Thursday, December 19, 2024

Report: Southampton 2-0 Arsenal (inc goals and highlights)

Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Chambers, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Rosicky, Alexis

Subs: Martinez, Monreal, Bellerin, Maitland-Niles, Campbell, Walcott, Akpom

Arsenal’s festive successes came to an end as a tired looking team mastered its own downfall in a 2-0 defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s today.

Without the rested Mathieu Flamini, Arsene Wenger had little choice but to deploy former Saints man Calum Chambers in midfield, alongside Francis Coquelin, while in the absence of Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck, Alexis was selected to lead the attacking line.

After a quiet opening few minutes, with both teams trading possession, the home side almost took the lead when Graziano Pelle headed against the outside of the post with Szczesny rooted to the spot, immediately followed by an Alexis shot which was saved by Fraser Forster. Moments later the Arsenal keeper was called into action again, sticking out a leg to prevent a rebound falling to a Saints attacker.

Victor Wanyama was lucky to escape a booking for a nasty foul on Alexis Sanchez, booting the Chilean in the calf, and that was as eventful as the game got before Tomas Rosicky, in the 20th minute, picked the ball up from Alexis down the right, he cut it back for Santi Cazorla whose shot on the run was straight at Forster.

The Spaniard then turned provider after some brilliant work down the right. He kept the ball in play, and pulled it back for Oxlade-Chamberlain. The former Southampton man’s first time shot curled just past the far top corner of the goal.

Laurent Koscielny was on hand to clear some danger in the Arsenal box before Alexis saw a shot from distance easily saved,  but in the 34th minute the hosts took the lead and it was a bad goal for Arsenal to concede.

The ball was played down the right channel, Koscielny showed Mane towards the end line, but Szczesny came out of his goal and when the striker pulled the ball back across Mertesacker couldn’t clear and the ball drifted into an empty net. There was no need for the keeper to come, and his decision proved very costly. 1-0.

It’s also worth wondering why Kos just ran away from the Southampton player, instead of staying on him and preventing the opportunity to shoot.

The lead was almost doubled a couple of minutes later when Szczesny got down well to save from Ward-Prowse, but Arsenal couldn’t muster any kind of response before the break and the Saints kept the lead at the half-time.

There were no changes at the break from either side and the Gunners had the first moment of real danger in the second half. In the 55th minute Alexis stepped inside after a low Oxlade-Chamberlain cross, but the keeper made a good save from his low shot.

It proved a big save because less than a minute later Southampton went 2-0 up. Arsenal cleared a free kick, the ball came back in, Debuchy stopped it but Szczesny’s nightmare day continued when he poked the ball straight into the path of Tadic who poked the ball home at the near post to double the lead.

The goalscorer almost made it 3-0 seconds later, curling a shot just wide, as Arsene Wenger brought on Theo Walcott for Calum Chambers. It had no immediate effect as the home side hit the post through Pelle and Ward-Prowse shot over when he should have made the game safe for Ronald Koeman’s side.

Arsenal were ragged and could have been even further behind after a dreadful mistake from Koscielny. He played a back pass blind to Szczesny without realising there was a Southampton attacker lurking, Szczesny did his best to smother but the ball broke to Tadic (I think) and his shot was headed off the line by Mathieu Debuchy.

Southampton should have been reduced to 10 men when Gardos, the last man, fouled Alexis as he was going through on goal but the referee issued a yellow and a free kick on the edge of the box which the Chilean curled just over the bar.

Ward-Prowse’s poor touch kept it at 2-0 when he was clean through, while Arsene Wenger’s decision to wait until the 84th minute to send on Chuba Akpom left the youngster with little time to make an impact.

Arsenal couldn’t find a way through and slumped to their first defeat of 2015.

Yeah, yeah, we know.

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Mr. White

Everyone takes the first shot they get to blame Wenger but how can you blame him when an experienced defender like koscienly makes a decision of leavin his man for the first goal with the keeper out like that to play keeper himself. Scezny again makin a rush decision of kickin the ball away when trying to grab it would’ve been the right decision which debuchy was expectin him to do. Gibbs was really poor. Somebody really needs to teach him how to cross the ball or pick a pass. Giroud talks the talk to get fans behind him but… Read more »

CB

The Saints all (generally) looked bigger and stronger than us, we have too many short players. The Invincibles had lots of tall athletes, not many now.

Weird that we had our first choice defence back at last and that was where we lost it.

DFS

As we pinball through this demoralizing season in fits and starts, playing this type of game exposes the reality of another feckless key game ‘fail’. The crux of the matter being that in couple of games we have looked cohesive, but in most it doesn’t look like anyone has even given a team talk let alone discussed tactics. Southampton looked better on every level. They looked bigger, stronger and more skillful. They looked more confident, more committed, more organized and therefore more purposeful about everything they did. When we had the ball we looked ponderous, lacking any noticeable attacking idea.… Read more »

The Ghost of Paul Robinson

The Saints looked like a *team* with a structure and with each man knowing their role. We looked like eleven boys who know there’s a scout at the trial that day.

4 violinists, 7 street sweepers. Not the other way around.

Chuffy

Sorry, but unless Wenger comes out and names players who were at fault, fans will blame the manager.

LittleMai

It’s easy to blame Koscielny for his mistake but what should he have done when his goalkeeper came out like a fool and failed to fully commit to his challenge. Koscielny tried to retreat to defend the goal. Goalkeeper had an awful game and cost us 2 goals because he doesn’t trust his team mates.

Cygan's Magical Left Foot

Mr White, If it was one off game we would have said oh well it’s one off. Where have you been for the last 10 years? different players, same mistakes. No one is accountable even the manager. You also told us we can’t compete with Chelsea and City because of the money!. Hampton side wage bell is third of ours, sold their best players, sitting above us and played better than us. It is the same story and some tired excuse for a man that has passed sell by date 5 years ago. Other manager build squad in one or… Read more »

MPLS

Chelsea was not built in one year. Hundreds of millions over several years.

johnny

That’s Bollocks Mr.White, if you can’t see how average Wenger is at match preparation and in game management, feckin around in the transfer window and repetitive outdated training that just leads to a higer percentage of injuries, yeah you never will. I wish I was paid 8 million a year AND have people so emotionally attached to me they’ll try and defend my lack of ability. Wenger is the problem he has to leave next May. Another manager may fail but atleast we’d actually be trying. You know Wenger will fail before it happens and the board and some fans… Read more »

Beast Boy

“Another manager may fail but atleast we’d actually be trying.”

Does that still apply if the next manager goes insane and murders all of our players? I am just trying to understand this line of thinking.

Glocken

But the point is is that we had alternatives in the squad we wouldn’t be running players into the ground. When you don’t have the sufficent number of centre backs then you can’t a) rotate or b) drop them due to form.

Lack of a proper squad is Wengera fault

loose_cannon

The thing is the same problems occur time and time again. I don’t know what he says in training or at half time, but it doesn’t lead to improvements and at the same time, he doesn’t then look to get better players. Not that I think it’d make much of a difference, if you don’t coach defending properly, anyone will struggle. Compare Lovern last season to now for example. So ultimately, it is his fault. I don’t see how we can improve until he improves

Steve

Wenger shouldn’t have bought Koscielny then. He is good a lot of the time but has a history of making calamitous mistakes. Koscielny is not good enough to play in a title-challenging team, in fact none of Arsenal’s defenders are, whose faults that?

masterofthegoonaverse

he’s back for that

Le_Dooner

As the angriest man on Twitter often exclaims…
EVERYTHING IS SHIT!!!

pi

classic defending today. chambers looked like bambi on ice out there. szczesny’s new clearance technique needs a bit of work methinks.

coq’s been impressive last two games. rest of the team wants a kick up the arse.

Remember the invincibles

Chambers was so a bambi on ice. Accurate. Thanks for that 🙂

fabulous

I’d have to agree with him though. I love Arsenal, I’m grateful for what Wenger has done but this is why I’m leaning towards wanting change by the week. We string a couple of good games, get the fans’ hopes up about the season actually being meaningful and we see the same shit unravel instantly after. I don’t even need to mention it here, the commentator’s put it nicely; our defense is shambolic, letting in Sunday league goals, and our offense is nice to watch but so easy to play against, pair us up against big strong midfielders and we… Read more »

Fellonious

Wanyama cost the saints around 8 million I think. How fucking hard is it to find an imposing DM who doesn’t get crocked every two months. The defense issues are obvious. Trying to get through a whole season with Flamini and Arteta is maddeningly monumentally fucking shit crazy stupid and you all know it. Why doesn’t Wenger?

Fellonious

I’ll answer my own question. He’s too loyal to his players, and he’s a bit of a tight fisted optimist. Who doesn’t want to let someone else fully take over the defensive side of the game. If we don’t watch out were going to lose a few players this summer, between the support divided and the stagnation.

DFS

“If we don’t watch out were going to lose a few players this summer, between the support divided and the stagnation”.

This is my genuine fear…that the club will reach a tipping point that could get really ugly

Bolarinwa Mayowa

Hello OG, how’re you felling?

CB

He fells people with his head.

And I hope he is feeling sh*t.

Gooneeeeeeerrrrr4life

Such a shite performance from the entire team…
Can’t wait to get Özil back.

Jackio

Not sure that’ll help with our defensive F*ckwittery

Alex

Maybe two stupid goals, but no Arsenal player goaled or? So yes, Mesut’s return will help the team! As also ONCE AGAIN “legends” cazorla and sanchez went missing against great teams…

pies

And Ozil has always turned up?

Phil

Cazorla and Sanchez were only missing if by that you mean they were mainly responsible for what little good play we put together.

palz

It wasn’t cazorla or alexis’s fault. It was wengers, he left podolosik, campbell and flamini behind. Yet he didn’t have welbeck or girundi.
If I was the couch I was gonna get flamini and ox in the middle, Walcott on the wings, cazorla and alexis behind the striker podolosik. That would have balanced the team but how could he put chambers in the middle. That drove me before the start of the game.
All I could see is Wenger trying out his theories. He needs to retire, Arsenal needs a younger manager.

Steve

Ozil lol, he’s been fucking crap. Would have done NOTHING today, just like he did NOTHING when he played. If all of Arsenal’s midfielders were fit, Ozil should be the last one on the team sheet.

Indian_Gooner

I am so done with the performances of Scz right now. Yes, he makes some terrific saves, but making a few mistakes per game is always a part of his game. The only reason people praise his performance in general because they choose to ignore the mistakes that he makes in every single game. A perfect example of this fact is the away game at West Ham. Yes, he collected some crosses in his box but also made some mistakes which were not punished by West Ham. And I am not saying this after his performance after this particular game.… Read more »

Chair

Well well, somebody had a pre-made text

Me So Hornsey

We started off not too badly I thought but it’s so worrying how crap we were today and particularly how disorganised we were defensively as a team. I mean, what the fuck so these guys practice in training? Szes will get blamed but all our defenders were culpable today. Basics of when your goalkeeper comes out is the defender covers the goal line. BASICS. At pub level. At playground level! Mert didn’t do it, he stoodarking nothing and reacted so late. So, so poor. Well don’t to Southampton but I really don’t think it was that hard for them today… Read more »

henleygooner

In defence of our defence, coq + chambers must be something like our 50th choice midfield paring.

Remember the invincibles

Cowuelin was the best player on the pitch. Some of the tackles he made were fantastic. chambers wasn’t at it. Much like the rest of our defence. And attack. The santi cazorla miss was absolutely inexcusable in a tight game.

Maniac

I completely agree. Most of the blame will be lobbed onto Szczesny today when in fact our entire defence was a total shambles. For the first goal: Koscielny – why has he failed to hold off Mane over such a small distance knowing full well that Szczesny was coming to claim the ball? Szczesny – why is he coming so far out to claim a ball that should be allowed to run out of play? Per – why is he ball watching instead of covering the goal line when he can clearly see that Szczesny has come so far off… Read more »

Giroud Awakening

He takes his place in the team for granted, todays errors weren’t unlucky or human error, they were just fucking careless, and that’s when you really need to drop people. Wake up Arsenal.

Remember the invincibles

He’s gone full Almunia at such a young age, shame. Enough of him. Go sign Forster.

fabulous

Because Forster made a great save today? Mate Sczez needs to be dropped but let’s not be overly dramatic about it yeah?

AP

A great save? If he’s dramatic, you are underplaying bigtime. Forster is definitely a much better keeper and a very smart buy for Southampton (alongwith
pelle). Szcz is pretty much a joke for the level of side he is playing in.

Aussie gooner

Our players are too busy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram mate.

Trying too hard to be celebrities

The Playmaker

What’s even worse is that he has stopped making any saves that is not hit straight at him.

fabulous

Pretty spot on, you keep making mistakes sooner or later they’re gonna bite you in the backside. Today was the day for Sczez unfortunately. Two mistakes, two goals. Time for the annual Sczez dropping to the bench so he’d find his form again?

Deano

Ospina is injured Indian Gooner. It seems we have a habit of signing players with knackered backs.

Cheeky lob

“@Millar_Colin: 20 PL matches in. Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Matic, Fabregas, Hazard, Courtois. 8 players combined missed 1 game through injury!”

Arsenal isn’t as lucky I guess.

GoonerN16

Martinez? I was impressed by the few games he played in recently…

East Gooner

Well as this is Arsenal, Ospina is injured. It is almost funny now, how ridiculous our injury troubles are.

False11

Not to mention Martinez, who looked better than the last two performances by Szzzzzzz.

PodB

Ospina in … starting with the FA Cup v Hull …

Koeman is emerging as a top manager … it should have been 4-1 today … we were awful and can’t get up for a big game … is that the manager’s fault? I am starting to think yes, as much as I respect him … this should kick their arse for Hull though. Pse let Flamini play .. never thought I’d say that.

Dud shite has happened too often this season, but at least we have a cup run to come?

Aussie gooner

Should we have been playing against 10 men for the last quarter of the game? Yes. But the real question has to be why we’re we 2-0 down to Southampton. From manager to players, everyone has lost sight of the goal, giroud childishly getting sent off meaning we had no focal point today, our players preferring to pass it around and be cute than launch an attack, szczesny trying to dribble past one player each game. No passion, no brains, no idea . ( except for Alexis). Weak physically and mentally and both are due to the manager. Call this… Read more »

ARiddlingName

‘No passion, no brains, no idea . ( except for Alexis). ‘

Although I agree with your point, this part just irritates me. Arsenal fans get pissed when other teams’ fans say it, so I seriously hope our own stop.

Coquelin and Ox to name a couple had a better game than Alexis (:

Exiledgooner

It’s not knee-jerk, old chap. I think we’re way past that now. I have admired and adored Arsene for years, but I can’t help seeing shades of the final years of Brian Clough in him now, struggling to match up to his earlier magnificent successes. And yes, I know that Clough’s Forest went down in ’93 which is obviously not what’s going to happen to us, but there are some parallels, I think. Arsene has been so, so magnificent, but it’s not happened for a while now. Everything changes.

Chair

Happy new year!

idk

Oh what a bad decision it was to depend on arsenal to make my new year’s day better. Its funny how i fall into the same trap of believing in arsenal without any logical reasoning time and again. Maybe its just like falling in love, except i never have. You’re my first love arsenal and i still believe in you, irrespective of how stupid that sounds. Hopefully we’ll have a happy year ahead (heh)

Positive Gooner

Awful defending for the 2 goals. We could’ve lost by a whole lot more.

Happy New Year 🙁

Xxxrob

That was one of the most gutless performances from us I’ve ever seen. Forster had very little to do but did it well. Absolutely shambolic defending. Words can’t describe how disappointed I am at this shit.
One positive out of this fucking mess is coqelin is actually looking the goods in CDM. Pretty impressed with him today

Bonjour

Remember the performances two years ago in the Norwich 1-0 Arsenal; Arsenal 0-2 Swansea games? This game has been right up there with those masterpieces

fabulous

I’m pretty sure there are numerous other gutless performances from Arsenal this season, and that’s the thing that kills us all as fans you know? These things just happen all too regularly.

A Yank

On the plus side, my expectations for this club are now so low they’ll have a hard time disappointing me from here on out.

Cagooner

I agree gutless. Flam gets slammed all the time, but we really missed his leadership today. He may not have the stature and positioning of a top DM, but he is a real leader on the field. Alexis does it with his attitude (although he looked tired today) but no one else steps up to lead. I also thought front line was wrong today. We’ve played all season with a target man, whether big OG or mobile DW. We missed that today. should have had Akpom or Campbell in middle up front from the start. Agree the defense was shit,… Read more »

arsepedant

It’s hard to do anything when you don’t get your first touch until 20 minutes after you come on. No-one got the ball to him. He was put on to be a target, and none of our midfield could hit that target. Every time our midfield had the ball, they either got tackled immediately or tried to run through three players and lost the ball. Walcott wasn’t the problem, pretty much everyone else was.

Chineseses

For a side that boasts about having technical players, very few of them can actually hit accurate long balls. I’m thinking Cazorla, Ozil and maybe Wilshere.

I don't comment here often

The game plan kind of worked for a while. Stick two big blokes in front of the back four, Debuchy whacks it long to one of the front four and we break. But once Southampton started getting Tadic and Wanyama in particular on the ball the whole thing just fell apart and we couldn’t keep up. Once again not enough quality or intelligence in central midfield. And before anybody brings up injuries, we’ve only got one player (Arteta) who can read the game there. At two down we went into full panic mode. Walcott coming on for Chambers was completely… Read more »

Alexis trousers

Gutless, indeed.

Okai

Spineless performance

ENJ

This shit again I can’t take this right now, really? on new years freaking day. How about arsenals New years resolution be to develop some damn balls. I love sanchez(maybe too much) but If never plays striker for us again it would be understandable, clearly more effective off the wings. I know I already called HFB an Idiot for QPR… But after this performance without a real striker it can’t hurt to say it again, What a fucking idiot.

Silent Stan's Content Mustache

Well this was fucking awful.

john

Thank god our defense will be better when Kosielny and Debuchy are back!

Mike

Just your typical display today . We’ve been, mostly, shite this season.

Terrible defending again. Hospital passes, Chesney turning into almunia …

Was always gonna be a tough game but we sucked today. Particularly the second half .

A Yank

If I’m Wenger, from here on, I ask my keeper before the game if he’s still drunk from the night before.

not_now

This club has lost it’s identity.

Big Mad Andy

THIS IS BULLSHIT *kicks bathroom door in*

Something has to change.

Remember the invincibles

you have very high expectations mate

MPLS

Sounds like your bathroom door has to change for one.

Remember the invincibles

Happy New Year guys. Guess the Arsenal will always be ridiculous.

same same

Southampton showed us what we really are

TOP 4 TEAM THATS ALL

Aussie gooner

Wouldn’t even be so sure mate.

Yes we’ve done it for 18 years , but some things come to an end eventually

DialSquareGoon

I still think we’ll make it this year but with performances like this (cos this wont be the last time this season, we all know this), barely. Realistically, our target is third over those man u idiots.

mozilla

shambolic performance again.. reset>back to basic

Giroud Awakening

I hate 2015 already

#YOLO Toure

Absolute shower of shit.

Don Cazorleone

Another fine mess we have gotten ourselves into

Wenger's Waterbottle

In the States, they decided to do a red zone style broadcast (jumping from game to game showing highlights and interesting passages of play), other than the two goals, the game was barely shown. Not really sure where I am going with this but here we are and I’m hungover

Cagooner

I simultaneously watched the entire game on my iphone and highlight coverage on TV. Makes the experience even fucking worse. Now i get to watch scum vs chelski not sure which way i want result to go. 5 broken legs and 4 red cards each i guess.

Big Chief from Antarctica

It would have been daylight robbery if we even got a point out of this match. Wenger got it wrong, Southampton is without Schneiderlin and we play with two DMs. DMs that are fucking experimental. Jesus, I was wondering why there was absolutely no rhythm in our play and that’s why.

Coquelin’s skyrocketing hit camouflaged his performance, he was pretty good today. Along with the Ox.
Szczesney can fuck right off. Full-blown Almunia today. He needs to get a grip.

East Gooner

I wonder whom else he would play with these fucking injuries. The only alternative was to play Ox in midfield and Walcott on the wing but as we saw Walcott seems far from ready. Ox looked really tired – None of his usual drive. Coquelin was OK considering, whilst Chambers was just bad. Unless we get better luck with injuries this kind of display is going to be par for the course – Considering even Flamini would have done a better job itself shows our situation at the moment. That said the defending was inexcusable. First goal: Koscielny messes up… Read more »

Big Chief from Antarctica

You’re absolutely right on the injuries. The way I see it, Wenger should have anticipated yet the amount of injuries, to me at least, are apocalyptic in the very sense of the word. Three horses are guarding the the medical room. Akpom should have been given a chance up front. Giroud’s hold-up play is sorely missed (that red card now seems worse), Akpom could’ve provided that. Alexis’ performance was shite today even if his work rate is appreciated, his final ball was off. Along with Cazorla and Chambers. I know it is all hindsight but given Wenger’s experience, he surely… Read more »

American Gooner

Welp. That’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back. Horrendous

Arsene's Apologist

Third string midfield at best. Hard to imagine them really getting a grip on the game. We need our players back.

maddyclaires

really? our players back? we had no control in central midfield…do you think with wilshere/ozil back it’ll be better? none of those players are the kind that controls the tempo and dominates the midfield kind of player…and the problem isn’t even in midfield…we just lost control at the back and the midfield just had no talent to pull the team up to mount a comeback and as a result the forwards and wingers are all isolated… And it’s a pity really, we all thought koscielny was the missing link and to think we will be competent enough to defend with… Read more »

MPLS

I think Arteta and Ramsey play midfield too.

same same

after 55 minute when sanchez nearly scored we didnt create a single clear cut chance for the remaining 90 minutes

GunnerDareMACEDONIA

We did create much much better chance with rosicky creating for cazorla great chance which had to be a goal and cazorla shot straight at the keeper, the result was 0-0 and if cazorla scored maybe the game would have different outcome, can’t miss that great chance like that, especially at an difficult away game.

Mootilated

Calamitous defending. To lose a game thanks to your own mistakes is just unforgivable. The commentator put it perfectly when he said “well Arsenal have been very, well, Arsenal…”

DialSquareGoon

It really is a shame that “Arsenal” has become shorthand for disappointment.

Don Cazorleone

More than that, we are self destructive. I forget who it was but someone once said that to play Arsenal you just let them have the ball – they make their own mistakes.

DialSquareGoon

That would be Fergie. He siad to sit back and wait for us to inevitably turnover or play the perfect pass to be intercepted.

Don Cazorleone

THAT was it, I thought it was Maureen for some reason

Mootilated

We are the masters of our own downfall but it is something that has been happening for too long a time now. I am genuinely curious as to what kind of training they do for this to happen so often and how mentally fragile they become when defending. It feels like these errors would still happen even if we had the greatsest back 4 in the league

A Yank

That’s so pathetically sad… But probably true. Our best game since maybe the Community Shield was against West Ham where we let them have more possession and waited to counter.

DialSquareGoon

As much as it pains me to say, they out-played us today and we gave stupid goals away. We really have no excuses. Twice they have beaten us this season and they are fast becoming yet another bogey team for us. We really have no answer to the high-press, do we? Happy new year?

Giroud Awakening

Shockers from Szczesny, Koscielny, Gibbs and Ox today. It’s like we take 2 steps forward and 3 steps back every fucking time

maddyclaires

We have learnt our lesson in defense……oh wait….

Ryanuz

“I’m more experienced and I like to read the game a little bit more.” – Wojciech Szczesny before today’s game.

Giroud Awakening

Gobshite

mpiedlourde

I wish he read it differently. He did some nice combination work with the defense for a couple Southampton goals.

Naveen

Every time he opens his mouth , i feel like punching something. He has been seriously poor and as someone rightly pointed out , its only the straightforward saves and an occasional spectacular save from him. Put him one on one with any half decent player and he gets beaten 9 times out of 10 , i’m not even going to discuss penalty saves. Yet to see a single game where he has made a difference and stood out with his saves. You see other keepers having an impact in games where the opposition is bossing the play and is… Read more »

henleygooner

does bouldy really need a tablet to tell walcott to hang around in the middle and only touch the ball once? this could be the first time someone gets a higher rating than the number of times they’ve touched the ball……

Cracked

This team has no pride. They’ve suffered so many maulings over recent years they don’t even have the decency to be embarrassed by performances like this anymore

mozilla

where Fabiański when you need him.. ohhh

Striker

We haven’t really had a top class goalkeeper for several years.. This is nothing new.

kaius

This is such an important point. I’ll go further and say we haven’t had a top class SPINE for years. Great goalies nullify even the best opposition. Supported by top class CB’s and a defensively sound central midfielder/midfield general, a team can win points even on its bad days. Our club has systematically failed to productively strengthen these three positions for an age now. Koscielny is our best buy in that respect, and even he came from Ligue 2. When you examine so many of our transfers in these positions, they arrive at the club as stop-gaps (Flamini being stop-gap’s… Read more »

David

i guess you missed Fabianski’s last game where he cleared it off the head of a striker and into his own net, haha

Was born a Gooner

Scszesny 2 – 0 Arsenal

So much for being ‘more experienced’… :/

David

Alumina-like performance today. Not sure why we don’t go in for someone like Begovic, he wouldn’t cost that much. Instead, we signed Ospina who in typical Arsenal fashion showed up injured and basically hasn’t featured this year…Almost as puzzling as that Kahlstrom signing last year…

sad gunner

No if’s no but’s. Well done Southampton. You cannot blame Wenger for this defeat. We had our back 5. Szc was shockingly bad. For our first goal, it wasn’t just his fault though. Kosc should never have left mane get at him like that. Shocking defending. Szc has done that so many times, not only this season but the seasons before too, think FA cup final. Its just bad. He played so well against west ham, then delivers a performance like that. Apart from that I though coq had a good first 20 mins, tackled well. Then as soon as… Read more »

Don Cazorleone

Fabianski played the cup final didn’t he?

Rayaan

Scz played shite but Fabianski was our keeper for the F.A cup.

Podolski Sklep

We were utterly dominated in physical terms today. Wanyama gave a masterclass in what we’re lacking in the midfield (snide boot to Sanchez aside) – shielded the defence completely today, to the point that we didn’t seem to make one direct attack all game. And turned possession round quickly to catch us on the hoof. A DM is NOT optional anymore: it’s completely essential. It was men against boys today, even with our best CB pairing. Coq looked out of his depth. On another note, we were poor in attack too. Santi’s saved shot was actually horrendous and he deserves… Read more »

henleygooner

podolski sklep – good name….

David

I think we need a CB more than a defensive midfielder. Mert and Kos are on the wrong side of 30 and Chambers is not ready for that role. Mert can’t jump either…

trev

That was bollocks on toast with side salad.

Striker

Wake the fuck up arsene fans. We can’t defend for shit with arsene wenger in charge, he is unable to do the right decisions. Some of the errors made by the defenders today was totally fucking awful. It is time to open that big fat wallet of yours and buy some CB’s. It will be another classical fucking arsene wenger transfer window where he fails to bring in what we need and everything will go on as it has done for the last 10 fucking years. I am so unbelievably tired of see defending like this, yes, this wasn’t a… Read more »

jsergio

That awkward moment when you realise Southampton are genuinely better than you in every department. No surprises or complaints. From 1 to 11 we were as piss poor as ever. This arsenal team is the weakest I have seen in Wengers dictatorship. Arsene looks like a beaten old man. it’s genuinely horrible and sad to watch him flap his arms at the 4th official after creating his own mess.

Striker

Yup, classical arsene wenger behaviour. Turn to the referee and rage when he got no clue what the fuck is happening.

Le Jim

it was because some cuntish Southampton fan ran in front of him and Bouldy in the dugout, acting like a cunt.

Zenithreptile

I thought that was an Arsenal fan asking them wtf was going on. I thought he deserved an explanation to be honest.

diefenbaker

Weakest?..not by a mile..
I think we have a pretty good team on paper, just that everything else is shite.
Well Sczc was about to be shown up sooner or later. Looks like we’re stuck with him.
Whys everyone pissed off anyways?
Soton is a better team than us.

Le Jim

Cuntish defending and that red/yellow card call from the ref was cuntish as well.
Feel sorry for the Coq that he’s had to come back to the shithole that is Arsenal of 14/15.
Also, Walcott touching the ball once in half an hour was quite funny, but we’ll cut him slack… for now 😉

Aahhh, fuck my life. The (real) Arsenal are back. On we go again.

Glocken

You can criticise Scz, BFG or Kos as much as you want but the problems are much deeper than that. The club needs a new Manager and new coaches to reinvigorate the players. I really don’t think that they are playing for the Manager anymore. We just haven’t looked like a team this season, the defence/midfield & attack all looks fragmented and we need some new tactics. Injuries are costing us, of course they are, but injures have been costing us the last six or seven years and NOTHING has changed. Shad Foysthe has been brought in but what is… Read more »

Striker

Yup. Sadly, this club does not have a manager but a dictator that answers to no-one and are boss over his own future at the club.

SB

Manager, players and many fans comment about the potential oof this team and how scary it will be for the opponents when the injured players come back.

Sounds like one of the religious scams – the promised land after life. What about the here and now?!

little mozart

One day its wenger the best manager in the world , next time he needs to go. We need to make our minds. Plus i really think scz and Per is really really poor ,with them i dont think we can win the league or champions league. Down vote all you want but lets not be naive about this

Glocken

Like I say, you can blame players but there is something symptomatically wrong in our approach.

Almunia, Fabianski, Scz, Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Eboue, Gallas, Verm, BFG, Kos, Gibbs, Monreal, Squllaci have all played in that defence and it’s still shit, what does that tell you?

AK 57

After giving him his due credit against West Ham, I must say now that Szchesny now needs to go. He has had enough chances at the expense of Fabianski, Ospina etc. We can’t have him making hash of 2 or 3 games per season. It is not fair to Arsenal fans and its certainly not fair to Arsenal club and other goalkeepers who seem to be forever waiting in the wings. There is a point in life where you make a tough decision for good of everyone concerned. Wenger that time is now. Move him on. Play second team against… Read more »

WizardOfOzil

With all the injuries we had going into this match, that was inevitable in a way. They were just far too strong for us, must say having watched them a fair bit recently, Tadic’s return to his early-season form today was more than annoying.

Anyhow even considering injuries, we lack physicality especially in the centre of the park. Could this be the window that that penny drops for Wenger? Goalkeeper showed his true colours again today, he’s dodgy.

Die Hard Gunner

They didn’t show up today at all…Wojciech had a very bad day!

G-Man

Well…seeing as it looks like we will either scrape 4th or actually get 5th this season we kind of HAVE to win the Champions League this year. I’m mainly annoyed at the loss because of Koemans comment yesterday stating that Southampton can finish above Arsenal this season. I thought to myself “Thems fightin’ words” … But a performance like this just provides credibility to the words. These fucking injuries are pissing me off. Our defence are back but have no cohesion due to long periods away. How long until we get our full team back??

Nacho de Montreal is tasty

This is unacceptable, something must change. So abject that I feel for Szczesny. He had a goal keeper career killer performance otherwise I have always thought he was a good goalkeeper. Shambolic defence for ten years. I am revolted, really. Koscielny had a very bad performance, Mertsacker technically abject.

The Fax Man

Shambles!!

Alexstratz

We have about the same number of shots and shots on target as Soton. The difference was Szczesny. Thanks man, I hope that champagne last night was worth it.

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