Heroic Sakanelli Rescues Arsenal! Arteta, Learn From This Mistake: Arsenal 3-1 Southampton Recap

Arsenal, I love you guys. But just once, maybe in the next game at the Emirates, can we just have a straightforward day at the office? For some reason, at the Emirates, it's some topsy-turvy, scary kind of games. I can't speak for you lot, but I always believe we're going to win, even when we conceded first. But yeah, man, can we just get back to being boring, man? I feel like the Emirates were being a bit kind of mad now. The main thing is, we're still picking up results. You know, Leicester was a crazy game. This week was a crazy game. We got six points. We keep it moving. We keep advancing. So I'm happy with that. Obviously, big up for Kyle Saka, because I don't necessarily think that was one of his better games. But at the end of the day, he's had a hand in all three goals, including scoring one himself. Hallmarks of a great player. Shout out to Kai Havertz, who I think also had a good game, if I'm honest with you. Big up Califuri and all of those kind of things, people. And also the subs. Martinelli obviously bagged. I think Trossach did a lot of good things. I think Martinelli and Trossach did what I wanted to see from Gabriele Zeus and Sterling, which was some damn link-up playing, some one-twos and all of that kind of stuff, man. And I also want to say, before we get on to waffling about Arsenal, Russell Martin, I think he coached a very good game today. I think you lot were good. Generally, you lot were good defensively. You dealt with the corners in the first half. You obviously took the lead. And at one point, it looked like you might get a couple more. You had a chance where I think, I don't remember if Reyes punched it onto the post or something crazy has happened. So yeah. And also big up Ramsdale, the former goalie. Now, where Arsenal's concerned, I understand Mikel Ote has to utilise his whole squad. I understand he's got his own ways of thinking. I think the players, regardless of what anyone's got to say about that line-up, they were good enough to do a lot better than what we've seen and definitely in the first half. That being said, though, I think people are doing too much with Partey right back. I think he was decent there. I'm cool with that. For me, the biggest issues are midfield. You know that, you know, so everybody looked at that line-up and was all like, you know, it's going to be one of those days. Now, obviously, as the game went on prior to Southampton scoring, it was all us. We had them all in their own half. We were huffing and puffing and having shots, but really and truly, we didn't really test Ramsdale like that. At no point in that first half did we go, what a good save from Ramsdale. Bloody hell, I kept that out. Big up Southampton for also playing out from the back. So yeah, I was a bit annoyed with that. For me, the most thing I'm annoyed about with that starting line-up is Gabriel Jesus and Sterling. I think they're good players. A hundred percent, they're good players. But both of them are down on their luck. Both of them ain't really got minutes in their legs. Both of them are extremely frustrated. And I think Sterling was better than Gabriel Jesus a hundred percent. But end of the day, Raheem Sterling runs into blind alleys. I do think he should have had a penalty shot. He runs into blind alleys, trips over the ball. And sometimes I think he's a bit too greedy in his decision-making. Summed up by when they nicked the ball, when he nicked the ball off Declan Rice and then he got the ball nicked off him, they went down there and scored. Gabriel Jesus anonymous. A couple of good flicks and tricks and probably should have had an assist, but it's looking horrible for Gabriel Jesus, man. And I'm selling my stocks, man. I love Gabriel Jesus, but you're not giving me nothing. I'm not asking you to score a million goals or whatever, but your decision-making is frustrating me, if I'm honest with you. And we knew going into this game, you've got Sterling and Jesus, which are very frustrating. Kai Havertz, whose strengths are more running in behind. And he did a good job pulling out to the right. Jorginho, for me, he looked lethargic today, but we all know he's not got that dynamism. We all know Declan Rice is allergic to trying to break lines and doesn't really have the ability to do that. So the midfield was going to look of sorts, if that makes sense with you lot. Big up, Califuri. So I knew that was going to be the case. But again, first off, I think we had 14, 15 shots at the time, one on targets, which was the same as Southampton. You had two shots, one on target. So we're huffing and puffing, but we're not really creating. Respectfully, games aren't won on paper. And we know Southampton's our bogey team, but they're fighting for their lives. It's not naive, but it's naive in that they're not a typical side fighting for relegation. Yes, they were defending very well and doing all of that, but they're playing out from the back. They're trying to play football. We should be messing all of that up. I did not like how we obviously didn't score. I don't think we took our chances, the ones that were provided. I don't think we really tested Ramsdown at first off. It was the first time I saw us have eight corners and not score from one, if I'm honest with you. So yeah, second off, I think Southampton came out the blocks firing. If I'm really honest, I think they did. I still think we were second best. Obviously, they took the lead. And at that point, you're getting scared. You're demanding Mikel Arteta to make changes. Fair enough. When he did make the change, it worked. When he didn't, he got back in it. So yeah, and obviously, you know our boys, one thing we can give them is there's a mentality, a will to win, a will to get out of jail, which we did. So yeah, big up to Saka and Kai Havertz for combining for that goal. Lovely to see Martinelli come off the bench. Saka's driven across it, and he's put it in the back of the net. And it's nice to see in the last few weeks, obviously, Martinelli getting some stats in terms of goals and assists, which is great. When you find out why VAR saw the need to get involved there, let me know, because a black Stevie Wonder could see that there's no need. He's deaf on the offside. Great run and a great instinctive finish from Martinelli, and obviously a good delivery by Saka. Obviously, it's nice to see. Not sure what the Southampton defender was doing, but I don't care. Nice to see Saka put some daylight between the two sides. Obviously, get some more goal and assist statistics. And yeah, we won 3-1. I must admit, though, in life, you make your own luck. So it's not the case of us riding luck. But we always say games against the top six were kind of spot on. It's always the games that should be walks in the park that we struggle with. Leicester was that last week. This week was that. And one does wonder when you look at them things, them two games, and you look at Aston Villa recently, how long is it going to be that we get out of jail? Now, signs of a good team mentality. I agree with all of that. But how long are we going to do that really? In life, you have to kill the game before it kills you. And we should have put the game to bed in the first half. And again, obviously, there's injuries, there's changes and all of that stuff. But yeah, man, it's nice to get three points heading into the international break. It's nice to keep up the winning run. Obviously, you saw City or you would have seen City. I don't know the score at this moment, but leading the game against against Fulham. So it's nice to see we keep up the pace there. We don't need to drop unnecessary points. But I think we need to be less entertaining for the neutrals at the Emirates. I think we need to shut up shop a lot better. I think we need to create and score chances a bit better. I think, you know, we need to be better on the transition last two weeks. We've been quite poor in that. But it's nice to go into the international break with with with three points. Hopefully, you know, there's some positive news on potentially the timbers and the whites who weren't involved today. Hopefully, Tommy asked you could stay fit. Hopefully, we could just welcome back some players. It's as simple as that people and keep some players fit. So yeah, man, it's nice that as Arsenal fans, we can win the game and then dissect the performance. You know, we've come a long way, come a long way. Like when we're winning games, and we're dissecting the performance, there'll be a time where everything would have happened in that game. And we would have known it and had the capacity to speak about it. But we just won. It's always nice to get the three points and dissect the performance second. So you won't catch me complaining people. There's definitely things we could do a lot better in that game. There's definitely things we need to do a lot better. But on that note, that's all I've got to say. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. Let me know your thoughts in relation to the game people. My man of the match would be between Bakaio Saka or Kai Havertz. I think Saka in comparison to how he normally plays. I don't think that was amazing. But at the end of the day, we've come back from behind. He's had a hand in all three of those goals. So that shows how good he is. I think Kai Havertz, he's not the most eye-catching or whatever. But I think within his limitations, he played more to his potential than the others. And obviously he scored as well, people. And Kai's just doing what Kai's been doing. Good player for us. So yeah, you lot let me know your thoughts on the game, on your man of the match. Smash the like button and all that good stuff. Peace.