After Bony headed Swansea in front after 11 minutes we looked visibly shaken by it and it was only the late introduction of Lukas Podolski that changed the game as the German turned the game on it's head in two minutes. Scoring from a Gibbs cut back and then supplying a great ball to Giroud to tap in from close range. At that point I expected us to go on and score another one
Lack of change, really. After news of crisis talks and players being dropped I thought we'd see a rejuvenated side - much like that of Swansea (A) last season - which really was the turning point of that season. You can't account for that horrific own goal (unless you were to suggest that a defensive substitution should have been made rather than Sanogo coming on when we had the lead) but you can say we lacked so much up front; Arteta, Gibbs and Giroud were once again abysmal today. I think we clearly lack pace, despite a good start. Swansea was not a real threat and we seemed to control the game, but without enough conviction. And as usual, we were punished on their first shot on goal, with a defensive mistake. Lack of pace, lack of focus. And even if our second half was better, we were too easily pushed on our toes
So there rumours of mass changes were rubbish as Arsene pretty much sticks with the team that lost at Stamford Bridge. Laurent Koscielny is ruled out with injury so Thomas Vermaelen replaces him at centre back while Lukas Podolski is replaced by Mathieu Flamini in the centre of midfield to no doubt give the team some more steel. Kieran Gibbs takes his place on the right of the attack while Oxlade-Chamberlain plays at left back.
Arsène Wenger and Mikel Arteta have spoken about how the team want to come back with a far better result but we've heard this before only to hear in the next post match interviews how the team were nervous due to the previous result. Interviews have been minimal, so much so that post Chelsea and pre Swansea press conferences have been abandoned. That is truly how Arsène feels about the Chelsea result so there is no point in listening to his 'accident' claims in the press and then crying about it. His actions speak far louder than words.
They have frequently been found wanting, lacking the requisite collective mental and physical edge needed to see off the opposition. They have too often this season, been bested in dramatic fashion by their top four domestic competitors. Perhaps there are too many footballing passengers in this team hoping a few fellow players will carry them to a win. Some fans and pundits have criticised Wenger for being stuck in his ways. But perhaps he should revert back to his previous winning model of power and precision and abandon this feint-hearted tika-tika football experiment. Perhaps he should build a new team based on his previous proven winning formula of power, speed, clinical finishing and defending and in addition to the possession and triangular passing football he craves.
Going into this game, the manager had never beaten Jose Mourinho and afterwards, never looked further away from doing so. Of course, the usual talk of not being able to compete with their spending/squad/whatever will be levied but when you think that they are coming off the back of a defeat at Villa & the likes of West Brom have given them more of a scare at their place this season, Arsenal's pathetic surrender becomes even more inexcusable. Painting Chelsea as some sort of unbeatable, unstoppable force falls foul in the face some of their results against teams far further down the pecking order than Arsenal. This was the first time they had scored 6 goals against anybody this year and also the first time in two spells under Mourinho - statistic that unfortunately says more
We looked like a boxer going up against one of the hardest hitters in the business, jabbing at our opponent without once putting our guard up. Inevitably Chelsea struck with pretty much the first blow and Eto'o was on hand to curl it around Szczesny. Moments later André Schürrle drove a low shot into the corner of Szczesny's net Then in full self implosion mode Oxlade-Chamberlain stuck out an arm to block a Hazard shot that was going wide anyway. The referee clearly not having seen the incident was trying to communicate with one of his officials. Then mistaking Chamberlain he sent off Kieran Gibbs even though Chamberlain was seen telling the referee that he was the guilty culprit.
We had a good opening ten minutes or so against Tottenham but then looked quite shaky, whereas today we were unsteady and lacked any real composure from the get go. There wasn't one standout performer either, everyone was equally poor and the whole setup was a mess. We weren't defensively tight which is how we managed to not concede against Tottenham and we got dispossessed in vulnerable positions
I cannot tell you how much I want us to beat Chelsea. While we are depleted somewhat with key players missing, we still have a lot of quality on that pitch. I don't care if we have 10% of the ball and have one shot, as long as that shot goes in and we keep the ball out
