PL: Southampton vs Arsenal | December 16, 2018 13:30 GMT | Sky Sports

[Rain Dance]

I just want to give credit for Soton crosses, those were beauties especially the first one

Inch perfect crosses that were hard to defend

 

[Wryer]

I just want to give credit for Soton crosses, those were beauties especially the first one

Inch perfect crosses that were hard to defend

They knew our defense were playing their first game together. It was a clear strategy. Props to them and hell yeah , superbly executed crosses.

I held back on my views after the loss, and I think this is just a one off problem. The defense was absolutely decimated and we had very little time to recover. With Mustafi and more importantly Sokratis back, I think we should do better the next game. The team has build up these expectatations and a loss triggers huge reactions - which in a grand scheme of things is a testament of the fine job so far.

Regroup and move on.

 

[#254]

That was tough to stomach today. Yes the injuries were a huge problem and Leno was poor on the 3rd but we should be able to create chances against dreck like Southampton. We'd been riding our luck for quite some time with the poor first halves, almost got away with it again and were undone by circumstance and individual error. A point would have been disappointing but acceptable. To lose is very aggravating. Emery has done a wonderful job thus far but he's going to have to get this team playing a more convincing brand of football from the first minute rather than hoping to keep pulling off miracles in the 2nd 45. It remains clear as day that Laca and Auba should start together and yet we persist in handicapping ourselves splitting them up so that the likes of Iwobi and Mkhi can play. It's very curious. Just really frustrating viewing today.

Ah I don't think Leno was to blame for any of the goals! Both were close range free headers!
He had just conceded two goals earlier that weren't dissimilar to each other because his defenders (Kos) had failed to mark the player on the receiving end of the cross! He saw the exact same scenario before the third goal and decided to help himself since no one would. I bet if he had opted to stick his line the same thing would have happened.

Don't care if he is our captain or he has come from an injury layoff. That was some high school defending from him!

The fact that he couldn't go to the ref when our players were being fouled infuriated me even more! Look at the challenge on Lich and others, any good captain would have been to the refs face about them. Soton just fouled us around to stop our momentum and the ref couldn't call fouls and the captain did zip! Would go on and on but am just pissed at him right now!

 

[boyinneedofhumor]

This is one of those games where one learns, get over it, then create another unbeaten run...

 

[#254]

They knew our defense were playing their first game together. It was a clear strategy. Props to them and hell yeah , superbly executed crosses.

I held back on my views after the loss, and I think this is just a one off problem. The defense was absolutely decimated and we had very little time to recover. With Mustafi and more importantly Sokratis back, I think we should do better the next game. The team has build up these expectatations and a loss triggers huge reactions - which in a grand scheme of things is a testament of the fine job so far.

Regroup and move on.

It's fine to lose. But to the right team. You don't lose to a team that's been winless at home since April and and sits at the bottom three. Makes me feel the old Arsenal is back!

 

[Aevi]

I just want to give credit for Soton crosses, those were beauties especially the first one

Inch perfect crosses that were hard to defend

That's not getting enough attention. Our defenders stuck to them pretty well, but the crosses were swung in with pinpoint accuracy. That indicates that our fullbacks didn't put enough pressure on their players. Even if they couldn't block them, they should have put them off enough to lower the quality of the cross.

 

[Penn_]

Poor all round from players and manager. Back three was wrong, and would’ve only been worth it had Kolasnic been fit. AMN won’t make it here if it continues to show a lack of interest. Ramsey over Özil would’ve been more effective.

 

[Maybe]

We were missing all 3 centre backs who've been starting for us recently. We scored 2 goals away from home, it was ultimately our weak defence that lost us the game. Did you expect Emery to wave a magic wand to make Sol Campbell appear on the pitch for us?

I certainly expected to reduce number of defenders that you don't have anyway to 2 and put more into attack and move the game to their half, reducing the pressure on our back line. Setting up this ridiculous defense at the expense of our attack was a bad joke. Starting with Laca instead of Lich and Monreal in place of Xhaka at CB would fix our midfield and attack without adding damage to already damaged defense. Out of form Iwobi who starts before Özil/Ramsey is also questionable if you ask me (would do it if he was on form, which he's not).

 

[Camron]

I just want to give credit for Soton crosses, those were beauties especially the first one

Inch perfect crosses that were hard to defend

Moments like that make me miss Giroud.

 

[HBL]

I just want to give credit for Soton crosses, those were beauties especially the first one

Inch perfect crosses that were hard to defend

First one was ridiculous

 

[Wryer]

It's fine to lose. But to the right team. You don't lose to a team that's been winless at home since April and and sits at the bottom three. Makes me feel the old Arsenal is back!

That's what it is about football isn't it? We were unbeaten in 13-14 PL games, and then we lose one on the road. In all honesty, that to me is great form and good enough for me from a wider perspective. Now, it's all about how we regroup and move forward. That's going to be how Emery's season will be judged upon. Have we got the balls and mental fortitude to recover? Or go down a slippery slope?

We've passed the first phase of the Emery era admirably. Now bring on the second. I am still very excited about how things are going and I prefer to look at things half full.

 

[Bradpiff]

They knew our defense were playing their first game together. It was a clear strategy. Props to them and hell yeah , superbly executed crosses.

I held back on my views after the loss, and I think this is just a one off problem. The defense was absolutely decimated and we had very little time to recover. With Mustafi and more importantly Sokratis back, I think we should do better the next game. The team has build up these expectatations and a loss triggers huge reactions - which in a grand scheme of things is a testament of the fine job so far.

Regroup and move on.

Great post this sums up my feelings

 

[say yes]

Don't you read yours before you post them? Wenger useless blah blah blah....

Pipe down Nostradamus, you’re becoming a parody of yourself.

I get it. We lost a game and you finally got to copy and paste that ridiculous essay that’s been sitting on your little iPhone since August about how the future is going to be miserable now Wenger is gone.

But couldn’t you have asked someone to proofread it for you or something? Could have saved you from sounding so ridiculous. I mean this is meme-worthy ffs:

*1 loss in 21 games*

I have seen the future, it is murder.

 

[pikey2000]

We had to lose sometime and considering our defensive injuries combined with the fact it was their first home game under a new manager it wasn't too much of a stretch for most football fans to see a draw/loss here.

As others have said, lets see the response, no doubt the team will be hurt by this and Emery doesn't strike me as someone who will be happy with what he saw.

 

[Jasard]

Need to make up for it, it's a fair old hit to our top 4 chances. There is such a gulf between the top 5 and the rest of the league that a loss to any of them probably sets you back from the rest of the top 5.

 

[Ceballinhos]

Poor all round from players and manager. Back three was wrong, and would’ve only been worth it had Kolasnic been fit. AMN won’t make it here if it continues to show a lack of interest. Ramsey over Özil would’ve been more effective.

Emery would have been killed if he chose Ramsey over Özil and we've lost.

Injuries & suspensions are just catching us on.

Nothing to be mad about. We knew our squad had obvious limitations in the defensive and offensive end and we knew we were going to lose games as soon as we had injurie/suspension issues.

I just cross my fingers that the board will back Sven & Emery this winter.
We absolutely need players and to continue to get rid of the ones that are not needed. We should sell Ramsey and Elneny this winter to get funds.
We can get top 4 if we make the right additions this winter.

Imo we need a winger, a CB and a FB.

We need a decent RB to compete with Bellerin, especially if he gets injured. Lichsteiner isn't the answer.
A CB is a must because I don't think Koscielny is going to be back at the required level unfortunately and with the Holding injury we're really short back there.
A winger is a must because Iwobi is simply not good enough to be a starter. It's a shame because he had a great start of the season but there's a real lack of quality.

Also, the CM spot needs to be adressed this summer. Even though I absolutely love Guendouzi he's not ready yet. And with Ramsey & Elneny leaving we need another CM.
We can't afford to be that much reliant on Xhaka.

 

[Aussie_gunner123]

Next PL game makes me feel for Burnley in all honesty. I much like Burnley way over Southampton, if the game works out well after yesterday's, we have our top backline back & we start with Laca I've got a feeling we may just smash them.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Ramsey over Özil would’ve been more effective.

Felt Southampton was tiring a lot last 20 min. With Ramsey running at them with some tempo would have helped a lot more than a jogging Özil trying flick ons etc.

 

[Penn_]

Emery would have been killed if he chose Ramsey over Özil and we've lost.

Don’t think that would’ve been the case in this instance. Our midfield and defence were already comprised, Özil only added.

I can see why he went for him with how open the game was becoming but Ramsey really would’ve been the better choice and has a good record off the bench.

 

[Toby]

I held back on my views after the loss, and I think this is just a one off problem.

Crosses have never been a one off problem. Defenders not outright attacking or closing down opposition players about to cross into the box enough to actually prevent or disturb the cross has been a problem for years under Wenger and Emery hasn't done much about that. Same goes for defenders in the centre: Our guys are far too fixed on the ball and loose track of runners in their backs so, so often.

Opposition being allowed to cross without pressure into the box and our guys in the box too far off or completely unaware of opposition attackers' movements has been a ridiculously consistent problem of this Arsenal side, whether under Wenger or now Emery.

Guys like Favre love pushing opposition attacks to the wings, cause statistically it's the area where the least dangerous attacks come from cause with pressure on the ball carrier and a serious box defence ****ty crosses are truly the least dangerous attacks. Only at Arsenal it's been a go to recipe for the opposition to consistently score against us.