Kevin Whitcher
It’s a results game. And after the sequence of Anderlecht at home, Swansea away and Manchester United at home, Arsenal have won three on the bounce, all without conceding a goal. Laurent Koscielny has played in the last two matches, with 1-0 scorelines. And what the hell, the Gunners have won a game against a team in the upper half of the table for the first time this season.
For a long time it looked like we might witness a 0-0. Southampton were organized and disciplined, and in fairness, so were Arsenal. Defensively, it was impressive to witness such a transformation. Why can’t the team always be this focused? Perhaps it helped that Ronald Koeman’s team seemed more intent on not losing than winning, meaning the number of chances they created were few. However, Emiliano Martinez in the Arsenal goal looked impressive and commanding, confident of dominating his area. I hope, if his promising displays continue, Wojciech Szczesny will not walk back into the side.
The home side continued knocking on the door with only sporadic impact. Two Welbeck chances before the interval was the total of credible attempts to score, although the Saints keeper Fraser Forster was in excellent form, and continued to thwart better opportunities in the second half.
Olivier Giroud’s entrance from the bench shortly after the hour perked things up a bit. Until that point, Arsenal’s attacking had been largely predictable and the Frenchman’s entry gave some variation. Crosses came in and troubled the opposition, a header from Giroud forcing a fantastic save. However, Welbeck had been on the pitch all match, almost scoring from a header in the first half. Why weren’t more crosses attempted? Why invariably the tika-taka round the edge of the box that eventually comes to nothing?
Still, in the end, pressure told. How much of a factor Southampton having to play with ten men was in the goal we will never know. A decent number of people had made an early exit before Alexis’ goal. Those with more patience, or without an urgent train to catch, were rewarded.
As a game it was pretty forgettable, but the three points were very welcome and will have eased the pressure that was building on the manager, at least until the next pair of poor results. It does look like the team are playing with greater focus and awareness of the defensive side of their game. Why this couldn’t have been the case since the start of the season is a mystery. However, better late than never. From that basis, what needs to be developed is a little more imagination going forward. Until the opposition went down to ten men, frankly, Arsenal were quite easy to defend against. Is this a recovery in progress or the upside of an inconsistent Arsenal team? The matches against Stoke and Galatasaray will tell us which.
Finally, a quick plug for my co-author Alex Fynn, who will be doing a book signing session for our most recent publication, Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories at Waterstones bookshop in the Spires shopping centre in Barnet, from 12 noon this Sunday (7th December). Go along to meet the great man and get your books signed and personalized.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
The new issue of The Gooner with free 2015 Art of Arsenal calendar can be bought online here. It will also be on sale outside the stadium for the coming home matches v Newcastle and QPR, and away at Stoke.
DIGITAL ISSUES
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Further Reading
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here. Use the promo code ‘Gooner’ to get 10% off the publisher’s price of £8.99.
