Jamie Carragher: Arsene Wenger's Reluctance to Change Tactics Led to Arsenal's Defeat to Swansea

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has blamed Arsene Wenger's inability to make changes during key moments for Arsenal's defeat against Swansea City.

The north London club took the lead early in the second half from Alexis Sanchez's goal. The Gunners were leading till the final quarter of the match before Gylfi Sigurdsson's brilliant free kick helped the Swans equalise.

Arsenal were without the services of Laurent Koscielny and Mathieu Debuchy, who are on the sidelines with long-term injuries. Calum Chambers played in the right-back position, while left-back Nacho Monreal was partnering Per Mertesacker in the heart of the defence.

Lack of physical presence helped Jefferson Montero to put in the cross for Bafetimbi Gomis to score the winner in the 78<sup>th minute. The former Liverpool defender believes Wenger could have changed his tactics and avoided another defeat.

"I thought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a good game in terms of going forward for Arsenal but at half-time it was clear Chambers is having one of those days where Montero had got the better of him," Carragher told Sky Sports.

"I've been there as a defender and you need help. You can change it; Arsenal had Hector Bellerin on the bench, who is inexperienced, but is supposed to be one of the quickest players at the club."

"Could he have made a difference with his pace? Or tell Oxlade-Chamberlain 'stand in front of Chambers, forget going forward because we need protection. We need to stop this.'

"But Arsene Wenger has so much belief in his team and the way they play, he says 'we'll go forward, play our own game, do not worry about the opposition'. But it's proving that you have to think about the opposition."

"We say it every year about Arsenal, in big games – not normally these sort of games – they go and play their normal game away from home and get batted 3-0 or 4-0. But the problem was obvious and something needed to be changed at half-time – but nothing changed. And they've ended up losing the game because of it."

"You talk about leaders in football, though, and that's a perfect example. After a ten minute spell in the game, when your full back is up against it, [centre-back] Per Mertesacker should say to Oxlade-Chamberlain, 'stand there, do not move for 15-20 minutes, until we kill this threat'.

"You never see that with Arsenal. You can't always play exactly the same way. Games change. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're behind. You can't keep on playing the same way," the Anfield favourite stressed.