By Boris Mellor
November 24 2019
At half time I was struggling to remember the last time we had played so pathetically at home, maybe when Watford beat us in the FA Cup. It wasn’t just the fact that the away team had scored first, which is a regular occurrence, it’s expected now, and you can always see it coming.
No it wasn’t that, it was the fact that Southampton had 10 chances to Arsenal’s 3. At home for Lord’s sake! Only one Arsenal player walked off at 1-1 deserving of praise and that was Lacazette. It wasn’t only his goal, but the amount of fight in the guy. Tenacious and never gives up. Most of the team and the manager deserved the half time booing off.
Dereliction of Duty
All week Napoleon (Bellerin) had been making speeches calling for player and fan unity, he should have included attention to defending. The Saints first goal started with a quick free kick, Bellerin was too busy arguing the toss rather than protecting the defence, so the ball went past the rest of the defence who also weren’t paying attention. It was a gift, it needn’t have happened it was a dereliction of duty, and similar errors happen week after week. There is no defence for the defence
The second half was almost a repeat of the first
The Saints went ahead from a ridiculously easy gift of a penalty. Not sure why it was VAR’d, possibly a hint of offside. Leno almost equalled Cech’s penalty saving record (if a parry to the opposition counts), but Southampton were 2-1 up.
The crowd did get behind the team for a while, and were rewarded with an excellent attacking display by the Saints who could have been 4-1 up by the time Lacazette scored the equalizer. Arsenal had drawn against a team that had been second from bottom at the start of the game and should have won. The crowd booed the team and manager, neither are good enough.
Ratings:
Arsenal: Leno (6) Pity he could only parry the penalty, otherwise it was poor Southampton shooting that kept the score down, Chambers (4) Arthritic, David Luiz (5) Completely fluffed the first goal, Sokratis (4) Arthritic, Bellerin (4) Arthritic, Torreira (6) A moderately good game, Guendouzi (7) Lot of action and aggression, but passing not that effective, Tierney (6) poor decision defending that gave away penalty, Ozil (6) didn’t light any fires, Lacazette (9), lit fires all over the pitch, fantastic game and two great goals Aubameyang (5) poor finishing no product outside final third;
Subs: All brought on too late but did improve the dynamic.
Pepe (6), Willock (7) great block on line and forward pass, Martinelli (6)
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Quote:I think he needs to win two games out of the next 4 and he will be around till the Dec fixtures after which he will axed. But if we lose the next two games, he ll be gone before the festive fixturesPadre Pio
Sadly so, I wanted to give the guy two seasons, but that was the last straw. it was an appalling performance He has learnt nothing, he has to go