CAN ARSENAL BE SAINTS' FIRST PREMIERSHIP SCALP????

Or first point even???

going for a point. If we can keep it tight for first half then can put presure on in second half. Fortunatley no Van Persie this game! Key will be our defence and if the addition of Yoshida can add some strength.

some question over Lallana's availability as his other half is due to give birth this week, hope she drops tomorrow and gets it over and done with!

Will be interesting in his line up, will the 3 new boys all start? Yoshida has to in my opinion, as would expect Ramirez but would expect Mayuka to start on the bench

I have my doubts whether Ramirez will start as because of international duty he won't have had much chance to work with the team.

matty07uk wrote:going for a point. If we can keep it tight for first half then can put presure on in second half. Fortunatley no Van Persie this game! Key will be our defence and if the addition of Yoshida can add some strength.

some question over Lallana's availability as his other half is due to give birth this week, hope she drops tomorrow and gets it over and done with!

Will be interesting in his line up, will the 3 new boys all start? Yoshida has to in my opinion, as would expect Ramirez but would expect Mayuka to start on the bench

I bet that never used to be a problem in days gone by, players not being available just because wives and girlfriends were about to drop a sprog. It shouldn't be a problem today either, people are too touchy-feely by half these days. And the rest of us not members of the family don't need to know about it either.

Right, taking my cynical hat off, I think we may get a point. We have to start getting points soon and Arsenal are not as good as they used to be.

saw an arsenal friend today, she reckons we will win, hope she is right!

What odds Lallana misses out on the international for the birth??

As Roy Hodgson has said, the three drafted into the squad aren't going to play anyway, it's just to give them some experience of the senior England set up, so it doesn't matter. I'd rather he missed that than a Saints game.

Trying to guess NA's thinking and just wondering if, should Fox be ruled out, he will decide to leave Fonte and Hooiveld in the middle and try Yoshida at left back.........

I think Cline can play left back so may well bring in Richardson at RB and play Cline on left but if he does that would be a gamble to play a new CH as well as effectively 3 out of 4 in back line changed.

I think he will probably leave Fonte and Hovvield together if Fox isnt fit so probably will be Yoshida at LB, less critcial doesnt know his other team mates.

Formation will be interesting. I think will start Ramierez left, Schneiderlin and Davis in middle, Puncheon right and Lallana with free role behind Lambert. Whoever plays left back will have a thankless task as unlikely to get much cover from midfield!! 4 5 1 or 4 3 3 you choose

match report will probably be Sunday as going to game and will probably have a few sherberts

Really hope I am wrong but I've a strong feeling that we are about to be slaughtered.....6-1 perhaps. Or maybe even worse......

We're already 2-0 down. *sigh*

Make that 4-0. Double figures anyone. F*cking hell

We got one back but

1549:

MOTD's Simon Brotherton at the Emirates:
HALF-TIME - Arsenal 4-1 Southampton
"What a first half, with Arsenal on easy street. Southampton have just not been competitive in this game at all, despite that late consolation goal. It's Arsenal all the way here."

That says it all really. Embarrassing. Come on Nigel, prove why you should be given a chance in the Premier League. Get a f*cking grip, Saints.

5f*cking1. Jesus Christ.

Btw, Büttner has set one up and scored one for ManU. He could have and should have been our player. We could have done with him after today's fiasco.

FT 6-1. Which is woeful and embarrassing. Even the happy clappers elsewhere can't deny that was utter shite.

SaintMike wrote:Really hope I am wrong but I've a strong feeling that we are about to be slaughtered.....6-1 perhaps. Or maybe even worse......

Oh dear, me and my big mouth again. Wonder how much I'd have won for a tenner on the score........

Two things Mike - please, no more scoreline predictions from you and the other thing, can I have next week's lottery numbers?

It's even more worrying when Arsene Wenger said in his post match interview that they didn't even have to 'dig deep'. If Arsenal had dug deep then we'd probably be rueing a double figure scoreline, which I was worried about at one point.

Well I am afraid Nigel may not see out the week after this shambles but hopefully will have the Villa game to show he can do it. Personally I am not so sure as again today he seemed out of his depth.

the formation was strange, effectively 4 5 1 which was quite negative, no support for Lambert, none of the £19m of new players and despite 5 in midfield we were overun in midfield!!


Adkins need to decide if he is going to stick with 4 3 3 ,if he is then dont think he can play Rickie as simply not a formation he can fit in. If playing rickie then need 4 4 2 and ensure the wide players deliver crosses, dont care if it is pretty if it is effective. No one really had any credit from this game and again showed up our inability to tackle, think to much training on prettty passing. Sunderland drew 0 0 at Emirates and arsenal fans said they were awful but they had a game plan, defended well and went in for 50/50 challenges. We are to lightweight, dont want to be like Stoke but you have to have some steel.

Cline again made mistakes, when Fox makes then he gets crucified. Davis is also showing not up to the level required, first goal he should have stopped, free kick went nearly middle of goal, should have been easy save. That destroys the confidence in the defence. See Everton are giving Gordon a trial yet we either have to play Gazzinger or get an out of contract goalie in Kelvin doesnt look like he will keep a clean sheet this season. Seems blindingly obvious to get Gordon in even if a short term contract.

Ward prowse had a disappointing game, looks good on the ball but lightweight in the tackling dept. Couldnt understand why he took Hoovield off when he did, could just have been Fonte and should have got them to half time, it was like a surrender flag and poor Yoshida must have wondered what he had walked into. 4th goal was a classic ball knocked over the top we all thought off side but think Fonte simply didnt watch and think played onside.

About the only positive was Ramirez when he came on in 2nd half who did look class controlled the ball well and passed to his teammates, which seemd to surprise them!! Only player to look decent, Lallana poor, Puncheon back to sub standard after the Man U game. Rodigues came on and at least chased the chanels. A good indication of the lack of confidence 2nd half when for 20 minutes we looked good, ward Prowse had a great opening 20 yards out right in front of us. Had to take a chance and shoot but looked at goal and passed out wide, to much training ground routines or not ready to start games in premiership

Will Adkins last to next saturday? Honestly dont know, he has got to sort out the defence and recognise the role the midfield play in that but to be honest we have been pretty lightweight in midfield last couple of years and just doesnt seem to be his style. We managed in the lower leagues because rickie would always score goals, wont work in premiership.

Final point never heard 60000 fans so quiet, Arsenal must have the worst fans in the country, more atmosphere at Orient with a gate of 7000!

Great post Matty, a lot of sense in that.

Must say I found it embarrassing watching MOTD when they analysed the first 2 goals and showed all the errors Saints had made!!

I'm even more annoyed about the manner of defeat this morning than I was yesterday. Saints were embarrassingly uncompetitive, outclassed and generally very poor. I don't give a damn that these are supposed to be difficult matches, yesterday was just plain crap. Yes its early days but the defence, especially, is a disaster and we will be found out even against 'lesser' opposition.

And this isn't the only one

As they had done against the two Manc sides, Southampton opted for an attacking game plan that involved keeping the ball on the deck. Admirable, but daft. I imagine if Arsene had been asked to set them up to make life easy for Arsenal, the shape wouldn’t have looked much different. Their back-line, in particularly, couldn’t have been more suicidal without Adkins dousing the defenders in petrol and then flicking matches at them from the dugout. At times our young knives had an entire half of the pitch to scamper into.

Other websites have been saying that Saints were suicidal. I hope Adkins realises this and that all-out-attack with a crap defence is not the way to go in the PL. It worked in the Championship and L1 simply because the standard is much lower there. Not signing defenders and a new goalkeeper (forget Gazzaniga, he's one for the future) is the biggest cock-up in Saints' recent history. Still extremely pissed off.

I was pretty hacked off at the time but hoping Adkins will realise he cannot continue as is. I think the problem is not that the back 4 are that bad, probably together not good enough for the top Premiership teams but decent enough for many games IF we play 4 4 2 as oppsoed 4 3 3. Adkins seems intent on 433 yet exposes the back 4.

Have said before but dont think existing squad is comfortable in 433, maybe the new guys will find easier but Adkins has to go back to what works.

My worry was this was first game after manure game and looked like players may have lost some confidence in Adkins, we all moaned about the subs being dumb in that game, must also have been obvious to the players who may now be doubting his tactics.