Barely had we time to sit down and say hi to those around us when we were 1-0 down to a well-worked Bony goal. I say well-worked, sorry that shoud've read easily-worked goal as Britton was allowed to meander into our half of the pitch and towards the sixteen-yard box without as much of a sniff of opposition.
A mr. whippy special fired in towards the six-yard box and Bony didn't need telling twice. Soaring hi above Vermaelen, the Ivorian nailed the header centre of the forehead into the back of the net. Szczesny barely moved a hand.
Dressed in their away kit of royal purple and yellow, Swansea looked like a footballing equivalent of the LA Lakers playing with all the pomp and swagger of the NBA.
1-0 down 10 minutes played how would the team react. We've already covered the fans' less than inspiring performance at yetserday's match but what of the players?
In typical Arsenal fashion we only started retaining possession and searching for goal having already conceded, the goal acting as a smelling salt to our collective concussion.
We were able to work the ball into several good areas throughout the first half, yet the crosses never found their target partly through ineptitude and partly because Giroud acts like a handsome magnet eternally attracted to the front post....er hello? intelligence? you there mate?
It's no good wagging your finger as if to say 'see I told you I was right'. Giroud coud've had 2 or 3 more goals had he mixed his runs into the box. Both Sagna and Gibbs served up a couple of peaches that floated across the six-yard box reaching their apex around the middle of the goal, Giroud meanwhile was insistant on making life difficult by making the same run over and over.
1-0 down and the second half began in much the same vane as the first. Plenty of possession with little cutting edge. Aside from a couple of great runs from Rosicky and the Ox there was little to get excited about.
Our equaliser came once Wenger brought on Podolski to replace the Ox, a decision we didn't agree with at first considering Al was our most offensive-minded player. Maybe he's in the red, or purple or whatever, but either way the substitution had an immediate effect. Podolski is always looking to unleash the Kraken on his left-boot and suddenly there was a bit of anticipation in the air.
His goal came following a driving run from Gibbs (Arsenal's best player on the night) who cut the ball back across the six yard box where an on-rushing Poldi spanked it home.
That was the difference between the first and second half. Whereas in the first the crosses were a little errant and Giroud was on his own dry humping the front post, the second saw more focused placing of the ball as well as more midfielders willing to gamble.
Before we'd had a chance to regain our seats Arsenal were suddenly two goals to the good. Podolski having observed Giroud's penchant for woodwork slotted the ball near post and guess what! That's right HFB was there to poke it home, queue lots of finger wagging.
It seemed as though Arsenal had shaken off the weekend's poor result and were back to winning ways. Alas it was not to be as once again more Arsenal cliches surfaced to scupper our title hopes. Just as we always seem to play better having gone a goal down, so too do we never know how to see out a game until the final whistle. In a game that was weirdly reminiscent of our match against Southampton we fought hard to come back from a goal down, did even better to take the lead but then decided to hand possession over to our opposition inviting pressure.
We were unlucky as any own goal is, but we simply shoudn't have been in the position to concede that late in the game. Szczesny's save ricoched off Flamini who was helpless to prevent it, but the move shoud've been ended far further up the pitch even if it meant Podolski making the necessary foul to nip it in the bud. A bit of nouse and grit that's what we've been mising since Rambo and Wilshere's injuries.
On that note it was good to see Kallstrom make a nice professional foul and he looks to be a decent player, his physical presence is a refreshing addition to our diminutive midfield. We would like to see him feature against City on the weekend as although its obviously too early to get the measure of the man he certainly looks the part.
It can't be any worse than 6-3...can it?
For more Arsenal and football content follow @thelovelyreds on twitter and tune into the blog everyday for original content. Thanks for reading
No comments:
Post a Comment