Saints At Arsenal The Verdict Sunday, 11th Sep 2016 09:09 Saints put in a great performance at the Emirates only to see all the good work undone with two controversial goals. Saints should really be looking back a a well earned point at the Emirates but are instead left with nothing for their efforts due to two controversial moments that both ended with the ball in our net. Those that said Saints would not be able to compete and that the formation and tactics of Claude Puel are suspect are left eating their words this morning, Saints were well set up and matched the Gunners in every department with Oriol Romeu immense in the centre of midfield. However sadly all we have taken from the game is the satisfaction of a good performance and the hope that we can now build on it due to the referee. The first moment of controversy came with Arsenal's first shot on target, Saints at this time were leading one nil after a great free kick from Dusan Tadic came down of the bar and hit the keeper and went in and they looked good for their lead. The controversy about this goal is due to the fact that in any other area of the pitch this would have seen a free kick for dangerous play, Koscielny's spectacular scissors kick saw his boot only inches from the head of Jordy Clasie, how this was not given as dangerous play baffles me, Clasie could not head the ball without having his head kicked off, for some reason referee's allow this in the penalty areas for attacking teams, but not for defenders and certainly not in the other areas of the pitch. The second controversial moment came deep into stoppage time, Saints were defending despite an Arsenal player lying prone in the centre of the goal and impeding Fraser Forster's ability to move around his six yard box, when the ball was played in to the box the player was interfering with play due to his position, yet the referee did nothing except give a penalty. After the benefit of watching it on TV yes you can see why he gave it, but you have to say that we have had far worse turned down at the other end, would Bobby Madley have given it at the other end ? I think we all know the answer to that question. But as I said the performance was satisfying and there was a lot to take from it, again we were tight and did not get overawed or over run, Arsenal only had two shots on target, one from the penalty and Fraser Forster was othrwise little troubled. The downside was that we are not taking our chances up at the other end, this is nothing to do with the system, its about finishing, Shane Long really should have scored from two glorious chances. Also there is the fact that of the six goals we have conceded, three of them have been from penalties and all have been soft and should have been avoided, Jose Fonte was again the culprit and although it was harsh on him, he was holding Giroud's shirt and there was no need. But there were more plusses from this game than minusses and that bodes well for the future, those Saints fans walking away from the Emirates that saw the game were angry with the referee not their team, Saints had done all that was asked of them and this was a far better performance than last season when we were absolutely over run, the irony is that we got point back then but this year nothing. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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