Arsene Wenger: 'If one against one with the goalkeeper isn’t a goalscoring opportunity, I don’t know when it would be one'

Published: 2 January, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT 

Premier League 
SOUTHAMPTON 2, ARSENAL 0 

ARSENE Wenger blasted referee Craig Pawson for not sending off Florin Gardos as his Arsenal side slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Southampton.

Gardos fouled Alexis Sanchez just outside the box with the Chilean seemingly through on goal, but Pawson only booked the defender.

The hosts were leading 2-0 at the time after Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic took full advantage of defensive errors by Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. 

Gardos seemed to offer the Gunners a way back into the match when he brought down Sanchez, gaving the referee a big decision to make. That decision, however, was only a yellow card – adding to Wenger's frustrations. 

“We must give credit to their 'keeper, and as well to the referee that he didn’t give them a red card when Sanchez was clean through,” said the Frenchman.

“That’s beyond my understanding because I couldn’t see for what reason he didn’t do it. If one against one with the goalkeeper isn’t a goalscoring opportunity I don’t know when it would be one.”

In truth Wenger should surely have been more annoyed by his side's sloppy defending at St Mary's Stadium. 

Mane put Ronald Koeman’s men in front with a brilliant finish from a tight angle in the 34th minute after a mix-up in the Arsenal defence. 

The Senegal forward chased down a long ball over the top, got in behind Laurent Koscielny and nudged the ball past Szczesny, who gifted Mane with an empty net after racing off his line impulsively. 

The Saints benefited from more calamitous defending just before the hour mark. Steven Davis brought the ball down and fired it across the box, and Mathieu Debuchy and Szczesny couldn’t clear properly, allowing Tadic to poke the ball home from close range. 

In an open game, both teams missed chances to add to the match goal tally. But in the end Wenger was left rueing the "self-inflicted defeat". 

“We were dominant when Southampton scored, but we couldn’t take our chances," he said. "On top of that, we not only couldn’t take them but we gave them chances and that is too much at our level.

“It is not the first time it has happened. We did not defend well enough in the final third, and we paid a heavy price for it." 

ARSENAL: Szczesny, Debuchy (Akpom, 84), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Chambers (Walcott, 60), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Rosicky, Sanchez. 
Subs not used: Martinez, Monreal, Bellerin, Campbell, Maitland-Niles. 
Attendance: 31,492.