Although we know that the EFL cup is not very high on the Arsenal manager’s list of priorities and he does the same thing with rotasting the squad every season, it was still a bit disappointing to see Arsene Wenger make 10 changes to the team for this quarter-final against Southampton.
We certainly paid the price, although the fact thgat only one of the 11 to keep his place, Mohamed Elneny, did not last for much of the first half adding to our injury problems and perhaps showing why the boss was not able to field a strong enough team to cope with a well organised and determined Saints side.
THere was a bit of fortune to their opener as a deflection sent Martinez the wrong way and fell perfectly for Clasie but it was a good hit and they were the better team. When they doubled their lead through a shot into the corner from Bertrand we were in deep trouble before the break.
Arsenal did rally and were better in the second half but our attacks did not quite come off and too many players like Ramsey had an off night. Lucas struggled to get into the game but was not well supplied and the totally changed defence looked vulnerable.
Arsenal were just not good enough and paid the ultimate price of another exit from this competition which Wenger has never won.
Bob.
Send Ramsey on Loan and bring back Wilshere!
How about send Wenger out on loan and make Alexis Sanchez player manager!!!
Wenger on Loan would be perfect! “Arsene we are going to send you out on loan for the remainder of the season so you could get more experience and game time”
Ramsey was too busy trying flicks. Needs to get his head in the game.
El Neny passes sideways waaay too much.
Only lively player was Iwobi, very incisive and always asking for the ball.
For a team of players who had not played a competitive game in over 5weeks, they were not totally terrible, I hold one player completely accountable for our loss and that player is no other than Carl Jenkinson, that boy has no present or future at Arsenal, offers nothing going forward, zero recovery, complicates simple passes, the list is endless. When I saw Chamberlain prepped to come on and it wasn’t for Jenkinson, I was beginning to think Wenger is having a mental lapse. The build up to the two goals came from his side of the pitch, a full back in the modern game that carried zero attacking threat, zero composure on the ball, and zero recovery speed is as useful as a ballboy. As for Ramsey, he’s a nuisance to the opposition and to us, just wish he’d frustrate the opposition a lot more often than he frustrates us.
Now everyone calm down.
This cup is as valuable as my first condom
Our players got a rest and we got to see which players still aren’t ready.
Agree with Muffman.
I didn’t see the match because I had my own football match. Anyone wanna know how it went?
Anyways, people realize that this is the Mickey Mouse Cup, it is. We played our B-team while S’hampton had first XI starters. It only shows that our second string is not good enough on their own against against a PL side. Well some of our players we C team.
Important match coming up against W Ham. That all being said, I hope Ramsey is benched for that game. Is Elneny’s injury serious?
Southampton only played with three first team player, Forster, Van Dijk and Bertrand. Hojberg came late on.
To be fair Martina, Yoshida, Clasie, Davis and Long are all regualar first team starters and their bench had Rodriguez and Ward-Prowse on it as well. They were clearly looking to win, from the team they put out, whereas we clearly weren’t.
Normally
Cedric plays instead of Martina
Fonte plays for Yoshida
Clasie and Davis change like our midfield does at the moment. I’m being fair.
If you count their regular sub players that are in their first team then you should do the same to ours. Iwobi, Gabriel, Gibbs, Elneny, Ox, Xhaka are sub players recently. So which ever way you look at it, they still rested many first team players as well
How was your game mate? did you win?
Isn’t Boufal a starter? And Long was a started until this season? Anyhows don’t matter.
@osujinho,
We won 3-2. Last gasp goal at the final minute sealed it! Me as a goalie made some sweet saves and almost saved the penalty goal as well. Match report coming up later on at this very forum!
Did he win?! Hat trick an he took home the referees missus
#balling
Like Ramsey.
And Southampton played their kids 🙂
I have said it so often, when we start Ramsey we don’t win too many games. He is thirds string. If Barca want him for 30 (forget the 50 million) take the money and run, in fact take 15 and run.
Do you think anyone would take Wenger for nothing? Forget about the money just drop him off and run….
Five things learned:
1) Van dijk is hell of a cb. Should go for him in January.
2) Ramsey is a box to box. Not a no. 10.
3) Coquelin adds fork all to the attack. Only partnership that works with him is caz coq .. coz caz has that much creativity.
4) Iwobi played well but comes in the middle a lot.
5) M afraid Perez is a winger or a no 10. Has no strikers instinct whatsoever
I don’t agree with your number 1 but the rest I do.
I think Gab done well today, both the goals came from crosses which either shouldn’t have made it in and Coquelin didn’t do good enough to stop the long shots (ElNeny had gone to support Jenks).
I think Gab has talent and maybe just needs to think a bit more during the game.
Not to forget that our 1st choice partnership was rested, Kostafi.
Van Dijk wouldn’t get ahead of either of them and would be 3rd choice at best… Would he be that good when not played regularly?
As I said at the start, the rest of your list I agree with, I had actually wanted Ramsey to drop into Coquelins place so we could get some drive from CM going forward.
Could we swap your number 1 with;
Maitland-Niles had another good cameo, he looked good going forward while showing some good strength when he come up against men. He could soon be forcing his way past Jenkinson as Bellerins backup.
only iwobi and xhaka are the only first team material.the rest can go drown in river Thames led by Ramsey .lol
Iwobi not good enough, shooting opportunity opens up and he doesn’t shoot.
unfair on ElNeny who had a good game up till he got injured.
unfair on Gabriel who was our best defender that night and both the goals was outside of his area of play.
unfair on Gibbs as he didn’t have a bad game, terrible cptn but that was Wengers fault for picking him.
Maybe you should have watched the game…
I must mention the entertainment factor of tonight’s shambles. I badly want Simeone as our next manager, but a lot of fans don’t because of his defensive style. They feel it won’t entertain them enough, but apparently, the Arsenal style does entertain them? In terms of entertainment, Arsenal have been going down hill for about five years now. Ever since we lost the creative core of Cesc, Nasri, Song, and RVP in the space of 12 months, we’ve gone down hill as a spectacle. Now and again, Arsenal will blow a team away in style (the Chelsea win earlier in the season), but those types of performances seem to be more of a rarity the longer Wenger stays. What is the norm these days, is relentless sideways, and backwards passing, and hardly any shots. In fact, things have been getting so bad, that before the Bournemouth game, we only had four shots on target in the three previous games. Even tonight, Southampton didn’t need a keeper in the first half at all, and Forster was barely called into action in the entire game, as the Saints cruised in second gear, to a much deserved victory.
For a manager with an attacking philosophy, one has to ask, why are we so bad in the final third? Even with the likes of Sanchez and Ozil, we struggle to create. For me, the answer is very easy, and we saw it tonight. Almost every time we had possession in the final third, we didn’t commit defenders by running at them, we didn’t pressure the defence with low or high crosses. All we did, was cut back inside for a square pass or a pass backwards, and it almost never came to anything. This made life so easy for Southampton because it gave them time to get plenty of numbers behind the ball, and get defensively organised. How is that entertaining? Not even Atletico Madrid are that bad in the final third!
Run madly at defenders?! That’s your solution? Have you ever been on a treadmill for more than 10 minutes mate?
You got no idea.
Running around like a headless chicken doesn’t win you games.
The problem is that we have no CM that can replace Cazorla fully in that CM role and when Coquelin plays without Cazorla…. we lack that drive in CM.
Coquelin was the one who was getting the ball from a deeper lying ElNeney and then Coquelin was passing it right back to ElNeny and letting him get surrounded by the opposition.
It was when Xhaka came on that we started to win the CM battle a bit more and show some drive through the middle, then we started to attack better.
Oh and if we are so crap at attacking play now then why have we scored the same as Real Madrid in the CL? 1 goal behind Barca…
So far we have scored 1 less than Man City in the EPL, 1 less than money bags Chavski, Liverpool has scored the most so far in the EPL and we are only 4 behind them.
When you look at the FACTS then we see your DELUSION should be ignored.
@Midkemma
Mate, you’re clueless! Just because we’ve scored the same amount as Real in Europe, we’re some how as good as them? What are you smoking! And if you want to talk facts then let’s do it! 12 years and counting without a major trophy, and only 2 trophies in the last 11 years. Need I say any more?
You’re also talking a lot about central midfield, but my major issue the full-backs and wingers, that refuse to cross or commit defenders. What does your headless chickens reference even mean? Wingers shouldn’t attempt to dribble? Please watch Arsenal before commenting, then you won’t look so stupid.
lol…and Wenger benched Iwobi fr Ramsey agaunst united why?? and am 75%sure Ramsey would start against west ham..Niles?? impressive..Jekinson? pissful poor!! Bellerin plsssss…El Neny?? no diff frm Mikel Obi,Ramsey??? Lol..a joke, waste of time and space. Iwobi? God bless ya!!EFL?? gone n frgotten…EPL??? I need it fr Christ’s sake!!
I must also give a special mention to Ramsey. Yet again, he was shocking! He doesn’t even deserve a place on the bench. Some are saying we should loan him, but the problem with that, he’ll be back after the loan. We need to sell him in January, or he needs another injury, because he’s directly affecting the results whilst he’s playing for us. It’s becoming a huge problem, because Wenger cannot see it, as he keeps picking him.
he is too old to send out on loan. and wenger won’t sell him. they might have something going on between them, because on merit Ramsey doesn’t start this game.
The only positive I can take out of this game is that even Wenger must see that Ramsey is either not fit enough or not capable enough to play a full 90 minutes. In the positions he plays you need to be quick both physically and mentally, and he is failing on both accounts at the moment, which is why every time he starts, we play the old passing back and sideways game, rather than the quick forward passing game we were playing before he came back, which was actually enjoyable to watch. Ok we’re missing Santi, but Xhaka makes a reasonable substitute.
Can we now please stop speculating and talking about winning the PL until we have won 4 or 5 games on the trot including against a top 5 opponent?
We have not played well since September.
Has anyone seen my cat?
a good manager will always have a good mix of experience and a leader or two to support the younger talent coming through the ranks. Wenger has never git to grips with this fundamental rule.
He needs to go and ghe sooner the better.
Last 360 minutes of football we’ve seen 11 shots on target in that time for Arsenal. Believe it or not 5 of them were today.
We’re too good for league cup yet we’re not wining any other trophies. Zero European cups and over a decade with epl title… why is this manager still here. Oh right, he saves his job by getting 4th place
with the exception of nobody the team was championship level at best
it just amazes me how 90% ofvthe squad are full internationals
Regardless of the result, which I personally found sickening, once again the performance was shockingly poor. Wenger misjudged the ability the opposition, the ability of his players and ultimately got his tactics wrong. Possession without effective penetration means nothing. We could have literally played all night without scoring. Southampton were so comfortable, Forester hardly had a save to make throughout the game. If anyone was going to score another goal (particularly in the second half), Southampton seemed more likely.
What about Jenkinson? He was utter shite today, and its not his only bad performance this season. I know he is a gunner from his heart but that’s not good enough to be a back up let alone a first eleven starter for a team like Arsenal. We need to find a repleacement in January if Debuchy’s injury is that severe as he says to be.
You see him in training with a whistle and timer in hand and you wonder, this must be the guy coaching Usain Bolt. But alas! He is Arsenal’s manger, the man who believes in attacking football philosophy but has a team that can’t seem to create goal scoring chances even if their lives depend on it. For crying out loud, how can you be playing at home and you struggle with attempts on goal? What does that tell you we are as a team? People, like I said before I have a feeling that this is the season we don’t make the top 4. The signs are showing earlier that usual, it used to be February where we then struggle to cross the finish line but the signs have been showing since October. You can make some money by betting on it while the odd is still high.
the quadruple is not on , the dream is over. but the treble is still on , in some peoples minds , lol.
We lacked leadership in the CM and I also think that Coquelin and ElNeny was in the wrong roles… Coquelin broke down some of our own attacks by passing the ball right back to ElNeny which was putting him under pressure, Coquelin seemed to play a bit better when Xhaka came on and went forward a bit more.
It is hard to tell if it was down to Coquelin slowing us down in the 1st half or lack of leadership to take control of the middle… My guess is a combo of both.
Talking about leadership, Gibbs was quiet when he should have been the one encouraging the team, I guess it is no surprised the team as a whole lacked leadership until Xhaka came on and we seemed to pick up the tempo.
Perez had a game to forget, I think he made better passes to the opposition than he made to any of our team mates, I want to like the guy but I am finding it hard.
Jenkinson has shown that he can not be a backup, he done well at WHU before his injury and it looks like he can only play well with confidence and belief in himself which he isn’t getting from being a bench player, the plus side to this though was young Niles at RB, again he did well and maybe he will be pushing Jenkinson out the door if he keeps going like he is. With Bellerin and Niles as RB it could be a very bright future for us in that area.
I think both the goals came from a combination of Jenkinson could have done better to snuff out the cross and Coquelin just seeming off the pace, in other games I think he would have gotten to make the challenge but this time he was too deep and was just another body that the ball flew past.
I’ll blame Wenger for the capt choice and for playing Coquelin as the more advanced CM, the rest of the blame falls on the players, they played poor overall and should learn from this.
I don’t blame Wenger, he’s giving these people a chance to play. Yet they let him down.
Wenger has been putting faith in failed players for over a decade. They always disappoint yet he keeps doing it. Disrespected the competition by throwing on a bunch of our fringe players. No ozil, Sanchez or even giroud
I don’t care what the occasion, it’s always an embarrassment to lose at home especially in that manner. How on earth are people still not seeing that we still have so many players on our books that are nowhere close to quality? I so tired of seeing these players year after year, season after season with the same ending. Deep down you all know if Alexis is to get a real injuries it’s a rap until he gets back and hopefully in time to save some face. Broken record to see us lose at home again to Southampton in the EFL Cup at this stage at home, it’s like seeing us get embarrassed by either Barcelona or Bayern in the round of 16 of the Champions League every year. When will this change?
I really got tired from…..gibbs! can he do ANYTHING with his right foot???!?!?! just one pass maybe?!…a 5 year old kid can do that so why cannot he?! and his game is sooo predictable…he’s maybe a west brom level or even a good championship side..he’s not enough for us.
p.s- ramsey..wilshare..both super mega selfish players who has to go. and giroud as well but at least he can produce some good stuff as a sub…ramsey produce nothing and always.
Unimportant!! And Wenger knows it