The Telegraph journalist Sam Dean was impressed by Arsenal’s performance in the second half against Southampton.
The Gunners had been two goals to the good at halftime, having scored both inside the first 30 minutes.
However, that is not the first time Arsenal has started their match very well only to capitulate in the second half, so fans had hoped that didn’t happen again in this game.
Mikel Arteta’s team came out with the same determination they played the first half with and scored one more goal to seal the points.
Dean was impressed with how they kept going after the interval and praised them on Twitter.
He tweeted: “That second half was one of Arsenal’s best of the season. Inventive and aggressive, and they should have scored more. Odegaard and Ramsdale were excellent throughout. Aubameyang issue clearly needs addressing but they were better without him today.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Truthfully, if we play most of our matches with the determination we did in the second half of this fixture, then we would be in a better position now.
Southampton might not be very top opponents, but any team would struggle against a determined Arsenal side.
Interestingly, we won that game without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That shows we don’t neccasarily need him to be at our best.
The JUST ARSENAL SHOW asks if Super Aubameyang has finally lost his superpowers?
We played well today, congrats to the players and manager. Let’s keep it going for the West Ham match.
Love to see Sambi replace Xhaka in the midfield though.
Didn’t see the game today so can’t judge it but happy with the 3 points 👌 now we go again on Wednesday, no more slip ups 🤨
Opinion — I just think the lads are the ones keeping this Arsenal team afloat, save for xhaka who just came back from injury, Partey and Lacazette weren’t convincing at all but the latter still contributed a bit more than the former.
I also must admit distancing myself from any media sporting outlet, since the Everton loss. I relish much pleasure in them winning than losing(most especially to “a not so convincing team”). Let’s do it again against Westham 💪.
COYG!
Odegaard starting to be the player we signed.
I hope so, but Southampton weren’t a strong enough test imo. They left a lot of openings for him to exploit, but I was impressed with his willingness to run with the ball and he took more risks than he has been previously (he actually looked like a captain today).
Hope he can kick on after this, but I’m not convinced he will. We’ll see.
When have we needed auba to play well? Last season we *only* played well without him, and so far this season his best games have been where he’s basically been able to finish, aside from the odd snappy pass.
The only reasons he’s been in the team are his pre-fa Cup final form, the lingering belief he’s our best finisher (although that’s rapidly dissipating now), and the fact he’s got a contract that goes past the next summer. We badly need a new striker
He did us a favour, basically dropping himself out of the team by his actions. It should have been done many moons ago.
It was a far better performance without Auba… Lately he’s been more of a disadvantage to the team because he slows us down with his laid-back approach. And the younger players keep putting him first in decision making.