Another depressing day for The Arsenal. A dire performance in the FA cup saw us knocked out, virtually consigning us to yet another trophy less season. Bar any Chelsea-like shocks in Europe.
The whole game was played at a level unacceptable for an Arsenal team, with a slow tempo and lack of urgency throughout.
Whilst we retained constant possession and total control, the passing movements were forced and inflexible, and quite easily dealt with by a Championship side.
Chances came and went, but in actual fact, their keeper wasn't thoroughly tested as you would have expected. Looking back to the first ever defeat at the Emirates, Rob Green had to produce an amazing performance to deny us from getting something from the match, but today Kean quite easily stunted our few shots on target.
In the end, as the clock continued to tick, our confidence slowly drained away, whilst theirs started to grow. As our dominance faded, and the chances created became few and far between, they started to come up with the odd chance and were rewarded for their efforts.
Szczesny's save from a drilled Olsson shot, was pushed straight into the path of Kazim Richards, whose shot hit off the middle of his leg and somehow found its way into the net. There may have been some luck on their part, but it was all we deserved for our lifeless display.
Even the changes of Cazorla, Wilshere and Walcott couldn't inject the energy needed to win the game, and in the end the game stuttered into a toothless defeat, and the team slumped to an eighth successive trophy less domestic campaign.
Following the game, Arsene waited a full hour before addressing the media, whilst his name trended worldwide on twitter as fans started calling for his head.
When he finally discussed the woeful game, he illustrated his anger at the performance, saying "I do not want to go too much into detail but I believe we were really guilty on the goal."
"Not one defeat is acceptable. You are in this job to win every single game"
"It is very painful and very disappointing to lose a game like that. What is important now is to focus on the next one."
The performance was simply unacceptable and highlighted many of the problems that are so ingrained in our squad.
The changes made should have been enough to win the game, but instead we saw a major lack of depth. Diaby didn't look anything like the same player we saw earlier this season, constantly dwelling in the ball and needlessly giving up possession. Chamberlain continued to struggle for form, whilst Gervinho was as useless as we all expected him to be.
But the major disappointment came from last months player of the month, Olivier Giroud. Today he illustrated many of the faults left in his game.
The Frenchman does have something in his game, but still needs improvements. Today we saw the faults in his build up play as he failed to make much of an impact on the game at all.
It was very disappointing, but shows we need more reinforcements up front above anything.
Right now defeat is very hard to take, and the fan disappointment is definitely understandable. 8 year without a trophy is unacceptable for a club like Arsenal, especially when we are defeated in both cups by lower league opposition.
However, with the games coming thick and fast, there is a chance to reinstall some confidence in the squad on Tuesday.
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