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Saints At Arsenal The Verdict Wednesday, 24th Sep 2014 09:18
Saints ended a run of ten matches without a win against the Gunners stretching back to November 2002 when Delgado scored the winner in a 3-2 win at St Mary's.
Saints march on into the last 16 of the Capital One Cup with a gutsy performance at the Emirates that saw them again come from behind to win a game roared on by great support from the 5,000 who travelled up to North London.
Of course as suspected Arsenal put out a side with multiple changes, but they still had a little bit in reserve and many Premier league sides would be happy with the likes of Jack Wilshere and Callum Chambers in their starting line up.
Ronald Koeman had a couple of changes of his own, resting Plastic Bertrand and bringing in Matt Targett at left back as well as a debut for Sadio Mane and restoring Wanyama to the starting line up.
But after a decent start for Saints it was the Gunners who struck first with Sanchez scoring from a free kick after 14 minutes, but Saints responded well and 6 minutes later the debutant Mane who caused the home side problems all night with his pace, was tripped by Rosicky.
The question was who was Saints penalty taker now, the answer was Tadic who opened his account for the club with aplomb.
But it was to get better when shortly before the break Nathaniel Clyne stormed forward to pick up a loose ball and thundered in a piledriver that was past the keeper virtually before he saw it.
In the second half Saints had to dig deep, but in the main they protected Fraser Forster in goal well although the keeper had to make the odd save or two when called upon.
Again Koeman made the right substitutions at the right time to close out the game, bringing on Shane Long to bring in a little more steel as Mane understandably tired and then with five minutes to go bringing on Bertrand to ensure that Matt Targett's great night wasn't marred or Saints for that matter.
Saints are starting to find their game under Koeman with a distinct style that is less about pressing, but being controlled in defence and then breaking quickly and at speed, with Mane now we have another option and Saints are now playing better than they did last season.
It was one of those nights we havent had enough of in recent years, you just sensed that this was a game that Saints wanted to win a lot more than Arsenal, as mentioned this was our first win over the Gunners in nearly 12 years and our first win away to them in 27 and it was great that not only were there so many Saints fans there to witness it, but they made so much noise.
There is a real buzz in the Saints team now. a real sense that we might just achieve something this season, we are no longer reliant on plan A working and if it doesn't then we are stuffed, we have plans B,C,D & E and I wouldn't put it past Ronald Koeman to have a few more up his sleeve.
Now we await the draw for the next round and if we can get a home tie then we fear no one, although the truth is the way we are playing at the moment that is the case anyway.
Photo: Action Images
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i was at the game last night and have some comments: Mane is quick, v quick, but did get easily pushed off the ball a lot, does need to toughen up and soon for the prem games. Is a bit theatrical as well. Gardos was excellent in defense. A really solid display. Clyne - what a goal! I was sat behind the goal with the home fans, so couldnt celebrate (only cos the saints tickets had sold out), but oh boy..
A great night all in all. You can see how Arsenal struggle in Europe, they are a very narrow team and if they can't go down the middle, they struggle.
Whatsforpud - Sounds like you are a bit younger than Nick (and me for that matter). Plastic Bertrand was a one hit wonder in the seventies. Probably the most famous Belgian after Audrey Hepburn in his day! Listened to the game on Radio 5, great sound coming from the Saints fans. Well done to those that went. Alan Green was eulogising about Saints throughout and admitted that it was the first time he had seen them this season. What stuck in my mind how often he said "great inter play from Southampton" "wonderful lay of from Pelle" "Mane is a real handful" to name just three. He was particularly impressed by Pelle and the centre back pairing who he described as giants physically.
A great performance by Saints. We could've scored 4 or 5 if we'd been more clinical in the final third. Our midfield were excellent and must be an absolute nightmare to play against! Schneiderlin in particular was relentless in closing down, getting in people's faces and winning the ball back. What a great leader on the pitch and an example to every other player of what hard work, determination and commitment can achieve. His energy is almost infectious and must motivate others to work as hard as they can for the team. You can't underestimate just what a player he is for us. He wanted to leave in summer but you would never guess that now. Fair play to him, after acting like a complete d1ck, for getting his head right and focusing on performing at his best. The board did a superb job in keeping him. I think he could do a job in any midfield in the Premiership. Even City and Chelsea would be better teams with Schneiderlin in there. That makes him one of the best midfielders in the league. While I think Saints will probably have to sell him next summer, we could get over £30m for him, and there will be some of the very best teams in the world come in for him. Wanyama proved his worth once again last night, another player teams won't want to play against. Provides great resistance to opposition attacks. If only Steven Davis could finish then we'd have been comfortable. He does really well to get into the right positions but some of his finishing this season has been really lame! He had two of our best chances last night and fluffed them both. Put your foot through it man! I was impressed with Gardos. Very composed and commanding. Really dominant in the air. He could be a really good signing and it's great to see such competition in the squad at centre back. Fonte might not be an automatic pick in a few weeks time. Targett had a great game, believe the hype. He has real potential. Tadic was excellent again and looks a class act. Mane had an encouraging debut and he did well to win the penalty. Some of his touches and passes were a bit off but I put this down to a lack of match practice. His livewire running at defenders and looking to get in behind will offer a different threat for us and the potential for him to link up with Tadic and Pelle in the final third looks very promising. As for Pelle, this guy is a very good player and he's improving with every game as he adjusts to English football. Last night he was class, linking the play, winning headers, holding the ball up. He's got a great shot on him and is the ideal lone striker. What a signing! He will score goals for us, and with the midfield given freedom to get forward we've got so many more potential goalscorers compared to last season. At this point you can see Pelle scoring 15+, Tadic 10+, Mane 10+, Schneidlerin 10+, Davis 5+ (if he improves his finishing), Long 5+, Wanyama a few, Clyne a few, Cork a few, we've got J-Rod to come back in. That's brilliant. Couple that with a mean defence not conceding easy goals and we could be challenging for top six come the end of the season, maybe with a trip to Wembley too. A huge congratulations to the board and to Koeman for getting us through a bleak summer and ending up stronger than we have ever been!
Perhaps a little off message but well done to the Arsenal in regard to pricing.
Was the near capacity crowd of 60000 odd a record for the competion outside of the final?
If we are drawn at home in the next round then Saints should do something similar who ever the opposition. Better to have a capacity crowd than a stadium one third full as it was for Bristol City last season.Saints will make more money and fans who can not afford Premiership prices will get a look in.
agree with saintmark, get the pricing right, and you will have a full house. That's the main reason I went last night, couldn't turn it down for that price
The last time I saw Saints play Arsenal in a cup game was in the FA cup final at Cardiff, which we lost. The key difference this time was a set-up designed to win, a belief about the team that they had the skill to overcome the opposition and the confidence to strike at goal. We may not have the ego-filled superstars of some teams but football is above all else a team game, and a good team playing as one will overcome 11 superstars playing for themselves.
On another front, very welcoming staff at the Emirates. I was greeted by the security guys with "Enjoy the game Sir!" That's a new one on me!
Arsenal were koemaned by Clyne last night. Their keeper was just beaten by the pace of the ball. Maybe Ron has been giving Clyne some one to one shooting practice over the summer. And Mane reminds me of Danny Wallace in his stature, gait and speed. Being there with the whole pitch in view you could see how well organised our team is when we lose the ball and the rotation in midfield means everyone is expected to take their turn in attack. I live walking distance from the ground so to be there with my son was something special.
Nick, judging by your report, i am not convinced that you went to this game. Your writings about the game were extremely vague and the points you make about substitutions and how we performed in the second half were incorrext.
Yes Arsenal made 10 changes, but still had 10 internationals in their squad. Saints made 5 changes of their own, which included full debuts for Gardos and Mane, plus Targett wass making only his 2nd start for Saints.
We played extremely well and should have been a goal up through Davis, before Alexis found the postage stamp top corner with a superbly executed free kick. The key point though was whether it was a free kick in the first place, with many Arsenal players going down easily all evening - and Sanchez along with Wilshire being the main culprits. Saints seemed unphased and continued to cause Arsenal problems down their flanks, with Tadic and Mane in particular looking dangerous. It was the latter who was scythed down by Rosicky, right in front of thr ref for a definite pen, duly despatched down the middle by Tadic.
As half time approached, a good Saints move resulted in a corner. This was headed clear by our old mate Callum, but Nath picked it up, took a touch to steady himself and rifled it in from fully 30 yards. Perhaps Wilshire could have closed him down and the keeper could have done better but it was an absolure rocket and Clyne shouls get all the credit.
Yes in the secind half Arsenal pressed a bit and had more possession - but it was them who needed to score, not us. Yes we sat back a little, but superb performances by the whole team restricted Arsenal to just a few noteworthy chances. What was not mentioned was the numbrr of chances we created in the 2nd half. Many of these were on the break, but we still had periods where we were controlling possession. On another day, Davis could have had 2 or 3. He seems to have lost his confidence in front od goal. Pelle had 2 great chances, including a free header that he put narrowly over. Tsdic also had a free kick well saved and couldn't quite dig out another chance when in possession in the area. Mane also had a great chance from a tight angle.
Our inter-play and passing was simply superb at times and with the pace of Mane and Tadic, we caused plenty of problems and created many chances. Even when Long came on, he slid in and just missed a chance to put the result bveyond doubt.
Targett was subbed because he was struggling with cramp. He need treatment and actually left the pitch before he was then subbed - earning himself a booking - which I guess was for time wasting (like Forster's booking).
All told a deserved win and all the players did excellently. The consensus aftrer the game was that we were worthy winners. Many Arsenal fans thought we were a bit rough and were time wasters (why not if we are winning). Arsenal were light weght divers - particularly Sanchez who was also showing imaginary cards - which i thought was a booking these days ? He also escaped a booking for a deliberate handball in the box.
Roll on tomorrow and here's to another great performance and another win.
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