All of the Arsenal players did pretty well in a game that we dominated against a very determined and disciplined Swansea City, but with some bad luck, poor finishing and one defensive lapse, we lost. But it was Alexis, as usual, that tried his hardest and came closest to getting the goal we needed.
Ospina 6 – Had done pretty well until the goal when he was just caught a little out of position.
Bellerin 6 – Worked well in getting up and down the pitch and offered Arsenal some width in attack but also struggled at times against Montero.
Mertesacker 7 – Read the game well, snuffed out danger and never looked troubled.
Koscielny 6 – Generally good but was also at fault for leaving Gomis free for the goal.
Monreal 6 – Offered little going forward but I do not blame him for the goal as he at least read the danger and tried to help.
Coquelin 6 – Was not tested and did his job well until being replaced.
Cazorla 7 – Passed the ball well and got in some good positions but perhaps overplayed at times.
Ramsey 6.5 – Tried hard and good energy but came deep and inside too often.
Ozil 7 – Passed and moved well and created chances.
Alexis 7.5 – If only he had taken an extra split second to finish we would have won but you cannot fault much else.
Giroud 6 – Struggled to influence the game but a few great touches nearly got the breakthrough.
SUBS:
Wilshere 6 – Looked sharp again and perhaps should have been on earlier.
Walcott 5.5 – Not much time and should have scored but little space in the middle for his abilities.
Arsenal are better off not having too much possession in order to win more,against Man United we must let them have the ball and play on the counter attack!
Man U defense is not
flash. They will also
attack at home so we
will have more room than yesterday.
Should be very exciting.
Plenty of goal mouth action.
Walcott to start on the right
only change.
So, there they were, next to each other in the plane, the white man with his pet monkey on his laps, the black guy with his bananas.
Then the black guy turns to the white guy, “Please, watch over my bananas, ok? Let me go take a piss.”
The black guy stands up and makes for the restroom. After a minute or two, he walks back to his sit, but the bananas had vanished, just the peels. The black guy, not sure what happened to his stuff, turns to the white guy, “Yo, bro. Where me bananas be?”
White guy looks up at black guy, smiling lavishly and pointing at the monkey, “Sorry, pal. But your brother here ate them all.”
The black guy looks at him with a vague expression and says nothing. He just calmly takes his seat.
About 30 minutes later, the white guy turns to the black guy, “Hey, pal. Please watch over my monkey for me, ok? I’m pressed, wanna go pea.”
Black guy replies, “No problem, my friend.”
After a minute or two, white guy strolls over to his seat, “What!!!!”, he exclaims. “Is that my monkey lying dead on the floor in blood? Jesus H. Christ!!! What happened to my monkey???”
Black guy looks up at white guy with a frown, “You stay out of this, ok??? This is a family matter between two brothers.”
WTF!
Although…
A wealthy man decided to go on a safari in Africa. He took his faithful pet dog along for company. One day the dog starts chasing butterflies and before long the dog discovers that he is lost.
So, wandering about he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having lunch. The dog thinks, “Ok no! I’m in deep doodoo now!” Then he noticed some bones on the ground close by, and immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat.
Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dog exclaims loudly, “Wow, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around here?”
Hearing this the leopard halts his attack in mid-stride, as a look of terror comes over him, and slinks away into the trees. “Whew”, says the leopard. “That was close. That dog nearly had me.”
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes. But the dog saw him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figured that something must be up.
The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, “Here monkey, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine sunnuvabitch.”
Now the dog sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, and thinks, “What am I going to do now?” But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers pretending he hasn’t seen them yet … … and just when they get close enough to hear, the dog says, “Where’s that damn monkey? I just can never trust him. I sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another leopard, and he’s still not back!!”
thats what we need to do. Be the dog!
Damn cool. LOl. @ArseOverTit
By the way, guys, I’m no racist at aaaaaallll!!!! Just a joke up there.
And, oh, @ArseOverTit, I can’t be the dog, not me. I do not like bones at all.
@KickAssFan not a racist eh? I bet you use to have a black friend too;)
I don’t like bones either. Just the meat on them.
nah man….you are racist
Sanchez motm???? Why???? Cuz he missed a sitter??and gave away usless passes all through the match???ozill without a shadow of doubt motm…..
quick forward passes and less side way passes.
Ozil was my motm.
We rili need a top striker!
No we don’t. What we need is quality hold-up play and we already have the best of it coming from Giroud.
I am amazed to see that in wake of winning spree, most of the arsenal supporter forget the real reason of arsenal missing the PL trophy……that is the presence of wilshere in starting line up ( at the expense of cazarola or ozil). They are all praising his performance against Hull (with no goal and assist), with some suggesting to have him in place of ozil or Ramsey. It’s only after wilshere absence due to injury that arsenal starts winning at regular basis.
Arsenal win just 32% of match when he is in starting line up while win more than 82% without him . His Key passes, assist and goal tally is pathetic. His defensive record is no better.
he is not a DM…….so what’s his contribution in terms of Key passes, goals and assists as Attacking midfielder????????? just 1 goal and 1 assist and very few key passes.
And this is not this season that arsenal played worse when he is in the team…..Just check the stats of past 3 seasons….It will be an eyeopener for everyone
This is bull$hit. Wilshere played as well against Hull.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc…..another 4th place junkie….. If wenger had been able to combine ozil wilshere and santi earlier we would have had a world class creative midfield still needed attacking options sanche
Z is one but need another
We really need a Striker different from Giroud, and not Walcott. Özil was good, some fans on twitter were blaming him last night. I don’t understand them.
Agree with the comments. Poor finishing when the opportunity arose, some bad luck and a bad mistake at the back lost us this game. Swansea are a decent team and set out not to lose, very effectively. We lost the game but not because we deserved to..as was said post match 19 times out of 20 we’d have won. Just one to take on the chin and get back into the groove at the weekend.
Just read yesterday’s posts about the game. Jesus. We have some of the most demented, fragile and schizophrenic fans in the world. I’m not sure if half of the bloggers are depressives or simply don’t get the realities of football. Everyone’s got a reason for our loss, yet the reality is that team, those players, that formation and this squad has had an exceptional second half of the season. Swansea aren’t the best we’ve played, but they stuck to their plan and got very lucky at both ends. Every team in the division has lost games, we lost this one, only the second in our last 16 pl matches.
We’re clearly still short of a couple of players but it ain’t a disaster. Get a grip lads.
Yeah first 12 hours
“its pain over brain”
Quite clever that eh 🙂
By tomorrow most will settle
and realize that the titles gone
long ago but we should get 2nd or 3rd
even if we lose to Man U. Even if we got 4th
its still ECL so no problem.
Wenger – 6.5
Tried to make changes (plan B) but made wrong decision putting on Theo for G-Rude. Space at back was not at a premium so flanks to stretch defense and deliver quality balls in should have been used more.
TR should have been used to inject a greater direct threat to create space for himself and others by running at people with the ball. Jack did ok when he came on but he always seem to be running like his in quick sand as opposed to drifting past people.
I almost smashed my T.V last night I was highly annoyed that we lost. Swansea had a good strategy but we still should have scored in the second half. I guess there will be games like these, but it is going to make 2nd place way more difficult now. United will not be an easy game, as we are going in with a defeat where as they are going in with a win. Mentally, we are already on the backfoot. We must beat them and finishing anything less than 2nd would be bit of failure in my opinion.
Against Manchester United, I would like Welbeck to start, if he’s fit. I know he’s been out for a while now, but I’ve always preferred him to the prince of hold-up plays.
ArseOverTit – 9
Did very well to sit through such a frustrating game without cursing in front of my 3yr old and believed we would get the result in the end..until you know what happened.
I’m deducting myself a point though for saying AFC are close as always but no cigars!
Garry Monk – 10
Won the game with a stout defensive strategy. All players well drilled and team kept their shape and topped it off with a counter attack goal.
A good day at the Emirates for a mid table team with no big cheque book or players.
My order of goal
scoring ability.
Giroud
Sanchez
Ramsey
Walcott
Podolski
Wellbeck
Akpom
Cazorla
Chamberlin
Arteta
Sanogo
Rosicky
Campbell
Flamini
Diaby
Ozil
Wilshere
Ryo
Who should stay ?
Who should leave?
OUT:
Mert
Flamini
Arteta (don’t care about others, but arteta HAS to go)
Ryo
Sanogo
Podolski
Campbell
Diaby
Loan:
bellerin
Recall:
jenkinson
And ramsey should no longer be in the starting 11
Which game were u watching?!
Ospina 5.5
Bellerin 5.5
Mert 6.5
Kosc 6
Monreal 6.5
Coq 6
Cazorla 4.5
Ramsey 1.5
Ozil 7
Sanchez 2.5
Giroud 5
Walcott 5
Wilshere 6
Wenger -10 (poor team selection, poor balance, moronic subs)
The first half was appalling. Our back four were playing keep ball in our half. Swansea had set up with four at the back, five in midfield and a so-called false No 9. They were expecting a battering, a red storm was about to blow them away. Instead all they had was a gentle whisp. Was this a tactic to unsettle their game, to draw them out. Why would they, there had.been no intention to attack. It was painful to watch, so slow and deliberate. How can you give Mertesacker such a high mark and say that he read the game well. We totally wasted the first half and of course they grew in confidence. Is that your idea of reading the game? For the goal Bellerin had to run out to try and prevent Montero from crossing, why didn’t Mertesacker read the game and cover him should he get by instead of waiting in no man’s land on the penalty spot. Yes there were others at fault but according to your assessment he snuffed out any danger. Be a good idea to watch next time and read the game yourself.
are you sure you’re not Ty in disguise mate? this post brimming with misplaced rating all over the place. Ospina, Bellerin need to be lower while Ozil are deserving MOTM rather than wasteful sanchez. Not a WOB but honestly the real culprit is wenger for that dodgy substitution.