Southampton 1 - 1 Arsenal: Southampton drop points against struggling underdogs Arsenal

REWB wrote:

RealGunner wrote:He needs experience upfront but the problem is we don't have time for that.

he is never going to be good enough to be a starter CF for a team like arsenal imo, he just doesn't have the vision or awareness we need. i think we should keep him, but if we were ever to improve and buy quality players to challenge for trophies. He would only ever be a squad/impact player, a good option to have for pace in behind.

Agree to an extent.

I think Theo can work upfront when he plays against certain teams. Giroud should be our no 1 choice though. We did look a bit better when he came on because Southampton were really comfortable with Walcott being isolated. Giroud brought others into the game. Theo can't do that, yet.

We have been lucky in the past few games, our luck ran out today but the ref saved us.

The fact is we are not good enouph and we should be happy we are still in the race for top 4.

Raptorgunner wrote:Wenger what do you have Rosicky on the bench?



ManCity, Liverpool,Westham and Chelsea, what we going to do against them?

Poor mentality,shocking Back four, Loose midfield and clueless manager again.

You'll beat us, No prob there.
Arsenal very lucky to get a point, I guess Arsenal has been the luckiest team this year, Luckier than United.

Raptorgunner wrote:We have been lucky in the past few games, our luck ran out today but the ref saved us.

The fact is we are not good enouph and we should be happy we are still in the race for top 4.

we really should imo, we are lucky this season that we still have a chance to save our top four status. it is up to wenger now, lets hope he doesn't f*ck up our January buys.

Nishank wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Wenger what do you have Rosicky on the bench?



ManCity, Liverpool,Westham and Chelsea, what we going to do against them?

Poor mentality,shocking Back four, Loose midfield and clueless manager again.

You'll beat us, No prob there.
Arsenal very lucky to get a point, I guess Arsenal has been the luckiest team this year, Luckier than United.

hey... you make your own luck

About time we get some luck

I have to say we have been the luckiest team so far, how do we get some results still puzzles me.

Its take team a while before they realize they can beat and become selfish and mess up the game lol.

Cazorla, Arteta need competition, Wenger open the wallet and buy some players.

As far as new players goes, we definitely need some extra energy and physicality in midfield. Arteta/Wilshere/Cazorla works when all three are close to 100% in fitness and when we barely need to defend, but when they play more than one game per week they get overrun far too easily. They just don't have the stamina or the strength to be able to cope.

I would like to see Cazorla play on one of the flanks with Wilshere as the main creative player supported by Arteta and a new midfielder with the needed qualities. I believe this may take some of the defensive responsibility off Wilshere and Cazorla and they can focus on creating chances in games where we will come under pressure.

RealGunner wrote:About time we get some luck

When teams are as lucky as us, they are usually called Man united and sit on the top of the table, with out breaking a sweat.

what on earth was was wenger playing at letting song go and not signing a replacement. Sorry to say it but relying on diaby was utterly stupid by wenger. Believing in some fairytale where diaby would put all his injuries to rest, it just wasnt likely to happen.

Wenger.

"We were not very good offensively, we didn't create enough. We lacked sharpness and desire to get into the box," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports before being asked why they had been so lacklustre.

"I don't know. Did we underestimate Southampton? I hope not. The chances we created were not enough."

"lacked sharpness" Where have I heard this one before?

Rev wrote:"lacked sharpness" Where have I heard this one before?

This has been used at least after 15 games.

Terrible performance, especially on the back of 4 straight wins and scoring 7 v Newcastle. This team's inconsistency drives the supporters insane.

No one could walk off the pitch today and say 'I played well'.

Sagna put in his worst ever display in an Arsenal shirt. I'd have to question if he had a few shots of ciroc before the game.

Not bringing Mertesacker back in, particularly against Lambert, was odd. Defence always looks worse without him.

Why Wenger opted to bring on Gervinho and Ramsey ahead of Rosicky is the biggest mystery of 2013 so far.

Ratings:

Szczesny 6.5
Sagna 3
Koscielny 6
Vermaelen 6
Gibbs 6
Arteta 6.5
Wilshere 6.5
Chamberlain 5.5
Cazorla 5
Podolski 4
Walcott 5

Giroud 5
Gervinho 3.5
Ramsey 4.5

Struggling to create chances? Bring Ramsey and Gervinho on.

Urban

Anyway...I was actually surprised about the post-match review Jay.
A lot of our players could learn about composure from you.

Just watched the highlights of the game. God, we were lucky to walk away with a point.

ITG says:
The team played badly today and the midfield were totally outplayed as they were against Wigan. Arteta slows the game down. He makes Jack’s movement less effective as he did to Ramsay last year. Ramsay did no worse than the others and should not be blamed for a very poor display by Arteta, Jack and Carzorla who between them for over 70 minutes failed to create anything meaningful. Arteta also gave the awful pass to Podolski who was being marked by two men which lead to the Southampton goal. This was a really poor display but the team and especially the midfield should shoulder much of the blame.

I have to agree with him, I love Arteta but I hope we can sign a player to give him competition and bench him.

Jack---Capoue--Cazorla.

I would say Diaby but.

Poor display. When we play shit we really go for it. Almost everyone gets affected. Only Arteta and perhaps the keeper can look themselves in the mirror.

Make no mistake, Southampton bossed us and we the ref helped us big time with a disallowed goal.

Sagna...he was so bad I started laughing. Walcott. Needs to learn that he can't just stand in the middle waiting for the ball. He seems to be 'on strike' in refusing to run out wide. Listen, Theo. Henry and Van Persie go looking for the ball when they need it. Let's go easy on him as he's only had a few games there and the experiment has been quite successful so far. Wilshere is one of my favourite players but he gets off with poor performances. Sure, he gave 100% but he was off the pace and his passing wasn't good. Santi was very poor. Podolski even worse.

The subs? I almost switched off at that point. Ramsey's first contribution was to be given the ball in a good position to break downfield, he ran 20 or 30 yards unchallenged, then ran straight into a Southampton player, which caused a break on us. He struggled to get back, despite his opponent having played 75 mins or so to his one. I think his next touch was to give it away again.

Gervinho's best moment was the spin on the ground. Really bizarre. He was woeful for 10 minutes but...I thought he looked our most dangerous player in the last couple of minutes.

That's how bad we were.

Still, time for some perspective. 4 wins and a draw in 5 games is good.

Can't we just spend the transfer kitty and replace bits of Diaby with cybernetic enhancements?

£20 million can surely buy two new hydraulically powered legs with titanium alloy kneecaps?

furiouswindbottom wrote:Still, time for some perspective. 4 wins and a draw in 5 games is good.

Indeed.

However....

This was our last "easy" game for a while and a win was a must

Lex wrote:Can't we just spend the transfer kitty and replace bits of Diaby with cybernetic enhancements?

£20 million can surely buy two new hydraulically powered legs with titanium alloy kneecaps?

Or we can just buy Fellaini.

Lex wrote:

furiouswindbottom wrote:Still, time for some perspective. 4 wins and a draw in 5 games is good.

Indeed.

However....

This was our last "easy" game for a while and a win was a must

Not only that, if we fought hard and create chance after chance we can look forward to next match with confidence.

One of the worst matches I have watched, I really did not think I would not say this again.

Glad I couldn't see this game. I probably was full of frustrations anyway.

Well atleast we got away with a point.

I feel so sorry for the fans and players who actually deserve better.

podolski was missing the entire time, he was at fault for arsenal goal (bad game)
Gervinho did pay off well with his shot which was close
game didnt demand ramsey
game needed someone to support mid field

giroud
gervinho rosisky wilshere cazorla walcott
arteta
5 plus goals

wenger got his subs wrong !

this team had no determination.

Sagna and gibs didnt make a single worthy cross.

bad bad bad performance lucky we got a point

we were struggling to create chances not to mention scoring..
and our substitutions ? Ramsey and Gervinho.. two of the worst players in the squad.. cant blame them as the entire squad is ineffective in these games..
i am worried that we would have served better if these chances fell to Arshavin or some youngster like Gnabry or Eisfield..