Kevin Whitcher
An interesting team selection from Arsène Wenger. A weakened line up, with Sanchez and Xhaka on the bench. Wenger has rested players before Champions League fixtures before, but my suspicion is that, if this is his last season, he is determined to give the competition he has never won his best shot. So a result in Paris is probably vital if Arsenal are to win the group.
With Sanchez’s exertions for Chile on the international break, there was certainly an argument to rest him. However, that meant introducing Lucas Perez into a side flanked by the talents of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a pair of players struggling for form. It was a recipe for a hotchpotch of an attack, and so it proved.
As far as attack is concerned, Arsenal need both Ozil and Sanchez on the pitch. The opening fixtures of the season have proved this. Without one of the pair, things become pedestrian, laboured, and with a lack of vision and penetration in the build-up.
Perez may come good, but in his first appearance, he played a lot like Sanchez does when he plays (nominally) as the central striker. In this role – critically with Ozil on the pitch as well – Sanchez, in my view, played very well against Watford. He was criticized for not actually playing in the centre a great deal, yet contributed to every goal. Is this tactic this season going to be playing a false number nine, before, if it doesn’t work, throwing Giroud on after 67 minutes? So Perez and Sanchez are the options for the position (and in theory, the pair being able to switch easily), with Theo the other attacking player who, in Wenger’s opinion if nobody else’s, is still able to play the central role if required. Iwobi seems to be a better option to make up the third of such a trio, but going on yesterday’s selections, the manager will feel he has plenty of options if the false number 9 policy is indeed where he is headed.
Playing Perez – given his lack of understanding with his new colleagues – was a risk that didn’t really pay off, but the player needs first team game time under his belt, and he’s got to play games some time. My belief is that on Tuesday in Paris, the front three might be Iwobi – Sanchez – Walcott. It would confirm that Giroud is now considered an option from the bench, and that the manager is no longer interested in starting a hold-up forward. In fairness to Giroud, his performances for the French national team indicate he is more effective in tandem with a more mobile forward. What Arsenal need is more players weighing in with goals rather than relying on Giroud to be more prolific. Perez may be the answer to that, but the goals tally of The Ox suggests that if he is to gain a new contract, he really needs to improve in that department. So no great surprise that the goals yesterday came from a centre back and the penalty spot.
Southampton took the lead thanks to what later transpired to be a very questionable free kick award against Monreal. Cech was plain unlucky with Tadic’s kick. On a miserable wet day, it felt like the heavens were conspiring against Arsenal, even if they were shooting themselves in the foot with the team selection.
The equalizer was a very good piece of improvisation by Koscielny as the ball fell kindly to him, an example of what can happen when Arsenal get enough bodies in the box. Too often, they seem very light in this department, especially in open play. The central midfield partnership of Coquelin and Cazorla, from the excellent run of 2015, is not what it was. They looked over-run in the first half, and Cazorla, never the quickest, is beginning to look more and more laboured. If Xhaka and Elneny both start in Paris, we can assume that is the first choice pairing from this point on. They certainly provide greater drive to the team.
Shkodran Mustafi also made his debut, but Arsenal’s defence looked vulnerable a little too often for comfort. In the second half, substitute Shane Long spurned two gilt-edged chances to give his side the lead. It was a game that could have gone either way, as both Sanchez and Cazorla spurned decent chances themselves.
When both Sanchez and Iwobi were on the pitch, Arsenal looked a lot sharper, but by this time Southampton seemed content with the draw and were soaking up attack after attack in between the odd break on the counter.
Overall, the home side’s performance did little to suggest they are shaping up for a title challenge. Southampton had failed to win a match so far this season, and almost took the three points. They are still finding their way under a new manager, having lost three of their best players over the summer. It the kind of game that Arsenal needed three points from and somehow, they construed to achieve that.
I was astonished that the referee allowed play to continue with Koscielny lying prone on the edge of the six yard area as Arsenal attacked in injury time. How could he not be causing an obstruction for Fraser Forster? There is no doubt that Giroud had his shirt pulled, and it was spotted by the ref, and one imagines he allowed play to continue up to that point because Arsenal had the ball and chose to continue playing as their player was injured. However, not only Koscielny’s position, but also that he seemed to have suffered a head injury meant that the whistle should have been blown before Mustafi lobbed the ball forwards towards Giroud.
Gunners’ fans won’t complain, but if they had been on the receiving end of that decision, there would have been complete uproar. Such is football. Arsenal got lucky, winning a game they could easily have lost. It doesn’t engender confidence, but hey, a win’s a win. We’d all take another 34 fortunate victories this season. Meanwhile, a couple of hundred miles north, Pep Guardiola doesn’t seem to be having too much trouble adapting to Premier League football. Arsenal are five points behind Manchester City, and I wouldn’t put too much money on the gap not increasing further before September is out.
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