As I looked around the ground I saw a sea of red. But, unfortunately, the red was coming from the many empty seats littered around the stadium. I was certainly surprised; it was one of the lowest attendances I have ever seen at the game.
However, the core fans that were there were buzzing tonight. With every chance Arsenal squandered, the fans were grew more and more noisy until Wilshere’s stunning strike sent the fans who had stayed right till the end into a frenzy.
The game was a real spectacle, in the 2nd half though. Although the score-line does not reflect the true nature of the game, I was on the edge of my seat for the most of the 2nd half as it began to look like one of those days, before Wilshere sent us flying into the 4th round.
Theo Walcott
We had two ‘strikers’ on the pitch and although one may argue Walcott was out wide he still got a lot of chances. Tom DiMaio sums it up perfectly in the player ratings when he commented:
‘Theo was a lucky boy this evening. He certainly contributed a lot to the attack tonight and this gains him credit. However, if we had lost people would only remember handfuls of bad misses and abysmal corners.’
Walcott was undeniably bad tonight. His first touch often seemed poor, with the ball escaping him on a number of occasions. He never quite used his pace to its full affect against Tiendalli on the wing, and it was summed up in the second half when Walcott ended up dribbling the ball out of play in a one-on-one situation with Swansea’s left back.
He seemed to be showing signs of laziness, not always tracking and back and not giving 100% into 50/50 situations. However, undoubtedly his worst features tonight were his shooting and crossing.
Almost all of Walcott’s set plays either couldn’t clear the fast man or ended looping over everyone and out for a throw-in on some occasions! He seemed unconfident when stepping up to take the set pieces and his crossing was sub-standard at times as well. This was disappointing as we had a big aerial threat tonight in players like Diaby and Giroud.
Walcott’s finishing was dreadful. He missed a lot of good chances tonight. Composure was his problem tonight, which is unusual as he is normally always composed when it comes to finishing a chance.
He missed a one-on-one early in the second half when he tried to take it round Vorm and chip him as well, eventually seeing his effort dribble past the post. He then squandered another great chance from 2 yards out, managing to hit the Swansea defender on the line and wasted a few other half-chances.
After the game, when asked about Theo Walcott’s contract situation Wenger answered:
‘I hope it will be soon, very, very soon. I cannot tell you much more.’
If Wenger is right, Walcott cannot put the poor performance down to contract issues so we must hope that this was a one-off and he will be back to his best by Chelsea, although tonight’s performance won’t have helped his case to start come Sunday.
Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere, undoubtedly the best player on the park by a country mile. Completely pulled the strings tonight, a real enigma. He bleeds Arsenal. When someone says, I want to stay at my club forever; I always take it with a pinch of salt. However, when Jack said it, I believed he said it with real conviction.
His work-rate was unbelievable. Even in added time, he was still sprinting up the pitch looking to launch a counter-attack, with the rest of the players trying to catch up. He looked comfortable in possession, and always posed a threat to Swansea when he was on the ball.
His passing was also on point tonight. He has a great range of passing on him, mixing short passes and long passes so the Swansea defence never knew what was coming. He also took his goal with such panache, a great finish and ran straight over to the fans to celebrate. His dynamic way seemed to inspire the whole team and he is only going to get better.
Looking Ahead
So, we’ve made it to the 4th round, but what does it look like from here?
We face Brighton away on 26th January, which should (but you never know with cup football) be a win.
If we do progress, there will be a maximum of 11 Premier League teams in there, but a minimum of 2. Average it out, you have roughly half a chance of getting a Championship or lower side.
If we ride our luck and advance to the quarters, who knows what can happen?
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