Saints started 2013 on a positive note with perhaps their best performance of the season in a great draw with Arsenal.

Its fair to say that before the game there werent too many people predicting much for Saints, certainly after a decent set of results in our favour from most of our fellow relegation battlers we entered St Mary's with trepidation after seeing the way the Gunners had despatched Newcastle & Reading in recent games and with our leaky defence there was a good chance our goal difference would take a battering.

First good piece of news though was that Nigel Adkins had clearly been thinking about his line up and what was needed with several changes made, my worry though was that putting Jack Cork at right back was shuffling a bit too much and that Cork being in my opinion our most influential midfielder of late it would dilute the team, I neednt have worried though, not only did Cork put in another man of the match performance at right back, but Steve Davis replacing him in the middle put in a great display in his place in the centre.

Perhaps the biggest shock though was the return of Artur Boruc in goal, in truth he had a nightmare first ten minutes where he just could not seem to be able to get a grip on the ball, but despite the loud murmurs from the crowd and the ironic cheers when he stopped a back pass, he dug in didnt stop coming for the balls and didnt do much wrong in the other 80 minutes apart from the fact his kicking needs a bit of working on.

Overall though this was a great display from Saints who right from the off had the right attitude and were not overawed by their illustrious opponents, sometimes you can tell how Saints are going to perform early on, at the Emirates they looked scared before a ball was kicked, yesterday they had a confidence about them that they had a job to do and were good enough to do it, after surviving the initial goalkeeping scares they never looked back.

Saints goal owes a lot to Guly who despite the abuse he still continues to get put in another decent game, he battled to win the ball back in midfield and this lead to the goal, in this build up if it had been Guly who was too slwo and robbed of the ball as Lambert was, or if it had been guly who miskicked as Puncheon did there would have been hell to pay, luckily though Gaston Ramirez did not look a gift horse in the mouth when the ball dropped to him and crashed it home.

Unfortunately for Guly though luck isnt with him at the moment and he scored an own goal, to be blunt though he had to go for the ball and try and get something on it, if he hadnt blocked it, it was right in the mixer, but when your luck isnt in, as Guly's isnt at the moment, these things dont go your way.

In the second half Saints had complete controland Nigel Adkins made some good changes at the right times to ensure that as our legs tired Arsenal didnt get a foothold and get an undeserved winner.

Ramirez scored what looked like a winner half way through the second half but the goal was ruled out, many thought for offside, although that wasnt the case with Ramirez clearly being on although Lambert was off, but the real reason was for an alledged push on Koscielny, tv replays showed though that contact was minimal and the goal should really have been allowed.

But at the final whistle Saints fans were delighted with the point, not just because it lifted us above Wigan and out of the bottom three, but for the manner in which it was won, the worry as we went into Xmas was our inability to take points off sides in the top half of the table as well as away from home, after the draw at Stoke and this one against Arsenal aints took a big step in showing that they have the ability to do both in the New Year, there is still a long way to go in this battle but against the Gunners there seemed a new attitude and confidence about the team which if it continues bodes well or the rest of the season.      

Photo: Action Images

JimmySteal added 09:28 - Jan 2 Why do you think NA takes off his best players (SRL & Gaston) before the end. Lack of fitness? Tactics? Can't be to shore up the defence, we're losing too many points in the last stages of a game. Thought Cork was awesome.
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SaintNick added 09:31 - Jan 2 Both were tired i think, fresh legs at the right moment
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Butty101 added 10:02 - Jan 2 I thought Rickie had a good game in the air and won virtually everything. On the deck though he had a bit of a shocker
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SaintNick added 10:17 - Jan 2 Rickie seemed very slow off the mark at times and waited for the ball too much as shown in the build up to our goal
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winchesterbob added 10:42 - Jan 2 A nice day around, nice to see Terry Paine, nice reception for the returning players in the Arsenal team and nice to get a point (and Arsenal were lucky to get that). The only negative was the text I received from my mate Den, (who was watching on sky), asking me why I would have Gully in my team. He was excellent and worked hard all game. The performance of the whole back four was excellent and as you say Nick when Boruc calmed down didn't do much wrong. Spiderman and Davis did well in the middle of the park, was a shame Spider got himself booked again, and Puncheon was much better in the second half. Gaston looked like a player still recovering from an injury and was not as fluid as he has been. Lambert's lack of real pace showed and I thought J-Rod should have come on to replace him much earlier. MOM. Jack Cork who was simply outstanding

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ThereIn76 added 10:45 - Jan 2 Don't you just love how the London press is full of how Arsenal were really terrible. Fact is we stifled them and actually kept the ball better than they did. Well done NA and all the players. Proud of my team this morning.
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thingummy added 10:57 - Jan 2 I thought it was our best performance of the year without the ball - with it, I think we have played much better in terms of fluency and touch. We missed AL. Ricky in particular misses his movement and passes to feet. At this level, Ricky can appear ponderous when team mates pass the ball for him to run onto (Gaston dod it in 2nd half). Ricky needs the ball to feet and then it sticks and he is incredibly effective at bringing others in to play. Guly did a better job defensively than Al would have done (IMO). I think the crowd were supportive of him because he put in a good shift. He is frustrating when the creative play doesn't come off and he pulls out of tackles. He is a valuable member of the squad and I think he can adapt to life in the premiership but wont be in 1st eleven. We really do need to sort the goalie situation out. I though Boruc looked solid after the initial nerves and I do worry about relying on a 19 year old if we go back for Butland. It's a risky move Overall, I would say well done to the coaching team - the performance was borne out of hard work on the training ground, and a back 4/ midfield playing with a real discipline Wonder who he will play Saturday - If I was playing a 2nd team I would go with Boruc, Richardson, Jos +1, Fox, Davis, Guly, Chaplow (punch looked tired), Reeves, JRod, Myuka. Don't want to take a compete mauling though

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ExiledSupporter added 10:58 - Jan 2 Definitely better shape on the pitch (sustained throughout) and more confident approach, bodes well for the future if we can just do this regularly and make sane selections going forward. Cork has been such a boost to us over recent weeks that his must be the first name on the team sheet. But others also proved their value, namely Guly particularly, Davis, Schneiderlein (yet again), Fonte (who looked the part as captain) and Yoshida. I think I might have subbed RL sooner he looked tired by half time (too many matches in a short space of time?) Still puzzled about De Ridder on the bench (and on the pitch). What's happening about Tadanari Lee who seemed to be considered highly promising last season, why no appearance amongst the subs? Any views anyone? Not much evidence that Boruc is any more obvious choice in goal than the other two candidates, at least Arsenal were kind enough not to embarrass him after the alarming first ten minutes.

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SaintJez added 11:05 - Jan 2 Pleasing performances over new year but you can't help the feeling that we've missed a great opportunity having not fully capitalised on our good fortune at Stoke and a very under par Arsenal team. That is to paint a glass half empty picture though... In truth, Saints were very good against Arsenal. We pretty much dominated a midfield of Carzola, Wilshere, Arteta, Oxo and Podolski. Tens of millions of talent in that lot and Saints met them tackle for tackle, pass for pass and came out on top. Scheiderlein's value seems to go up by the day and Cork showed he can take his recent midfield excellence to full back too. A special word of praise for the much maligned Guly too. I thought his workrate was superb and showed strength and composure on the ball too. He's never going to be a flying winger but he more than held his own. I really feel for him conceding that own goal. Having got into that (perhaps poor) starting position, he had no choice but to go for it as the keeper was not coming (should he have been?) and Kosielny had got the run on his marker and had a tap in. We need to be realistic about Boruc though. That was one of the worst keeping performances I've ever seen. Putting the dropped crosses to one side for a moment, his kicking was simply atrocious. A premier league keeper must be a competent all round footballer and he looked an accident waiting to happen every time the ball went his way. On a positive note, I would say that his throwing was good as he initiated a couple of quick breaks with intelligent throws and his catching improved as the game went on - though, in fairness, he was very rarely troubled.. Chelsea on Sat is a nice distraction for all. Villa the week after is a massive, massive game!

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Zambucco added 12:02 - Jan 2 An excellent performance from a fast improving team. I think because of the steep learning curve we had at the start and our young squad, the lessons have been learnt well and are being put to good use. There were excellent displays right across the park, I've always been a big admirer of Guly's talent and he added work rate to that, to put in a fantastic performance. Ramirez, who I think is a BRILLIANT buy is coming back to his best form, he only moves one way and that is towards goal. Schneiderlin has been my tip for the top for the last 4 seasons and he hasn't let me down, a future full French International this year and still getting better. Jack cork has always been a worry for me blessed with a lovely touch but always seems a bit lightweight, but he's toughening up and surprised me with his recent performances and he adapted fantastically to play so well at right back. Funnily enough as I have recently had Luke shaw as my MOTM in the last 4 games, he seemed somehow in awe of OX, he didn't have his 'no fear' attitude, but he's still one of the best left backs in the world future England first choice. Fonte had amazed me I really thought he would struggle this year but has found his best form. Puncheon continues to improve, Davis back to his best and was big in midfield and very creative, Now the enigma that is Boruc, he made a few fine save, he did eventually start to command his box, but I thought his distribution was, in the words of Alan Hansen "woeful" it's not good enough to just punt it upfield where there's a 50-50 chance of losing possession, it needs to hit one of own. Davis has been solid lately, and I liked the way Gazza was improving, go with Gazza. My biggest worry is that lately Rickie has been found out, too many balls are going wasted because of his very obvious lack of pace. He is still the very best at laying balls off and holding up play and a valuable player, given the correct balls, But how many more goals could he have scored with an extra half yard of pace? In my opinion he's looked increasingly tired and frustrated recently, I was actually calling for NA to sub him with Jay Rod a lot earlier as I believed his pace would have troubled the Arsenal defence and I'm not a massive fan (at the moment as he is improving) Now very controversially I think we should cash in on a good transfer bid for Rickie and bring in some young pacey blood or bolster the defence. After this very confident and controlling performance by Saints, my pre season prediction of mid table safety is still very much on track. It's an exciting time for us Saints fans, but we need to be patient and enjoy the highs and suffer the lows, at least we don't have to suffer any Lowes! (did you see what I did there?) Happy New Year to all

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131153 added 12:02 - Jan 2 Certainly a well deserved point last night. After seeing the replay of Ramirez disallowed goal, although the contact was minimal I do feel it was just enough to stop the defender heading the ball. I must say I thought Boruc had been away for a special training session at Billy Smarts during the fisrt quarter of an hour. Can't say after that he had a great deal to do so not easy to judge whether he is the best long term choice. I bet you would have got pretty long odds on us being unbeaten over the three festive games, so it is disappointing to only get three points. No question in my mind player of the season so far is Morgan but Jack Cork not far behind despite missing start of the season. All in all a good start to the New Year lets hope it can be maintained.

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mattlegod added 12:04 - Jan 2 Positives - Who is this new Guly we have witnessed over the last two matches??!! He has worked his socks off and linked very well with Luke Shaw down the left. Luke Shaw - fantastic, we must keep him at all costs. Jack Cork - terrific since his return from injury. Jose - people should never have doubted his ability at Prem level - and a natural skipper too. Negatives - Boruc; didnt understand the need to change keeper for this match; Boruc was no improvement on Super Kelv who has put in a few steady shifts of late. For all those that say he looked better after the inital wobbles.... thats because he had little to do - on another day..... I do agree with Saint Jez tho, the only positive was his throwing which kept the momentum up. All in all - excellent display; you can never fault a team who put in effort and desire such as what they showed against the gooners regardless of the result - well done lads!

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brianletiss added 12:19 - Jan 2 Agree with much that has been said but must stick up for Boruc yesterday. He has not endeared himself to the Saints crowd, me included, but after his shocking first 10 minutes his handling was superb. He had to field the Walcott shot which he dealt with comfortably - it could easily have squirmed away. But what I liked was the way he commanded his area. At corners he made himself big (unlike SuperKelv) and caught a number of corners which Kelv would probably have left to his defenders. The confidence that gives defenders and the pressure it relieves should not be underestimated. Whether he is the long term answer is another matter but like Guly we should give credit where its due.

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brianletiss added 12:29 - Jan 2 Agree with much that has been said but must stick up for Boruc yesterday. He has not endeared himself to the Saints crowd, me included, but after his shocking first 10 minutes his handling was superb. He had to field the Walcott shot which he dealt with comfortably - it could easily have squirmed away. But what I liked was the way he commanded his area. At corners he made himself big (unlike SuperKelv) and caught a number of corners which Kelv would probably have left to his defenders. The confidence that gives defenders and the pressure it relieves should not be underestimated. Whether he is the long term answer is another matter but like Guly we should give credit where its due.

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no7saint added 12:33 - Jan 2 Agree with these comments in general, good strong performances throughout with everyone contributing. On another note I'm noticing a lot of players losing their footing this season, it's proved costly once or twice. It doesn't seem to affect visiting teams to the same degree, coincidence or do we need longer studs?!
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boxosponge added 12:35 - Jan 2 The longer the game went on the more confident I felt with Boruc. The defence must have felt the same because of the massive number of passes back to him.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:43 - Jan 2 A superb performance by Southampton and we really deserved to get a win. There was nothing wrong with Ramirez's goal. Maybe it was some of that luck from the Stoke game balancing itself out. As for Guly's own goal; the keeper should've come and got that ball and been screaming at Guly to leave it. It was a poor ball in from Walcott, it was going to be a simple catch for the keeper but Guly didn't know. As for signing Jack Butland; he's the best young English keeper in the country. We should definitely sign him. He's already much better than the three keepers we have. We might even be able to get him for less than we offered in the summer because Birmingham are close to going under. As for Rickie Lambert; Adkins took him off because he was tired and wasn't having a great game. He played in all of our games over the mad xmas period and has been excellent. He is such a crucial player for us, and he's proving that he can cut it at the highest level. Any talk of him being sold is ludicrous. A huge amount of positives to take from the performance. Biggest worry is that once again we didn't get the points we deserved, but we now have the ability/belief that we can take points off of any team.

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landsdownsaint added 12:44 - Jan 2 Zambuccos post is spot on,we are getting better every game ,but i think RL is struggling a bit,it's about time J Rod was given a proper run and as for Guly he was as good as any player out there, The penny might have finally dropped with Guly regards his workrate because technically he's a very good footballer!
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Bulgarian added 12:46 - Jan 2 I've never been an admirer of Guly, but (besides all his excellent work yesterday) was astonished with his quick runs in the 2nd half - agree with mattlegod: a completely different person. Bear in mind: when substituted he still looked very disappointed with the own goal, he had Wilkins to cheer him up. Nice to see this kind of attitude. Rickie definitely needs a rest on Saturday: for a player at his age and fitness he's done brilliantly. We need him not only for the goals scored (or missed) - without his presence our attack is completely different. Suddenly it looks nice to see that JRod is the same type of player - a natural replacement to guarantee continuity in our attacking pattern. The best thing this season is seeing how the team matures. Call me a silly optimist, but if we keep the young players next years will depict the massive benefits of a squad with members that know each other so well. Gaston being criticized in the last 3 weeks: he's clearly a super project in the making, definitely one for the future. I just hope he likes life in England and develops a feeling of attachment to the club: after some months of playing experience and good psychique he can truly shine. He needs our full support, let him be shown our appreciation of the unique touch he possesses. Finally: fitness, technique and tactics are all massively important, but what I strongly admire in NA is his great ability to psychologically unite his players and staff. Cortese made a great coup bringing him in the club - he just needs a couple of years to bring the squad where he sees it. He is excellent at defending his squad and balancing his praise when needed. This is not just PR and media communication - it shows how NA keeps the boys united and focused. I think both NC and NA are extremely intelligent and feel that the foundations of our "project" at SFC mean a long term stability, including not changing policy and staff every little crisis appears; I think - and truly hope - NA will want to continue his work with us, because come June he will be a wanted man, no doubt about it. Let's go and enjoy our survival this season, for next years our aims will grow.

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bstokesaint added 13:08 - Jan 2 Zambucco's post is absolutely spot on in my opinion. I was very proud to be a Saints fan yesterday and all of the neutrals I have spoken to today said we deserved the 3 points and we stifled Arsenal and didn't let them play. I've been saying for a while now that Adkins is the man for the job and I think he's learned quickly. He's mixed the team up and we look much more solid at the back. He has also remained positive during an initial onslaught. The negative is we need to resolve the keeper situation once and for all. I am nearly at the point now where I can see positives and negatives for all three options! Jack Cork is class and getting a MoM award playing out of position against some of the best players in the league proves that. And fair play to Guly. I was an admirer and then I switched to the opinion he wasn't up the PL. However in the last two games he's been brilliant. My only other concerns are the fitness of RL and Punch. Both looked shattered as the game went on, whilst others kept going. I can see J Rod being a natural pacier replacement for RL when the time comes. In summary then well played lads and I just hope we can keep this team together in January.

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grumpyoldsaint added 13:24 - Jan 2 In my opinion Kelvin Davis has been appalling in his last 3 games and has directly cost us 5 points. I'm not sure Boruc is that much better but Adkins had to do something.
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BlackRod added 15:54 - Jan 2 Hard reality is that we only got one point when we should have got three. Had we beaten Stoke or Sunderland and lost the other three games over the holiday period we would be in exactly the same position we are now. This may well cost us come the end of the season. Nick made exactly this point after the Stoke game and another 'draw snatched from the jaws of victory' doesn't change things.

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Whatsforpud added 17:09 - Jan 2 Over the three years he has been here, Lambert has built up a great understanding with Lallana, he definitely misses him when he isn't playing. The two of them, mixing it with Ramirez, are even better. The defence were impenetrable (apart from an OG), not least with Sneiderlin and Davis breaking up so many moves in front of them. If we were to by Butland, we would have the embarrassing position of having 4 keepers. Even if we could end Boruc's loan spell, we would still have too many.

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SaintJez added 08:49 - Jan 3 The embarrassing position of having 4 keepers is better than the position of having 3 embarrassing keepers....
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Pecky3 added 10:35 - Jan 3 Although I agree that it was an excellent point against Arsenal, we actually lost ground against relegation rivals by not winning one of the four Xmas games. 3 points our of 12 is not a lot to show for the hard work. In reality we face one hell of a fight as QPR, Reading, Wigan and Villa have all won one game recently. When I looked at the team sheet before the match I was puzzled. Why do we not give Jay Rodriguez more action alongside Lambert? When it was tried at Stoke we scored 3 goals. If you pay £7million for a striker surely you want to play him! We desperately need to sign a keeper and also a strong centre-back as if injuries occur we are so short of cover. Failure to bring in players in January I think will make life very difficult. (Sorry if this sounds pessimistic but trying to put a realistic view of our position).

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