. But I agree it was probably the worst 45 mins this year. But we won the 2nd half, even though we played with 10 men for a significant part of it.
Surely you exaggerate. THE worst? …. EVER?
Worst first half ever, by an Arsenal team? Are you serious? We’ve been hammered 8-2 by United, lost 4-1 at HOME to Chelsea and lets not forget the dismal display we had last season against Blackburn, and that first half is the worst you’ve seen? Calm your tits. I’m sick and tired of fans over-exaggerating every loss as if it’s the end of the world. Yes, we lost; we deserved too. I’m not happy with the performance, or the fact City/Chelsea could now overtake us, but lets be clear, it’s done and dusted now and we’ve picked up a point… Read more »
we drew
“I’m sick and tired of fans over-exaggerating every loss as if it’s the end of the world. Yes, we lost; we deserved too.”
Didn’t loose did we?
Last time I checked a loss doesn’t give you a point anyway : þ
More importantly, I agree with what you’re saying. People really need to take a few deep breaths maybe go outside for some fresh air before they start hammering away at the keyboard.
‘we lost’ two points.
Yes, 2 dropped points and a possible fucking 3rd place by end of day tomorrow!
Having any one of Rosicky, Wilshere, Ramsey (Diaby?) would have won us that game. I do get the feeling that rather than go for one or two competitions which are very winnable (FA Cup, Champions league to a lesser extent) we’re trying to compete with the endless squad depths of $hitty and CSKA Chelsea in the Prem and knackering our players in the process. It’s a tricky one, but this injury to Ramsey is the classic “2-3 week” one that has kept so many of our players out for months at a time, and I do worry if our squad… Read more »
And Flamini? Frankly I’d expect better from Frimpong
This made me LOL. Oh Frimmy how I miss your crazy ass!
“Mattieu. You never go full Frimpong!”
Stay DENCH or get Flamini’d!
Sczcezny, mertersacker and koscielny are the best Arsenal players by miles. The rest are distinctively average tonight.
True with those three… but i would say Giroud did all he could today. He had literally NO service and worked his ass out. And that back heel was sublime. He definitely wasn’t as pathetic as some others…
Think Sagna deserves some credit too. Plenty of crosses from Shaw, but that was mainly Gnabry’s fault. Plus his role in the first goal.
I don’t know about Sagna. His assist on Giroud’s goal aside, he seemed out of position for most of the match and got taken to the cleaners all night long by Shaw. There were at least two corners that we had on the right side, where Sagna was playing left wing! Then, inevitably, when Southampton started to break down their left side, Sagna was nowhere to be seen and Gnabry had to try to defend Shaw. And on Soton’s second goal, Sagna completely misread the ball, then got turned inside out even after he had a good chance to recover.… Read more »
Ozil carried our entire attacking threat that game. Not the best performance we’ve ever put in but we did well to get a point out of it. Ramsey is a big, big blow. Getting a bit worried I have to say.
Never thought not having Ramsey would be a blow! Shows how much he has improved. Keep the faith guys, we can and will do it THIS YEAR
A draw was a good result. Southampton played some brilliant football and really put it to us. They’ll be hard beat by anyone at home so massive credit to them. Liked how clinical we were in scoring, 2 goals from only a handful of chances is impressive. Ramsey out is like a firm kick to the testicles, hope Wenger has an ace or 2 up his sleeve on the transfer front.
Sagna was poor for sotons second and Per to some extent. i felt we were stronger when holding onto leads the fuck happened there?
Chamberlain again ahead of Poldi? (the scorer of 2 goals in his last outings) somethings defo amish between wenger and poldi. Tonight was a fucking huge dissapointment no 2 ways about it. pure and utter dissapointment! add to that Ramseys injury and flaminis moment of madness. This is just shit.
Not as shit as that negativity…
Wenger is too passive on substitutions…Podolski in the 90th minute??….Too soon to start Arteta after such a long lay off away to southampton, not match fit..really missed Wilshere’s poise/ Ramsey’s drive tonight….Ozil was brilliant in the second half…Giroud complains too much when the ball doesn;t come his way,but lovely goal….point gained in the end…..COYG!!..p.s. Only Kos the bos and Sir Chesney turned up for the whole 90
With Wilshere out and a Ramsey setback, our options in the centre of the park is looking really slim. That red card from Flamini came in the absolut worst of times. We really need to look for options in these last days of the window.
If it helps anyone at all other ‘big’ teams have also drawn at Southampton. It also looked like something clicked with Ozil.
It’s frustrating but it is by no means the end. The players will keep fighting so we as supporters have to as well.
COYG
Isn’t it ironic that our best (H:Napoli) and worst (today) games of the season came when we started both arteta and flamini, Both of them by some distance!
The difference being that against Napoli we had two of our best ball-carriers and athletes in Rosicky and Ramsey on the pitch, and tonight we didn’t. That midfield was never going to work against their high-energy pressing game, but what can you do when Ramsey and Jack are out injured?
I think our worst game of the season was away at Napol
Yes.. when opponents seem to press all the way upto our CBs with high-energy, our game (and possession) comes apart with defenders either panicking to take their markers on and spilling passes all over with passing to Keeper.. Our counter-attacking (the logical option against high-pressing teams) falls flat without mobile and pacey runners (like Theo) – esp. disappointed with Gnabry in this aspect but well he is where Theo was 4 years back.. It was notable in the Chelsea game that Chelsea also pressed but only up to Arteta and FBs allowing us (meaning Arteta and CBs) to pass sideways… Read more »
Terrible first half and terrible tackle from Flamini. With Pulis’s thugs coming at the weekend probably could have done with his aggression. Oh well should still see them off. Hope Rosicky is back at the weekend.
Bit of a downer but 4 from 6 against soton isn’t the worst over 2 games.. that’s the best return city could get from their 2 games this season.
I think this one came a bit soon for Arteta.. he looked a bit lethargic. Hoping this Ramsey news isn’t as bad as it sounds or we’re gonna be severely lacking legs for the ridiculous run of fixtures in feb.
also.. why did Poldi only get on for 2 mins?
7 for Sagna? Higher than Ozil? Blogs, you need to watch the march again without doing all that live-blogging and summary writing while the game is going on.
I thought this might be the worst game Sagna has played for Arsenal
I didn’t do the match report, nor did I do these ratings. Does nobody look at the byline?!
No. Not under this abnormal condition. Giving up that equalizer a couple of minutes later just like the Everton game makes a situation to not see bylines, inlines and all the other fucking lines.. Dropping 2 points really hurts.
I do but maybe people are just putting all the writers under the umbrella of arseblog…
Is watching march like Springwatch?
March is just around the corner. will i watch it? i cannot disclose this information.
February is around the corner. March is the next corner after that.
Just a really disappointing night. Flamini’s tackle was so frustrating. I’m surprised Wenger said that the red card looked harsh. It’s not the first time Flamini has gone in with two foot, and surely even if he did win the ball, going in with two foot is just giving the referee a decision to make. Plus it was not even in a threatening position. I rather have Wenger recgonise that Flamini was at fault, and get Flamini to get it out of his game. Diving in two-footed is not a prerequisite to be combative. Frustrating to also see Shaw getting… Read more »
Couldn’t have put it better, so stupid of Flamster and something he needs to stop ASAP
I agree. I was very disappointed with Flamini. He was pretty much rubbish the whole match, and then he topped it off with that stupid and unnecessary foul. I know it was a red card before Mason even blew his whistle. What on earth was Flamini thinking? We were finally starting to exert some pressure, after Southampton had enjoyed a run of possession, and we had every chance of taking all three points. Then he does that. Southampton had NOTHING going on then! The ball was way out wide, we weren’t short at the back, ther was no bad blood… Read more »
Come on! Ozil’s 2nd half performance should get him a 7 at least! He was almost untouchable.
Every time that we play a league game after the Champions league or FA cup we always struggle. Maybe players are tired or not sure. But overall very disapointed today.
Chelski playing Westham tonight; can’t expect much out of that one. Let’s hope that the scum can do us a favor against city. Of course, city and Chelsea party against each other on 3rd, let’s wish them both dropped points.
Training for the defense perhaps, ahead of the SoS Rooney Van Persie onslaught – i appreciate thats putting one hell of a positive spin on events
6.5 for Özil is a bit harsh. He was the only one who got the ball into the attacking third. Arteta and Flamini failed to do this in approx. 9 of 10 attempts.
I really missed Wilshere tonight.
We invited the pressure by setting up so defensively from the off.
From where I was sat these subs should have been made on the hour…
Arteta off, Cazorla into middle and podolski on left. Gibbs on for a poor Nacho and Ox for Serge.
Damn right @ Andy, subs would have made the difference…spot on with each and every one of the subs you called…Wenger’s substitutions are a weak point, off-set this season by the quality of the bench
Ozil 6.5?!, just wow! He was poor in the first half but so were the the rest. his performance in the second half should surely get him a higher rating than that, assist, hit the bar, the ONLY player driving us forward with purpose even after we went down to ten men. And I’m of the OPINION that any defence that concedes 2 goals should not have a rating of up to 8 for any of its defenders.
I agree, Mertesacker, Sagna and Monreal were defensively poor today, but Koscielny and Scesny are the reason we walked away with 1 point today, so their ratings I have no problem with.
Missed the first half (thankfully it seems), but was stunned by how ‘off the pace’ Arteta seemed. Was fantasizing (I need better fantasies to be sure) how different the outcome would have been with someone like Pogba back there. Focus has been on striker needs, but can’t help feeling a more athletic and forward-driving DM might make an even bigger difference.
I would be happy with Pogba. He’s been a beast the last year and a half. Frightening-looking fucker, too, he’d put the fear of God into a few centre forwards.
Ozil Performance: Bipolar/10
Luke Shaw… Sweetmotherofbabyjesus… This guy is something special, he is one of the best left-backs in the league, at the age of 18, with so much potential. I think he would be a much sensible summer target, than Draxler.
I think he’s good too. But I would not swap one of our left-backs.
None of them is a world class player, in my opinion. Shaw has the potential to be one.
I have to say I disagree. The 18 year old Gnabry has the ‘potential’, but I would not replace Theo, who maybe is not ‘quite’ world class, with him in the short term. And I think you are selling our left-backs short. Monreal, despite his poor game today, is an excellent full-back, and Gibbs is consistent and improving. I would not want to make a teenage left-back our priority when we are not short in that position. That’s just my view.
there aren’t many left backs in the world I would swap Gibbs for.
Didn’t see the game, thanks for the blog, erm… Bloggs. If we’re disappointed with a 2-2 vs Southampton away that shows how far we’ve come. The off field antics mask the fact that this is a good Southampton side who also drew with citeh a few weeks back. We played shite mostly, apparently, but worse case scenario we are 2points off the top after tomorrow night, and I’d have taken that when the season started.
We were shiite and a draw is a good result!
Oh my word. southampton won 2 of their last 11 before this game. This is a very bad result, it does not show how far we have come at all.what are you on about
Failing to beat a soton side with 4 of their influential playerz out is bad! no 2 ways about it. people should just stop this!
Those saying a point against S’ton is actually a good thing are those who will be ‘happy’ to see us finish 3rd/4th for the umpteenth year in a row.. No doubt S’ton were good, played well and had chances (like the rest if big 4 also would) but do you really think Chavs (or even City) won games deservedly outplaying smaller opponents? They “managed to win” somehow with individual moments or otherwise.. Chavs in particular have just relied on individual players, smart tactics and bold substitutions, pure counter-attacking but goddamn they are defensively fiendish (in this regard, so are we)..… Read more »
We’ve struggled this season when we have fielded Arteta and Flamini together and I don’t think thats a coincidence. Both lack drive on the ball or regularly pass forwards. Could be mitigated by aggressive wide play but without Walcott or Podolski, we rarely get it wide enough. We needed Ramsey, Wilshere or Rosicky for this game, maybe even a fully fit Ox in the middle. Not that Arteta and Flamini were the only problem, mind. What do people think about the Monreal/Gibbs debate now?
I think it is clear now that Monreal (for a very good LB) can’t be trusted in ‘big’ away games with opponents pressing and bullying you.. we saw that in ManC game too.. he struggles when our passing game goes for a toss..
He is not the same when he starts badly – can’t ‘up’ his game or redeem any blunders/mistakes. Some players are like that – they lose confidence dramatically after a mistake and never the same thenafter..
Late bus or whatever, we just didn’t show up in the first half. Ozil immense in the second half. Worry about our depth given Ramsey out for a while. Flamini just bloody stupid. Tough road ahead but we’ll not play that bad again this season.
On a football pitch you make decisions and they have to be quick,Flamini made a decision,Red card,that’s what happens in a football match!
Way too passive against a Southampton team that’s out of form and missing half their team. I mean that was basically an under 21s side with a couple of senior players. Really should’ve taken a risk with podolski starting and Cazorla in the middle, or even Ox and Flamini on the middle, not two DM players and allow kids to peg is back. Couple of months ago this would’ve been a good result, but this Southampton team today would’ve got hammered by anyone in the top 10. That first half was as bad as watching A league here in Australia.… Read more »
This is what happens when you think you should win,The Saints put it up to us and we didn’t deliver!
Still not too bad, we didn’t lose and I guess we can’t rely the whole season on beating the small teams. We are going to have to take some big scalps if we going to win the league. 3 wins in the next 3 games are vital. Liverpool in 2 weeks weeks and then United the week after should put us back on top.
Not the end of the world, the oppo had a good night, we had a relatively poor night, it’s going to happen in a long season. Get Rosicky and Jack back for the weekend and we’ll be alright, we really missed some drive from midfield as others have said. Oh and Arteta won’t have two poor games in a row, relax.
UTA
No word..except to say am a gunner!
The team apparently arrived 45 mins late which must have disrupted their preparations at least a little and I think that showed in the first half. Not an excuse though! Also Arsene hardly ever plays Arteta and Flamini together coz he knows it doesn’t work too well – not enough drive forward in midfield. But that was forced on him by injuries. I’m sure we’ll get back to normal in the next game! Be great to make at least one big signing this Jan to keep up the momentum and give everyone a boost. Here’s to the filthy scummers taking… Read more »
I think the team including the manager deserve to be rated ‘average’ today. A bad day at the office indeed.
We drop 2 important points today…we need to focused on next game!
Yes-ed!
Worried by out attitude and complete lack of desire in the first half. Would have started Podolski, Ozil and Cazorla (Gnarby great prospect but not sure if he should get the nod over Podolski, particularly in tricky away games like this).
And hope this result serves as a kick up the arse, and certainly not pressing the panic button yet. We didn’t lose remember and the league title certainly wasn’t ever going to be won or lost in late January.
I think if a player is having a poor game, as most seem to think flamini and monreal were having, it would have made sense to make some substitutions a lot earlier – definitely should of had Podolski on for the last half hour!! So that is my main complaint – Wenger not taking off a player that was obviously having a poor game!!! Need to be more proactive and decisive in these situations!!!
AW never makes changes before the 70th minute unless forced by an injury. It’s worse when the game is not going his way. It’s a known negative habit of his.
Well, this was going to be a tough game and it proved to be so, and a point isnt so bad, however conceding immediately after 2-1 is tough to take but it was a good goal, albeit avoidable. Nothing much to really add from what I’ve read so far apart from the fact that we definitely need a defensive midfielder and a forward/striker if we are going to have any chance of winning the league. Actually, a couple of points…it’s really disappointing that our team bus arrived very late and we asked for the match to be delayed by 15mins… Read more »
I hope we don’t dwell on this bad result too much. I hope it’s a kick off the backside for the lads. Switch off a bit and u are punished. Let’s pick up the slack and move on… Coyg!!!
Özil in the second half was the kind of performance we were all expecting from him when he signed. He needs to make this his standard from now on, and if he does he can fire us to the title
Podolski on in the 90th minute??? SMH.
Pleeeeeease tell me Wenger’s extension was for a year…
Rough match, especially that shit first half. Not sure Arteta and Flamini should ever start together again. I can understand injuries play a big role in match selection and fitness, but why was Poldolski left out of this game?
Unfortunate with Ramsey’s injury flaring up again. Expected him to start with Arteta. That said, never liked us over elaborating with Flamini and Arteta. Thought we could have had Chamberlain on earlier (much earlier) Rather than taking the opportunity to exert pressure on our challengers, we have left the door wide open and one of them at very least will surge through. We will need to take points against the ‘big teams’ coming up. A bit of extra special up top could help but am also concern with midfield/defense with Flamini out for a short (but crucial spell). Finally, not… Read more »
OTOH good goal scoring form continued by Santi (and Giroud) augurs well.
This could be a game of who scores more and perhaps we were a bit too cautious having leaked the first goal.
Unfortunate with Ozil hitting the post. Had that gone in, we would have been singing a different tune.
As per usual media are sharpening their knives. Perhaps the easyish win over league one opposition got us a little complacent. Southampton away was never going to be a cake walk.
An interesting thing about that play was how Ozil seemed so reluctant to pass to Olivier who made a hmm.. decent run behind the CB. I don’t know if I’m the only one who thinks Ozil doesn’t seem to have much confidence in Giroud (or his ball-keeping or passing ability) or links up much with him. And while Ozil has the ability to receive the ball anywhere in the oppn, half, I think his best position is wide right (he does seem to drift there more often) from where he can cut in.. Also, IMO, the way Ozil can keep… Read more »
I tuned in to the match at the 15th min mark and i wondered if Arsenal are wearing red.
Players are not pressing the Sotons at all, happy to give them the possession for a huge period of time.
Shocking!
At least at the start of the 2nd half we were better, and we did scored 2 consecutive goals.
I’d like 2 c Gibbs nd poldi start next game..
Keeping Poldi out is not helping.He is the best finisher in the team.Why do Wenger hate him so much?