Sunday 11 September 2011

Swansea 0 – 1 Arsenal: Take two magnets...

You don't have to be scientifically gifted to follow Swansea (as some of the regulars in the East Stand will confirm), but a basic experiment to carry out is this: take two magnets and try to place the opposite poles together. Feel the strong force that pushes the magnets apart? Well, scientists have discovered that that is the same force which pushes the ball away from any goal that Swansea try to score in!

Questionable physics aside and we are left with another game where Swansea are unable to score, despite many chances.

The positives were clearly there once again – the game against Arsenal showed that Swansea can be consistently solid against a strong Premier League opponent (apart from the occasional blip) and can push forward with relative ease at times. The fact is, Swansea should have taken at least a point away from the Emirates. They deserved it – if not, all three.

In fact, Arsenal didn't particularly look like scoring that many. Yes they had some wonderful chances, stopped by Michel Vorm and the post, but they didn't threaten as much as I expected. It's a shame, then, that Swansea lost to one of the oddest goals we'll ever see!

Let's clear the white elephant from the room – Vorm's uncharacteristic mistake was stupid. There's no two ways around it. It took a few seconds for everyone to register what had happened, but soon it was apparent that Swansea City had secured their place on at least one 'bloopers' DVD this Christmas. 'Danny Dyer's semi-amusing football-related cock-ups' will not be on my Christmas list this year.

Vorm, like the rest of us, was clearly disappointed, though it's easily forgiveable – the amount of points he's already saved in his short career with the club means I'd let him do it again next game (…maybe not). Kudos to Andrey Arshavin and his fat tongue, whose reaction time was incredible and easily put the resulting mistake in the back of the net.

As well as a pretty solid team display there were stand-out individuals for Swansea. Stephen Caulker showed a lot of talent, and his goal saving, potentially testicle-destroying sliding save in the first half was enough for a Man of the Match award for me.

Nathan Dyer's work rate was top notch as usual. Scott Sinclair caused trouble to Sagna at times and he was unlucky not to score when his powerful free-kick slapped the crossbar in the second half.

Talking of unlucky, it's time to scrutinise Danny Graham. Again he showed plenty of enthusiasm and will to score, but again he failed in his efforts.

It's a tough decision now. It's only been four games (five including the Shrewsbury fiasco), but Graham hasn't scored. A selection of pundits believe he isn't cut out for the Premier League. I'm not sure – technically, he has looked like scoring plenty of times. It probably is just bad luck, but for the West Brom game should Graham start on the bench and be used as an impact sub? No doubt I'll look at this option further in my West Brom preview in the week. (Your opinions and thoughts are more than welcome - leave them in the comments box below)

Either way, Swansea must score in the Liberty Stadium on Saturday. West Brom are another of the 'easy' teams and, at home, Swansea will surely have chances to put them away. Things may start to get a little awkward if they don't score.

Brendan Rodgers was naturally not present in London due to the unfortunate death of his father on Saturday morning. It goes without saying that all fans' thoughts are with him and we hope he is able to return soon to guide the team to their first Premier League victory.

8 comments:

  1. well played and unlucky yesterday- we were indeed fortunate to get the three points. your team deserves credit for playing good football and on another day would've taken a draw at least.

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  2. I was very pleased with the way we played, I saw all the game on Scanditel, and the Michel Vorm thing was, 'just one of those things'. I think that Arsenal definitely knew they'd been in a game! All our boys played well and it's a shame for Joey Allen that there's so much talent in our midfield. I think Kemy might be out for a bit though.

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  3. Ah I forgot to mention the Agustien injury! Let's hope he's not out for too long, though it may allow Allen a little more action.

    And thanks to the Arsenal fan for the comment; we were unlucky, I guess the good luck is on its way! Hopefully by next Saturday against West Brom!

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  4. Nice blog article. Agree on some areas. Good luck this season.

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  5. Danny Graham starts..... no-one else comes close in our squad to replace him. If this was the championship he'd be leading scorer again. This is the Premier League and even the best strikers who command £10-20m fees rarely score more than 12 or 13 goals throughout the season. Once he gets the first it'll be a weight (of the media and critics.... you really don't help) off his shoulders

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  6. I don't deny it will be a big weight off his shoulders. Here's to that first one being against West Brom.

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  7. nice blog Chris- very fair. Was there, after first 15 when they pressed we were just as effective! goal cures many ills.

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  8. Marko Ciurlizza this guy is class and on free transfer swans need to take a few gambles

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyKrqdeG82M

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