{"id":5999,"date":"2022-04-14T17:59:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T16:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=5999"},"modified":"2022-04-17T08:11:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T07:11:37","slug":"teetering-gunners-look-to-regain-equilibrium-on-the-south-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=5999","title":{"rendered":"Teetering Gunners Look to Regain Equilibrium on the South Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"sUcTew-6TM9rZHAsHGx_cQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1358458477\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'sUcTew-6TM9rZHAsHGx_cQ',sig:'igs89GBO6fyfbZ7-Yh-Ge0KVjB27pDo4yw1XCtsx6b0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1358458477',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>How quickly Arsenal have turned from a band of overachievers, as they seemed with reason to be prior to the international break, to a club in the doldrums as they have appeared in their last two matches.&nbsp;&nbsp;Now they face a Saturday away day at St. Mary\u2019s, and another game with \u201cbanana skin\u201d written all over it.&nbsp;&nbsp;As if this fixture hasn\u2019t been a nearly perennial banana skin for the Gunners anyway.&nbsp; The players must focus and concentrate on the job at hand, and not let minds wander to extraneous matters such as recent setbacks or the quick turnaround until Tuesday\u2019s tussle with the Chavs.&nbsp;&nbsp;After last Saturday\u2019s home defeat to Brighton Mikel Arteta described his team\u2019s poor performance saying \u201cWe were sloppy, we had no purpose to attack, we were really imprecise and we didn&#8217;t want to play forward.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;In other words, this is inadequate form for a Champions League-chasing club, especially considering Arsenal\u2019s unacceptable performance at Crystal Palace in the previous match.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a matter of fact it is now over a month that Arsenal have gone winless excepting their narrow victory over Aston Villa on March 19.&nbsp;&nbsp;Losses to Liverpool, Palace and Brighton have knocked the Gunners right off the seemingly solid fourth place perch they enjoyed after five consecutive wins in February and early March.&nbsp;&nbsp;In Arsenal\u2019s last four outings since their two goal triumph against Leicester on March 13th the Gunners have scored only two goals but conceded seven.&nbsp;&nbsp;Fatigue, injuries, the lack of signings, and the clear-out of the potentially useful Calum Chambers and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have taken a toll on the team\u2019s resilience it seems.&nbsp;&nbsp;Facing the most challenging moment of his managerial campaign Arteta now has to find a trick or two up his sleeve and put the Gunners back on a positive path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Placed 14th in the table after 31 games played, the Saints have had a fairly typical season by their standards of the last half decade.&nbsp;&nbsp;Counting forward from 2017-8, the season before they appointed manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, Southampton have finished 17th, 16th, 11th and 15th, a consistently bottom half side that has always somehow managed to avoid relegation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But having lost last week 0-6 to Chelsea the Saints are in a rough spot, conceding 19 times in six games since the first weekend of March, including four league defeats to Aston Villa, Newcastle, Watford and Chelsea, and an FA Cup exit to Manchester City.&nbsp;&nbsp;Saints drew their other league match in that stretch, against Leeds.&nbsp;&nbsp;One pundit wrote that Southampton defended against the Chavs as if they were rabbits caught in car headlights, but if Arsenal\u2019s form of the last two weeks is allowed to continue then Saints defence could look solid as a rock.&nbsp; The South coasters normally line up with a back four consisting of&nbsp; Ghanaian Mohammed Salisu and Polish international Jan Bednarek in the middle, flanked by full-backs Tino Livramento and Kyle Walker-Peters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saints\u2019 midfield usually features James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu in the middle of things, with Mohamed Elyounoussi on one side; and one of Adam Armstrong, Stuart Armstrong, or Ibrahima Diallo, who started at Leeds.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nathan Redmond has made 15 starts, usually in a left wing role.&nbsp; The Gunners must be alert seeing as Ward-Prowse seems to do nearly whatever he wants with a free kick.&nbsp;&nbsp;Last season he registered 39 shots on goal and six assists from set pieces.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In January, Pep Guardiola called the him the best free-kick taker in the world; and JWP leads the league again with three goals scored on free kicks.&nbsp;&nbsp;His most recent such exploit came at Leeds where his free kick equalizer ended Saints\u2019 run of three straight league defeats.&nbsp; Saints\u2019 front line is usually led by the duo of Che Adams, who has scored 7 goals, and Chelsea loanee Armando Broja, who has added 6 goals in fewer appearances.&nbsp;&nbsp;Broja has looked especially dangerous in Saints\u2019 attack in the one or two games I have seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seeing as I wrote this prior to Arteta\u2019s pre-match press conference, I will turn to a couple of other punters to provide some insight on the team we could deploy against Southampton.&nbsp; In light of the injury suffered by Kieran Tierney and the obvious desire to avoid a repeat of Nuno\u2019s display against Palace, no less an authority than TTG pointed out in the drinks that Cedric played left back at St. Mary\u2019s last season and did really well, so that could be a good solution for this critical fixture.&nbsp;&nbsp;TTG added that we might see Ben White at right back until Tomi returns with Rob Holding coming in at White\u2019s usual center back slot.&nbsp;&nbsp;Not thinking it would be of any use to question TTG\u2019s tactical judgment, I\u2019m agreeing with his choice on that front too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The esteemed Dr. Faustus used a recent drink to provide some other useful tactical adjustments.&nbsp;&nbsp;He would replace the knackered Lacazette with Martinelli, who he suggested would better synchronize our attacking players and help avoid the scenario in which our counter-attacks fizzle out because the center forward moves slower than the fullbacks.&nbsp;&nbsp;Faustus gave credit to Laca for his work done,&nbsp;no doubt wondering why Arteta didn\u2019t notice that Laca looked knackered weeks ago,&nbsp;but the Doctor added \u201cwe need to be more aggressive and front footed in the opposition third.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;Faustus and several other drinkers asserted their confidence that Sambi Lokonga is capable of doing a decent job of replacing the injured Thomas Partey in the defensive midfield role.&nbsp; I would add that Eddie Nketiah put in a solid performance as a substitute against Brighton, so he remains an option up front but maybe not as a starter in such a critical fixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The holics\u2019 pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can\u2019t say I\u2019m expecting a fluid or truly inspiring performance this week but do think Arsenal are capable of pulling up their proverbial bootstraps and avoiding calamitous errors as they strain to get back to playing like a side that deserves to be chasing the European places, even as the Champions League spot now looks difficult.&nbsp; So I\u2019m going for a tight 0-0 until the last ten minutes when Gabriel Martinelli pulls a rabbit out of his socks and Arsenal escape St. Mary\u2019s with all three points.&nbsp; A tonic for what ails ye, fingers crossed.&nbsp; But it\u2019s not likely to be comfortable viewing for long stretches so keep that sofa within arm\u2019s reach. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images How quickly Arsenal have turned from a band of overachievers, as they seemed with reason to be prior to the international break, to a club in the doldrums as they have appeared in their last two matches.&nbsp;&nbsp;Now they face a Saturday away day at St. Mary\u2019s, and another game with \u201cbanana [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6017,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions\/6017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}