Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Monday 24th October but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Southampton v Arsenal Match Reports

Avior added 21:35 - Oct 23 We started with wrong system, both our full backs were getting double teamed e.g White waltzing down their right to cross for the goal. To be fair RH changed it after 25 mins to effectively five at the back but it allowed Perraud to get a lot further forward on several occasions, including the goal. That switch plus whatever was in the half time tea did the trick. Once we scored you could see confidence come back and they played well. Doesn't hide the fact that we have a couple of players who have a Championship first touch and struggle to go past players i.e. Aribo and AA. They both ran their socks off today but ultimately they are not good enough.

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Bawdrip added 21:49 - Oct 23 After around 20 minutes or so it looked like 0-5 or worse but we came back strongly and deserved the draw in the end. Fought back well in the first half and second half even better. Ralph got things right today inc the subs. Given the injuries/unavailability a point was a good result. It's very close down the bottom though and Leeds with a game in hand could go above us.

0

Block8 added 22:08 - Oct 23 Very good performance when we settled with a minor tweak, getting the wing backs to sit a bit deeper. Perraud just gets better and better. Ely was also very good today but nobody had a bad game and we scored a super goal from keeper to goal! Think we all thought the worst for the first 30 minutes but after that we were the better team. Lyanco will undoubtedly become a club hero if he can curb his temper but maintain his enthusiasm. Bit quiet in the stadium today maybe down to nerves, we need to get the noise levels up!! COYR

3

AmericanSaint added 22:14 - Oct 23 Good hard fought point and it shows what happens when you dont get a second goal when you dominate (Ars). I agree once RH instructed to a back 5, then it was more solid. The pundits stated were starting a back 5, but in the first 20 minutes we were playing 4-4-2. I think someone didnt get the memo. I think Aribo needs to sit the next game as he ran a lot but looked a little lost at times. No worries - 5 points out of the last 3 games and some confidence is helping us look up not down. COYR

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codge added 22:27 - Oct 23 Great comeback in the second half just wish we could stop passing to the opposition.Well done Saints a good result considering we had so many injured and missing.COYR .
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JimmyMeliaPhD added 23:40 - Oct 23 Great result, really. We have 4 decent CBs at this point--bit of a shock! And Elyounoussi had a MoM performance, I thought. But it's a pity about the Championship players we still put out there week after week--Adam Armstrong in particular demonstrated once again that he shouldn't be playing at this level. RH did his best to make the day difficult by starting with a 422, but at least he changed it quickly after we conceded. But that might have been too late and it's hard to fathom how he thought that our lightweight midfield was going to succeed 4 against any Arsenal 5. Crazy decision to start the game that way. And then when everything was looking pretty rosy again, and when it actually looked possible that we could snatch the winner, RH decides this is a good moment to bring on Walcott. I didn't see him smoking anything on the sidelines, but he must have been!

1

JimmyMeliaPhD added 23:43 - Oct 23 4-4-2 i meant, obvi
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KriSaint added 00:51 - Oct 24 Good point!!! Bad start and we rode our luck, but man did we improve eventually. Second half we defended well and created stuff, and our goal was a beauty. Elyounoussi as RB? Well....., he gets my MOTM I think ; Bcause of his incredible Jesus clearance when Jesus was one-on-one with Bazunu when Diallo lost the ball in a 'red' zone - AND Bcause of his great assist to Stueys goal in which also Aribo, Armstrong and Perraud were involved with fine play. Couldn't believe Adams didn't start , and Ralph was NOT unlucky with his tactics. Still, GREAT result and fight. Bazunu is great! COYS <3

3

YosemiteSaint added 01:01 - Oct 24 Particularly proud of today's result because Arsenal clearly had done their homework on us, inviting our backs to advance and setting traps up all over the place in our defending third. (I'm afraid i woke the family here in California around 6:30am by yelling "FFS, if I see ONE MORE SALISU BACK PASS!") Once we sprang the traps, though, it was often off to the races. This happened because (1) our backs finally learned to bypass holding mids and link up with attacking mids directly, and (2) MOHAMED ELYOUNOUSSI!!!

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