After a penalty for the home side, and by the time they were 2-1 up, Arsenal seemed to have some tired legs in midfield, which is astonishing considering they've had a week to prepare. Song was below par, and with the absence of Arteta due to injury, Ramsey was unable to shoulder the entire midfield. The men in front of the back four were exposed and made it difficult for the defence; especially considering our full backs are not accustomed to their positions. You can tell Ignasi Miguel was struggling with the pressure from the, not surprisingly, dangerous wingers that Swansea has. Ignasi's continuous clearing of the ball in simple situations showed he wasn't prepared to handle the ball under pressure. Arshavin's substitution with Henry was a mistake in my opinion, a man who has a "20 minute fitness" , as he put it, is not the kind of player you want to be pressing the ball up front, least not with a team that was running as if they had weights on. Even Walcott's goal for Arsenal seemed like he was struggling to speed up.
For the first time in my life as an Arsenal fan, I'm pissed off more than sad at a loss. Is it a question of the quality of the players? or is it just the problem of full backs we've been having? or maybe it all comes down to the management. If things don't improve for the next game, we might see another thrashing from Man Utd; this time at the Emirates. Credit goes to Swansea though, they were into the game more than we were and certainly played better.
