Bad refereeing and a poor second half mean we drop 2 points by Konstantin
Well lovely Arsenal people, there is something about St. Marys, we always struggle there somehow. I am a very strong supporter of the idea that results catch up to performances eventually, and unfortunately we’ve not been particularly great in the last few games.
We did start well though. I though the first 20-30 minutes we were immense. That was a definite penalty on Jesus, how it’s not given is beyond me. It’s also a red card and VAR did nothing to check it. At the end of the game there was an obvious headbutt attempt on Eddie and a throat grab. Why on earth wasn’t that a red?
That said I still think we should’ve done better with the chances. I am a little disappointed with the goal output of Jesus. He missed a 1:1 with the keeper today, wasn’t the easiest of chances, but I am a little worried that those misses are stacking up now and put more pressure on Martinelli and Saka to score.
Here comes the squad depth problem, we don’t have alternatives for our front 3. Taking off Martinelli was a poor substitution. We should’ve put Eddie instead of Jesus, because our left wing died when Gabi M went off. The goal we conceded was a bit too easy and reminded me of that Leeds second half.
I’m just so disappointed, because I thought if we win this game, we are going to the WC top, but now that’ll likely require 3 points at Stamford Bridge and that’s no easy task. Man City is the kind of team that can win 10 games in a row, but in all honesty comparing with them is a little unfair.
It’s like moving the goal posts, because our target for this season remains the top 4. But the magical start just got me wishing we could push a little further into a title tussle. Anyway, at least Newcastle beat Tottenham Hotspur at the toilet bowl stadium to brighten a little my mood.
There are 6 games left before the WC. 2 EL fixtures where we should rotate, a home game in the EFL cup against Brighton, and 3 PL fixtures, from which 7-9 points will mean we go into the break either first or second on goal difference. Then we’ll need to strengthen in January.
Konstantin
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That game was lost due to complacency rather than fatigue. I don’t understand people that say fatigue, if we think our top players shouldn’t be playing every 3 days then I doubt we’re ready to play in the UCL, and that’s the truth. Rotation only comes in when you have the players that can deliver on the bench, you can’t have your key players on the bench.
Now it would’ve been fair to question fatigue and rotation if ESR, Zinchenko and Elneny were fit because we know they can still d the job even though they’re not key players.
Yesterday our players became complacent. After that first half performance where we should’ve scored more goals, they came out in the second half expecting to just walk over Southampton, trying to keep the ball, slowing it down at the back, not going for every loose ball like we used to.
The subs were poor also, but I can actually understand Martinelli’s sub as he’s vonly just recovered from the sickness that kept him out of training before the PSV game.
Ødegaard on the other hand should’ve stayed on.
Vieira really needs to get in the gym and build up, he was poor yesterday.
How Ødegaard created 4 clear chances yesterday before going off and none of our players could convert it should be checked and they need to be better.
I like Nketiah, but like I’ve always said, calling for him to be a starter over Martinelli is pretty dumb IMHO. He gets himself into good position, but can’t properly strike a ball to save his own life FFS.
Very poor finisher of the ball and Kev will always try to tell you how he’s better on the pitch than Martinelli.
Let’s pick up the winning run again please before the world cup.
First PSV, and then Forest at home
A special mention to “ Jonesy” the ref.That was one inept performance yesterday.He let Southampton off with some ridiculous decisions,ably & abetted by Var.Actually his performance or lack of it was striking in its similarity to the one he offered up against Villa earlier this season.Allowing Mings to do a WWE body slam impression in the box,right in front of him.Riley has found himself another Arsenal hating ref before he heads off into the wilderness.T.God.
We were just unlucky, because we made a plethora of very good chances in the first half. Jesus was often grabbed by Caleta-Car, yet the referee never considered it as a foul
We need to rest our EPL starters, but Arteta would likely play them again in Netherlands. I think he’ll play his “B team” against Zurich, because we’ll visit Stamford Bridge two days after that
In retrospect the point at St Mary’s is a good result, its abundantly clear playing the Saints effectively at St Mary’s was always going to be an uphill task, and I will tell you why.
History) Had mention before the match because of the history it was slated to be the biggest banana skin to face on the road, and I was taken to the cleaners.
Writing on the wall) recent performances has shown a drop off of intensity.
Jesus Baptism) A squad player coming from a top club, Though he is a marquee striker he is suddenly being overplayed.
Jaded ) Partey our top midfielder is not a young Bellingham, he needs quality rest and we have to be cognizant of his recent injuries history.
But for that matter the core of the team is tired, and am speaking from sheer experience now, though you may get fifteen minutes of high intensity at St Mary’s it would be impossible for the team to play like that for ninety minutes..
Going forward the entire team must be rested for Forest game, they should be all at home today with their family nowhere near a ball.
So in retrospect and all things considered the poor officiating etc, it’s a decent point , but the gaffer must learn fast and he will lean fast because he is smart and hungry and he too smells the coffee
Okay boys lets not slip on this!!
We only have 2 Europa League games left, out of them we only need a point. I can’t see us losing to Zurich at home even if we would start our U21’s. Meaning we can rotate heavily on Europa League games. Also the Carabao Cup I care little about so the likes of Holding, Cedric etc. should definitely start those.
We have 3 PL games to go, Nottingham home, Wolves away, Chelsea away. On the road Nottingham are not spectacular, they lost 6-0 to City, 4-0 to Leicester and 2-0 to Newcastle. If we keep our level, we should win this with ease.
Then its crunch time at Shamford Bridge. Watching Chelsea play and they players they have, I am very optimistic about this match. Its never an easy place to get result but I think we’ve won there 2 in a row, last season and season before that..? Playing like we did against Spurs/Pool and we got this in the bag.
Then it’s Wolves away who are absolutely dreadful side at the moment. They’ve scored 5 goals this season, five! If we can score 2 in a quick session, I think it’s game over for them.
A game of two Halves.
Dominant in the first ,laboured and a complete lack of ideas in the second topped off with poor substitutions.
When the going gets tough the usual suspects go missing ,Odegaard and saka should have been replaced as soon as Southampton started to come back into the game ,taking off Martinelli for me was very odd ,no mention of injury after so makes no sense as he was the only one still making things happen .
Problem was our subs were even worse than the players they replaced,which is abit of a worry seeing how bad some of them were in the second half
A point is better than none but we should have had the 3 .
Onto the next .
I dont agree, odegar was phenomenal and taking him off really killed our creativity. Dude just provided 2 clean chances to Jesus , with one being a run through on goal. It’s Jesus who had a stinker infront of goal. Now I see why pep used to play Jesus on wing instead of CF. He is not your regular sort of a CF, he likes to get involved more in build up then score goals. Jesus should have been subbed by Nketiah not Martenelli and Tierney should have started over Tomi. Tomi is probably the best defender we have but he offer no offence playing as LB. for Liverpool that was a genius tactical move but to stick with the idea in further games was foolish specially when u have seen how he did in next games playing as LB before Southampton game.
I am a bit worried about Saliba as well being a French national team supporter as well. He is fantastic at mostly everything but he has a clear weakness. He seems to be oblivion to runners. We have seen it against united , Liverpool and sort of this game as well. I see players making runs past him without the ball and he fails to react in time. He does not let them go through with ball but off the ball he seems to struggle to register those runs. Good thing is he is still young and being with national team more will eradicate this weakness of his.
Agree.
Saliba is still a work in process. Mistakes are common in 21 years old, but not too often. We have to wait and see.
we have been winning but i can count on every game we played bar liverpool refs has sc rewed us so the winning has overshadowed all that,if we were midtable that will be different story ,now soton game i was watching first half i couldnt believe what i was watching i wont mentions all incidents i would be here all day ,i was thinking this ref its doing everything to stop us scoring the second goal ,once the second half started i was expecting the ref to score for soton the actual ref to head one in for soton thats how biased he was, jusus plays for arsenal his name isnt Kane.
I am losing confident in Gabriel’s jesus finishing ability, we had enough chances to wij comfortable but squandered all. The result has been coming winning one nils in previous matches is always going to catch up with us. It’s a reality check
We learn and move on
Jesus was never a finishing player. He was a winger that could score at MC. He came to Arsenal to become a striker; he was good initially but not now, it is understandable. He needs to adapt, will take a season to do that. It’s a process. Remember that.