Arseblog has some defencive stats on the game http://news.arseblog.com/2013/02/as...gnews+(Arseblog+News+-+the+Arsenal+news+site)
For me Szczesney gets MOTM. Without him we lose this one. Simple as. Sagna is the runner-up. He totally stepped up when called on to be center half. Who knew?! His gesture right after FT whistle showed how much of an effort it was and how much it meant to him. Well done Bac! And great to know we can turn to him in the future. Jenks is still a good RB even if he makes some bone-headed tackles sometimes. Wilshere's injury is the biggest concern coming out of this. Plus what's the deal w/ Koz... was he sick or injured? [Edit: Just read AW's post-match and Koz has a calf-problem since FRA-GER midweek and Jack got a knock on the thigh. Let's hope they are short term as is advertised] p.s. I got to watch this live after all... for once the trees won a recent battle with the wind.
sunderland probably did deserve a few yellows that were not given, but in all honesty jenkinson's yellows were more deserved than not. the first was a bad tackle. the second was an honest attempt that he just simply missed.
I agree with yoss. I find it astonishing that someone could watch that match and feel that Arsenal committed more than twice as many fouls as Sunderland, yet that's what Taylor thought, calling 13 fouls on Arsenal and only 6 (!) on Sunderland. As for Jenkinson, I have no complaints, except to say that the same things went unpunished the other way. I'd say he deserved what he got, but Cattermole and Larsson should've been sent off, as well. As an aside, Jenkinson's first yellow came for a reaction to at least two bad fouls (plus one possibly red-worthy lunge by Bramble that didn't connect) by Sunderland that went unpunished right before his. I like his attitude.
We have the luxury of brushing of Jenk's red b\c of Scez and Sagna's heroics. Let's face it, we all knew he was getting sent off after his first yellow; it was just a question of 'when'? Jenks put his team at a significant disadvantage and very easily could have cost Arsenal the match. He has to do better - good attitude or not.
Andre Santos on his way out. He has been loaned to Gremio de Porto Alegre in Brazil. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21403953
I'm not disputing that at all. It's the lack of consistency that was frustrating. Larson and others were allowed several nasty tackles before getting carded. Jenkinson wasn't shown that same leniency. In addition, one of the excellent saves that Szezc made was only required because the Sunderland player clearly handled the ball to gain control of it. And on at least two occasions that I can recall, Sunderland players were using two hands on the shoulders of our defenders to vault up for headers, yet weren't even called for it. Don't get me wrong. If we had drawn, it would've been primarily down to our profligacy in front of their net. But it didn't help that for much of that match it felt like we were 10 against 12.
very true. i agree, it's frustrating. i'm just saying that at least in terms of our own team's yellows we weren't ripped off with nothings turned into somethings by the ref. they were both fair enough. it's just a pity it wasn't equal across the board.
In a weird way, I was a little bit encouraged by this. Not by our missing the chances obviously, but by how many we created. Even 11 against 10 we had several golden chances.
jenkinson's first yellow was clearly deserved but i thought the second was rather soft even without taking into account the crap that sunderland were getting away with.
he had one of his boneheads that nearly led to a goal but i thought he was otherwise decent and improved (but, honestly, i haven't seen him in a couple of months). i agree, he did very well as an emergency right back. i agree. you could see giroud being completely out of gas towards the end. and, as you said, with walcott, you have a chance to just hoof it and hope for a counter. i thought he was decent and, a couple of times, even got the ball away quickly. i do wish he'd be more comfortable shooting, i think he's got a very good shot (especially from the left side). i always forget how decent as an aerial presence defensively, particularly in set piece, considering how crappy he is in the air offensively.
Disagree. Giroud was winning defensive headers in the end despite being "out of gas." I agree that it would've been good to keep Theo in there to stretch the field at the end, but we needed Giroud's height.
I too, think Giroud didn't "run out of gas"...what I did notice, for the first time, was the length of his stride! Quite amazing.
yeah, this was very encouraging. We often struggle to create chances, but had so many golden chances that were fluffed, it makes me feel better about the attack now.
i dig what you're saying (and, you're right, he was still winning defensive headers and they did have quite a few set pieces for us to contend with). i thought the addition of diaby helped (with air defense) and having walcott or somebody who could keep threatening would have been a positive.
No doubt. It was a tough call, and I wonder if maybe pulling Cazorla would've been a better idea....but then you'd lose what little chance you had of retaining possession..... Like I said, tough call made even tougher by the red card.