The most worrying thing wasnt the result but the predicability of it all as Saints looked like a beaten side from the very start.
In my articles in the run up to the match I used the phrase "Do the same things, get the same results" and that proved to be exactly the case as Nigel Adkins made no changes to the side that lost to Manchester United, OK he would perhaps defend that decision by saying that this 11 was the one that put themselves in a winning position against United rather than the one that gave the game back to the Red Devils.
But when you have a losing streak you have to change something to get that winning mentality, at the start of last season we had that winning mentality, but it seems that this we have just assumed that would just carry us through, but after this fourth straight defeat its quite clear that whatever mentality we now have, its not the same as last season.
The players looked beaten from the moment the whistle signalled the start of this game, for their part Arsenal had a clear game plan, get at us straight away and punish us for our lack of pace and they succeeded, in a six minute spell shortly after the half hour they ripped us to shreds and could have had more and the game was over long before half time.
The real worry though is what does Nigel Adkins do now, we have a squad that clearly isnt up to the task, the manager knows it, the fans know it and the players do as well, we didnt sign players in crucial positions in the summer with the experience that is needed and unless Nigel can pull out a couple of loan signings in the next few weeks I truly fear for our season.
Some will say Im being pessimistic, but I have watched every game so far, and the problems I have been highlighting on this site going back to last season have not been addressed, no one likes a smart arse, but the reason I have harped on about it week after week is because its happening.
So where do Saints go from here, well hopefully with a few winnable games ahead, we can re group, but the manager has a difficult task ahead, he has to shake up the side, but in the areas he has to shake it up he hasnt got much choice, the rumour is that the manager isnt the master of his own destiny in the transfer market, that he wanted certain players but was overruled, we cannot change that, but now is the time we find out if Nigel Adkins is man or mouse, he needs to lead his team from the front and make the decicions needed, on a day when a player who was supposedly done and dusted for Saints scored a great goal for Man United to highlight how we have missed the boat in key signings over the summer.
This is where manager's earn their corn, over the next few weeks we will find out if Nigel Adkins can unite the squad and get that team spirit back, in the meantime we our now past the opening spell from hell and there is perhaps a suspicion that we allowed it to beat us mentally before we kicked a ball, however there are no excuses now