Draw Premier League: Southampton 1 - 1 Arsenal | Sunday 23rd, October | KO: 14:00 BST | Sky Sports

Let's try and keep our concentration up. Southampton are a very high energy and high pressing team just like Leeds. We should not allow ourself to be put under the cosh like the Leeds game.

Prediction

Southampton 0-2 Arsenal

 

[1970*Gooner]

We did go off the boil. But had we got that pen I don’t see them coming back from 2 goals

True, the ref must have had a bet on the draw.

 

[SomGooner]

We must be the only team in the top 6 who consistently get shafted by these corrupt refs.

I’m f*cking sick of it.

 

[rockofcashel]

Just got a FB memory post this morning.. last time Arsenal were top of the league at this point of the season, was 2015.. they had just pulled off an unlikely draw that day too

the memory said ..

"Top of the league.. not bad.. Cech definitely worth two points today.. hard fought.. but looking good"

Finished that season in 2nd.. think we'd take that if it was offered right now

 

[Makingtrax]

Just got a FB memory post this morning.. last time Arsenal were top of the league at this point of the season, was 2015.. they had just pulled off an unlikely draw that day too

the memory said ..

"Top of the league.. not bad.. Cech definitely worth two points today.. hard fought.. but looking good"

Finished that season in 2nd.. think we'd take that if it was offered right now

Yeah, bizarre. Everybody thinking this manager is superb, everybody thinking that manager was garbage and needed to go. It's a strange world.

 

[Aussie_gunner123]

Our forward line really have to take advantage of their chances we get & create in the early parts of the game. Our players got fairly tired by the end of the game considering how much more ball Southampton got by changing their formation & lets not forget how many games we've had compared to Southampton recently.

In saying that though, as stated above we really have to take advantage of our chances when they come. If we were say 2 or 3-0 up early on I really think we still would have won & I wouldn't be fussed by how we really went off the boil. The same thing happened against Leeds last week & were lucky to get a win. 3/4 matches in a row with only the 1 goal, we need more then that to be guaranteed a win early on.

The referee was a disgrace aswell which didn't help, just seems like 3/4 of the PL referees all dislike us & make some consistently terrible obvious wrong calls against us.

 

[Deleted member 102404]

Don’t know whether it’s more depressing we dropped 2 pts or reading the comments after dropping 2 pts. I get it though, emotions of the game as it’s happening.

We started superbly well. Our football was the best we’ve seen in the PL, BUT, after 25 minutes Soton’s system change took us from a 10/10 to a 4/10. That’s concerning because we need to be able to adapt much better than we did.

Probably more important to sort out is our finishing. I am seeing too many scuffed /wayward shots. Clean strikes seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Jesus, Eddie, Ødegaard, Saka , Martinelli are all most guilty of this. I doubt it is a training issue, it’s more about composure.

As for the ref… it’s way past time there was some accountability for these decisions. Both Jesus and Tierney should have had penalties, but the biggest way a ref can influence a game is to let defenders absolutely maul attacking players and that happened in spades yesterday. It’s very hard to create anything or look good when defenders are allowed to manhandle the attacking players.

I am not buying the fatigue angle talked about so much. I suspect if the minutes played for each player was compared to those from other top6 clubs, there would be no difference. It’s an excuse. Nothing more.

Anyway, 2 dropped points. The measure of the team will be if they can bounce back straight away from this disappointment and win the next game.

 

[SA Gunner]

Don’t know whether it’s more depressing we dropped 2 pts or reading the comments after dropping 2 pts. I get it though, emotions of the game as it’s happening.

We started superbly well. Our football was the best we’ve seen in the PL, BUT, after 25 minutes Soton’s system change took us from a 10/10 to a 4/10. That’s concerning because we need to be able to adapt much better than we did.

Probably more important to sort out is our finishing. I am seeing too many scuffed /wayward shots. Clean strikes seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Jesus, Eddie, Ødegaard, Saka , Martinelli are all most guilty of this. I doubt it is a training issue, it’s more about composure.

As for the ref… it’s way past time there was some accountability for these decisions. Both Jesus and Tierney should have had penalties, but the biggest way a ref can influence a game is to let defenders absolutely maul attacking players and that happened in spades yesterday. It’s very hard to create anything or look good when defenders are allowed to manhandle the attacking players.

I am not buying the fatigue angle talked about so much. I suspect if the minutes played for each player was compared to those from other top6 clubs, there would be no difference. It’s an excuse. Nothing more.

Anyway, 2 dropped points. The measure of the team will be if they can bounce back straight away from this disappointment and win the next game.

I also dont think its purely a fatigue thing. Part of the reason we have a drop off from the second third of the game is because teams are upping their intensity in marking us, when we are in a period of energy conservation and looking to game management. Once parity or an advantage is gained, the opposition will once again drop into a tight defensive shape, and ride out the final third of the match, and the storm we will bring.

I think we need to consider shorter time periods of high intensity attack, and combine it more with equal spells of ball possession and control of proceedings right through the match. Goals in those periods could obviously change the dynamic and what would be needed, but the manager would do well to keep us to that level of discipline for most part.

This game was a reminder that we need to stay alert and control the game during our up and down times in a match. An important skill if we want to go far this year.

 

[Deleted member 102404]

I also dont think its purely a fatigue thing. Part of the reason we have a drop off from the second third of the game is because teams are upping their intensity in marking us, when we are in a period of energy conservation and looking to game management. Once parity or an advantage is gained, the opposition will once again drop into a tight defensive shape, and ride out the final third of the match, and the storm we will bring.

I think we need to consider shorter time periods of high intensity attack, and combine it more with equal spells of ball possession and control of proceedings right through the match. Goals in those periods could obviously change the dynamic and what would be needed, but the manager would do well to keep us to that level of discipline for most part.

This game was a reminder that we need to stay alert and control the game during our up and down times in a match. An important skill if we want to go far this year.

I do think we need to be more clever with game management, but I am seeing a bigger issue in how we handle opponents tactical changes in game. We didn’t seem to respond at all yesterday. In addition, we have a significant weakness dealing with a press in midfield. I am concerned it’s become a pretty obvious tactic to use against us that yields results. Neither Partey or Ødegaard are very good handling pressure, whilst both are excellent when they are allowed space.
I think I know how teams are going to play us going forward for the rest of the season.
I don’t think the formation we have been using is going to work as well from here on in. We may need to have more numbers in midfield.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

The other clubs dropping points just makes this result more frustrating. The gap between us and the other top 4 contenders isn’t big enough, not for how we’ve been playing this season and how they’ve been playing.

Do you guys trust this team to not capitulate at some point this season?

 

[SA Gunner]

The other clubs dropping points just makes this result more frustrating. The gap between us and the other top 4 contenders isn’t big enough, not for how we’ve been playing this season and how they’ve been playing.

Do you guys trust this team to not capitulate at some point this season?

We are seeing teams evolve now to try and stop us more. As @Jayramfootball says, we are still unable to completely deal with being marked tightly in the middle, with TP5 and Ødegaard two examples of this.

The key for us this season will be how we adapt our game to stay ahead of the pack, because we are marked men now. Arteta by now is fully aware of what teams are doing and will continue to do against us going forward. How quickly we adapt and get past such challenges will dictate our season.

The good news is, we have adapted each time so far and have become better.

 

[Bloodbather]

Could've closed the game out in the first 30 minutes. Southampton were far too open, we couldn't capitalize. Bad performance in the second half, far too lethargic. Bit of a concern at this point since this was the second consecutive week of this being the case.

The refereeing was shocking. Caleta-Car got away with murder against Gabriel Jesus the entire game, including a clear penalty in the first half.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

The other clubs dropping points just makes this result more frustrating. The gap between us and the other top 4 contenders isn’t big enough, not for how we’ve been playing this season and how they’ve been playing.

Do you guys trust this team to not capitulate at some point this season?

Capitulate, no.
I do think the wheels will come off at some point tho.

I think this team has more about them to fully capitulate tho. We need Zinny back & we need Jesus to start firing quicktime tho..

 

[14Henry]

The other clubs dropping points just makes this result more frustrating. The gap between us and the other top 4 contenders isn’t big enough, not for how we’ve been playing this season and how they’ve been playing.

Do you guys trust this team to not capitulate at some point this season?

Yeah that's why I was so frustrated yesterday, although that has eased abit.

This weekend was the weekend were at least 2 of our rivals were dropping points. Don't think many expected Liverpool but Chelsea v United and Sp**s v Newcastle.

Soton was a gift and when we went 1-0 up I thought yes. We are actually going to take advantage of this.

But low and behold we didn't.

There's 8 points separating the top 6 which is nothing in football. We really did need that gap to be larger.

Ten Hag seems to be getting United playing better. Chelsea look a weird team but again they've changed manager and he is trying new things and they are only 7 points of us. City will win the league despite the hopes of many. Sp**s look the most likely to explode but again they never seem to capitulate so much that they can be discounted. And Newcastle with 1 game a week are flying up the league.

Long way to go and we are in an excellent position for top 4. But that position can soon change with 1 or 2 draws instead of wins.

 

[avenellroad]

I also dont think its purely a fatigue thing. Part of the reason we have a drop off from the second third of the game is because teams are upping their intensity in marking us, when we are in a period of energy conservation and looking to game management. Once parity or an advantage is gained, the opposition will once again drop into a tight defensive shape, and ride out the final third of the match, and the storm we will bring.

I think we need to consider shorter time periods of high intensity attack, and combine it more with equal spells of ball possession and control of proceedings right through the match. Goals in those periods could obviously change the dynamic and what would be needed, but the manager would do well to keep us to that level of discipline for most part.

This game was a reminder that we need to stay alert and control the game during our up and down times in a match. An important skill if we want to go far this year.

Liverpool were the masters of this in recent seasons. Blitz the opponent in like a 15 minute spell each half and then conserve their energy. We play a different style but the emphasis should be the same.

 

[14Henry]

Liverpool were the masters of this in recent seasons. Blitz the opponent in like a 15 minute spell each half and then conserve their energy. We play a different style but the emphasis should be the same.

It's a psychological thing too. Had we gone 2 0 up after 25 mins it may have made the Soton players subconsciously drop in intensity. Chasing something that was unlikely. Which meant we could also just try and conserve energy and keep the ball and the game was easier to see out.

At 1-0 the game is there to get something so the intensity is more because the reward of pressing harder and commiting men is a draw. Not just reducing the deficit.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

It's a psychological thing too. Had we gone 2 0 up after 25 mins it may have made the Soton players subconsciously drop in intensity. Chasing something that was unlikely. Which meant we could also just try and conserve energy and keep the ball and the game was easier to see out.

At 1-0 the game is there to get something so the intensity is more because the reward of pressing harder and commiting men is a draw. Not just reducing the deficit.

I guess the only encouraging thing is we created chances and we were also somewhat screwed. Would be more concerned if we put in some of our Europa League performances

 

[14Henry]

I guess the only encouraging thing is we created chances and we were also somewhat screwed. Would be more concerned if we put in some of our Europa League performances

And the fact that we didn't lose. Reminds me abit of the Everton game last season. We took the lead should have got a second, stopped playing and Everton scored then Gray scored that belter.

We were never going to beat every team we should on paper. It just doesn't happen in football. It's just it feels like an opportunity missed.

For example we have to play City, Chelsea, and Newcastle still this round of fixtures whereas United have played them matches. They will have 3 mid table games. That 7-8 points soon diminishes to 3 or 4. Whereas those extra 2 points allow us to falter abit.

 

[Kysus]

Southampton's centrebacks being allowed to just manhandle Jesus was a big reason for them grabbing a foothold in the game tbh.
We could not release pressure because of it and Jesus faded more and more being unable to holdup the ball.
Same happened to Saka too.

Ref took all the momentum out of our attacking players

 

[Gooner Zig]

Yes the ref was bad, but we had the chances to bury the game and we didn't take them.

What's concerning to me is the drop off in quality between the first and second halfs and the lack of impact from our subs.

Really need ESR and Mo to get back ASAP.

 

[The_Playmaker]

****ing idiots. Glad Arteta didn't mention the ref. Play in a Sunday league game and sometimes you can tell after 5 minutes you won't get anything from the ref. This was very apparent in this game and they were moaning and feeling sorry for themselves. Then even worse, they let it affect how they play. Hopefully this draw kicks start a better performance vs Forest as this was an easy three points.

We miss ESR and desperately need Zinchenko back.