Saints At Arsenal The Verdict

Saints fans were dismayed before the game to see that once again Claude Puel had made multiple changes, but this time it worked.

Although it cannot be denied that the win at the Emirates was yet another great night in the club's history, the underlying fact is that Claude Puel took a big risk with his team selection and gambled that Arsenal's kids would not be strong enough to beat what was in most instances a second string XI for Saints.

Of the starting line up only 3 outfield players would be considered first choice at present, Davis, Van Dijk and Bertrand and this could have been costly and I hope that it will not be repeated in the Europa League game next week against Happoel Be'er Sheva.

But negatives out of the way this was a hard earned result and although Saints were in control and should really have finished the game off in the second half with a third and even fourth, they held the lead well and made sure there would be no late come back on the cards.

Arsenal were full of youngsters and fringe players who seemed to think that the game would be won by fancy back heels and step overs rather than hard work and although Saints had less of the ball, they did the basics, got behind it when the Gunners came forward and then counter attacked at speed.

If the final pass and touch had been better then the scoreline would have been a lot more convincing and that was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night and to be able to say that at the Emirates is saying something.

Certainly the Arsenal fans were streaming out long before the end and with 5 minutes left the home sections were barely a third full, by the final whistle they would be virtually empty. That says something about the way that Saints went about their game.

Claude Puel has now done something that only Gordon Strachan has managed in the last 30 years and that is get Saints to the semi finals of one of the major cup competitions and has shown that he has been a good choice for the job and surely will have won over many of his critics now.

Again hard to pick out a man of the match, VVW was strong and a great leader, but that is nothing new, Jordy Clasie scored and looked the part before coming off injured and Shane Long lookd like he had his appetite back, but it was a team performance rather than won by individual brilliance.

WE can now go into the new year looking forward to a two legged semi final against Liverpool and we have to make that three cup competitions to look forward to by beating Be'er Sheva next week.

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