{"id":2233,"date":"2021-01-23T16:18:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T16:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2233"},"modified":"2021-01-27T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T22:27:20","slug":"the-saints-go-marching-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2233","title":{"rendered":"The Saints Go Marching On"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The FA Cup holders came into this 4th<\/sup> round tie unbeaten in six games, the first of two consecutive games at St Mary\u2019s. Arteta rang the changes as many predicted, making seven changes from the team that beat Newcastle on Monday. PEA, KT3 and ESR weren\u2019t even in the match-day squad. Apparently, the captain had to be sent home for a \u2018personal matter\u2019 this morning, the latter pair were rested. At least Saka and Partey were on the bench and Martinelli returned as a starter. Thus, the starting eleven lacked any of the players who have contributed most to our Yuletide renaissance and the team reprised our most underwhelming midfield pair, making a somewhat feeble declaration of intent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin (c), Holding, Gabriel, Cedric<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elneny, Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9p\u00e9, Willian, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the opposition selected their strongest side. Ings returned from virus-imposed quarantine and several other first choices, including old boy Theo Walcot, returned from being rested against Shrewsbury. Southampton clearly fancied an FA Cup after 45 years without success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints kicked off in bright winter sunshine. Early on, Gabriel showed his rust allowing a simple pass from Leno to roll out for a throw-in. A minute later he conceded a dangerous free kick with a hand to Ings\u2019 face. Not a clever thing to do against this lot with Ward-Prowse in their team but the free-kick came to naught. As expected, Southampton applied a high press and they forced an early trio of corners, the second of which hit Leno\u2019s bar as he leapt desperately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 9 minutes, Cedric’s long tangential ball for Pepe to chase was cleared for an Arsenal corner but this was wasted. However this led to a short spell of Arsenal possession ending with a Willian cross from the right which eventually found Cedric on the left. Cedric blasted it over only for Willian to be flagged offside. Gabriel was then easily beaten on the edge of our box by Adams whose hard, low shot towards the far post was saved by Leno at full stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 15 minutes, Martinelli ran through the Saints\u2019 defensive line to meet a P\u00e9p\u00e9 free kick from wide on the left but Martinelli’s wild swing glanced the ball wide of the goal.  He was well onside and it was a great opportunity missed. However, Martinelli\u2019s vigorous play on the left was causing Southampton some concern and a long ball from Gabriel forced Forster to rush out and kick it into touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 23 minutes Elneny dithered on the ball on our right touchline instead of clearing it. He lost the ball which found its way to Walker-Peters on the far side of our area. His cross aimed towards the far post went through Cedric\u2019s legs, struck Gabriel\u2019s outstretched foot and rolled under Leno\u2019s dive into the far corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southampton 1 Arsenal 0, Gabriel (og)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, Southampton were lifted by this good fortune and an Ings volley in the box was deflected wide by a Bellerin block. In contrast our final balls consistently failed to find their target. Southampton continued their high press and a pass by Leno straight to a Southampton player resulted in a shot that was fortunately deflected for a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we crafted a move. Willian moved towards their box and a Martinelli stepover on his pass led to a blocked P\u00e9p\u00e9 shot. P\u00e9p\u00e9’s subsequent cross was just too high for Cedric. However, the opposition still looked far sharper and hungrier. Our relative lassitude was summed up by Holding\u2019s penalty box pass straight to a Southampton player who was fortunately closed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 42 minutes, P\u00e9p\u00e9 jumped into Bertrand to concede another dangerous free kick near the angle of our box. Ward-Prowse curled the ball past the near post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the balance of play, we deserved nothing from this half with Bellerin neutralised as an attacking force, P\u00e9p\u00e9 virtually anonymous, Nketiah completely anonymous, no midfield presence and Cedric putting every cross too long. Unless we can find some cohesion and creativity we will be handing the grand old trophy back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half commenced without changes to either team or any change to the game\u2019s dynamics. Four minutes into the half, Ings ran clear onto a long ball and his shot struck the post, bounced off Leno\u2019s back and rolled just past the post. Ings was offside but the move demonstrated the opposition\u2019s intent and threat. Minutes later, another Southampton attack led to a Ward-Prowse volley over Leno\u2019s bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, an Arsenal attack on 52 minutes led to a corner on the right after a solo run by Nketiah but the corner was easily cleared. Stephens then received a yellow card for leaving his studs on Pepe\u2019s foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 57 minutes, Partey and Saka replaced Elneny and Martinelli. Immediately nice interplay between P\u00e9p\u00e9 and Nketiah led to a deflected shot. From the corner Holding wastefully struck a bouncing ball over the bar. At least we were beginning to make things happen though Cedric aborted a spell of pressure with a foul throw – just to make Bellerin feel better, no doubt. Arsenal were pressing much further up the pitch but after Partey had somewhat hopefully struck a long-range shot over the bar, a breakout by Southampton led to Walcott putting a far better opportunity over the Arsenal bar. The next goal was as likely to be theirs as ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 66 minutes a ball from P\u00e9p\u00e9 wide on the left behind the defence was touched towards the far corner by Nketiah but Forster\u2019s outstretched foot deflected it past the post. Another Arsenal attack resulted in a Saka shot over the bar. At 71 minutes Lacazette came on for Bellerin with Cedric moving to RB and Saka to LB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With under 20 minutes to go, Arsenal stepped up the pace and pressure and began to string passes together, as if they had suddenly realised that they had to try to win this game to stay in the cup. Southampton were now pushed back and their defending became increasingly desperate. An interchange between Lacazette and P\u00e9p\u00e9 led to a Nketiah shot from close range that was saved before offside was called against P\u00e9p\u00e9\u2019s foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 10 minutes to go Partey bundled someone over to the right of our penalty area. The resultant free kick ultimately led to an Ings shot straight at Leno as Southampton returned to the front foot. Shortly afterwards a nasty challenge on P\u00e9p\u00e9 at the edge of their box produced a yellow card for Bertrand and an Arsenal free kick. P\u00e9p\u00e9 struck it well over. That felt like a huge opportunity spurned. It certainly seemed to take the vim out of the Arsenal’s too brief flurry of activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ings was replaced by Long on 84 minutes as the game limped towards its conclusion. On 87 minutes, Long and Holding came together in our box giving Long an opportunity for a graceless dive and the referee awarded a corner. As the 90 minutes loomed a sweet Saka cross from the left curled just beyond Lacazette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one of three added minutes gone, Xhaka had to clear from a Southampton substitute in our box sending the ball for a corner which Southampton exploited to waste time. Nketiah then fired wide from close range as Arsenal made a desperate last effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FT: Southampton 1 Arsenal 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A side with seven changes that was unsurprisingly somewhat disjointed and lacklustre until the subs came on, made a brief effort, created a few chances but in the end didn\u2019t do enough to win this game. It was a return to a midfield combo long since proven to be incapable of creativity and game control, underwhelming senior players and a display with no great sense of urgency. A performance that was the epitome of too little, too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Arsenal are out of the cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a whimper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FA Cup holders came into this 4th round tie unbeaten in six games, the first of two consecutive games at St Mary\u2019s. Arteta rang the changes as many predicted, making seven changes from the team that beat Newcastle on Monday. PEA, KT3 and ESR weren\u2019t even in the match-day squad. Apparently, the captain had to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2233"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2251,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233\/revisions\/2251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}