Cohesiveness is probably the best way to describe Arsenal’s 0-2 win at the Liberty Stadium. The team defended and attacked as a unit.

There was no shift in tactics from Arsene, at Bayern or at Swansea. The plan remained the same (for all its faults) but was executed, once again, almost perfectly.

We pressed high up the pitch. At times winning the ball in dangerous areas. When we did press, the defensive line pushed up and caught Swansea’s forwards offside several times. We were effective at squeezing space cohesively.

But Swansea stuck well to their passing game, never content to just hoof it forward. They beat our first line of press often and found space in midfield.

However, our defence responded well. Whenever Swansea found space away from our pressing, the defenders didn’t try to step up and play offside, as that would have exposed them as it did at White Hart Lane. And as the defensive line retreated, it gave the midfield a chance to recover and squeeze space in the opposite direction. Our defensive positioning throughout the match was excellent (look at those straight, straight lines).

It is a matter of concern how comfortable Swansea were at times on the ball. They are a good passing team and well drilled in the art of keeping the ball, but you have to wonder if a better ball-winning midfield would have done better to disrupt their attacks and help us dominate the ball. But there’s another reason why we ended up second-best in the possession stats, and that has to do with our attack.

Like at the Allianz Arena, we attacked with purpose. There was no intention of keeping the ball for the sake of it. Instead, we tried to get the ball forward as quickly as possible.

Swansea made it difficult with their pressing, though. They rarely allowed Fabianski to play the ball on the ground, forcing him to launch long balls to Giroud.

In midfield Arteta and Diaby were efficient with their passing, connecting well with Chamberlain, who cut inside, and Cazorla, who regularly found space between the lines to shoot or create chances for others. But the interesting thing about our recent attacking shape is Walcott’s role. Many have accused him of “hiding in the middle” but there’s no doubt he’s acting on instructions from the manager.

In defence Walcott is stationed on the right of a 4-4-2 shape, but as we won the ball he made early diagonal runs in behind the Swansea defence, hoping to catch them out. And when we were in possession in the final third, he took up central positions alongside Giroud, playing not like a winger, but an off-the-shoulder striker. In theory it allows Walcott to become more of a goal threat, and ping passes off Giroud, but he was unable to create anything meaningful. His central positioning gave Jenkinson a lot of room on the right, but his delivery was often poor.

The attacking plan failed to work as well as our defence. Nacho’s eventual goal came not from quick passing but rather from defenders staying up after a corner, and Cazorla creating something out of pure brilliance.

The goal droughts of Giroud and Walcott are a concern but with a defender and a substitute scoring simply served to highlight our teamwork after a cohesive display.