Our unbeaten run came to a miserable end this weekend, but tomorrow we can start another one by beating Tottenham in the Caraboa Cup. It is obvious the reason we lost to Southampton is because we had nearly all our usual defenders missing and of course a couple of schoolboy errors from our keeper Bernd Leno, who admitted that he failed to stop Southampton’s winner. “The last goal was a little bit unlucky for me,” Bernd aid on Arsenal.com. “I wanted to get the cross because Austin was completely free and it was so close.
“No risk, no fun. Maybe next time I will get the ball or I will stay on the line, look at the ball and then nobody says ‘you came out and didn’t get the ball’. That’s the life of a goalkeeper but I would do it again.”
But despite that, Leno thinks we could easily have won the game, but he feels that our lack of defenders played a big part in our defeat. “We came back twice and I think we controlled the game, but we made too many mistakes, too many easy mistakes, and that was the reason we didn’t get a draw or win the game,”
“It was not easy defensively because this line of defence didn’t play together before. We have a big squad so we have many players who can play in defence or at centre back, so hopefully it won’t be a problem. I hope there will be no more injuries.
But we are now back at home and although both sides will be playing weakened teams, there is every hope that we can get back to winning ways. I do believe that Emery will play as strong a team as possible to keep the fans onside, and of course give us the chance of winning a trophy! Leno thinks that losing our unbeaten run could take the pressure off us as well. “After 22 games you can lose a game, so it is disappointing,” he concluded. “but now nobody talks anymore about the unbeaten run and we can look forward. We have Spurs on Wednesday – another big game – and maybe now we can start another unbeaten run.”
We can certainly hope so, but this ignominious defeat may make us a little more wary going forward, but it had to happen sometime I guess. At least Leno has admitted his mistake but is still feeling positive for the games ahead. But can we go on and have another unbeaten run without a full defence, or if Leno has another off day?
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