Starting XI: Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Hayden, Coquelin, Rosicky, Diaby, Wilshere, Alexis, Campbell, Podolski
Subs: Martinez, Ajayi, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Akpom
Arsenal’s Capital One Cup prospects were nipped in the bud at the first time of asking by Ronald Koeman’s adventurous Southampton side as the visitors bounced back from behind to win 2-1 at the Emirates. Alexis Sanchez’s brilliantly executed free-kick was cancelled out from the spot by Dusan Tadic before Nathaniel Clyne crashed home from 35-yards in the first half to seal passage to the fifth round for the Saints.
Pre-game
As expected none of the team that started Saturday’s convincing 3-0 win against Aston Villa were called upon, although Arsene Wenger did spring a surprise including both Alexis and Jack Wilshere from the off. There was a debut for Colombian keeper David Ospina, Isaac Hayden made his first start since last season’s Capital One Cup game against West Brom, Francis Coquelin was thrown in as an auxiliary left-back and the likes of Lukas Podolski, Joel Campbell and Tomas Rosicky were handed valuable game time. There was a welcome return for Abou Diaby and Calum Chambers lined up against his old club in the centre of defence.
First half
Ronald Koeman had promised Southampton’s 5,000 travelling fans that he’d take a strong squad to the Emirates and he didn’t disappoint starting most of the same XI that beat Swansea at the weekend.
Sitting second in the Premier League, the visitors started with real confidence and came close to opening the scoring on 9 minutes when Steven Davis was fed through on goal by Dusan Tadic. David Ospina had to be quick off his line before diving at the feet of the Northern Irishman.
After threatening with a tame Rosicky header, the Gunners took the lead on 12 minutes. Alexis Sanchez was felled about 25 yards from goal in a central position and after a quick conversation with Lukas Podolski took the free-kick himself. It was an absolute peach, leaving Fraser Forster rooted to the spot as it bent beautifully into the top corner.
Going 1-0 down didn’t deter the Saints who showed impressive movement across their front line. It was such fleet of foot that deceived Rosicky on 19 minutes as he clipped Sadio Manic just inside the box. Tadic calmly planted the penalty straight down the middle to level.
Great defending from Hector Bellerin prevented Southampton from scoring a quick-fire second; the Spaniard making a last ditch challenge on Mane as he broke into the box from the left flank. Graziano Pelle also came close with an effort that flew just past the top right corner of Ospina’s post.
Seven minutes before the break the away side did grab the lead. A corner on the Arsenal right was headed clear by Chambers straight to Nathaniel Clyne who took one touch to control before belting a fierce strike into the roof of the net from 35-yards. It was pretty central, but given the pace it was hit you can just about excuse Ospina.
The end-to-end action continued apace with Lukas Podolski, fed in by Wilshere, denied by a brilliant stop by Forster and the England midfielder moments later testing his England colleague a second time with a curler from the edge of the box.
Second half
Arsenal came out of the traps quickly after the break but with Southampton happy to sit deep and then counterattack Arsene Wenger’s men found it difficult to make decent headway in the final third.
Joel Campbell and Alexis looked lively, the former having a penalty claim waved away after a coming together with Morgan Schneiderlin, but others like Rosicky and Diaby looked a little rusty.
Just after the hour, the Frenchman gave away a foul in a similar position to which Alexis scored and Ospina’s wrists had to be at their firmest to beat away Tadic’s resulting effort. Five minutes later he was subbed, receiving a gracious standing ovation from the crowd as Santi Cazorla came on in his place.
As the noise in the stadium grew so too did Arsenal’s tempo but when Alexis connected with a Bellerin cross after good work by Podolski, Forster again stood firm. Seeking an equaliser Wenger sent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on in place of Campbell. Koeman reacted by sending on Shane Long for debutant Mane.
You couldn’t accuse the Gunners of not putting the effort in. Jack Wilshere was an ever-bustling presence in midfield, Alexis ran his socks off while centre-back duo Chambers and Hayden were decisive in the tackle. Southampton for their part were incredibly disciplined at the back.
Saints should have wrapped things up with five minutes remaining when Pelle headed over from a corner when he should have found the net. Hanging by a thread, Arsenal’s last throw of the dice was to throw on Chuba Akpom in favour of Hector Bellerin.
A flurry of yellow cards for Rosicky, Wilshere and Pelle ensured an untidy end to four minutes of stoppage time as the Gunners struggled in vein to find an equaliser. A night that had promised much ending in disappointment. Oh well, at least we got further than United.
BOO-URNS
On the plus side, no Capital One Cup games = more rest for our players.
On the down side, no Capital One cup games = no games for our fringe players and reserve team players to show their skills
Mixed emotions….
No positives. We lost.
no injuries right?
There’s no “on the plus side” here
These players that u say did well needed to win this game and in turn get more chances to impress in the league cup. i doubt Arsene will be as naive for the remaining cups.
Not sure I agree, the League Cup is more of a trophy than the annual fourth-place trophy, despite what some may say.
Yes, in literal terms it is a trophy and 4th is not. But 4th is worth 25m+ a season with Champions League money coming in, so is FAR more valuable to the club than the Mickey Mouse KY Jelly Cup. Hence the analogy of the “4th place trophy”
Yes let’s concentrate on the league and champs league and FA cup.
Actually thought we played okay tonight, maybe because I wasn’t going to bent out of shape because it was the League Cup, but really we were done by two moments, one poor challenge for a pen by a player who is experienced enough not to throw a leg out like that and a 35 yard shot that on any other day could have gone anywhere.
Oh well
Being that we’ve banished the whole “x years without a trophy” thing, I’d take top 4 over the Captial One Cup personally
Without being too negative, gotta question Wenger’s substitutes sometimes. Rosicky was having an absolute shocker of a game out there, why wenger kept him on for the full 90 instead of relieving him and keeping someone else on is beyond me.
And gotta say , as much as I love sanchez, sometimes he’s just gotta keep it simple and pass the ball instead of over dribbling .
10/10 for their diving skills upfront.
i fucking said this not long ago. Arsene kinda sucks at making subs….
Schneiderlin committed way too many fouls for a player that wasn’t even booked, yet he dove like a little bitch every time he was touched. This was key, as he was often pressing high and fouling us before we could start an attack.
agreed, ref was very inconsistent with his cards.
In defence of the ref he was only 12 years old, or at least looked it.
we need someone like alexis to run into defenders,as we have wilshere who goes tippy-tappy on the edge of the box which amounts to nothing almost all of the fucking time!,wish he would make his game simpler.
Wilshere’s outside of the boot pass in a 1-2 pass scenario can be so frustrating. i find his passes short and often puts the player recieving the pass in danger of being hacked down.
Spot on, i think the boy is over-hyped.
Just like Roonaldo be4 the world cup, flatters to deceive.
Podolski really doesn’t give a shit, does he?
Hats off to the young back 4 and Alexis.
It’s pretty obvious why he doesn’t get game time. Football is a much more complex sport where it takes more than just a thunderous left shot to make the cut. Campbell doesn’t deserve to be put in the same bracket as him. He was not anonymous. He tried things even though they didn’t come off quite as often. I think we should’ve brought Akpom in way earlier for Podolski.
Only one way to describe that match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Q7QHPcsv0
Except it really wasn’t. Obviously it’s disappointing to have been knocked out of the cup but Bellerin, Hayden and Diaby all looked good and it’s not as if we played particularly poorly or didn’t manage to create any good chances.
Yes. We have decent third and fourth centre backs now. Hayden looks more of a DM to me though.
That’s because Hayden’s natural position is as a CDN, but he can also play at Center Back.
God no. Not this “centreback should be a CDM” crap again.
You have a 5-2 likes and dislikes. Be afraid, Spuds.
Bellerin in purticular owned mane most of the game.
And what game were you watching, surprisingly enough Arsenal, just like any other team in any league , doesn’t have a god given right to win every time they turn up.
It was a fairly even match, Arsenal actually played well, in parts, but Southampton put some effort in. Well done them.
Most irritating thing, ‘saints go marching in’ far too sp*rsy for me regardless of who had it first.
This will be a blessing in disguise
How is losing a blessing?
Yeah, we seem to lose at least one player for 3 months in every game, so I understand not having even more fixtures but the kids played well tonight. Shame they won’t get at least one more run-out. Plus, lots of beatable teams left.
You are probably right ! Although it never feels that way in the aftermath.
A kick in the arse is a kick in the arse, not a blessing disguised as it may be.
I think that’s kinda bollox, no way can losing be a blessing, but the players do have to make the most of it. Like Rosicky who probably won’t start another game this season, I bet he’s counting his blessings now.
At least from the commentary it sounded a lively affair. I’d rather us lose like that than with a limp, listless performance. Once we have more experience back in the team, I think we’ll look fine for the upcoming matches in the league and CL
As mentioned earlier, given the squad depth, is it the worse thing in the world to go out the League Cup?
No. But at the same time it was one of two trophies we, realistically, could have gone for this season. I can’t see us winning the league, and the display against Dortmund last week proved we’re nowhere near good enough to go the distance in Europe either. So it’s a bit disappointing, even if it means less fixtures. That being said, we fielded the best squad we could have given the need to rest most of our starting eleven, and at least we were knocked out by quality opposition. A shame it was a home defeat, but Southampton are flying… Read more »
No it aint. Good riddance to it and let’s focus on the PL, FA Cup and the CL. In that order!
Swear we would have come back into it if Diaby was able to stay on. Great to see the big man back.
Cash reserves did alright for us tonight I think. He was unlucky with the goals we conceded.
Higher wage bill than Chelsea this season as well.
Another example of a poor performance by Podolski up front. He was anonymous.
it was actually quite visible today why he is not played up front. His runs and positions are pretty predictable. The team was playing good and we created many good opportunities but it seemed very easy for the Saints’ defenders to mark him.
One pointless cup out the way.
Three that count are left.
No complaints.
Only caught the last 30, but my word Rosicky looked out of sorts tonight. No fluidity in the transitions because he couldn’t complete a successful pass.
I don’t know what Rosicky was thinking when he gifted them that penalty, the guy was moving away from the box. Ugh oh well, we played well so there’s a positive.
Sigh penalties. Just gifting free goals. I would have loved to see more of Hayden in the COC.
Hayden plays with Coq a lot. Just a shame it’s not televised really.
You can find that sort of thing on You Porn – so I’m told.
Nice one there with the GIFs blogs. Better this game than the weekend’s.
where the fuck was podolski whole game?
Hard to tell from the audio commentary, how did Diaby look?
Rusty, as expected, yet he didn’t make a fool of himself. The important thing is that he played 60+ min without incident.
I thought Diaby was great considering how long he had been out, passed the ball well, dribbled through players and even made some decent tackles. It was definitely a positive to see him out there and the way he played.
He alongwith Sanchez was our best player till he came off. Strong in midfield and comfortable in possession. Steeped out frequently to spring up attacks. Absolute Quality stuff from Abou!!
How can other teams’ players run so much? Wherever we turned we were two against one. They fully deserved to win, but we shouldn’t really bust ourselves over it. There are a few things we could’ve done better and they had an almost perfect game. Can’t fault the lads for the lack of effort though, they were great. One mistake by Rosicky and a thunderbolt that Ospina probably should’ve saved ended our venture. Oh, and there’s always some bastard that’s gonna have the game of his life against us. (I’m looking at you Targett) Bring on the chicks.
I saw most of the match (couldn’t see the first 10 min or so), and I feel the team put in a good effort. A few of the players seemed a bit rusty (Podolski, Rosicky and Diaby), but that is to be expected considering they’ve barely played this season at all.
We were the better team overall, so it’s a shame we couldn’t score. Ah well, Spurs this weekend is what matters, and we rested quite a few players, so we should be ready to go.
What a waste of my 2 hours, should have just tucked in.
If that’s all you have to say about watching the Arsenal play you probably should have.
While this is just the capitol one cup I expected more bite, drive, and purpose from this team. It’s now more than obvious why guys such as Podolski, Campbell, Rosicky are not playing that much…as much as I love Rosicky I expected more from him than to be given away a stupid penalty. don’t even get me started on Podolski, did he even play? Pathetic, pathetic and pathetic…This team and its manager should be ashamed of themselves. Kudos to Hayden, Coq, Bellerin…by far our best players on the night.
The game will be forgotten as long as we beat Spurs on Saturday.
Think the writing is on the wall for Podolski and Rosicky at the club.
At least with Rosicky we can wait. He doesn’t have too many bad games. Podolski for all his bluster needed to do well in this game badly.
Wait for Rosicky?! the guys 34, if he hasn’t learnt by now to not go diving in on a player going nowhere in the box when will he learn?
Poldi campbell rosicky wanted games and have gone ahead to reduce their chances of exactly that. now warm that fucking bench.
Sorry, but don’t you dare tell Rosicky to “warm that fucking bench”. He’s not even played a game for us this year, where you expecting a double hat trick? A little perspective pls.
This year??? okay.
perspective noted
sorry rosicky sp*rs are waiting for your goals
We all know how much Rosicky loves to score against the scum
Really frustrating evening. Great strike by Clyne to win it.
Have to say I’m starting to understand why Wenger hasn’t been throwing Campbell into the Premier League thus far. His decision making seems all wrong, and he just doesn’t work on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. Quite often caught on his heels. Hayden, however, really impressed me – strong, quick, powerful. He seemed to be reading the game very well and wasn’t personally at fault for either of the goals.
And Diaby was back and didn’t get crocked. *wipes tear*
Now that Monreal is out for a bit, Hayden gets to be the Johan Djourou Memorial 4th Choice Center Back. Let’s hope he’s not needed, but if so, he looks like he won’t be too far out of his depth.
Oh well! Less distractions moving forward. But Ospina should have done better for the 2nd goal
Ermm it was a bullet of a goal, no saving that.
Meaning if we had Superman in goal, he would have saved.
From 35 yards it could definitely have been saved, would have required a touch of luck maybe but it was doable, any keeper could have missed it or saved it, depending on the day. The real disappointment is Tommy giving away a very cheap pen, shame for a player who is so loved but he fucked up.
Well that sucks because every defeat sucks. If we can’t win against Southampton with this B squad, we might as well go out early since we should never play our first team in this competition, giving our super thin squad. See how the media will make a big deal of this defeat.
Who cares about what the media say anyway.
Not difficult to see why Rosicky hasn’t featured much this season.
Sp*rs please! Pour all the anger on them.
Disappointed by the result, but what a machine Alexis is!
Didn’t feel at all like a defeat, bit on the positive side we can now focus on more important competitions.
It will be important for Chambers to learn to keep it simple and pass the ball much quicker. The kid looks promising, but he really tries to be too fancy and dribble out of the back far too much. Perhaps lacking a Per to let him hear about it after his many failed attempts was what kept him trying.
Disappointed in Rosicky. One less distraction, I guess. But its still annoying to lose.
Not upset about this, I would have played either one of Mertescielny though. I doubt that would stopped Clyne’s goal, I guess. Cracking goal, shame it had to be Ospina. Youngsters did fine. I love Rosicky but I would have substituted him. For the wrong reason, apparently, I thought he might be tired after 60 minutes but he still kept running. His possession was just shite though, not his game tonight.
Diaby, love that guy on principle since kicked that cunt. Welcome back.
Ospina could do nothing for the goals and looked decent. All the back 4 were pretty good considering the obvious inexperience. Diaby looked ok, Wilshere tried his hardest & alexis is just a superstar. Podolski and rosicky looked like players who know they are not trusted for the big games anymore, can probably add Campbell to that too now.
I thought Ospina was pretty solid, bar the second goal. I like that he stands strong in one on ones (see his first save) unlike Szc who tends to just fall to the ground and hope he saves it. That being said, I think Szc may have saved Clyne’s shot since Szc is 5″ taller than Ospina and I think his reach would’ve made a difference.
Looking at the replay from behind the goal, it seems to me that Ospina badly misjudged it. The ball starts to his left and he moves to his right, then tries way too late to change direction. If he’d stood still he’d have had a good chance of saving it, and if he’d moved in the right direction he could have caught it with both hands. Not to take too much away from what was a really fine strike, but I think a supposedly world class keeper should have stopped it.
Look at it again, you will see that what looks like Bellirin actually attempts to head it clear. This gets Ospina to move towards his right, as it looks as if the ball is about to pick up a deflection. A completely instinctive reaction. You are right that he would probably have gotten to it, had he not moved. The fact Bellirin stuck his head at it, either bravely or stupidly seeing as it was flying, actually added to the curve in the flight path of the ball. You see it happen often when a ball is drilled that hard… Read more »
Our old goons disappointed today..TR and Poldi..we played well if u ask me, Hyden was quality, Bellerin was solid, Diaby survived!!!!…bring on the sp*#@ds…#COYG
Capital one cup….the only opportunity we had to give our young and reserved players game time is gone….so sad
Thats it!!! Seasons over!!!! JK LOL
In reality, disappointed to go out, but I wont lose sleep over it. It means less games, considering our back four problem at the moment could turn out to be a blessing. Looking forward to the game at the weekend.
Also Sanchez is some worker, invigorating to watch!
COYG
I know this will sound weird at first, but I genuinely worried when I saw how strong our team was. When we play mainly young players, with maybe one or two experienced first teamers, we seem to have done really well over the years. When we play the sort of hybrid strong team with 4 or 5 youngsters we seem to come unstuck. I think it’s because psychologically the youngsters, when it’s basically their team, feel like it’s a chance to show how good they are, and they buzz off it. Whereas a team like tonight never seems to get… Read more »
Annoying to hear it was the senior players who missed the ball. Thought tonight was going to be Akpom’s night, why did Poldo use up that space to no effect? Gutted
Strange game. We have played alot worse and won. I think there were just some shocking individual performances and silly mistakes that hampered the team. Ospina was OK not sure if he could have done better with that screamer Thought the back four was ok…A bit iffy at times but for the most part 3 19 year olds and Coquelin at left back were pretty solid. Hayden and Chambers (the future) Thought Diaby was good and Wilshere was decent. Campbell was ok. efficient but not effective. Sanchez as usual done some spectacular things but then over dribbled at times when… Read more »
Can’t fault the back line of Bellerin/Hayden/Chambers/Coq tonight. They looked surprisingly solid and weren’t the fault for either goal.
Unfortunately, they won’t get another chance now that the League Cup is over as fast as it started. Really wanted to see Campbell and Bellerin get some work together on the right.
What can you really do, most seasons we play a whole bunch of kids who at least have the benefit of playing together for the youth teams before stepping up to the league cup, this season we have too many ‘fringe first teamers’ who need a game trying to fit into a team, rusty etc.
I for one will accept this result because we basically got done by a better/as good as team, take it on the chin, don’t knock your pan out over it and as you say, look forward to the weekend.
Up the Arse!
How can people have a go at Wenger due to this game Rofl. It was a nothing game. Builds fitness and bloods youngsters. Happy for Hayden and Diaby.
I’m not even slightly fucked about the loss and I’m okay with that.
“In vain” is what you want Blogs.
As in, “I watched that second half in vain.”
The only things we should’ve looked at in this match were Hayden and Bellerin’s performance. Both have done well. It’s especially important to have a Bellerin at the top of his game since Debuchy is out for 3 months (5 in Arsenal time scale?)
To be honest, in my opinion Ospina was dreadful for the goal. I know it was hit hard. But it was 30 yards out. And in the middle of the goal. It is as if some keepers try to make their saves look better, even tho he did not touch it, the way he moves is theatric. I don’t really care about going out of the Capital one cup. But i hope this does not come back to haunt us, this cup is winable, for any club. I think if Schezny was in nets he would have saved that, Ospina… Read more »
Dreadful is a very harsh word. Sometimes, the opposition too can be credited.
Well said.
Also, watch his head. He was either screened and couldn’t pick up the ball soon enough for the velocity or he just can’t see. I’ll assume the former.
Seriously, watch his head. You can see that he can’t see the ball until it’s too late. That sucks!
Terrible game by our standard .. Instead of pumping the ball long and play it to the wing and cross, we forced our way through the middle (wilshere and santi) when the game goes to extra time..
And Mr wenger ur the worst manger when it comes to making subs.
Always make changes very late and sometimes dont used all 3 subs.
Positives
1. Few extra matches out of the way.
2. Hayden can do a job at the back.
3. Coquelien is not bad at left back.
4. Diaby is back and looks strong.
5. Bellerin is going to be a good full back.
Negatives.
1. Podolski is on his way out.
2. Rosicky looks his age suddenly.
Not sad about tonight. It was a good game of football. Congrats to Soton.
Can’t write off Rosicky from 1 game. Always enjoy his energy when he comes off the bench. Would not be match sharp, and was playing with others who were rusty.
More telling was that we played without a DM tonight, so it looked quite open.
Diaby is back and looks strong? Really?
I can bet he won’t play a dozen matches, why Wenger prefer to keep him and Rosicky is beyond me, would TR make it at Chelsea or ManC., don’t think so, also look at a player like Jack Rodwell, when ManC saw he is injury prone they git rid after 2-3 yrs., Wenger has kept Mr Glass Diaby for almost 8 years! And people thought only G. Graham allegedly takes envelopes?
Ha fucking ha! are you really suggesting Wenger is taking some kind of bung to keep Diaby in the squad?
He may have some kind of misguided sense of loyalty, but perhaps he could be commended for that in this day and age, after all it’s not as if he’s been playing him at every opportunity. He played one game, it hasn’t worked out, although he didn’t have a particularly bad game.
And fuck chelsea and man city, we are Arsenal and we’ve always had more class, that’s what sets our club apart.
Just because City and Chelsea treat their players like crap, we should too?
Completely agree, I find it beyond belief that resources (wages) have been used to keep Diaby and Rosicky at the expense of Fabregas and Van Persie. How Wenger can justify keeping these two for as long as he has defeats me, but then again this is the mind that brought us “a socialise wage structure”!!
Rosicky and Podolski just need to go and apologise to the young lads that played their part tonighT.. Really disappointed by those 2..
Easy to dismiss as an inconvenient competition but look at the confidence winning FA cup brought to the club. Going out now is a significant event & seems part of flat early season . Pre season euphoria is quickly bring replaced by a familiar feeling of disappointment.
That’s going a bit overboard. Undefeated in the league. There, that should help.
Obviously, it would have been better to win. The youngsters need these outings, and our benchwarmers do too. Teams like Southampton are the worst to face: no European responsibilities, strong squad, and the League Cup is their best chance for silverware. Seems as though Podolski and Rosicky were the weak links, not our youth teamers. I hope Hayden can play this well on a regular basis! There’s no silver lining; we should win at home, and now Wenger won’t get the opportunity to find out if he can promote one of the kids without taking a chance in a bigger… Read more »
Guess I now understand why Wenger leaves TR7, Poldi and Campbell on the bench. Would have thought they’d go all out to seize their chance tonight. Bellerin, Hayden and Chambers were very impressive though and I hope Diaby stays healthy and has a great season, he looked really good for someone who hasn’t really played at this level for like a year and a half. Hope Alexis, Chambers and Wilshere will be 100% for the derby…..although actually 60-70% should be enough to brush those cunts aside. Oh well, there go my hopes for a quadruple come May 2015.
It’s not the Arsenal team’s fault. They’re not being allowed to play their game. Clyde saw the gap, realised he had a chance and put his laces through the ball. GOAL! Wenger refuses his players to do that. ‘Walk the ball into the back of the net, that’s the way to score.
WHY, WHY WHY? Won’t Arsene allow them?
So Rosicky didn’t have his best game in the shirt, but don’t write him off based on this performance alone. He needs more time off the bench in my opinion but he’s still got it.
Well, not end of the world stuff here. Our senior guys like Rosicky, Poldi and Jack were poor today. I really wanted Tomas and Poldi to have good showings so they could give the boss a selection headache but based on their play today, they deserve the limited game time they’ve gotton so far this season. Jack had such a great game against City but the old Jack returned today. Trying to do too much on his own and ultimately just gives the ball away. People say Alexis should keep it more simple and pass but at least he scored… Read more »
Dreadful is not harsh if i think it was dreadful. Its a was a powerful shot. I dont think the opposition deserves credit for a wonderful goal? It was straight at him in my opinion, he seen it coming, jumped right, and still could have even saved it, to me it was very bad keeping. And he would not make me feel comfortable with him in nets against Chelsea etc..or at Dortmund, for Schezny was saving them for fun. He has years to improve, but tonight he did not impress me, and a feared for the loss, as soon as… Read more »