Match Reaction vs. Sunderland

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

There's no way you can be sure of that (these Sunderland players aren't top class strikers with amazing movement) and even if he does it's Koscielny's job to track his run with Sagna behind him as cover.

We also have 2 midfielders pretty much free in the centre.

Zimm with all due respect running into open space is basic and does not require 'amazing movement'.

[LDG]

I've seen them praise our football countless times, is it that just because they choose to show our weaknesses as well (which we do have otherwise we would have won plenty of trophies in recent years) that makes them anti- Arsenal?

How is showing one foul they deem to be a red card, and not the other deemed to be an Arsenal weakness?

Dixon apologised afterwards, saying that the production team wouldn't show the apposing teams foul.

[Letters]

I've seen them praise our football countless times, is it that just because they choose to show our weaknesses as well (which we do have otherwise we would have won plenty of trophies in recent years) that makes them anti- Arsenal?

I have to say I do try to be impartial when I watch things like MoTD because I don't believe the media have an 'anti-Arsenal' or 'pro-United' agenda. Individuals may. Generally I don't find it too bad, not as bad as some on here make out, but like LDG I have been at games and then seen the highlights they showed and noticed how they focus on some incidents and completely ignore others which were just as bad or worse. I'm not sure there's an agenda but it does irritate.

[Özim]

Zimm with all due respect running into open space is basic and does not require 'amazing movement'.

True but at the same time we had adequate cover there to snuff out any attack they had.

[Syn]

I don't consider MOTD to be particularly biased, but they are just shit.

The 30 second Flamini criticism was really scraping the barrel. You could make 5 of those clips for any player in any game.

That said, I don't think Flamini had a great game. He was reasonably ok. Gave away possession a few times and let a couple of runners go, but generally did his job in the usual efficient way. People praising him but criticising Arteta (yes, SWAYR I'm looking at you) make me chuckle because he genuinely didn't do anything Arteta wouldn't, and I'm guessing Arteta's performance wouldn't be labelled 'outstanding'. But in the Tottenham game - yes, I could see how making a couple of rough challenges got the crowd geed up and intimidated the Tottenham midfield.

[Özim]

How is showing one foul they deem to be a red card, and not the other deemed to be an Arsenal weakness?

Dixon apologised afterwards, saying that the production team wouldn't show the apposing teams foul.

It's not necessarily that incident, it's the sentiment they are anti-Arsenal which I don't understand. Why would they be there's no reason for them to be.

[Özim]

I have to say I do try to be impartial when I watch things like MoTD because I don't believe the media have an 'anti-Arsenal' or 'pro-United' agenda. Individuals may. Generally I don't find it too bad, not as bad as some on here make out, but like LDG I have been at games and then seen the highlights they showed and noticed how they focus on some incidents and completely ignore others which were just as bad or worse. I'm not sure there's an agenda but it does irritate.

Maybe they do focus on some incidents and not other, I don't think they do this with an agenda in mind though, they have a limited time to talk about each game and maybe it's dictated by that.

I've got no problem with saying they get it wrong sometimes, but the agenda against us thing I don't agree with, there's really no reason why this would be the case, as a club we give them no reason to hate us.

[Özim]

Incidentally I thought he was very good against Spurs and was really competitive which helped a lot in a game of that type, just thought in the 2nd half on Saturday Sunderland seemed to get at us a bit too much.

[Power n Glory]

Even BT sport have trumped them and they've been in existence for 2 months. They go to Mark Halsey during games to analyse big refereeing decisions, I think that's a great move. How can someone like Shearer or Hansen analyse refereeing decisions properly?

And they have a mini-pitch in the studio where experts get up during half time, make their way over to the pitch in the studio, and talk about the incidents that have taken place by reenacting them. They used it brilliantly to analyse Young's diving over the weekend. MOTD should have got onto this years ago.

Mini-pitch is shown here @ 1 min 20:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23531950

Tbf that Jake Humphrey is a pretty decent presenter.

What really pisses me off about MOTD is that they repeat and regurgitate the sort of garbage that floats around in the tabloids without analysing anything for themselves or opening up the debate. The crap about Theo lacking a footballing brain, Arsenal not liking it rough and needing more leaders…it’s soundbite jargon without any thought or analysis behind it half the time. They offer very little insight when discussing certain big issues. There is no point in listening to their analysis after a game.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

True but at the same time we had adequate cover there to snuff out any attack they had.

In this picture



I am talking about the guy far right at the top of the screen. Not the CM (Gardner or whatever) which others are pointing out.

If Flamini is not where he is standing right now, the guy on the ball can cut inside and play the ball into the open space for that other striker to run onto, slicing our midfield and defence open with 1 ball. If that striker successfully runs onto the through ball, he has a good chance of scoring. Of course, there are no guarantees it would have led to a goal, but Flamini's position completely neutralised that problem anyway.

That's why everyone is baffled regarding MOTD comments. If Flamini was closer to Sagna where Shearer said he should have been, there would have been a gaping hole for that other player to run into. Or, as others have pointed out (and I hadn't even noticed), Gardner could make a simple run in between the two CM's which would leave a kind of 3 on 3 situation, stretching our defence and leaving us vulnerable.

In the end the ball was played to the player near Sagna and it didn't lead to a goal.