Team News: Sunderland v. Arsenal

I'm disappointed Rosicky isn't starting, but we should be able to tear apart a back four of Onuoha, Bramble, Ferdinand, and Richardson. Also I'm glad Gyan and Bent aren't starting together.

Cesc is Jesus?

HAHHAHHAHHAHAHAH FREAK FREAK FREAK, such a freak goal!!!

goal of the day?????????????????????hahaha

lucky ********

We've soaked up the pressure quite well, except that incident of Clichy dwelling on the ball in our own box, although at times we've scrambled a little bit. The alertness and efforts to defend as a group are there despite the relatively less understanding among the all-French back-line. Hope Cesc's okay. It's just bizarre that he scored such a goal and got himself injured in such a manner. Strange old game football eh?

see you struggling a lot there

first half*

I don't get it...

impressive dive by henderson to get song his first yellow, by the way

How's that late tackle on Jack not a yellow??!?!

lmao

I just realized that I don't get nervous on every set piece. Our defense really is much better this season. Including the keeper

Why the ***** are we playing better with 10 men?

Ah- wake me up when it's over!

Eh?!!! What?

Oh well, same old story :-(

Fecking joke.

Don't know why the ref didn't blow the whistle, together with some of his decisions. But but, I blame ourselves for not killing the game off when we could. Looking at you AA and TR, sorry, sigh. At least we didn't lose. Sunderland played well, despite some of the fouling. Fair result I suppose.

*****! The guys did well, despite the goal. I think they deserved the win, and I guess Sunderland deserved the point. If only tomas would have converted that penalty

Just when I was going to be so happy to write that our defence did a sterling job. Funny game. You can tell Sunderland had the benefit of not playing midweek. I also think Song has got to cut out his silly fouls. Maybe this was a game to play Denilson with Song from the start. We just never got going. Feels like a defeat.

I'm afraid the 5 away games after CL is going to have a big bearing on us.

I agree with afri-gooner. We deserved 3 points for a great show of determination, but Sunderland also deserved at least one for making us work so hard and keeping on searching. Rosicky and Nasri showed immense class on the ball in hectic surroundings. Chamakh worked his arse off again. Of course it's a shame we couldn't quite hold on but I'm still very proud of their efforts in the 2nd half.

***** off Dowd You cost us two points Damn you

Exactly guys, the defence did a sterling job indeed. What a funny old game. If we held on for 30 seconds more, we'd already be saying that's proper champions material we just witnessed - captain going off injured, one man down, holding onto the narrowest of leads, facing a truly committed Sunderland side pressing us hard at home. But despite the draw I do think we've seen some great signs - defensive solidity, variation of attack, even a bit of luck lol, mental toughness of playing against the odds. Indeed Vin, going away right after CL is worrying indeed.

In fairness I don't think Dowd did such a bad job today. Song's second yellow was a bit harsh, but as Lou he was committing a lot of silly fouls. As for playing overtime, I don't think we can really dwell on that. It happens all the time, we just experienced its darker side today. It was a frenetic game in nature, and I think he did a decent job in letting it flow whilst giving mostly the correct decisions.

At least this was a match which the longer it went on the more confidence in our central defense I could have. The law of percentages didn't go our way in the end but it's been a long time since I could have realistically expected that we would be able to cope defensively. It was a good performance and though the result was disappointing it was reassuring in many ways.

Dowd was keen to send off Song cheaply. That second yellow was not even a tcakle and was miles from goal. My gripe is with Rosicky. He is one of the old heads, talks about us winning, its the 73rd minute, his team is down to 10 men and taking pressure, he gets a penalty and he manages to miss the target altogether? That is criminal. I don't think he had his best game today when replacing Cesc. His shooting (and AA's) has been poor of late. He skyballs everything.... We can't throw points away like that.

I thought Rosicky was tremedous in the 2nd half. Maybe the main reason we were able to hold possession and mount attacks at all with 10 men. Shame he didn't score the penalty but an absolutely sublime player.

I actually thought that, barring the pen miss, Rosicky played very well given the circumstances. Admittedly his shooting hasn't been at its best for a while (perhaps it's a confidence thing having not scored for so long), but he made all the right decisions in his passes and found space brilliantly. Him and Nasri did superbly to enable us to keep the ball in the final 3rd with no wingers. Just a shame we didn't get that second break. I do think it was a bit foolish to take the pen though, seeing as he hasn't scored for so long. Nasri would have been a better option.

Our performance with 11 was poor but with 10 we were really good. Really proud of the performance but a real shame we couldn't hang on for the win. And we shouldn't be surprised with the ref's performance it was Phil Dowd after all.

I agree Rosicky was outstanding bar the penalty miss, as well as that someone else should have taken the penalty considering I've never seen him take a penalty. Wenger makes a list of who takes them though. It's a good point especially since we lost there last season, but the manner in which we did so is obviously frustrating.

*expect a win*

Bring on the Spuds on Tuesday, nothing like a win over them to get over this game!

We care to beat you lot, though.

well we may have to put out our reseves 2 an we are in the big time ...lol

Agree on the centre halves. Both were outstanding and at last i dont get nervous every time we defend set pieces, seriously how many crosses did we comfortable deal with in that game. Kos is a monster in the air and Squillaci is fantastic at organising. I think it's clear now how much Gallas was holding us back.

So *****ed off. I don't want to criticise too much but I really didn't think we played well. Nasri was industrious and constantly our best outlet but he was the only stand out offensive figure (unfortunately Rosicky's impressive performance will naturally be overshadowed by the pen miss). Chamakh worked very hard as usual but I thought he was far less effective with the ball. Arshavin had a typical game, drifting in and out. Unfortunately, when involved, nothing positive was really created, unlike his last few performances. Wilshere was okay but I thought Denilson would have been a better option. I'd love to say Song's red was harsh but I really don't think it was. He's good at stopping play with those sort of fouls but has got to be more discrete, like Mikel and Fletcher do perfectly for the other big boys, and therefore, stay out of the ref's book. The centre halves, on a positive note, were immense which is promising but, like Rosicky, the failure to get rid of the ball marrs the performance. And finally, where did four come from? And whilst I accept it is a MINIMUM of four, that's only if there are stoppages. There were none, ergo, poor officiating.

Come to think of it this is reverse of the Liverpool match. Outplayed in the first half but played better in the second half when we had 10 men for most of it. And the late goal too.

How much of that was down to fatigue you guys think? The passing just wasn't there in the first half. I was surprised to see the same team as against Braga actually. Thought Den and Rosicky would start replacing Song and Nasri. No point talking about that I suppose. Makes it all the more interesting what kind of team the boss will send out at WHL next.

I don't think Wilshere did too bad really, he had an OK match. That being said, I do feel both Rosicky and especially Denilson brought sensible passing and calmness to the team.

I'm sure after the dust has settled we won't feel as bad as we do now. But I do feel that, esp away from home, that we can't rely just on Song to do the winning ball back part, that's prob partly why he gets so many yellow cards. I watched Denilson closely when he came on and he made some excellent tackles, took up good positions and physically looks to be stronger and faster. Maybe he should have played from start. We're also unlucky to lose Cesc, I'm sure we'd have won if we was on throughout.

Sunderland were class today, best we have played in a long time. So proud of our passing and will to win the ball. Deserved more than the one point but I wont be too greedy. Darren bent is fast as lightning, Darren Bent is red and white, when he gets the ball he scores a goal he's fu**ing dynamite!!!

*ever going to cause an injury

FCB, maybe because your ragtag mercenary club has had countless managerial changes over the last 14 years, you may not have realised that we have had the same manager in charge over 14 years. The red card number is not much if you compute an average.

I'll try not to take the ***** by saying that Arsenal's defensive play was really good today. Better than last year I would say.

I suppose it balances itself out against the Liverpool draw. I was suprised Nasri didnt take it, not that i thought Rosicky was not capable. If you had offered me 5 points for Anfield, Ewood and Stadium of light at the start of the season i would of take it

Really dissapointed with the result but we do have to remember that the likes of Man U and Chelsea still have to go to place like Liverpool, Blackburn and Sunderland and there are no guarantees that they will get 5 points out of those matches.

Yeah, shame you lot sold him and kept Fattie Keane really.

I'd like to point out this article in today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/19/sam-allardyce-anthony-taylor-referee Such a contrast from the behavior of that disgraceful hypocrite whinger Arsene Wenger who, to my knowledge, has yet to lodge an official complaint about the ref's failure to book Robinson, or any other ref for their performance

yidpondan - Schizophrenia or what? You've spent weeks trolling vital spurs with VDV your biggest target and now on VA you say the exact opposite? I'm not sure who you support (Villa maybe) but one thing I do know is that you're really lonely