Arsenal faced Southampton under a blazing hot sun but started the match cold. They were initially nervous on the ball and unable to maintain possession. Fortunately, this lasted only about 5 minutes. For virtually the entire match after, the players were comfortable passing the ball out even under pressure.

A returning Xhaka showed us some of what we’d been missing with a super through-ball that found Saka’s run from deep. Eddie finished the move by putting the ball in the net but it was chalked off for offside. A long ball from Tierney also sent Auba through on goal, only for him to strike the bar via McCarthy’s thumb. Unlucky or a great save. But a few minutes later the goalkeeper committed a grave error. Under very little pressure, he casually played a pass straight to Nketiah who ran through to score in the open goal. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Southampton troubled us with a dangerous cross, and one through ball that was cut out by Mustafi. But apart from that, they weren’t creating much. Arsenal were in control without being spectacular. A couple of promising counter attacks came to nothing, and the referee brought the first half to a close.

Second–half battle

The Saints came out in the second half more determined to make a game of it, and they put together a great move. We were fortunate that Bertrand’s cross didn’t find its intended target, and a long range shot is all that came from it. Arsenal responded with a fantastic long kick from Emi to pick out Auba, whose square pass would’ve led to an easy tap in if it wasn’t cut out by the defender.

All the same, Southampton were posing an increasing threat and Arsenal kept dropping deeper. A period of poor concentration and an injury had us under pressure, and Arteta decided to make a change. Willock came on for Pepe, while Kola for the melting Scotsman was a straight switch. Southampton kept coming at Arsenal though. A cross found Redmond in a dangerous position, but he shot into the side netting. Shane Long had a shot on goal from a ball over the top. Martinez made the save, and managed to gather the ball before an onrushing Ings could get a foot in.

Arsenal made their final batch of substitutions to bring on Lacazette and AMN in place of Nketiah and Ceballos. Soon after, Auba ran through on goal from a careless Southampton backpass and was brought down just outside the box. A red card to Stephens for denying a goalscoring chance, and Lacazette stepped up to take the free kick. He hit it against the wall, but followed it up with a powerful snapshot on the rebound. The GK managed to block the shot with his body, but could do nothing when Willock followed up and scored from the loose ball. Arsenal managed to play out the remaining few minutes easily enough. 2-0 and job done.

The Shape(s):

Our burned bananas came in all shapes and sizes today (Macey is a GIANT) It was fascinating to see all the formations we used in this game. The idea seems to have been to overload on our left flank, which we did.

At various points we were playing a 523, 424, 541, or some strange 432 +1 where Saka was a roaming left flank presence with no fixed position. With so many changes in different phases of the game, and substitutions, we could easily have become disjointed, but the transitions were seamless and the gameplan effective.

We were defensively sound and never caught short of numbers at the back. We were always dangerous on the counter. And the overload caused Southampton problems, especially in the first half.

It wasn’t the most spectacular performance. After all, we got somewhat lucky with both goals. There will be tougher opponents and matches played at a quicker tempo, which might present a sterner test. But I am hugely encouraged by what I saw from Arsenal today. A gameplan for the future.

Miscellaneous bullet points:

• Speaking of the future, how great is it that both goals were scored by our academy graduates. Nearly half of our 20 man squad came from the youth system.
• Martinez was really good today. Not the busiest day for him but some of his passes were brilliant. Made the saves that he needed to, and was generally very assured. Long may that continue, and I am very happy for him.
• Arsenal were much more robust in the tackle. Great controlled aggression with the possible exception of Saka, who was almost reckless. A different referee might even have sent him off.
• Rob Holding’s performance and hairline both say he’s the next Steve Bould.
• Tierney’s formal stand-at-ease in the tunnel before the second half is funny but endearing.
• Hassenhutl suddenly aged 10 years at the final whistle. Weird.
• Not as weird as the fact that Liverpool have won the Premier League. Congratulations to them.

 Written by: Shard. Find him on twitter @shardgooner

Good morning one and all.

Well ok, when I say good morning, I mean what an crap morning this is, I have a stinking hangover from last nights game, and I didn’t even have a drink.

Our honeymoon period with Arteta was brought to an abrupt halt by Covid 19 and by the looks of the team. Mikel gave it to them all and they are still under the weather.

So lets start at the beginning. The team was announced and I thought it was people having a giggle on twitter, but I checked on .com and there it was. Perhaps it was Mikel having a giggle? My initial though was “Are you farkin kidding me!”, but on twitter people were saying that because Arteta knew City so well that he would have a grand plan and that our kids would surprise them. So for the next hour I decided to wait and hope for the best. I won’t bother doing that again in a hurry, I can tell you.

After about 3 minutes Xhaka injured himself, and we had a midfield of Willock, Ceballos and Guendouzi ,up against KDB, D.Silva and Gundogan , good luck with that.

For the first 15 minutes City were poor, and we managed to match them, but then ,inexplicably, they decided to start passing the ball to each other and totally dominated us for the rest of the game. It could and should have been three or four nil by half time.

Luiz, having had to come on when Mari got injured, made a mistake and the ball , rather unfortunately , fell at the feet of Sterling, who lashed it in for his first goal in 2020. How kind of us.

For the second goal , we were opened up by a punt form their goalkeeper and Luiz , this time nothing unlucky about it, cocked up big time, gave away a penalty and got his marching orders. By the time the third goal came I had started playing Candy Crush Saga and missed how it came about, so I can’t help you there.

On a positive note, Tierney looked decent and City helped us prepare for the rest of the season by giving Leno some practice.

I would love to describe some of our good bits of play, but honestly, I can think of any.

I said last September that we would be lucky to finish top half, and right now we are sitting at 10th, right on the halfway line. Xhaka is out and our best player, Mesut Ozil, is being left out for “tactical reasons” Some clever prick on twitter posted this:-

I suspect Aubameyang is packing his bag as we speak. The club will possibly bow to fans pressure, as they did with Wenger then Xhaka, and we might have seen the last of Luiz, a player that until yesterday was being hailed as on of Arteta’s success stories.

It’s not all dome and gloom, we have Mikel, but it’s certainly clouding over again.

Cheer up.

Hello everyone, it’s been a while. I hope you are all in good physical and mental health? It’s been a difficult time for me on both counts , but I’m feeling better and I appreciate the good will shown to me on here and social media, it really did give me a lift. Thanks .

Ok, to business, specifically transfer business.

It should be clear to all that the virus will have a big effect on the clubs ability, or willingness, to spend this summer, but lets start at the beginning, pre virus.

We spent big last summer, specifically on Pepe. this was achieved by Raul and his mate staggering the payments in a big way. Some people heralded this as as masterstroke, but the reality is they were spending a good chunk of this (and next) years transfer kitty in advance. In simple terms that means less to spend this year and following years.

We have had a 3rd season out of the Champions League and could even miss out on the Europa League next season, this too will limit or spending.In short, we were already going to be fugal.

Then we have the virus effects. We have to consider how much it’s cost the club to keep going during lock down, How much will they have to refund for tickets sold for games people can’t attend, will the TV companies also want a refund and what effect will it have on next seasons ticket sales and match day income? We simply have no idea how much this will cost, but it’s a lot, an awful lot.

In my opinion any talk of several £50m + players being bought is ridiculous.

It think we might complete the signings of  Cedric Soares and Mari. Then we might buy one big name, possibly Thomas Partey, but this will be funded by the selling of several squad players like Guendouzi, Torreira and Mustafi.

There could also be some £ coming in from Aubameyang or Laacazette, but that will weaken us if we don’t reinvest it.

For me then, talk of Coutinho is preposterous. even a loan deal will be very expensive considering the fee and his wages.

Of course nothing will stop blogs, podcasts and twitter from hyper speculation and then endless moaning when this mad speculation doesn’t come to pass.

See you soon, stay safe.

George.

Hello all, hope you are all keeping well and safe. It’s a difficult time for everyone and football seems such an irrelevance, but life goes on, boredom sets in and we tend to retreat to safe ground. So here I am , writing an irrelevant blog about a long irrelevant player. Irony knows no bounds.

Yesterday I noticed that Arseblog had released a podcast featuring Cesc Fabregas, our former El Captain. Now under normal circumstances ,I doubt I would have bothered to listen, but these are not normal circumstances, and I dug in.

I have to be honest, and say I though it was a very good and interesting podcast. Arseblog asked all the questions he should have and Fabregas answered them all, there were the odd occasions that Arseblog attempted to get Cesc to be critical of Arsene, a bait Cesc, to his credit, refused to take, but in general, it was a fine podcast.

So the question I ask myself is did my  opinion of Cesc change? The answer is yes, it did. However, not because I learned anything new. In fact everything he said about his leaving just confirmed what I had believed to be true at the time.

To be clear, Fabregas forced his way out, and let the club, his teammates the fans and Arsene down. He was selfish and ungrateful, he was a snake!

However, what did change is how I now feel about it.

He was our captain and best player, but he was just 24 years old. He had shouldered a great deal in the final 2 or 3 years and being just 24 that is a lot to ask of anyone. I believe he thought we were not in a position, especially financially, to win the big trophies, whether he stayed or not. I genuinely believe that had he though he could have made the difference, he would have stayed. I 100% believe he loved the club and Arsene, but Barca was calling. It’s easy for any of us to say we would have remained loyal, but unless you could walk in his shoes, with his head on, I’m not so sure.

The pain I felt, and the pain most fans felt, was so extreme because the boy meant so much to the club and us. He meant so much to us because he had given us so much, and there is nothing worse than a scorned lover. Well I was a lover, I was scorned and I became bitter and hateful towards him. He got the brunt of me being unable to cope with his loss.

What he gave from the age of 16, and for 8 years was special. He was a joy to watch and a credit to himself and his profession. All that he gave, all that he was, should not be forgotten because we think he should have considered us rather than himself.

There is a debate going on twitter as to who was best at their peak, Cesc or Ozil? And it’s a close one, that’s how good he was.

I am grateful to Arseblog and Cesc for that podcast. Not because I learned anything about Cesc, but because I learned my feelings towards him were about the way I dealt with, and processed,  his leaving and not actually with him leaving.

Was he a Snake? Yes, he was. But for 8 years he was a prince, our prince. Now I’m happy to remember those glorious 8 years and accept he made a selfish choice at just 24 years old.