The Soccer Blog: Arsenal - Sunderland Match Thread

Sunday, 6 March 2011

Arsenal - Sunderland Match Thread

Arsenal – Sunderland Match Thread - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Arsenal – Sunderland Preview | Home | Arsenal 0 – Sunderland 0: One of Those Days »Arsenal – Sunderland Match ThreadBy: Martin | March 5th, 2011
Tweet

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Starters: Wojo, Sagna, Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy, Denilson, Wilshere, Diaby, Nasri (c), Arshavin, Bendtner Bench: Almunia, Rosicky, Ramsey, Squillaci, Eboue, Gibbs, Chamakh

Sunderland: Starters: Mignolet, Ferdinand, Mensah, Bramble, Bardsley, Henderson, Muntari, Malbranque, Richardson, Sessegnon, Gyan Bench: Gordon, Riveros, Welbeck, Colback, Noble, Knot, Al Muhammadi

Nothing too surprising about that lineup — Koscielny is apparently not just fit enough to play, but to start. Let’s hope they’ve done all their tests, because if he’s not fully recovered and were to do his hamstring today, that would be pretty catastrophic given the fixtures we’ve got coming up. Also interesting that Bendtner starts up top, and Diaby, Denilson, and Wilshere all play. I think the question becomes which player, out of Diaby or Wilshere, plays in the advanced role. I think it will be Diaby, but I’m not at all sold on his ability to play that role, and I would prefer Jack. We’ll see.

Other than that, nothing too shocking. Rosicky makes the bench — you guys know how I feel about rushing players back from concussions, so I hope we don’t have to play him today. No big surprises at all from the Sunderland side — they will play 5 across the middle to try to jam us up in the middle of the pitch, and “back pass” Denilson and “give the ball away” Diaby prominently involved for us, it may well work. We may need a big game out of Wilshere. And with some of our more proven sources of goals out, we do need Bendtner, Arshavin, and Nasri to step out and bother the Sunderland defense and keeper — hope they’re up to it.

This is a massive game, and a massive opportunity to pull ourselves right back into the thick of the title race.

Come on Arsenal.

Some Related Stories:Sunderland – Arsenal Match ThreadSunderland 1 – Arsenal 1: How Do You Write a Headline for a Match Like That? (UPDATED with Player Ratings)Arsenal – Sunderland PreviewArsenal – Tottenham Match ThreadArsenal – Newcastle Match Thread

Category: Fixtures, Premiership, Sunderland

Tags: Fixtures, Premiership, Sunderland
Tweet « Arsenal – Sunderland Preview | Home | Arsenal 0 – Sunderland 0: One of Those Days »Georgedb1LOL alright bring on the complaining and gnashing of teeth!

Then when ur clam, realize that the boys did everything in their power. Given the players we're missing, 2 HUGE blown calls and the SHIT luck that we had, this was an acceptable (albeit not an optimal result).

Great keeping by Szczesny - any other keeper and that shot from Welbeck ends the game at 0-1!

I'll be cheering for Liverpool tomorrowJacob David FriedmanI know it seems like a cheap cop-out to complain about the refs. But, seriously, two huge missed calls including a disallowed goal. Shaking my head.Rickey_banksClichy and sagna sent in sooo many crosses but Bendtner and Chamakh wernt there to finish them off SO FRUSTRATING! Bendtner how many chances are you going to get to prove to everyone that you should be starting? well today was your chance and you blew it! you had your chances to score and the best striker is an efficient striker whcih you arnt at the moment IMO, Chamakh injected some energy into the attack....very unlucky to hit the crossbar. I wonder who is going to start up top vs Barca? hopefully Liverpool help us out tomorrow.SKthere should have be a penalty call, and a clear goal scoring chance. ashavin was not offsideDavid PeradzeHoly shit, guys. I don't know what's wrong - you guys have the worst luck in the entire world of football. Last year - Wigan, now - Sunderland.

I honestly hope it gets better.

- From an AS Roma fan.Georgedb1Thanks man, yes we have the shittiest out of any big teams - but its also hard to make your own luck when you are missing players like RvP, Theo, Fabregas, Vermaelen (the list is endless).

Good luck to Roma in their challenge for Champs League football.Patoux21Arshavin is the black cat of Arsenal. I just hate this player he's so fucking useless a few times he had the ball in the box and he made a mess of it.AMapsThat is so not true.asdlkjfI think Rosicky is the black catrussianfanname one episodePatoux21He made wide shot on the left side of the goal. He made a bad pass to a player standing 2m from him in the corner of the box. He headed the ball straight to the goalkeeper in the last moments of the game. And there are plenty of other things I could complian about him during the whole game. And he was called offside when he miraculousy managed to score.russianfanbeing called offside is of course also arshavin's faultrussianfanwide shot on the left - are you talking about the non-penalty moment? why didn't nasri or bendtner score? your dislike is very narrow and direct, sirPatoux21I guess you may be Russian by your name and that's probably why you can't take critics on Arshavin but let's face it he's an average player with a terrible work ethic. I've been analysing his game this season and apart from the first 2 months of the season he's been just awful. How can u be a quality player when your performance has been good for 2 months out of 7. He may have scored a goal against Barca and to honest he did the easiest part of it Nasri providing the run and passing with Fabregas launching the counter attack. There are so many things wrong with this players but I prefer not to say too much
russianfani'm sorry but you jumped away from my question. your criticism of his today game is clearly biased.Patoux21About today? Well at least Nasri and Bendtner made some good shots on target. They worked their socks off even though it wasn't successful or unlucky. Did Arshavin made any shots on target? I don't think so. I would be curious to know how often Arshavin gets past a defender on 1on1. Probably a lot less than Nasri but probably more often will you see Arshavin laying on the grass.russianfanyou know, if the ref didn't flag offside i'm pretty sure you'd still be talking this way about arshavin just the same. but i'll leave you in a company with your ref friend.
working the socks off is very subjective. arsenal can work their socks off passing in the midfield for the whole game and never getting to actually score. i'm pretty sure you'd still admire this sort of game well because players work their socks off. at least arsha scored a legitimate goal today, you know. unlucky but legitimate.

and your remark about arshavin doing the easy job from nasri's incredible break in the barca game just demonstrates your prejudice. the only easy thing in football is when you score into the empty goal from within 5inches with no goalkeeper in sight. go tell nasri something like "dude, i loved your play, and that arshavin fella was just lucky". i'm not sure your idol nasri would chuckle heartily with you. a combination of things makes a goal, not a single player.
i can also suspect from your name that you're probably a nasri fan. oh well. id dont mind nasri at all.
Patoux21I am not a huge fan of Nasri but don't you know that he was PL player of the month a few times and he's in good position to be PL player of the year. On the other hand Arshavin has been booed by the supporters during a cup match for his poor performances. I really wished Arshavin improved for the good of the team but I gave up after so much disappointment. This is just the facts so you can't say it's biased.russianfandude, give me a break. go see the players ratings.russianfan*nasri would NOT chuckle, of course. sorry for the mistakeIllinois GoonerEnough about the refs. If your only chance to win a game was based on a call that didn't go your way, then you didn't deserve to win. This is just one more instance of Arsenal failing to take their chances and win a game they should have won.RedCapedWonder2 calls.GoawayOnly that it was based on 2 HUGE calls. Don't give me this bullshit.Illinois GoonerBecause we've never won a game from a call that went for us...I can think of a couple penalties this season that were dives from Arsenal players and we've have our fair share of opposition goals called off for offside that weren't/ penalties not given to the other team. It all evens out in the end.RedCapedWonderThat's arguable.brentonFuck.

Now it's two games difference.Fred JacobSo Martin what you think about the referee's in this game?RedCapedWonderI'm not Martin, but I think I can give an apt description that I'm sure most people agree with.

BLIND.SairaxI don't want to talk about it.AMapsMatches like this one isn't helping the "Refs are not against Arsenal" case. And my heart and my ability to think rationally.SairaxNOT OFFSIDE123thats ironic considering the name of the blogGeorgedb1robbed by luck and the refs....AMapsHow on earth was that offside???
brentonPlease score please score please score!!!PierreArsenal really needs a world class Defender to lead the back line..SairaxI know. I mean, look at all the goals we conceded today.Georgedb1LMAOSKkos is still fragile after the CC final incidentGT90what a savePatoux21Another great play from Arshavin! I can't wait for Theo to come back at least he would provide some threat!SairaxHOLY CRAP OFF THE CROSSBAR!! pleeeeeease not one of those days!AMapsSo close Chamakh. So close...
Georgedb1Very frustrating game to watch... I'm hoping AW's boys hav esomething up their sleeves for the last 15Junichi Ezechiel BennettNasri free-kick ! C'mon Samir !Junichi Ezechiel BennettShitSairaxRosicky coming on.

COME ON ARSENAL!! I'm so freakin nervous!!AMapsUh oh, Welbeck is in. This isn't looking good...SairaxCrap. Welbeck coming on.SairaxMan, Arshavin took the gloves off and is looking feisty! Chamakh providing something freshSairaxHow was that a foul throw? Seriously I don't see what he did wrongSJGgumbyBaffling call.SairaxOk this isn't looking good........uchu chinedu:)AMapsI say we get Denilson out, he was useless in the 1st half. Put Chamakh in and go 4-4-2, because our usual formation isn't working well w/o Cesc; we are playing with 3 holding players for crying out loud. alright, time to go for it. Come on Gunners!arsenalboyanyone got good live feeds in english, mines spanishrussianfandiaby goes dribbling around for not reason in the midfield. irritatingPatoux21Bendtner played well this first half but was unlucky. Sagna has made 7 crosses or maybe more and none of them reached a Gunner ... As for Arshavin he clearly doesn't know and doesn't want to defend. How many times have I seen Clichy left on his own against Sessegnon. As for Denilson he was a ghost and Diaby looks rusty. Not much positive I hope they will improve if they want to win.russianfanarsha's creating chances that lack finishing. defending is for defendersPatoux21Unless he has the ability of the original Ronaldo who could score on every possession everybody should help defending. Bendtner, RVP, Nasri I mean all offensive players support defense that's what we call team defense. Look at Barca for example and you can wonder why there are so successful.GT90Denilson is having a real shockerSairaxWe had 4 of our 5 shots on target the 1st half, so that's positiveSJGgumbyEmirates sounds a fair bit louder than normal, at least on tv - maybe a good sign going forward? Nobody wants to be the team with the quiet stadium (cough Man U cough)SairaxClichy and Sagna having really good game. Denilson just cost us a corner. End of the day, three points is all that matters, so we just have to find a way to get it. Couple of very good efforts by Bendtner. Doesn't matter if we only get one chance in the 2nd half, we just have to make sure it goes in. I think we'll step it up a bit in the 2nd half, but we have to make sure we don't concede early, which we tend to do. All right, come on Arsenal!brentonI'm on a train heading down to Seattle for Vancouver's last pre-season warm-ups against Seattle and Portland. Yah free wireless on the train! Can't stream, so keep the comments coming. C'mon the Arsenal!SairaxHave a good time! :)uchu chinedujust hoping for the best...COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sairax-Sunderland playing well and putting a LOT of pressure on us
-Kos looking a bit nervous; needs to concentrate on defending and not getting up front to try and score to make amends or whatever
-most of our attacking threat is from the wings; that's fine, and we've put in some good crosses, but means nothing if there no one in the bloody box
-fluidity and passing of our midfield not good; little creativityAndreDenilson is a travestyGeorgedb1what a run by Nasri... amazingGeorgedb1Again I say Szczesny; love his confidence and resoluteness - add to the fact that he doesn't seem in the least phased by the events from the carling final - hes our next Seaman.SairaxCome on Arsenal!JustjackAgree. With the 2 'D's both starting Jack would hv to play outta his skin if we're gonna pull this off. We can usually get away if one of them plays but two at the same time is asking too much. Pray hard gooners.blog comments powered by Disqus