Firstly, congratulations to Swansea on the win, it showed a different side to the Welsh team, a gritty and determined performance that I personally haven’t seen before.
So, having said that, what did you make of the Swansea performance? Arsene Wenger said that he thinks Swansea ‘didn’t come to play’; do you think he’s being bitter about perfectly executed tactics?
The Swansea performance wasn’t expected, nor pretty. But, at the end of the day we came out with three points and however they’re gained doesn’t really matter – we will certainly take that all day long. It wasn’t a typical Swansea performance, but under Garry Monk we’ve become more adaptable and unpredictable, and like Monk, I’d rather win ugly than have lost. I can certainly understand Arsene Wenger’s disappointment but like you said, we came with a game-plan and executed it. It’s almost as if he was annoyed that Swansea didn’t play their normal possession style of play. However, in the end I think Garry Monk out-maneuvered Wenger on the night (with a little luck added in).
What about Arsenal, did you expect to see more creativity and a more clinical nature in the final third from them?
First of all I’m going to come out and say that I didn’t think we stood a chance at the Emirates. I expected much better of Arsenal to be honest. After their fantastic run of form plus their outstanding attacking talent, I was shocked to see them squander so many chances. I don’t think creativity was an issue as Ozil, Cazorla and Ramsey created many opportunities for Sanchez and Giroud, and had they been finished Swansea would have had a hammering. It was just one of those nights for the Gunners and they were just missing that final touch.
The Swansea goal came in similar fashion to the reverse fixture back in November, what did you think of his performance and the goal itself? Should Arsenal have dealt with it better?
By the time Gomis came on, I was desperately hoping for a draw. It surprised me that a holding midfielder like Ki came off as we needed the extra legs in Arsenal’s crowded attacking third. It was a sign of intent and Gomis made a difference. He was strong and managed to spread the ball out wide, to try and exploit the wings. In the end we did that as Modou Barrow made an excellent run which sparked the attack and led to the goal. Arsenal’s defence didn’t pick up Gomis and when you give him room in the box, he will always make you pay. That being said, it was a preventable goal. Koscielny or Monreal should have stayed on him and Ospina’s positioning was pretty bad.
Lukasz Fabianski- Of course he played magnificently, making nine saves in one game is stunning, but do you think that Arsenal made it easy for him with their poor attempts at goal?
Fabianski played very well, and denied Arsenal countless times. But yes, I think he wasn’t helped by some lackluster efforts on goal. Especially when he performed a double save in the 70th minute to deny Sanchez and Walcott – both shots were straight at him and if you don’t take them chances you’re not going to take any other. Other than that, Fabianski commanded his area well and made some crucial saves to deny a rout.
To end on what I’m sure is a positive, what do you think of Garry Monk? Is he the man to continue driving Swansea forward after what has been a record-breaking season?
I, along with every Swansea fan, absolutely love Garry Monk. He’s the man who captained us from League 2 to the Premier League and now he’s excelling as our manager. I can’t believe how well he’s doing and he’s shaped our defence into a terrific unit, and with 13 clean sheets, he’s doing wonders. As I said before, we are now adaptable and unpredictable, whereas with Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup, we were set out with exactly the same team, and to play in the exact same style of passing football every single week.
Monk has smashed many records in his first full season, and with a little more quality added into the side come the summer, we can be a real force in the Premier League and challenge for the Europa League spaces again. Call me biased, but Monk is definitely my choice for manager of the season.
So there you have it, Swansea completed the double over Arsenal and have bragging rights for this season! Declan asked Adam a few questions about the game over on Read Swansea website, which you can check out here.
