It was yet another cup exit for Arsenal who lost 1-2 to Southampton in the FA Cup off the back of the Carabao Cup defeat in the final.
The Gunners have now lost each of their last two games. They hadn’t endured a losing streak in nearly a year – three consecutive losses at the hands of PSG (twice) and Bournemouth in between.
Meanwhile, the Saints extended their current unbeaten run to a whopping 15 matches across all competitions. This impressive stretch has seen them enter the Championship play-off spots. They are currently 7th after Friday’s results, but one point off Wrexham in 6th and with a game in hand.
In the end, momentum won. Tonda Eckert got the best of Mikel Arteta and his men booked a spot in the FA Cup semi finals. But it was the Gunners’ actions that dictated how the game went – for better or (mostly) worse.
What were Arsenal’s biggest issues in their FA Cup defeat to Southampton?
Live-ball turnovers
The first 10 minutes or so went completely in Southampton’s favour. The hosts had a number of promising fast breaks and counter-attacks. But it was ultimately down to Arsenal’s attacking shortcomings to start the game.
Arteta’s men, as expected, dominated possession throughout the whole 90 minutes. But they were rather sloppy in the early parts, especially in the final third.
Of course, having a few back-ups as starters doesn’t help. Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly offered very little going forward and Christian Norgaard lacks the distribution qualities that Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice possess.
With the Gunners’ preference for playing down the right, Max Dowman and especially Martin Odegaard had to take on more responsibilities than usual – and more than they should in an ideal world.
But since the Saints didn’t really react when they dropped deep, it just meant that there were more players in their defensive block for the visitors to break down.
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Their initial attempts were all poor and they never managed to finish plays. Not even with inaccurate shots, crosses or passes. Every time they lost the ball was in open play. That gave Southampton the opportunity to counter – and they needed few touches to get in the attacking half.
As the game went on, they started to get shots and crosses off – even if they ended up going out of play. That was the more important part, because it gave their defence a chance to reset and regroup.
In the opener, Odegaard’s inaccurate backheel attempt gave the ball away and started the transition that led to Ross Stewart’s goal.
Rest defence + transition
Speaking of which, their rest defence looked uncharacteristically poor tonight. Arteta might usually have a risk-averse approach, but he often dismantled their three-at-the-back in-possession set-up and freed the wider defenders to go forward.
Ben White attacked like a regular full-back and Christian Norgaard often took a step forward to associate with Dowman and Odegaard.
This left the duo of Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhaes alone and exposed at the back. Every Southampton fast break became a 3v3/4v4/5v5 situation. Including their opening goal – which also featured another common problem.
Defensive transition and rest defence are usually connected to one another. If the team is well set-up to defend after losing possession, their transitions are smoother. Sometimes, they don’t even need to happen if they recover the ball quickly.
Other than that a 20/30-minute spell in the first half however, none of those were the case for Arsenal at St. Mary’s.
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Stewart’s goal is a perfect example of how their tracking back left a lot to be desired. Southampton found themselves in a 5v5 situation with pace and momentum towards goal.
It started with the Gunners losing possession in open play, led to an unfavourable scenario at the back in which the opposition had as many attackers as they had defenders, and nobody else showed up to help reshape their defence.
For the second goal, they did manage to regroup quickly and even had more men than the Saints (6v5). However, five of their defenders were all near the ball, while two Southampton players attacked down the middle with one other ‘stretching’ the pitch a little more to the left.
Tracking back is incredibly important, but it’s no good when teams don’t do it well. It’s not usual to see this Arsenal side – with many starters on the pitch – look so disorganised. Arteta values structure highly going forward and at the back, but it was nowhere to be seen on both ends tonight.
Aerial timing
Another more specific issue – that could have even cost them more – was the timing on aerial duels.
Arsenal had plenty of problems in the first goal, from losing possession, to allowing a 5v5 and failing to bring more players back. But ultimately it was Ben White’s mistimed jump that gave Ross Stewart a clean shot at goal.
Before that, Leo Scienza had already had a great opportunity when Gabriel failed to connect properly on his header. It served as a flick-on to send the Brazilian through on goal, but he took to many touches and ended up missing the chance to even attempt a shot.
Southampton did well to capitalise on the opportunities, but a lot of them started with clear Arsenal errors. The Gunners gave away chances too easily while also having to do a lot of work to create ones of their own on the other end.
Deserved win for the Saints, whose nightmare season could turn to dream depending on how they progress in the FA Cup and already looking good for the Championship play-offs.