Swansea City 2-1 Arsenal: Analysis from Back-to-Front

Arsenal let slip a one-goal lead to go down 2-1 to Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Here, Gunner333 gives us his analysis of the game.

Following on from a catastrophic mid-week collapse in the Champions League, in which Arsenal surrendered a three goal lead to Anderlecht, the Gunners returned attention to the Premier League and a tough visit to Swansea.

After a goalless first half, Arsenal opened the scoring mid-way through the second period when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain burst forward before finding Danny Welbeck in the area. The former Man Utd forward cut inside and calmly squared the ball to Alexis Sanchez who made no mistake from close range.

Still in celebratory tone, the Gunners were undone and countered on an attack of their own which called for Gibbs to concede a set-piece just outside the box. Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled things up with a wonderful free-kick from distance, which spun beyond the glove of Szczesny and into the top left-hand corner.

Scores level, Arsenal seemed reluctant to defend the point and were caught out at the back yet again. Montero capping off a fantastic performance with an assist, with his cross meeting the head of substitute Gomis – who out-muscled Nacho Monreal to head home the second of the night and winning goal.

Full time and yet more points dropped from a leading position by the Gunners, who seem to be accumulating a number of growing concerns week-in, week-out. Problems once again evident in this game, which I shall analyse from back-to-front.

At The Back: 4/10

Whilst the same issues arise on a weekly basis, the Gunners now seem to be finding new ways to concede. The first goal was a calamity as we left just two defenders in our own half leaving the Swans acres of space to exploit. Gibbs was therefore forced to commit a foul in a dangerous position which of course led to the equaliser.

The second was a mere portrayal of the defence being ‘bullied’ in the box with Monreal over-powered and out-jumped by Gomis in typical Arsenal defensive fashion. It is a growing concern to see this lack of strength, organisation and awareness being exhibited by the back-line game-after-game.

It is now just three clean-sheets for the Gunners this season and given the poor defending visible in the past week, it is not a surprise. Whilst our physical presence through the centre was non-existent, Chambers was also given a real tough time by Montero all afternoon.

In The Middle: 5/10

It was destined to be a difficult afternoon for our middle-men, tireless attempts to break down Swansea’s possession often going to waste. Flamini and Ramsey were incapable of gaining a strangle-hold of the ball and were the main reason we never had spells of great domination in the game. The lack of understanding in when to sit-back was yet again clear to be seen, with Swansea rubbing their hands together at the available space in behind our incredibly high-line when on the attack.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was my man of the match for the Gunners, by far the most positive in possession, with the goal coming courtesy of another of his trademark winding runs. However, this positive attitude was a rarity amongst the Arsenal players and midfield especially, with Ramsey, Flamini and Cazolra all struggling to impress in this game.

Attacking: 6/10

After some sensational displays in recent weeks, Alexis Sanchez was forced to drop deeper in this match due to a distinct lack of service and this obviously had a negative effect on his overall performance.

Of course, Sanchez did grab the opening goal and this was mainly due to the good work of The Ox/Welbeck, and the positional sense of the Chilean international. Welbeck worked hard as usual but was shunted out to the left for much of the game which limited his effectiveness, so it was a game to forget for the Arsenal attackers.

Wenger: 4/10

However I choose to dissect this game, the basics are there – Arsenal lost and did so once again from a winning position. In all departments Swansea outplayed the North-London side and although the majority of blame should lay with the players, perhaps the most damaging concern is the lack of organisation and leadership; a factor that ultimately is determined by the gaffer.

The boss failed to change our game-plan once we went ahead and instead of instructing his players to sit and protect the lead, he allowed them to bomb forward in search of a second and ultimately this cost us dearly.

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