A last minute Santi Cazorla penalty secured a dramatic victory for the Gunners over a well-drilled Southampton side. The win moves Arsenal into the top 6, five points off the leaders Manchester City.
Saints fans will feel hard done by and rightly so, for the majority of the game they were within touching distance of victory as they kept a lacklustre Arsenal team off their game. Arsenal struggled to maintain any kind of rhythm throughout the game, the match reflected the physical repercussions of the international break.
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Despite the frustrating nature of the 90 minutes, the game had it all; an own goal, a stupendous overhead kick, a last minute penalty and new signings.
Arsenal lined up in Wenger's standard 4-2-3-1, with three changes from the team that dispatched of Watford. Coquelin came in for Xhaka with PSG on Tuesday in mind, while the new signings Mustafi and Pérez made their debuts at the expense of Sanchez and Rob Holding.
On paper, the team looked full of movement, intricate passes and a quick defence: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Walcott, Özil, Chamberlain, Pérez. However, football is not played on paper.
While Southampton lined up in a rigid 4-3-3 that morphed into a 4-5-1 whilst defending: Forster, Cedric, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand, Clasie, Romeu, Davis, Tadic, Redmond, Rodriguez.
Structureless built-up play
New signings, same problems in build up play. From the first minute of the game, Arsenal looked unsettled and off-beat. Their passing play in recent years hasn't been cohesive but Saturday's performance was worse than normal.
Nowadays, their build up play relies on individual brilliance rather than positional play. Their passing is now passive rather than incisive, besides Özil & Cazorla their attacking players are scared to pass through the lines to create new angles.
For Arsenal to progress through to the final third they had to depend on Ozil & Cazorla to dribble out of tight spaces to create room for others. Arsenal were deprived of space so the German came deep due to this lack of space in the final third and the Southampton players were overjoyed to see the creative German so far away from their goal.
When playing against a deep-lying low block defence the only way to get through is to produce more intricate and quicker passing to draw the opposition out or to use direct long balls. Arsenal did neither, in the first half they aimlessly passed the ball from side to side with no pace or purpose.
The deep-lying Southampton defence was disciplined and untested. The North London team’s inability to stretch or disorganise Southampton led to a stale first half performance in which the Saints looked the most dangerous of the two teams.
More signings, more problems in positioning:
As the game went on it became clearer and clearer that Wenger had given the Arsenal players no game plan, the players began to improvise and freestyle their movements to the detriment of their effectiveness. Coquelin's restlessness in pressing and eagerness to make things happen made him abandon his position several times.
The distance between the midfield pivot is too large to efficiently build up play, Coquelin's hot-headedness forces Santi to sit even deeper than normal to cover space. The positioning of new signing Pérez was also a call for concern, the striker-winger hybrid got into a few encouraging positions that you would expect a centre-forward to but he found himself on the wing too many times.
He has the ability to play on the wing but in this game, he seemed liked he preferred to be there. This left vacated space up front, giving Fonte and van Dijk fewer runners to track.
Problems also occurred with Arsenal’s defensive structure against counter attacks. Despite defensive reinforcements Arsenal still showed positional vulnerability. New signing Mustafi seemed to struggle to adjust the pace of the league, there were a few times where he was a few seconds behind the pace in terms of positioning.
If he had anticipated play quicker he could have prevented opportunities for Southampton. He needs to not follow the ball but rather track the runners.
The introduction of Giroud, Sanchez and Iwobi improved Arsenal's link up play and incision simultaneously. Giroud stayed central to occupy the Southampton CBs, while Sanchez and Iwobi caused mayhem in the final third by making several diagonal runs from the touchline inwards.
This new dynamic movement caused Southampton more problems forcing them to abandon their structure and defend against new angles. Arsenal's refusal to ease up mixed with the new substitutes set in motion one-way traffic and Arsenal were eventually rewarded.
Despite the win, this outing provided further confirmation that Arsenal now operate best on the counter attack. They transition better on the counter than through possession. It's a myth that Arsenal still play good passing football, nowadays there's no consistent pattern of play at the Emirates.
Their combination play is based on individual brilliance rather than movement & cohesion. Dominating possession and dictating play is not equal to good football, it provides the foundation for it but does not equate to it.
Arsenal may have made new signings but their inability to efficiently convert their chances still remains, they had 17 attempts at goal with only one on target. New signings are not enough, a new mentality has to be instilled.
New Signings:
Now that they’ve been mentioned, let's dissect Arsenal’s new signings. Starting with the new 'striker'. The 28-year old Spaniard started off jittery with a few failed flick-ons but he gradually grew into the game.
However his eagerness to be involved constantly reduced his positional discipline as he spent most of the game in wide areas which pushed Walcott in centrally.
Of course, he will need time to adjust to the pace of the Premier League and he did show positive signs in terms of willingness to get in behind the Saints' defence, but this was not the marquee debut many fans had hoped for.
On the other hand, the new German centre-back showed much more promise. The 24-year old looked assured in his tackles, aerial duels and interceptions. He also looked comfortable on the ball, making more forward passes that anyone else on the pitch. His partnership with Koscielny may well be considered as one of the best, come the end of the season.
All in all, Arsenal fans will take satisfaction in three valuable points that allow them to keep tabs with the other title contenders. Wenger will seek to improve Arsenal's offensive efficiency with Özil & Cazorla creating a monumental 7 chances between them, none were converted.
Southampton can take heart from a disciplined & illustrious performance that gave Arsenal all they could handle. Their midfield engine Romeu led their counter-attacking charge several times by completing 14 ball recoveries & 7 interceptions.
Claude Puel's team were positionally astute and industrious in the tackle, and on another day they could have easily taken all three points.
Arsenal, on the other hand, must address their positional issues if they want to sustain a title challenge, new signings alone aren't enough. Successful teams just don't need signings they need chemistry, cohesion and a consistent game plan.
