Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Southampton: 5 things we learned – More than Unai Emery to blame

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Lucas Torreira of Arsenal reacts after Southampton's second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Lucas Torreira of Arsenal reacts after Southampton's second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Danny Ings of Southampton scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Danny Ings of Southampton scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

4. Switch on

Play to the whistle. Reset with speed every time the ball goes out of play. Switch on. These mental aspects of playing football are drilled into every young player from the first time they kick a ball in a competitive fashion. But Arsenal players have seemingly forgotten these lessons, as they almost do every single week.

As soon as Nathan Redmond was felled by Calum Chambers, David Luiz, Sokratis and others should have been organising themselves and the teammates around them, ensuring that all are in the right position to defend the upcoming set-piece. Yet, they could not be doing less, walking around, backs turned to the ball, utterly unaware of what is going on.

These are experienced defenders playing complacently. Arsenal proceeded to concede from this freekick and also allowed Southampton to carve through them in the second half as their lack of organisation came back to bite them. As a collective team, they are switched off, and that is down to poor coaching.