Premier League Match 7 - Arsenal 3 Southampton 1

 

Well That Dream Lasted 3 minutes

Free hit time and Arsenal away at The Emirates, an away ground but we have an almost 100% record at and not in a good way. To be honest, we used to get battered pretty routinely at Highbury as well, but The Emirates has been a whole new level of pain ever since it was built. Highbury is still the only ground where I have left a game seriously early - Ian Wright completing a hat-trick to make it 4-0 in the 58th minute was enough for me back in the dim and distant past. Most people are going into this game expecting something similar today.

Arsenal this year like last, are the main serious rival to Manchester City apart from points deductions. The manager, Mikel Arteta has been building something for a considerable number of years now and is getting pretty close. There is and always will be something about him though that makes you hope that he never quite gets there. This season they have started well of course but have lost their talismanic captain, Martin Ødegaard to injury but other than him, last year‘s team that ran Manchester City close is still intact. Last year, David Raya was brought in on loan, which 12 months later has led to us signing Aaron Ramsdale. For that I guess we should thank Arteta – even if he is annoying.

When you play teams like Arsenal and you look for weakness, there aren’t really any as they are of course ridiculously strong in all areas of the pitch, so I think you have to focus on the areas that are not quite as good as the others.  In Arsenal‘s case, it’s the creativity through midfield without Odegaard and the area that will ultimately mean that they don’t finish about Manchester City, which is the attack. The likes of Trossard, Jesus and Sterling are obviously very good, but they are not exceptional.

Russell Martin has the chance today to get the team to put on a performance that banishes all the bad vibes of the Bournemouth game. There is zero expectation around this game, but we do need to put up a spirited performance and we cannot afford to get absolutely dicked.

Rambo Prays That We Don't Get Dicked

The first thing to report about the team news is that we actually have a striker on the pitch in Ross Stewart.  There is one unusual name, courtesy of what has become the traditional Russell Martin curveball, and it’s Ryan Manning who has not played a minute for the first team this season, neither in the league or the Carabao Cup. I’m guessing that he is in the team to combat Bukayo Saka down the Arsenal right. KWP has returned in place of Charlie Taylor, and on the face of it, having a right footed left back is not the worst thing in the world when Saka wants to come in on his left foot the whole time. Joe Aribo comes into the team instead of Big Les, which was entirely predictable given Russell Martin’s comments post-Bournemouth.

Arsenal selection offers a chink of possibility. Raheem Sterling is starting… I’ve always thought he was shit and that’s a hill I will die on. For me his pace always masks the fact that he isn’t actually a very good footballer. Also starting is Gabriel Jesus who has looked very out of form whenever he’s played, so hopefully we can frustrate and build into the game.

Away we go and it looks like a 4-4-1-1 formation with Matty Fernandes trying to get forward to support Stewart and Ryan Manning stationed on the left of midfield.  It’s all Arsenal from the start as you’d expect and Saints are not helping themselves by playing into the traps that Arsenal are clearly setting to catch us in possession in our own half. I count five times in a row that we don’t get out of our half before losing the ball and from one such turnover in play, Saka drills a cross over from the right, which is fired back into the mixer, hits Bednarek on the ankle and luckily bounces clear for Manning to hack it away.

Despite the suicide-ball that we attempt to play, we are restricting Arsenal and they are not testing Ramsdale at all. Finally, the game stops looking like a training exercise of attack versus defence and Aribo works the ball out to Dibling on the right, who teases Calafiore before his cross is headed out by Partey and KWP takes a swing from the edge of the box which is straight at Raya.

Saints are now finding their men quite well and Ramsdale chips one into the middle of the park, which Stewart controls and gets absolutely wiped out by Declan Rice. Stewart is up and then down again and it immediately becomes apparent that it’s a return to Crock Ness. The most remarkable thing about this is that the referee Tony Harrington has actually given us a free kick.   It’s a sad sight to see Ross going off again and you fear the worst as he doesn’t tend to do one-week injuries.  With Ross forlornly sitting on the deck and being treated, Cameron Archer is coming on which is a bit strange considering all Stewart has been trying to do is hold the ball up for our midfielders to join in. Tall Paul must be wondering what he’s got to do to get on the pitch.

We have now gone full training exercise.  Archer is not getting a touch and so Saints aren’t getting out at all. Saka is the main Arsenal threat, and his cross is deflected out to Jorginho who flashes a shot narrowly wide.  Arsenal’s physicality is something that we are struggling to live with and Havertz easily holds off Bednarek to knock the ball down and Arsenal are away again at the left through Sterling but as usual Sterling makes every wrong decision possible and his shot is headed away by the retreating Bednarek. Saka then tees up Thomas Partey on the edge of the box and he doesn’t wait for an invitation as usual, before firing on in there and Ramsdale gets down well to save and then Bednarek clears for a corner.

Half-time and so far, so good in that we have kept it relatively tight and reached this point goalless which everyone would’ve taken before the start of the game. A lot of been made of the set piece threat the Arsenal pose but we have survived five or six corners with relatively few alarms. It’s is of course, a long way to go before we can get in anyway excited about the possibility of getting a point.

The second half starts with the usual procession towards our goal and Gabriel Jesus puts one wide from the edge of the box. Saints then start showing intent as Tyler Dibling takes on the much hyped Calafiori and leaves him for dead, cutting into the penalty area before his cross flicks off of Gabriel and Fernandes desperately tries to readjust himself as he flies into the box, getting a touch and lifting it onto the roof of the net.

55 minutes and Saints try to play out and lose the ball to Sterling but Fernandes snaps back at him and runs him off the ball. Whilst Sterling is flapping around on the ground appealing for a free kick, Fernandes turns and sends Archer away in the inside left channel. His first touch takes the ball out to the corner of the penalty area but he cuts inside Saliba and drills it across Raya into the far corner. Fucking hell. What have we done?

After the mental celebrations have calmed down, Arsenal kick-off and we win the ball back with Fernandes knocking the ball back to Downes, who then telegraphs a ball out to the left to Manning which is easily intercepted by Saka and played forward to Havertz, who chops inside THB and smashes it past Ramsdale and then off the post. Fucks sake.  We led for three minutes.  Completely preventable.

Arteta throws on subs now and the Arsenal team gets immeasurably stronger with the arrival of Trossard, Martinelli and Merino.  The shit pair of Sterling and Gabriel Jesus have gone off, along with Jorginho. Arsenal are stepping up again now and Partey tries another unwelcome advance and shot from the edge of the box which is deflected narrowly wide with Ramsdale diving the other way.

More pressure and Arsenal easily get the ball out to Saka on their right and he gives Manning twisted blood before crossing to the back post where Martinelli has half the pitch to himself and volleys in from very close range.  Bollocks…. but we’re off to VAR.

“Hi Stockley Park, Tony Harrington here at Arsenal”
“Who they playing Tony?”
“No idea – some Championship no marks – what have you got?”
“Potential offside on the goal – Martinelli very close”
“Oh I do hope not – remember that Arsenal have had a couple of red cards for booting the ball away which they’re not happy with”
“OK, according to the etch-a-sketch, Martinelli is onside”
“Great… goal then….?”
“Hang on, got to cover our arses here – Merino is in offside position when he tries to head it”
“Yeah but he misses it doesn’t he?”
“Yes, but we have to make a subjective call as to whether he impacted the goal or not”
“Subjective is the key word there then ….”
“Yep – best wait a couple of minutes to make sure the boses know we’ve exhausted every option of giving the goal”

[ time goes by ]

So lads, a subjective decision and all that….and we all know what that means don’t we?”
“Yep – fuck the Championship no marks – goal to Arsenal”

Bollocks - how predictable.

Shrug

Saka is now leading us in a merry dance over that side and he snaps Mannings ankles before drilling another shot at the near post which Ramsdale beats away. Manning has had a decent game to be fair but he’s unsurprisingly knackered and off now to be replaced with Adam Armstrong.  In a shock development, Matty Fernandes gives way to be replaced by Tall Paul.

Dibling has now moved infield and picks up a short pass from Downes in the centre and jinks past a couple of players before letting fly from long-range and it takes a deflection, beats Raya and hits the outside of the post. Fuck. It comes the corner from Sugawara and THB flies in, the goalkeeper flaps at it and it hits Adam Armstrong bounces off the crossbar and over. No doubt if I had gone in, they would’ve found a way to disallow it.

Time is running out but we’re still in it as Dibling again lines at the retreating Calafiore before finding Armstrong and Sugawara’s low cross along 6 yard line is just in front of Tall Paul, who maybe should have gambled.

Saints push forward and lose the ball in midfield and Trossard is suddenly away and bearing down on goal but before he makes his mind up, Aribo gets back and pokes the ball away from him and Sugawara tidies up but his first touch is heavy and he clearly has not seen Saka lurking, who just passes it into the net.

And so another defeat but at least it wasn’t the humiliation that many of predicted before the start. The players and the manager restored a bit of pride today which was desperately needed after the Bournemouth shambles. Seasons are not defined by away defeats at Arsenal and positives can be taken from today. More than those later.

With Russell actually deciding to start with a striker today in Ross Stewart, we survived the first half despite spending the opening twenty giving the ball away in our half. At one stage I counted five consecutive times where we had tried to play out and then lost the ball before we got to anywhere near the halfway line. We kept on doing that after taking the lead and Russell Martin would call it brave and everyone else would call it dumb. Just for three minutes after our goal, an unnecessary pass by Flynn Downes was intercepted and there you have it, 1-1. Not that it really mattered but the third goal was also down to overplaying at the back with Sugawara deciding not to just clear the ball and instead taking a heavy touch and presenting the third goal to the excellent Saka.

In amongst all that we played some decent stuff and our goal was excellent with Matty Fernandes winning the ball back, driving forward and playing a quick forward pass to Archer who did the rest. Brilliant goal. With a little bit more luck we would’ve scored instead of hitting the woodwork twice, unluckily by Tyler Dibling and inadvertently by Adam Armstrong.

There wasn’t anyone out there who had what you would class as a poor game though Yuki Sugawara’s defending for the second and third goals leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. The second goal saw the left winger score without the right back having any idea where his man was at any point as he had his back to him whilst ball watching.  There were some very bright sparks today. Jan Bednarek had an excellent game in the centre of defence and Joe Aribo showed that he should definitely stay in the team in the centre of midfield. Tyler Dibling found going difficult to start with but came to life in the second half and gave experienced Italian international Calafiori a really tough time down that wing. Cam Archer's first goal of hopefully many. It was even a good cameo by Tall Paul his double step over roulette turn thing towards past William Saliba is going to end up as a social media highlight reel. Amazing skill for such a big guy. He might get more opportunities now as well with the luckless Ross Stewart having broken down again.

Trabzonspor Meltdown Incoming

Arsenal tried to win the game today giving some of their reserve players a game. Okay, the likes of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus are experienced international players but they are not as good as some of the Arsenal players and this was shown particularly with the introduction of Martinelli in the second half who ultimately made a massive difference. There is no shame at all and losing to this Arsenal side and we gave him a good go and with a little bit more luck with eh second goal and hitting the woodwork twice in a couple of minutes, we may have got something.

Is the Arsenal second goal offside?  I can see it both ways in all honesty.  If you are looking at it through Saints-tinted glasses then Merino goes to heads it from an offside position, Ramsdale has to cover that possibility and that clearly affects the time he has to get across to Martinelli’s effort.  I also ask the question as to whether it would have been disallowed if we’d scored it?

Whilst we can take positives from today despite losing, that’s not an option in the next game which is Leicester at home. They’ve just picked up their first win of the season with a 1-0 home win against Bournemouth and we simply have to beat them next time out, which doesn’t happen for another two weeks.

In the meantime, up the fucking International Break Saints.