EPL – Sunderland vs Arsenal – 3:00pm - 11/02/12

[DiamondGooner]

Rosicky showed today what we've all known for quite some time..

That's he's absolutely toothless. Let's hope he rightfully takes his place on the bench for the Milan game.

Your out of your mind, if anyone in midfield had a bad game it was Arteta and Song's wayward passes.

Rosicky gave exactly what we expected, effort, ball retention, passes, control.

It was the front 3 today who were too static and didn't link up well.

Singling out Rosicky when he was as good as everyone else is pretty pathetic.

My only critic was that he should of taken that shot passed back from Walcott.

..... tell me who had a better game from the first 11?

Im just going to say now that we're not going to agree, because there's just so much with that post that I've completely opposite opinions too.

But as a single point, Arteta was again fantastic today.

Midfield in general was pretty good today, had lot's of possession Sunderland just marked our front 3 out of the game, all 3 should have come deeper imo especially RVP he was absolutely surrounded.

Walcott again had a shocker, just gets bogged down out wide and can't use his pace properly def not a Bale or Lennon.

 

[ferrarif50hunt]

Song didn't play badly, all people see is that he gave the ball away quite a lot but what they fail to see is that the reason for that was because he was trying to make something happen. Nobody was really trying to get the ball behind their deep defence, so he was trying to instead. Yes it resulted in a lot of turnovers in possession, but I'd rather someone try to make chances than everyone just passing around the box for 15 minutes.

 

[Le Titi]

I am absolutely buzzing. Henry is a hero.

 

[Mastadon]

I rate Arteta very highly but I dont think he had a good game today. Was more Denilson than Xavi this time. Rosicky was alright, didnt do much wrong but certainly didnt do enough as an AMC. Wonder whether Arshavin will ever get a shot at the AMC/SS position.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I can't agree on Song there, ferrari.

To me he lacked concentration sometimes and his passing in general hasn't been up to the usual standard today, that's been the main reason why he was poor imo, below Arteta and Rosicky.
Of course, he did try something and many things didn't pay off, but in contrast to his usual displays, he hasn't done many of the basics good either.

 

[DiamondGooner]

I can't agree on Song there, ferrari.

To me he lacked concentration sometimes and his passing in general hasn't been up to the usual standard today, that's been the main reason why he was poor imo, below Arteta and Rosicky.
Of course, he did try something and many things didn't pay off, but in contrast to his usual displays, he hasn't done many of the basics good either.

I have to agree with Brady that Arteta needed to offer a bit more creativity up the field but the crux of our issue was that our front 3 were to advanced and too static.

They couldn't link up or build play because Sunderland parked the bus, our midfield was struggling to find our forwards because they would not come deep then over lap.

It was a cagey game but we got away with it.

 

[Irish_Owen]

I can't agree on Song there, ferrari.

To me he lacked concentration sometimes and his passing in general hasn't been up to the usual standard today, that's been the main reason why he was poor imo, below Arteta and Rosicky.
Of course, he did try something and many things didn't pay off, but in contrast to his usual displays, he hasn't done many of the basics good either.

I honestly cringe when he's shifted back into the centre back position too. When he steps out too far into the defensive midfield position, instead of positioning himself properly, in an attempt to win the ball early, he leaves an unbelievable amount of space behind him. Luckily he's usually partnered with the pacey Koscielny, who's now pretty excellent at the covering centre back role, so he's yet to cost us on the counter.

But maybe... Just a thought, Song knows he can step so far forward becuase he's partnered with Koscienly...

Meh.

 

[Irish_Owen]

I can't agree on Song there, ferrari.

To me he lacked concentration sometimes and his passing in general hasn't been up to the usual standard today, that's been the main reason why he was poor imo, below Arteta and Rosicky.
Of course, he did try something and many things didn't pay off, but in contrast to his usual displays, he hasn't done many of the basics good either.

I have to agree with Brady that Arteta needed to offer a bit more creativity up the field but the crux of our issue was that our front 3 were to advanced and too static.

They couldn't link up or build play because Sunderland parked the bus, our midfield was struggling to find our forwards because they would not come deep then over lap.

It was a cagey game but we got away with it.

You're both misinterpreting Arteta's role, just as so many did last year on countless occasions with Wilshere. His role is to offer incisive passing to midfield players and forwards in more advanced roles, which he does to excellent effect, as he did today.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

i think song played very well when he played a cb, he was so awful at first half giving the ball away.

 

[shariqdhanani]

'form is temporary, class is permanent' ... Well wenger was spot on when he put arshavin on. Our little russian came through. Tbh, i wanted arshavin to come on because walcott was offering nothing and we needed a moment of magic to steal the match. It is a big gamble putting arshavin in because you never know what you are going to get from him but it is atleast better putting arshavin on than watching walcott put in nothing balls in the box for longer.

On the walcott issue, he is not effective against teams that sit deep defensively. Walcott had no space to run into and therefore, he could not offer anything. Walcott does not have trickery, he is not flexible to constantly switch his movements when on the ball and his dribbling isnt that good either. In these kinds of games, walcott will never offer anything. Walcott is more effective against teams that try to take us head on i.e the likes of manu, man city, etc. In this kinds of games, we need players in midfield and attack who are technically great.

Ramsey played great today as he looked very sharp. Henry is a legend!

Oh and i hope merte is okay but it looks like he will be out for atleast a month! Good thing we have gibbs back, hope he stays healthy!

Sunderland's pitch is absolutely woeful. I cannot believe this was a premiership pitch. Disgusted! This is why this victory is so sweet. Seems like we will be in the top four for the whole week atleast. These ****ing Sp**s are three-nil up! Ahhhhh! Near perfect weekend then.

 

[Mastadon]

Song usually gets moved into the CB position when we are chasing a game so he will obviously be going forward more than a normal CB would. It allows us to get more attacking minded players on while still having 4 at the back.

 

[brady_style]

I can't agree on Song there, ferrari.

To me he lacked concentration sometimes and his passing in general hasn't been up to the usual standard today, that's been the main reason why he was poor imo, below Arteta and Rosicky.
Of course, he did try something and many things didn't pay off, but in contrast to his usual displays, he hasn't done many of the basics good either.

I have to agree with Brady that Arteta needed to offer a bit more creativity up the field but the crux of our issue was that our front 3 were to advanced and too static.

They couldn't link up or build play because Sunderland parked the bus, our midfield was struggling to find our forwards because they would not come deep then over lap.

It was a cagey game but we got away with it.

You're both misinterpreting Arteta's role, just as so many did last year on countless occasions with Wilshere. His role is to offer incisive passing to midfield players and forwards in more advanced roles, which he does to excellent effect, as he did today.

I didn't see him do this today. For me, he wasn't good today. He didn't do enough as a senior player to get the team going forward. So often he chose a simple sideways pass and too often he took up ridiculous positions ... five yards from Song. This meant that we kept the ball but offered so little in terms of attack.

It was up to Arteta to get on the ball, pass it and then move forward. He was a passenger out there today.

 

[Irish_Owen]

I didn't see him do this today. For me, he wasn't good today. He didn't do enough as a senior player to get the team going forward. So often he chose a simple sideways pass and too often he took up ridiculous positions ... five yards from Song. This meant that we kept the ball but offered so little in terms of attack.

It was up to Arteta to get on the ball, pass it and then move forward. He was a passenger out there today.

He was in possession of the ball more than any other player out there...

In what universe does that constitute as a 'passenger'?

 

[HollandGooner]

Jamie Sanderson @YoungGunsBlog
Mikel Arteta's 80.8 pass per game average in context: he's 4th behind Xavi (105.7), Alonso (83.5) and Pirlo (81.2). Class.

:worthy

This guy should be in for the euro's in the Spanish team.

 

[brady_style]

I didn't see him do this today. For me, he wasn't good today. He didn't do enough as a senior player to get the team going forward. So often he chose a simple sideways pass and too often he took up ridiculous positions ... five yards from Song. This meant that we kept the ball but offered so little in terms of attack.

It was up to Arteta to get on the ball, pass it and then move forward. He was a passenger out there today.

He was in possession of the ball more than any other player out there...

In what universe does that constitute as a 'passenger'?

When you consistently choose the easy pass. When you refuse to move into dangerous positions and are content to stand only metres from you DM for an entire game. Then you're not doing enough.

He's a senior pro he needs to do more for us in games like this. He's usually great for us .... lately he's looked a bit tired imo.

 

[DiamondGooner]

Exactly we dominated possession in midfield so we could have been a bit more advanced however were nit picking because as I said our forwards were out of the game and should have come deeper to get involved Sunderland had too many men back we needed to move them more.

And Owen I understand Arteta's role perfectly however like Song does when we are dominating he can afford to be a bit more enterprising just to try and make things happen.

However midfield wasn't the issue so this is a bit of a thin discussion.

 

[Irish_Owen]

He was in possession of the ball more than any other player out there...

In what universe does that constitute as a 'passenger'?

When you consistently choose the easy pass. When you refuse to move into dangerous positions and are content to stand only metres from you DM for an entire game. Then you're not doing enough.

He's a senior pro he needs to do more for us in games like this. He's usually great for us .... lately he's looked a bit tired imo.

Seeing as none of your previous statements are true, I'm not really sure how to respond...

But really, I'm just delighted with the win today, so let's not get bogged down in the details.

 

[HollandGooner]

'Thierry finished the story of a legend'

on another happy ending for Thierry…
He finished the story of the legend today in the championship; I hope he will add some in the Champions League on Wednesday now. Certainly he got us the three points in a difficult game where Sunderland were resilient, well organised and tried to catch us on the break every time. You could see that they have a lot of spirit in their side. It was also on a very difficult pitch. We had a lot of the ball but we couldn't create a lot because our passing was good but it was very difficult to get into their defence.

On top of that we were 1-0 down so it was a question of a spirited performance and that is what happened in the end. I felt we were intelligent, patient and resilient.

on unfortunate Sunderland goal...
It was unfortunate. Mertesacker told me that he got a shot in his ankle and couldn't move at all anymore. We are a bit worried about his ankle I must say because he goes home on crutches. He has done some ligament damage, but how big that is we will have to check tomorrow. For sure he is out for Wednesday.
on possibility of stopping play
I thought about it during the game after they scored but you cannot demand that. You do not know if a guy has gone down through injury or because he slipped. It's just that in the action you cannot demand to stop.

on Henry…
It might haunt me again because then people will say 'why did he not stay?' It just shows you as well that these players never lose it. Exceptional talent survives. You have that with Giggs and Scholes at Manchester United and Thierry here. It is just a luxury to have a player like him on the bench.

on bringing him back again…
We will see next season, but maybe he might want to stop at some stage as well!

on being fourth…
Two weeks ago everybody said it was out of reach for us and today we are in it. So we have to be cautious. But we are happy to be back in this position but it is still very open for everybody around there. You have Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, us and it's down to consistency now.

 

[brady_style]

He was in possession of the ball more than any other player out there...

In what universe does that constitute as a 'passenger'?

When you consistently choose the easy pass. When you refuse to move into dangerous positions and are content to stand only metres from you DM for an entire game. Then you're not doing enough.

He's a senior pro he needs to do more for us in games like this. He's usually great for us .... lately he's looked a bit tired imo.

Seeing as none of your previous statements are true, I'm not really sure how to respond...

But really, I'm just delighted with the win today, so let's not get bogged down in the details.

I agree ... we should enjoy this win. It could be a defining part of our season.

I think the disagreement about Arteta comes about through expectation.

I expect him to play more forward for us .. I don't understand it when he plays so deep. It's the role of a DM to come deep and get on the ball and then move it quickly to players in space. Arteta was yards / only yards away from Song for so long of the game.

Anyway ... we can talk about it on another day. A great day ... a great moment ... Thiery Henry has become such an important part of the identity and history of our club.

 

[dave_rwr]

I didn't see him do this today. For me, he wasn't good today. He didn't do enough as a senior player to get the team going forward. So often he chose a simple sideways pass and too often he took up ridiculous positions ... five yards from Song. This meant that we kept the ball but offered so little in terms of attack.

It was up to Arteta to get on the ball, pass it and then move forward. He was a passenger out there today.

He was in possession of the ball more than any other player out there...

In what universe does that constitute as a 'passenger'?

While I agree with you in that Arteta was strong again today... A passenger is still in the car for the whole ride. They just aren't driving and deciding where the car should be going. That analogy still works.