Planet Swans ArchivesAfter a relatively promising first half hour where the Swans seemed to contain their title chasing opponents it took a single goal in the first half to change the outcome of the game and a second half where there was only really one team in it.
Unlucky deflections, penalties that could have been, an own goal and an all too often conceding of cheap possession meant that our visitors took the spoils with some ease and gave Clement much food for thought after his first Liberty Stadium game,
And if he was in any doubt of the site of the task in front of him he will know exactly now having seen his side so easily beaten and with deficiencies in too many areas.
Every game we play we look more and more like a side that is heading towards relegation and it is difficult to see where we can stop a rot that sees us conceding far too many soft goals and, as good as Arsenal are, today they barely got out of second gear and still had far too much for us to cope with.
Once again we saw too many players having half hearted performances with a midfield giving the ball away far too often, a defence that looked stronger in the centre but lacking in the full back area and an attacking force that gave Petr Cech one of the quietest afternoons that he will experience all season.
Narsingh, Olsson and Carroll are all set to be in the squad for next week’s visit to Liverpool but on current evidence it is difficult to see what they will add to a squad that looks low on confidence and, sadly for us, even lower on ability.
As mentioned earlier the first half hour looked more encouraging with the Swans retaining possession and passing the ball around neatly and, whilst the final pass was lacking, there was grounds for optimism that maybe there was a corner about to be turned.
We gifted Arsenal their first and Giroud could not miss but shortly afterwards there was a potentially game changing event when Ki went down under challenge in the area but the referee booked him for simulation as the Liberty crowd bayed for a penalty. It was one of those that when you are near the top you get but when you are at the bottom you don’t but it did beg the question why Ki would go down when he was through on goal. Maybe exactly why this team is struggling where we are.
The second half was as one sided as the scoreline would suggest as a deflection, a Naughton own goal and a Sanchez goal wrapped up the scoring but there could have been more as we crumbled under the Arsenal attacks and Clement looked more and more frustrated by the minute.
The only up side of the day is that we ended it still only one point away from the final safety place but frankly at the moment even if we did stay up the rebuilding in the summer will be massive and long overdue.
<#arsenal #SWAARS>
