Said this game would be a marker for how our season will go. Now we know.
To ship 3 goals against Leeds was one thing; it happens to any team from time to time. To ship 4 in the next game is diabolical. It shows the ghosts of last season are still around and having fun.
By far and away the most important thing in the PL is to avoid shipping goals. For the first 4 matches of this season (and the last 4 of last season) we did exactly that. Brilliantly. We kept out a tough Sheffield and nicked the goal which won it. We nullified a very useful Fulham attack and in the end cruised to an easy win. Much has been made of our tactical plan getting in behind Liverpool for that win, but it was built on keeping a strong Liverpool attack quiet for much of the match. We knew Leicester could get loads past us, but we kept it tight enough to stop them and got the win we deserved. An organised, disciplined team, the defence in particular. What could go wrong?
Something went wrong, and it's not a one off, we have a deep seated problem somewhere which needs to be sorted. Manager? Players? Both, probably. We knew what Southampton could do, it should have been possible to stop them; they aren't Leicester. Arsenal next. Play to the same standard as we did earlier in the season and we can win; play like today and we'll ship another 4.
DS after the match:
The way we finished the game was really good and we need to take that into next week at Arsenal.
Delusion. How we finished the game is neither here nor there. Shipping goals was the issue and stopping that leak is what we need for Arsenal.