Southampton’s determination to deny top-of-the-table Arsenal three points and have a say in the Premier League title race by forcing Arsenal to drop two other key points will no doubt be the talk of the weekend. I’d love to convince you that Arsenal is still a favourite in the battle for the Premier League title, but this isn’t the piece for that. In this piece, let’s evaluate Arsenal’s flaws against the Saints, which may have cost them all three points.
1. Partey Not Being In The Game And Him Not Being Taken Off: The Ghanaian International has been a vital player for the Gunners this season, as he has been the heartbeat of Arsenal’s midfield, linking defence and attack while breaking any rhythm opponents try to build. On Friday night, the 29-year-old was not at his best. He failed to make an impression against Southampton, and many fans were left wondering, “Where is our Partey?” What do you think? Should Arteta have substituted him for Jorginho?
2. Gabriel Jesus Failing To Capitalise On Most Of His Chances: In a game where he needed to kill every chance that came his way, Arsenal’s No. 9 was wasteful in front of goal. If they didn’t strike the Saints’ defenders or go over the crossbar, the majority of his passes and shots within the box were blocked and cleared. If Jesus had been a little sharper, he could have scored more than a goal against the Saints.
3. Giving Cheap Goals: Don’t you think Southampton’s first and third goals might have been avoided? Ramsdale should have dealt with the ball better and not given it to Alcaraz to score the Saints’ first goal, while Rob Holding was beaten in the air by Bella Kotchap from a corner kick that set up Caleta Car to score with a free header for the Saints third. After the game, Arteta, though trying to play cool, noted he wasn’t impressed with his side conceding such sloppy goals, saying, “At this level, you cannot give the goals away that we did. Simple as that.”
Those are the three things I think cost Arsenal the game. What about you? What did you think of it?
Daniel O
Arteta proud of our comeback after Arsenal 3-3 Southampton
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Just waiting to see when Holding was going to made a scapegoat. In CB position you cannot win every header. He was one of the better players on the night. What was Zhinchenko doing at the back post just watching? Did not even get off the ground to try and put off the scorer. What about Gabriel’s mistake in positioning not being mentioned.
The main problem was a warped selection by our manager picking Viera and Zhinchenko neither who offered any protection to the defence leaving an off-form Partey to cover more than necessary.
👍and probably 20 other big mistakes made on the night. A lot more than 3.
1. Lack of composure and intensity, until the 86th minute anyway.
2. Starting yet again a woeful Vieira who continued to prove he’s overwhelmed.
3. Zinchenko at CM, Tierney at LB would have been better options, even Jorginho or ESR over Vieira.
Just 3 that immediately come to my mind. Also the fact the manager and this team struggle to win under pressure. Hopefully it changes over the final run of games, but history reads differently.
Spot on IGL.
How dare you criticize MA?😂nah, seriously you’re spot on.i don’t know if it’s a lack of experience,him trying to be too clever…?1 or 2 missing players doesn’t mean you have to change the whole system.because instead of having 1 or 2 players not familiar with it,we find ourselves with the whole team affected,but eh what do I know??
Can i just ask? Why didn’t we play Tierney at LB and Zinchenko in midfield?
That’s too sensible. For some reason he feels only one of them should play? Maybe he knows something we don’t like their fitness issue.
we don’t know like their fitness issue.
Well one played and one was sat on the bench, i dont think there is fitness issues. We have a full international left defender sat on the bench. We have an international midfielder playing left back and we start Viera. I really do not get it. I do think Arteta is like wenger, its one way or no way.
Many amongst us would like to know the answer to that too, Reggie!!
The decision to leave Tierney on the bench beggars belief given the absence of Xhaka.The fact that Vieira was signed by Arteta might have something to do with it, but it now seems certain that Tierney will move on next season.
Cheap headed goals at the back post have cost us 5 points in 2023. Everton, Liverpool & Southampton. Nothing learned.
3 big reasons? Yes, they scored 3 cheap goals.
1 – Ramsdale brain fart.
2 – Ødegaard poor pass and then Gabriel let’s Walcott in.
3 – Zinchenko loses who he is marking on far post.
By the way, Walcott is the 4th highest scorer of goals at the Emirates after Henry, Aubamayang and Giroud.
A bad day at the office for several players. There were clearly far too many individual errors in this game.
A case can be made for substituting Partey. Would it have made much difference? That’s actually difficult to say.
There is no LB in Arteta’s formation. It has always been zinchenko playing midfield while covering the LB whenever needed.
Zinchenko could have fill in for Xhaka and Tierney play LB. Holding has tried his best and done well to fill in for Saliba so far but obviously they are at different level. And that’s also why Arsenal can longer play 3 defenders at most of the time on the pitch steadily as they did. Tomiyasu sidelined means White can’t go back to partnering Gabriel to form a more reliable CB team.
I also feel that Jesus has recently been trying to win penalty rather than staying on his foot and try shooting the ball. He could have at least made a few more shot on target in the 6-yard-box even if not scoring. And what’s the point of bringing on Nketiah if nobody is passing the ball to him?
We lost the Arsenal-Southampton game because we didn’t apply the needed urgency; partly because of Party who showed loss of sharp edges, and late introduction of Trossard for whatever reason. If the shape of the game in the last 13 minutes (of remaining game and extra time) was the replicated in the first half, Arsenal would have earned a basket of goals. Whatever inspired the 13-minute Arsenal game pattern should be resonated in our game against Man City next week. These are also experiences for our Project.
Ramsdale’s blunder at the start of the game is top of my list. If Bernd Leno had made just a fraction of Ramsdale’s howlers, he would have been crucified at the Emirates. Double standards, I say. Bring Back Leno!!
Next in line – Arteta’s diabolical team selection and player subsitutions. What the hell does he see in light-weight Fabio Vieira – to justify leaving experienced players like Trossard, Giorgino and even ESR on the bench? What was he thinking?
Arteta doesn’t seem to realize our left side defence is leaking goals like a sieve simply because Zinchenko can not defend – to save his life!
My list of blunders is quite long but to spare the reader I will stop at just three.
What was wrong with Smith Rowe playing instead of Viera very confusing his season since returning.
I think 10 players could have played instead of the lightweight Viera. I cant see what was behind him starting at all. Very poor decision!!!!!
1.always over-relying on zinchenko to defend and also contribute in midfield is no longer sensible.
2.Relying on wasteful Gabriel jesus to score is a waste of tine if Arteta thinks Guardiola was a fool to have sold him to Arsenal.
3.starting Fabio Viera in midfield instead of one of ESR, Jorginho or Trossard to support martinelli was an unforgivable mistake from Arteta.