SOUTHAMPTON GAME THREAD

[OneBardGooner]

ps: Thought Giroud was MOTM yesterday.... He may not be as skilled as a number of strikers but he just keeps going and going and doesn't give up on anything...He holds the ball up well....we need to get someone just behind him quicker so he can lay the ball off to them quicker...

[officepest]

Didn't see the game as I was at hospital having needles shoved into my spine but I'm pleased with the win, even if I can't comment on the performance.

Saints are a good side so it's good to get back to winning ways after the supine capitulation to a shit manc side, the clean sheet is a bonus too.

[LDB]

Didn't see the game as I was at hospital having needles shoved into my spine but I'm pleased with the win, even if I can't comment on the performance.

Saints are a good side so it's good to get back to winning ways after the supine capitulation to a shit manc side, the clean sheet is a bonus too.

Performance was a strange one tbh. Southampton did a good job of pressing us from the front and some of our passing was too sloppy to cope with it, especially from Arteta. Ramsey was also particularly anonymous.

However I think we did a good job of recognising that we needed to move the ball beyond their press, sometimes with a long ball to Giroud if needs be rather then just ploughing on trying to tippy tappy from the back.

Obviously being gifted the first goal in a game like that makes a massive difference and southampton didn't look particularly threatening all game.

[officepest]

Cheers LDB.

[Herd]

We got an early gift from Santa ..........which is nice !
Plenty of room for improvement in the defensive midfield but we looked OK going forward and were unlucky a few times.
Wins a Win !

[1989]

This game was all about the handsome Frenchman. Fantastic performance.

[augie]

Only seen the motd highlights so havent seen enough of the game to judge our performance but am thinking that games like saturday must leave ozil bemused - there we were playing against a team that he might not have heard of up until 2 weeks ago, and we needed an almighty fcuk up by boruc to set us up for the victory. That in itself is ok but I'm sure that he must be wondering why wenker would take off our two (maybe 3) best creative players when the game is far from won As I said, I didnt see the game so maybe ozil and cazorla's performances merited being taken off but I can never shake the feeling that bringing on monreal in midfield is a case of batoning down the hatches - is that a correct analysis ?

[Bendtners Drinking Buddy]

Giroud is the best all-round striker in the league at the moment.

Not THE best, but in terms of contribution, work rate etc nobody rivals him. He is such an asset at defending corners too - Saints were really well drilled at those.

Decent atmosphere too, stayed behind the team when we looked Nervy - Southampton are a very, very good side now and its these sort of games we have not ha the ability to win in past seasons.

I have no problem adapting to their set up and threats during the game, which we did with the introduction of Nacho and Rosciky was a forced change due to Artetas injury. Ozil was pretty quiet tbh and doesnt really track back that well, so at 1-0 with 15 to go i thinks its a decent call in a game like that to take him off ahead of some big games.

Very encouraging.

[SteveO 35]

Only seen the motd highlights so havent seen enough of the game to judge our performance but am thinking that games like saturday must leave ozil bemused - there we were playing against a team that he might not have heard of up until 2 weeks ago, and we needed an almighty fcuk up by boruc to set us up for the victory. That in itself is ok but I'm sure that he must be wondering why wenker would take off our two (maybe 3) best creative players when the game is far from won As I said, I didnt see the game so maybe ozil and cazorla's performances merited being taken off but I can never shake the feeling that bringing on monreal in midfield is a case of batoning down the hatches - is that a correct analysis ?

I actually think for once that his substitutions were sensible. I get your point - there are times when he has very much batoned down the hatches and it actually works against us by enocuraging the oppo to lay siege to our goal. However, the important difference this time was bringing Wally on too because like him or loathe him, it meant Southampton were very wary of being hit on the break and indeed if his touch and decision making had been sharper (no harm in that having been out for weeks) we would have caught them out a couple more times. Gibbs was outstanding but more and more heading into the last part of the game was not being covered, so Monreal came on and did a decent job.

Southampton deserve a lot of credit for how they played. I thought despite their position they would set up for a draw but I can honestly say they were one of very few teams I've seen that genuinely came to our place to play for a win