EPL | Sunderland vs Arsenal | 14/09/13 | 3:00PM

[a_fourteen]

Altidore was robbed.

 

[Azeem Khaja]

I lost count how many times we have been robbed and once or twice prevented us from winning the league a few years ago if I remember correctly.

Girözil combo, dashing Rambo, Santi, Poldi, Theo, (Yaya) -- heavy Arsenal right there.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Its Altidore's own fault for being so big. If he was normal sized like he should be then then he would have just fallen down and no controversy would have developed. Only himself to blame I'm afraid.

 

[arshy9]

The refree blew the whistle well before they went into the 18 yard box.Koscielny and Jenkinson and a few of the Sunderland players even became inactive whilst Sagna and Altidore continued to hussle.Had the ref not blown,Koscielny and maybe Gibbs I think would have covered that.

P.S I am not surprised Sagna was muscled off like that.Altidore is just that strong.It has happened to Koscielny before.
The critisim there is that they shouldn't get tight with especially such players when they are the indirectly the last man.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

i really hate when we face these kind of strikers like Altidore Benteke and of course Drogba cuz you just can't deal with them cuz they are beasts. we really need like these kind of strikers.

 

[yuvken]

I agree with all of this, but he does need to make a minor adjustments to his game and his decision making in the box is one of them.
He's always been quick and a good tackler, but it should be clear that he's worked on little bits of his game since he's gotten here and this should be one of them.
Basically, he doesn't need to go to ground as much as he does when he's in our box. And I'm sure he's figuring this out.

Sure, it would be good if Kos kept learning (he does seem to improve all the time). Gotta remember - he was playing french lg 2 footy a year before he came here. And he only got his full recognition as our top defender late last year (remember "TV needs to play cos he's captain, and Per cos per + someone is the best pair?)
But I say - realistically expect some blunders. The price to pay for having someone like him. Note: he's always better when playing consistently (wasn't early last year, form was poor). And yesterday with Bac, very different than the organized, cool thing with Per. That must have added something to the general attitude "we're all first to everything", which Kos is carrying in excess anyway.

 

[Cruisio]

That attitude is all well and good, but on occasions like that it's stupid and rash and as a top defender it's really not a mistake we should be seeing as often as we are because it's so basic.

Remember that desire to want to win the ball in stupid areas was one of the biggest reasons Vermaelen got dropped for him in the first place.

It WILL cost us badly if he doesn't iron it out.

 

[law90026]

Can't fathom anyone defending Kos and his style of defending.

Does it look amazing when it's done right? Sure. But it's such a high-risk approach to defending because it's done in areas where a mistake either results in a penalty and/or red card. It's irresponsible.

Are there times when it might be required? Sure. But if you look at this incident and the Villa incident, I'm not sure either fall within the "must make a last ditch tackle" situation.

Don't get me wrong. Kos is a good defender. But this approach to defending is way too cavalier and will cost us (it already has earlier this season and, if Sunderland had converted one or 2 more chances during their dominant spell, probably would have cost us again).

 

[Floating]

Can't fathom anyone defending Kos and his style of defending.

Does it look amazing when it's done right? Sure. But it's such a high-risk approach to defending because it's done in areas where a mistake either results in a penalty and/or red card. It's irresponsible.

Are there times when it might be required? Sure. But if you look at this incident and the Villa incident, I'm not sure either fall within the "must make a last ditch tackle" situation.

Don't get me wrong. Kos is a good defender. But this approach to defending is way too cavalier and will cost us (it already has earlier this season and, if Sunderland had converted one or 2 more chances during their dominant spell, probably would have cost us again).

The thing is, he wins the ball 9 times out of 10 because he's that good. The tackle against Sunderland was needless, especially because Gibbs was a yard away in a better position, but I trust Koscielny to reliably make those tackles because he's been so accurate in the past.

 

[law90026]

The thing is, he wins the ball 9 times out of 10 because he's that good. The tackle against Sunderland was needless, especially because Gibbs was a yard away in a better position, but I trust Koscielny to reliably make those tackles because he's been so accurate in the past.

The question is not how many times he wins the ball, it's how often out of those 10 tackles does he actually need to try and make that tackle?

Even if he wins 9 out of 10, that doesn't mean the ref isn't going to make a mistake (see Villa as a case in point). Players are going to take advantage of this tendency and go to ground in the box when he lunges so he needs to be absolutely perfect, not just in winning the ball but making sure it's obvious he won the ball.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

Fully agree law. Koscielny is quick enough to not have to go in like that and players today will go down if they see/feel the defender diving in. It looks good when it comes off, but defenders as good as him shouldn't be leaving their feet so often. Crap header from Gibbs it has to be said.

 

[celestis]

Am not too worried about this , if you look at Kos's history here he always starts the season like this and then finishes strong .

 

[USArsenal]

the important thing is, we're winning games (Villa aside). we're near the top (depending on the Pool result today) and we still have 6-7 players out with injury (and i dont mean bench scrubs)..

i think we're doing OK for now

 

[yuvken]

Yup. Question is how well do we keep up till this injury wave is over. If we don't crash, I think we'll have an interesting year, perhaps till the very end.

 

[Bigbludfire]

The thing is, he wins the ball 9 times out of 10 because he's that good. The tackle against Sunderland was needless, especially because Gibbs was a yard away in a better position, but I trust Koscielny to reliably make those tackles because he's been so accurate in the past.

The question is not how many times he wins the ball, it's how often out of those 10 tackles does he actually need to try and make that tackle?

Even if he wins 9 out of 10, that doesn't mean the ref isn't going to make a mistake (see Villa as a case in point). Players are going to take advantage of this tendency and go to ground in the box when he lunges so he needs to be absolutely perfect, not just in winning the ball but making sure it's obvious he won the ball.

You're potentially penalising a player for going down because of bad refereeing? Really? He usually does get it perfect, no two ways about it

 

[fabo]

Why are people making excuses............you don't slide in from behind anywhere on the pitch, never mind in the box. It was poor from Koscielny and he needs to step his game up.

 

[eye4goal]

Even if you get the tackle right, you risk giving a penalty every time you go to ground in the box. Many perfectly timed tackles are given as penalties with the other player making a meal of it. Its just clumsy play from Koscielny

 

[thedon5]

I really think we'll be in it till the end. That killer run around February and March will define our season, and personally I think before then we will definitely be in for the title. After that killer run our final fixtures are very much straightforward as well so I have a good feeling.

Up until Liverpool away on 8th February, the only big games are Man City away, Liverpool at home, Chelsea at home and Man Utd away, maybe a couple of others like West Ham away and Swansea away in a couple of weeks could be a problem but they aren't big games. So I think even with our thin squad, we can definitely do the job until January and will have until mid January to pick up a replacement or two.

Here's hoping that when we come across that killer run-in we don't have any significant injury troubles, and who knows, maybe Diaby will be back! Guaranteed starter away at Liverpool if he is!

At first it seemed like our fixture list was unkind, but looking at how we are crippled by injuries now and how we can definitely improve in January to be ready for these tough games, I think it could work well for us.

 

[TheGlitch]

I wouldn't be too critical of Koscienly tackle much, ok it was bad, but its not Feature of his play and I would rather him Be confident and not second guess himself during match play. These things will happen time to time, we know he is a great defender a mistake doesnt change that. Y'all need to stop acting as if he ran over your family dog.

 

[krengon]

The question is not how many times he wins the ball, it's how often out of those 10 tackles does he actually need to try and make that tackle?

Even if he wins 9 out of 10, that doesn't mean the ref isn't going to make a mistake (see Villa as a case in point). Players are going to take advantage of this tendency and go to ground in the box when he lunges so he needs to be absolutely perfect, not just in winning the ball but making sure it's obvious he won the ball.

Agree with both your posts. Going in the way he does, he makes it too easy for the ref to give a penalty even if he gets the ball, and there's no need for that. Especially when there's often better ways to defend those situations.