Swansea vs Arsenal 0-2

I have mixed feelings about the result today. I always want us to do well and win, but i also want us to go back to where we belong which is competing for trophies. I have made it clear that i don't think Arsene is the one who will get us there. I feel that as long as we can scrap for 4th place, Wenger won't be replaced. We will continue to be mediocre and wait for positive results, but our lack of tactical organization defensively won't allow us to do better than top 4 every year. So in a way, i am happy that we won, but i still see the problems and holes in our game and they won't go away until a change is made.

The game today was up and down. Swansea had a good spell in the beginning of the game, they kept the ball on the ground and controlled the pace. They easily opened up our defense a few times and missed a few good chances with Michu and Rangel being the guilty parties. We also kept giving the ball away the whole first half. Towards the middle of the half we started playing better and had more possession. Oxlade hit the bar twice with good efforts.

In the second half we started better and put Swansea under pressure from the beginning. Cazorla missed a good chance in the 51st minute. Eventually Swansea got back into the game and had a 10 minute spell where they looked like they might push for a winner, but we scored a bit of a lucky goal which turned the momentum completely in our favor and Swansea never recovered. A second goal from Gervinho after a Ramsey pass will make Wenger look like a genius, when in reality Gervinho shouldn't be on the field unless we can't field 11 healthy players.    

The defense was decent today. Not great because we got opened up too many times in the first half, but solid enough that Swansea didn't really have any chances in the second half. I thought Koscielny was great. He made some very important blocks and was consistent throughout the game. Mertesacker also had a good game. He has been playing well for a while now. Monreal was up and down. I know that he scored a very important goal, but he got beat more than once in the first half. Jenkinson was very good throughout the game and finally got to play 90 minutes, but he did giveaway the ball very dangerously and helped Swansea create one of their best chances of the game when Michu shot just wide of our goal in the 16th minute.

The midfield was OK. Cazorla was our best player in that part of the field. He was involved in almost everything that we did and his work rate never noticeably dropped which sometimes can be an issue with him. Diaby was fucking awful the whole game. He had some decent runs only to make a sloppy pass and give the ball away again and again. You can see that he has the moves and right ideas but his execution today was shit. Arteta was decent, he didn't play bad, but he continues to give away stupid fouls at the worst times possible. He did that at the end of the Bayern game the other day too. Oxlade had a very good game today. He was very active and hit the bar twice. I am glad he had a good game because the last few times he started, he had shitty performances. 

Upfront we were average. Theo was decent. He was active on the wing, but the few good crosses that he gave, there was no one to take advantage of them. He didn't have too many chances and at times was isolated on the wing. For me, Giroud was disappointing again. He had some good one-two touch passes, but he continues to be in the wrong spots when people are sending crosses in. Instead of always looking for that cross and attacking the penalty area (like he did for his goal against Bayern), he still waits for the ball to somehow come right to him.
Gervinho is clueless as always and him and Ramsey almost fucked up that counter at the end. I was actually impressed when we scored because Ramsey's pass to him was way too far behind him. And knowing Gervinho's clumsiness, i was impressed that he was able to squeeze it past the keeper.

So our quest for top four continues but for the reasons i mentioned earlier, i don't know if that's a good thing...