Charlie Austin gave Southampton the lead against Arsenal in the first three minutes and when he was one-on-one with Petr Cech just 4 minutes later he could have easily made it 2-0, pretty much the same as Man United did to us last week. Petr Cech managed to foil Austin on the second attempt and the Saints striker had yet another chance straight after that came off the post. Our big keeper was very unhappy with our defence after the game.
“We deserved to get a point for the second half performance. We put them under pressure and created more than in the first half.” Cech said. “We don’t deserve all three because we gave them good chances in the start and could have been 3-0 down.
“The first 10 minutes cost us the game against Man United. And it almost did again today. It is something we have to work on. 1-1 is a fair result.
“Every player needs to ensure that when they step out of the dressing room they are ready to compete.”
He is right of course, and it is likely to be Per Mertesacker that gets the blame, although he was only playing because last week’s pantomine villain was Shkrodan Mustafi, who was unavailable today. The fact is that our defenders are getting old, and the younger ones are not yet up to scratch.
Perhaps Wenger should condider a centre-back a priority in the January transfer window….
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