Three Points Secured By The Gunners
Dec 6th, 2015 by 'holic
A strange day. Arsenal, as expected, had Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in for Santi Cazorla and Alexis. The points haul for November was exceeded in the first match of December, but it didn’t all go according to plan.
Arsenal were a little disjointed in the opening half. A mixture of eye-pleasing football and misplaced passes. As ever, Mesut Ozil was attempting to give a masterclass. It was no surprise that he provided the inch perfect pass for Joel Campbell to give us the lead just after the half hour had passed. The Gunners deserved that lead and it improved the match as a spectacle because it forced the not surprisingly cautious Black Cats to ditch their time-wasting tactics and make the game more open.
Arsenal 1-0 Sunderland
Their more adventurous approachย earned it’s rewardย just before the half-time whistle when M’Vila delivered a free-kick into the near post area and Olivier Giroud’s attempt at a clearance ended up in the back of the Gunners net. Sam Allardyce and his henchmen celebrated wildly, sensing an upset.
Arsenal 1-1 Sunderland
It was good to see Stefan Schwartz during the interval. The Swede was a class act for both teams involved today.
The visitors had the best of the early opportunities in the second-half also. Petr Cech underlined his value to the club with a couple of excellent saves from Fletcher. You know when the home crowd expect a little more than they are getting. The chant “Come on Arsenal” got a rousing rendition.
The team, thankfully, responded. Ramsey picked out Giroud with a cross that demanded a finish. The Frenchman applied it, thus atoning for the miscue that had given the visitors parity. Settled again, the hosts brought on Theo Walcott for the Ox and once again gained the upper hand.
Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland
Theo and Giroud both went close as Arsenal sought to set the seal on the afternoon’s performance, but Sunderland threatened to spoil the party. Watmore will know his growing reputation demands more than the effort he hit straight at Cech.
In an attempt to shut the game down we introduced Kieran Gibbs and Calum Chambers for Campbell and Giroud. That didn’t stopย Van Aanholt from going close with a rising drive for the visitors. Five added minutes left all possibilities open but mercifully it was the home side who secured the clincher in the dying embers of the match. Rambo, enjoying his return to the centre of midfield applied the finish after Chambers effort was blocked.
Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland
This was not a fluid Arsenal performance, but after the horrors of November the result was of greater importance. Because nobody, with the exception of Leicester, is putting a run together we find ourselves back in second place in the table, two points behind the midlanders. Manchester City’s humbling at Stoke means we now share the best goal difference in the top flight. The title is there to be won by anybody who can put together a ‘purple patch’.
It’s the hope that gets ya!
61 Responses to “Three Points Secured By The Gunners”
Neighbour of the day sponsored by Tetleys
So our main rivals now consists of…Leicester!
Interesting relegation battle going on… the chavs do not dissapoint!
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Cheers H – hope the social side was enjoyable as anticipated.
In the current circumstances the win with no further injuries can be considered an excellent result. The match wouldn’t get 10/10 for artistry ( Ozil apart) but the team dug in and did enough for the 3 points. With Cech probably man of the match, it shows just how important a top keeper can be. In my mind we would be further down the table without him – another top signing by the boss.
Our “new” midfield will need some games together in order to gel better – hoping no further injuries will disrupt this. A little worrying is that Hector seems out of sorts since his return from injury – we need him back to his previous level asap.
What a season, despite all our inconsistencies, we are second in the table.
The social side was indeed a delight Uply. My condition this morning attests that a good time must have been had.
Good morning neighbour. Stop abusing nonces, would you? ๐
Morning BB.
We desperately needed that win just to get the confidence back. The performance was disjointed for a major extent of the game but that is understandable given the amount of shuffling recent injuries have forced. Ramsey looked rather liberated playing in his favourite position. His combination play with Ozil gave glimpses of being lethal yesterday. The trio of Flamster-Ramsey and Ozil ahead of them needs a few games to click into proper rhythm.The fact that this was the first time they were playing together in midfield made us look unassured in possession. The trio of Coq-Cazorla and Ozil always felt solid especially Cazorla with his amazing ability to manoeuvre the ball in very tight spaces. Ramsey will need to simplify his game in order to avoid giving the ball away in dangerous areas of the pitch. But his drive and surge in pace from midfield is an advantage over Cazorla and the team will need to complement it with clever runs especially down the flanks.The good thing about yesterday was that despite the disjointedness in our play – we could create decent chances against a stubborn defence. That bodes well for the crucial game on Wednesday.
The league is wide open this year but those construing it as the league being easy to win this year are really wide off the mark. If anything the league is tougher to win this year. The gulf of standard between the traditional big four and the rest of the teams has reduced sizably over the past few seasons. A team like stoke has three past champions league winners!! Also the approach of the midtable and lowtable teams has become much bolder when facing the bigger teams. There are hardly any games which can be easily won without having to go full tilt. That also makes it the most fun league to watch because there is almost never a completely lopsided contest.
Nice report, Holic, and
Desi’gner gooner – spot on.
Sorry to miss everyone yesterday. Car park entrances and stop-start (mostly stop) trains conspired to gobble up all possible Tollie time.
Fortunately Lars was sitting in my Block and spotted me before kick-off, so we managed a quick catch up. Good to see you again.
Incredibly, in the short time I was in the stadium before kick-off, some idiot was moaning on about all the shortcomings – in his eyes only – of the truly masterful Mesut รzil. What. A. Player.
As you, I think, said Holic – he is worth the entrance fee on his own. Now he has had time to evaluate the demands of the Premier League, he has clearly made the effort to alter physically to meet them. His talent and vision have never been in question. Personally, I am quite happy to see him avoiding bone crunching tackles. They are not his thing and it keeps him – dare I say it – mostly out of the overcrowded treatment room.
For the critics though, there is no-one in that Arsenal team who works harder than Mesut. His physical style may not be as eye catching as Alexis Sanchez’, but he never stops running to find space for himself and lay balls into it for others.
A unique and wonderful player.
Well said Trev and desi’gner Gooner.
Three points just what the doctor ordered. The injuries have given us major headaches, but they also provide major opportunities. The much missed pairing of Santi and Coq was only ever tried out in the first place due to similar issues this time last year, so let’s hope Flame and Ramsey, or whichever pair end up playing behind Ozil, seize the opportunity with both (all four?) hands.
Speaking of Ozil: he is world class and I can’t think of another player in his position I’d want to trade him for. I hope he spends the rest of his career with us, a total joy to watch.
COYG!
Yeah sorry about the nonce chanting ‘h, I could n’t help myself
Mr Neighbour….blame it on your sponsors ๐
Fine report H. Very much the game I saw.
Firstly let me say that Mesut Ozil is getting still better with every game. He was like a matador tormenting the wild bulls of Sunderland. He is definitely worth the entrance money. For much of the game we were for at our most pedestrian. Credit to Sunderland for their organised mass defence and their pressing of every man on the ball, even our centre backs. Without Santi and Frank we had a motorway wide open down the centre of our defence and against a better and more incisive opposition we would have suffered. We do need to sort that out.
An important 3 points gratefully received.
I missed the game on a trip to Lapland that was huge fun but mobile reception is so good in Sweden I got regular score flashes almost instantaneously .
I’ve seen the highlights and it is clear that we owed much to Ozil and Cech but so what? This is an astonishingly difficult division as illustrated by the blessed win by the Cherries at Stamford Bridge. Any win will do. We play teams off the pitch most weeks and often fail to get full reward so a streaky victory on an occasional business is fine.
Quick observations are that Ramsey played centrally gives us much more mobility and attacking threat and Oxlade Chamberlain needs to step up big time. He has been underperforming for some time. He has not been helped by his injuries but neither have any of our casualties when they return. We need to see signs of improvement and attitude from a player with enormous talent. I am sure Wenger has this under review .
Cheers H! Magic day out yesterday. Here’s to a few more, god willing.
Ned, Trev
I’m doing a piece on the main Arsenal injuries. I know of physioroom.com but is there any more specific material on injuries suffered by Arsenal players over the past four years?
Thanks
What’s this?? Barcodes won?!!
It really is December!
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Purple’s my favourite colour, whether in patches or not! Five points off the lead or less at Christmas and we’ll win it.
I like the cut of your jib there Desi ๐
Poor old Mesut,
A Rolls Royce of footballing perfection.
I wonder if he will sit back one day when he retires,and ask what he did wrong,what Gods he upset,that had him spending his prime football years playing with a team of Morris Minors.
And liverpool lost.
Weekend complete!
Sounds like Santi has gone under the knife.
http://news.arseblog.com/2015/12/cazorla-undergoes-knee-surgery/?utm_source=feedburner.com%2Farseblognews&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arseblognews+%28Arseblog+News+-+the+Arsenal+news+site%29
Get well soon wee man.
Come on back Santi
Evening/morning all.
Young bath, I looked around to return the compliment yesterday and you were gorn!
I’m not around now until Newcastle at home, so you may need to subtlely remind me it’s my round ๐
Esso, yes mate, there will be plenty more if I have anything to do with it…
FA Cup 3rd round draw later tonight (UK time)
Anyone at home or Fulham away would be lovely ๐
Evening all.
Nice report H. I think most of us seem to have watched the same game. It was a day when I think the result was far more important than the performance. It wasn’t vintage by any means. At times it was poor. As bath says, against better teams we would have struggled. 2-1 up against a poor Sunderland side and seeing out the game with 6 defenders on the pitch probably tells you where we are at the moment.
I was pleased to see Ollie G get his goal. He was having torrid moments in that match. The fact that he still fights and works hard when things are going is testament to his character.
Rambo looked solid. Some great runs and he looks to be getting back to his best. Funny how that happens when you play a central midfield player in the centre.
Cech was again top class. Again, funny how that happens when you buy real quality?
Good to see Theo back. He looked sharp and hungry. His pace could well be a major asset in Greece.
Final thought for Mr Ozil. What a wonderful talent. Watching close up you are fortunate enough to see just how great he really is. He just runs the entire show. You seem him pointing, directing, making runs, shouting instructions. I have been quite vocal over the years about the need to add genuine quality. For anyone still not sure then see Cech. Can you honestly start to imagine how wonderful he would look if he had real world class talent making those runs ahead of him? No wonder he was loved by Madrid fans. Truly on another planet at times.
Sorry I missed H and the boys pre match. You must have just left as I was getting there. It would have been nice to catch up.
Onwards and upwards. Let’s hope we travel well to Greece.
Missed you too Steve. Hope Weller was amazing. ๐
Evening H
Weller was as good as I have seen him. A very good end to the day.
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Like most have offered, it’s not a vintage performance but very important 3 points to garner some confidence in the absence of our mainstays.
I was worried that if Ramsey didn’t score that 3rd goal he’d be in one of those patches where he’d get increasingly frustrated and lose focus on his main job. The relief in his celebrations was quite telling.
Perhaps Le Boss would be wise to take some chances to rest his engine room when he gets the chance. Mesut and Aaron cannot afford to be overplayed for the rest of the season. I recall Arsene mentioning he’d learn his mistake from overplaying Pires that one season, hopefully this lesson will be applied this time.
Good to see you in the drinks Steve-o ๐
Fair point re Rambo. None too many options available right now though.
Good to see that the Arsenal camp are speaking with one voice ahead of our Champions League saving game in Greece on Wednesday night.
“We will have to pick our times to attack”, says Aaron Ramsey, over on Arsenal dot com.
“We will just have to go for it from the start”, says Arsene Wenger, on the very same page.
Good to have got the tactics sorted then.
What could possibly go wrong ?
?
Concerted disinfirmation strategy is when you have a good plan for healing all your injured players at once. ๐
Oi ! I do the puns, thank you very much !
That’s good though. ?
According to physioroom dot com, we dropped to 5th in the Injury League over the weekend with only 7 players now injured.
Wilshere, Sanchez and Arteta are all supposedly due back on 26th December.
Tomas Rosicky has clearly found the magic pills in the medicine cabinet and is now predicted to be back in February 2016, rather than March or April. A large pinch of salt should be taken with this information as the comment box alongside the date still says he should be back around Game Week 5 !!!
Danny Welbeck has apparently evaporated. There will be a ceremonial cleaning of the mark left on the treatment room wall on January 1st, when a brand new, working replacement will be unveiled.
You heard it here first. ?
That reminds me, I bought a tin of evaporated milk at the weekend.
When I opened it this morning, there was nothing in it. ?
27
28
29
?
H, you did indeed return the compliment on Saturday before I left and lovely it was too. That just proves how good an afternoon you had!
It’s my shout at the barcodes game, maestro.
I love Mesut and i adore Cech, i cant help saying this every time i see them play. Sheer joy. Worry as everyone has said specially in terms of Mesut is him being over played( how can we rest him) and also that there is no winter break he had been used to. Hopefully jack is back sooner than later and we can atleast have Ozil taken off earlier than the end. His ability to manoeuvre out of tight spots is breathtaking.
Cech is just a match winner, terry said he will save us 12-15 points a season, counting as of now i am sure he is close to 8-9 already. The man is a presence and it so reassuring specially knowing we have a lumbering per in the defense. Sorry this may sound a cheap shot but i do not believe Mertesacker should be playing in the premier league as a starter. He is shorn of pace, his famed positional awareness is long gone and his judgement fast disappearing. If Hector continues his sloppiness, we will be punished far worse than we have been. Bellerin will be better but i cannot say that for Per.
UCL make or break wed, i think we will qualify, just dont know why but sense we will just play well on the break and win this, Theo may have a game to remember or Ox may finally repay the faith we have had which he seems to be losing out.
P.S- let us laugh at mou and loserpool, now come on porto beat the shit out of them and get him the sack. Klopp reality check mate, your team is over hyped and under performing and may it long continue.
Oops ๐ That explains why I felt the way I did yesterday.
Trev
I’ve been doing background research involving physioroom.com for a piece I’m doing. Inevitably some of their estimates are imprecise but one can understand why.
Looking at our usual suspects I looked at injuries of various lengths that kept players out of games since Jan 13.
Obviously with something like an ACL you can write off nine months or in Theo’s case almost a year and this prevents you getting injured again?( a blessing in disguise if ever I saw one.
In that period of three years these are the number of separate times players have been injured
Wilshere 19 ( wow, he’s been out for months at a time too on several occasions)
Welbeck 16 ( not all with us)
Gibbs 16
Ox 15( some long absences there too)
Ramsey 15- ( all after being Shawcrossed)
Walcott 10
Rosicky is 17, Cazorla 2, Sanchez 4, Mertesacker 1. Monreal was 11 which surprised me.
Looking at youngsters like Rodwell as well leads me to believe we’ve got the conditioning of young English players wrong. Probably not the time to build a strong British core.
Arsenal used 16 players when they did the Double in 1971. They played in the Fairs Cup too, the League Cuo , 9 FA Cup ties and 42 league matches. Tackling from behind was prevalent, the pitches were awful and equipment relatively primitive as one assumes was sports medicine although the manager was a Physio!
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez has been named Player of the Year by the Football Supporters’ Federation.
The 26-year-old forward scored 20 goals in 2015 and topped the fans’ vote ahead of runner-up Jamie Vardy, with Sergio Aguero, David de Gea, Harry Kane and John Stones also on the shortlist.
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Get well and get back soon!!
FA Cup home tie v Sam Allardici – could be worse. Same result as Saturday to start our hat trick of cup wins ๐
Trev@6: spot on about Ozil. A telling comparison was his ball inside the defender from which Campbell scored. Perfect in length and weight for Campbell to hit first time stride unchecked with his preferred foot. When Sunderland did something similar late in the game, the winger had to check his run ever so slightly and then hit the ball with his wrong foot. One ball in the net the other in row Z. That is the difference Ozil makes.
Sad news about 90yr old lifelong Arsenal fan,who was blown by a strong gust of wind,into the path of an oncoming bus near Finchley Central,whilst on his way to the Ems on Saturday.
Attended his first game in 1934.
What a way to go.
RIP
TTG@13: that is Trev territory. As far as open source data goes, there isn’t much by way of alternative. If your coding is up to it, you could try openfooty.org. Otherwise, it is subscription services.
Fat Sam can’t get enough of us it seems…FAcup now!
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Indeed Clive,
He was two years younger than ‘holicdad, and both would have been at games with your father. What great players they saw, what remarkable triumphs.
RIP Ernie Crouch.
RIP Ernie.
Thanks for your thoughts Ned
Desi nails it. People seem to be seeing the failure of any one team to run away with things as a sign of weakness at the top. It looks more to me like strength at the bottom. This is not an easy league- it’s a bloody tough one.
I won’t add much on the game- I’ll just join everyone in purring over Ozil.
What did Schwarz say?
What’s the subject of your piece, TTG ?
RIP Ernie Crouch. 1934 was the year Herbert Chapman died. Puts into perspective what it means to be a lifelong fan.
Wonder which was the first game he saw. If it was the first game of the year, against Sheffield Wednesday (on the same day Chapman died), the team would have been Frank Moss, George Male, Eddie Hapgood, Herbie Roberts, Frank Hill, Pat Beasley, Charles Jones, Cliff Bastin, Jimmy Dunn, Ray Bowden and Ernest Coleman.
Some legends there.
Arsenal won the league in 1933-34, for the second year in succession, and would make it a hat-trick in 1934-35.
A title this season would be a fitting tribute to a devoted supporter.
RIP Ernie Crouch. Thoughts are with his family.
What a fan! He certainly deserved to see those fine Arsenal goals before shuffling his coil.
There’s a great comment from a Travel Club organiser that he promised his son that he would stop going to away games after he was 90. However they saw him at Norwich last week!
I am sure the club will make a suitably respectful gesture.
Indeed H
Ernie could have stood on the same terraces as our fathers at Highbury and at Wembley.
Would certainly have passed each other many times on the walk to and from the Ground.
Could have drunk in the same watering holes at Highbury,almost certainly would have travelled on the same trains to far flung destinations if he went to away games as well.
How inestimably sad that Ernie woke up Sat morning,looking forward to going to the Ems to watch his beloved team that he had supported all his life,not knowing that he would never come home.
How distressing also,for the people that were with him or near him when the accident happened.
What awful news for the Family to receive.
All very very sad.
Ned, bath, Clive, thank you.
Thought with Ernie Crouch’s family.
Horrible way to go that will put a dampener on many a Christmas to come.
I wish the best for the family of Ernie Crouch.
He spent a lifetime following the team he loved. He never stopped. And his last day was spent on the same path as all those before it. That should be cause for celebration as well as sadness. What a man. What a fan.
We can try to cheer our team on with a little more voice than usual this week- we will be cheering for one more who can no longer be there to do it himself. But somewhere I am sure he will be cheering our boys still.
With you all on sending best wishes to the family of Ernie Crouch who supported Arsenal to the end.
TTG@36: Trev might be the right person to ask this of, but if your thesis is correct that there is something wrong in the way young British players are conditioned, what sort of injuries would you expect to see them suffering as their careers develop, and are those the ones that they actually do? Or is it that players suffer a repetition of the same injury, which would suggest something wrong with rehab techniques?
TTG/Trev – There was some very detailed injury analysis on Untold Arsenal in March/April 2014. And I am also in possession of the original source spreadsheet logging all the Arsenal (and competitor club) injuries since 2002 courtesy of Steve Kell from AFSC. If you let me have contact details I am happy to forward…
Add me to this list of those expressing their sympathy for Ernie Crouch and his family.
rest in peace, mr. crouch. condolences to his family and friends…
RIP Ernie Crouch.
Pete
Can you send this to drakesbottom@btinternet.com
Trev
I’ve written a piece for the next Gooner . It’s past the deadline now but it is attempting to look at the challenges facing Wenger in the window given our regular customers in the medical room and the impact this will have on our prospects of the title given the other long- term injuries. I’m not attempting any analysis of the causes because that requires specialist knowledge which I don’t have.
I think there is an imperative to act on a more short- term basis than I would normally advocate or indeed Wenger would normally countenance because there is an opportunity to win the title which may not occur like this again. This means judicious use of the loan system ( which I understand is his preference) or even dare I suggest it, some extravagance!! No point in assembling a war chest if you don’t dip into it as I often tell Mrs TTG at this time of year as we purchase a couple of ham steaks for the big day.
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