Swansea played great football to deservedly take the points in a hard fought win over my beloved Arsenal who should be looking at themselves and wondering why they are dropping so many points this season against ‘lower’ teams in the division. The words ‘Simply Not Good Enough’ may have been popular after the game but to be fair on Swansea, who has only lost one game at home this season, but they showed how you can compete in the Premier League by playing ‘proper’ football after being promoted.
Fickle Fans
If we take a step back into the past and ask fans about how this game could pan out the popular response you’d get from most fans, either Arsenal or neutral, would be ‘Tough game, Swansea have been playing some good football and have been solid at home’. I agreed enough to worry about the fact we could drop points this weekend after Liverpool &Sp*rs failing to win so the fact we lost 3-2 hasn’t surprised me. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in this team, it means I’ve got complete respect for Swansea and the way they play football. They took the game to us and yes they got a ‘lucky’ penalty, but they exploited our defence and took advantage.
It baffles me that since we lost the game the attitude amongst a certain percentage of fans have turned against Arsenal, against Wenger and even against Ramsey. Did Man United fans turn against Ferguson after losing 3 nil to Newcastle? Did Man City fans turn against Mancini when their Barbie dolls lost 1 nil Sunderland? Since the loss I’ve seen comments on getting rid of Wenger, Walcott, Arshavin, dropping Ramsey, starting Chamberlain and I can’t help but think what are people thinking? Walcott scored a plumb, Arshavin got an assist, and we have at least 6 key players injured to come back.
What happens if we play AOC and he doesn’t impress for a couple of games, do we drop him, do we get rid of him? I think we need a bit more realistic about what we can achieve this season and except the fact that if we finish in the top four this season it’ll be a great achievement after the players we lost and the start we had to the season. Remember the great run we had leading to the end of 2011? Yes that was the same team we support in 2012.
Room for improvement…big time
As a strong fan I’ll defend the club left right and center but I won’t shy away from constructive criticism on where I think we can improve. Scoring goals has never been a problem for Arsenal but what we lack is a couple of real out and out wingers in the team to elevate Arshavin & Walcott being played out of position. If you look at our defeats this season we’ve always scored goals but let in too many. A fully fit Arsenal defence wouldn’t have let in the goals we did today and even our first choice back up players aren’t fit.
With a fully fit side my starting attack would be this: RVP up top, Gervinho on the left, Arshavin behind RVP, Walcott on the left. Ramsey is going to be a top player but is still very young and I feel Arshavin always plays better when played through the middle, notably against Bolton in the CC, where he had his best game all season. Players like Ramsey & Wilshere need protection from high expectations they’re given and the same applies to AOC. All three will be top players in their prime but to expect them to be doing the business now week in week out is unrealistic.
Where do we go from here?
With Arsenal still having to play Man Utd, Citeh, Sp*rs, Chelsea & Liverpool our fate is still well within our hands. With potential signings coming, plus injured player our King Henry, there’s no need to panic again. I fully trust Wenger to bring the best out of this team and come good at the end of the season.
December/January hasn’t been great months for Arsenal and being 10 points behind the scum isn’t exactly where we want to be but we’re 5th place and within touching distance of 3rd and 4th place and both Sp*rs& Chelsea will drop points, you would have bitten my arm off to be in this position after the 8-2 defeat. What us fans need to do, an example set by the away fans, is to keep getting behind the team for the entire season no matter what the result.
Follow me on Twitter @Scrotchidson
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