Friday, March 29, 2024

Match Report: Swansea 3-2 Arsenal (including goals)

Arsenal + Wales + January = Nightmare.

Twenty years ago it was Wrexham who did the damage in the FA Cup, this afternoon it was Swansea in the Premier League. A 3-2 defeat at the hands of Brendan Rodgers’ side was nothing less than the Gunners deserved following another suicidal away performance.

The result leaves serious question marks hanging over the Gunners top four credentials on an afternoon which Arsene Wenger will want to forget very quickly.

Given our injury problems, the team news was pretty much expected. There was a Premier League debut for Miquel at left-back, while Djourou returned to his place on the right of defence after the sending off against Fulham. One late surprise was the inclusion in midfield of Yossi Benayoun who replaced Mikel Arteta after the Spaniard suffered a mild calf strain in training. On the bench Thierry Henry was joined by Ju Young Park and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arsenal began strongly. After only four minutes Ramsey took responsibility for possession on the halfway line, pushed the ball forward to Song who with one touch fed Arshavin. The Russian spotted a Van Persie run inside the Swansea right-back and the Dutchman was immediately in on goal. He looked to have wasted the chance by delaying and delaying, but then in the blink of an eye calmly slotted the ball home inside Michel Vorm’s. 1-0 to the Gunners – a superb and clinical start.

After the restart Swansea settled and, as expected, kept possession of the ball very well. Rather than press from the front we allowed their defenders far too much time. It was annoying to see given all the talk you hear from the training ground about emulating Barcelona’s ‘defend from the front’ philosophy.

On fifteen minutes Swansea made good use of the ball, worked their way into the box and won a penalty. Spinning in the box Nathan Dyer appeared to be felled by Aaron Ramsey and the referee pointed to the spot. In real time it didn’t look like a poor decision, but having watched the replay it most definitely was. The Swansea man raked his studs down the Welshman’s shin and the correct decision would have been an Arsenal free-kick. It was a strange incident.

Scott Sinclair stepped up and calmly slotted the ball past Szczesny to make it 1-1.

Ramsey nearly made ‘amends’ immediately. After a blocked shot by Van Persie he rounded Vorm and slid the ball back across goal. It was cleared off the line before bouncing back into the keeper’s arms.

It really was end-to-end stuff. Again Swansea pushed forward and controlled the game for five minutes – on the bench Arsene, sporting a tracksuit (wtf?) looked worried.  He was right to look perturbed; his side were off the boil and struggling to keep pace with the hosts.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t have taken the lead. Good closing down by Yossi Benayoun on the halfway line saw the Israeli win the ball and play a quick one-two with Arshavin. Releasing the ball swiftly the loanee played in Van Persie who bore down on goal again. Having created a good angle you’d have put money on him scoring, but Vorm had other ideas and stopped a somewhat tame shot from our number 10.

At the other end the Swans put a decent ball into the box from a free-kick which caused all sorts of problems until Miquel cleared off the line. By the 35 minute mark, the home side had had 63% of possession, which is fair to say, not something Arsene Wenger’s sides are very used to. Dyer cut in from the right before firing a good left foot strike which Szczesny grabbed at the second attempt.

At the other end Arshavin was a lively presence, Walcott’s recent malaise appeared to be continuing, while Van Persie was doing his best Adebayor impression by prompting the linesman’s flag at every available opportunity. At half-time there was an underlying sense of frustration.

Straight from the kick-off we created a chance. Van Persie’s quick feet played in Walcott but he blazed over.  He’s not scored since the Chelsea game and it showed. As if inspired by the rugby surroundings Arshavin promptly followed suit by also hitting three points from a conversion like shot. Squandered chances – how often have I written that in match reports this season?

Nathan Dyer, a consistent threat, flashed a curled effort past Szczesny’s post before Joe Allen did the same just to remind Arsenal of the fragility of their situation.

Just before the hour mark Swansea took the lead. Ramsey gave the ball away as he moved out of defence, it was quickly played to Dyer and he lashed the ball past Szczesny. It was nothing less than the hosts deserved. Arsenal were very sloppy and were punished.

All over the pitch we gave the ball away as Brendan Rodgers’ side pressed and pressed and pressed. Wenger’s reaction was to throw Thierry Henry and Tomas Rosicky into the mix. Arshavin and Yossi Benayoun were the men to be sacrificed.

Out of nowhere Walcott equalised. Johan Djourou played the winger straight through on goal and he finished delightfully. Of course, because we’re a team full of complete fucking morons we couldn’t help but concede inside 60 seconds. Danny Graham slipping past Koscielny and sliding the ball home. (Both goals)

This Arsenal team. Fucking hell.

From a corner Mertesacker nearly made it 3-3 but his attempt from two yards out was horrible and skewed past the post. The German was removed with 14 minutes remaining to be replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Song dropping into his centre-back position in defence.

Swansea could have put the game to bed with ten minutes left. A great bit of interplay in the box only being stopped by a last ditch Djourou challenge. Ramsey at this point was having a torrid time. Whether he was being targeted on his return to Wales or not, he couldn’t put a foot right as the home side pressured him whenever he got near the ball. He did have a header on goal though which came close.

Good work by Chamberlain saw the England under-21 cross for Rosicky but not even Marco van Basten would have converted the volley which was attempted. The Czech had another effort a minute later which forced a save from Vorm. Following in, Laurent Koscielny’s acrobatic effort was also gathered. The pressure was mounting, but time was running out.

Four minutes of extra-time didn’t yield another opportunity as Swansea calmly played the ball around at the back before the referee blew the full-time whistle.

In many ways this defeat was more painful than the late loss to Fulham. While that came at the end of a hectic Christmas period and with only ten men on the field, this time there were no excuses.

Rested players, the motivation to close the gap on Spurs, the squad on a high in the aftermath of Henry’s return – all the ingredients were there to start another run. Instead what we got was a horror show.

Next up it’s United at the Emirates – place your bets.

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Will

Arsenal were completely outplayed by a team that was promoted last year. no excuses, we were total and utter shite. absolutely disgraceful. 

Swansea deserved their win.

Bunburyist

Well, you could always look on the bright side. This loss will no doubt force Wenger’s hand to sign that Omani full-back we’re all so desperate for…

BAAAAAAARRRFFFFFF

Bunburyist

Sorry. I’m just getting carried away.

Heeeeeeeelllllllpppp, I’m getting carried awaaaaaaaaaayyyy….[dwindling]

MJB

Seems like we have forgotten the lessons needed to be learned from the various losses of the past.

It appears we have gone back to the early seasons lacklustre ways. So much for Henry giving the team confidence.

Shameful.

Witoldo

I see a different positive from the game, especially from Blogs’s standpoint. There’ll be lots of visitors to the site who will come to slag off this team. Perfect timing for the reprint of Paddy Got Up!

MJB

Not slagging off, just pointing out our teams shortcomings. Nothing wrong with honesty is there?

Cygan's Left Foot

According to you, Anyone seeing the same mistake again and again and pointing them out is slagging off the team, and anyone who think Arsene has not lost it, to lose to the Fulhams, Blackburns and Swans of this world is unlucky and we have a great team is positive????? Here are some reasons why we all can see why Arsene is not doing his job, I am NOT going to go into the obvious and say sign players or a lot of our players not good enough. For a man paid 6/7 million a year you would expect him… Read more »

AR

We didn’t play very well and we lost. What went wrong here has gone wrong before and the few things that went our way weren’t anything new either. Best we just forget this weekend and move on. The only positive I can think of is that Liverpool for all their spending still can’t get ahead of us in the table when we’re having one of our worst and most inconsistent seasons in recent memory. So much for getting their signings done early in the summer.! The bad taste from this game will linger for us gooners, not because of horrible… Read more »

Eric Irish gunner

Will your dead right, I agreed at an earlier post that 1-0 result to arsenal would be a good result for us because Swansea are a good footballing team and fair play to them they out played us and deserved their win but fuck me this is a fucking joke, i hate to slate my team off but everytime we can make up a few points on teams over us we fuck up, rosicky pulls out of 60-40 tackles in his favour, Walcott apart from his goal was fucking shit again and henry looks shocked at the standard of team… Read more »

Frog

Pure shit. Worst arsenal side I’ve ever seen.

Midfield Corporal

I can only assume you’re about 15 then.

Cygan's Left Foot

Some have just blind love to Arsene, like a man that love his wife so much, he doesn’t want to believe she is cheating on him while all the world can see it, because he is scared to be broken heart and left alone. What Arsene did for The Arsenal will be always appreciated very much, I always wished we could have the success back with him and he could see what we all see. But, is it wrong after waiting 7 years and watching this team instead of the team we were promised to watch to ask for Arsene… Read more »

Frog

You’re right corporal. What I should have said was ” worst team I’ve ever seen under arsene wenger. “

Mark G

Completely agree Will.
That ladies and gentlemen was an absolute fucking disgrace.

Frog

I know this is off topic and I jumped to the top of the thread because something here bothers me. He blogs, can you make it a rule that telling someone to go support the spuds is not allowed? It’s so fucking annoying to be reading a thread, and anytime someone has an opinion in contrast to some other cunt, said cunt says ” maybe you should go support sp*rs”. It’s as obnoxious as that text speak shit.

I recommend the usual 3 day “cahill” ban.

ramgooner

kudos to swansea. over the years one thing i learnt from arsenal and one thing wenger failed to learn from arsenal is the assumption that there are always gonna be an arsenal first team player injured(atleast one) no matter what time of the season it is.if you remember last year barcelona win we had the core of the team together in that match. arsene wenger needs to buy a player this season to push for top 4.i know he is scared that it’ll limit the chances of other squad players(arshavin,theo?) but if u go by the injuries assumption im sure… Read more »

Runcorn Gooner

Agree totally.
It was great to see a game without any red /yellow cards.
Oliver made a right Horlicks of the penalty but overall kept the
game flowing.
This should have really suited us but we were well below par.
Too many players making too many mistakes at the wrong time.
We really missed Arteta which exposed Ramsey with dire consequences.

Dave Gooner

The ref was a pox. We’d have done better had that fat granny shagger Rooney been the ref. Did we get one decision all day? In fact, all that was missing from the ref’s game was a wrongful card or dismissal for us.

And I don’t want to see diving rewarded. (Equally though, when the Ox is illegally brought down inside the corner of their area, I want him to fucking stay down, rather than try to retrieve a ball from the touchline. Someone should have a word.)

Ash Burton

at arsenalcartoons.com we say ‘look,worse things happen at sea, be positive, anyway there’s always the next game to get it right….’

BobT

I’m watching flight of the navigator now, he’s got pace, ideas and an end product. Probably keep possession better too.

Glenn Helder

Compliance

London Calling

Arsenal are being left behind… also left behind a very active Spurs. We were poor. They outplayed us… we had no control. We need our fullback.
4th is still a promise but not a guarantee. I refuse to blame the players… what good is that gonna do me. Time to enjoy my life… until the next game.

Voldermort

Still siting in a cage on a happy bus in Swansea waiting to get out to the park and ride contemplating life and if arshavin really is worth my season ticket money..disgraceful performance from top to bottom from all the players. Even the fans were the quietest I’ve seen at an away game. Sad day for arsenal.

Jeth

Harsh on Chamberlain – I thought he did well when he came on, but yeah, very frustrating.

paddymac

Bring on the DOOM!

This game really highlighted how badly we’re mising our specialist full-backs. We looked really stretched. Get well soon boys, we need you back.

Yar She Blows

Completely played off the pitch by Swansea. Haha, and we think we can compete with Man U and AC Milan?! Everyone better wake up real fast, RVP is not staying with this current team of players. Ramsey and Rosicky? Please….

Arsenalkid700

Swansea City record at home before Arsenal: 5 wins, 5 losses, 1 loss

Goals conceded at home by Swansea: 4 goals

La Gooner

No excuses Kid

chris

Swansea have been exceptional at home all season only losing one game so if we had walked away with a draw one good say that would have been an ok result. But to concede straight after equalising just shows the “mental strength” that Wenger has seemed to bang on about over the years.

gunner16

has anybody noticed that we don’t seem to care about a game till the 85th minute and then all of a sudden we panic. sometimes we get a late goal but really ahouldn’t we be looking to keep the ball higher up the pitch? I’m tiring of seeing Walcott pass the ball backwards. Tired of seeing Ramsey get caught in position. Tired of seeing Djorou run to the side line and then be confused about what to do next. we even scored an early goal today. fucking hell, this team is really not a top 4 side let alone a… Read more »

MJB

Yeh. Most games we have played recently are 0-0 by half time, the other team will score first and we then try to follow up on it. It is like they are ‘testing the water’ first and then using the knowledge from the first half to try and ‘out-wit’ the opposition in the second half.

That’s why it either been 1-0 to the arsenal or draws. Or loses like today.

Eric Irish gunner

Fuck me someone agree’s

Yar She Blows

Oh and maybe SZCZ should work on his angles instead of talking about Sp*rs

Arsenalkid700

Maybe you should keep your mouth shut and be happy that we have a keeper that is better than BOTH Man United keepers and one that hates our rivals and loves our club.

Yar She Blows

Loving our club doesn’t keep the ball out of the net does it?

Arsenalkid700

Such a naive person. Once again Swansea are brilliant at home and Chesney has been great for us. Look up there home record, they kill teams

Yar She Blows

This is how far we have fallen. We are justifying a loss to a newly promoted team by saying “look at their home record”. This is fucking Arsenal!!

Arsenalkid700

This is fucking football. You are just a typical fake fan who thinks that the team they support should always be on top. Well let me tell you… at least you were not a fan when losing to teams like Swansea was normal, when Arsenal were in 10th place EVERY SEASON. You came in during the good times and that is a poison. This is what is happening to Liverpool right now. There supporters are to into the good times that they have to win.

What are we. Liverpool?

nw5

@Yar She Blows

so now SZCZ is a bad keeper? get over yourself and direct your rubbish somewhere else.

Yar She Blows

Of course, make a criticism of Arsenal and all the sudden I’m a fake fan! What do I know? I’d rather be a “fake fan” than a lifetime one with the blinders on.

Yar She Blows

You people seriously need to read first before you spew your bullshit. I love SZCZ!! But he has given up some suspect goals because of his angles

nw5

@Yar She Blows
go support the spuds mate. you can spend your time whining about brad freidel instead.
Szcz has had a great season and spuds like you attack him for not saving every one on one. Henry lost the ball.the defence feel alseep.and Szcz was the only one not to fuck up there. good job on your analysis.

Yar She Blows

@NW5

The fact that you don’t find any fault in SZCZ’s positioning on the 3rd shows me exactly how much you know about the goalkeeping position 😉

nw5

ha..ok mate.
what you don’t realise is getting your angles wrong when there are so many errors in front of you is fairly common from a goal keeping point of view.the play moves so fast that it’s hard to get your barrings..
but you only see the mistake in an isolated moment,instead of a chain of events.but keep being full of yourself.i have to go do something more interesting than read your waffle.

Thorough

And because he’s been good means that when he makes a mistake it shouldn’t be pointed out. His initial run towards the ball left Kos at ease, and once he decides to step back Graham was at advantage. He is exceptional no doubt, but he should also get the basics right. Those are the hallmarks of a good goalkeeper. Fulham’s first goal and now this…does he have to concede another 8 before someone tells him to sit up?

nw5

well. when you put it that way it is interesting to read as a valid point. slightly more articulate than: ‘Completely played off the pitch by Swansea. Haha, and we think we can compete with Man U and AC Milan?! Everyone better wake up real fast, RVP is not staying with this current team of players. Ramsey and Rosicky? Please….’ and ‘Oh and maybe SZCZ should work on his angles instead of talking about Sp*rs’ but if you want to talk about angles,maybe take a look at the many goals our spanish friend let in at the near post or… Read more »

Yar

@nw5

You sure do care a lot about Man U’s keepers for being an Arsenal supporter. Since when is the benchmark for our keepers simply being better than Man U’s? Again, that doesn’t keep the ball out of our net. SZCZ is no doubt top class, but as Thorough said, without getting the basics right (angles) he will have these problems.

perrygrovesworld

Yar she blows – SZCZ’s positioning and angles are superb, maybe he was ever so slightly wrong on this occasion but how many times has he saved us this season? Twat

arsenal fan

why does everyone treat szczesny like he is untouchable and noone can give him blame? i love him too but its fair to say he has cost us a little bit more than you want this season. first at tottenham then today.

Charlie

OK, moron, so if Szczesny didn’t spend 10 seconds composing a tweet, he would have practiced so much more that he would have kept Swansea’s third out. God, its fucking idiots like you…

Arsenalkid700

MAY I MENTION THAT SWANSEA BEFORE THIS GAME HAD 5 WINS, 5 LOSSES and 1 LOSS. THEY ALSO ONLY CONCEDED 4 GOALS AT HOME!

Overall, I am not happy about this but for Swansea Cities record at home it is not all bad

Jekyll

Again you’ve said they have 5 losses and 1 loss. I thought it was a typo the first time but now I’m just bewildered.

However, the gist of your point seems to be it’s okay to have lost to Swansea, with which I and many others, I’m sure, beg to differ.

Arsenalkid700

Sorry I meant 5 draws and 1 loss.

And it really is not the end of the world. Yes we are right not to be happy but a loss like this should not be taken as harsh as it currently being.

Phaniman

5 draws mate, 5 draws.

Thats not the point.

We were shite all over the pitch. Swansea’s record doesnt justify anything. A crowd of 20,000 can hardly be that intimidating.

Fact is were not great in the midfield, or in possession, terribly inconsistent on the wings without diversity in striking options. Oh, and 4 injured fullbacks.

Arsenalkid700

Yes we have all these injuries. We don’t have Gervinho. What do you expect. Why can’t we just be happy we have up and coming players like Miquel, Ox, Ramsey (he had a decent game today) and also Arshavin looked good today as well as Rosicky.

Yar She Blows

Yes, Ramsey gives away 2 goals but he was decent

Thorough

@Arsenalkid. You dont really mean happy as in H-A-P-P-Y? Sorry pal, this doesnt make me happy. You may condone Schezny’s howlers and tell him he can do no wrong because he is better than Almunia: but for God’s sake this is a young goalkeeper that needs a thorough tutelage. And if Wenger takes your stance and pampers him he will never reach the heights we believe his potentials deserve. Watch that goal again, his first inclination was to come get the ball, puts Kos at ease. Sorry I’m moaning and objective: perhaps its because I started supporting Arsenal long ago… Read more »

MJB

Banging on about Swansea’s achievements does NOT excuse the fact we lost.

Plain and simple they were better than us and being a gooner I think we deserve much better than this. It is the teams playing that is at fault here NOT how Swansea played.

perrygrovesworld

Thorough – SZCZ’s howlers? What have you been watching this season son?

Ian allinson's tache

We got what we deserved, now coming up to 3 months without full backs, it’s not rocket science is it? We need a major signing to spark our season, if we get 4 th it pays for itself Ivan! Where’s that transfer kitty? Under stan s syrup?

Dannydoolan78

Lets just get this straight. The transfers we desperately need are not coming. The formation changes we need are not coming and it pains me to say that there’s a good chance cl football will not be coming.

Master Bates

yeah we got what we deserved ,that will teach Wenger not to have injuries

Seaman Staines

Every team has injuries a good manager ensures their squad depth can cope and cover appropriately.

Master Bates

the thing all the good managers don’t have ALL FOUR FULLBACKS injured and the first choice makeshift fullbacks injured too .

I am pretty sure every team would suffer .

But I get your point ,give our injury record we should have 6 fullbacks (I am serious)

welly

i think our main problem was in midfield. bith benayoun and rosicky are the same player, always busy, but achieving nothing. this can look good when we are winning but when we are relying on someone to create something, to control midfield tempo, its useless. so so depressed.

Arsenalkid700

Agreed. We need 1 more midfielder. We should go after Clint Dempsey from Fulham. Cheap, midfielder and striker and he is 28 so when youngsters like Ramsey are REALLY ready to start then we can sell Dempsey.

Of course though Wilshere is coming back

Arsenalkid700

Why was I thumbed down?

Comedian

Because your scouting sucks. Hehe

neutral

unless you praise the arsenal you thumbed down, don’t sweat it. sometimes this place is run by the positivity police

Phaniman

Dempsey is not an option if you want to improve the squad.

We need someone who can play CAM or on the wings. Good close control, decent shooting. Most importantly, if we want to see an Arsenal play we need a CREATIVE player.

We don’t need a midfield packed with and rotated by hardworking 6’s and 7’s. We need one 9.

CAGooner

Love to see Clint become a Gunner!

Arsenalkid700

CA: I am with you on that. Of course I am guessing that because he is American people don’t want him.

I bet you if we go out and by Heskey the fans will be like YES! Heskey is a god sent from the heavens, he is english, he is also a God

Seaman Staines

No kid, people don’t want him because he is not good enough. We have tried scraping the bottom of the barrel with bargain basement buys and it has not worked. What we really need to do is start to buy star quality players one at a time. Space them out if money is an option but we should be buying an Aguero at least once a year.

Dannydoolan78

I completely agree. Not sure why we persist with this poor mans barca system. IT’S NOT WORKING!! If only we’d taken up the opportunity of yaya wed have had our new paddy viera n could have build a REAL midfield around him. Ifs n buts I kno but heartbreaking to think we’ve ended up with arsh

Dannydoolan78

I completely agree. Not sure why we persist with this poor mans barca system. IT’S NOT WORKING!! If only we’d taken up the opportunity of yaya wed have had our new paddy viera n could have build a REAL midfield around him. Ifs n buts I kno but heartbreaking to think we’ve ended up with arsh, youssi etc n players like diarra, Parker have passed us by. Terrible management IMO.

Thorough

@Arsenal kid. Our problem is in midfield, Yes. The problem is Rosicky n Benayoun? Downright No. They never get to play man. They are always only summoned to rescue. Take Benayoun for example, little or no chance all season yet had great moments: in Greece, today’s pass to VP, at Aston Villa and today he was reading the game well, intercepting passes upon passes, which I hope Tim proves correct later. OUR PROBLEM is Ramsey. He is that proverbial Handbrake Wenger spoke about. The midfield collapsed today because there was no Arteta to cover up his lapses. Be objective man.… Read more »

superanderslimpar

Thorough if Benayoun isn’t good enough for Liverpool or Chelsea, why is he good enough for us? I cannot believe the grief Ramsay gets when you look at Walcott, Arshavin & Scouser/rent boy. HR didn’t hide at all today – you cannot say that for the rest of the team . Look at the pass he gets from Arshavin for Dyers goal. I think boys & girls that there might be a benefit if we don’t finish top 4 this year. I know it means Perse might leave, but it might make the people who run our football club that… Read more »

Thorough

@Superanderslimpar. If Benayoun isnt good enough for Chelsea and Liverpool how is he good enough for us? I’ll tell you how: because our coach has sold 3generations of players in 6-8years and failed to replace them with equal quality. I can still say it loudly here that I was one of the people that wanted Adebayor gone because he was shite. But if we had Adebayor now (whom we unanimously agree was not Arsenal standard or didnt try enough) we would be 3rd or 4th. So why do we regret selling him? Because the coach refused to invest the money… Read more »

MyArse

You had me until Wenger out, Thorough. Even Wenger was frustrated at the players yesterday. Everyone could see that. Once that whistle goes it is out of his hands and he has to rely on the players to do what he wants them to do. All of us watching could see that they were not doing that. He even had to shout to rosicky to come and receive a throw in for crying out loud. Where are the players heads at?

Thorough

@MyArse. I think it should dissapoint me more and make me shout it louder that Coachie should go if he has started getting frustrated by his players. He scouted them, knew what he was getting when he paid for them and trains them daily. Now he needs to tell us he has been insincere to us, unfair to the very few players he has, apologize like a gentleman and bow out. How can I expect a player of Bendtner’s class to give what Henry at his peak gave? He bought average players, he shouldn’t expect them to give sensational performances.… Read more »

slimgooner

gutted absolutely gutted

Comedian

Disappointed with the performance yes Swansea played well didnt see any drive or urgency from our players to get the ball back.
Is this a team who just turn up for big occasions???? Because that was a very disappointing performance. Not gonna point out any players i guess everyone knows how bad some players played.

Southwoldgunner

I really need to stop betting on arsenal winning… Utter shite.

Eric Irish gunner

I bet 2-1 arsenal win mate with VP first goal and taught I was on a fucking winner and then that shit happens

Mooro

A list of all the positive things to come from that game:

Yep, that’ll do it.

Arsenalkid700

I will help you start,

1) Miquel looks to have a future at the club

Mooro

Yeah that’s a fair shout. He did well. Like the look of him.

Bunburyist

He’s very handsome.

perrygrovesworld

4) erm. . . . no sorry i think i’m pushing it there

Witoldo

2) No Internet warrior has thought to yell at RVP yet for missing a clear cut opportunity in the first half basically one-on-one with Vorm that probably would have swung the game.

MyArse

RVP always gets a pass because he misses 10 times less than those around him.

Master Bates

3)Chamakh and Squillaci had nothing to do with this defeat

MJB

pity they weren’t there, maybe could of made it 5-2.

arse4red

That was a disgraceful performance no passion shown by any players!. A mediocre squad with an over reliance on RVP and other players Walcott, Arshavin, Djorou along with Mertesacker are not fit to wear the arsenal shirt!. The buck stops with Wenger it’s time for him to sign some quality players and get rid of the rubbish!

nw5

well kos showed passion,and mostly had a great game,nearly scoring at the end.
ramsy had alot of passion but that was his problem.trying too hard and taking to much on himself.
our young leftback worked his arse off.
swansea put alot of pressure on song,and without arteta he became isolated.
benayoun didn’t fill his position well. and walcott and arshavin are still not playing in their preferred starting places.. it had loss written all over it. i probably shouldn’t have bet on an arsenal win then..

Thorough

@Arse4red. You are the coach man. Which player would you rather have: a passionate Ramsey or a talented Messi? Let’s stop beating about the bush, we need quality, pure and simple. At a stage even the Swansea players looked far better than ours…individually. After Kanu scored the 3rd of a hattrick against Chelsea to complete one of the most-amazing comeback-wins in Arsenal history the Commentator quipped, ‘No coach can coach that.’ so Mr. Wenger, buy players with the attributes you cant coach, before you think of polishing. Trying to file wood is a waste of time: you waited 3 years… Read more »

Summit

Everything so familiar. Arsenal going ahead 1-0 and then the opponent dominating us most of the match and winning. Painful to watch.

njqnjq

I hope we take the Europa League seriously next season.

Eric Irish gunner

I’d rather bring the missses out, then again is channel 5 that bad

Mooro

Sure I heard somewhere one of those wingers playing today is looking for 85 grand a week.

Which one was it again?

Runcorn Gooner

Bang on.If he hadn’t scored that goal he would have been
crucified in this blog.
The rest of his performance was poor.
Just too many sub standard players today.
Why can’t we every capitilise on a 1-0 lead?

Eric Irish gunner

The one who can’t cross a fucking ball and sometimes wants to be offside in case he fucks up and says to arsenals top and proberly best ever player he’s not getting no 14 back, makes you fucking laugh

Frog

Of the four wingers who started today, the best two weren’t playing for the arsenal.

gunner16

We need our current players’ attitude to improve. we need to be ruthless and we need them to have a ‘never say die’ attitude about themselves.simply, we need to stop getting outplayed by Swansea and Fulham and the likes.

MJB

They need to go to ‘FINISHING’ school! 😉

Jhomsie

I know Szczesny is (rightly) extremely popular with the fans and is clearly a talented keeper, but Yar She Blows makes a good point. His positioning on the 3rd goal was absolutely shocking. Not blaming him alone for the result, though. Poor all round really.

Witoldo

Yep, that’s two straight games (Fulham then Swansea) when SZCZ has made a crucial error at a crucial time.

Arsenalkid700

He did play against Leeds you know

Eric Irish gunner

Who has he to worry about to take his position, fucking no one so he can afford to fuck up

TeeCee

And if you watch SZCZ’s reaction after it goes in, nobody knows that better than he does himself.
I suspect he’s going to spending some extra time on the training ground this week making sure that doesn’t happen again. He comes across as that type.

Sean

Worst thing is, we will probably beat United, and Wenger will go on about how he has a good team yada yada yada. Will mask the gaping holes this team has. We. Lack. Quality.

Double '71

Beat United? We’ll be lucky if they don’t put 10 past us the way we stand off & watch the opposition play. It took them giving us a mauling last time to wake Wenger up & I don’t see anything other than that happening again. I’ll be there next week anyway…

neutral

Agreed, Arsenal were ball watching, turning in circles as Swans played around them. Swans gave Arsenal no time on the ball, Arsenal stood off and let them run the game for long periods. It’s the coaching, period.

Witoldo

I wouldn’t be surprised if we beat United. Remember last year’s run-in? In our last 14 games, we got a hella lot of draws and losses. Our one win? Against United at home thanks to Ramsey.

Runcorn Gooner

Thanks to Ramsey.
Thats what Swansea fans are saying.

gooner

A very decent team with no wingers and AN AVERAGE attacking midfielder!
A left back on loan? You must be having a laugh. Buy some decent attacking midfielder who can actually score some goals, and make some goals(not for the opposition though).

Seb

Don’t know if yOu have heard of him, but there’s a guy called wilshere injured at the moment who will fill that role

gooner

I know him very well. He was arsenal’s player of the year last season playing in a different position. NOT that role! He was playing where Arteta is now playing but he’ll be an improvement on the prince of wales.

Thorough

Yes, he will come back. We have been hearing that since the BC years. But mind you he is not coming to replace Ramsey because though he wont give the opponents some assistance yet he doesnt have too much goals in him either. He is Song’s partner, thats his best role. I say bring in a Gourcuff or push Arteta upfield.

Andrew

Anybody that thinks Ramsey is decent better WAKE UP! He lost the game for us today! Arshavin? Nothin need Be said, but that I feel for the Ox!

Aaberg

Won’t say he lost it for us but it was hard to watch him play today. He’s got a long way to go

Thorough

@Aarberg. It was hard to watch Ramsey today? Its been hard for me to watch him all season. Has his mojo on 5percent of the time, Cesc had his off 5percent of the time. And I apologize, i think it is actually blasphemous to mention Ramsey and Cesc in the same breathe.

Aaberg

Fair point, thorough
Just trying not to be so negative
It’s possible he turns into a good player
Wish we had a solid enough midfield so he could go on loan

Yar She Blows

Exactly, Ramsey shipped the first 2 goals

perrygrovesworld

Wasn’t a penalty though, was actually a foul on Ramsey

Rob'67

There was one positive from the game ! Apparently discernible cries of “Wenger Out !!!” could be heard from the away fans before the final whistle. Was not there myself but am reliably informed that patience is now wearing very thin amongst the travelling faithful. Next up Man Utd. !!! But if those reports are true then the current master plan to reduce us to mid table nonentities, might just be about to encounter some serious fan opposition. Also the protest banner – shelved from earlier in the season – might just make it’s debut next Sunday. Interesting times my… Read more »

nw5

nice one machiavelli.

oops

We are closer to stoke in points than man city! Says it all really! But we are getting what our play deserves! I’m very pro wenger but he needs to sort it out not just keep faith and do nothing! Rambo, walcott, arshavin are not up to scratch to start! Don’t blame djourou and miquel though. Not full backs and were never meant to.be!

Kafata

Ramsey’s been getting worse and worse with each game. The reason, I think, is fatigue. This is the first season the lad’s starting almost every game. I wish we had Wilshere back for next week’s game…

Yar

Agreed he’s getting worse, but I don’t know about fatigue. He is losing the ball in our half more and more, and it’s becoming a serious problem when we are moving the ball out of the back.

Thorough

Fatigue my foot!!! He hasnt played more games than Kos or Per. Call it by the simple name that we are all trying to avoid – incompetence. He is the famous Wenger Handbrake in human form.

Boaz

At all the Ramsey haters around this comment you should be ashamed. This is a young man who has only recently returned from a serious injury. If people can not give the 20 year old a bit of respect as an arsenal player then your remarks are as low a as a whinging spurs fan. I don’t have a problem without ting out that he didn’t have a good game today, but the comments I have just read are shameful as an arsenal supporter. If you can’t respect the players in a manner that does not involve belittling and trashing… Read more »

superanderslimpar

Well said Boaz

AnonymousGooner

I haven’t seen Arsenal play beautiful football since Cesc left.

TSOTIA

AnonymousGooner, take a bow. And although you are so crystal right, expect loads of thumbs down(I’ll use this advice too!) because most people-just like my dear AW- are refusing to admit the truth.
This is no AW’s team. The beauty is gone!
What, common Swansea out-played them!

Phil

Utter dogshite performance by us and a great performance by them. And… more inconsistent (or should I say consistently anti-Arsenal) refereeing. How the ‘foul’ on Dyer (lying scumbag) was given is beyond me. Then, Walcott was blatantly held back afterwards which was a clear penalty and then there was the free kick not given for a foot up right at the end. Not making excuses, Swansea were excellent and deserved the win. But, you don’t always get what you deserve in football and we’ve had just two penalties all season (I think). I can remember a pretty high number of… Read more »

Fatgooner

The most disappointing thing about today’s game was the defending. I thought that we had gotten over our early-season (and late last season) tendency of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by committing hara-kiri from winning positions. How wrong I was. The turning point of today’s game was just after Walcott had equalised. If we had kept them out for five minutes then we may well have gone on to win it. But that was too much to ask. Do you realise that we have now conceded more goals away from home than any other side in the Premier… Read more »

Mr Monkey Nut

I don’t believe we’ll be anywhere near top four at the end of the season. We have too many weak minded players not prepared to put a shift in and too many who just aren’t good enough. Wenger is on the thinest ice he’s ever been on and his shambles of a team are about to send him crashing through it.

neutral

Turning point was not after Walcotts goal, before then I had started to fast forward my recording of the game out of pure disgust in seeing the Arsenal dominated by Swansea. It was nausea inducing stuff

RP

Horrible display by our players. Djorou along with Mertesacker add no value to the team. They either generously give the ball away to the opposition or dribble out and then stand around thinking about Roses and Lilly’s. Walcott needs to really be honest with himself and whether he is up to Arsenal Standard. Arshavin needs to just pack his bags and just leave. Wenger needs to be honest with himself about the team he has assembled. Losing does not hurt because some times you play hard and yet do not get the result. But today’s loss was just disrespectful to… Read more »

Big Guns

In Arsene Wegner we trust, nigga plz

john

Song and Ramsey have been pretty terrible for most of the season, we desperately need better players in midfield. Swansea completely dominated the midfield and if Arteta isn’t playing there’s nobody in there who’s a team player. There’s no pressure for either Ramsey or Song to perform as there’s no alternative on the bench. I’ve always been a big fan of Wengers but his policy of not killing the Denilson’s, Diaby’s, Songs and Ramseys of the world has created a large know how gap in the midfield, one which he shows no sign of filling, and until it is we’re… Read more »

Lord Teddy Ears

Are you sure Song Ramsey have not played this season ?

john

they have played and been terrible

Kafata

Song and Ramsey have been fantastic this season. The problem is that we have no alternative for Song when he’s having a bad game, and Wilshere is still out. You can’t expect Ramsey to maintain a good level when this is his first season playing almost every game…

john

they’ve both had a lot of bad games, and yes we need replacements but the will isn’t there to buy them

Witoldo

We have TWO: one just went on loan to Wolves, and the other did his hamstring in the FA Cup trying to sprint faster than Usain Bolt on an overlapping run while deputizing at right back.

Thorough

@Kafata. Please I am on my knees begging you: never you put the word ‘fantastic’ and ‘Ramsey’ in the same sentence again….never.

nw5

doomed? wow

Deanodoes

This is what we do every year. Get our hopes up, think that job is done and get completely complacent. This coupled with the fact that Wenger refuses to catch up with the times and realise that world class players don’t come cheap. The fact we have a player from the second division in Oman on trial speaks volumes. I’m sorry but Ramsey, Arshavin, Benny, BFG, Walcott would not have got near the bench 8 years ago. This is the worst arsenal team since the Bruce Rioch season. Even that team put up more of a fight. Wenger’s had over… Read more »

Mr Monkey Nut

Couldn’t agree more. Can’t imagine Ivan G will have the bottle to answer the fans wrath if this bollocks continues.

Comedian

One loss and mertesacker is to blame???? How the fuck did you all come to that conclusion he didnt do any wrong today got in interceptions at crucial moments did everything well. We were without 6 first choice players still not an excuse for todays performance but there were too many wrong decisions made there like first when you are closer to oppositions D you can try and look for a creative pass which may well not come of but atleast try, second make yout mind up theo if you wanna cross or not because your decision making allowed the… Read more »

MJB

We can’t win with bargain basement signings when other teams are spending to invest. You buy cheap you get cheap.

MyArse

Spending does not always work mate. Torres, Carroll, Downing, Nasri……need I go on?

Thorough

Yes, go on mate….tell us how ‘not spending’ improves a team.

Deano

The mist disappointing thing for me was seeing swansea pressing us high and forcing mistakes whole we sat back and let them plau from the back. I dont know what the gameplan was but if it eas to sot back against a very good passimg team then that is shocking. Another point: arshavin worked hard again and improved from last time out. Our back 4 werent actually that bad they just had zero protection, a familiar arsenal problem. Realistically we need to forget twotchy’s army of spunksters and look at chavs and BNPool as our real rivals for now who,… Read more »

nw5

well said

Aaberg

We really missed Arteta today.
With him on the pitch we take 3 points

Yar

Arteta has been the only thing keeping the wheels from falling off. Well, Kos and RVP too

nw5

then that’s 3 things you moron

Yar

@nw5

You sure do seem to have a personal troll vendetta against me today. All these insults…very caveman-esque. Fine, I’ll restate for you – one in each area, RVP scoring, Arteta protecting the back four, and Kos holding it down while TV5 is out. Troll on, troll

TRob13

It just really strikes us hard on how much we are missing players like Sagna, Vermaelen, Santos, Wilshire, Gervihno, and Arteta. A healthy line-up the likes of: Szecney, Sagna, Kos, Verm, Santos, Song, Arteta, Wilshire, Ox, Van Persie and Gervihno, with Walcott (because let’s face it – he does his best coming off the bench), Ramsey, and Coquelin or a striker to be named coming off the bench… does not lose or draw to Fulham, Swansea, Wolves, Blackburn, and probably not Man City. This shows that some players: Chamuk, Arshavin, Benyoun, Mertesacker, Rosicky, Park, Diaby, Gibbs, Djourou – are just… Read more »

Lord Teddy Ears

Cant agree with you more Rob

TRob13

Need to clarify… not calling for getting rid of Arsene, just wishing the spending would rev up and we would go get world class players like we used to (and not let world-class players with 3 years left on contract get sold for 2/3 value). Just sayin…

Lord Teddy Ears

We had a threadbare squad and we are one of the richest clubs in the world. I am a little lost for words watching that game and for all the interviews rhetoric being put out by the manager at the moment to cover this up. I know we have a shit load of players out but we need to be able to bring on players that can make the difference if not we will slip out of the top 4 and I would honestly be gutted if that happened. However I thought RVP was magic, Ox did really well, Miquel… Read more »

Willy young

We are very average and will end up 7th as Liverpool ( who are not great ) will overtake us

Only 3 super quality players in Squad VP Sces and Jack

4-5 ok players Song Kos Sagna Arteta Gervinho

A few prospects Ox Jenkinson

The rest are not Arsenal standard and it shows how much work needs doing. Maybe board are holding money back for a new manager ( hoping) or just don’t care and Wenger is delusional seriously

Kafata

What about the Verminator?

Ian selley

Hopefully this result and fulham will show wenger that we will be out of the top 4 unless he spends money in jan

Young Gooner

If only Walcot know how to use his pace. He might get 2 or 3 goals like he the one he scored

Jaf

its not about scoring 3 gaols a game. you just cant allow teams like swansea to outscore you. never.

Runcorn Gooner

What is it with this blog.Last week it was gaels this
week it’s gaols very soon it may be goals .Hopefully
Against the Mancs next week.

Phaniman

If this Swansea squad had RvP, theyd be on top of the table if they played like this.

Wenger’s getting out-Wengered.

Charlie

Who would you put on, outside our top 11 who you would trust to salvage a game for us?…Henry, maybe the ox….otherwise we’ve got nobody. Arshavin, Rosicky, benayoun, Diaby? (I thought he had a little calf injury after making his comeback back in November which would keep him out for 10 days) We played exceptionally badly today (complacently, maybe) but it also illustrates how stretched we are in terms of quality in our squad. I don’t know what’s holding Arsene back from making a quality signing like Goetze or Hazard, but the likelihood of us being able to attract that… Read more »

Kafata

Koscielny saved so many…. Yet he still gave away a couple of goals. Yes, Szczesny did make a mistake, but I think he’s allowed a bad move every now and then. Miquel was decent, but he’s not a natural fullback. I can’t wait ’till we get at least 2 of our starters back. Henry didn’t do that much, and I can’t wait to have Wilshere back. Ramsey’s been all right, but he’s had some bad games, and today we showed we have no real alternatives. The Ox was good as always, maybe he should start ahead of Walcott from now… Read more »

Jaf

What a disgrace to play like that. How many times did Ramsey lose the ball and Szczesny kicked it out of field? And Rosicky, 2 years without scoring a goal and still being thrown to change the game. Wtf is wrong with this team.

Cant see us playing manure next sunday. Dont believe anything after such performance.

NorthernGoon

I think people are getting slightly carried away; this team does need improvement yes but it’s not the useless second rate team that some would have us believe. What it lacks is simple: mental strength/faith/whatever you want to call it. The same thing happens year in year out; we rock the league, we lose half our first team to injury, Wenger/the board does nothing apart from contradict itself with regards to inbound transfers and the team lose faith and fall to pieces. The whole lot of them lost faith today and regardless of the reason they need to find their… Read more »

Kafata

With our luck, Mikey Owen’s gonna come in a stretcher, score 3, and go back out…

TenaciousDee

Yeah, people definitely are getting carried away. We really missed Arteta today, but in situations like these you need everybody on the park to give 100% and we just did not do that despite the rest we’ve had. We knew what Swansea would offer but we weren’t hungry enough to close them down. Walcott was our weak link – seriously, what more do you need in life to be playing for the greatest club in the world, doing the thing you love for a job, and earning heaps of money in the process? He just barely looked interested and it… Read more »

diefenbaker

Pleaase please just bench ramsey for a few games, doesnt anyone else see…….. why was every1 jogging……why no 1 shouted when a teamate was getting closed down from behind…..the midfield killed us,, and its not all arshavins fault like whut the commentators make it out to be.

MissingLink

Djourou,Mertesacker,Rosicky,Arshavin and Walcott in one team is a recipe for disaster and that is exactly what we got.
Only the most blinkered of Arsenal fans could expect RVP to extend his contract with this squad.Why the hell did Wenger let Frimpong go to Wolves when we are down to reserve level cover defensively ? I am and always have been an advocate of Wengers policy,but now I seriously question his purchasing & tactical approach .
This is not a knee jerk reaction but growing discontent born from consistently poor performances from season 10/11 that have continued this season .

diefenbaker

I actually think rosicky stabilizes the team when he’s on, its as if the players suddenly know what to do.

Eric Irish gunner

What fucking lose, look at the last few games and rosicky has had no impact, justs pulls out of 50/50s and dos’ent mark or chase back

pat

firstly well played Swansea nice to see a side prepared to play the passing game and entertain did u hear pardew say 1 shot on goal at home he doesnt care as long as you win.(lucky for him all the thick geordies dont understand) did you clowns find out today that this is the worst squad under wenger? yossi lightweight not good enough for chelski arsavin aint paid enough to run walcott only paid to run(took his goal well though) derooooo no more a premier player than most of us boy just got lucky to play so often for a… Read more »

Witoldo

I wish there were an “Ignore” button on these comments sections.

MyArse

Everyone’s entitled to their opinions.

neutral

Same old problems, same old problems. Don’t blame the players, who the F is coaching them anyway? How does a team fall apart with such regularity? Was the Arsenals good run of form from October to early December a fluke? There is no urgency, there is very little movement, and too many players try to do it themselves. What could Brendan Rogers do with Arsenals players? On top of that, at the end of last season we heard all kinds of noises about a shake-up. Looks like the same old Arsenal to me, only worse. The midfield is weak, and… Read more »

arse4red

The whole point of moving to the emirates was to be able to compete with Man Utd, Chelsea and now City!. The club has regressed more interested in making money than a team capable of winning and trophies!. A lack of ambition this season has been shown by Wenger and Gazidis!. It might be time for a change of manager and we don’t seem to be going anywhere!. I wouldn’t be surprised if RVP leaves in the summer for Barca, Real why would you want to hang around for a club that clearly has a lack of ambition!.

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