Not so Happy Birthday
I know next to nothing about Southampton, but I do know that they deserved a win today. Arsenal, uninspired in midfield and uncommunicative in defence, were lucky to come away with a point. My thoughts on individual players:
Szczesny: One of the few who had a decent game. Certainly he looked more comfortable between the sticks than his opposite number.
Sagna: In a word - uninterested. His incompetent intervention in the box led to the Southampton goal (and almost an own goal as well when his knee sent to ball straight at the Arsenal goal from 2 yards). When he did go forward, his passes were either sprayed out-of-bounds or straight back to Southampton.
Vermaelen: Won almost all his headers, many of them crucial, but came forward less than usual.
Koscielny: Did well for most part but was lucky not to give away a penalty in the first half.
Gibbs: Arsenal's obvious weak link did surprisingly well today, and had he shot (instead of attempting to square for Walcott) after he was released into the Southampton box in the last 5 minutes Arsenal might have won it. Still, there were moments of vulnerability when balls were played behind him in defence.
Arteta: Can anyone say "John Barnes"? Apart from a decent volley effort from outside the box, this man is clearly past his prime.
Wilshere: Man-of-the-match for Arsenal. Kicked in the groin and nose (yes there was blood), he soldiered on with punishing runs straight at the Southampton defence. No support from the rest of his team-mates, however; in particular, Santi Cazorla did not appear interested in any off-the-ball running.
Oxlade-Chamberlain: Impressed with his tireless running and never-say-die attitude. Needs to gain some vision, though.
Santi Cazorla: Much has been said about this man but tonight he just looked, fat, old and out of ideas. The slowest player on the pitch (narrowly beating out Giroud), his substitution was perhaps half an hour late.
Podolski: After a good start to the match he simply disappeared. Fitness is not an issue for this man - but what else could it be? Rightly substituted, but by the wrong man (see Gervinho).
Walcott: A good free-kick by him led to Arsenal's equalizer just before half-time, but a precious chance to salvage the game at the cusp of regulation time was equally wasted. Overall an under-average performance from the recent hat-trick hero - indeed, he looked tired.
Ramsey: Expectations were extremely low, so - dare I say it? - a better than average performance, subjectively speaking (he lost the ball stupidly only once). Still not good enough to be a regular first-team player though.
Giroud: Tall and slow, big and lazy. Cannot dribble to save his life. Whatever history has for him, he is currently merde.
Gervinho: Words fail me. This man should be cleaning toilets in Saudi Arabia.
Southampton's disallowed goal in the second half was neither offside nor was there any foul leading up to it. In other words, Southampton were robbed of a win they desperately needed in their relegation struggle. Arsenal were simply lucky today. I feel sorry for birthday boy Jack - had his teammates only possessed half his gumption, the result could have been very different indeed.
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