Match Day Thread Southampton v Arsenal Sunday 16th December 2018 13:30.. the Welcome Ralph Thread

The best part of my mate being teetotal is I have 2 free drinks now

 

I got the letter but not the free drink!

 

Yeah I haven't received one yet either. I guess that's the problem with using the postal system in December. (My Dad is actually a postman in the local area, and he says he's still been delivering some today.)

 

Yeah my parents got their letters and free drink vouchers this morning. Shame if it’ll arrive late for some as it was a nice touch from the club.

 

Doesn’t look like I will get one, whilst my mum has.

 

I've got mine for tomorrow and one for the West Ham game. I guess STH get one every home game now.

 

Check the envelope if it isn't too late - I actually put mine in the recycling pile and as I was chucking it I noticed there was a card in it!

 

Time will tell.

 

What bit, the Cliff Richard album?

 

I think Ralph is a good manager and could be what we need, but it's going to be tough...possibly tougher than even he thought. I want to see an improvement and for Saints to be better to watch....even if it proves not to be enough. We just need something to cling on to.

 

Alright lads, hope you're all well

Just thought I'd give you the thoughts of most Arsenal fans right now...

General overview:

We're obviously doing quite well this season. 22 games unbeaten (17 wins, 5 draws) which is our best run of form since November 2007 where we went 28 games unbeaten (can't see us doing that again sadly). We've already matched the amount of away wins we had throughout the entirety of last season already, so clear progress there.

The team spirit is high. Fans are generally far happier than they were in the last few seasons under Wenger. And this is still a transitional season for us, none of us are expecting to get into the top 4 - we are just happy to even be in with a shout, as most of us expected to finish 6th/7th this season.

One area that we Arsenal fans are particularly happy about is the progression of our youth players. For a while, it seemed like our youth academy were producing a lot of duds or players that flattered to deceive. This season, Emery's put his trust in a lot of youth players and a lot of them have stepped up. Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka and Zach Medley are the main ones who have stood out, and will be making more appearances in the first-team squad.

The downsides:

Despite the positivity around the camp, it goes without saying that our squad and our performances are still works in progress. In this 22-game unbeaten streak, we've got away with a few poor performances. Notably Huddersfield last week, Crystal Palace away and Wolves at home, where the latter two sides probably should have taken 3 points off us.

Our defence is still shaky, but it is better than last season, which probably isn't saying much! However, with Mustafi out, Sokratis unavailable due to suspension and Holding unfortunately out for the season, our options at centre half are going to be stretched. This is definitely an area that Southampton could look to exploit.

As our fullbacks tend to push quite high up the pitch, we are very vulnerable to turnovers on the counter. If we lose the ball in/around your penalty area, all it will take is one long pass to Redmond/Long/whoever you have that has pace, and we will be vulnerable.

As you will also know, we haven't led a game at half-time this season. Which is concerning. Because we can't keep relying on second half performances to get us results. It will catch up with us if we don't start a lot faster than we have been. As we are notoriously slow starters, Saints should look to exploit this.

Central defence is a problem area. Koscielny will be available after 8 months out, but he is 33-years of age and relies on his speed quite a lot. He played in midweek against Qarabag, but the opposition were so poor that he wasn't really tested. This is going to be a huge game for him, and I'm not 100% convinced he will be up to scratch. Monreal, who is a left-back, will probably partner him as a make-shift centre-half, alongside the 34-year old Lichsteiner, who is a right-back by trade, but surprisingly looked very assured as a centre-half against Man United and Huddersfield. We may also have to look to Maitland-Niles or youth prospect Dino Mavrapanos if needs be.

Who to look out for:

We've not had problems scoring goals this season and we do have some excellent attacking players in our side.

The danger men will obviously be Aubameyang and Lacazette, two excellent striking options we have. Both of them offer different dimensions to our attack, and it's great we have that variation of attacking styles.

As I mentioned earlier, our fullbacks tend to join the attack a lot and while they can be susceptible defensively, they are a threat going forward. Bellerin and Kolasinac will be looking to provide additional width to our game so that we have more options in attack.

The much maligned Alex Iwobi looks a man reborn this season. He's playing with a lot more zest, energy and purpose. He needs to work on scoring more goals, but he definitely contributes to our attack.

Lucas Torreira, who has been our player of the season so far, is also a big threat. Though he is primarily a defensive midfielder, he is excellent at winning possession high up the pitch and has displayed his eye for goal with the acrobatic winner against Huddersfield and the mature finish against Spurs in the north London derby. Definitely one to look out for.

Mesut Ozil, who has been missing for the last few weeks with injury, will be back on the bench I would assume. He's not completely ready yet, but to have a player like that on the bench speaks volume about just how well our other players have been doing that he can't get into the side at the moment, even prior to his injury.

Tactics:

To be honest, your guess is as good as ours! Especially with the injury crisis in defence at the moment!

One refreshing thing about Emery is his tactical flexibility - this season, he has played a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-5-2 or 4-4-2. But he's made these adjustments to different formations during the game as well.

He will always look to adapt depending on how the game is going and this is something that Wenger never did. Emery is a lot more proactive in this sense. But it makes it harder to guess what formation he will start with and even the personnel he will start with.

So there we go - hope I've provided enough insight into how things are going!

Not expecting an easy game at all, as we never do that well at St. Mary's, plus you have a new manager who will be looking to impress in front of the home fans.

Really want Saints to do well this season, so I wish you all the best for the season (except against us!)

 

Tell Koscielny that Shane is fit and waiting for him

 

If he thought Qarabag’s front line was poor....

 

Mate, they had 1 shot in the entire game and zero on target. Against a backline of Jenkinson, Sokratis, Koscielny and Maitland-Niles. One of those players has just come back from a lengthy injury, one of those players is a midfielder playing at left-back and the other is just ****ing gash

I'm pretty certain your attack will cause us more problems than theirs did!

 

Umm...

 

[="BrunelGooner, post: 12379865, member: 1031095"]I'm pretty certain your attack will cause us more problems than theirs did![/QUOTE]

As a representative of most Arsenal Fans I have to thank you for your optimism in that regard and I think I can say on behalf of most Saints Fans that you clearly can’t have been watching very closely. Shane Long hat trick maybe???

 

You're right that I don't watch a lot of Saints games, however, all I can go off is previous Arsenal - Southampton matches. And you've caused us plenty of problems in previous games.

I did watch your game against Man United though, I also thought you were unlucky to not get more from that game. Even after they brought it back to 2-2.

But look.

Since you've been back in the Prem, you beat us at The Emirates to knock us out of the League Cup twice, you comprehensively beat us 4-0 on Boxing Day after you'd been on a horrific run of form, you beat us 2-0 when Mane got a brace and our goalkeeper had a mare, you almost beat us last season at St. Mary's when you weren't in great form and you could have taken something from us in the 3-2 defeat at The Emirates.

For whatever reason, you seem to turn it on against us.

And Shane Long, though he can't hit a barn door in other games, will no doubt have the game of his life against us tomorrow.

Charlie Austin has also scored in every game he's played against us for both Southampton and QPR (4 in 4).

I just hope the players don't take this game lightly otherwise we will come unstuck.

 

With optimism like that can you come on here all the time

 

Don’t worry, if we get anything out of the game tomorrow we’re pinching him from the Gooners board!