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SWANSEA 3 – ARSENAL 2

I think the term “must win” game is fast turning into a cliché. Games are often being labelled “must win”, when in reality you could say almost any game is “must win” for either a team chasing the title, or scraping to stay in a Division.

Having said that today was a very important one for Arsenal. Sp*rs dropped points yesterday, so it was a great chance to put some pressure on them, and close the gap on our North London rivals to seven points.

But it wasn’t to be. And that was clear for the best part of 80 minutes, despite Robin van Persie putting Arsenal one-nil up inside five minutes with a well-taken finish on his weaker foot.

Swansea upped the tempo after going behind, and were rewarded with a debatable penalty after Aaron Ramsey was judged to have tripped Swansea’s MOTM Nathan Dyer. Replays show our Welshman was unfortunate, and more lucky himself to avoid injury as Dyer appeared to stamp high on his shin. In real time, it did look like a penalty. Unfortunately Michael Oliver didn’t get the copious amounts of replays we were subject to at half time. He had to act on impulse. Worse decisions have been given against us this season. Still, Scott Sinclair scored from the spot, and we went into the break all square.

We started the second half much like the first. Brightly. But this quickly turned again to disarray, and soon enough we found ourselves behind.

Ramsey got caught in possession in midfield by Joe Allen, who then played in Dyer who finished well after being gifted a large amount of space by the wondering Ignasi Miquel.

This prompted the arrival of Thierry Henry on for the vacant Andrey Arshavin, but it was Theo Walcott who drew Arsenal level shortly after, with a composed finish after being released down the right hand side.

It was a welcomed relief, as I couldn’t see where we were going to get an equaliser from. I was halfway through writing a tweet along the lines of “Get In! Let’s go and win this now!!” when the joy suddenly turned sour, as Swansea scored the winning goal through Danny Graham.

Wojciech Szczesny decided against coming out for a ball that was more than within reach, and the Swansea striker finished well from a tight angle, having been played through via a mixture of a decent pass and a failed Arsenal offside trap.

Arsenal weren’t short of opportunities to grab a late equaliser. Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were thrown on late, and gung-ho was the message from Arsene Wenger.

Ramsey had a decent header saved, Rosicky a long-range effort drift wide. But the best chance of a leveller fell to our Big Fucking German, Per Mertesacker, who scuffed a shot from a few yards out after it fell to him from a corner.

It wasn’t to be for Arsenal today, that was clear for most of the match. Swansea closed out the final few minutes without a scare. They even added salt to the wound by bringing on Leroy Lita, one of the worst players I’ve ever seen play in the Premier League.

ANALYSIS

The analysis of this one should be simple. The team who played much better football on the day beat us. Swansea deserves a lot of credit for their performance. They passed and moved brilliantly, and took their chances in front of goal. They reminded me of previous Arsenal sides almost. And they battered us today. No hiding from it. Swansea have shown they have real Premier League quality, not only today, and I’m sure they’ll carry on improving. Good luck to them.

On to Arsenal. Well we were terrible. And we can’t complain about the result. Yes the penalty was debatable, but the way Swansea were playing you’d have to assume that they would have got that opening goal one way or another.

Where did it go wrong? I think today showed how important Mikel Arteta is for us. He keeps our midfield ticking over every game, dictates the tempo, and has the ability to sit back and allow others to push forward. No one really took control of our midfield today in his absence. Ramsey had a shocker, and Alex Song was again woeful with his passing. When the midfield doesn’t flow, it’s difficult for the attackers to get going. The lack of Arteta today was huge. We need him back for Man United desperately.

What I also noticed today, more so than usual, is just how much we have suffered without regular full backs playing (without trying to state the bleeding obvious). Ignasi Miquel had a great game I thought. Yes he was miles out of position for Swansea’s second goal, but was otherwise very reliable down the left. Made some great forward runs, and put in some excellent balls that on another day van Persie or another might have been on the end of.

And it was his first ever Premier League start. That’s what we’ve been missing lately. Full backs that can get forward, and support the attacking play. Djourou can’t do it. Vermaelen is able to push forward, but not to the same extent.

This has also been a factor towards Walcott’s poor form lately too. He was at his best earlier this season when he had Bacary Sagna (or even Carl Jenkinson) flanking him on the outside, creating extra space for him to exploit. Now, he has no such support, and he’s suffering. He took his goal well today, but other than that it was more of the same of what we’ve seen lately. Once Sagna is back, I have no doubt he’ll be back to his best.

So for those reasons, I think the return of Gibbs and Sagna are more important to the team than that of Jack Wilshere. A big shout, yes, but we have a decent midfield right now (although not based on today’s performance). How do you think Man City, United or even Sp*rs would cope without ANY regular full backs? They certainly wouldn’t be where they are now.

Injuries aren’t an excuse though, but they are a huge contributing factor. They have killed us, really. People keep crying out for signings, but how are they going to fit into the squad? If we buy a left back for £8m, what happens to him when Gibbs and Andre Santos are back? If we sign another midfielder, what happens when Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Francis Coquelin are back? It’s very easy to say, “Spend some fucking money” when things are going bad, but there’s no point spending unnecessarily to replace players that are injured. Think squad space, think wages. And at full strength we are very hard to beat. This isn’t a computer game, and signing players isn’t as simple as people think. I covered this in my last blog, so I won’t go into more detail on this.

Anyway, back to today. We lacked character, we lacked belief, no one stepped up to put their stamp on the game, no one led by example (that’s not just a dig at RVP, we need more than one leader on the pitch). There was little focus, few ideas, and almost a lack of interest at times.

There, I said it. That hurts a lot, but it’s true. So what next?

Oh, it’s Manchester United. Great.

Where does today leave us then? Still fifth. A further point behind Sp*rs. A further three behind Chelsea. It’s not all doom and gloom, and nothing is ever decided in January. But the more points we drop, the harder it’s going to be to convince ourselves we can finish in the top four. We’ve had two Premier League games in 2012, and we’ve lost them both, throwing away a lead in the process against mid/lower table clubs.

There’s definite reason for concern, but it isn’t over yet. Twitter is a brilliant place when things are going well, but horrible when they aren’t. It’s again been difficult to stomach all the negative, argumentative and dismissive comments that have been floating around for the past couple of hours. There’s still a long way to go, and the team need our support now more than ever. Key players are coming back, and we have some big matches at home in the next month. Win them, and we’re right back in it.

I saw a tweet earlier that summed it up perfectly. Arsenal FC – Proud after victory, loyal after defeat.

Remember these words. I doubt today will be the last time we hear them this season..