As for Arsenal, forgetting the defensive issues that are too painful even to contemplate, they’re still no nearer finding the balance going forward. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did well, but the rest only flickered; there were moments of quality, but those are unavoidable with the players that they have on the pitch - missing was dominance of any kind.
Anyway, thanks all for your company and comments. Bye.
Credit also to Garry Monk, who picked Montero and kept him on, replaced Bony despite his displeasure, and generally shut down Arsenal, who created maybe three or four decent chances across the 90 minutes.
And what a weekend for Southampton, who, whatever people say, have a real shot at The Top Four - which, if they do it, will leave Arsenal and Manchester United scrapping over the final place.
FULL-TIME: Swansea 2-1 Arsenal
That was really rather odd and really rather brilliant. Very little going on for very much of the time, then an intense denouement in intense rain, featuring two exceptional goals and one very good one. It’s a really bad result for Arsenal, who drop to sixth, overtaken by Swansea, who are now fifth.
Updated
90+2 min Sanchez, now on the left, clips over a cross that Bartley minorpanics into heading behind for a corner. But the following clearance is more assured, and swansea re-set. A further cross reaches Sanogo, who heads down - it’s blocked by Taylor, who’s crouched, and hit bounces up off his shins onto his finger as he looks the other way. There are brief appeals for a penalty, but nothing doing.
90 min Arsenal send on Sanogo for Chambers. There shall be four added minutes.
88 min Oh my, this is lovely from Sanchez, who, just left of centre, in centrefield, clips a pass over the top for Walcott. But his famous first touch fails him, so, just when it looks as though he’ll be through on goal, instead the ball bumps through to Fabianski. He is not censured in the manner of a referee.
87 min “I largely agree with McMahon (having largely forgiven him for some magnificent jinxing last season)“ emails Matt Dony. “Teams lose because of mistakes, and everyone makes mistakes. Yes, a ref might miss a clear penalty (hello, Gary Cahill), but a player might miss the run of a team-mate, or mis-hit a shot, or embark on a dribble at the wrong time. Everything contributes. On the other hand, (most) players will be more readily dropped for consistent wrong choices than any ref. And you’re right, the general level of reffing in the league is probably sub-big-european-leagues at the moment, but then so is the general level of football.”
Agreed.
Updated
87 min Britton replaces Carroll.
86 min Alexis Sanchez becomes angry with the referee, and is booked.
85 min In all the excitement, I forgot to note that Walcott replaced Ramsey and Wilshere replaced Flamini. So, Walcott replaced Ramsey and Wilshere replaced Flamini.
Updated
84 min But here come Arsenal again, Oxlade-Chamberlain finding Gibbs, whose cross is headed behind. Cazorla’s corner is deep, but floated without much pace towards indeterminate target, allowing Fabianski to collect confidently.
84 min A lull. Arsene Wenger and Steve Bould might have made an adjustment to help Chambers against Montero, because it’s been a problem for his team since the opening minutes.
Updated
81 min “Never understood the ‘good enough to render errors irrelevant’ argument, honestly” emails Peter Raleigh. “Referees can and do make the kinds of mistakes that can take results away from teams which have obviously earned them. Take a team which has a goal wrongfully disallowed and so must settle for a draw. Are we telling them you must win every game by TWO clear goals or you don’t deserve the victory? Surely in such a case the refereeing error is the single most relevant factor in deciding the outcome.”
No, the point is that the game allows for human errors, both by players and referees. Why should those made by referees be considered decisive, not by players - and managers, for that matter? Seems unlikely that in an game, the players won’t have made many more.
THEY'VE ARSENALED IT UP AGAIN! GOAL! Swansea 2-1 Arsenal (Gomis, 78)
Or, put another way, superb from Swansea. Gomis holds it up maybe 35 yards from goal and lays off to Sigurdsson, who finds Taylor, who finds Montero. Again, Chambers backs off, as well you might, and again Chambers is pasted on the outside, before, from close to the byline, he stands up a cross towards the penalty spot. There’s not much pace on the ball, but all Gomis needs to do is outjump Monreal and direct it back from whence it came, which he does with great assurance, for his first Premier League goal. Bony is gruntled once more, and well played Garry Monk.
Updated
77 min Gomis replaces a less than gruntled Bony.
WHAT A GOAL! Swansea 1-1 Arsenal (Sigurdsson, 75)
The free-kick is 25 yards out, just left of centre - pretty hard to get up and down. But, somehow, Sigurdsson almost belts it straight up, somehow imparts the dip that brings it back down, so that, somehow, it somehow burns past Szczesny and somehow nestles inside the left-hand post. Brilliant!
Updated
74 min Barrow snatches possession in centrefield, and hares through the heart of the pitch. Gibbs is chasing, and knowing he’s not catching, takes one for the team, sliding into a trip. He’s booked.
72 min “A word on referees, who generally do an excellent job in very difficult circumstances,” says Simon McMahon. “Rather than blame officials, who make honest mistakes under intense pressure and scrutiny, managers and in particular players would do well to look at themselves and get a grip. Grown men and all that.”
Agree and disagree. I don’t think they’re all that good, especially in the league - European ones seem to be better, and less keen on attention - but players and managers should absolutely take responsibility for results. You need to be good enough to renders any errors irrelevant.
69 min “A lot of people might have been wondering whether Alexis Sanchez, coming from playing in the sun at Barcelona, could do it on a cold November day,” volunteers John Hartson on the radio. Did anyone seriously think that? Or did absolutely every single person think “class player, going to absolutely kill it in England”.
68 min Barrow replaces Emnes.
67 min Carroll was booked for fouling Oxlade-Chamberlain in the build-up to the goal, as was Chambers in the build-up to the Bony missed chance.
66 min Montero again pastes Chambers on the outside, and clips back for Bony, ready to apply the left foot that sends the ball spinning into the far corner. Or into his near ankle.
GOAL! Swansea 0-1 Arsenal (Sanchez, 63)
This is a great, slick break. Oxlade-Chamberlain seizes on a loose ball in centrefield and breaks, beating two men and transferring outside to Cazorla, who immediately finds Welbeck, lanking into the box. Showing intelligence and composure,with no obvious pass on, he ducks back inside his man and slides across to Sanchez, who smashes gleefully past Fabianski.
Updated
63 min It is absolutely clumping down with rain now - so hard it makes your head bleed, as Captain Redbeard woild say - which means we’re about due some red cards and attendant fury.
61 min A weak clearance falls for Sigurdsson, “who’s capable of that”, and he wellies miles form anywhere.
59 min Welbeck threatens down the right, and then Ramsey jumps over what would have been a foul tackle, earning a free-kick and some jeering. Then, from out on the right, 40 yards from goal, Cazorla overhits one that’s easily claimed by Fabianski.
58 min Apparently, Arsene Wenger has said that England can do what they want with Theo Walcott. Roy Hodgson should sent him to muck-out his aquarium.
57 min This is back to being terrible.
55 min Mertesacker is late into a tackle - with whom, I did not see - and is booked.
53 min “Here’s a question referees ought to be instructed to automatically ask themselves when offered the potential to award a penalty to a ‘smaller’ club”, reckons Wilson Beuys. “Had it been the other way around, would I have given the penalty to Arsenal / Man City / Chelsea / the team whose players I call by their nicknames rather than number, etc and so on.When the invariable word ‘Yes’ pops into their head, blow their whistle and award it.”
I’ve my own biases - I follow a “bigger” club - but I really don’t see this. Referees make bad decisions, and sometimes it looks like they’re so eager not to be seen favouring the more famous name and famous cliche that they decide against giving things. specifically with regard to what Chambers did, I’d say it’s more of a genre of foul that goes unpunished.
51 min Still on the back foot, Swansea clear long,right to left, and all of a sudden, a hoof turns into a long pass for Montero. Neither Chambers nor Monreal are much keen to engage, so he makes ground and looks for Emnes, in space at the back post, but badly overhits his cross.
48 min Sanchez, out on the left touchline and deep inside the Swansea half, nips a ball into Cazorla, and Williams, dragged out in initial pursuit, galumphs back and extends studs into shin. Cazorla goes down, so too does he, and eventually he’s booked. Meantime, Arsenal have a free-kick just outside the left edge of the box, which Sanchez curls in towards Welbeck - but Bartley gets there first, to flick away for a corner. It comes to nothing.
47 min It looks like Welbeck has moved to the left - we shall see - and, in the meantime, Bony plays a loose pass to Ki, stolen by Sanchez, who, zooming through centrefield, finds Oxlade-Chamberlain to his right. His first touch is at once clever, taking him inside Taylot, and clumsy, allowing him to catch the ball under his own feet, such that his shot is easily aprried by Fabianski.
46 min Swansea kick-off.
“‘Is Alexis Sánchez too good?’ you ask” - well, he seems to have heard you, and has been for most of the first half giving a decent impression of one who wants to hide his light under a bushel. Hopefully M. Wenger will encourage less bashfulness in the rest of the game.”
So says Charles Antaki - maybe it’s a ploy. Deprive him of the ball, deprive him of transfer options in the summer. Like getting knocked out of the Champions League in order to try qualifying for it again, really.
Updated
“I like ‘schmiced’ and would like to use it in my medical practice. Please advise,” emails Colum Farrelly.
“Don’t worry, it’s more of a prick than a shmice.” Related word: zetz, meaning roughly the same, and frask, meaning slap.
Half-time email: no one likes v-neck jumpers with jacket and tie.
If ever there was an “it’s one of those”, it’s that penalty that Swansea didn’t get. And, sure enough, Craig Bellamy agrees that it’s “one of those”.
HALF-TIME: Swansea City 0-0 Arsenal
Things - and Arsenal in particular - improved significantly during those last few minutes. Rmasey, Sanchez and Welbeck have all been quiet, but their nip returned, and Swansea were hanging on. That said, the home side had the better of it for half an hour, and were denied what looked and still looks like an obvious penalty, even if it was an easy one not to bother giving.
Updated
45+3 min Arsenal force a corner on their right, which picks out Mertesacker in the middle of the box. Losing Bartley, he then pulls off Williams, earning himself a free header - but having worked the opportunity, can only nod wide of the right post.
45 min There shall be three added minutes - and in the first, a cross is headed clear by Bartley, onto the laces of Ramsey, who, from 20 yards and near enough dead centre, annihilates a dipping volley via leap, that drops just past the left-hand post.
Updated
44 min Lovely from Arsenal, a-rat-a-tat succession of passes - Sanchez, into Welbeck, to Oxlade-Chamberlain, then finding Welbeck inside the box, to its right. But, administering the kapow-splat, and with a big game at the far post, he goes for the near allowing Fabianski to paw away. Hate to say it, but that’s a real Welbeck finish - taking the clever option when the simple one was far more likely to succeed.
Updated
43 min “Pretty economical, Arsenal’s style to this point,” reckons Martin Tyler with a euphemism I look forward to copying attempting to moderate my language.
40 min Oxlade-Chambwerlain accepts possession on the right and charges downfield, but a glance inside reveals help conspicuous by his absence. So, he keeps on going, at which point Ki arrives to slide through him and earn a booking.
39 min “Isn’t that schmeissed, not shmiced, from the German/Yiddish meaning ‘to welly’?” asks Dan Friedman.
Perhaps - but in what’s now known as Yinglish, shmice is probably permissible.
37 min Oxlade-Chamberlain spies Taylor desperate to flatten him as the ball arrives at his feet, so nudges it around the corner, rides the challenge, and a yellow card doth ensue.
36 min First proper chance, and it’s to Swansea. Montero, of whom Chambers is petrified, screeches down the left after picking up the aforementioned’s loose pass, switching inside to Bony, who moves it one more into the path of the onrushing Emnes. Focusing so hard you can hear the effort through the screen, he points toes and head down, driving straight at Szczesny from ten yards.
Updated
34 min V-neck jumper, with tie, with suit jacket. Discuss.
32 min Small period of friendly ascendancy from Arsenal as Ramsey, Cazorla and Welbeck send Oxlade-chamberlain away down the right. In the middle of it all, Cazorla is fouled, but Phil Dowd allows play to continue, and Oxlade-Chamberlain shoots - the effort’s blocked - and, in the meantime, Montero slices in from behind. There are penalty-type hollers, but nothing’s doing.
Updated
30 min “Surely joking via oxymoron rather than tautology?” asks Peter Charsley.
I’d say so - my mistake; but tangentially, is is tautology to use the verb “asks” when you’ve already employed a question mark? What a game this is!
Updated
29 min “Let me throw a random and ill-thought out theory past you Daniel”, throws Hubert O’Hearn. “(This in turn means I shall fit in well). I think Swansea may well be the best-liked team in the League. Who hates them, except Cardiff who is a league down at present? And secretly, are there supporters of any team at present who did not wish that their team of plutocrats did not play with the style of the Swans? Good on them. Swansea is a rationale for Loving Football.”
Yep, I can allow that - most importantly, the club is 20% supporter-owned.
27 min Oxlade-Chamberlain motors down the right and nips a square ball into Ramsey. It sits up pleasantly, so he applies the zetz, only for Williams’ enormous back to block it behind; the corner comes to nothing.
25 min Bit of pressure from Swansea, Rangel flinging his body into a low shot from distance that skids across the box and earns a corner. There follows another, cleared to Montero on the left angle of the box, and, though he’s time and plenty of it, he opts to shoot first time, dragging well wide of the near post.
24 min “Re. ‘Attempted mansalughterer Ashley Williams’, begins David Goldstone, “speaking as a bored lawyer wasting his life in the office on a Sunday, I don’t think you can have attempted manslaughter. It would have to be attempted murder, which seems very harsh for kicking a ball at somebody.”
Yep - speaking as a still residually-bored former trainee solicitor, I was joking via tautology, which tells you all you need to know.
21 min Montero has the beating of Chambers, so beats Chambers and snaps over a low cross. It’s cleared, but the ball comes back across to Bony, who, back to goal, cushions on his chest before Chambers barges through him. Phil Dowd signals no penalty with maximum ostentation, but it looked a good shout to me. And then, the ball found its way back to Montero, who gave Chambers a wide berth and shmiced a shot into the side-netting.
20 min “How would Valdano have described this match,” asks Sasu Laaksonen.
We haven’t even achieved the use of nouns yet, but we’ve time for things to improve.
19 min A tackle! Flamini rattles into one, flipping Carroll, and there’s monentary excitement before everyone acknowledges that he took the ball cleanly.
18 min Very little indeed.
15 min Bartley drills a long one right-to-left, over the head of Chambers and finding Montero, who flicks it over his man. Caught underneath it just down the left edge of the box, Chambers’ arms goes up as he desperately jockeys for position, but the ball ends up clipping Montero’s before he can infringe himself.
Updated
15 min There’s not a whole lot going on here, which is testament to how Swansea have prepared and started - Arsenal are a rhythm team, and the game doesn’t have one yet, let alone either of its teams.
13 min It looks like Sanchez is playing behind Welbeck, which if that’s considered his best position, does not bode well for Mesut Ozil’s future at Arsenal, once he’s fit again.
11 min “Am I the only one who has been impressed by Bellerin?” asks Nick White. “I would put him on the flank and Chambers in the middle if I had my druthers. Alas, I am not Arsene Wenger.”
Druthers is a great word, and no, I think there is general impressedness - but two kids in a defence, especially when there’s also a weakness in defensive-midfield, probably seems like a big risk when if it fails, it’s your fault.
9 min Montero nashes around the outside of Oxlade-Chamberlain, and is summarily razed. This gives Swansea a free-kick, maybe three yards from the by-line, on the left, and Sigurdsson whips it in hard towards the back post. Under the bar, Chambers has no choice but to head behind for a corner, which is cleared - and though it’s headed back, Williams is caught offside.
8 min Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is an interesting selection from Wenger today - he has most to lose from Walcott’s return, on the one hand, but, on the other, has real potential as a central-midfielder. Quite how he can be fitted in, I don’t know, but the ability to beat men in the middle of the pitch is rare.
6 min Things are proceeding fairly slowly for the time being, so:
Did you know? Lukas Fabianski once played for Arsenal; and
Did you know? Lukas Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny are both Polish?
5 min Swansea seems to be permitting Arsenal the ball in their own half, starting a press once they near the centre-circle - but only once they’re nice and organised.
4 min Williams jiggles off and on, as Arsenal start their passing.
2 min Trouble for Swansea. Attempted mansalughterer Ashley Williams stretches to intercept, and jars his ankle on the turf. For a while, it looks like he might be done for, but after a a couple of minutes r&r, looks much improved.
1 min Swansea knock the all around at the back, but briefly. They then knock it back to Fabianski, who thunks one at Bony - he’s stuck himself in front of Monreal, which, you imagine is something of which he’ll be doing plenty.
1 min And off we pootle.
“If we take your Sanchez thesis to its conclusion,” tweets Dan Montefusco, “there’ll be four world super clubs and 88 very mediocre sides”.
We’re almost there, aren’t we? And it’s hard to criticise the players - they want to play in the biggest games, and win stuff. A way around it might be a salary cap, a transfer fee cap and a transfer cap, so that trophies are more evenly distributed.
But amidst all this prefixed midfielder stuff, the best Arsenal side I’ve ever seen had two generals, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.
Apparently, Arsenal aren’t good enough at the back, in defensive midfield, and when not in possession. Ok!
Arsenal are a curious conundrum, if that’s not tautology, and even if it is; one of the most interesting teams to watch, by far the most boring to discuss.
It was caning it down in Swansea earlier, but looks slightly more pleasant now - always a dismay. The less comfortable the players, the happier the rest of us can pretend to be.
So, that’s three changes for Swansea - Bartley, Carroll and Emnes come in for the injured Fernandez and Routledge, and the suspended Shelvey.
Arsenal make just one alteration - Flamini replaces Arteta.
Updated
Teams:
Swansea (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Rangel, Bartley, Williams, Taylor; Carroll, Ki; Emnes, Sigurdsson, Montero; Bony.
Subs: Amat, Britton, Gomis, Tiendalli, Tremmel, Fulton, Barrow.
Arsenal (A-R-T): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Sanchez; Welbeck.
Subs: Rosicky, Podolski, Wilshere, Walcott, Sanogo, Martinez, Bellerin.
The Man: Philip “Phil” Dowd
Updated
Is Alexis Sanchez too good? (Can ya hear me out, can ya hear me out?)
Like Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez when they were at Liverpool, and Angel Di Maria at Manchester United now, the only way that he’ll stay at the club is if it draws itself into line with his ability. And, for Sanchez, that means winning titles and competing for them in Europe - not easy to see in the immediate future.
Preamble With the notable exception of Clint Eastwood, there is one thing shared by everyone in the world: a name. Some mean something - Esmarelda Villalobos, say - and some don’t - Butch Coolidge, say - but still, we all have them.
And names carry resonance beyond simply being a collection of connected phonemes, particularly given current trends for parental self-expression - I give you Kashmonay and Abcd (pronounced Abseday) - and then there’s Garry Monk.
When it comes to football there’s not all that much that’s all that alluring about austere self-abnegation and regimentation - even if we studiously ignore his dub-r. And to the outsider, nor was there all that much all that alluring about its resonance - particularly when compared to Michael Laudrup.
But, here we are. Since his appointment in February of this year, Monk has led Swansea to safety - no mean feat, given the mess he was left - and, after his permanent appointment, an excellent start this season. Only Southampton have conceded fewer goals, and, in a departure from the methods of Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers and Laudrup, Monk is prepared to be flexible. No longer can opponents assume a possession-heavy approach - at Everton last week, Swansea were compact, circumspect and direct, particularly once reduced to ten men - and the chances are that this afternoon will see a combination of the two.
And then there’s Arsenal.
Kick-off: 4pm
Daniel will be here just as soon as he’s finished clockwatching.
