Gunners flatter to deceive

Southampton 4-0 Arsenal

Arsenal undid all their hard work from Monday night, when they had defeated Manchester City in what felt like a real watershed moment for this team, by putting in a terrible performance against Southampton and getting trounced as a result.

Having beaten Manchester City and with Southampton going through a terrible run of form, Arsenal should have approached this game high in confidence. Maybe they were too confident as the Gunners failed to do the basics, appearing to feel as though they only had to turn up to win the game. Southampton were full of hunger and desire throughout the team as they chased and harried Arsenal to force mistakes and win back possession. Their work rate was simply phenomenal, especially given they sustained it throughout the entire 90 minutes to record a fantastic victory. Quite simply, Southampton just wanted it more.

That should be a real concern for Wenger. If this team is to seriously contend for the title this season then they cannot afford to let opportunities to seize the initiate to just slip through their fingers. With Leicester having lost earlier in the day, the Gunners knew a win would see them climb to the top of the table and that coupled with the win over Manchester City would have simply increased the feel good factor around the club. But there was no pace or tempo to their game, they didn’t come out of the blocks fired up to win the game, as they just passed the ball slowly and without any penetration.

Of course much of this was also as a result of Southampton’s fine work. Wanyama and Claise in particular were excellent in the deep midfield roles as they stifled Ozil’s influence and as the German wasn’t allowed to influence the game, Giroud was a non entity, starved of any service, while Walcott and Campbell on the flanks did more work running back towards their own goal, than in the attacking third.

Arsenal just couldn’t cope with the high pressing, high intensity game and the defence just crumbled under the pressure. With Southampton playing Shane Long up front it was strange that Wenger decided to start with Mertesacker in central defence. Long is renowned for being a hard worker who has great pace and constantly looks to get in behind the opposition defence. By playing Mertesacker Wenger gave Long and Southampton a weak link to exploit. As a result Long played off the shoulder of Mertesacker throughout the game and had great success doing so. Had Wenger decided to play with Gabriel instead, the Brazilian’s pace at the back would have helped to negate that threat and Arsenal could have played a little higher up the pitch. By playing Mertesacker Wenger was relying on his midfield to be able to put pressure on the ball and stop it from being played in behind the Arsenal defence.  Unfortunately the midfield just couldn’t get into the game at all and Arsenal were made to pay.

Wenger complained after the game that of the four goals, three relied on bad refereeing decisions, but that was a poor excuse. Arsenal didn’t turn up, were poor throughout and got the thrashing their performance deserved. If this doesn’t serve as a wake up call then nothing will.

The first goal was a wonder strike from Martina but also involved poor defending from Mertesacker. As a cross came into the box the German should have done better with a defensive header to get the ball away from danger but his limp header fell straight to Martina just outside the box and the fullback unleashed a  phenomenal shot with the outside of his foot to send the ball right into the far corner of the net.

Taking the lead played right into Southampton’s hands. It worked perfectly for their game plan as now Arsenal had to commit players forward in search of a goal and therefore were exposed to the counter attack. With the slow Mertesacker in defence, the Gunners were there for the taking. Shane Long could have added two goals to the score line before the interval. Firstly the Irishman saw an effort harshly ruled out for a foul on Mertesacker as the German had allowed a long ball to bounce and then found himself in trouble, falling to the floor under the merest touch to earn the foul as Long backheeled the ball into the net.

Then a clipped ball over the top of the defence saw Long and Mertesacker in a foot race which the German was never in any danger of winning. As he bore down on goal Long elected to dink the ball over the onrushing Cech but got too much on the ball and saw his effort sail over the bar. Southampton may have been ruing their missed chances during the half time interval but they had nothing to worry about. In the 55^th minute they doubled their lead as Koscielny and Mertesacker were left isolated at the back with Long and Mane running at them. Long clearly tripped Koscielny in the build up to the goal but the referee didn’t spot it and the Irishman was therefore in acres of space when he tapped the ball home.

Jose Fonte got the third in the 69^th minute as poor marking from a corner saw the Portuguese defender head home from virtually under the crossbar in a situation from which Cech should have done better as it was a delivery the Arsenal goalkeeper should have claimed.

The fourth arrived right at the end of the game with Shane Long getting the second his hard work had richly deserved. The Irishman had run Arsenal ragged throughout and capped off a fine performance with a low, powerful effort which flew through Cech’s legs in another incident in which the goalkeeper could have done better.

Arsenal now need to pick themselves up quickly as the festive period sees matches come thick and fast. Next up are Bournemouth and any repeat of the atrocious performance against Southampton will simply result in defeat again. Given the lengthy injury list Arsene Wenger cannot even really make changes to the starting eleven and so the Gunners will have to overcome fatigue to get themselves back on track in the title race.