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As I had not yet attempted to write a match report, previews being more my thing, I thought in midweek I’d better do a bit of research on our upcoming opponents so they weren’t all a complete mystery to me on match day. Saints manager Ralph Rabbit-(little)Hutch has significantly shuffled his pack at St Mary’s in the wake of two 0-9 defeats, which he has so far survived. They must really like him down there on the south coast.

In midweek Bournemouth were playing out from the back and while the quality wasn’t there, there were similarities to ourselves in the way they played, albeit they used the long ball a lot more than we do in the attacking half of their game. Southampton had no answer to it, other than to hit long balls out of trouble from almost anywhere on the pitch.

Bournemouth only failed to run up a small cricket score because they simply do not have anything like the quality of our own forwards. So with no sign of an organised press to prevent us playing our way out from the back, and no more hint of any plan of attack in midfield, I was anticipating a much more comfortable afternoon than we endured at Elland Road last weekend.  

Saints, despite a lot of plaudits after their 1-0 win, appeared to me a shapeless, rudderless outfit and I was definitely left rubbing my hands at the prospect of Ødegaard, Saka, Jesús and Martinelli running at that defence.  

The snide BBC reporter pre-match today, asked Mikel Arteta if the fact that Arsenal are currently top of the league means they are the best team in the country. His question was met with the calm logic I’m sure he expected and he hopefully felt quietly put in his rather stupid place.

The team was unchanged from the eleven that started at Dirty Leeds, as predicted by GSD in his preview, with Tomiyasu resuming at left back and Ben White on the right – we should know by now that it will be ‘all White on the Right”. 

There was much talk of banana skins amongst the fans as St Mary’s has not been a great hunting ground for us in recent years, but The Arsenal started brightly and only 45 seconds had elapsed when Martinelli received a great long ball from Ben White, but his pass found Jesús in an offside position.

Two minutes later Jesús was fouled from behind for the first time by Southampton’s No 6, Coletta-Car. From the free kick Xhaka played the ball out to Saka on the right and his brilliant cross evaded Gabriel by a whisker right in front of goal.

A lovely, swift passing move then ended with Xhaka belting a shot into the keeper from a tight angle on 6’30”, and a minute later we saw the first consequences of Arteta’s demand for a tough mindset in his players. Martinelli landed heavily on his shoulder after going up for a header with Lycano, but while recovering on the floor he was hauled up by the same shoulder in order to “ get on with it”. Within seconds he fed Ødegaard centrally who unfortunately dragged his shot wide from 20 yards with most of the goal unprotected.

On 10 minutes we were ahead. White collected a return back heel from Saka and pulled his cross back to the onrushing Xhaka, who rifled the ball into the net with his newly discovered right foot.

Southampton 0 – 1 Arsenal

It was 21 minutes before Southampton earned their first corner. After the initial clearance Saints’ Joe Aribo received a sweet ball in, but his legs turned to jelly and he was left with egg on his face as he scuffed the ball to Aaron Ramsdale. (Old’ uns – ask the kids if you don’t get the ‘sweet’ jokes). Arsenal were purring and continued to create chances with some great football. 

On 28 minutes Bakayo Saka, following a threatening run, appeared to be tripped in, or on the very edge of, the penalty area. While many Gooners hoped to see Mr Robert Jones point to the spot, he actually produced a yellow card and waved it, to everyone’s amazement, at Saka for what he considered to be simulation. Everyone, including Smudger and the TV commentator were completely befuddled by the decision which, we were informed, cannot be reviewed due to the endlessly confusing and ridiculous rules that govern VAR. 

An odd sequence of six corners to Southampton and two more scoring chances spurned by Martinelli and Jesús meant that when the Saints went trapesing in at half time, they found themselves 1-0 down to a slick and classy, if wasteful Arsenal, and no doubt fearing the worst for the second half.

Half Time: Southampton 0 – 1 Arsenal


In fact, this turned out to be the classic game of two halves. After the interval, Arsenal seemed to find it impossible to recreate the pace and sharpness of the first 45 minutes. Southampton were doing a good impression of Stoke, utilising long balls, long crosses and long throws – I quite expected to see Shane Long make a reappearance for them. Their determination was personified by No 6, Coletta-Car, who one assumes has been training with the England Rugby Union squad, such was his repeated hauling down of Gabriel Jesús, an act encouraged by the total leniency of Mr Jones. One such dispossession of our No 9 led to the passage of play, admittedly a neat one, which saw Stuart – one of a production line of Armstrongs down the years at Southampton – pass the ball past Ramsdale into the back of our net on 65 minutes.

Southampton 1 – 1 Arsenal

Eddie Nketiah and Kieran Tierney were brought on at 70 minutes, while Theo Walcott, with a truly criminal hairdo, came on to little or no effect for Southampton. The remainder of the game saw Tierney felled at the Saints’ goal post, but Mr Jones continued to be unimpressed, Ødegaard netted from Tierney’s cross which was correctly adjudged to have gone out of play, but wait – there was, after all, follow up to the blow to Tierney’s throat. Set piece coach Nicolas Jover was so angry about the whole thing that he was booked for dissent, or some such, by the curious Mr Jones, who seems either unacquainted with, or unconcerned by the actual rules on foul play. Theo Walcott did earn a place in his notebook though, not for his outrageous Barnet, but – you’ve guessed it – simulation. This is one offence that Mr Jones is very keen on.

The five added minutes saw Lyanco booked for Southampton, when he retaliated to Nketiah’s version of the Coletta-Car haul down, by trying a ridiculous double head butt which happily missed it’s target.

And so a game which started in such brilliant style petered out to our first draw in 27 games, dating back to January. It was the first time we have lost points from a winning position this season. At best we are almost unstoppable. You can see in our play what Mikel Arteta was demanding in the All Or Nothing series, when he said the players needed to memorise a pattern of numbers that would relate to our play. That positioning makes our press both possible and effective. It also facilitates the quick, one touch, “instinctive” passages of play which leave opposing midfields chasing shadows. 

The number of games in such a short space of time is catching up with us though. Mikel says he has been working with 15 or 16 first team players this month. He is going to need the much anticipated January transfer activity if we are to sustain our challenge. Two cup competitions will be added to the schedule in January. Interesting and testing times.

For now though, we are two points ahead of Manchester City after eleven games played. That means we are top of the league, say …..

38 Drinks to “Hurricane Arsenal Blows Out On South Coast”

  1. 1
    bt8 says:

    An excellent report Trev highlighted by the calling out of curious Jones who seems to have an eye for diving but little else. Our last players definitely looked knackered in that second half but we should have been at least two goals up at half time, and probably would have been if one of our justified penalty shouts had been heard by curious and laughably inept Jones.

  2. 2
    Ollie says:

    I’ve skipped straight to the last line of the report :-).

    Not really. Cheers Trev, great report! The absence of replay on some penalty calls was baffling.
    Last week: VAR is fucked, we can’t go ahead, we have to delay…see VAR is great, it worked and made a difference.
    This week: VAR is fucked, they won’t see it is.

    I’m worried about our second halves lack of steam now.

  3. 3
    ClockEndRider says:

    Quality report, spot on in every respect, Trev. The lack of VAR reviews is very, very odd. 1 definite penalty, another potential and the frankly bizarre fact that they don’t review an obviously incorrect refereeing decision for the yellow for Saka. Last week the game could not continue for lack of VAR. Doesn’t seem to have mattered this week.
    Still, two away league games in consecutive weeks, which last season would have yielded little to nothing, provide 4 points. We’re not going to beat Oil City, with their ludicrous evasion of financial rules, to the title but given the small margins involved in our missing out on the CL last season, it’s still a considerable step forward.

  4. 4
    Ollie says:

    Two potential for me CER: on White and on Tierney.

  5. 5
    TTG says:

    Trev
    This is a terrific report, we’ve certainly benefited from another excellent game summariser – and at a difficult time for you . We were great in the first half but tired badly in the second although if we’d had a proper referee and others have said VAR had operated properly we would have been out of sight .
    We need to heavily rotate on Thursday with a few debuts to give us a few days off before Sunday when Forest will come hard .
    Xhaka was terrific again and I thought Martinelli was a tiger in the first half. Tomi has to play on the right

  6. 6
    Gunnersaurus Stunt Double says:

    Excellent report Trev. Cheers.

    We take a point and move on…

  7. 7
    Countryman100 says:

    A fine report Trev. Southampton away is one of my least favourite fixtures. It’s a very dull stadium, we often get beat (last April egregiously), I usually get wet and the traffic is horrendous. Yesterday three of the four came to pass as my journey, including a brief detour to pick up my friend Alex from Uxbridge station (lack of trains were making his journey difficult) took a long four and a half hours each way. I got home about 9pm knackered. I hate Southampton, despite its fine University.

    The story is well told above by Trev. Another banging start, chances galore and another sweeping goal from Granit. Just after that goal came what I thought was the key moment. Jesus was clearly, even from 80 yards away, pulled down in the box. Had to be a nailed on penalty and maybe a red card. When the referee said no, we waited for the VAR screen. It didn’t appear. Did we use up all our VAR luck at Elland Road? We continued to waste chances and the story of Leeds was repeated, except this time Southampton got the point that Leeds deserved.

    As we left the stadium, the heavens opened and lightning flashed. Getting back to the car that familiar experience of wet jeans and total gridlock in Southampton and then roadworks on the M3 as far as Winchester. Have I mentioned that I don’t like Southampton? Our long bumper to bumper crawl was however made more tolerable as we listened to Conte’s automata being well beaten at home by Newcastle.

    However. Still top of the league. Counting down the top 8 we lead City by two, Spurs by five, Newcastle and Chelsea by 7, United by 8, Fulham by 10 and Liverpool by 12. We have a game in hand on Spurs, Newcastle and Fulham. I was reminded by Mike McDonald in his Gunners Town review of the game yesterday that the Invincibles drew 12 times and didn’t play well far more frequently than our rosy glow remembers.

    On we go. Six games left before the World Cup break. Time to bounce back.

    I hate Southampton.

  8. 8
    Bathgooner says:

    Thanks Trev for a great report of an ultimately frustrating Sunday outing. You summarise well the reasons for that frustration. The second PL game in which we have clearly run out of steam and technique in the second half is a worrying trend which we can hopefully arrest with a period of rest for our key players though strangely the trend was most forcefully displayed by Thomas Partey whose midweek involvement was brief but whose late physical and mental collapse was almost total.

    Thanks also to soggy C100 for sharing in an almost tactile manner his damp Sunday experience. Support such as yours deserves a better reward than is generally on offer. I hope your feet stayed dry. The memory of the Invincibles drawing lots of games also ran through my mind at full time. However they did not have to contend with the ineluctable charge of the oil-fuelled machine from the Emptihad.

    I wholeheartedly supported the necessity to field our top players last Thursday against PSV as it put us in a strong position to win the group which would spare us two fixtures in February which is a huge bonus for a team with a thin squad. However this Thursday we only need a draw to secure that prize and I would rest our first choice front 4, field a strong defence plus the inextinguishable GX and see if Eddie, Marquinos, Nelson and Vieira can carve out a goal – or two. Jesús needs to put his feet up until next Sunday when I hope he can bag a couple of goals to put him back on track.

  9. 9
    North Bank Ned says:

    Excellent report, Trev. You reflect the game I saw. We failed to take the opportunity to secure a win before legs and minds gave out. As for the refereeing and VAR, I can add nothing to your opprobrium.

    Props to GSD in his preview for highlighting Bazunu, who made several critical saves. The Irishman looks an accomplished keeper for a 20-year-old.

    Props, too, to C100 for getting damp above and beyond and still providing his customary atmospheric reportage.

    TTG@5: Does Tomi have to play on the right so KT3 can play on the left or because he should be starting ahead of Ben White?

  10. 10
  11. 11
    Doctor Faustus says:

    Excellent review Trev! Perfectly captured the key points.

    The thing I liked most about our — albeit disjointed in the second half — performance was that we didn’t let any of that relentless thuggery ruffle us mentally. The fatigue contributed more than Mikel may admit (and rightly so, I must add) in dropping our level and becoming sloppy on possession. The atrocious refereeing notwithstanding we could have still won if we were just a bit sharper in front of the goal, which has been the case last couple of weeks, but there are bound to be one or two streaks of such goal scoring problems in the season. Hopefully the January transfer window will present us with some opportunities to reduce the likelihood of such dry patches in the second half of the season.

    One minor observation about TP5: on his day, on his game he is an excellent player who fits our style of play superbly. However when things aren’t going well for him and the team he makes too many mistakes for such a key position. It’s a very young team, and him and Xhaka hold the responsibility of controlling the tempo of the match and responding to in-match problems intelligently. Partey can definitely do better in those periods when our passing and movements fall off by keeping things simple, maybe slowing the game down, and coordinating the players around him better.

  12. 12
    Ollie says:

    Perfect change of kick-off times to make me a strong candidate for missing out on two more home games.

  13. 13
    Countryman100 says:

    A point on rotation. Jesus is one yellow card from a one match suspension. Rest him against Forest in case he misses Chelsea?

  14. 14
    Countryman100 says:

  15. 15
    Bathgooner says:

    Good point C100 @13. I certainly want Jesús to be available for the Bus Stop so while I’d love to see him this Sunday, given his ‘all in’ competitive style of play and the erratic referees we have, I’d give him a bench position (for emergency use only) or even the day off. The bonus would be an extended rest period for him before the Chav challenge. However I don’t think the massed ranks of the experienced Forest defence will be a pushover and I hope Eddie can rediscover his killer instinct.

    C100 @14, that’s a no brainer. Jones and whoever was on VAR duty should be drummed out of the Brownies.

  16. 16
    North Bank Ned says:

    Jesus as a Man City player, 2021/22: one yellow in 28 appearances and 26 fouls called against him.

    Jesus as an Arsenal player, 2022/23: four yellows in 11 appearances and 21 fouls called against him.

    One law for the rich…?

  17. 17
    North Bank Ned says:

    Talking of which, I have just heard a partner at a US private equity firm that is prominent in sports investment bemoaning how the Premier League is seriously under-monetizing its ‘platforms’ (that’s its clubs to you and me). Enjoy those soggy Sundays in Southampton while you can still afford them…

  18. 18
    bt8 says:

    Some good news from the women’s game in North America, and kudos to Crystal Dunn, a favorite of mine in the US national team.

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63371861

  19. 19
    TTG says:

    Fifteen games in, we can form a pretty good idea about what sort of team Arsenal are this season although we already have two teams – the PL and Europa . Some very pessimistic Gooners are suggesting we have a problem with some players- Zinchenko is never fit, Saliba and Gabriel have regular mistakes in them, Jesus doesn’t score enough, Vieira is too frail and so on.
    Every team has weaknesses or challenges. I well remember the Invincible season when there were murmurs about the squad strength etc. I think this Arsenal team is very strong and they are regularly capable of playing wonderful football . Arteta has done a wonderful job and the club has progressed massively over the last two years .
    The revelation has been Xhaka who has morphed into a completely different player this season . I’ve been an outspoken critic of him over the years and I don’t think I’m alone . I think you have to give him great credit for reinventing himself as a highly effective two footed box to box midfielder from a left-footed holding midfielder who so often slowed the rhythm of the side or committed a daft error of judgment . Arteta must also receive huge plaudits for helping this reinvention and possibly seeing potential in the Swiss / Albanian that nobody ( possibly even Granit himself ) knew was there.
    His partnership with Partey has been crucial. Partey is a magnificent player, very understated but as yesterday showed , when he runs out of steam, the team tend to also . He controlled the first half dovetailing well with Odegaard and Xhaka. But in the second he struggled and we have no one to replace him who can do that job to that standard.
    To answer Ned’s question I think Tomi has struggled at Leeds and to an extent yesterday on the left . On Thursday he marked Gakpo completely out of the game on the right but our full-backs have such an intense role we switch them at seventy minutes .
    And I would rotate heavily on Thursday . My starting eleven would be
    Turner
    Cedric Holding White Tierney
    Sambi Smith
    Marquinhos Vieira Nelson
    Nketiah
    My subs would be
    Hein, Ramsdale ,Walters , Awe , Xhaka, Martinelli, Edwards , Cozier- Duberry Cirjan

  20. 20
    Trev says:

    Thank you all for the kind comments above 🙏🏻

  21. 21
  22. 22
    North Bank Ned says:

    Unai Emery, formerly of this parish, succeeds Gerrard at Villa.

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63379963

  23. 23
    bt8 says:

    Good ebening.

  24. 24
    bt8 says:

    To quote Arseblog, “What happened next was a pivotal moment in the game for me. Jesus was clearly fouled as he got wrong side of Caleta-Car, and not only should it have been a penalty, it could easily have been a red card for the defender. He made no attempt to play the ball and it was clearly denying a goal scoring opportunity. Assuming we’d scored the penalty, 2-0 up against 10 men for 75 minutes is a very different game. Instead, the referee played on, VAR was obviously having a day off, and it set the tone for what was to come.
    It told Southampton that manhandling players inside the box wasn’t going to be punished, so they did it everywhere they could, with Jesus being the main recipient of that treatment. Time and time again the defender had arms around him, clearly holding and impeding him, and every single time the referee allowed play to go on.”

  25. 25
    Ollie says:

    Well, ‘handling’, man or ball seems to be allowed now? See West Ham’s first goal yesterday.

  26. 26
    TTG says:

    Bt8
    Arseblog, as is so often the case , hits the nail firmly on its head. Caleta-Car or more appropriately, Cur, crudely and blatantly manhandled Jesus all game without sanction. It wasn’t that he gave a free kick but no yellow. The dolt in charge, who one would assume has never played the game at any level, included this in his assessment of what is fair and reasonable. It wasn’t. It was underhand, obvious and totally against the laws of the game . The Saka booking was an obscenity and underlined that the ref had no feel for the game.
    VAR had the day off but would definitely have reappeared had Gabriel or Saliba behaved like Caleta Cur or the other South American thug who hammered Martinelli every time he tried to catch him .
    Juergen Klopp would have convened the UN. Arteta largely chose to ignore it. But that doesn’t mean we have to. The refereeing situation is unsatisfactory in the PL. I’ve noted the geographical concentration before in a supposedly national league , but the even bigger problem is sheer competence . It was sadly lacking on Sunday

  27. 27
    Noosa Gooner says:

    Ned @22
    Emery “succeeds” Gerrard at Villa.
    Time will tell?
    UTA

  28. 28
    Bathgooner says:

    Are we wrong? Are we deluded?

    I have just watched MotD2. There was no image of the assault on KT3 and live dismissal of the rugby tackle on Jesús (“it started outside the box and he went down too easily”) and the push on White (“you won’t get a penalty for that!”). In the studio review, none of these incidents were reviewed or even discussed, most of the time being spent praising brave and organised Southampton defending. The conclusion was that Arsenal should be satisfied with a point.

    Are we wrong? Are we deluded?

  29. 29
    Countryman100 says:

    Although we are entitled to have a justified moan, I was impressed that neither Arteta nor the team did that. Instead they said we should have taken our chances and we must improve. Klopp would still be moaning.

  30. 30
    TTG says:

    Good point C100
    We have had some significant decisions go in our favour in recent weeks – the penalty against Liverpool , the red card against the Spuds. But these were one-off contentious decisions .
    The systematic failure to acknowledge quite unacceptable defending was the defining feature of the game . If you revisit the Villa game, which I saw , Jones gave an appalling performance but on Sunday he was significantly worse than that! How does a referee so monumentally bad become a Premier League referee ?
    Refereeing in 2022 is a tough job. My 14 year old grandson has just started on a refereeing course because he thinks it’s important to give something back to the game. That’s an admirable sentiment but we need much better referees to emerge if the game isn’t to be distorted . Frankly he would have done a better job than Jones on Sunday!

  31. 31
    North Bank Ned says:

    Bath@28: we may be deluded but we are not wrong.

  32. 32
    bt8 says:

    Re: c100 @29. I was similarly impressed by Arteta’s positive attitude (i.e. keeping his mouth zipped). Much more than I could have managed, to be sure.

  33. 33
    ClockEndRider says:

    Managers get fined for stating the bleeding obvious as it goes against the whole “best league in the world” nonsense. Add in that Sky and other media are in no way interested in anything other than controversy as it creates noise and clicks feeding their rapacious revenue models and owners, increasingly nation states, PE firms, hedge funds or billionaire investors – whose only common concern is their own financial well being- are happily complicit in this model. None of these stakeholders are interested in rocking the boat. Which only leaves us, the mug punters, to make a fuss about it. I think many more people are getting sick of the so-called Post Truth World extending into our sports viewing and entertainment choices.

  34. 34
    North Bank Ned says:

    CER@35: Too late! Where we see a game, the folks with the money see an asset class with premium content that is under-monetised.

  35. 35
  36. 36
    bathgooner says:

    Great observations about Sambi Lokonga from Keenos today over at

    https://shewore.com

    Spot on. We (and he) need(s) to be patient and wait until he is picked to play in his natural position.

  37. 37
    North Bank Ned says:

    Bath@36: Nothing to disagree with in Keenos’ observations. Sambi needs time and minutes. If I recall correctly, on Edu’s whiteboard in All or Nothing showing the cover at each position, Sambi’s name was beneath Xhaka’s not Partey’s, which had Elneny’s underneath.

    To my eye, Sambi has looked progressively better during the Europa League games, the benefit of playing every week, even if it Thursdays. I hope there is nothing to the rumours of him going to an Italian club. There is a player in there.

  38. 38
    Bathgooner says:

    >>>>>>>