Match Reaction vs Sunderland (home).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Good win, shame about all the injuries and the subsequent consolation but always good to win after a defeat.

:bow:

[Maestro]

needed a nice regulation win for sure, time to pick up some points

[KSE Comedy Club]

Gutted we conceded, needed a clean sheet for my dream team.

Great win though, we just need to cut out all the tippy tippy bollox still though.

We were great at the start and the goals came from more direct attacks, but the end of the match was shite.

Need to be more ruthless.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Much needed result after that dreadful encounter on Wednesday.

Also, it's on.

Come on you Gunners.

[Marc Overmars]

Good win

[Niall_Quinn]

Pleasing.

Sagna, Merts and Kos excellent. Hope Kos was taken off just as a precaution.
Pods, Santi, Rosicky and particularly Wilshere all put in a good effort today. Lovely goals. Only conceded when two of the starting defence went off so no real worries.

Strong performance from Giroud after all the shit he's been taking in the last couple of weeks.

Ches solid again. Proper ref today so no random reds.

Gets tough from now on so vital to put this one away convincingly which we did.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Robbie Mustoe, "Sunderland, having a big league cup final coming up at Wembley, protected themselves, so an easy day for Arsenal." :haha:

[Tipsychubbs]

Started well with a good tempo and better movement, still kept up the level after scoring the 1st first. Eased off after the 4th but good performance overall. Downside is the lack of width. Wilshere had quite a good game, looks very sharp at the moment.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Our game is being shown on SS1 at 20:00 if you want to ahem enjoy Tony Gale's commentary again.

[Özim]

Good win, Quiff got a couple goals, still don't really like the way we play with him in the team though. Real tests to come in March when we get our 2nd tough run, hopefully we do better than we did in the 1st.

[Edinburgh Gooner]

anyone got a gif of rocky's goal today?

[JonasTC]

anyone got a gif of rocky's goal today?

There's a couple in the match thread

[Edinburgh Gooner]

There's a couple in the match thread

Aye cheers. I found them. reminds me of wilsheres goal earlier in the season.

[Özim]

Aye cheers. I found them. reminds me of wilsheres goal earlier in the season.

Very good goal, the tippy tappy nonsense only comes off once in a blue moon though, the rest of the time it's just frustrating to watch and easy to snuff out.

[Niall_Quinn]

Good win, Quiff got a couple goals, still don't really like the way we play with him in the team though. Real tests to come in March when we get our 2nd tough run, hopefully we do better than we did in the 1st.

Tony?

[Özim]

Tony?

No he's working on a new recipe for Frosties.

[Master Splinter]

Shame we failed to hand out a proper thrashing again and just eased off in the second half.

Still, a straightforward win is always welcome after a tough week.

Wilshere was excellent today. His every forward pass was incisive and accurate.

Lovely goals. Good win. Arsenal :bow:. Bergkamp :bow:.

Injuries better not be fucking serious.

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Pleased. Now bring on the three eyed trolls

[Injury Time]

Killed off a team in the first half:faint: a dull 4-1 win, weird. Nice to hear BW again:music:.
Monreal I presume is serious as was signalling from pitch that he needed to be subbed, Kos is he okay? :upset:

ETA Giroud finishing was nice n crisp "he scores when he wants...he scores when he wants, on and off the pitch he scores when he wants":scarf: also "shags who he wants" and "she said yes Giroud oh Giroud she said yes":o

[LDG]

Ain't got nothing to moan about. Ain't got nothing to say :sulk:

[Chippy]

Ain't got nothing to moan about. Ain't got nothing to say :sulk:
Very quiet on here tonight! There are More posts when we lose? :)

[Ernesto]

I have to say, after a good, convincing win compared to the other two teams in the title race, the bias on the BBC football homepage is astounding. Chelsea get a mention, Man City "keep up the pace on the leaders", or words to that effect (In spite of them being third and Us only a point behind Chelsea) and we get a small "sub-story" if you will about a Giroud double seeing off Sunderland.

We're allowed to be pessimists. I've said that time and time again. But if the media, who are continuously begging to see a title race, don't want to consider a team in 2nd as title contenders, it becomes rather infuriating.

On that note, Tony Gale can do one, too. Only things he speaks passionately about are West Ham and Michael Carrick.

[Özim]

Good win today, the acid test is the run in March though, until we prove we can beat the big boys then we won't be considered serious challengers IMO, we need to get through this mental block we seem to have.

[adzzzbatch]

I have to say, after a good, convincing win compared to the other two teams in the title race, the bias on the BBC football homepage is astounding. Chelsea get a mention, Man City "keep up the pace on the leaders", or words to that effect (In spite of them being third and Us only a point behind Chelsea) and we get a small "sub-story" if you will about a Giroud double seeing off Sunderland.

We're allowed to be pessimists. I've said that time and time again. But if the media, who are continuously begging to see a title race, don't want to consider a team in 2nd as title contenders, it becomes rather infuriating.

On that note, Tony Gale can do one, too. Only things he speaks passionately about are West Ham and Michael Carrick.

Watching the match on a stream he was very passionate about how bad sunderland were against us today and what he would be having them doing if he were in charge! He was so disappointed! He barely said a word after we scored our fourth.

[JonasTC]

I think he is the most biased commentator i have ever listened too. According to him Sunderland could beat us anyday, but they let us score 2 amazing tiki-taka goals, just because they were bad, not us being good. If we made a foul;"Yep he kicked him", if sunderland made a foul;"Ah common, he was just having a go, he fell easily". It was disgusting to listen too. Somebody is paying him money to do this, are they not listening and be like "wtf am i paying this guy for??".

[A Gunner]

But as an Arsenal supporter who lived in England for over 10years, I've always found even among friends a general bias against us. We are always like a black sheep, which I don't understand?

[Marc Overmars]

It's because the club is seen as pretentious and the personnel as sanctimonious.

[IBK]

I think that this result showed what we know. We are more resilient this season, and are doing what we did second half of last season - ie getting results against lower table teams - with more efficiency/confidence. Where the question marks remain are over we have changed sufficiently to do so against the top 4, consistently. And this question hasn;t been answered yet. By any means.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Yes it is quite amazing how short this thread is!

Great win and a delicious 3 points.....bit of a shame we conceded, but it was a very good goal. Glad Giroud scored and really wanted him to get a hat trick.

[Özim]

It's because the club is seen as pretentious and the personnel as sanctimonious.

:lol:

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Winning comfortably is bad for business. Nothing to moan about.



Sunderland were poor but it was a good solid win nevertheless. Slightly worried about some of the one touch flicks and passing moves we do play. There's nothing wrong with it but I'm concerned we do tend to over rely on it more than other teams. It does look fantastic when you pull it off (Rosicky's goal) but those times are rare even for the best teams and better defences are able to deal with them comfortably (see game against United at home).

Would prefer for the Ox or Gnabry to come in for Stoke to add some pace and directness and for us to mix up our play more often.

[Özim]

Winning comfortably is bad for business. Nothing to moan about.



Sunderland were poor but it was a good solid win nevertheless. Slightly worried about some of the one touch flicks and passing moves we do play. There's nothing wrong with it but I'm concerned we do tend to over rely on it more than other teams. It does look fantastic when you pull it off (Rosicky's goal) but those times are rare even for the best teams and better defences are able to deal with them comfortably (see game against United at home).

Would prefer for the Ox or Gnabry to come in for Stoke to add some pace and directness and for us to mix up our play more often.

Pretty much agree with this, I don't like the tippy tappy because it's very hard to pull off and pretty much impossible to pull off against the better sides. It's frustrating to watch, for that reason playing Sanogo makes more sense as it opens up our game and makes us move forward with more urgency, just as Rosicky, Oxo and Gnabry do.

Wenger seems to prefer the short passing, slow paced game sadly and this will be our undoing IMO. Good win on Saturday, but an expected win especially at home.

[AFC Leveller]

Tony Gale and Stuart Robinson just cant hide their hatred/envy.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

To be a little pedantic. If you ignore the first half of Rosicky's goal and just take his 1-2 with Giroud in isolation...one might argue that is exactly the sort of goal and play the ball on the deck, pass it around nicely and fluidly team play.

It is the sort of play that got Szczesny sent off against Bayern.

Our undoing will be our fundamental lack of quality in key areas in key games. A team with Sanogo/Giroud has no real right beating teams like Bayern, Manure or City.

[selassie]

Good 3 points and Rosicky's goal, awesome!!!

We have a toughie coming up at Stoke before the "brutal march" schedule.

[Özim]

To be a little pedantic. If you ignore the first half of Rosicky's goal and just take his 1-2 with Giroud in isolation...one might argue that is exactly the sort of goal and play the ball on the deck, pass it around nicely and fluidly team play.

Rosicky adds pace to our play for sure, however there's too much passing in our football most of the times, against Spurs and Bayern we attacked at pace and we much more direct, we cut out a lot of the short passes, didn't dwell on the ball and pass it sideways and allows the defenders to get back, most of the time we pick up the ball, look around, pass it sideways, then it goes forward, back again etc etc etc.

[selassie]

I have to say, after a good, convincing win compared to the other two teams in the title race, the bias on the BBC football homepage is astounding. Chelsea get a mention, Man City "keep up the pace on the leaders", or words to that effect (In spite of them being third and Us only a point behind Chelsea) and we get a small "sub-story" if you will about a Giroud double seeing off Sunderland.

We're allowed to be pessimists. I've said that time and time again. But if the media, who are continuously begging to see a title race, don't want to consider a team in 2nd as title contenders, it becomes rather infuriating.



Yep, there is a major bias against us from the BBC when it comes to the Title race. I am as pessimistic as they come when it comes to our chances, but the BBC have pretty much written us off from day one and give us little to no credit.

[Letters]

Good win today, the acid test is the run in March though, until we prove we can beat the big boys then we won't be considered serious challengers IMO, we need to get through this mental block we seem to have.
If we'd lost or drawn there would have been a million posts on here about bottling it and :blah:
We have a tough run coming up, all the more reason we win the games we 'should' be winning.
Nice to see a comfortable win in response to the Bayern defeat.

[Özim]

If we'd lost or drawn there would have been a million posts on here about bottling it and :blah:
We have a tough run coming up, all the more reason we win the games we 'should' be winning.
Nice to see a comfortable win in response to the Bayern defeat.

At home against Sunderland, yes of course there would be because it's a game we should win at home.

Fact is these are wins we expect, the only unexpected ones will be in the games against the big teams, if we win those there will really be something to get excited about, right now not so much, the title will be won and lost when we play the likes of City and Chelsea again, not now as expected.

I think noone genuinely believes the title is realistic as noone believes we'll come through that run in one piece, even most Arsenal fans, the recent run against Liverpool, Man U and Bayern has done nothing to change that.

[Letters]

At home against Sunderland, yes of course there would be because it's a game we should win at home.
Fine, but if you've ever seen football you'll know that results don't always go that way. It's not always because a team has 'bottled' it. Football just goes like that sometimes.
In the last 5 league games Chelsea have drawn with West Ham at home and West Brom away, both games they should easily win.
I don't remember you saying Chelsea bottled it.

[Özim]

Fine, but if you've ever seen football you'll know that results don't always go that way. It's not always because a team has 'bottled' it. Football just goes like that sometimes.
In the last 5 league games Chelsea have drawn with West Ham at home and West Brom away, both games they should easily win.
I don't remember you saying Chelsea bottled it.

Thing is they beat Man City away and are capable of beating the top sides, so they can afford slip ups, not great results but they're still top at the mo (also didn't they have 39 shots on goal against West Ham, so they were somewhat unfortunate not to win that).

At home you'd expect us to beat Sunderland, so if we hadn't it would have been a very poor result indeed. If we were capable of beating the top teams then maybe a slip up hear and there (away not at home) would be more acceptable as we'd know we could make it up when we played the other sides near us, the problem is we don't seem to be able to beat those teams.

[Letters]

Yes, it would have been a poor result. But all teams get those, it's tiresome that the default response to a poor result is 'oh, we bottled it'.

[Özim]

Yes, it would have been a poor result. But all teams get those, it's tiresome that the default response to a poor result is 'oh, we bottled it'.

I think that's due to our recent history where we've failed when well positioned time and time again, which other team has been as well placed as often as we have and not converted in the last 10 years?

We've had a lot of opportunities to win trophies in the last 10 years, but everytime we've not be able to take that final step, when that happens you're bound to be labelled bottlers aren't you?

[Letters]

There is some truth in that but it's a lazy thing to say.
It shows no actual thought has gone into a post.

[Özim]

There is some truth in that but it's a lazy thing to say.
It shows no actual thought has gone into a post.

To be fair I don't think anyone would have labelled us bottlers for failing to beat Sunderland, they would have just complained about the result. Bottling applies to facing sides and not turning up, as often happens in the big games, if you give it your best and lose fine but if you play negatively barely have a shot and lose and don't have a go then it's going to be seen as bottling it.

I'm not complaining about the Bayern game, we lost but we gave it a go then went down to 10 men against a better side, so a defeat was almost inevitable, had we played that game negatively not created anything and lost I'd annoyed however, the manner of defeat matters.

[fakeyank]

To be fair I don't think anyone would have labelled us bottlers for failing to beat Sunderland, they would have just complained about the result. Bottling applies to facing sides and not turning up, as often happens in the big games, if you give it your best and lose fine but if you play negatively barely have a shot and lose and don't have a go then it's going to be seen as bottling it.

I'm not complaining about the Bayern game, we lost but we gave it a go then went down to 10 men against a better side, so a defeat was almost inevitable, had we played that game negatively not created anything and lost I'd annoyed however, the manner of defeat matters.

:gp:

Right on! I can take not winning games or trophies, as long as we give a shit! You do that and you will never hear me complaining. Unfortunately, too often, we end up looking like we dont care.

[Letters]

:gp:

Right on! I can take not winning games or trophies, as long as we give a shit! You do that and you will never hear me complaining. Unfortunately, too often, we end up looking like we dont care.

I don't think you can accuse them of that this year tbf

[fakeyank]

I don't think you can accuse them of that this year tbf

Not true.

Liverpool (away), Villa (home), Napoli (away), Southampton (away) and the first half of possibly 50% of our games this season, we didnt look bothered!

[Letters]

Not true.

Liverpool (away), Villa (home), Napoli (away), Southampton (away) and the first half of possibly 50% of our games this season, we didnt look bothered!

Wow. :lol:
We must be good if we can get a point off the top of the table at this stage and not been bothered that often.

[Syn]

Wow. :lol:
We must be good if we can get a point off the top of the table at this stage and not been bothered that often.

When we don't win, I like to tell myself the players aren't bothered. Gives me reason to get irate. And you don't wanna see me when I'm irate. I'll pretty much call Wenger anything I want on the Internet. Then I cry and wank and down 3 bags of Doritos. Hope mum kept the salsa in the fridge. Mild's awful so the hot jalapeño ones only. fuck you arsenal.

[IBK]

Yep, there is a major bias against us from the BBC when it comes to the Title race. I am as pessimistic as they come when it comes to our chances, but the BBC have pretty much written us off from day one and give us little to no credit.

I dunno. Until we properly start to confound the critics our history suggests that we don't have the resilience to win. Particularly against teams regarded as better than us.

[fakeyank]

Wow. :lol:
We must be good if we can get a point off the top of the table at this stage and not been bothered that often.

Yes, we are good. And we can be better. We couldve been a few points ahead on the top of the table if we mixed our talent with effort. Its like seeing a talented kid waste away their potential being lazy.

[Ollie the Optimist]

since we lost to spurs last march, i think we have played 37 games and taken something like 80 points. more then any other side in that same period.

i don't think you can say the players haven't put any effort in because you don't get 80 points without putting in effort. also it shows how much more consistent we are.

also, we are apparently in a negative spiral.

spurs :haha:

[Letters]

Yes, we are good. And we can be better. We couldve been a few points ahead on the top of the table if we mixed our talent with effort. Its like seeing a talented kid waste away their potential being lazy.

OK. So last season we were rubbish, this year pretty much the same squad are good but can't be arsed.
Behave.
We've got 12 more points than at this stage last season, you can cherry pick poor results for any team.
After the Villa game did you think we'd be where we are now? I bloody didn't.

[fakeyank]

OK. So last season we were rubbish, this year pretty much the same squad are good but can't be arsed.
Behave.
We've got 12 more points than at this stage last season, you can cherry pick poor results for any team.
After the Villa game did you think we'd be where we are now? I bloody didn't.

I didnt say anything about last season, so not sure how that is relevant. The point of debate here is whether we are putting in our best effort in every game. That is not the case and the reason why there have been complains.

Do you think we gave our best in all our matches- beginning to end? I dont think we did give our best in more than 50% of the games.
Do you think we couldve done better in the winter transfer window? Not the big name impossible signings.. but better than Kim Kallstrom?

Answer to both of the above is... yes, we definitely could have. That is where my grudge is against the players/manager/both. Give your best and lose (like Bayern) and there will be no complaints.

[Letters]

I don't believe we're good enough to not give our best in as many games as you claim and be a point off the top of the table so yes, I think we're mostly giving our best.
There are always going to be games where things don't go to plan or it doesn't click.
You cite the Villa game but that day nothing went for us, the first penalty shouldn't have been one, that led indirectly to the sending off. It was a combination of dumb luck and you being in the stadium, it wasn't a lack of effort.

[fakeyank]

I don't believe we're good enough to not give our best in as many games as you claim and be a point off the top of the table so yes, I think we're mostly giving our best.
There are always going to be games where things don't go to plan or it doesn't click.
You cite the Villa game but that day nothing went for us, the first penalty shouldn't have been one, that led indirectly to the sending off. It was a combination of dumb luck and you being in the stadium, it wasn't a lack of effort.

Let's agree to disagree on whether the players have given their all during the games.

However, would you agree that we as a football club have not done everything to make sure we are up there among the best this season? We didnt do the job in the summer and we completely messed up the winter transfer window..

[IBK]

There's no doubt that we have managed consistently to put teams away this season - something we lacked last season. But for all that - real progress depends on our ability to beat the best teams - and in that respect we've seen little new yet.

[Letters]

Let's agree to disagree on whether the players have given their all during the games.

However, would you agree that we as a football club have not done everything to make sure we are up there among the best this season? We didnt do the job in the summer and we completely messed up the winter transfer window..
I agree that as a club we haven't done as much as we could but the Ozil signing was a step in the right direction and there does seem to have been significant improvement this season. We need to do more but it's a start. Whatever you think about the players' efforts we're currently above all the teams bar one and even if City won their game in hand and leapfrogged us we'd only be 1 point off two teams with effectively infinite resources. After the last couple of years it's not bad progress.