Teams News: Swansea vs Arsenal

Well, Theo has to try to be a lot more dangerous than he's been, so far.

Just seen the replay of the 'pen'. What a shocking decision. The standard of refereeing is so incredibly bad.

Come on Swansea. Penalty was bang on. Spot on ref.

Swansea deserve it to be honest.

Shambolic defending by the Arsenal for that goal. Ramsey is determined to cost us the match...sleeping like that on the job.

Sigh. Swansea want it more. Arsenal playing like their old selves thinking just have to turn up to win. So much a typical Arsenal performance, always likely to concede. We're out of the CL next season i'm afraid. Glad we have 50m in the bank though.

....Song, guilty too. Goooal! Theo!

Getting what we deserve, I'm afraid. Mental strength showing again

Ramsey thinks he is some Brazilian kid, you know...always trying intricate things that won't come off and holding on to the ball far too long for comfort. Frustrating day.

These last two away games have been truly awful. Just like the Arsenal of old. Swansea playing with far more composure on the ball than we are. Seeing Arsene ranting and raving on the sidelines. Just cuts a figure we've seen far too often the last few seasons. Really disappointing.

Maybe another 8-2 stuffing next week will see the dust blown off the creaking wallet. Goodbye top 4 it's been a blast.

Niko - the thing is, they'll probably scrape a 1-0 next week that'll paper the cracks and then Wenger will be blind again.

The earlier we (fans) reconcile to the fact that we are not going to see Champions League football next season, the easier it will be for us.

Gooner_Vin, can't see how this team can beat United, even at the Emirates; at least, not on a performance as this. It just seems we can't focus on the big picture to drive the players into showing more commitment.

I like Ramsey, I really do... but he really needs to get the simple things first before trying to fill Cesc's boots.

Don't think Szesney's decision making on their 2nd and 3rd goals was great, either.

We missed Arteta BADLY.....Arshavin needs to go, theo can run in straight lines. We are also missing Verm and santos gave us something more on the left. Fair play to Swansea they played us off the park at our own game....well our old game. At this rate I think Europa might even be out of reach.....need to consolidate and regroup MAJORLY in the summer for next season

I don't think you can blame Szczesny for the 2nd. Its not like he was beaten at his near post. I think our midfield lost the ball far too many times and just failed to hunt the ball down enough when they did.

Arteta would have made little difference gunnerman, unless sideways passing is your thing of course.

Szczesny - last season you were forgiven for costing us the Carling Cup.. But this season, we are increasingly signs of Almunianess.. FML

That's cheered me up after our disappointing result.

Agree with you about Djourou. Not who I'd call Mr Mobile, and always looks distinctly uncomfortable bringing the ball forward. I wince whenever he gets the ball and there's an opponent zeroing in on him. Why do we always lose key players for large parts of the season? Wilshire, Sagna, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Santos...the list goes on.

Much as it hurts to say it I thought Swansea actually deserved the victory. I really thought they outplayed us at our own game today. Doesn't happen very often.

Yep, the loss of Vidic and Rooney barely puts them off their stride. Even having 2 dodgy goalkeepers doesn't do it.

nikolaijns....maybe I should have been more specific. Arteta is cool under pressure, doesn't waste a needless pass and rarely loses the ball. All things our midfield lacked today. As soon as I saw our midfield lineup I thought we would struggle with ball retention in the middle of the park. Benayoun is no Arteta and I felt Song and Rambo were overworked. One plus point is Ox looked lively again and will be giving walcott cold sweats at night now, I think wenger should be braver and give him more minutes.......its not like we have much to lose. I was really impressed with Swansea today, calm in possession, they out passed us, out hustled us and deserved the victory, if they played like that in every game they would finish top 4.

Makes you wonder why Wenger is always complaining to the 4th officials. They weren't responsible for signing Arshavin and Walcott.

Won't make you feel any better, but it was a great game for the neutrals. Swansea are a lot better side than many people give them credit for, and don't forget manure only beat them 1-0 at theirs, and they've also given Liverpool and Tottenham a rough time at home. Not the end of the world for you, and I sincerely hope you pick yourselves up for the game against the rags - TBH, I think Swansea are actually a BETTER side than manure are at the moment, and your home advantage should see you get something from that one - just make sure Van Persie sticks to Wio Turdinand all day, he's bound to get some joy that way!

A very well thought out and meaningful post paddypower.

Thought that was an excellent 1st post by paddy, I was about to say the same thing word for word.

Paddy Power ensured that there were more than 51 LOLs..Coz thats the number of years we have LOLed at them... for ...

TRH Spurs are a better team then us so far this season there is no doubt, I would be delusional to think otherwise....the difference between me and you, is that I actually admit it, and I am not delusional. I am a football fan who is gracious in defeat and realises that spurs have potentially pulled their finger out of their ass after half a century, never mind 7 years! As you have ALREADY found out, the hard part is staying there for the next 15 years (let alone 17 games) and while actually winning the odd title. There is one big difference this time around.....we are A LOT closer to you right now then you have been to us over the last decade thats for sure. The reason you missed out on the CL this year was because you was in it last year.....I think even you can work that one out.

wenger has to find ways to salvage the season by hook or by crook because things are gonna get worst if we failed to qualify for cl next season. rvp will leave for certain and good players will refuse to join us. we never pay top wages & players are joining us because of the opportunity to play in cl. it is very obvious that our players have lost their motivation. their lackluster attitude was so frustrating to watch. only rvp, kos, vermealen and gervinho deserve to wear the shirt so far this season. the rest either do not have the heart or simply not good enough

Well done Swansea City, and how ironic this was won by a dodgy pen, Arses being famous for never seeing anything and all that, but reports has it that he saw everything this time, and he is sure it was a dive....well Karma is sometimes a bit of a piatch.

dt, we cannot deny that some players were only giving their best in selective games. we lost to city 1-0 but everyone was full of praise because the team's commitment could not be faulted. had we played with the same level of commitment, we would have won against wolves, fulham & swansea where we took the lead early instead of taking just one point

Where do you think you'll finish this season then? Not where you want to finish but where you WILL finish?

Why is everybody so negative still a long way to go i not writing off our chances yet we were missing some key players so lets keep the head up AFC for life

..."cos they're familiar with Arsenal over the last 4 or so years", achieving success in spite of everything and yet not satisfying the media or fans because they expect a team to win things every year, forever.

Spurs are bound to drop points, given their upcoming fixture list. But given our normal record in ending seasons over the past 3-4 years, I fear that this over worked select group of players will be too tired and the rest of the squad does not have the quality to step up. 4th is looking is really difficult this season. This season hinges on razor thin margins, and its going to take some good fortune (no more injuries, RvPs form continuing) to see us finish 4th.

I sometimes wonder, shewore.

You're using that sensationalist language that the papers/idiots on sky shout regularly - how often do you use that word day-to-day - but assuming by 'capitulate' you mean 'have a worse second half to the season than Arsenal and finish below them', I could quite easily see us out-performing Tottenham and/or Chelsea over the next 17 games, yes, why not? You say your defence is nearly as bad as Chelsea's - but ours isn't on the field, it's in the treatment room. Apples and oranges.

Chelsea having fair amount of injuries as well. Capitulate I think is a fair definition of losing 10pts when you're going through just about the best season for 50 years. I can see them dropping points, but I can't see us taking advantage of them, how many times over the last few years have we seen our team bottle taking the bull by the horns and turning up the pressure on teams above us by dropping points? As has been said our team is completely overworked, the squad is the worse it's been under Wenger (in my opinion) we have a slim chance, but we'll need other teams to be worse than ours, I can't see us doing anything dramatically good.

"how many times over the last few years have we seen our team bottle taking the bull by the horns and turning up the pressure on teams above us by dropping points?" - I think that's a question of perspective. Liverpool failed to win this weekend (at home to Stoke) after the top teams had dropped points; do we define that in the same way? Or because our squad is younger and less costly do we say 'inexperience! Get the chequebook out!'? it is as disappointing as it is surprising that, just when Arsenal seem to be back, we have a result like this. But let's not panic, eh? Feels like September all over again...

damiano - I like your positive, supportive posts, even if I don't always agree with them. I know we have injuries, key players leaving, and we can't win every game and a trophy every season. but for cryin' out loud, over the last 4 seasons or so, when it's been plainly obvious that the players Wenger brought in and had faith in were patently not good enough, why oh why can't we bring in the quality needed? we need that quality even without cesc/nasri leaving. the other day we saw Henry, a 34 year old, show what a bit of quality in the final third can deliver you. you can be optimistic as you like now about chelsea and spurs dropping points, but we're simply a RvP injury away from even a top 8 position not being likely. You simply cannot deny that.

So Shewore/GV, how does it get fixed? What can we suggest to AW that he doesn't know already, and better than us? He strikes me as a man just as *****ed-off that the same old things keep happening, who knows his team is better than that. What could we do to improve the side?

I'm not convinced it's Wenger, i don't really know if his hands are tied or what, but things aren't working. I think overall there is a lack of ruthlessness in his management, wrapping players in cotton wool that aren't delievering, that approach is bearing naff all fruit these days, it worked great 10 years ago, it took Pires a year to bed in, but it's not working.

dt, i dont mean to start a debate here but the inconsistent appraisal on the team is simply because we are being objective. we commended the team when they did well and we pointed to their shortcomings when they didnt turn up. it has become a norm now that whenever anyone question the performance of the team, he would be countered with the argument that we are not spending as much as some other teams, hence we should be appreciative. i just wonder how the argument holds when we talk about our performance (or under-performance) against teams with lesser budget like wolves, fulham & swansea and in the context of lack of commitment

That's okay Joe, that's what this is for! Why do you think we lost the game? And is it unacceptable to lose a game to Swansea? For me, losing a game against a team that plays as well as Swansea did yesterday - and being able to throw-in a dodgy penalty given against us too - holds no shame.

What's the hole, shewore? The fifteen years of success and increasingly-youthful (or 'long-term') squad?

GV - ****ed. Chamakh seems to have retired, Thierry's short-term and past his best (God bless him), Park is inexperienced in the European game and not looked first-team to me, Theo may WANT to play up front but he has 1/10th of the required abilities, Bendtner claims he'll never play for us again (which suits everybody!), Vela seemed to peak at 17 yrs old... who's left...

I've actually given up and am resigned to not finishing top 4 this season. I've come to a point where I'm losing my passion for following the team. It's hugely frustrating seeing us trying to play the world's best football without the world's best footballers. That is an equation that doesn't work. I do believe that something needs to change at Arsenal though, either what we've experienced in the last few seasons will be what we'll continue to experience for the foreseeable. I don't buy the injuries excuse either; Man Utd seem to be able to cope and be fighting for trophies despite being without key players.

that's a fair evaluation on arshavin i must agree. i think it's not his fault. had he played in the 1999-2004 era in bergkamp's role, he would have done just as well with his natural technique and eye for through pass. essentially, he is a second striker, not a winger and he played superbly in his natural position until the age of 28 when he joined us. as for walcott, i still think he is the m. owen type of player and he was developed to play in such style in his southampton days. his first turn of pace upon receiving a pass would kill almost all central defenders in the league if he plays centrally and close enough to the box. unfortunate, that also requires a tactic that hoof longer passing from distant to allow him space to chase down the ball, something we never do here. i am just concern he would be wasted in the long term trying in vain to beat speedy fullbacks without the trickery required for a winger. to be fair, these could be a problem of job misfit. i think wenger have to realise that not all players have the versatility to be molded into different styles

frustrated yep can agree but a bigger mob of moaners this site takes the cake. Think before you write and listen to what is being said. Question buy buy in this January market? 1. is the transfer date over yet? Perhaps we should at least wait till it closes Hmmm. Question why buy when we have four full backs coming back from injury? (Waste of money, what happens to them or the returning full backs who pays the wages for them?) According to you lot we have a team of clowns. Theo, only runs in straight lines, he overlaps and receives passes from Sanga, or Jenkinson; hold on they have been off sick. Kosi when he played in that position did Theo fail. The lad scored on Monday what more could you ask of him? Arshavin I would agree with you the blokes has failed to deliver and perhaps its time for him to go. Cast your minds back to a player who we sent off in tears not so many seasons ago and now the mass say thank god he is not playing in the ANC cup. In the game at Swansea we lost build a bridge and get over it. We lost to bloody Hull at home and they were not half the team Swansea are. Gentlemen we are shy of a Four full backs two centre backs and were down three on Saturday. Merts was and looked still sick IMHO. Gooner Vin if you feel you have lost interest in supporting our club please do yourself a favour and dont. Wynn along with Nicko you lost your anti opinions of this team when we recovered from our poor start to the season. Word of advice if you have nothing good to say and in all your posts I have or seem to have never found anything positive when we have a loss then shut up. Opinons are great if they are balanced not all bloody doom and gloom. Ramsey may have been trying hard to play extra but ffs sake dont run him down for that encourage. That lad will be one of the greats of Arsenal hes come back from a terrible accident and been made captain of his country and you doom sayers are running him down. He never stops trying and when jack and co return mark my words well there wont be a team in this EPL who will beat us. Life is a roller coaster and football mirrors that to a t. As said before build a bridge and get over it. As for TRH you are and always will be a Richard Cranium.

alwaysgunner - the last time I checked this forum was for fans to express their opinions, otherwise there'd just be articles and no option to comment and they'd call this site Vital Positive Speak Only Arsenal. I don't agree with the fans that go over the top in their personal criticism and hatred of the players, but think that a negative evaluation of our performance over the last few seasons is more than justified. Niko - reclaim the weekend - perfectly summed up!

alwaysgunner - at various parts of the season, and at times simultaneously, United have been without: Ferdinand, Vidic, Rafael twins, Cleverly, Anderson, Fletcher, Wellbeck, Young and Smalling. Yet they're 3 points off the top of the league despite a 6-1 thrashing at home. You know why? Their squad players are better than ours and their manager gets the best out of them, particularly with leaking of soft goals and playing with commitment and organisation. All I can say is that arseblogger's last two blogs from today and yesterday perfectly sum up how I feel.

gooner vin accept they have had players out for small parts of the season. Look at ours Wiltshire out for over 19 games(not due back till Feb, Sanga out since Oct, Santos will be out for close to six months, Jenkinson out for three months? Gibbs mainly out for up to three months (all at the same time) Diaby most of the season. TV will have been out the least but that must add up to at least two to three months. Not at various times but bloody out for most of the season. N0 10 as at least (and I dont agree with all his comments) tried to present positives along with negatives but all i see on this blog of late and earlier in the season is negative negative. I am lost as to how you can possible support the club. I agree with nicko if you dont love the club then bugger supporting them just go shopping or do something else. We will now have the doomsayers baying for the bosses blood, what clowns. This manager is the best manager in my life time the same as H. Chapman was the best in my Dads time. As he has said judge me at the end of the season, but I suspect no matter what he does clowns will still be around wanting him gone.

i think some arguments here were out of context. a lot of the frustrations vented here were about how we tend to collapse in a games that have the quality to win and could win had we wanted hard enough. if we could play very well for the first 10-20 minutes and scored and played well again in the last 10-20 minutes to chase the game (wolves, fulham & swansea out of the last 4 league games), surely we could be better in the 50-70 minutes in-between, no? it's so frustrating to see the players started not closing down, jog around, doing some fancy stuffs and not tracking back to support the defense when we took the lead and ultimately ended up losing a game. it drove us mad to see the repeating trend

If only the team can get back to the form which saw us going 9 games unbeaten, between October & November, we should be fine; even going top 3. That group had resolve and was concerned about keeping clean sheets (admitedly, we had Santos and Jenkinson during the period). As the saying goes, if you don't concede, you can't lose. We need such grit now. That's what Wenger has to restore.

Alwaysgunner - Honestly, I responded to you post because it seemed to be a rather wild rant looking at the way it is written 'ffs they make your statement look silly' . Yes I read your post. Did you mine? I said that the fact we can play so well against 'top' teams yet lose/draw against 'smaller' teams is a managerial issue rather than a player issue....as the players are the same in each game.

no 10 i stand corrected and as in earlier post I agreed with you considering we were playing without many members is was silly to say we that is was down to management. I like all the other fans wonder why when we are at the point of making real headway higher up the table we seem to fail. Our manager is the best manager we have ever had and for my lifetime will be the bset. He doesnt go on the field he selects the best team available and i concur there should be no January transfer. It should cut off at least two weeks if not six weeks before the season starts proper. I wish people would just look at the talent we have and coming up. Five of our team will be full English internationals. Two if not three will be among the all time greats. (Wilshire and Ox). RVP/Ramsey/TV and Kos will be stars of their International teams with Coquelin and even young Miguel. We will have a star studded team I have no doubt. I cant wait to see Campbell play for us let alone Rio once he has found his feet. Sometimes I really am amazed at comments on this site especially against the Boss. I really wonder why I bother to read comments on this site at times perhaps I should just read the scums comments I know what to expect from them,they hate us,(in a football sense).

Throw-Ins!!! I've never seen a team (at any level) loose possession so regularly from a throw-in. Just another thing I remembered.