Sunderland vs Arsenal, 1-0: Full time thoughts, analysis and player ratings
The Game
Third defeat away from the Emirates, not good for a team with our ambition. Arsene Wenger’s solution to start with a very offensive midfield and Eduardo up front just didn’t work out. Aaron Ramsey was the most disappointing player with Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri and Eduardo also not up to the job.
The reason why Carlos Vela and Theo Walcott – two who brought our attacking force to life – were brought in so late, is beyond me.
The only positive we can take out of this weekend is that we can immediately get back on track if we beat Chelsea next week. The flip-side to that coin is of course that a defeat may as well kill our title hopes.
Match Video Highlights
Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.
Player Ratings
Almunia: 6 – Was quick off his goal to try and block Bent from scoring. Not much else to do during the game.
Gallas and Vermaelen: 6,5 – Can’t really blame these two for losing, they did very well to control Sunderland’s only striker and were unlucky in the occasion of the goal.
Sagna: 6,5 – Big game for Bacary at the back but very poor with his crosses which seriously, he has to improve.
Traore: 5,5 – You can see he’s not there yet. He did pretty well when surging forward in the first half but also in the first 45 minutes he twice gave ample space to Steed Malbranque, who luckily made a mess of both chances. Not to mention the last-minute tackle which should have been a red card.
Song: 7,5 – Again our best player. At one stage in the second half he was running the midfield all by himself. And no yellow, luckily.
Nasri and Rosicky: 5,5 – An almost identical performance for these two, who started well but faded away and should have been replaced early in the second half.
Fabregas: 6 – Not the best of games for the captain but at least he tried, especially from long range.
Ramsey: 4,5 – Poor Aaron looked completely lost out there, way too many balls given away cheaply and was rightly taken off early in the second half.
Eduardo: 5 – Full of running and determination but not enough.
(Subs)
Arshavin: 6 – Couldn’t expect more from Andrey, still devastated for failing to make it to the World Cup.
Vela and Walcott: 6,5 – These two changed the game up front. They created space with their speed and both of them delivered a very dangerous cross, first Theo from the right and then Carlos from the left. And just like in the AZ Alkmaar game, Carlos should have been given a penalty. More of these two, please.
![[Video] Chelsea vs Arsenal: Match Video Highlights](http://www.thegunninghawk.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia-premium/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/video.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1)
It was a tough game and it seemed that not all of the players were sharp. Perhaps, the international break threw off their focus a bit because they were having a difficult time connection with one another. I would have liked for Wenger to make the Theo and Vela substitution a tad bit earlier to give them a chance to put their stamp on the match. They immediately gave the team a spark of pace and created some chances, but with an extra 10 minutes they might have increased their sharpness. I feel a player needs at least 10 minutes to get into the flow of the game.
I don’t think Nasri played for France in the Ireland games and not even sure on Rosicky playing for the Czechs. These two looked out of sorts.
mate your comment “Arsene Wenger’s solution to start with a very offensive midfield and Eduardo up front just didn’t work out.” is just way out of order, so who is our other strikers vela and walcott who both came back from lengthy injuries and to play their first very difficult game AWAY would have worked then yeah. Thats how players aggravate their injuries. For those who think arsene picked the wrong team is a clown, song, cesc, ramsey, nasri, rosicky, eduardo is a very good strong attacking team and its not like we were expecting a easy game away to a tricky team considering our record at sunderland is not the best.
Why we lost the game was because our players were still tired considering vermaelen, arshavin, cesc, eduardo all played during mid week not forgetting that gallas and sagna played a full game including extra time. so in general of course we should be disappointed by the loss but had we won this game by 3 goals or more you would’ve praised the team for their win and goals so stop complaining about offensive midfield because we still had song who played very good considering 1 more yellow would’ve banned him for the chelsea game and plus sunderland played with 5 players in midfield AT HOME so analyse the game properly mate KEEP THE FAITH PEOPLE !!!
Where exactly did I say I don’t agree with Wenger’s line-up?
I simply said it didn’t work out. And by the way, Carlos Vela was fit to play, he was not returning from injury. He was close to comeback when we played Wolves, meaning he would have been coming from injury had we played last week.
But today, he was completely fit.
Analyze properly? Edu leading the line at Sunderland, we can’t score, we concede we lose. I’m sure you’ll have no problem keeping the faith, it’s keeping your marbles that could be a problem. To win the title further changes to the squad will be required.
For some reason i do not know, rosicky was awful, nasri could not move…Galllas was too tired…cesc, was all over the place..You can see that eduardo has to get used to the system we play just as it took van persie a few games to master the role, i belive he will get there with time..But we looked out of sorts all over the turf…
Did you see the game?! Walcott has a serious case of Andy Cole syndrome. When he has no confidence he is as much use as Gary Neville. He would get a 4 at best.
Wow, 4 for Theo, that’s harsh considering he was a constant threat.
I love Theo and hope he will be the superstar we want him to be. I was at the game and I know its a douche thing to say but you really don’t get the impression from watching on TV. I thought he looked as though he didn’t feel up to it. His constant threat was not enough, on the ball he was scared to run at players so wasting his speed.
I actually agree about Theo …. he was not still there …. a few times …. he tried to overdo the dribbling …. while he could have made a through pass …. and considering how little time we had, he should have done that.
I really feel our team today started showing a fierce face with the introduction of Arshavin…. and even more so with the injection of the VW Vela Walcott…. Unfortunately this didn’t happen early enough. I really felt Arshavin should have started today.. given the empty shoes RVP left up front.. something that I saw was affecting Fabregas out of his comfort zone.
For me it was more Nasri than Rosicky that had a lousy game today, and I felt it was more Abou Diaby absence that is notable.
Still…. I had emotionally prepared myself for a tie or even a loss today… I’d been worried about this match for over three weeks.
Considering the force I saw towards the end of the match with the substitutional adjustments Arsenal made I am still with much faith about this squad. They forced Sunderland into their box wasting time faking injuries and saying their prayers. That should have started earlier. Tough match though. Hard luck fellow supporters..
Bring on Chelsea because that’s exactly what our team’s mind is on.
And yes.. that was definitely a penalty… how many have we been denied this season? 4? 5?
And how come the ref only gave 4 minutes added time? There was plenty of lost time.
Today was a cold bucket of water before the Chelsea match.
i agree with everything you said mate seriously at last someone who really knows their stats.
whether u like it or not,diabi was missed today, and we do need bendtner back asap. especially with robin missing. ps what has to happen 4 us to get a pen?
They didnt show the replay with Carlos being chopped off the ball in the box.. Was it a penalty we actually should of got ?
Not our best performance, but not the end of the world, Song quite easily our best player and is it is a reflection on our performance when we say that of a holding midfielder.
ALEX SONG > PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Another more comment ….. many of you may not like this ….. but this is just my opinion, what I am feeling from the last few matches. Probably, Vela should start before Eduardo. Eduardo is not getting that final touch yet. Even that one-two with Song towards the end of the first half should have converted to a goal. You won’t get too many of those chances in big matches, and whatever you get you need to convert them. That would have been a definite goal with RVP. I was feeling as if we were playing without that central forward, and that feeling changed when Vela came onto the field. Even in those last 10 minutes, whenever Vela got the ball, he seemed like creating something. Don’t get me wrong, I have my full support for Eduardo, but I feel for the time being (when RVP and Bendtner are out), Vela should be starting in the league matches, and Eduardo in the league cup to gain more confidence.
Comments are welcome. Just waiting for the Chelsea match. Go Gunners!!!
Carlos did in 20 minutes what Dudu failed to do in 75 was a comment I read elsewhere.
You know, it could be true. But also Theo. I don’t agree he was bad, after all, Walcott and Vela produced two very dangerous crosses, something which no-one else managed to do in the match. It’s a shame nobody was there to tap it in.
For what I know, these two HAVE to start against Liege.
I agree. Eduardo was really none existent during the match besides that one opportunity. I feel that Vela would be better upfront because he tries to link up with other players and gets them into dangerous positions like Van Persie does. Given the ability of the squad I think Vela is the better option. The goals don’t necessarily need to come from the striker position. Arshavin is constantly making runs off the ball as well as Fabregas and Vela is a better provider than Eduardo in my opinion.
Vela has the best first touch possibly of anyone in the squad – although van persie is pretty spectacular in that department as well. 1st touch is the most important thing for the CF playing that role for arsenal, so imo vela should be played there.
Eduardo has looked good playing the wide role this year, and might have done better yesterday if he’d had more support from vela or walcott earlier in the game.
Switching to 4-4-2 might have been a good idea from wenger’s point of view as im sure edu hasnt played on his own very much before.
what it proves is that arsenal cannot cope without the services of robin van persie contrary to the statement of arsene wenger… our title ambitions will b over soon and it wil be deceided in the next critical matches..
the match against chelsea would give us a result whether we gonna be title contenders or not..
Possibly you are right but it’s a little harsh to claim we cannot cope without van persie. There were other factors at play
No, I agree with Davi, you can’t blame this defeat on missing Robin.
If we really missed someone, it was the physical presence of Bendtner but no, it wasn’t because we were missing players. I instead believe that Tomas and Samir combined well with Fabregas to create chances in the first part of the game but completely faded away in the second.
Sunderland didn’t look comfortable back there and I insist on saying that had Vela and Walcott came in earlier, they would have salvaged something for us.
Let’s stay positive..yea ,however: this should have been a one nil to the Arsenal kind of game, and with a good brave keeper it just might have been ( if you saw Loris for france this week you should know what a brave keeper means). Manone gave us that game in Fulham , when did Almunia last time? no way this keeper is worth an exonerating ‘6′, The guy stuttered thru the corner, coming out going back in hesitating before hurling himself at passing lane. Wenger really really at fault with this one for few years now and it is not going to go away even when the rest is brilliant and it is going to cost us all season long when to grind a result is the only option on the day.
We are realy poor away from home.Our away form has again let us down but we are great at home, we can beat Chelsea then get back in there but a defeat could cause some issue. We realy need to win our game in hand and eek bad away form to bolton.
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A disaster of a game on a windy horrible day frustrating game absolutely no conviction and looked as if they were looking for rvp to finish the job i would only give each just 2 with song 8 but then that would be unfair
I thought we should have had started the match with Danielson vila and wollcot earlier on with marida but then i am not the manager
I am hoping we can beat Chelsea the real test is on
Must admit Chelsea played really well a true excellent performance so looking forward to witness the match so hope all will be well with our players for a glorious win
Why isnt anyone complaining about Ramsey?!Coz for me he was quite simply our worst player,I have mentioned time and again that Ramsey is a good player but he should learn to look over his shoulders for opponents coming from his back.As for Rosicky and Nasri I think Rosicky was at fault coz he abandoned his position to play on Nasri’s side.Didnt anyone notice that Traore was both our Leftback and Winger??Coz both Rosicky and Nasri were playing on the right.Rosicky somehow went M.I.A. from his position.I think Traore had a good game and I again want to say that i prefer him over Gibbs.As for the striking situation i agree that Vela should start ahead of Eduardo becoz he links up well with Walcot and they can be quite a handful for defenders with their pace.Anyway i see nothing to worry about.We will definitely win the Chelsea game coz Chelsea have never beaten us when Drogba is absent.
Thanks mate. Was feeling very down since the end of the match, and was only reading pessimistic things around in the web. We need to cheer up our team, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t beat Chelsea and win the title …. not even one third of the league has been played yet. To do it, the players need to believe it. And for them to believe it, they need the support from us. Wish I could go to Ashburton Grove next week! But, for all those going there, make it as loud as possible. Looking forward to discuss again next weekend with a different mood, after we win at Emirates. Go gunners!!!
Dont agree with you about Traore he showed good pace with attacking potential however he allowed too much room on two counter attacks.Gibbs may not be as fast but he seems more aware positionally.
Hes had a few more 1st team games to get some experience though. Traore has similar potential imo. At the moment theyr quite close together. Gibbs is a bit better positionally, and has grown overall since his introduction last year, but traore is a bit more physically developed and not terribly weak defensively as he was a couple of years ago.
The main thing I liked about gibbs is his mental strength (apart from his clear technical qualities), and I thought that set him apart from most youngsters. Armand showed a similar hunger and winning mentality yesterday though, but it would be interesting to see him have to bounce back from a personal setback as gibbs has done admirably.
eduardo is good finisher while vela can hold ball like van perse for me,.for play cesc and ramsey all together automatic you make a weak team .this formation more depend more blocker ,intercept mind midfield ,in arsenal we have denilson and diaby.i don’t say ramsey is bad but he can play when cesc is out.we lose yesterday but all is wenger fault cause problem started since wolverhamptom match,and wanger know that ,y did he keeping trying while we lose game .how we can win trophy. this is dream
i m so upset these stupid internationals always ruin our run
Hi Chris
Agree with the comments you gave apart from on traore. I thought he looked very much improved from last time I saw him in an arsenal shirt. Solid defensively, but after some nice early runs didnt offer much going forward. Certainly not a liability though and that challenge wasn’t anything like a red card offence imo – I like his attitude as well, he showed some fight. Id give him 6.5.
I think wenger got it a bit wrong in not starting with one of vela, walcott or arshavin to offer eduardo a bit more support – who, to be fair to the guy, was pretty isolated for most of the game. Nasri and rosicky probably would have been more effective if there was a little more movement ahead of them, and eduardo couldnt really offer that on his own. Lorik Cana was extremely impressive, and basically blocked out almost everything we tried. I’m disappointed we didnt sign him now!
Maybe you were a little harsh in giving ramsey Such a low rating as well actually, but he didnt have a great game, 5.5 – 6 imo. I think wenger changed his role a bit from the wolves game where he played a little deeper and allowed fabregas to attack more.
Overall i thought wenger got it all wrong today. Not entirely his fault of course, as we still had better players than them, but tactically it didnt work. Our manager has been more-or-less spot on this season with his selections as it’s turned out, so you can allow him a slip up here. Hopefully next week we can pull one out against chelsea.
agree especially with the opinion about eduardo isolated. eduardo didn’t have his best game but the biggest reason to that was that he didn’t have enough opportunities to show what he is good at, finishing. vela or arshavin should’ve started the game because now we had only one forward. nasri and rosicky were the “wingers” but they are both midfielders and couldn’t support eduardo enough up front. a 4-4-2 formation could have been a good option for this game but anyway it’s just speculation.
overall it was a bad game from gunners (like many other away-games which is pretty worrying) and looked a bit disinterested and tired. so it’s the whole team to be blamed. but we shouldn’t compare this game to others too much, it seems we always play badly after international break and maybe the chelsea game was in mind as it has been hyped a lot during the break. demolishing the belgium opponent midweek would be a great preparation for the london derby.
I stand by what I said earlier… ARSHAVIN SHOULD HAVE STARTED!
He was creating more trouble than Fabregas yesterday. I really feel he would have scored given more time. Not qualifying to the world cup was fueling him. He should have played up front.
Am sorry lads 4 yesterdays loss bt as one blogger stated not the end of the world but we have to agree on one thing since Dudu came back from his horrific injury he has never showed the killer instinct he had all we have left is our game in hand and the must win game against Chelsea
yes it was scrappy game I like the point which messi have mentioned that our playes were too tired to play due to international matches but we are still in the tittle race we are 8 points behind chelski with game in hand it means indirectly 5 points because that one game in hand is against bolton at emirates and we will beat chelski at emirates next week so we will be back in contention because gap will be 2 points as simple as that
what’s your thoughts on this guys?
Having read all the above comments I think there is an element of truth in many of them.Remember Eduardo was only just establishing himself in the first team when he had that horrid injury and it will take time for him to regain his mental and physical fitness and awareness.Same could be said of Rosicky,nearly two years out and is now 29, will he be the player he was,no one knows as yet.
Now add the physical and height of RVP,Diaby and Bedtner,all missing,which again reduces our options.No one knew all three would be out at the same time.
With regards to Walcott, I am in the minority.he flatters to deceive when he comes on with twenty or so minutes with his speed,which he has always possessed but in nearly 4 years he hasn’t progressed much in football terms bar the odd good game for England or us, and at 60k a week I feel he is a luxury.
All in all we are too lightweight as a team,and that maybe our undoing in the long term, yet on our day we are wonderful to watch and have had some outstanding moments this season already.
Vermaelen has to be the buy of the season,and Cesc has been outstanding this season,back to his very best.
Arshavin worries me.he is a fine footballer with an intelligent brain, yet always appears to lack stamina,and his interview today about having to strengthen the team in january goes completely opposite to the thoughts of our manager.I see him as a short stay player at the Emiratew.he has already mentioned he is unhappy about the taxes he has to pay in the UK, and last Summer his preferred club was Barcelona.I hope I am wrong about him,it’s just a feeling I get.
I have seen Sunderland described on other sites as a crap team,well at home they have been pretty impressive and they had players out as well,and in the post match interview one could see a side to Wenger that is often hidden,that he was extremely angry at the performance overall and said it was a massive hole to our title credentials Yet what he meant when he said it would have been a different result had we played at home,was a rather strange comment..
When the much berated Song is our star player,it shows how fickle some fans are,but hopefully things can be addressed on Tuesday night against Standard Liege.
I agree on we do need Bendtner back quick, but meanwhile we should have Vela and Walcott in the startin XI.
….but a good website, i look at it many times a day.
Thanks!
Arshavin should play up front!!!! ARSHAVIN SHOULD PLAY UP FRONT!!!!!
Remember the liverpool match?
Another Vela cameo and once again people seem to see something I just don’t. He just lacks a bit of everything, in my opinion: never really reaches top speed, panics eventually when in possession, lacks a sense of urgency and curiosity and was far too easily dispossessed. I must admit I didn’t see the cross you’ve mentioned (thank you very much Justin.tv!) because I only remember him trying to cross once and he blew that completely by hitting it straight at his opponent despite having plenty of space.
Apart from that, great marks.
Aaron is a little bit too confident for my liking. That just doesn’t seem the Arsenal way. He should stick his head a little lower and focus on not giving the ball away too cheaply – even though we wouldn’t want him to grow into another Denilson aka Mr Sideways Passing.
Nasri was – as so often before – sub-par away from home. Didn’t really commit to anything, which really is a bother because we know how magic he can be.
Eduardo is still a long way from being what he was prior to his injury.
Cesc tried his hardest but was somehow almost invisible when not in possession.
And you’re quite right: Alex was once again our best. He commits for three or four players out there, winning balls or otherwise disrupting attacks left right and centre. We need to keep this lad at all cost – he’s a monster!
Traore: Not up to the task. But then again, we can’t really expect more from a third choice option.
Vermaelen: As much as I hate to say it, I do feel Tommy’s somewhat at fault for the goal. If you look at the replays you’ll see him losing his header and then not finding time to react on the rebound, as Bent pounced and scored. I am, however, not saying he should be blamed for any more than just that; he was once again solid and tried his darnest to cover for Traore when the latter had forgotten how to mark.
Instead Carlos provided a lot my friend.
Quick first-time touches, lots of movement and excellent positioning(which led to what-for-many was a clear penalty).
We must be watching different games, mate : )
Or different players
Like gooner b asked why isn’t anyone complaining about Ramsey.Asharvin in for Ramsey from the start would have been an entirely different match.He was awful,believe me he has so many players ahead of him in that position.He needs time.
I think that arshavin should of started and I dont think this was the right game for ramsey to start… I really like ramsey but we needed our flanks covered a bit better… Sagna looked tired and traore is I think more of a winger than a defender…We now have too win next weekend cmon gunners dont crumble now!
mates i guess its done but we just ave to face chelsea and i think with commitments the guys can do it for us.
up gunners..up nigeria.