A disappointing way for the unbeaten run to end, especially when the goal we conceded felt completely preventable. Poor defending and worse goalkeeping to blame, compounded by dreadful finishing at the other end where we made Lukasz Fabianski look like Dr Octopus.
Here’s how the players rated for us tonight.
While Giroud wasn’t great, I doubt a pundit’s analysis made a jot of difference to his performance
Games in which he has been shit this season have immediately followed high-profile press coverage. Right before the Monaco game, there was a prominent piece in which he talked about how great he is and then he proceeded to shit the bed. Now Thierry Henry re-ignites a national conversation about how he’s not great… and another two poor outings follow. Handsome, but sensitive apparently.
P.S. We can win the title with him.
A national conversation. lol.
Still, yanking him off meant we were crossing high balls to no-one in the closing stages. Nonetheless, and I know it’s not a popular opinion here, there’s a real case to be made for a more clinical striker to pair with Giroud for next season – that (& some sloppy defending) is what’s really costing us these kind of games (where the bus has been well parked).
The rating of Alexis is pretty weird. Made lots of incisive passes, always threatening. Arsenal only really came alive in the second half when he played more through the middle and got onto the ball. But having been seen as the savior at the start of the season, it’s now his time for him to be seen as a naughty boy.
Agreed, it would be pretty incredible if giroud crumbled so easily in the face of criticism, he’s come through the lower leagues so I’m sure he’s been criticised at every step up in level so far. Highly doubt that’s the reason. More likely he was having a golden spell and now he’s having a quiet spell, his true level is probably somewhere between the two. I have to agree with Henry though, our next big buy should be a dead eye finisher, who can run behind, pull cb’s out of position and maybe create a goal from nothing. We need… Read more »
I think our theo is broked. Can we has a new one?
I don’t get wenger sometimes . We should’ve gone 4-4-2 and kept giroud on .
Put theo up there with giroud .
Sanchez and theo shot straight at fab , no excuses for that ..
Bad misses .
We were really sloppy for the goal .. Kos and monreal were not aggressive enough .
Poor
You can’t blame the formation and the Sanchez and Walcott misses. Had they finished, formation is irrelevant.
I suppose that’s the hypocrisy though, thinking that we as fans know better than Wenger. In all likelihood he won’t be taking these decisions lightly and without due consideration. Given the fact we’ve been on such a stunning run, I think his decisions have been firmly justified.
Worse than text speak!
really bad performance
we’ve only really created 2 good chances and we managed to miss them both
in the space of two seconds that too
Lads need to keep their heads up, big game at old trafford now.
Well, our besetting sin came back to bite us: outplaying the opponent and not being able to put the boot to them.
We had the chances but not the required quality in front of goal
Shame about today; looking forward to smashing some cunts next week…I’m also still rather hungover from St. Totteringham’s Day celebrations.
YA GUNNARS YA
one point would have been enough.. dont know why we went for the overkill in the end.. one point makes the difference between second and third.. manutd can be beaten easily.. i dont think they will park the bus.. sometimes the players need to understand the larger picture .. highly disappointing that all we could manage was direct shots at fab
Well, truth being told, we were playing well enough to see out the draw. We were so dominant in that match it was silly – I think at one point we’d had 53% possession in the final third. The only reason we lost was a poor goalkeeping error and poor marking and there isn’t much that the team can do to prevent human error/physical incapability. If nothing else, that just shows his limitations, not the teams. As for Man Utd being beaten easily, I think that’s cheap. We’ve beaten them once, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Same goes for… Read more »
I wouldnt blame the keeper for the goal.. maybe the defenders on the marking. but overall we dominated without creating good chances. thats not dominating in my eyes.
As for beating manutd.. i meant that it will be easier to break them down than a 10 man defence like swansea put up yesterday.. i am not saying that we will beat them.. but a point against swansea kept everything in our hands.. more of concern than arrogance/getting carried away 😛
I think the keeper’s very much to blame. If that was Scz he’d have been brutalised. I’d also say Koscielny was slightly at fault, as Neville mentioned. He was dragged out of position after Nacho lost out on the 2 on 1, but quite simply Ospina didn’t do well enough in the moment of need.
Strange night . I genuinely thought we would stuff Swansea tonight .
We had lots of the ball but kept shooting straight at the keeper .
Fabianski done well … I had a feeling we let the wrong polish keeper go ! And we certainly have .
Ospina should’ve done better .
Ospina isn’t bad but we need a top keeper .
Cech, mate … piss off Jose and buy him with our selling profits plus Walmart specials plus the world’s greatest finisher even if you have to spend $1000b quidEurodollars … if Swansea can do you doubled over twice in a season then we need cosmic X-factor up front and Morgan Schenderlin and Paul Pogba to help out But who up front? … the result showed we are still vulnerable and can not win the league with our strike force at present …. If Aguero, who won’t be available no doubt, had been on for us it would have been 4-1.… Read more »
Ok 4th is it then
Totally agree – Lukas 10/10, a match winning performance.
The thing I feel most diss appointed about is we just didn’t take our chances (Similair to the Chelsea game) I didn’t feel we played terribly at all, escpicially in the second half, but our finishing boots were not on tonight!
theo coming on to play when the opposition is sitting deep.. thats either hoping for one of his “fall get up and run run past a flabbergasted defender” run or a contract negotiating technique..
maybe wenger thought theo would want to prove himself.. swansea doing the double over us.. is that a record?
It was just one of those nights, they happen occasionally. Perhaps we need to wise up and accept a draw at times rather than abandoning caution altogether in search of 3 points. All in all though, the last few months have been outstanding so I’ll just chalk this down to inevitable misfortune. Hope we bounce back at United though, our reaction will be a test of our character.
Why accept a point against a mid-table team that hardly had a single player in our half for 80 minutes?
Of course you go for the three points,it’s a no-brainer but Wenger got his tactics wrong in trying to get the three points. He is trying to to squeeze 5 central midfielders onto the pitch, so basically we had no width & no attacking prowess in the box once Giroud came off.
Why has Ramsey all of a sudden become unsubstitional?
Not sure why all the low ratings, we played well. Alexis should have taken his chance though, however, Swansea were extremely well organised.
Thought Theo made some good runs, not sure what all the arm chair pundits are moaning about. You can’t score every chance and especially when you hardly play.
Stop highlighting every time he misses, Alexis’ chance was far easier and Ramsey fluffed some pretty good opportunities when he got to the byline on 3 separate occasions.
I honestly can’t see how a chance off a rebound with the goalkeeper out-of-position scrambling to recover is somehow harder than a chance where the shooter has to maneuver through 2-3 players through a path that will take him head-on with the goalkeeper. But whatever. I also can’t see what a wide player/central midfielder missing shots from a tight angle because he has no target inside the box to aim a cross/pass at has anything to do with a supposed “striker” hitting tame shot after tame shot right at the goalkeeper. *Shrugs* I also can’t see what these “good runs”… Read more »
Watch it again. Sanchez has lots of time and no defenders closing him and fires it straight at the keeper, Theo has 2 defenders closing him down and shoots through the only gap available.
Also Ramsey had lots of options but chose to shoot near post on 2 occasions and some weird chip thing on the other. I get Theo bashing is the flavour of the month but at least watch the game.
I’m not sure what Specterace is talking about. Walcott was always moving in the box when we came forward. A couple of times he was in dangerous positions with a bit of space but didn’t receive the ball.
I found it hilarious and predictable that Arseblog would put all the blame on Theo when the miss by Sanchez right before it was even worse lol!
I said the Alexis miss was worse on the Arsecast today.
Bring back Szcesny for Gods sake!
The same Szczesny that let in a near post dribbler at Wembley the exact same way?
Memory is a funny thing.
Indeed it is, that goal wasn’t squirmed in at the back post and it sure as hell didn’t take a deflection. Chalk and cheese.
Why can’t we just accept that it took a huge deflection for that goal to go in? That was NOT his fault. If anything, Gibbs let him down.
Lol…….really?……the guy must be a comedian!
…..same schezny that was basically sacrificed for ospina’s form?…….on just one game?….Lol
As an aside, well played Swansea and well done Garry Monk. A continually impressive display from a manager who somewhat slips under the radar. They did exactly to us what he did to Manchester City – shut the space down between midfield and defence.
Maybe Monk will do us a favour next weekend then
Ospina was poor tonight but surprising you mentioned his height when a certain 6’5 keeper let in an exact copy of that goal in the FA Cup semi final. Ospina is starting games on merit. As for Szczesny its a shame because he doesnt seem to have developed that much since he made his debut. De Gea also made his debut in the same season. Although Ospina is solid I think we should look to improve in goal for next season.
Szczesny made his debut 22 September 2009 & made his league debut against Man United 13 December 2010, Man United signed De Gea June 11th 2011.
I remember DeGea at the beginning of his ManU career and he wasn’t impressive, especially with his habit of punching the ball back into dangerous areas. But he’s improved into one of the best keepers in the Premiership, and Szczezny hasn’t really improved over his seemingly promising start.
2 top top players at either end needed. A DM needed too but only to keep Coquelin on his toes – the big money needs to be spent in nets and in front of nets.
Think you’re being a bit harsh on Giroud, really. Saw an analysis and stats of his play after first half. Ran more than anyone else on the pitch, always moving around to create space for the midfielders to start the play and then run into the box. He wasn’t a fantastic man of the match like we’d like him to be, but he does bring a lot more to the table that really doesn’t show until you’ve taken certain situations in slow motion four times.
Start with the obvious:
We’d have put the sword to them if we didn’t shoot everything straight at Fabianski.
Next, the lament:
Every time Santi gets the ball in attack there are 437 bodies in front of him. Poor guy can’t buy a goal even with Premier League wages.
Finish with the lightning rod:
Alexis was wasteful. This match was the most obvious exhibition of his flaws (which are usually far overshadowed by his brilliance, mind you) of trying too hard to do it all solo running into turnovers, and wasteful passing.
How a win or a lose can affect the rating of a player, playing good in both escenarios. However I think today was a performance that needs to be investigated further in the front area. You just can’t shoot all the time to the body of the rival goalkeeper. The way the team missed those chances were simply beyond understanding. Anyway a bad game can happen, but against Swansea seems to be the norm. I just hope we beat ManU next weekend to keep battling for 2nd place… if City wins all their remaining games, we will need to score… Read more »
Funny how opsina is getting the blame for their goal. I counted 3 mistakes before the header even came in. And the whole he needs to be over 6ft is crap. The bigger the keeper is the slower he is at moving. Shay given is small yet pulled off saves he shouldn’t have got. People should remember that keepers are the last line of defence. If we had of defended better they would never have got the header. And then add to that if we had played better overall we would have had the game put to bed before that.… Read more »
Are you saying because some is 6’5, they are automatically slower than their smaller counterpart?
Because someone should inform Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt strong point isnt his “initial speed” (which is kinda the point he was making about being “quick” due to the height), but he is “ending” speed is his strong point.
Which explains how he coasted the final 25m for his first Olympic gold?
Acceleration, you mean. Which is a fair point. But my point that somehow Ospina is faster because he’s smaller is baseless, as reaction isn’t dependant on height. And also what matters in that case would be weight, and it is possible to be taller and yet same height. Plus whatever advantage of being “faster” by being smaller is negated by the fact that they have to go over a larger distance. So a larger keeper wouldn’t have to jump as far as Ospina would. Overall…..my point is that using the argument of Ospina being a small keeper is a good… Read more »
Agreed Switchey. 1-st mistake was from Monreal to go up the pitch, second from Kosc trying to run and cover for Monreal way too high the pitch with no effectiveness, Bellerin not trying to stop the cross, Mertesacker stepping forward at the time of the cross, and Kosc jumped up like he was chained to the floor
My sentiments exactly!…..i couldnt add a thing more
We did not finish the opportunities presented and got caught out last five minutes. These things will happen. We needed to be sharper in front of goal and less anxious. Ospina is a decent keeper. He tends not to be as sharp coming out for crosses maybe something to do with height. OTOH he seems a good reaction keeper (better than the larger Szsc) so I would have expected him to save the goal. Alas. When you make a mistake as a keeper, all the good work before hand gets forgotten. Maybe an opportunity for SZSC? I suspect Wenger will… Read more »
Ramsey had several chances to pass to players in scoring positions and opted to shoot. One glaring mistake saw him shoot from an acute angle and hit the side netting. Trying too hard to do too much.
Play simple Ramsey. Stop blaming Theo Arseblog(gers)
I’ve noticed arseblog sometimes very easily gets stuck in a narrative of not liking a player for whatever reason or having a subconscious agenda.
I noticed it at first when during the initial breakthrough of Coquelin, no matter how well he played, every match report always followed with some kind of caveat of “not a ling term option”.
Now it seems that Theo is now the new narrative, overlooking the failings of Sanchez, Ramsey and Giroud to put all focus on Theo.
God knows why Wenger starts with Ramsey as Right-Wing, when he actually happened to be everywhere else, apart from the rightwing… He has been very undisciplined for a few games recently, ashe spends most of game in the ventcentre of the pitch. Not only making our attack very narrow but also leaves Bellerin with no protection.
Flaphandski didn’t produce such a great masterclass as he’s been given the credit for… We kept shooting at him.
At what point did Ramsey leave Bellerin unprotected? The two of them covered Montero for most of the game… until Ramsey was moved centrally.
Perhaps Henry was right after all.
In my book Ospina made a very basic mistake. A modern goalkeeper is trained always to attack the ball, to move forward, never to throw himself backwards. But that was exactly what Ospina did – and that’s why the ball crossed the line.
The only positive I can think of is this defeat will spur us on to victory against united and other matches just like the Monaco game.
This has been the pattern for 1-2 years now.
Another thing that I wonder is are the players under pressure to score a beautiful goal at home rather than just settle for a draw / grind out a win?
( manu, Monaco, Swansea home sometime back and now)?
I’m trying to think of the last time we got beat on the counter. No coincidence it happens when coq is off. Also, stop slaughtering Walcott. He barely plays. How is he supposed to get any rhythm.
He played for the most part of his 9.5 years at the club. He can’t control a football, can’t take a man on except by pushing the ball into space and sprinting past. He has no awareness of where to be on the pitch and he hides in plain sight to ensure he can’t be passed to. Sorry but that’s just not good enough.
And why are Ramsey and Giroud getting a free pass in this game? They played for longer and were far more culpable than Theo.
This anti-Theo agenda has been pretty clear for the past few weeks at arseblog. It’s like they’ve already convinced themselves he’s off, so are subconsciously painting a picture to their followers for why he isn’t good enough for us.
FINALLY! Someone with some sense! It is driving me nuts seeing people blaming Theo and that we should sell him, last season and 2 seasons ago those same people were begging Arsene to start him upfront! Needs to start a game on the wing and get some 90 mins under his belt instead of 10-20 mins every 2 games..
Ugh, this felt like one of those games from the 2006-2010ish period when we’d control the ball all game yet find a way to concede cheaply. Oh well, hopefully this’ll keep the team from getting complacent with United and Villa coming up
We sold the wrong pole
The way we played this game was weird. Giroud was being isolated, yet nobody is playing off him like we use to, with one two passes, use him as a decoy, etc. That’s how we created space in our winning run, wasn’t it?
And then the substitutions really shot our self in the foot. All those crosses & corners with no target man. Hmmpff.. This game is so frustrating..
Keeper and a striker needed over the summer – not that the ones we have are bad but they are just not getting it done in the clutch – where to find them is a real problem.
We needed to go full Rocky III–let Swansea hammer at us so we could win on the counter.#MickeyIN
Good point about Nacho. That absolutely was a penalty.
After today’s game i begin to agree with Henry… I don’t think we can win the EPL with Giroud as our target man
I think Wenger knew that we need a top class striker. If not how could you remove your main man when you need a goal. The reality is that we need a killer striker that can win a game for us even when your opponent park their bus.
It’s a valid point.
Wenger has already previously said how he overtrained Sanchez and let him play so much because he always has the threat of scoring a goal at any time.
Surely that’s the kind of trait you want for your striker? If Giroud had that kind of constant threat, can anyone imagine Wenger taking him off?
Arsenal´s people. You can´t win a league with this central spine: Metersacker, Coquelin(a good one), Ozil and Giroud. ALL TOO S L O W. When the team transport the ball from the back, Swansea was already armed on the back with 7 defenders. This team is excesively slow, and gives all the time in the world to the opponent to rearm they defense.
Can’t we buy Fabianski back this summer? I think he’d be very eager to come back.
Dear Aaron,
stop with the flicks.
regards,
Mr. Smurf
Personally, I think wenger is too predictable. Anybody can as well guess his starting eleven and those he will substitute and guess right. Wenger doesn’t have any element of surprise. He has been making the same sub in the last 4 games n it hasn’t produce any goal. He should by now be aware that when Giroud is taken off, arsenal attack dies. None of our strikers disturbs defenders like Giroud. Wenger is just too predictable n that’s why I believe he will never be able to defeat any team coached by mouhinro…….
The unbeaten run was papering over the cracks. We need someone like Klopp or Redknapp.
theo walcott is shit
Disappointing result and performance in front of goal but ever since our slight glimmer of winning the league faded I’ve just been counting the minutes ’til the Cup! Reckon Walcott has to go in the summer and bring in a proper talent. What Wenger said about this age (26-30) being the peakyears is true. Trouble is, you have to have actually met your potential for it to count. Walcott has spent too much time injured to have been able to do that and I just don’t think you can rely on him. The Ox looks a better footballer than him… Read more »
So the past 3 seasons, including a huge injury, he has notched up 32 goals, 21 assists in 58 games, and that’s before his golden ages. WHY IS THERE THE HATE WAGON FOR WALCOTT?! They probably sing THEO THEO THEO, when he is about to start, or has a good chance.
WTF is up with Walcott?! Shows no passion and is completely useless out there. He strikes the ball like a baby. What a wasted opportunity tonight. Couldn’t even get a point and with a tought game at Old Trafford next week, city scum will be favored for the top two finish.
To put it nicely, Jog on pal. I would like to see you come back from a long term injury and play 10 mins a game every 2 weeks and try to get something going. He needs 90 mins under his belt.
I’m glad somebody else also has a problem with the lack of height for Ospina.There have been other games when you could see that Ospina barely was able to get his hands on it where a taller goalie would have made the save easier. He has even lost the ball a couple of times for rebounds because he’s not quite tall enough. He is very acrobatic but his lack of height just hurts.I have been bothered by that since he took over for Szescny.
Would like to see Szczo have a chance now, see if he has benefited from sitting on the bench.
Theo needs a proper run of games to prove himself. It’s not fair to judge him on cameos.
Give him some game time and then we can all decide…(still think he’s sh*t though)!
🙂
Your bias against ospina is very well documented. You prefare the pole, allright. But after all your complaints of the distance of ospina’s kicking and other non-consequential issues, to blame his height is pretty low. Come of it man. He’s the arsenal no.1 @least for now, face it and live with it. @least he’s not a worse keeper than per (the love of your life) is a defender.