Kevin Whitcher
I’ll start with an email I received from a sometime correspondent of mine, Sandy Doherty…
Good result, and deserved - Thoughts on today:
• 3 moments of AFC brilliance in 1st half: Wilshere dink to back post, Ramsey backheel, and Ozil taking out two players (the divvy TV Director did not replay the latter – they do not understand football)
• Hit post twice in 1st half so deserved to be up
• All came down the right in the first half
• Arsenal play a lot of long balls now from Szczesny (1st goal ultimately came from one)
• Cazorla anonymous 1st half, outstanding in the 2nd
• With Ozil, Wilshere and Cazorla in the same team we have a different level of class
• Sagna exceptionally solid
• Besides goals, Giroud contributes immensely - in defence, holding the ball up, laying it off, winning headers, pressing, etc.
Only downsides:
• Arteta is not up to it – teams like Southampton play too fast for him, and twice in the 1st half he nearly have cost us a goal
• We are still giving away too many pointless fouls
• We needed a blunder from the Holy Goaly and a penalty that is normally not given to get our goals
We need to keep the momentum going – and hope that Giroud, 1-2 centre backs and 1-2 midfielders all get injured mid-Jan so that AW actually signs some players in Jan…
I always find Mr Doherty’s thoughts enlightening, so thought I would relay them because there is not a hell of a lot to say about this game. However…
I think everyone at Arsenal knew this fixture was not going to be the walkover of Southampton’s visit a year ago, and were prepared to watch a tight encounter. The priority yesterday was points rather than polish, and that is very much the way it turned out. Certainly there were a couple of magic moments when Wilshere and Ramsey hit the woodwork, and the quality of those efforts, for me, meant that Arsenal did indeed deserve the points. Southampton created their own moments of danger, but fluffed their lines.
Yet, they were resilient, competitive and organized. The low goals against tally indicates they have been set up not to lose in the first instance, and from that basis use the mixture of flair and physicality they possess to get more than a point when they can. Mario Pochettino has got a hell of a lot out of a group of players most people had little familiarity with before he arrived at the club. I think he has built a solid enough basis for them to finish in the top half of the table, and it is refreshing to see a side like Southampton mixing it with the big boys.
It took very two cheaply conceded goals to hand the Gunners victory, and in successful seasons, a team will get these kind of breaks. No-one could have foreseen the idiocy of Artur Boric for the opener and shirt pulls are so rarely punished that it was like Christmas come early when Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot. It relieved the pressure, as Southampton were certainly giving Arsenal cause for concern as long as the lead was a solitary goal.
That Olivier Giroud scored both goals was fitting, as he worked very hard for the team throughout, especially in defence. Everyone is concerned he is going to run out of steam at some point, but who knows? Perhaps it will be France who ultimately suffer as he will surely have little in the tank by the time he gets to Brazil next June.
The suspension of Mathieu Flamini meant that it was Jack Wilshere who played as the wide right attacker rather than Aaron Ramsey, who was in his favoured central position. A confirmation of the current pecking order. The indications are that Wilshere will not be playing every game, which would seem sensible. There are certainly a wealth of options for the two deeper midfield spots, but the feeling is that in the bigger games, Flamini has to be one of them.
Overall, it wasn’t pretty. Southampton played well enough to prevent Arsenal finding much real rhythm at any point, but it was not their day. On another, they would have taken at least a draw. It was an afternoon when the Gunners simply needed to do whatever it took to win, and with a helping hand from Artur Boric, it was a case of job done.
Now for Tuesday and the hope that the team are in no way complacent about the visit of Marseille. It may turn out to be an enjoyable evening, but in Europe, the unpredictable can be just round the corner.
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