there are times to rotate not when we are away playing arsenal in a cup match. do that against lesser teams not one of the big guns....
Tired performance and players just didnt fancy it. better to ditch the FA cup and focus on our prem status and cup semi against chelsea. Dyer and DG were truely aweful but im not gonna blame them too much as everyone was pretty much at it tonight. The cheeky smile from Laudrup at the end spoke volumes for me, i think he was happy we are out and can now keep a more solid formation for the coming games, its the fact we have changed around so often that has stunted our passing game,it has not been as fluid for this reason but i also admit that tactics have also played apart. nothing to worry about here,well done arsenal they really wanted and needed this win, we on the other hand needed it like a hole in the head
We played a strong Arsenal team tonight and to be honest with the games we have when would be the right time to rotate ? of all the competitions we're in this one would be last on the list of priorities I would imagine. A strong side and a better performance Saturday is whats needed , and I would forgo the CoC cup even at this stage to secure PL security, we're not safe yet and that should be our priority.Just say we won the Cup ,without strengthening further would we be able to play European competitions starting in the late summer months and then have to worry about PL survival yet again , it's cost Newcastle this year and they could fall into the bottom three.
So which of: Spurs (A) Man Utd (H) Reading (A) Fulham (A) Villa (H) Arsenal (H) Chelsea (A) Everton (A) Arsenal (A) Which would you have gone for rotation? Reading and Villa were games we should have won, as the poitns were important, but then out of the rest, which are lesser teams? Or should we rest players for: Stoke (H) Chelsea (H) Sorry but this game was always the game we would have given in on, when we have a tough away game to Everton, followed by tonight, followed by a home tie against a tough Stoke, and then a home tie against Chelsea. Bit of common sense would have made it obvious tonights game was the lesser of 2 evils to rotate the squad. There is also a reason why we look to be playing differently, not our usual selves. Fulham (A) Villa (H) Arsenal (H) Chelsea (A) Everton (A) Arsenal (A) 4 away games against 4 tough sides, and you are disappointed that we have been playing backs to the wall.......I know we are 90 mins away from a final, but a bit of perspective of who we actually are, or have some of you forgot we are Swansea City. Our players are not machines.
don't worry about Danny he wants to join his home club sunderland according to sky sports ...dyer can join him if he wants..
we are talking cup matches here ain't we...Brighton would have been a better time to not play your best side not arsenal....Its to bloody late now and a wasted chance....
Top post i have to say... Horses for courses boys, we would all prefer to ditch this game more than any other
Didn't deserve it and Arsenal good value for the win with Wilshere, the outstanding performer, deserving his goal. It was obvious from the first half that he was causing all the damage and f*!k all was done to negate him in the second half. I'm sick and tired of this cream puff midfield of ours. JdG, Ki and Kemy collectively aren't fit to lace Wilshere's boots. He isn't a big guy but the fitness, intensity and desire he showed put our lot to shame. Has someone told them that football has become a non contact sport or what? Do any of them know what a tackle is? I wouldn't carp so much if any of them were contributing by playing some football but our sheer inability to keep possession for more than a couple of passes is frustrating me beyond belief. We've commented on Ki and JdG before but Kemy is fast playing his way out of the club. I had hoped that he would be the beef and the drive we were looking for but he has really disappointed the last few games. Perhaps he has caught the malaise that the others are suffering from. Outside the back four we just seem so fragile, so delicate, losing 50/50 balls everywhere. We show no strength, no fight, no athleticism and no drive which is inexcusable. If a player lacks ability that is understandable because we cannot compete at buying in that particular commodity. But when a player lacks fight, energy and fitness there is no excuse. The biggest footballing donkey can train to gain all those things and be competitive and if there is a little skill to go with it, you have a player. I guess this underlines the probability that Michu will leave in the summer. He must be looking at the better teams and thinking that if he can score the number of goals he has with the service we offer him, what could he do with a consistent supply of quality balls? He, personally, must have been totally gutted at Everton with the Spain manager there, as good a result as that was for us. Yes, I know I've had a rant and I know that overall we are punching above our weight and doing well. But I am seeing things I do not like and the biggest thing that is bugging me right now is this soft underbelly that we have in midfield. We are not Barca where the players are all skilful enough to get by on that alone. We are a fairly skilful team but we need to supplement it with a bit of old fashioned strength, grit and determination. We are badly lacking those things right now. Am I a bad loser? Yes! Am I unrealistic? I hope not. We will usually be beaten by a better team and I always accept that when it happens. We were beaten by a far better team tonight and I have no complaints about the result. It was the WAY we were beaten that irks me (I'm allowing that we had a weakened team) and that applies to a few of our performances this season. Sloppy passing, poor movement, being brushed off the ball time and again and no tackles worthy of the name. Criminal. These lads are professional players and these problems have been with us for a while. They shouldn't be. Finally, forget all about Wilshere's talent, ability and skill, all of which he has in abundance, just think about the desire, the intensity, the drive he showed. In short, his attitude. Outside of our back four can anyone point to any of our players who could match him? I can't.
Your right ivor...what is the point of that team selection.....Sir mike got it all wrong for someone who wanted to do well in the cup....I would not have played some of them if we were at home so to play them away is diabolical...and dont give me that old pony of resting players........thank god i was not one of the jack army who went as i would want my money back.....
The squad of player we have are the ones we've all seen recently ,thats it , Considering the amount of changes made tonight to lose 1-0 v Arsenal was no disgrace ,we didn't throw the game but I don't believe we gave it our best shot either. Brighton are no mugs as Arsenal will find out shortly so don't be under any illusion that if we'd have won tonight we could have afforded to take them lightly and progressed further,I'd rather go out now while we've not picked up any more injuries or cards .(if Walcott's run into the box tonight had been given as a penalty then Chico would have gone off as he was last man ) we can't afford to lose anyone at this stage of the season and considering the type of games we've played and the way we've played them then I consider ourselves lucky to be able to pick our strongest squad when required .the changes to night were not enforced through suspensions or injuries
No complaints from me. we were well beaten. Just got back on the M4 so hope to be back in Jack land by 1.30
Its the way we lost poor selection that was out classed out played that our first team could have won with room to spare.....I feel sorry for the jack fans that went expecting a fight and saw nothing but lower league display....you have to blame the manager for that...
No excuse for that performance tonight. Absolutely shocking 2nd half!! I'm actually so annoyed the way we've gone out. I can take the fact that Arsenal were by far the better team 2nd half, but the pathetic way we surrendered possession & gifted them chances, then the resulting gutless exit has really pi$$ed me off!!! Our midfield was just about non-existent in the second half. It was open season on our defence. Also, getting more & more cheesed off with Ki, Dyer & De-Guzman at times. There's no tackle, urgency or drive with the former & I can't really see that changing soon. Dyer, well like a headless chicken at times... One really disappointed Jack...
Dai - I was one of the Jack fans that went so please don't feel sorry for me! What I saw was a second team that gave as good as they got for most of the game - ML would have learnt a lot from his second string players, some of which acquitted themselves quite well - I am sure that ML will apologise to you in due course; it must have been hell watching from your armchair! But advancement in the FA cup, I believe, is quite low in our list of priorities; Capitol One and the league are far more important and so I will not criticise our manager for his tactics! We were beaten by the better side, and battered in the second half - but I still came away from the match proud to be a Jack!
Dai, I don't really take issue with Michael's team selection. We have a vicious schedule of games to cope with and rotation is a must to try and keep an element of freshness in the squad. I'm not upset that we're out of the FA Cup because I think that the League Cup and particularly our position in the league table, are far more important to us. What I AM upset about, though, was in the manner of our defeat. Honestly, there were times in the second half when we resembled a League One outfit such was Arsenal's dominance. We couldn't have complained if we had shipped 5 or 6 goals such was the gulf. It was almost like a coconut shy at times with them queuing up to take shots and us painfully unable to do anything about it. Our defenders were heroic but what about the other six? They were useless in the context of what was needed. I contrasted West Ham's effort against a superior Man Utd. They battled, put a foot in and managed a few attacks of their own and could have scraped a result through sheer commitment. We never looked destined to do anything else other than lose in that second half. The cup highlights showed the drive and endeavour of Wilshere. In added time he was sprinting 40 or 50 yards to draw defenders to free up space for his team mates. They were 1-0 up but he was hungry for more and never let us rest. No one in our team is at the same level in terms of ability but they SHOULD be his equal in terms of commitment, drive and attitude. Those are attributes you gain in training and by your own self discipline and pride as a professional footballer. Our players showed very little of it. Perhaps Michael's inexperience in this League is showing just a little. He has been used to playing in teams with skill in abundance. They had no need to be physical because they always had the talent to win games with their sheer ability. Our players are not that good and we have to make good the shortfall in ability with hard work and organisation. Our organisation is pretty reasonable but we have no physical edge to call on when we need it. I wonder if that is why he has tabled a bid for Kenwyn Jones; an effort to be more physical up front and from set pieces. We need it. In fact, we need a lot more of it. Think on. There has not been one successful Premier League team who didn't have at least one enforcer in the side, sometimes two or more. Can anyone tell me who our enforcer is? I don't talk too much about my experiences and friendship with Ivor Allchurch because they are personal but I will share this snippet with you as I believe it is relevant. I think that everyone accepts that Ivor epitomised the art of skilful football. On one of our countless car trips together, I asked him why he kept selecting a player (let's call him Dai) who was always in trouble with the officials, being carded and occasionally being sent off because of his abrasive play. His reply was simple. "Every team needs a Dai". Dai, in fact, was described as an animal by one of his own team mates, a team mate who was his best friend!! So, I ask the question again, who or where is our Dai? Anyway, let's see what the next two games will bring. They are two entirely different teams who will pose different problems. We all know what those problems will be but one thing is already certain. If we are to get anything from either game, we are going to have to start passing the ball properly again and start being proactive with our game instead of being reactive. In other words, let's be attacking the other lot and ask some questions of them for a change.
Top quality post again from Ivor : "Has someone told them that football has become a non contact sport or what? Do any of them know what a tackle is? I wouldn't carp so much if any of them were contributing by playing some football but our sheer inability to keep possession for more than a couple of passes is frustrating me beyond belief... Outside the back four we just seem so fragile, so delicate, losing 50/50 balls everywhere. We show no strength, no fight, no athleticism and no drive which is inexcusable... If a player lacks ability that is understandable because we cannot compete at buying in that particular commodity. But when a player lacks fight, energy and fitness there is no excuse. The biggest footballing donkey can train to gain all those things and be competitive and if there is a little skill to go with it, you have a player... We are a fairly skilful team but we need to supplement it with a bit of old fashioned strength, grit and determination. We are badly lacking those things right now... It was the WAY we were beaten that irks me (I'm allowing that we had a weakened team) and that applies to a few of our performances this season. Sloppy passing, poor movement, being brushed off the ball time and again and no tackles worthy of the name. Criminal. These lads are professional players and these problems have been with us for a while. They shouldn't be. Finally, forget all about Wilshere's talent, ability and skill, all of which he has in abundance, just think about the desire, the intensity, the drive he showed. In short, his attitude. Outside of our back four can anyone point to any of our players who could match him? I can't." My sentiments exactly. We have been praised by many for our style of play since we came into the Premiership, but if we carry on as we have been doing in the last half dozen games we'll soon be mocked and derided for it. The only miserable crumb of comfort for me was seeing that Michu has "manned up" and shorn his effiminately long hair. Mind you, the way things are going, it might have the same debilitating effect on him as it had on Samson - which could mean no goals from him for the rest of the season
Who is our enforcer? It's a shame that Ashley Williams and Chico aren't natural midfielders, otherwise they might make a good fist of doing some enforcing in the middle of the field.
Can't disagree with the comments about our powder-puff attitude in midfield. It really is shocking - and seems to be getting worse. God help us on Saturday v Stoke if our players don't man up and challenge for 50-50 balls and start sticking a foot in. Contrast that with Wilshere who was physical, robust and seemed to pop up everywhere. Having said that, I get the feeling that the upcoming League game against Stoke, coupled with an in-the-bag appearance against Chelsea in the League Cup semi final was a distraction for the players. It was pretty obvious. Not an excuse, just stating a fact.
