Laurent Koscielny has just improved further without kicking the ball. We looked less assured when balls were played over the top, we missed Koscielny’s pace and his decisiveness at crucial moments. Johan Djourou was often hesitant on the ball which could be attributed to his lack of recent games but he often took one touch too many and it was his dwelling on the ball that caused him to bring down a

Unfortunately, that was the performance and result that had been knocking on my head before kick off today. The more I tried to push it out, the more vivid the picture became.

Beating Sunderland last week, then suffering with a crushing defeat in Milan would lead to a tired, scrappy, and disjointed performance. I predicted pre match that van Persie would be rested and now I wish he was. Our players need to sharpen up, need to recharge their batteries because we are not good enough right now.

We had a front three this afternoon full of pace, skill and goals but we looked far from that. Gervinho can beat players with his eyes closed yet failed to escape his full back once. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain like every Arsenal player on the day had no time and no space on the ball to lift his head and pick passes. Martin O’Neill adopted AC Milan’s tactic of doubling up on our wide men which blunted our attacks.

Laurent Koscielny has just improved further without kicking a ball. We looked less assured when balls were played over the top, we missed Koscielny’s pace and his decisiveness at crucial moments. Johan Djourou was often hesitant on the ball which could be attributed to his lack of recent games but he often took one touch too many and it was his dwelling on the ball that caused him to bring down a Sunderland player outside our penalty box and the resulting free kick lead to Richardson deflecting his shot off Squillaci.

Our passing was not quick enough nor creative enough on the day and because of that we were unable to move Sunderland out of position. We have gone two games without creating enough chances and that is a problem. I felt for Chamberlain who gave his all but could not influence the game. He bundled the ball into his own net in the second half but at least he bust a gut to get back and make up for his error in losing the ball out wide.

We should have had at least one penalty but as is the case for us right now, nothing is going for us.

Arsene made an interesting looking change late in the game, a change that many people have wanted to see happen. Walcott joining van Persie up front with two wide players. Theo Walcott made a few diagonal runs but we just couldn’t get the ball to him. I don’t even think that van Persie and Walcott exchanged passes in the time they were both on the pitch.

A 2-0 defeat, injuries rearing their ugly head once more. When it rains it pours and quite frankly, I am getting fed up with the rain at this point in the season. Francis Coquelin deserves playing time and it is such a shame that he will miss another round of matches.

I have to apologise for the lack of thoughts in this piece, but as you can imagine it has been a little draining mentally and I am not really in the mood to analyse anything in great detail.

The players now have a week to rest and recuperate, the flood of negativity has to be stopped before the damage is too large to fix. As much as we all want a trophy, the priority this season has always been to get back into the top four. If the team continue to play the way they have in the last two games then it will be very unlikely but we know that this team can and should produce better than they have in the last week.

Get them back on the training ground, release those shackles and get back to playing with confidence. Quickly.