Greetings folks, Jonny Forumer reporting for duty. Arsenal followed up their impressive 2-0 win at Liverpool last time out with a 6-1 demolition of Southampton at the Emirates – and the last time the Gunners beat the Saints by this score, they went on to go 49 games unbeaten. I loitered around Arsenal Mania and Arseblog to find folk buzzing about Arsene Wenger’s new-look side…
mistaT, Arsenal Mania…
Poldi nicks Cazorla for my MOTM.
Those two are beauties, and some of their interlinking was out of control. Love that they clearly enjoy playing with each other too.
Rad Carrot, Arseblog…
Really, really good performance, would rather focus on all the good sides rather than any bad. Really happy for Gerv, he played outstandingly well, looks to be coming good this season. Ramsey brought us back into it in the second half too, good to see him have a good game even as a sub.
Maybe a dodgy 20 minutes in the second half, but we came out of it with conceding further and we were already 4-1 up, so not that nerve-racking.
S’true that Walcott could’ve passed more, and Szcz had a bit of a shocker, but let’s be happy for the 3 points and the +5 GD. I can relax now and hopefully laugh at sp*rs flounder at the Majeski tomorrow.
And we’ve moved up to 3rd with that result, above the champions. Awesome.
jmsmtthw28, Arsenal Mania…
who else is feeling estatic about the performance but ANGRY that we let a goal in and we’re unable to keep a clean sheet
Szczesny made so many mistakes today that he would never make in a normal game hopefully this was just rustiness and he will be a lot better against Monteplier if not we have Mannone putting his hand up for a spot
paddymac, Arseblog…
Ramsey’s touch was spot on today. Really admire him as a player and character, even if his performances were a bit below par last season. Really hope he can get back to the player he was before those Neanderthal knuckle-draggers snapped him in two.
Wrighty4eva, Arsenal Mania…
im going to say it again santi cazorla is some player for such a small guy totally dictates the field of play
Wetdreams, Arseblog…
Thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. Haven’t seen us play pretty football in a while, like really pretty football. And for once in a long long long long time, my heart doesn’t flutter when a ball goes in towards our area(did it even?) Credits to Bould again. Sczc should probably work on his distribution with the upcoming games though, if he wants to retain his spot.
Hoya, Arsenal Mania…
I thought Ox played better and better as the game went on. He’s incredibly hungry, great to see from a young player.
Muse, Arseblog…
Great to finally see an Arsenal team beating a team that we are supposed to beat so convincingly.
What a player Carzola is!
There was one moment around the tenth minute when he controlled a goal kick and deftly laid it off to an arsenal player. He must have Velcro or glue on his boots.I got to say that I feel a little sad for Mannone, he helps the team to 3 clean sheets and as a reward gets put on the bench, then Szczesny comes in and is in direct fault for the goal.
blaze_of_glory, Arsenal Mania…
Great performance. We were a bit flat for a spell in the second half, but got over it by scoring more goals so thats just fine.
I thought everyone was good today, aside from Szczesny’s blunder and some of his kicks. Jenkinson looks better every game, and Gervinho was very effective up top. Podolski with another brilliant showing as well.7
Flow, Arsenal Mania…
Gibbs has been the big surprise for me this season. He has put an awesome shift in our attack and played a vital role in our (almost) solid defence.
Dolgion Ch., Arseblog…
Interesting to note is that our team is so much more unpredictable. Gervinho up front? And scoring 2 goals?? Poldi and Cazorla as of yet still quite unknown quantities (I didn’t expect that beauty of a FK from Poldi), Walcott not a starter, but impact sub once again (which he’s most effective as, IMO). Alex Chamberlain dazzling all over the final third, looking dangerous with his shots from range. Opposite teams cannot pin us down like last season. With Song + RVP gone, it isn’t clear to the fans either where the goals will come from. Also, Gibbs is doing a great job on that flank, and our defense is still focused. We let off the gas for some time, and starting to get a bit sloppy, but we didn’t let it go too far (Rambo’s introduction). Great stuff, and I hope Szczesny will take today as a warning. He’s not yet undisputable.
arsmile, Arsenal Mania…
that was really great
a combination of podolski out left/santi in the hole/arteta playing deeper
has completely changed the way we play football. it is very impressive- it even seems that the 2 new guys are bringign out the best in players like diaby and gervinho who just havent managed to make that kind of impact in the previosu years.
everyone is in tune, working hard, defending well, making good runs, clever rotation of positions etc
a bit furious with shnez though for ruining a perfect day / perfect defensive record- he should not keep his place in the team next match, he does not deserve it on merit.
Merlin’s Panini, Arseblog…
I’m loving this season so far. We look like a real team now. We’ve got about six interchangeable options upfront that can all do damage, a great midfield and defence. I’m loving watching the changing shape when we have to defend. The way they just morph into 442 and nick the ball back is brilliant, and the movement once it’s won back is just breathtaking.
I’m so glad we took on a newly promoted side and ripped them a new one.
Up the Arsenal!
DiamondGooner, Arsenal Mania…
No [Gervinho] hasn’t [proved his detractors wrong], he’s just been played in different position where his running into space is excelling, I called this last season when I said he had the look of a typical Arsenal CF for me, athletic, fast and with a decent amount of technical ability.
However his wing play still leaves something to be desired so I don’t think his detractors were particularly wrong …. however playing as a ST is a new day, we’ll see if Wenger keeps this up.
Very good game for Gervhino.
Eric Irish gunner, Arseblog…
Dident see game but looking at some comments can’t wait for MOTD tonight, sanga, wilshire, diaby,kosceilny still to come back our squad is looking good
Le Titi, Arsenal Mania…
Gervinho’s off the ball movement was outstanding today. IMO the way our front three were interchanging especially in the first-half we would caused problems for any defence.
Cazorla phenomenal again. Also good to see Jenkinson and Gibbs’ continuing development.
What the hell Szczesny was doing for that goal I don’t really know, that really was the only negative of the game for me. He must improve in situations like that and not let it happen again.
Casper, Arseblog…
Perhaps the space Soton gave us allowed our creativity to flourish, but it still takes the goods to make those passes and ball control is tight areas. This is why the world beyond Gooners watches Arsenal, the beautiful play.
Also, consider this: if Szcz had a poor game a couple of years ago, the score would have been a lot closer than 6-1. Our defensive play is phenomenal. That late slide tackle by Ramsey, I think, perfection. Jenks running his legs off. Gibbs basically scoring twice. BFG and TV5 with positional awareness of each other, mopping up when the other is caught.
amirkat, Arsenal Mania…
Gibbs has been absolutely immense so far. I love that he gives 100% every game. The fullbacks have a nice balance this season. When Gibbs is on his bike, Jenks stays in position and that definitely did not happen last season.
BMcKenna, Arsenal Mania…
Very positive performance. People are scathing over the dropped clean sheet (And I was annoyed too) but we should celebrate the fact that our team has finally clicked. We looked dangerous all over the pitch, from Gibbs’ wide runs, Jenkinson’s crossing, Podolski’s drives, Cazorla’s exquisite passing and Gervinho’s movement, the team beamed with attacking flair. It was reminiscent of the glory days with Vieira, Bergkamp and co. Szczesny did have a howler and numerous miss-kicks, but we know he has a high ceiling. If he’s going to have some mistakes, let him have one in a 6-1 victory and not away to City. Mannone has done well, but still looked shaky to me, we have to trust in the evidence from last season that Szczesny in goal did not bring pangs of fear.
Suppose the surprise package here was Gervinho. Have we witnessed the beginning of a transformation from him? We certainly need some good options up front and Gervinho could be the answer against less physically imposing teams and in Europe potentially. Our next few games will really challenge this team and I’d like to keep today’s back 4 together despite my love for Koscielny. Seeing Vermaelen bomb forward at the end was a pure joy and Mertesacker is extremely calm at the back. We’ve managed to patch this team up into something potentially special. It’s working, somehow, it’s working.
Sg_Gooner, Arseblog…
RVP while being a great striker, also kind of restricted our play last year. Everything was directed to him and when he got nullified we were pretty poor. I feel overall this team has a good balance of direct and tricky players. Using Gervinho as a striker was a masterstroke by Wenger although we shouldn’t really be surprised by it. Pre-season games had already shown this possibility.
The Ox I felt was at the periphery a lot of times. I feel criticism of Walcott is so passé. Even the stupid commentators just want to take the lazy route and talk about his decision making. Just how many balls did AOC put in the box today? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves regarding him. He is a very good player but still not up there as a Winger. Walcott got one chance and scored a wonderful goal. How often we whine about our players not wanting to shoot? Well, Walcott gave a perfect answer to that by scoring.
Before this game, all the trolls were dismissing our win at Anfield by saying that Liverpool aren’t fearsome anymore without taking into consideration that maybe it was our play that made them look ordinary. All I heard was Soton will be no pushovers like Liverpool. Well, the team answered that pretty well. Now of course, we have Mancs coming up so the trolls will say let us see how u manage against the “big” teams…I sometimes wonder if all these “fans” get more joy from our defeats than victories?
Let us relish the victory. No team in the EPL are pushovers. We beat a good team today, not some Sunday league team. We will have further challenges but it is exciting to see Szcz, Jenks, Gibbs, Coq, Ramsey, Walcott, Ox (players just around 20-21 years age) are part of our first team. We have JW on his way back as well. Our reserves have players like Eisfield, Gnarby, Aneke waiting to break through. Poldy, Arteta, Diaby, Gervinho, Giroud, Kos, Vermalaen, Mert, Santie, Arshavin, Sagna are all excellent experienced players. This is one team where the sum will be better than parts.
paddymac, Arseblog…
That’s a very good point about RvP and Song. It was predictable, Song assist, RvP goal, teams found ways of dealing with it and we really struggled. However, I think the biggest difference I’ve noticed is that everyone seems to be battling for each other. A real team spirit is building – we’re not giving up on the second ball, we’re fighting for the ball when we don’t have it and really starting to click as a unit. It’s really encouraging – this is what Wenger has been trying to achieve, but I think certain players haven’t been 100% committed to the cause. Probably because they had big money clubs tapping them up.
Re: the Ox, I know he wasn’t at the centre of everything, but he had flashes of brilliance. Love how fearless he is, he’ll happily run at players and take people on, and he’s not scared to shoot from distance. Not long before he scores a wonder goal I reckon…