Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3: a quickie

90 Replies to “Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3: a quickie”

1. Another kick in the balls of the boo and blame Ransmey moaners.

   And Giroud now scoring 4 goals in 4 pl games. Keep that up as long as you can I would say.

   Özil with a great assists and some lovely interplay that only will get better.

   Oh and where was our best player Cazorla? Also sick maybe?

2. Today’s team:

   Aron
   Ramsey Ramsey Rambo Aron
   Ramsey Aron Ozil
   Rambo Giroud Ramsey

   Nice win! Arsenal on top for at least 30 minutes!!! Thanks to the buys. COYG.

3. This was the 3rd 3-1 shoreline we are involved in so far this season, in just 4 games.

4. Super result and some great play. Ozil looks a great player – but the rest of the team looked pretty good also. This was an especially pleasing result given the number of injuries and illnesses we have suffered.

   Anyone heard anything about Giroud?

5. Where was Cazorla? Giroud was cuddling Ozil at the end and looked fine

6. I must admit i was one of the ones who could not see Ramsey recovering his injuries so soon, but i am so glad i was wrong.
   //
   For a while i had my heart in my mouth, but well done lads, especially Rambo, who will maybe outshine Jack a little this season. The gods were with us and also the ref for a change, but that is not to false our performance in the end. Özil was poorly (stomach) but should be full fit for next game. We missed Cazorla a little today.

7. Would have to say that Atkinson blew it on Sunderland’s would be 2nd goal. That is exactly the type of advantage that other refs have not given to Arsenal.

   Aside from that and it is a big ‘that’…I liked the look of our play. At times Özil was out of synch with the rest of the players, playing the ball to the wrong foot, etc. but in general it is easy to see his quality and I am optimistic going forward. Curious to see how bad Giroud’s knock was. Didn’t look to bad. Walcott had one really good chance and a trio of half chances. Would have been nice to see him convert at least one of those. Wilshere took a lot of kicking again.

8. I just heard Cazorla has an ankle injury. I hope it isn’t serious. Just imagine Cazorla playing next to Özil…

   And indeed lets hope Giroud has no injury as he seems very useful. One goal a game, a few assists… what did they say again? Another useless and unknown (read not expensive enough) Frenchman?

9. 3-1 our favorite score. My thoughts on a few players –
   Jenkinson – The kid loves to run. Not bad, Carl.
   Sagna – Apart from trying to give Altidore a hug or pat-down or whatever that was instead of defending him that one time, he’s making the transition to CB look like it is an easy thing to do (it’s not).
   Ramsey – Rambo is playing the game on Hero Mode right now.
   Gibbs – Can’t remember him putting a foot wrong on defense. Him and Carl must run a marathon combined each game.
   Flamini – Too French, too cheap. Good footballer, though.
   Wilshere – I thought he grew into the game well as it developed, but is still clearly finding out what Ramsey, or Sagna, or many other players already know; it takes a lot longer to come back to 100% after a lengthy injury than most people realize.
   Ozil – Can’t write his name without smiling. He’s going to destroy this league.
   Giroud – Can’t stop scoring at the moment. 4 games. 4 goals. 4 more than Suarez, and he didn’t cost £40m. At what point does the term ‘classic Wenger buy’ turn from insult to compliment?

   The ref proved what some already knew. He’s BAD, just awful.

10. I think the referee’s biggest blunder was in not blowing while Sagna and Altidore were tussling. Had he done that, Altodore would not have put the ball in the net and all the controversy would have been averted. I don’t like it when things like this happen in our favour because it is all the haters will attribute our victory to.

    Great play by the guys. Ramsey as well as the rest of the team seemed to be telling Ozil with their collective performance today that Arsenal is a team of superstars, even if most of them are grossly under-rated.

    Happy to see the team atop the EPL table even if only for about 2 hours. Well done Gunners, congrats Gooners!

    P.S.
    What the hell is happening to Aston Villa? I thought they were going to be a force to reckon with this season. If they could only have Anthony Taylor ref all their games this season.

11. I thought we were really outstanding in the first half, just a shame Walcott wasn’t as lethal on goal as he can be.
    Brilliant again from Ramsey, I feel so pleased for him after all hes been through- his first goal today was blistering! Get in there!
    Özil was just great to watch as he always is, and seemed to fit in with the other lads really well. Shame the commentator couldnt pronounce his name right though…
    COYG!

12. Brilliant first half today, ruined by Walcott. He had a stinker.

    Ramsey was MOTM easily and I am amazed at how well he is playing. Fair play to him. Proved me wrong as I wanted him sold.

    The second half however was very poor in midfield (apart from Ramsey)

    We have to be fair though, Sunderland were robbed. It was as bad as our game against Villa. We blamed the ref for our loss then, quite rightly. Now we have to accept the ref helped us.

    Top of the league. Nice to see, but we need to play better under pressure. We also have to pray Giroud is not badly injured. We have no depth at striker.

13. Rambo with an Uzi ; we are dangerous

14. Tony,
    I think you may be right re the impact the site may be having on the PGMOL. Good. Their campaign against us has been quite obvious for seasons.
    I’m sure your team won’t get complacent though. The fact that the statistics you collect show the big picture over a season means that as long as you’re doing what you do so well, they will always be held to account.
    Nice work

15. Rodney ‘Hello Charles.’

    Charles ‘Hello Rodney.’

    Rodney ‘How’s the wife?’

    Charles ‘She is under the doctor Özil’.

16. My admiration for Ramsey knows no bounds he has been through so much but just look at him now! Glad we have him signed up long term. Great to hear the supporters sing his name but a good team performance today

17. Great debut for Ozil, could’ve easily had three assists in the first half alone. Worth every penny .

18. man what a volley…..even better than his Fenerbache goal. RAMSEY. Did some one say we lack goals from the midfield???? keep counting a certain young welshman is already at 5.

    Did someone dive today?? Koscielnys tackle though rash was not a penalty was it??….

    Just had a check around the web……..Theos become a punching bag today…..I dont understand this. I hope he bangs in a hat trick next game.

19. I thought Flamini had a great game. Sagna was excellent, very quick. Jenks is showing more each game. Gibbs was very solid.

20. Well…I was never one of the Ramsey haters!!! I had, long back, on this very blog had said that he is fit enough to be a captain someday…a complete footballer…can play anywhere on the pitch!!! Great performance lads…if the disallowed goal was controversial…so was the penalty awarded to them! We won…

21. Jayramfootball,

    Sunderland were not robbed. Yes the ref got one incident wrong but would Altodore have scored if the ref had blown for a foul when the struggle actually took place? Would anyone be accusing him of robbing Sunderland if he had called the foul on time? BTW, Sunderland got an undeserved penalty, so what do you say about that?

    I find it offensive that you are comparing this match to the league opener against Villa. You can make the comparison when the ref allows our players to kick Sunderland’s off the park, give us 2 questionable penalties, send off their defender for 2 innocuous challenges while allowing all of ours to remain on the field after much worse offences…..

    I think you get the point. It is lazy to just say: “oh we got this ONE unfair advantage, so the situation is just like the one where we got robbed blind.”

    It is your kind of submission that makes me hate officials giving us debatable advantages and you are a fan. One can only imagine what the Sunderland fans, other fans and the media will make of the issue.

22. IMO, Koscielny did not touch the ball…I would have given a penalty.

23. I missed the first half live but saw the second (on a very poor quality stream). Atkinson’s decision making was strange at times, I have no idea why he blew for the Sagna foul before they scored their second. Should have been a goal then a booking for Sagna. Mind you looking at the replay the penalty looked ‘iffy’ as well but I’d need to see it in far more detail to be certain. No doubts about our goals though. Well taken all of them and a great assist from Ozil. I think the combination of Giroud and Ozil will provide plenty more this season. Finally great to see TV5 back on the pitch for us.

    Well done the lads. COYG

24. @Bootoomee. Your take on Altidore disallowed goal is bizarre to say the least. The point of playing advantage isn’t to blow the play dead early before there’s any controversy but rather to blow as late as possible to allow every opportunity for advantage. I hope you weren’t on Walter’s ref review panel.

25. GoingGoingGooner,

    I understand why the ref gave the penalty. From his position it was a no brainer but from the other side, it was not a penalty. I am not going to crucify him for the decision but I hope those who are crying for Sunderland see his decision there for what it was. Human error. And this is one instance where they all evened out.

26. I think the other article regarding Atkinson as being unfit to ref sums up what type of ref he is. That was another lethargic and lifeless performance from him. He is always miles away from where the action is, and no wonder he failed the FIFA course/test. Sagna & Altidore started wrestling with each other way out of the box but he let it drag on, only to whistle belatedly causing confusion as to what or who had done what offence. I still maintain that Altidore’s shot WAS after the whistle, but still the ref didn’t help matters by not signalling his intentions much earlier. And for him to then award Sunderland a free kick will raise the question why he didn’t give them the advantage if he felt that it was Sagna who was at fault. I too wouldn’t have wanted that controversy to shroud what is a good win. The penalty that he gave Sunderland was a very soft one too, if it was one.

    Anyway IMO the travesty of the day was at OT where Palace not only conceded a penalty from a dive, but also had a man sent off. That should be the talking point but somehow I have a feeling the ‘disallowed goal’ against us is going to be the main talking point from this weekend’s matches, simply because it was Arsenal who ‘benefited’. Whatever.

    Come on Everton!

27. @Walter Broeckx. Great and a well deserved win for our guys and the manager. That said, seems to me some of you on Untold suffer from split personality syndrome. Every time I visit your site I see you advocating for fan unity and putting end to the constant negativity ( rightfully so). Yet ,your first reaction after a very entertaining display by our players and Mr Wenger was to throw a dig at other fans .

28. Tom,

    Neither you nor I knows what is going on in the referee’s head but based on his decision, you are the one that is being bizzare here.

    My take is that he wanted to give a foul against Sagna but took the decision too late. Kind of like the referee sending Lehmann off in 2006 ECL final even though he could have allowed the goal and let things be. I am not saying that he took the best decision. I am saying that we should recognise what he did rather than accuse him of robbing Sunderland of a legitimate goal. If Arsenal had gone on to beat Barcelona in 2006, many people would still be talking about the ref robbing them till today. But we got nothing from anyone since then.

    The ref was clearly not giving advantage. Absolutely not! The ultimate advantage is for a goal to be scored. I insist that he blew too late but to say that he gave advantage is to call him a madman literally. He is either sick in the head or it was not intention to give advantage. I think it’s the latter.

    Sunderland lost to a better team. end of story. we scored 3 good goals, they scored a debatable penalty and scored debatable disallowed goal. We still won!

    You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine but please don’t call my integrity into question just because you disagree with me.

29. AL,

    I tried very hard but I just couldn’t find anyway to disagree with you 🙂

    The ref simply called the foul too late. To say he allowed advantage is to call him a crazy person.

30. Well yes, it will be nice to have refs thinking we are Man Utd when they make decisions, for a while anyway.

    It has just occurred to me how it’s possible Man Utd had people like Walter and Co doing similar REF analysis and presenting it from the 1990’s … obviously it would be directly to UEFA and the FA since there is no sign of it online, yet this is entirely possible.

    I think Ramsey is proving to be our Gareth Bale this season. I’ve always known his potential and I’m glad I’ve never in my life critcised him.

31. @Tom, other fans…..the boo boys, the people who say they have the right to boo the players because they have paid for the season ticket???…

    Well, Walters just reminding them of their mistakes. So hopefully they will not repeat it.

32. The ref didnt raise his hands for advantage, so it wasnt, hr blew a foul.
    Plus why would anyone say it was a foul on altindore, the one who played physically all game, and not on sagna.

    They got a lot of fouls on wilshere not given, again until min 51 to have their first yellow, which they should have got a decade ago, so please we were the better team and stop this robbed thing. They didnt deserve the draw, we dud deserve the win

33. And people who criticize untold, you can stay away if you want, dont come here and say you dont like to read the articles, undermine the ref reviews, bla bla bla…..
    Just **** off

34. Yassin. THE ONE WHO PLAYED PHYSICAL ALL GAME. The single event doesnt effect the individual foul – or at least it shouldnt.

    A few bad decisions both ways. We deserved to win, end of.

    OZZZZZZZZZZZIL!!

35. Ignoring all of the other stuff — tweeted about 20 minutes after the game

    https://twitter.com/MesutOzil1088/status/378919986003443712

    That is all

36. Untold, ONLY bookmark of Arsenal site (beside Arsenal.Com) i have. I discarded all the rest.

37. Based on what I noticed on my shite TV stream of the match:

    *Ozil and Walcott have a thing going and it will only get better,
    *The term ¨It all evens out in the end¨ finally had some bite to it for us today,
    *The ref was passable but clearly NOT on his A game,
    *Sunderland were lucky to only have 3 against them…they can thank their keeper and Walcott for that,
    *Get ready for media shite reports of Real/Barca/PSG/City ¨watching¨ Ramsey, while on ¨Red Alert¨ because they(the yellow press) are led to believe that….blah,blah,blah,
    *This is a unified team similar to our 2008 side but IMHO, better and more cohesive in every position,
    *In a few weeks we’ll have almost all of our walking wounded back but WHERE will they play with performances like today from our ¨regular¨11,
    *If Bale was worth 90M+, how much is Ramsey worth??????

    What a beautiful headache Wenger has; Rosicky, Per,Cazorla, the Ox, Podolski, Arteta, Fabianski, Viviano,Diaby, Frimpong,Zelalem,Sanogo,Miyachi and (await the trumpets)Bendtner were not playing today….that is a team in itself capable of playing in the top tier of any league in the world. Whoever said that we are a bit ¨thin¨ maybe meant that with injuries, we could be BUT once again Wenger has proven his critics and the AAA wrong. do we get a trophy for that?

38. Bootoomee,
    Exactly mate, it was just vintage Atkinson, always half a minute late.

39. Wenger said: ( Arsenal.com)

    on Altidore’s disallowed goal…
    It’s one of these things that are controversial because the referee had blown the whistle before [for a foul]. If there is no goal, people moan because he didn’t give the foul. He could have given a foul for Sagna as well. Both were holding each other off. We were a bit lucky in that situation.

    Sums it all…..

40. And as if the weekend wasn’t going great enough Everton went ahead and beat Chelsea to ensure that we top the table till tomorrow.

41. Imagine this team adding Arteta and Cazorla, Podolski Rosicky and chamberlain…….WOW

42. Imagine this team adding Arteta and Cazorla, Podolski Rosicky and chamberlain…….WOW

43. Boo,
    I watched the game LIVE from the corner of my sitting room in …Africa…I had the volume turned up and I CLEARLY heard the referee blow the whistle to stop the Altidore-Sagna wrestling at the edge of the penalty.

    So, playing the advantage had stopped and the referee’s whistle had to be obeyed no matter what happened to the ball thereafter.

    It would have been a greater injustice to Arsenal if the referee had retroactively canceled his order to stop the game just because the ball ended up over the Arsenal goal-line.

    Indeed, one may argue that had the whistle not been blown, our player that nearly got to the ball before it crossed the line would have been less tardy in rushing to cover the goal once our keeper rushed off his line.

    Also, had the ball not crossed the line, Sunderland would have been happy to try its luck from the free-kick.

    My point in support of yours is that the referee did us no favor; he merely played by the rules of the game and insisted on not changing it after-the-fact just because it would have favored the home team to do so.

44. Mandy Dodd,
    My hat’s off to you and Aaron for your unstinting support of him and his beautiful finishing at last. I’d slated him for being so profligate last season, but I’m so glad to say how wrong-headed and impatient I was for thinking so little of his promise. It’s a testimony to Arsene’s judgment and patience in this case, against all doubters from all corners.

45. These injuries are getting very worrying santi out for a few weeks and looks like og has some sort of knee problem a bad spell even by our standards

46. Yassin & OMG Arsenal,
    Spot on regarding our players who are currently out. When they all get back this team is going to get even stronger. Just hope Giroud’s injury isn’t serious.

47. Well played, long may this continue. Praying Giroud is okay.

48. Özil creating chances and exposing the unexceptional finishing of players time and again. I don’t blame Özil giving up trying in the end. I hope he is learning Ramsey is the lad to pass to.

    Hopefully Walcott will be realising he needs to get on his game because Özil will go on exposing him. The ONLY reason Walcott got away with it today is because we won the match. No way will he get away with so many missed chances if we lose. My prediction => getting so many chances to score and missing them will effect his confidence over time. Hopefully he can find his form and be again the team’s top scorer like he was last season.

    Things will get better, I am sure of it, especially when Özil has more options to pass to such as Cazorla, Podolski, Rosicky along with Rambo, Olly and Theo.

49. And yes i almost forgot, what an away fans we have. When u are watching on tv a game in sunderland and u hear the arsenal chanting all the way. And for a note to take, we scored the second just after the outstanding ” we love u arsenal, we do” chant, and then the crowd went crazy, specially that line showed on the tv jumping all around singing.

50. WALTER, TONY

    COULD YOU PLEASE FIX THE ISSUE WITH THE COMMENTS SECTION!!

    Sorry to shout but I’ve received no response before, and the fact that comments keep disappearing is making it impossible to engage in any discussion here.

51. Giroud on twitter said is knee is ‘ok’ and told fans not to worry 🙂

52. And my god about our last goal. Jack to Rambo to Ozil to Giroud back to Ramsey for the goal. 4 different players. 4 passes, 1 shot, and all in just 9 total touches by my count. Superb team goal. What a quartet of players, too.

53. @ Bootoome and others regarding the disallowed goal.

    I watched the game live today in my local watering hole and was very confused about the “goal”, i couldn’t hear the commentary or sound very well because of the noise but when i got home i watched the game on Sky’s “game of the day” and it was very clear that as Sagna and the Sunderland striker were tussling, just as they separated the referee blew his whistle. You can actually see the ref running to the location of the foul and pointing as the Sunderland striker ran through.

    Sunderland were still very unlucky but the foul was given (and whistle blown) well before the shot on goal was taken.

    That aside, today’s game could have been five or six to one. We were well worth the three points. For the record, i think the Sunderland penalty was the correct decision, Kos was nowhere near the ball, i wish he didn’t make those challenges when opposition players are going away from goal. They are unnecessary.

    Özil and Ramsey were awesome and in general we were very impressive. And when you do a name check on the players we are missing, talk of a thin squad is a little premature.

    I am very happy!!

54. Ramsey can do no wrong right now and rightly so but the usual suspects have a new pinata in Walcott. I find fans’ mea culpa on the former followed by kicking of the latter. Common sense would dictate that a good player struggling with form needs support and not denigration but then common sense is not common.

    Please lay off Walcott. He had bad day at the office but he’ll come good soon.

55. I know give theo a break, not every one us in form all the time, he will l ow he made it harder for us, he dont need us to remind him!

56. Agreed Boo, people are quick to forget who the top scoring englishman last year was. He’s had a bad day is all.

57. But Ramsey!!! Talk bout in form!

58. As for theo most wide men have ups and downs good streaks and bad. Slightly off form but a class player and we all know the quote on class vs form

59. @Rufusstan – thanks for the link to Mesut Ozil’s tweet. A real team man – this also came out in his first press conference alongside Arsene Wenger.

60. @bootoome the invective against Theo is inexplicable, other than professional shilling

    Re Koz clear and blatant penalty

    Re Sagna and Altidore. Even if Sagna was the culprit, which is unclear, once the whistle went , Sagna stopped, which allowed Altidore to finish . Otherwise no goal

61. Re Ashley Young penalty – soft foul outside the box, and a severe sending off imo

62. Be honest but, come 10min into 2nd half we were all cursing theo profligacy.

63. @Bootoomee

    I agree. People should lay off of Walcott.

    I watched the game. Yes, he blew one clear chance where he should’ve scored but the other ones were not much better than half chances. Now, Henry would’ve put one of them away but there has only ever been one Henry and you could be pretty good and still not be as good as Henry.

64. As I told, Koscielny improved but he is an error prone defender. But many deluded fans thought he was Baresi, Maldini and Beckenbauer all in one after a good half season.
    ‘Ramsinho'(diminutivo abrasileirado), as many Arsenal supporters have called him, improved but Wilshere needs to raise his level. It doesn’t help to have Wenger stating ‘Wilshere can be England’s Zidane’. Big mouths are not good to encourage young players when the expectations are so high.
    There’s a big difference between having potential and fulfilling this potential. Most young players won’t be the world beaters many have predicted them to become.
    Bootoomee, I know many fans who think Walcott is just a sprinter. While I never tipped him to be the next Thierry Henry, I certainly think he is a useful footballer. But, as I’ve said the expectations of him were high and unfortunately he didn’t deliver what most people thought he was capable. So he is being criticised. Nothing new, this has been going on for years but Walcott’s new wage added more reasons for many fans to demand much more from him.

65. @ Bootoomee. I never question other people’s integrity. You at Untold seem to have the market cornered at that. Atkinson had two decisions to make and IMO he got both of them wrong because he’s not a very good referee. Unfortunately the Premier League is short on quality officials. I took issue with your take on the disallowed goal because you suggested and I quote “I think the referee’s biggest blunder was not blowing while Sagna and Altidore were tussling ” .., when in fact his mistake was that he blew at all . That’s where our disagreement ends. As for your efforts to try to convince some that Arsenal deserved this win – don’t . If the stats like 70-30 possession , 3 to 1 shots on goal ratio and 3-1 score don’t convince them , then you won’t either my friend. Take care!

66. Walcot is a high class footballer. Saying that he is
    Just a sprinter is a bit fatuous dont you think Sperez?

67. Shakabula & Ian Jenkinson,

    I watched the match on a live stream and we all know how those can be. I did not hear any whistle at all but then I rarely do on live streams. The commentators never stop talking so one can only follow their interpretation of what is happening in terms of sound.

    Having said this and having seen the highlights in HD on MoTD, I must blame the commentators for the misinformation among the fans. The ref called the foul CLEARLY and very audibly before Altidore hit the ball. I cannot believe that anyone in the stadium, especially around where the commentators were would deny this fact. Many balls have been kicked into the net after the linesman had raised the flag but none of those ever counted. Yes, some of them were legitimate but once the flag has been raised, any action afterward is null and void. In other areas, once the ref has blown his whistle to stop play, all action afterwards are null and void

    I cannot understand all the whinging about Sunderland being denied a goal when the ref had blown for a foul before the ball was kicked. The agitators can argue that he should have allowed advantage and this is a valid argument but they cannot claim that a good goal was disallowed. It was not a goal AT ALL. Period!

    This is how the media cause confusion in the game.

    Oh, lest I forget, the clowns on MoTD said our midfield will end up being our problem. They also showed all of Sunderland offside goals to show that they nearly beat us.

68. Quit your moaning sperez. Why can,t you enjoy the positive start to the season you miserable, pathetic, depressive git.

69. Altidore said “we were tussling back and forth”. So bothplayers were fouling each other. End of discussion?

70. Great game today certainly one of two halves. Off games are something all players have but, Kosser is a worry, great defender, but with his on the deck sliding tackles he always seems just a step away from a red card, penalty or both. Surely this flaw in his game can be ironed out in training as at present it’s proving too costly far too often.

71. I would like to comment on the refs.
    It is one way or the other. Against Villa, the ref allows play and then goes back to the penalty after Villa failed to score. This time, he blows the whistle very softly (neither Altidore nor Sagna heard it) and possibly too early. It is to noted, however, that the tussle started outside the surface and that it could have gone either way. My interpretation is that Atkinson blew it (pun intended) even though it was 50/50 and he was then dismayed to see the ball cross the line; had he come with a crystal ball rather than a quick whistle (quick one way, he missed a few foot massages given to Arsenal playerss like Jack; but he is not so obvious, he is a finesse ref as compared to the uber-obvious Taylor) then the goal would have stood BUT ONLY IF we assume that several of the Arsenal players did in fact decide to become spectators. I also believe that, after Villa, the refs are trying to hide their anti-Arsenal bias; they are awarding the not-so-major decisions against Arsenal, avoiding Tayloresque buffoonery. That is why Webb looked not-so-biased, and why Atkinson blew the whistle too early today.
    Be it as it may, like Ozil, Ramsey was a manure target, but he chose Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger.

72. Mick,
    The season actually started pretty bad…

73. Tom,

    Based on further evidence that have surfaced since, the ref actually called the foul on time. So, unless you want to argue that the ref does not have prerogative over when to allow or not allow advantage, then I don’t get your complaint. All the talk that I have been hearing is of the ref disallowing a Sunderland goal and that was what I responded to. But it was NEVER a goal to begin with which was my point.

    You wrote:

    “Your take on Altidore disallowed goal is bizarre to say the least. The point of playing advantage isn’t to blow the play dead early before there’s any controversy but rather to blow as late as possible to allow every opportunity for advantage. I hope you weren’t on Walter’s ref review panel.”

    I don’t think your last sentence was a compliment on my judgement or character and I object strongly to that. You have a grudge with the style of Untold but you still pop in here. I have no problem with that but if I feel the way you do about any blog, I’ll keep my distance or just lurk without commenting. Well, that’s me.

74. Bootoomee 12:12am
    Good analysis. I had written a paragraph stating exactly what you say here after having watched the game again on motd & sky match of the day. A friend called just before posting and we spoke for a long time I so I ended up deleting the post as I needed to see how far the discussion had gone first.

    Earlier in the day I had watched the game in a pub with live coverage from a foreign station so couldnt hear the comments, but I was convinced Atkinson had blown before the shot. The media mislead people by not telling the whole story or misrepresenting facts. We should not even be debating this as Atkinson’s actions resulted in the Arsenal defenders not putting pressure on Altidore as they had heard the whistle. Sagna & Flamini can be clearly seen ambling towards our goal, when they could have been hot on the heels of the striker if they hadn’t heard the whistle. So again to repeat what you said, it was never a goal that should even be discussed. I think Atiknson’s only blame in that incident was blowing his whistle a little late after the players had moved a little further from where the first contact was made. But to try and say he should’ve played advantage is wrong, coz Sagna & Flamini only gave half hearted attempts, more like escorting, of challenging the player after they heard the whistle. Altidore didnt

75. I look forward to Walter covering the Altidore non goal. MOTD fallacy no 1 – sagna should have got red. No because Altidore was running away from goal.

    The covering defenders relaxed after the whistle, which gave the illusion of Altidore having a clear goal scoring opportunity.

76. Marcus,
    Thank you. I was struggling to articulate what you say in your last sentence; there was no advantage at all.

77. @ Sperez
    Crawl back into the sewer ,you have nothing to offer Arsenal football club just septic unfounded criticism.

78. Ah the usual suspects still not happy I see. When will they ever be? Not as long as we keep on winning.

79. I just published a new article about the incident and the game and why I called out the Ramsey haters in my first comment.
    And off to bed now. its 2.30 where I live. and in less than 12 hours I have to stand on my own playing field to ref.

80. Sunderland were robbed (kind of) Arsenal were great first half,wasteful with chances. Sunderland were great second half and turned the game around. I was at the match in the away end btw and am an Arsenal supporter for over 30 years. It was a penalty our player made no contact with the ball so it was a foul and penalty. Sunderland equalised and bossed the game looked like winners,bang we score 2-1. Now for the big incident. The ref had a shocker (for them) he was wrong Altidores goal should of stood.
    Sunderland 1-2 down Altidore through on goal, Sagna pulls him back, but Altidore goes on to score.

    Should’ve been advantage played, goal allowed, red card given to Sagna, game 2-2 and Arsenal down to ten men.

    What actually happened, ref blew up for a foul, didn’t apply the advantage, gave Sunderland a free kick, Sagna stayed on. Terrible reffing.

    It was an advantage because he scored so ref has no excuses, Sagna should of been off as it was a goalscoring opportunity, he scored.

    If the game had went 2-2 and Sagna sent off I think Sunderland with that passionate crowd behind them would of won the game. We dominated first half but got very lucky second half and a very lucky three points.

81. @Bootoome, Altidore versus Sagna was six of one and half a dozen of the other. Don’t think Sunderland fans have too much to complain about. They definitely deserved the penalty though, Koscielny is at fault and I hope he can stop himself from lunging in because he’s a little reckless at times despite being a great defender the majority of the time.

    Not a great performance from the ref but the league seems to be peppered with average officials. There’s no conspiracy against Arsenal, why would there be? Just an awful lot of average officials.

82. So now the boo boys on Feo, eh.. when do they EVER learn?

83. mike ocksbig,

    Nice try with your concern trolling. Sorry dude but you are not an Arsenal fan. Definitely not a member of our away fans contingent. Apologies for doubting you but I see nothing in your comment to convince me otherwise.

    If you need to quote the number of years you’ve been a fan to give your opinion validity on a blog, you might as well not bother. We are on the Internet, we can all make shit up to make ourselves look good. I am doubting you on the contents of your comments.

84. Mick Ocsbig,

    learn the rules before you talk.

    Let us accept your scenario as you say : Altidore through on goal, Sagna pulls him back, but Altidore goes on to score.

    Should’ve been advantage played, goal allowed, red card given to Sagna, game 2-2 and Arsenal down to ten men.

    1. Altidore was not through on goal. He only was through on goal when Sagna let him go after the whistle.

    2. Imagine ref gave advantage: then he should have given a goal from a player who made a foul himself as Altidore himself said both players where shoving and pushing each other. Why give one player advantage then?

    3. Imagine goal given: then the rules are clear and the player who committed the foul only gets a yellow card. Not a red card.

85. Hi guys yes just read back what i wrote,Yes your right the Altidore incident was either a goal or red not both. Come on give me a break i had just got back from the match travelling all the way from sunderland and had over ten pints and it was around four in the morning.
    The reason i said i had supported Arsenal for over 30 years was because i praised sunderland and didnt praise the Arsenal with rose tinted deluded glasses like you lot and i knew you would question my support
    . I was at the match and i am an Arsenal supporter of 30 years but believe what you like. Arsenal were lucky and sunderland deserved at least a point. Dont believe match of the day,we were lucky and should thank the ref as he was man of the match for us in the second half.

86. Of course Mike we believe you more than our own eyes….

87. Mike Ocksbig,
    I suppose you also felt Aston Villa were deserved winners.

    Ps, I do struggle to understand how you call people on this site rose tinted whilst being an Arsenal fan yourself. What colour are your specs? Anti-red?

88. @Stuart. No not anti red just beer stained. He said so his beery, weary eyed self!

89. Undoubtably players lose form and confidence and should not be denigrated for it, but Walcott is not a centre-forward. Everybody knows this except Theo himself. He is needed to bomb down the wing and cross the ball into the box where players like Giroud, whose main style is heading, can make use of his delivery. For England against Ukraine there were no crosses from the right wing and that’s because there was nobody there to provide them, not with Theo thinking he is a centre-forward again. This is not bad form, it is being delusional. This kept forcing England neophyte Walker to keep playing further forward to fill the void left by Theo and thus making him out of position the whole match – which was exploited.

    Theo has no business cutting inside before passing their left back. After passing that left back he can do his job, he can cut in and shoot or cross the ball. This is not an issue of form.

    How is a player who cannot play with his back to goal, something exposed again against the Ukraine in the most embarrassing cringeworthy way, be a centre-forward? It is very easy to think fans like me are bemoaning his missed scoring opportunities, whereas it’s his whole game or lack of it.

    I want to see people rightly praise his silky skills to get past the defender, praise the burst of pace and praise that cross and praise that half chance he took at scoring, but nobody does and nobody questions it, instead you only hear about him scoring or shooting as if he is a centre-forward.

    If he can’t get past a left back, what chance has he got of getting past two big centre-halves and a left back?

    Go check out Jack against Kompany last season, and if he can’t pass this one guy, why would Theo even dream he has a chance?

    This is what I mean about Theo getting on his game. Being on the Wing ready for Özil to pass to. As Theo runs down the Wing he allows Özil and everybody else to get forward. Theo cutting in before passing the left defender does not allow this.

    There is something up when the best crosser of the ball on the right is Jenkinsson.

90. For those who believe, no proof is necessary. But for those who do not believe, no proof is possible. ~ Stuart Chase.