Arsenal picked up another red card and spent a significant part of the game playing with ten men, which was not a surprise.
Arsenal also scored a goal from open play, which was a surprise.
The 10 men hung on for a point, thankful that Nathan Redmond hit the bar for the Saints, but also slightly rueful after Rob Holding did exactly the same in injury time.
It wasn’t great, but at least we didn’t lose.
Read the Arsenal 1-1 Southampton match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-1 Southampton – Player Ratings
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Ceballos can’t pass the ball quick enough or accurate enough. That’s like four passes he’s flopped away to a throw-in in two games now.
Oh, Lucas, please come back and be at least slightly better…
Ceballos is not a DM so no comparison
Torreira is an AM
Think you are watching other sports.
Sh*t…. Cant find any other sports player with his name
Saka is arsenals best player and he’s 10x better than Pepe. Even his set piece deliveries are sooo good it’s refreshing. I think We should put him on Set piece duty Pepe should never be taking set pieces for arsenal. maybe the occasional free kicks but corners etc he needs to stop
Neither was Torreira
Lucas is an Emery era signing, just like Saliba, Guendouzi and Sokratis. Make of that what you will but Arteta hasn’t fancied any of them very much.
donut forget Martinelli..he didnt fancy Martinelli either thats why he went and called back Nketiah from Leeds. smh
Very true, we are all waiting for him to return to fitness but it’s easy to forget his playing time when fit under MA was limited.
And nketia don’t have it I’m afraid. Would much rather give balogun a try.
Maybe think less about “Emery era” and more about “Raul era” signings
Lucas probably doesn’t want to come back and Arteta probably doesn’t want him back either.
But sounds like Athletico aren’t desperate to keep either.
ceballos must be one of the most over rated players i cn remember in a long time . hope we dont sign him.
For real
Torreira is about as much an answer to our problems as Elneny was. In that he’s not, at all
probably not the answer but surley a better option than xhaka ceballos or elneny could say the same for guendouzi
the thing is i don’t think it is so much about individual players really. yes we can improve on some players but the whole team is underperforming so much that changing out a few players will probably not fix it.
one of the hallmarks of a good manager and a good team is being able to perform well as a team i.e. the sum of the parts being better than the individual parts
For a second I thought you meant Lucas Perez, and you know what I’d probably take him right now.
Ceballos plays for himself at times. Especially his shots, he goes for a Hail Mary too often, especially because he has a tendency to sky his shot everyone I’ve seen him try. Including free kicks.
He is at his best when he slaloms through the midfield to break a line or two and then play in a teammate. That is unplayable for the opposition and is very Santi cazorla-esce
But his passing and shooting has been poor.
Dribbling and work rate has been good
We look lethargic and unfit.
It’s the unspoken theme of all our games. We seem to gas out far earlier then every other team in the league
Typically when 10 men have to do the running of 11, it takes a lot more effort. Especially when it happens game after game 🙁
thats like saying we look amazingly fit in the first halves-which we dont–we play poor in the first half and then get a man sent off second half conveniently giving arteta an excuse as to why we didnt win the game—dont explain the pathetic nature of our first half shit shows–
bring back arsene–send this faux back up north
Stopped the rot. Think this is an impossible game to realise analyse in isolation; if we do well against Everton it looks like the result that steadied the ship.. if we lose it’s just another kick on our way down.
10 / 10 for the consistency of performance. Identical to the last few. Even got the red card in. It’s just such a shame it’s not a good performance or we’d be laughing.
Oh well, we needed to steady the ship. And it’s definitely steady now. Consistent as hell.
The red cards are a little nuts – we have over 2x any other PL team since Arteta joined. I’m less concerned about this one since it’s a young player with 2 bookings as opposed to the epically stupid one from a player we consider one of the team’s leaders. Agree with your comment that Arteta is here to stay regardless of performances so was good to us steady the ship a bit and move away from some of the players who just keep failing over and over (even if Xhaka was suspended). We’re starting to move the ball faster… Read more »
All the red cards have been soft. Chillwel got away with an identical choke hold yesterday didn’t even get booked..
They might be soft but most have been stupid. I’m ok if we get one like tonight but Xhaka & Pepes are just dumb
Were we marginally better without Xhaka, Bellerin and Laca, Probably. Will Hector and Laca be straight back in on Saturday and Xhaka the game after. Probably. Is Mikel painfully out of his depth…
I thought the 6 for AMN was generous. Got roasted 3 times letting players into the box with ease. Also sloppy on the ball.
I’d put Bellerin back in.
Don’t mind hector coming back, but only if it moves AMN into midfield.
Hector has been great for us for a good few years, but he’s one of half a dozen underperforming experienced pros who are selected week in week out regardless of their performances.
I would agree wholeheartedly with you about AMN. I thought tonight was the perfect get out clause with the two suspensions for Arteta to play Cedric and let AMN play central. If Cedric has a blinder then great, If not Hector comes back in and AMN would hopefully keep his central role.
I like Bellerin, but he should have been benched for a game after his third illegal throw-in of the season. Instead, he kept starting every match and got called for 2 more.
He should be embarrassed by all those illegal throw-ins, but he kept right on doing them. It shows a complete lack of concentration and attention to detail. But the manager kept right on rewarding him with playing time, instead of taking action weeks ago.
AMN had 63% pass completion tonight can see why Arteta isn’t desperate to move him there.
we could do with his energy and pace in there. id rather stick a fork in my eye than watch another game with xhaka and ceballos in midfield
If they give xhaka the same extension they gave David Luis then I’ll be watching Newport County from now on. If they sign ceballos after his loan then the only football ill be watching is FIFA 21
Indeed. AMN in midfield in PL will be found out. However I’ll play him there any day rather than Xhaka!
AMN, Willock, Saka, Nelson, Nkietah, ESR are here to stay. Play them and we’ll get out of this mess. Yes, it’ll be rocky , but better than William, Xhaka and Ceballos
With the exception of Saka and maybe Smith-Rowe those players are Championship standard
So AMN is Championship standard? Did anyone tell Southgate?
Yes, he’s shit
Yeah, as he was at Old Trafford a few seasons back? Where he was Arsenal’s stand out player? Or Southampton away in a Cup, same thing? Righto.
He must be shit then eh. FFS.
I think you have to cut him some slack. He’s usually played at left wing back. Recently in the Europa he’s been in central midfield. Both positions his performances have ranged from good to very good (including a Cup Final). Then he gets moved to right back (i.e. the other side of the field) in a high pressure game and he gives the ball away a few times … you need to give players a chance. I think he’s more powerful and pacey than 2020 era Bellerin so should be given a run in the team.
His passing average this season is 70%, you’re living in dreamland
Ainsley was sloppy on the ball at right back so your solution is to move him in to midfield?
Yeah but right back passing options are very limited and a lot of teams press from the top and can be very hard to play a pass when you can only play the pass in front or generally on your left side. Whereas mid you got option of either sides.
What are you talking about? Arteta does not favor Lacazette by any means. Eddie provided nothing other than a neat flick to Auba after a moment of Saka brilliance. But he chose Eddie in a big game over a healthy Lacazette, an off-form but highly capable center forward. Xhaka and Bellerin favoritism I get. They are both woefully overrated and would not start for any other team with a shrewd, progressive manager in the Premier League. But I’m sorry, Lacazette has been better than Auba this year (not saying much), and everytime he does get played, he takes a bunch… Read more »
Outplayed first 30 minutes. From then on improvement until the the card. Auba and Nketiah were underwhelming except for the goal. Weak one on one. Pepe likewise. Saka is the only one able to take players on and stand his ground.
They have the same profile. Excellent finishers but poor ballers. Can’t pass, control or dribble
This is actually a great observation, especially when you think that how that type of player was in abundance under Wenger. Not just Ozil, but Cazorla, Rosicky, Fabregas, Nasri, even Mkhitaryan would be welcome in this team that have no creativity.
and Wilshere, Hleb, damn even Denilson …
I again saw a lack of effort from Auba, seemed like a couple opportunities arose and he really didn’t do all he could in the situations. His body language before the goal was really bad also. Looked a bit brighter after but that’s not what a “captain” should be doing.
what should he be doing running around like a headless chicken? hes there to finish off chances created, something this team stinks at.
You’ve got this spot on. We have a lot of armchair critics here who show little or no understanding of the game.
Auba has always been a finisher.
Speaking about body languages, how happy do we think a striker of Auba’s pedigree should be when he is through about the worst goal drought of his career?
Then he damn well better be in position to finish them when they’re created. A lot of balls in go to nobody home with this squad as of late.
He and Laca also used to create chances for each other and others. I think they’re on 1’s and 0’s for assists this far in.
I’m stoked he broke the drought, and he looked like he was too. It was good to see his reaction. Reassuring to see it still matters to him.
I saw a lack of confidence but no lack of effort. With the single exception of Willian (and maybe Kolasinac, though who can blame him), I haven’t seen anyone look like they didn’t care. Fans constantly say this, but I think it’s usually nonsense. Do you think Xhaka’s problem is that he is too relaxed, too lackadaisical? Do you think Arsenal would win more if we brought back Jenkinson?
Agreed, Biff. I thought the improvement came as a result of developing courage on the ball. The Saints were harassing the ball carrier and overplaying the passing lanes. We were afraid of making mistakes and thus became predictable and stationary. That’s a recipe for disaster against a hard press. Around the 30th minute that changed. Our ball carrying players started faking one way and dribbling into and through their lines. Bingo, Arsenal players started moving. Incisive passes presented themselves and we were back in the game and threatening. Courage, lads. We need courage, effort, and a bit of (corporal?) discipline.… Read more »
10/10 Willian
Kept the bench warm for the next game
he just needs to stay on the bench. Ceballos must give way to willock too. we’re almost there. bellerin xhaka willian out. now remove ceballos and we’re getting closer.
But who do we play at right back? I like AMN but he didn’t exactly cover himself in glory with a 63% passing completion.
But imagine we get a pen, who else to take it than AMN?
i guess the only person who can score a penalty for us will be holding, because he can hold on to his nerves.
His stats were poor cause the guy in front of him (Peep yea) is nowhere to be seen when the ball is played to him…
He wasn’t very good. Got roasted few times defensively as well. Lot of fans love him but he wasn’t a clear upgrade on hector. Prob more potential in the midfield where we’re sorely lacking athleticism with Partey out.
He should have been sold in the summer when we had a decent offer along with Bellerin, and those funds should have been put towards getting Aouar.
I doubt our results would be any worse, from a defensive point of view with Cedric in the team
to be fair, Bellerin gets roasted all the time, if he is even in position
It would be a bit childish to expect AMN to be an upgrade to Hector. He was called to fill in while Hector served his suspension. And his pass completion would have been better if Pepe got on the end of his passes. No excuses about being roasted defensively but we can all agree he is not the reason they scored. Plus Nathan Redmond is quite good at football.
One game. Not every single time he’s on the field like Willian or Xhaka
I’d play cedric
WHo also got roasted by a player he’s trained with repeatedly!
Not even the bench for me. Give that spot to Nelson ot ESR
Ceballos is particularly infuriating because he has the capacity to do some great stuff but he’s so inconsistent and doesn’t seem much more intelligent than xhaka is
having a wining mentality and fight counts for alot something mosgt of this team are lacking. fuck being in the trenches with any of this lot
Really bad night for Gab, he was most responsible for the goal. He’s been very good this season though, so I’m not mad at him. But goddamn we need to get better.
I thought he was quite poor against Burnley as well. Holding, as much as he tries, is so slow that Gabriel takes on far too much responsibility, loses positional sense, loses focus. But I have seen enough of him to believe he will be a top centre half for years.
Gabriel was bad but he’s been our best player all season and I rate him as a professional. Already has come out and apologized to everyone. We still havent heard a thing from that prick Xhaka.
Pepe was utterly useless again. Needs to be apart of a massive clear out of this squad. 72 million for 8 million worth of quality. FFS
As bad as the first half was, Pepe was not among the problems. He at least sought out the ball and tried to make something happen. More than can be said for several others.
ideally we shouldnt get a red card, but if we’re getting one, i rather we get it this way than forehead foreplay… throat massage crap.
The best advice I can give for people when looking at Pepe is to forget his price tag. That was clearly inflated by a) Raul’s dodgy agent fees, and b) that fact that it is paid over 5 years. It’s not his fault. He’s currently our top goal scorer in all competitions and looked the most likely to make something happen today, so while he’s not Mohamed Salah, he’s certainly not our biggest problem
Wenger in at board level?
What a great manager arsene wenger was. Crazy the amount of stick he got really.
If only he hadnt signed xhaka and mustafi that summer he might still be around.
yup. i think we’d have stood a real chance at the title if our rivals had signed them instead.
No. Enough of this shit. We can’t build on the future by trying to drag the past along with us. He is probably the most important person in club history. That doesn’t make him the person to guide us forward administratively. And when we hire a new manager hopefully we’ll prioritize managerial success instead of lining up half our former players again.
Saka may be Arsenal through and through but he really deserves a better team at the moment.
I think Arsenal deserves more players like Saka.
Again two reds were a possibility. Ceballos deserved yellow for clearly diving and then took one for dissent just after. Really troubling. And then Saka does the exact opposite running through 3 tackles leading to a goal. I don’t know what the others need to see to recognize that giving the effort will bring results.
he dived but weve seen penalties given for similar fouls/ contact this season mo salah springs to mind.
Any penalty K*ne has ever won has been softer than that.
I do love Gab, but this wasn’t just bad luck. He has had quite a few moments when I was waiting for a card since he joined. He has at times been a little reckless, and I think lucky.
Even in the first few minutes of this game there was a rather stupid swing of the arm.
I’d say definitely coachable to get it out of him, different league etc..
Who is gonna work with him on that? Luiz??
A big part of the problem is that he always has to step up because it’s so easy to play through our CMs. Koscielny used to commit a lot of fouls/get caught high up for the same reason, but at least he was covering players who were getting goals/assists like Ramsey and Cazorla, not fucking Elneny and Ceballos
Oh how I miss us not having a Ramsey or Cazorla.
Corvallis just ain’t it.
Ceballos^
Stupid autocorrect
I would imagine the coaches
We focus a lot of bad will on our midfielders, but when our plan is to avoid playing through them at any cost, I don’t see how they can ever look good. This is Emery ball with a better PR..Emery ball disguised as total football.
we dont avoid playing thro them they dont have the talent to turn and look forward and pass/ dribble the ball forward/ drive the team forward because they just dont have the quality to do it.
Bingo…its simply vision and the talent to swivel the hips and turn and spray…I know Arteta wants to play this play from out crap….again you need talented people to do it…ozil xhaka Luiz Mustafi ceballos Ainsley socrates…Kola El nenny….Bellerin….this is the biggest reason were 15th …none of these people deserve to play. I dont want to bear about Arteta…THIS IS OWNERSHIP 100 PERCENT….it falls at their feet…Bellerin has just not been the same…Ainsley still has aot to learn he just isn’t as far along as willock and saka and nketiah…Oil just has to gothe others just are not talented enough… Read more »
You can see that the players do not want the ball and are scared to try and make anything happen. The balance of the team is poor and unfortunately, this will take a few years to rectify at best. Most of these players do not appreciate/deserve to be playing for the Arsenal. Surely some influential ex Arsenal legends should be involved in the first team squad in some way to guide these clowns.
Good players do not always make good coaches.
True, but good players do commend respect. Having that good influence along with the coaches can only help. Just look at the top clubs in Germany and Italy where this is the norm and a form of reward for the ex players once their playing days are over.
Saka was superb, showed big character to go with his technical ability. Actually thought Ceballos had a good game and albeit with 10 men, a midfield of Willock and Elneny was predictably terrible at retaining the ball. Ceballos one of few we have who always offers for the ball.
Gabriel bad for their goal and Tierney gets his body positioning wrong.
Agree on all that, especially Ceballos, was surprised by that rating. He actually shows for the ball, can turn, takes people on and pick passes. He’s limited by playing in a holding 2, would like to see us play with a midfield three and give him more freedom to roam. Could be AMN, Willock or even Saka as the other 8.
I’d be interested to see that too. He’s a good player,(Real Madrid gave him a 6 year deal) I watched a fair bit of him at Betis a while back. He’s at his best when there is connectivity in the midfield and a lot of movement ahead of him so he can drive into space but in Arteta’s static horse-shoe build up I suppose he has to force it a bit more. Even though I’ve been impressed by his interceptions and anticipation under Arteta it’s not his game, so I can understand why people seem to want more Willock and… Read more »
It’s come back to this; following some good stewardship from George Graham and Arsene Wenger under a previous ownership regime. 🙁
Good result and performance purely in the context of this BS season. The biggest take away for me is that legs > experience. Poor first half but kept going and were on top before the red. Saka is a real gem, AMN is very talented and Nketiah never stopped working. I think the rating for Ceballos was harsh as well, he was involved in a lot of our best moments when he was allowed to break forward. Needs more freedom to get the best out of him. Gabriel has been excellent this season but had a real shocker, probably means… Read more »
it’s kind of weird how you overlook tierneys mistakes, you did it vs wolves when he got beaten to easily for the cross and you did it again today when he got attracted to the ball and allowed theo 1 on 1, instead you mentioned leno could of done better. I like tierney too but i wonder if that had been kolasinac how quickly you would of mentioned his mistake.
definatley a few favourates when it comes to the ratings and the blame game
almost as if blogs is a fan like the rest of us and we all have our favourites… dunno why it’s a surprise or even a bad thing tbh
its not a bad thing just onions are onions, listening to the pod this week gunnerblog seemed to think pepe coming back into the side wasgoing to turn our season around has he watched pepe play?
I think he did watch Pepe play. But we also saw how Willian played. So that’s that.
Good point, and I really like Tierney too.
I’m sure I’m. not alone in saying it pains me to see Arsenal play the way we did in the first half on our own pitch. As a fan, I think we’re at the point where we need to take all topics off the taboo list and address any and everything. The way things are going, however, this has the feeling of a situation where things drift from bad to worse and there’s never a real reckoning until the situation has changed so irrevocably it’s all moot. Here’s a random, incomplete list: not a fan of our offensive coach not… Read more »
slow and sideways id say the team perfectly emulates arteta the player at arsenal
I’d get frustrated by that, too. But it doesn’t negate my point. Arteta always knew where he was and had a strategy for keeping possession and dictating play. He was our poor man’s Xavi Alonso, and we’ve got nobody close. (Though Partey with the right partner, could end up being a better option.) I think one thing we got used to was destroying everyone below “Top 6” with regularity. We’d put up winning streaks like it was easy. Part of that was how we controlled matches. Now we don’t control matches, don’t destroy anyone easily, and we routinely get kicked… Read more »
Totally agree on Monreal. When he had the ball you always felt comfortable and knew he’d make a good pass / attack. Tierney looks so uncomfortable passing forwards and usually has to turn back and drag the ball back to Gab
Good points. Though which offensive coach are you referring because those don’t exist at Arsenal currently. The last offensive coach we had was Freddie Ljunberg and he has departed. Steve Round – Our first assistant coach worked under David Moyes at Everton and Man Utd. Naturally his coaching style is defensive football and safe passing. Albert Stuivenberg – Our second assistant coach worked under LVG at Man Utd. His time under Van Gaal saw that team switch to 3/5 at the back and prioritize compactness in the centre of the pitch. Both these two guys couldn’t be more defensive-minded if… Read more »
I hope we don’t sign Ceballos, he’s so limited. When I think of Spanish midfielders – they are goalscorers, creators, quick thinkers and technically very good, he’s none of those.
holding had a great game only 6.5? a proper defender. not bothered about him not being luiz on the ball give me a solid defender like holding every time.
Ceballos was probably our best player until he got booked?
Auba just needs to be benched and I’d give Balogun a start with ESR too unless he’s injured. Our closing down was bad compared to the Saints and it looked like no-one knew if they should press or stand. Eddie was played out of position and I would have stuck Laca on because he’s been decent at coming short and collecting in a withdrawn role.
Baloguns hold up play could help Auba, Pepe & Saka. Laca has been brutal!
Benched is harsh. Rested has a better ring. After seeing his interview (as well as his play), I’d say he needs it.
Pepe was useless again how can you give him a 6?
we need to cut our losses on him in the summer.
Elneny is indeed a limited player. I noticed any quick passing / combinations broke down as soon as it got to him. Slowed it all down and 95 percent of the time went backwards
rob holding is immense and deserves credit
This team doesn’t deserve Saka. What a player!!!
0/10 for putting three defenders on the bench! What was the thinking behind “I’ll put both Luiz AND Mustafi on the bench for this one”?!
Well who else would you have put on the bench over Mustafi? Young inexperienced guys like Smith Rowe? Nelson? Balogun?
Yeah I would have too.
Played FIFA on my old Xbox 360 last night and let me tell you I slept well after scoring a goal by Sanchez off of a dime from ozil after a great save by cech. Even lacazette was fun to play with back then because of his great pace and good finishing. now I don’t know if I can say the same. remember when we were 5 stars and playing champions league football?
Should our goal have been disallowed? I assume that there was a rule change couple months ago that says a team can’t pass the ball into the other team’s penalty area through the front, only from the sides. Because that is the only way we have been doing it for months now.
Not really much worth rating. Auba got his goal in the right net this time. Good assist from AMN. Saka did well with individual effort to get the ball to them. BUT on the whole we should be punching way better than currently. We theoretically have a better squad. These players are under performing. First half we were made to look like chums. I mentioned people were kidding themselves that Nketiah or AMN coming in from impressive performances in minnow europa stages were going to make that much more difference. If I had to say one player that kind of… Read more »
If I had to quibble about structure, I’d prefer us still in a back 3 given personnel shortfall and capabilities or lack thereof…. ………..Auba…………………………Pepe………….. ………………..Laca………Ceballos………………… ……..Saka…………………………………….Bellerin ……………………..Elneny……………………………… ……..Tierney……………………..Holding…………… ………………………Luiz……………………………….. ………………………Leno………………………………. (Based on current availability) Laca can dart back and forth providing some presence on edge of box with Ceballos. Auba can go wide or cut in up top. Ceballos closer to work with Pepe, Bellerin supporting. Saka and Tierney take turns supporting Auba and Laca on left overload. IN absence of Maghales, I suppose HOlding is it on right but he lacks pace (as does Luiz). Tricky when facing Everton… Read more »
The handling of Saliba was unprofessional to say the least. You say he’s not ready, right, but how the heck is putting him in u21s u23s going to get him ready, it’s a step back, it’s five steps back. Not getting him a loan was a mess, and by the way there’s only one way you can gain PL experience. He was playing competitive first team football and we stuck him in academy football, the arrogance of that all because your judgement says he’s not ready, very arrogant. What about some minutes at least, very unprofessional handling of a promising… Read more »
we got a draw because xhaka nor willian didnt play.
i think it would be the same result as before otherwise
On Saka, i give him a rating of 8, the way he stayed on his feet despite those challenges before the pass to Nketia? Damn. And you say he played a big part in the goal. I think he played a MAJOR part on the goal.
Pepe was ” mildly dangerous” 😂🤣. That’s the least amount of dangerous one can be without being ineffectual.
A bright spot through all of this has been Rob Holding maturing during this horrid period. He’s a good ball player and has improved during this time . He doesn’t go hiding either. Yes there are better Centre halves out there possibly even at the club but I think there’s more to come. That injury he had at old Trafford takes time to recover from and he was playing very well at the time too.
Although Gabriel can’t really complain about his first yellow card, it’s Walcott who is the initial offender on the second one as he pins his arms around the defender before Gabriel commits his own foul. The red card was a shame as Gabriel has been one of our few saving graces since the start of the season. Nketiah is a championship player at best (notwithstanding his assist). If Edu thinks that Arteta is doing ‘a great job’ does he also think that 32 year old Willian represents the club giving youth a chance?
Good effort
Saka, Saka, Saka, enough said
I completely disagree, if it wasn’t for the second yellow Gabriel was single handledly bailing out his teammates mistakes. Holding has several turnovers of possession which he had to sort out on his own.
The goal was because Saka decided to chance it and move into an attacking position in case the ball broke for us.
Instead it broke the other way and he left Kieran tierney no Time to react.
Poor decision. He will learn