Morning all.
When the starting eleven was announced, I’m sure many of us were scratching our heads but, we moan when Mikel Arteta doesn’t rotate so we can’t really grumble when he does.
Neither Ben White or Jurrien Timber were in the squad so Thomas Partey dropped back with Jorginho and Declan Rice in midfield. David Raya, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel, William Saliba, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz completed the starting eleven.
Not even the highlights made the first half look very entertaining as Southampton sat back and Arsenal struggled to find a goal. Jorginho came the closest to scoring.
Just before the hour mark, Southampton went ahead. Sterling lost possession to Fernandes, he chipped the ball forwards, over our defence and into the path of Archer and we were 1-0 down. Not for long though because just a few minutes later, Saka intercepted a Southampton pass, quickly passed to Havertz and after making space for his shot, he tucked the ball into the bottom corner of Ramsdale’s goal. Really good finish it was too.
Then came the changes as Sterling, Jesus and Jorginho made way for Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli. Eight minutes later we were 2-1 up. A cross from Saka, a fine finish from Martinelli at the back post. Just what our Brazilian winger needed.
Southampton went in search for an equaliser and hit the woodwork twice. Dibbling first with a shot from distance which took a slight deflection on the way through and from the corner which followed, the crossbar came to our rescue. Then came the goal which killed the visitors chances of grabbing a point when Saka pounced on a loose ball in the box to fire home our third.
I think it’s easy for us to look back on the match and suggest Mikel Arteta shouldn’t have started player x, y or z but these players need to play. They need to be used so that others can get a bit of break in order to try and prevent injuries and physical burnout. As it turned out, neither Jesus or Sterling made much of an impact on the game but the next time, they might, especially against a team which doesn’t focus so much on defending. Personally I think Jesus needs a new challenge but Sterling still has a lot to give this team I’m sure, even if his time on the pitch is limited. Let’s not forget that we still have two domestic cups to compete in.
From the bits and pieces I’ve seen of the match, Saka was again superb. Southampton not only doubled up on him but at times, stuck three players on him. That in itself says how good he is. A goal and two assists is a pretty good afternoons work I’d say. Especially as he had neither Timber nor White in tandem. Kai Havertz looked good too and took his goal really well. It’s hard to believe how different he is from the player who arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2023.
Arsenal made hard work of what should have been a more comfortable 95 minutes of football, especially with the amount of possession we had but credit has go to Southampton too for making it difficult. In the end, Mikel Arteta’s team got the job done and took three points from the game and that really is what matters most.
It’s often said that in life, “it’s about the journey rather than the destination’ – well, in football, I’d say it’s sometimes about the destination because the journey doesn’t always matter…..
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico, I must say firstly that Havertz’s goal was the best I have seen him score and he was second only to Saka for Man of the Match .We were a bit fortunate as at 2-1 The Saints had two extremely good chances other teams might have punished us ,as last Home game against leicester .
Jesus is pants and Trossard should have started and glad Martinelli is back to form.
My son and daughter and grandson were invited by Timber,who had a box and he says his groin injury will be another three weeks .i will try and send the photos to you.
Morning Kelsey.
I always think that a shot which hits the woodwork might as well have hit the corner flag as the result is the same. I get what you’re suggesting about “better teams” but that’s kind of irrelevant really as we weren’t playing anyone other than Southampton. Plus, a different, or better team might have not have got the chances in the first place.
The should, would etc is easy after the game but we did play a tough match in the week against PSG, plus, in two of our fixtures recently, we’ve played with ten men.
I get the need to rotate, we’ve been asking for that for a while.
Afternoon Rico, I saw the whole match yesterday and watched MotD this morning and the BBC highlights bared no relation to how the 1st 45 went, Arsenal absolutely battered Southampton for most of it, but that ended up on the cutting room floor – or whatever they call it nowadays.
The highlights made it look a closer contest than what it actually was, Arsenal should have been 2-0 up in the first 5 minutes and the game over at half-time, the reason it wasn’t was down to a combination of Southampton luck, last ditch defending, poor finishing and not having the composure to find that surgical pass as Saka did for Martinelli in the 2nd half.
Southampton actually came out to play in the 2nd half and gave us a few scares, but that’s going to happen, the thing is we didn’t panic, the crowd stayed with the players and did the job, Arsenal certainly looked more dominant than Man City did against Fulham!
If that’s true about Timber being out for 3 more weeks then it’ll be a toss-up between White and Tomiyasu when we visit Bournemouth.
I thought that Merino still looked a bit off of the pace when he came on but he gradually eased his way into the game and made some nice tackles, I guess playing for Spain will get him more match fit and by the time he returns Arteta will have a choice to make between his namesake and Partey?
No need to rush Odegaard back yet, maybe the CL vs Shakhtar would be the way to go for Martin?
Like you said Rico, arsenal made hard work of the game. Southampton didn’t actually sit back. They were open and made mistakes trying to play out from the back in the early part of the first half. A combination of poor decision making and maybe a lack of match sharpness was the reason why it was scoreless at the break.
I think Partey had arsenal’s first shot on target in about the 40th minute. It was all pass and pass.
In the end the substitutes added drive and urgency to the game.
3 points in the bag. COYG.
Afternoon Kev, sounds like an oft Arsenal performance against a lower league club. Having not seen the game in it’s entirety it’s always impossible to have an opinion.
Keni, and that’s just what subs are there to do. 😜
Fulham could have beaten City comfortably apparently Kev, at least that’s what the papers say and Liverpool were lucky too. A dead cert penalty not given I read.
Havertz has withdrawn from international duty because of a knee injury. Fishy or what? 😂
Afternoon Rico and all
I guess I sore it slightly different to others, we did control the match, and could have won 5 nil, but the lack of a true striker / finisher showed and it was only after they scored, that we seemed to spark up, Jesus seems like he is lacking in confidence for some reason, while sterlings struggled a little bit I would cut him some slack as he is still getting used to our players and Arteta game plan.
Full credit should go to the fans who kept showing support for the whole match
Stirling adds nothing to the team. It’s complicated to play and crosses pointlessly.
As I posted before, I read in a Brazilian newspaper that Palmeiras could be interested in Jesus in January. Personally, I think he’s a good player technically, but not very dedicated to the team and more gifted at beach football.
We continue to have many chronic injuries.
Good afternoon Rico and all
Good post Rico. I saw the game and honestly cant add anything to what you (and Kev in his post) said.
Havertz has suffered a slight knock on the knee. So he is withdrawing from the nationals. Timber out for three weeks is good as well. I hopw that TOmmy does not go as well to continue recovering. Fingers crossed that other players consider a good rest as well. Will Saka and Rice learn though???
It seems that Dark Arts FC have learned a good lesson from Dark Lords FC especially the Dark High Lord PG himself. It was so wise of dear old Arsene to send him as an assistant to the above club. Wenger strikes again.
I still hold on to what I said yesterday and will keep on saying it…..we should have wallopped them yesterday. We should have been around 5-6 goals till half time but we didnt seem to get out of 2nd gear. Had we scored 8-10 nobody should have been surprised. As KEv pointed out, it all …..was down to a combination of Southampton luck, last ditch defending, poor finishing and not having the composure. I always get the feeling that someone, somewhere in the EPL will one day get a hiding (more like a spanking) which they will never recover from for the rest of their lives. Manure did it to us with that 8-2 humiliation. About fecking time we did it to someone. And nobody can have the balls to say we were lucky to score so many because it gets tedious seeing us pepper the opposition and only few of the chances are converted. Someone, somewhere needs to be destroyed. Fingers crossed its one of the remaining big six.
That will still count as three points but who gives a f*@k