Last night’s game with Southampton did not go as planned that is for sure and already many are writing off our title chances, however, the facts are that the title is still in Arsenal’s hands, no matter how tough that looks.
That is the little morale boost out of the way and now we can look back at what transpired last night and the best way to do that is by looking at a highlights video. It really does tell us all we need to know in relation to where it went wrong.
This is Southampton’s version of the highlights as we are not allowed to share Arsenal’s version.
It’s very unfortunate Arsenal have started toeing same root of last season. I can not totally relate this to fatigue, because, Clubs like Man City and even Man United who are top 4 contenders are playing more matches. We seem to be playing with emotions and at another point complasant. Pushing other clubs aside and emphasizing only Man City as our major or only problem to winning the title is absolute arrogance and it has started hunting us . Having teams like Brighton, New Castle etc call for concern because these are teams we could easily drop points against. To those who still believe the title is still in our hands, I say bravo 👏. Man City have this title to lose!
The concept of Goalkeepers having to play out from the back must surely come under scrutiny soon, as I have witnessed the loss of dozens of goals throughout this season which could have been averted had more traditional clearing of lines been adopted.On the other side of the coin, I have seen very few goals scored in phase one play instigated by keepers.In fact, I cannot think of one.I suspect many supporters of Man Utd and Arsenal will share the same views on this subject.And before anyone comments on turning the clock back, I would remind you that we all hope our team can emulate our successes of the past .
The blame for the goal first goal should go directly to Ramsdale. He was not under any pressure, and he had options on the left and on the right to pass the ball. This set the tone for the panic in team. The second goal, the strength of our defending which is collective-defending right from the front players especially from the midfield was missing. Our inability to convert our chances also did us in. Despite being 2 goals down, we had enough to have won the game, Gabriel Jesus was not at his best yesterday, he looked sluggish unlike his usual bubbly self. All in all it’s still game all, but it no more in our hands. We must at least get a draw from the Etihad to ensure that City does not close up the gap with 3points.
All 3 goals from Southampton should have been averted. Ramsdale’s misapplying his mind fully led to an unwarranted goal in less than a minute of the game. That took some sting from a whole lot. For the second goal, Gabriella was not vigilant enough about his surroundings and that just become night from hell to us all. Goal three, the Ukrainian is not a defender at all, we’ve seen it before.