By Billy Le Dog McGraw
My preview for the Leeds game was such a stunning success that I have been asked to write again on the subject. You will recall then we were playing the Yorkshire Grit (which is, as you will now know, made up of coarse sand grains and small stones).
Against such a force I predicted
Henry
Henry Henry Henry Henry
Henry Henry Henry
Henry Henry Henry
and of course that is what we had. I think the team for this game against Swan Sea better known as Cygnus Anatidae Cygnini, Cygninae salt water. Quite a name really.
The team this time might be
Sczscsczscscazcy
Miquel Mertersacker Koscielny Djourou
Song Arteta
Ramsey
Arshavin Van Persie Walcott
But it might not. From last time we have gained a Djourou and lost of Coquelin and of course we have gained an Henry for the whole game.
Considering the men in big puffas trying to keep themselves amused in the executive seats near Mr Wenger we have Almunia, Fabianski, Yennaris, Ryo, Squillaci, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Park, Henry, Benayoun, Rosicky
Rosicky and Mert were ill last time out I hear, and who knows if Fabianski is repaired or not. We shall wait and see.
What is interesting is that some people are almost ready to resume football. Here’s the details with dates from the Guardian…
- Vermaelen (22 Jan),
- Coquelin (31 Jan),
- Gibbs (31 Jan),
- Diaby ( Feb),
- Jenkinson (11 Feb),
- Sagna (15 Feb),
- Wilshere (26 Feb),
- André Santos ( March)
Talk about some new signings…
Anyway, let us pause a second and consider an alternative forward line…
Henry Van Persie Walcott
Shall I run that by you again
Henry Van Persie Walcott
Not bad eh?
Want it again?
Henry Van Persie Walcott
Seems to get better every time I write it.
i want Henry 2 start 2day
or how about……….
Ox VP Walcott
last 20 mins when Swansea are tired:
Henry VP Ryo
Sadly I have a work flight at 4pm 🙁
were going to get murdered without recognised fullbacks on either side. they’re biggest threat comes from the wings and with miquel and djourou as our full backs i really do fear a 3 or 4 nil scoreline. im really worried. wenger has had two weeks to sort this problem and get cover. I love wenger but he’s so stubborn. I could band his head against a brick wall at times.
Henry van persie walcot.It is like the combination of passion with speed and quality finish.you know who is the passion.It is all the better.
I think Oxlade-Chamberlain or Henry have more of a chance to start than Arshavin, sadly the Russian’s form has dipped dramatically in recent months…
I’d like Walcott and the Ox to start,and wear Swansea down with speed to set up Henry on as a late sub.
BLD,
Bow wow! (Good one)
Sadly Arteta is sidelined, will be interesting, Benayoun starts
Dyer stamps on Rambo’s leg and earns a penalty. How many times! On top of that, it appears Benyayoun is getting nothing today.
When our players touch the ball with their hands the refs suddenly know the rules.
what I could see it was not a penalty but well… this is what we are getting used to…
I couldn’t make much of it as it was not showed on the sports channel and the internet was letting me down a lot this time 🙁
Alas, no midfield creativity.
Well, this wouldn’t get us into top 4. This is probably one of the most lethargic performances I have seen from our players. Also, I am unable to understand, that we tout ourselves to be the flag bearers of the pure footballing in England, then, how come we are unable to play the way we claim to follow? If Swansea players can get fouls off us trying to hold the ball, why can’t our players do the same? If we are supposed to be good at football, we should be much better at pressing for the ball. The kind of unsynchronized pressing and unintelligent running that I have seen today does not fill me with much confidence. Swansea were really good at pressing for the ball, but, aren’t we supposed to be better at holding the ball? From what I saw, we are unable to get out of tight situations anymore! Players handle the ball like it is some kind of hot potato, and no-one goes to provide support to the poor fellow (any arsenal player) who receives the ball. In this game, many times I saw that the ball-bearing player looked up and there was no support for miles! Where is our confidence on ball? I thought we are the best footballing side. Where has our philosophy gone? But then, what do I know? Of course, Mr. Wenger knows better!
mahesh,
look to the midfield morass for that missing glue and synchronicity and creativity – with x-cesc, will-sheared, and areta-out that’s all, she wrote. if we’re down to yearning for 4th place, then an emergency purchase or two is necessary. if we don’t do what’s necessary for 4th place, then we’re not attractive to importable talent. by the time our best are back, will we lose too much ground to overcome by the time they are back and can make a difference (not that 4th is really good enough and, especially, with Henry leaving after 6-7 weeks)? And that said, right now, without our having a viable midfield, Swansea looked more like Arsenal than we did.
@Mahesh,
You’re partly right in the sense that the performance of the team was very poor today and I don’t think we should take anything away from Swansea – that was total football epitomised by their hard work off the ball! They are a great FOOTBALLING TEAM and a real credit to the British game!
Today was not Arsene’s fault and it has to be blamed on the players! They were very poor in their work-rate and defensively closing-down the man on the ball; and were totally outplayed by Swansea on that front! WORK-RATE and CLOSING-DOWN, especially higher up the pitch, is what makes Barcelona so special! Messi also help of course! We had no intelligent and defensively-aware midfield player today and we missed Arteta very badly today! Song is no longer a defensive midfielder! Having no recognised full-backs also damaged us today and Arshavin’s confidence is totally shot! AOC did well when he came on and perhaps should have come on sooner?!
DC,
yes, looks like AOC’s time is now, and much sooner.
@bob,
Sadly you might be right! But the problem is not with just buying a quick-fit solution; knuckling down with hard work and intelligence is the most crucial thing that’s required and supporting mercurial talents like Arshavin, who is probably one of our three most technically gifted players, is better than booing them! Shameful act by a few of the usually great away support!
@Walter:
Here’s the replay. I thought it was a penalty myself:
http://arsenalist.com/video/?id=xnpgal
@Mahesh:
I agree that the team played badly today, but it was only one uncharacteristic under performance. I don’t think it’s quite the time to write the epitaph on our entire philosophy just yet 🙂
@Walter:
A soft penalty, but it looks to me like there was contact.
@Anne,
I personally don’t think it was a pen and i’m just glad Aaron didn’t hurt his leg again! Nevertheless, Swansea certainly deserved their victory – a great team display and a side with a wonderfully progressive and pure-thinking manager! Much credit has to be bestowed upon them!
I thought we have to take the blame for that. I didn’t think the ref favoured them really. Sure there were some decisions against us, but I think those were the sort you can expect in every match. The penalty was soft, but if it had been on an Arsenal player I would have demaned it. So I think it was a fair call by the referee there. Ramsey must take the blame for that.
Ramsey also was dispossessed for the second goal. I guess you could blame Arshavin for a poor pass, but I thought the pass was acceptable. Ramsey just delayed controlling it. SO that’s 2 goals that Ramsey cost us.
Apart from that heo had a terrible game. I know he scored, and it was a good finish too, but I was wanting him withdrawn at half time (which shows what I know I guess)
It’s just a poor performance all around. No one stood out as brilliant. Not even Van Persie. Not Szczesny. Not Koscielny. Not SOng. No one was great, and it was a performance where we were second best virtually throughout the game. Fair play to Swansea, and it was good to see a promoted side play good football. I think we need to regroup and improve as a team. We didn’t play like a team. We didn’t pass like we should. Something was wrong today (and I think Arteta is hugely important to our game)
Oddly, even though I feel no less angry or sad about this, it’s easier to take than some of the ref induced losses. We lost this game and we lost it fair and square. We deserved to lose. Take it on the chin and move on. We must improve.
Dyer actually stamped on the left shin of Aaron and fell over. If there had been more force, he could’ve snapped his lower leg again! The creative underperformance is not so much a concern, as it happens, but the lack of defensive teamwork, concentration and work-rate when it is really needed, is! Too many goals are conceded within 5 minutes of scoring! That’s the fault of the players on the pitch and not Arsene!
@bob, DC
I do not believe that buying is a solution. In fact, we don’t even have scope for buying without relieving some of the players. And I don’t think it would be that easy to lose some players and gain some equally good players… within next two weeks! So, whatever has to come should come from exising players, or players from youth ranks. Our midfield can certainly do better. In today’s game at least, it looked like the 3 players have never played together – not even during practice! Some of the things like supporting the player who has the ball, focussed pressing of opposition are basics of modern game and there should be no ‘practice’ or ‘understanding between players’ required for that! A better work rate would also help. I am certain that things are more complicated that what I am saying out here, otherwise, Mr. Wenger would have done it by now. I never thought we would miss Arteta so much! Maybe we should send all of our youth players to Barcelona/Spain to get that kind of ‘Spanish’ calmness over the ball!
@Shard, I agree! It’s so much easier to accept when you’ve been beaten fairly and squarely rather than cheated! Then it makes it refreshingly nice to be able to have a proper debate on the pros and cons of our team’s performance!
Our lack of composure on the ball was especially disturbing to me from many of whom are considered t be “comfortable on the ball”!
Shocker today folks but I had a bad feeling this weekend and anyway supporting Arsenal does come with its health implications.
Something Sky sports mentioned about Arsenal conceding more goals that the bottom 3, any truth in this?
@Anne
We have seen multiple times (and not just this season) that the team goes through such matches, where we are not our selves! I would say it is more characteristic of our team to have such matches. I am obviously disappointed – but not because we lost, but because we were not able to hold the ball and pass it around. Swansea did an ‘Arsenal’ over us today, if you get that! And well, we have to be better than that. Some things should be in ‘DNA’, and what Arsenal represents to me is not what I saw today – hence the rant that you read earlier today 🙂 Pardon me, but we certainly did not take our ‘philosophy’ to the pitch today!
@ anne,
no penalty. ramsey has barely touched him, and had dyer not fallen their were three arsenal defenders between him and goal. it was very harsh to give a penalty as it was not a clear goal scoring opportunity and the fact that it wasnt a clear foul from ramsey.
also if that is a penalty. the trip on walcott, and the high foot on chamberlain at the end should have been calls right on the edge of the area if not in the box.
im not saying we played well or deserved to win. but i think that the final score was once again influenced by a questionable call from the ref.
AOC did more than our little Russian friend other than the goal Theo had another one of those games.
Arshavin/Theo could be costing us much as 20 goals a season and like today’s performance which is becoming norm as our expectations have dropped so dramatically I’m thinking may be parting with the two mentioned may not be so bad.
AOC did more than our little Russian friend other than the goal Theo had another one of those games.
Arshavin/Theo could be costing us much as 20 goals a season and like today’s performance which is becoming norm as our expectations have dropped so dramatically I’m thinking may be parting with the two mentioned may not be so bad.
Something Sky sports mentioned about Arsenal conceding more goals that the bottom 3, any truth in this?
The angle on the second replay in that video shows the contact that Ramsey made with Dyer’s leg. Come on guys. That was a soft penalty and one we definitely would never get, but it was a penalty nonetheless. Can you honestly say that if that were to happen with Arsenal, you wouldn’t want a penalty for that? Remember i said WANT.. not expect..
@Shard
I second that. Swansea were the better team however we are carrying way too many injuries, just the way it is with our injuries its never 1-2 weeks but months and many of those.
As he pivoted, Dyer stamped down on Ramsey’s calf and then went down. It was a foul by Dyer on Ramsey if anything. It definitely wasn’t a penalty.
@dan,
That’s further rubbish punditry/journalism wrt Arsenal! The lowest placed team that has conceded less is West Brom in 15th place with 30 goals! We’ve conceded 31! Citeh have conceded 16 and are first whilst Liverpool are the next thriftiest with 18 and only lie in 7th! Our defence has certainly been poor but it’s not just the responsibly of the guys at the back but all of the players! Arsene has pretty much said that again in his post-match comments.
I’m now gonna sit down and watch Barcelona v Malaga! The way that “total football” should be played and has been mastered! I only hope that the King can impart the ethics of his Barca adventure on these players before he heads back across the Atlantic?!
Disapointed but not so much with result, as others have pointed out, Swansea deserved it today. We played poorly, with so many players well below par all over the pitch, the team was unrecognisable to the hard working one we have witnessed recently. Although I cannot blame the Referee for this defeat it was never ever a penalty, never. If a foul was committed then it was on Ramsey but that only detracts from an impressive performance by Swansea, well played.
Man Utd up next, we need a much better performance from the players otherwise one or two may have to find themselves a new club.
@ shard,
there was contact, my point is that it was minimal, and not enough for a penalty. i wonder if a replay would change the refs mind?
if the same happened for arsenal (not that it would) i would say we were very lucky to get the call (which is just a biased way of saying it was wrong)
we were very poor today. swansea were the better team. but the final score was down to a questionable call from the ref. i cannot tell you how frustrated i am with how often i see this watching football (not just arsenal)
im frustrated with the performance. but theres a different, more overwhelming, frustration. i feel like once again ive been cheated of seeing a fair result. if swansea had won with three fair goals i would say ‘hats off’ because they were the better side and with a great approach, but thats not what happened.
Apologies, Barca’s playing Real Betis!
cheers DC
I had to ask as my bullshit radar went off amber alert.
@john L
Fair enough. You disagree with me. I think there was enough contact to prevent Dyer from cleanly executing a turn. I think he would have lost the ball anyway, and it was a stupid decision by Ramsey to stick his leg in there. But a fair call from the ref.
Johhny Deigh
I don’t see how you can call that a foul by Dyer. He had the ball, and was trying a pirouette. It was Ramsey who stuck his leg in there. (and caught him)
Now please. I’m done defending the referee. But I honestly think we can’t have any complaints about that call.
Theo/Arshavin have been our stand out performers wasting balls/possession, this could be the beginning of the end.
I instantly thought penalty. So can forgive the decision, However it does highlight the need for video assistance for the officials. Also for the first time in a while I witnessed a long advantage played when Miguel was tugged back. I would like to see an extension to the advantage rule and see play pulled back when a side losses possession even if they retain the ball for 30 seconds after an infringement. I believe this would put a stop to the endless shirt tugging and holding and the mild forms of obstruction we see on a regular basis. Think how demoralising it would be to a team if every time they won the ball they were pulled back for an earlier infringement and possession was handed back to the fairer team. One can live in hope.
shard,
I think it would have been easier to accept such penalty decisions if we would have got all those deserved penalty decisions in the weeks before. Do you think he would have given it to Arsenal..?
Not in a million years I think and that is the frustrating part..
To add to a previous comment, I don’t believe Arsenal would have been awarded a penalty if the same situation was reversed.
Is it a coincidence since D.Dein left Arsenal have been experiencing irregular and peculiar decisions from those men in black?
Could it be we lack a firefight within our board?
@walter
No. I don’t think we would have been awarded a penalty for that. We’ve had so much worse (and even had RVP given a yellow card for diving) I referenced above, the fact that we wouldn’t have expected it to be given to us.
But that can’t be our barometer. Just because we wouldn’t have gotten it ourselves doesn’t mean it wasn’t a foul. We can’t complain about a penalty rightly given and then also complain about a penalty NOT given to us. Can’t have it both ways, despite our frustrations.. However. If someone doesn’t think that was a penalty I guess that’s fair. I do think it was a penalty and my test for that is that I would want that given if it were an Arsenal player instead of Dyer.
i remember ramsay NOT going down in the chelsea game…could of been a penaltty…this dyer didnt stay on his feet!
@Shard – Dyer caught Ramsey. It was not the other way around.
My first impression was that the ref was going to book Dyer for diving, then I saw him point to the mark.
The trip on Theo near the end of the game was more of a penalty than Dyer’s dive, but Theo got up and didn’t complain.
My first impression was that it wasn’t a foul on Dyer. But the replay changed my mind. I havent seen the replay of the incident with Theo at the end, but my initial impression there was that it was a clean tackle and Theo just stumbled. Maybe a replay will change my mind about that too.
And that’s it. I cannot defend an EPL referee anymore. Makes me sick 🙂
There was also a dangerously high boot just outside their area that wasn’t given either. That would have given RVP or Thierry Henry a chance to equalize from a free kick.
Ref influenced the outcome of an Arsenal match yet again.
It was not really the penalty that made us loose though. We did not deserve to win. We were outplayed, outwitted and properly beaten at our own game by Swansea. They played like we did last year. Freeowing attack minded footy with creativity, pressing game, quick wingers that put preassure on us and made us do mistakes.
They looked class! We looked boring. Both swansey and newcastle play exciting this year. We are on pair with Newcastle comes points now. And they got a strong team.
Man for man today swansey was better. They passed the ball had possession, kept possession. Brilliant!
Congrats to them they looked like Barcelona today. And we had nothing. AbsolYtley nothing to offer!
How did we put ourself in such a situation in the First place? Where our season is hanging on the shoulders of a 19 year old that has not played for a year! How can people expect him to come back and suddenly play like cesc? With no preseason. And no competitive games since last July ?
It’s not fair to put so much preassure on such a young boy neither. Just as it ai t fair to put so much preassure on Ramsey really… Both just back fro
Injuries? How did we end in this situation?
By the way, I’m really surprised they didn’t give us another angle for their “penalty”. The view was blocked on the 2nd angle they showed.
The skysports presenters agreed at half time that the foul was MADE BY DYER ON RAMSEY. Have to say i thought the ref was poor, cant wait to see the review.
Red card Dyer for raking/stamping on Ramsey’s shin?
Match statistics – Arsenal – 8 shots on target, 6 off target. I think Swansea was 4 of each.
Arsenal lost 3 – 2, and one of those was the dodgy penalty.
Typical of Arsenal’s luck that on a weekend where a big talking point was referees in other matches failing to award blatant penalties, Arsenal should have a non-penalty awarded against them!
All I’m saying is, yes I wish we had won, and certainly we made mistakes and didn’t take enough of our chances, but some of the gloom and heavy criticism seems a bit over the top.
@Peter – Here, I made a .gif (3Mb)
Dyer’s studs come down on Ramsey’s leg. Ramsey reacts by grabbing his leg in pain.
http://www.zshare.net/image/9869442326079c2d/
@Johny Deigh:
Seeing that gif, I do understand now why some people see that as a foul on Ramsey. Your gif clearly shows that Dyer’s studs made contact with Ramsey’s shin. (Incidentally, I think it also proves that Dyer did, in fact, lose his footing as a result of this contact with Ramsey).
The question to me would be whether the contact occurred because Dyer kicked out at Ramsey with his studs, or because Ramsey stuck his leg out and put it in the path of Dyer’s studs (while Dyer’s back was turned). Looking at the gif, can you really say that Ramsey bore no responsibility for this contact?
Ramsey played the ball. Dyer was trying to do a spin move and kicked his leg out. I can’t really think you could say that Ramsey stuck his foot out into Dyer’s path.
If Ramsey had hooked Dyer or clipped his heel or something, then I would say that it would have been a penalty, but he didn’t do that.
Also, Dyer could have stayed on his feet if he had wanted. He merely dropped to his knees and looked to the ref.
Really, the ref should have just played on.
I think the penalty simply wasnt a penalty from the views I saw on fox soccer.
BUT we didnt deserve anything out of this game Swansea fought harder all over the pitch.
The ammount of time we struggled to pass the ball out of the back was terrible.
Another dissapointment was the way we switched of defensively as a team after getting back to 2-2 I thought with arteta there he wouldnt have let them do it.
No corner backs we look less threatning the sooner they come back the better our shapes gone without them and fluidity.
Passengers AW needs to look at chamak and arshavin and a few others next summer.
Its still possible we will reach the top 4 as theres lots of games to go yet, but we will need a lot of luck injury wise and a better performance than today from these lads.
We did score a couple of great goals. That must be worth something.
i think the ref made some bad decisions, including the penalty, although it was very difficult to spot… even wen i first saw it, i thought it was a penalty.
but i think if we had won the game it was tough on swansea because they really outplayed us for most of the match. most of our players were poor. the only one who i thought did well was koscielny who seemed to be the only one awake and wanting to win the game. miquel and djourou were poor, but that was a case of inexperience and being played out of position. if you’re a big centre back, you are always going to have trouble against nippy quick wingers like dyer.
and it doesnt seem to be getting better because something similar happened against fulham as well. we were outplayed for the whole second half there.
but what is annoying to me is the way that some of our players are faffing about with the ball. yesterday, swansea looked and played more like arsenal! quick short passes, 1-2s are what aresnal are about. in the last few games, the likes of arshavin, song, ramsey, miquel were just holding onto the ball for way too long and without momentum (if it was kosceilny or djourou making a strong run from the back its easier to get away from the opposition) but song, and ramsey so many times, were playing with the back to goal and static, and not going for the simple pass and holding on, then getting crowded out, or ending up with the difficult pass which was unsuccessful.
i wonder if part of it is mental. it almost seems like the players think they are better than they are. we had a tough start to the season, then had a good run to take us up to 4th, but that wasnt from swashbuckling arsenal skills. it was pure hard work and doing the basics right. now we’re near the top, the players are trying too many fancy things and we are getting punished.
whilst it is also optimistic about the injured players coming back, and i certainly agree if we have everyone fit, we would be title challengers, it still misses the point that many on that list have missed hugh chunks of the season when we have needed them… especially now.
some have been unlucky, but we know how fragile some of our players are… gibbs and diaby are good players when fit… but sometimes, we have to just accept they are becoming passengers. if the club could carry on paying their wages and we were not restricted to 25 registered players, it would be fine. but they are taking up the wage budget and places of 2 good players who may be able to remain fit most of the season. its frustrating because we know they are decent players who can help the club and injuries are not their fault, but there comes a time when we have to put the club ahead of sentiments.
@Ed:
I completely disagree with you about Fulham. Arsenal were robbed in that match.
Im not so sure Anne that we were robbed.I saw AW saying he knew they were going for Djorouh and wanted him sent off.
It reminded me of a leinster final years ago in gaelic football a friend of mine was playing and 65,000 of us knew and could see he was going to be sent off yet the manager left him on the field till it happened we should have brought on squillachi if thats how he felt.
Dont get me wrong we all make mistakes even after that I thought robbed would be a draw but to have lost it in such a manner I dont know what to say.
It took a lot of hard work to get back to where we were and 6 points dropped now is going to make it so much harder for a top 4 finish.
Its frustrating somedays 🙂
In all fairness we had our fun, even the AAA need a little something every now and then, bless their irrational hearts. In other news our dear friend antony was so inspired by the match that he wrote not one, but two articles
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4062774/Wenger-has-the-biggest-leeks-in-Wales.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4062716/Same-old-rubbish-Arsene.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football
Just two comment , before Swansea were awarded the penalty Arsenal were in control of that game and likely to add more goals.Swansea weren’t in it at all and without the penalty they would have gone in at halftime losing.
Then the referee decided to make it even and gave the penalty , what a surprise!
Then as usual any controversial offside against Arsenal or indeed any bad decision there were no replays shown on the TV,they obviously couldn’t get away with not showing the penalty incident again but taht was the only one replayed.
I don’t know who is fixing the game but someone needs to have a good long look
@Anne
i think there were bad decisions against us in the fulham game, but even then i thought the performance was not good enough especially in the second half.
we just could not keep the ball. it was similar to the swansea game in that respect. we wud try playing it through midfield, and they would lose the ball, or we would kick it long to van persie, he would get fouled and we wouldnt get a free kick (this annoyed me cos i wonder if neil warnocks comments about RVP has affected the refs cos he didnt get much yesterday either)then we’re on the back foot and under presure again.
i would be more annoyed with the ref if it was a game where we genuinely played well, and deserved to get a result e.g. aganist spurs, against man city, against wolves etc. but from the fulham and swansea games, i cannot honestly say we played well enough.
fulham and swansea away are tough places to go so some perspective… but the poor performances from a number of players makes it worrying.
tiredness? confidence? tactics? lack of natural full backs to give options in midfield?
Did Henry give the ball away for Swansea’s 3rd?
I knew we were doomed yesterday you only had to look at who was the 4th official!!!
@Iniez:
Thank you. 🙂
@Ed,
I agree with most of your analysis on the matches you’ve described. We do get some obviously unbelievable and questionable decisions going against very many times and they have impacted on us but on several occasions over the past few years, yesterday was unfortunately a kind of performance that has not been eradicated from the players MO! There are many possible reasons for that, some of which you have mentioned in your comment, but that does not always excuse it year after year! Some teams, which we usually don’t expect to be and the players themselves probably underestimate, are just as capable of playing football too! Swansea, and Fulham for that matter, deserved something from their matches against us; and Swansea DID outplay us at the very game we play yesterday! However, it wasn’t just their technical ability that gave them the result but their commitment and hard-work was massive. You have to earn the right to play for 90+ minutes in EVERY MATCH and if you don’t, then let’s please be honest and say so!
I don’t think we can blame the officials all of the time but let’s look at the post-mortem within our own team on occassion and do it constructively!
The AAA sites and media are having a massive Wankfest today! So predictable and in-constructive! MOAN! MOAN! MOAN! BUY!!! BUY!!! BUY!!!
*unconstructive*
Just have to say that…Arsenal seemed to be in CONTROl of the game before the penalty! I was thinking, we’re gonna win this 3-0….then THE INEVITABLE BAD REFEREEING DECISION that cost us the match. Because these kind of things are PSYCOLOGICALLY damaging to the players! Imagine you’re out there in complete control…suddenly the ref makes up a penalty…swansea ain’t gonna roll over after that. I’m so sick of these dogdy decisions i just feel like takin’ a break from Arsenal…somethings preety f***** up…is it coincidence? Is it a conspiracy? I don’t know…but there’s only so much the players can take…
The wierdest part for me is also how many fans say: yeah swansea were better team…but that’s not how it works! The PL is a competitive league, and any small ref mistake on a MAJOR decision, WILL cost most teams, and that’s including MAN CITY, and the whole lot!
@MV,
That penalty was a very difficult call and I can’t criticise the ref for giving it, even though it was wrong and you could only honestly see that from the replay!
It is hard to accept but it is now about high time to have video challenges on these “game-changing” decisions in the professional game to ASSIST the officials and help them to improve! Refusal to do so will only disenfranchise supporters even more and they are already losing respect for the officials at an exponentially alarming rate!
I never want Arsenal to get beaten by anyone but I have to say how refreshing it was to watch a so-called lesser team like Swansea playing possession football against us. I can’t remember a cynical or bad foul from them all game, backed up by the fact there were no bookings during this match.
Over the years we have listened to the experts tell us that a team such as Swansea would be mad to try to match Arsenal at their own game, suicidal they claimed. How many times have I heard the same old crap “you have to get stuck in to them, stop them from playing”.
On the day I think Arsenal performed below par, we are missing certain key players and the penalty decision was wrong but I don’t feel cheated by this particular result. Swansea were worthy winners of a proper football match.
You are right Tasos.
In fact, the way Swansea played is a compliment to Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.