A poor and disappointing performance from the Arsenal B team that lost at home to Southampton on Wednesday night.

Most of the ingredients were missing offensively and defensively. It’s no surprise to see the team well beaten by two goals to nil.

The speed of play was too slow in the first half and players were hiding from the ball. With more envy, the second half-play got better but the final ball and finishing were not there on the night.

Emi Martinez – 7

The young goalkeeper did his job and was beaten twice by powerful shots. He made many crucial saves to prevent the Saints from scoring a third, which would have killed the game. His distribution was ok. He did not look out of place, and should Opsina go next summer, he would be a decent deputy for Petr Cech.

Carl Jenkinson – 5.5

He’s certainly improved from his awful PSG performance, with obviously an opposition not at the same standard, he certainly showed a bit more skill this time. Still far from the standard set by Bellerin.

Rob Holding – 5.5

Like the whole back four, he was caught sleeping twice for the Saints’ goals. He was quite static and he tried to play the simple balls. Very much an average performance.

Gabriel – 5

He looks like an accident waiting to happen on the ball. You always worry that he is going to make a costly mistake. Being a typical no-nonsense, limited defender, you do expect him to do his side of the defending job right and he was caught sleeping for both goals.

Kieran Gibbs – 5.5

The captain on the day tried to lead by example, going forward on every occasion. Another average performance, when you would have expected a lot more from one of the senior players.

Francis Coquelin – 6

He did his usual industrious work and surprisingly got a few shots away. He played in a slightly more advanced and adventurous role than the classic defensive midfielder. A lot of energy but not always used the right way.

Mohamed Elneny – 5.5

He saw a lot of the ball as he was Arsenal’s passing hub in midfield. He did not make much use of it. He did many sideways and sometimes backward passes. He was subbed before half-time due to an injury.

Jeff-Reine Adelaide – 5

He showed a bit of trickery and a willingness to try to take on players but with not much result or productivity. I don’t think he did enough on his wing and was rightly substituted.

Alex Iwobi – 5

A disappointing night for the young winger, who can do and has done a lot better in the past. His confidence is clearly not as high as last season. The end product was not there tonight.

Aaron Ramsey – 6

He tried to inject some movement in the advanced attacking midfield position. He tried to drive the team forward and drag it away from its lethargy. It did not always work but at least he tried and did not hide unlike other players.

Lucas Perez – 5.5

The striker looked rusty, struggled to link up with the other players and it was obvious he has not been around the team for a long time due to his injury. He looked a bit lost at times and quite isolated. Obviously this was not helped by the other attacking players who were not making runs and offering options to the ball holder.

SUBS

Granit Xhaka – 6

He tried to instill some energy in the team and drive forward especially early in the second half. His distribution could have been better. On the defensive side, he did the job.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 6.5

Injected some pace and energy down the wing when he came on. Had a great chance that he put over the bar and tried to deliver a few good crosses. A better than average performance from him.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 6

Came on at right back, did integrate well in the team play in a difficult game. It would be interesting to see him alongside the first XI to see if he can make the grade.