By Walter Broeckx
The starting team was Szczesny, Chambers, Per, Monreal, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis, Welbeck. On the bench we had Mrtinez, Bellerin, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott and Podolski.
For those who expected an easy match I can just point at the time we lost heavy in recent seasons. The matches after that we played with a big determination. One time we won against Swansea, and the other 3 times we kept a clean sheet. So I expected a difficult match. Sunderland would wanted to make up for that loss.
The first dangerous situations was in front of the Sunderland goal when Manone spilled a cross from Oxlade-Chamberlain but Sunderland could clear their line. Arsenal got possession most of the time but Sunderland defended in numbers and tried to get us on the break.
A first mention then to the ref as nothing much happened. A two footed frontal challenge from Rodwell was first not punished, the ref then seemed to remember the laws of the game, called the foul but kept the cards in his pocket. As predicted in our preview.
He then unbelievable let go a foul on Oxlade-Chamberlain who was on a promising run and then gave Gibbs a yellow card for what looked a foul that happen a dozen time in a match. I might add as predicted one again.
The match went nowhere till Brown decided to give us a present. A completely missed a back pass and Alexis stormed to the Sunderland goal and with a delicate chip he finished it off. 0-1 to the Arsenal.
Arsenal well on top after that. Cazorla with a shot that went just wide. Chambers after a delightful pass but this time Manone could stop the effort from the young right back. Alexis was chopped down off the ball and then by a Sunderland player and then finally the ref gave a Sunderland player a yellow card.
Arsenal with lots of possession in the Sunderland half and just before half time we had some hundred touches in the Sunderland penalty area but the only result at the end was a corner. Meanwhile Walcott had been running along the touchline and that was already a nice thing to see. 0-1 in favour of Arsenal at half time.
The referee was the first in the spotlight again as he again waved a completely against reguilations card against Welbeck. Welbeck was brought down by O’Shea but the ref saw it as a dive. Replay showed that O’Shea clearly used his arms to stop Welbeck. So even if he didn’t think it was a foul then it wasn’t a dive either. Again another example on how yellow cards are easily given against Arsenal players.
A bit later I will not argue with the yellow card from Arteta who accidentally hit a Sunderland player in the face with his foot. Sunderland showing a bit more desire to go in the direction of the Arsenal goal but apart from a Rodwell header not much danger at first. Brown almost again got caught but Chambers was unlucky with the way the ball bounced.
Some fierce tackles flying in but the ref let most of it go till Cattermole stopped Oxlade-Chamberlain on a counter and he was yellow carded
Meanwhile Alexis was showing some amazing skills at time, what a player he is! No real goal chances at either end of the field during the first 20 minutes of the second half. Wickham getting a yellow card then for a few fouls from different Sunderland players. A good mark for the ref. I think that made Rodwell escape another when he pulled Arteta back when he lost the ball in a promising position for Arsenal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain with a good run on the left but his cross was cut out by a defender in front of Alexis. Kieran Gibbs then hobbled off with an injury. Bellerin came one. Monreal at left back and Chambers would move up to the middle. Bad luck for Kieran once again. With some 20 minutes to at this point not a substitution you would make unless you are forced to it.
A bit scrappy period then and suddenly Monreal on the left flank with a nice cross but Welbeck headed jsut over the bar. Then Szczesny with a moment of madness heading a ball out when he could have caught it but the shot from Sunderland went wide. A counter where Oxlade-Chamberlain stayed on his feet when he could have gone down but we couldn’t get an end product.
And a bit later again but this time the shot from Cazorla was saved. Sunderland now putting the pressure on in the last 5 minutes but Arsenal was wasteful on the counter with Bellerin producing a harmless cross in the arms of Manone. With 4 minutes to go Ramsey came on for Arteta.
He launched a first attack right away but the shot from Cazorla was well off target. In the final minute Rosicky cam on for Oxlade-Chamberlain who mixed excellent things with unlucky moments. Ramsey then on a counter, could have given the ball to the onrushing Rosciky failed to do so and then it went wrong again.
But seconds later the hard work of Alexis paid off. Manone got a back pass after an Arsenal counter, Alexis put him under pressure and the former Arsenal keeper spilled the ball and Alexis finished it off easily. 0-2 for Arsenal and 3 points in the bag.
A hard working performance from a team that knows it isn’t in top form. And we do have one hell of a player in this team: Alexis Sanchez!
Blimey Walter that was quick. Untold Express!
56% possession for Arsenal
We are still looking for each other in the final third but our goals were a product of hard work – running at the last defender and at the keeper. Thumbs up to the whole team…two thumbs up to Alexis!
Walter,
I haven’t read a word of the article but I gotta say that your title is absolutely spot on!
I have only seen Alexis play in the flesh once (Emirates cup vs Monaco) and boy that guy never stops running and chasing all sorts of seemingly hopeless balls. Those who get to see him the flesh more often can testify. He does much more than the cameras show. He is hardwork personified!
Now, I’ll go back and read the article 🙂
Arsenal must learn from alexis about motivation and skill. Many arsenal player lazy to shoot and driblle ball
According to the BBC, Arsenal didn’t win the game. Sunderland gave them a gift. Doorknobs!
COYG!
Alexis Sanchez has been carrying Arsenal on his back. His performances should be used as a teaching aid for all aspiring coaches and players ,how to conduct yourself on the pitch.
Chasing lost causes, defending all over the pitch, putting opposing players under pressure , constantly moving, applauding his teammates no matter how inaccurate the passes.What a player! What a buy! Well done Wenger.
Take Alexis away, and Arsenal are just an average side right now.
This was all about getting the points , but still the performance was poor again. Loose passes going astray. Players picking wrong options, or unable to make a telling pass.
How we missed Ozil today, with his perfectly measured , perfectly flat rolling balls that require no controlling.
Twice Welbeck tried to set up Cazorla and both times he gave him a bubbly ball to strike. Both times Cazorla failed to hit it cleanly.
Clean sheet, three points , perhaps a confidence builder for the next games one should hope.
I got one thing wrong in the referee preview – we were as bad as we were against Andrelecht!
No matter, I’ll take the three points and clean sheet. Just hope Gibbs isn’t badly injured!
COYG
Tom,
Is it impossible for you to praise Alexis without shitting on his team mates?
Alexis Sanchez is a great addition to our great team but without his team mates, he is nothing. No player, no matter how great, can do it by himself.
Neat quote from Arsenal.com:
> Arsenal have scored all sorts of goals since the Premier League’s inception in 1992. This one brought up 1,500, but was pretty unique, Alexis robbing Mannone before finishing.
COYG!
@Andrew
On the other thread, I put a quote in from Arsene after the game. Gibbs has a hip problem. Serious? I don’t know. Arteta shouldn’t be seriously hurt.
COYG!
Tom,
Also, I find it funny that you attribute our poor form to the absence of the least Sanchez-like Arsenal player in Ozil. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that we were winning all our games comfortably until we lost Ozil to injury.
Tom
Playing bad and winning.
It’s what champions are made of apparantly, or was that another team?
If we don’t win doing handstands it’s never enough, even for our own fans much of the time.
Now come on we didnt play badly, we are just suffering of lack of correct passes and runs in the final third. Let me think why is that? is it because our players need to know each other better? and injuries are not allowing this?
Arsene’s interview is up on Arsenal.com.
Bootoomee
I’m glad to see you back from a self imposed posting hiatus.
I don’t believe a honest assessment of Arsenal play is ‘shitting’ on players, but we never agree on much of anything so I’m not surprised that’s how you see it coming from me.
Now , as a matter of fact and according to stats keeping, Sanchez did do it all by himself today. Two goals and no assists for Arsenal players.
Aren’t you the one against the ‘common wisdom , cliches and mantras’?
Sanchez was the one man wrecking ball ,and he and only he was the difference between one and three points today.
Beauty, well done lads.
Tom/Bootoomee
Sanchez has been brilliant and it is certainly right to point out that Alexis has carried us a little in several games. It is only to be wondered at how well we might be playing if M. Wenger could put his best side out week after week, but as we’ve seen injuries have made that impossible.
I can celebrate a lucky win in Brussels and two lucky goals on Wearside and recognise that Arsenal aren’t really clicking yet. The only matches we’ve really played well were Villa away and Galatasaray at home. We might have to be patient a while longer because I can’t see much improvement in the injury ‘crisis’ until after the January window. By then I hope we might be seeing one or two reinforcements. I can’t see much point in criticizing the club/team/manager at the moment as there is little they can do about it, and very little point in arguing amongst ourselves either. Tom’s point is valid and Bootoomee’s defence understandable
Fantastic result against awkward opponents. It’s never easy playing against a team that’s only hoping for a counter.
Walter, a nice write up. A fair performance from the team today, in the end a good win and three valuable points.
All this despite some bizarre refereeing. Yet another incompetent ref on center stage!
As city found out today….
And yes, weird that from the ref to let play continue before blowing for a free kick for that dangerous tackle on Chambers. It’s not like he was giving us an advantage. Found that strange. And also the Welbeck booking….
Tom, I guess alexis helped with the clean sheet also. Its a team game!
Al thats not strange! Its become routine for arsenal!
We have to give other teams handicaps as we play on a higher level! 😛
AW said that Gibbs said he had a hip problem at HT but wanted to continue. It got worse and he couldn’t continue. They don’t know how bad it is yet.
Now, I don’t want to be critical but if we have a medical team wouldn’t it make sense to make a sub at HT and, given Gibbs’ history, not take a risk?
answers on a postcard to Shad
Didn’t watch the game, as I understand the ref was to fuck us over?
Haven’t we brought in an independent 3rd party to look into the decisions?
Its a good thing that we are having a testing time right at the start of the season. The team will get to know its real character.
Perhaps refs talk to one another or receive instructions from Riley, whatever, it is clear that the refs think we dive. We don’t get the calls we should get and Welbeck gets booked today. It will take a lot of games to clear this up if this is the case.
A non-league game was abandoned at half time. It is believed the referee was hit with a bottle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29772988
Tom,
In case you missed it, I gave a glowing tribute to Sanchez even before I read a word of Walter’s article and before you posted your comment. His hard work and good form is not lost on me. Where I differ is in calling his team mates ‘average’. It is a team game and while a player might be on top form, if his team mates are as bad as you implied, the efforts of the super-player will be futile.
About my hiatus, I gotta say it is great to be back. I have a life outside following Arsenal and coming here to call you out on your bullshit. The last couple of months have been hectic as I changed jobs and relocated from the South East to the North West. I checked on Untold from time to time but didn’t have the luxury of commenting.
Thanks for noticing though and may we continue to tango for longer.
Sanchez scored the goal in the La Liga decider that should’ve won Barcelona the title last season, and what a goal it was too.
A shame his team mates were not up to the job.
Bung Bunga Barca then swapped Sanchez for Suarez and I guess that they will not win La Liga this year. I suppose I should blame AW for signing the player? It’s terrible isn’t it? What is Wenger doing?
Bootoomee
Good luck with the job and welcome back, not that you need my invitation .
I’ll try to keep ‘the bullshit ‘ to a minimum 🙂
Nice writeup,sanchez is simply a beast.assisting himself by forcing mistakes thats incredible.i think we miss giroud more than anyone.welbeck is not a target man.maybe we are suffering because giroud is so integral to our style of play which has caused all the lacklustre performances.there is no holdup play,nobody to time his run and head a cross or tap a cross,nobody dragging defenders out of position.Simply put our attack lacks a focal point without giroud in the side.with outmost respect to welbeck,he drifts to the wing too much,goes out of the box instead of holding it up,his positioning is poor,makes chances hard to comeby as a result.i won’t blame all of arsenal woes on the youngman,i only compare him to giroud besides welbeck is the better finisher,has more speed,versatility,dribbling ability.However i want to highlight the importance of giroud to the style of play.i look forward to seeing both play in every match especially in a 4-4-2 with the qualities of both helping arsenal to win matches.with walcott and sanchez on the flanks i look forward to an exciting arsenal attacking lineup with plenty pottential relationships and the vision of ozil,wilshere,ramsey and carzola as the central creative forces,the dishes to be served at the emirates is going to be uncompareable.
Thanks Walter,
Welcome back,Boo. Missed you. Hope you’re settling well after the moves.
Boo – welcome back my friend – good to see you posting again.
Rantetta,
Thanks pal!
I am not well settled yet but at least I can spend some time on the computer now without a nasty look from Mrs Bootoomee. I hate moving but I’m glad it’s over now. Settling well will happen over time.
Thanks again for the kind words.
bjtgooner,
Thanks man. It’s great to be back!
Tom,
Thanks man. You do that and I also promise to be less pedantic 🙂
Alexis clearly is a very special player, he is going to be our Suarez, without the biteyness. We can build a team around the likes of him. We are not yet firing, but three points is welcome.
Wenger says we will soon start clicking a bit more as a team…..and then there is theo. And hopefully Ozil a bit sooner than initially reported.
Hope Gibbs ok, he has been playing well lately, but if he is out, Nacho is a good lb.
Seems small steps at the moment, but onwards and upwards.
Have not seen the game, but heard the ref was not the best.
The whole season is simple to sum up. Arsenal have played well when the opponents have played fair football. when the opponents resort to foul play Arsenal are hindered. The opponents fouling is generally allowed as part of PGMOL’s interpretation of the Laws. The only game in my opinion where Arsenal were poor was The Anderlect game. In spite of being poor we won. Todays game was played well despite the expected performance from PGMOL’s representative who was an absolute disgrace. I watched the game with Spanish commentary and they were surprised the the foul on the Ox was not given. There were several points where PGMOLs rep was swimming in the sewer. There is someone more powerful than all of us and it was his wish that we were given the opportunity to score goals.
Riley you may not have faith but start to repent & come clean because you will be screwed in jail.
Boo, welcome back & take your time settling in.
Alexis is an awesome player who despite getting kicked seems to have nothing stopping his exuberance. He plays with so much passion & energy that it lifts the players around him. He is truly one of the greatest players to have worn the Arsenal shirt. His defending, passing, movement and his technique because of the time he makes for himself is a joy for football.
Bootoomee
Good luck my friend.
Oh, and welcome back, although I cant say I noticed your absence as I have been away myself, but for entirely different reasons.
Menace & jambug,
Thanks guys.
Alexis Sanchez is the closest thing to Mr Thierry Henry himself. What I’ve been missing at Arsenal since 2005-06 was a player that I can rely on that he will simply take the ball, make a dribbling or two and than score a goal when rest of the team looks like crap.
And his attitude…wow! It’s no wonder we have scored so many goals in the 90th minute of our games. He can play all 300 Spartans in the remake of “300” except the Persians would lose. 😀
“Alexis Sanchez is a gentleman’s Suarez.”
That was the line I was going to copyright, trademark, and exploit for years to come. You thwarted it with that “working class” nonsense.
Oh well.
PLEASE
Alexis Sanchez is a Gentleman footballer.
End off.
Again today, just 9 fouls, 3 yellow cards.
it’s getting beyond a joke. The season so far reads:
Opponent-Fouls-Yellow cards
Villa-11-2
Everton-18-4
Liecster-5-1
Man City-11-3
A Villa-9-3
Spurs-7-3
Chelsea-10-3
Hull-9-2
Sunderland-9-3
TOTAL = 89 Fouls 24 Bookings
THATS 1 BOOKING FOR EVERY 3.7 FOULS
AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS A FUCKING JOKE IN ANYONES BOOK.
Just imagine what it would be like if we employed a much called for ‘enforcer’ !!
Good job we’re just a bunch of southern softies really isn’t it or we’d have no one left on the park.
Amazing MOTD shows some PGMOL cheating in the Palace WBA game but nothing from the Sunderland v Arsenal game. Par for the course.
A 2-0 win at Sunderland (undefeated in all 4 home games this season including draws with Man.United and Sp**s) less than 3 days after a hard fought CL-match in Belgium, and the only thing BBC and SkyS try to tell us in their match-reports is how poor Arsenal were today!!! A great result despite missing 6-7 of our most important players… We just can’t win, can we? Come on The Arsenal!
Anyone who compares Alexis to the vampire is doing Sanchez an enormous disservice. There is nothing to compare them, other than their goal-scoring prowess. Suarez is a mentally disturbed, prone to cheating ¨star¨ whose ego is highly inflated and whose character is always in question.
Sanchez is a humble, hard-working and true Football genius whose character inspires his teammates and intimidates his opponents, without leaving bitemarks.
Sanchez and Welbeck are building a strong relationship, you can see them looking for each other on the pitch. A nice run is starting, just have to keep our defenders healthy.
COYG
WE do forget that the lads had a game 2 days ago.
I for one did not expect them to play good today, but we can see the result of not running around like hares at Anderlecht.
We were composed until after we scored.
Then, (i have said this before, it’s is like Arsenal are sorry that we scored against you, and say go on have a go, you may get one too) we let them get a little control, and started making mistakes, silly ones at that.
Anyway, they did not manage it, and we put it to bed.
//
I was watching $hity lose earlier, it was great.
About being quick (first comment…) well that is because I live in a different time zone I guess 🙂
Believe me it felt it took ages as I typed the report on one computer, had only internet on another with the stream and then had to change the wire of my computer to the other, the the mouse of one computer failed working, had to mail it to myself, didn’t get connected to the internet on the other, finally did….
And all that while I had to leave at 6.00 (my time zone) for my own match as a referee of this evening. Which went rather well if you want to know. As usual 😉
What I also liked and couldn’t really see on my stream at the time was that Alexis was rather embarrassed after scoring his second goal. As if he realised what a terrible moment it was for a professional colleague.
Oh just noticed Liverpool couldn’t win against Hull at home. Strange as they have a manager the AAA wants us to have as he is clearly much better than Wenger. And they bought all kind of players and have Balotelli who was a much better player than Alexis according to them. And they do have a defensive midfielder but probably not the right beast type I think.
Omg, not taking a moral judgement on the relative merits of Suarez and Sanchez, just going on ability. I believe….for all his flaws, Suarez was last season one of the best three or four players on the planet….think sanchez has that ability…..we have needed such a player for a while. The guy is amazing…..and he is ours!
Special players can enhance a team beyond what even they are as Liverpool found out last year, admittedly with the help of the pgmol,spurs had their moments with bale, as did we with Henry Cesc Dennis RVP et al, now we have at at least one and maybe soon to be more in that league.
Sanchez looks a very very special player. Others will notice that as well, let’s hang on to this gem
Think it is going to be a long season for Liverpool Walter. They have lost something not easily replaced.
Wonder if they will get the same grief from the media for the draw with Hull, and for that matter , will City get the same?
You mention aaa darling Brendan Rogers……see another one, Herr Klopp not doing so well. Think the aaa will soon move onto Koeman…..who joins an illustrious line of aaa desired managers for arsenal……Owen Coyle , David Moyes, Laudrup, Arry, Capello , Martin o Neill, Martinez, AVB, and heaven knows who else, I have lost track to be honest.
I am going to say some thing that should be not be taken seriously:
Two ex Arsenal players “gifted” us goals.
Lot of manoeuvrable room for those theories that conspire.
Ok, Ok, i’m going back to bed now.
para, if I may add to that stupid BBCrap Headline Arsenal “gifted goals”, Poyet, said that after last weekends result, they were going to try and restrict play so as not concede (park the bus) in the same way again, and that to me spells, the only way ANY team can score is if the defending side makes a defensive error – at least thats the common way!!!
Brown has always (IMO) had two right feet and is uncomfortable on the ball, as for Mannone, assisde of his very good season (apparently last season) – we need no reminding of the howlers he had whilst he was with us!!!
So we grabbed our opportunities (their errors) and scored from them, since there was very little open play being offered.
On a side note; Barca manager blamed their loss yesterday on ‘individual errors’ perhaps that makes Reals’ win less important?? 🙂
Last years’ performance – we conceded, we had many of our boys on the field – 1-3. This time around, we are missing many of our usual starters, we didn’t concede, we played against a negative, ‘wounded’ Sunderland, and we came away with 2 goals to the good…perfect win in my book!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8yYgNY3UL0
@para
October 26, 2014 at 7:08 am
“Two ex Arsenal players”??
One: Mannone
Two: ??
Seb Larsson
@john
October 26, 2014 at 8:56 am
yes but I didn’t see Seb “gifting” us anything
If anything; over the past years Seb Larson has put in very good performances AGAINST us.
if our play doesn’t get better, would anyone be surprised if Sanchez leaves in the summer?
Boo – missed you too. Although Bill from Manhattan has been valiantly trying to fill your shoes!
Will,
why wouldn’t it get better?
don’t worry about the question cause he will not leave unless Wenger wants to sell him for one reason or the other.
@Will
We would not mind you leaving sooner. Troll bone?
Walter, why do you bother with these trolls.
We must take positives, so after an away Champions league game on a Wednesday straight into a Saturday a win is good, the opposition came off the back of a drubbing so you know their effort will be at maximum and our squad is threadbare. What frustrates me so much is that if we had two top quality players to replace Flamini and Arteta this formation could be utilised at tough away games thus protecting our back four and providing a base for the offensive players. We can play better as team here’s hoping a few wins will provide confidence to do so, at least that’s what I’m hoping. Sanchez should demand the others follow his ethic of working off the ball it does create errors and helps break sides down, Barca did it fantastically at their prime.
Jambug
I have always said that we don’t generally have a specialist DM because he’s never get past the 80 minute mark and would be banned more than he could play, I know I’m being lazy but a total of fouls against and booking would make an interesting read, although obviously the magnitude of fouls that go unpunished against us alters the findings dramatically.
I would now like Welbeck to start scoring more often in the PL. If that happens, and with Theo back, we will eat up the points on Chelsea, come January we will be just a few bridgeable points off them. Today, for once, I would like ManUre to win or force a draw on Chelski.
James
Read and weep
The following table is
Team——Total fouls–Fouls per match–Total Cards–Cards Per foul
Southamton——–111–12.33–12———-9.25
Leicester———117–13.00–13———-9.00
C.Palace———-126–14.00–16———-7.88
Swansea———–106–11.78–15———-7.07
Q.P.R————–70–08.75–10———-7.00
Spurs————-102–12.75–15———-6.80
Burnley————78—9.75–12———-6.50
Newcastle———-89–11.13–14———-6.36
Man Utd————99–12.38–17———-5.82
West Brom———102–11.33–18———-5.67
A.Villa————79—9.88–14———-5.64
Chelsea————90–11.25–16———-5.63
Hull—————99–11.00–18———-5.50
Everton————76—9.50–14———-5.43
Stoke————-119–13.22–22———-5.41
Man City———-106–11.78–21———-5.05
West Ham———-101–11.22–20———-5.05
Liverpool———-93–10.30–19———-4.89
Sunderland——–100–11.11–21———-4.76
ARSENAL————91–10.11–24———-3.79
Averages———–98–11.36–17———-5.90
Make what you will of these stats but I’m telling you our average of a booking every 3.79 is a F***ing disgrace.
To be virtually a whole point worse the next worse is simply unbelievable.
To see some teams being allowed to commit over 9 fouls before a booking, that’s over twice as many, closer to 3 times as many, you have to question the integrity and honesty of the officials.
And I’ve done this kind of analysis before and this happens almost, though not every season.
these are facts in black and white to show how harshly, un fairly, corruptly, arsenal are dealt with by the referees.
As I say, THESE STATISTICS ARE QUITE SIMPLY A JOKE AND UNACCEPTABLE.
The last column should really read FOULS PER CARD.
By the way the source is the Premier League web site.
@jambug The stats show that PGMOL have been really good to us as they only pull us up for bad cardable fouls. All the possession and passing is against their version of the game so as soon as we lose the ball we get a card. Its a thank you card. I have learnt to look at their perversion with a sense of humour, otherwise I would be ejected from the Ems for abusive language.
@Walter/ Tony – your server clock has not lost the hour for GMT.
Jambug, those stats are disgraeful, but can anyone say they are surprised? I recently watched the highlights from that infamous Mike Riley match. We all remember how he let Manure get away with everything in the first half, and then *the first foul Ashley Cole committed, he was booked*. Sound familiar? How many times has that happened this season? The other team commits several fouls that should be booked, but are not, and the first time an Arsenal player commits a foul, he is booked.
No prizes for guessing who the head of the refs in the Premier League is.
Menace
“………as soon as we lose the ball we get a card. Its a thank you card.” 😆
For those that are interested, the value of 3.79 fouls per card is about 1.54 standard deviations from the mean, which means approximately 87.6% of the time the values would be smaller, assuming a normal distribution.
Quincy
Thanks for that.
Now in English please 🙂
A morale boosting win. The Arteta-Flamini duo was like beauty and the beast (in that order). Cazorla was very unlucky. Sanchez was Superman. However, I would like to stress the performance from Per Mertesacker. Everyone, we might not have the best defenders in EPL, as the media love to point out all the time but we have in our very squad the greatest defensive mind of our time. Per’s performance last night remains me of the great Franco Baresi. I played as a defender before so I like to keep tab on players’ positioning when I watch match. I have never seen a defender influence a match like the way Per dictated it. His positioning, anticipation, interception, tackling, passing and instructing was …. beautiful. Gorgeous. I think his passing was perfect, not just backwards and sideways, but his forward passings were piercing the Sunderland midfield like knife on butter. I even lost count on the number of clearance he did, all against pacier opponents. Having said that, I know Sunderland lack potency in attack, but they had running and faster midfield towards attack, that was more unpredictable for a slower defender. Not for Per. His reading of the game is unparalleled. Like a 6′ 6″ GPS satellite on the pitch. Finally, his presence alone made Monreal a monster of a defender. He was a walking defensive aura. Really made me think whether Kos would be the player that he is without Per. Arsenal FC at this moment have in their hands a future great in defensive coaching, and I hope as a model professional who lives and breathes Arsenal, he will change the face of upcoming young Arsenal defensive team. Don’t you dare let him go, Arsene.
I loved the way the Toon roasted the Spuds. Roast tatties for Sunday lunch.
Put it another way, only 6.2% of the time would you expect a team to have a lower fouls per card number than us. 6.2%. Over to you Mike Riley.
I’ve just been to have a look at a Spurs blog to see what they have to say after days defeat.
The consensus seems to be that, basically the teams shite thanks to all the dross bought by Levy.
Would that be the same Levy the media where having a wank fest over last year?
About the “Alexis, gentleman footballer” line:
As a kid, I was in a French Catholic school.
The school library had a series of books I really liked:
They involved an elegant heist expert, Arsene (Lupin, not Wenger) who was never caught.
I read the entire series. “Arsene Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur” was my favorite of the bunch.
Also, Arsene is quite old-fashioned as far as first names go in French-speaking lands.
So, I believe that Arsene as a first name is mostly used by Arsene Lupin parents-fans.
That would be an awesome question to ask the Boss, at a presser or at the AGM.
I wonder if Walter is going to stop by?
Walter has told us that the fried in oil potato pieces that many restaurants in North America call “French Fries” are actually “Belgian Fries”. 🙂
Walter has talked about Bratwurst. I got sidetracked by sausages in western Canada. I’ve had reason to study some of this, as a friend wants to start making meat products in the German method. And, I am renovating a house, and looking for things to build.
I happened across a Polish page about sausages and smoking (meat, not tobacco). It kinds of looks like all sausages come from Poland. 🙂
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausages-by-country/polish-sausages
If you want a web site with lots of information on sausages and smoking or otherwise curing meats, this is a good one.
According to the Polish, a bratwurst is “only” a sausage meant to be friend before eating.
I see others blame problems on autocorrection. My problem is fumble fingers.
Bratwurst is meant to be fried, not friend.
Gord,
Absolutely… Fries, like Hercule Poirot, are Belgian. The only difference is that fries are real while Hercule Poirot is fictional. As to quality, the best fries are sold in European restaurants.
I hate to say it, but I have significantly decreased my intake of fries since moving from Europe to the United States… But, then, I am now looking at the best possible recipe for “healthy” fries.
Do you have any tips? We may have to ask Walter. He is from Belgium after all…
@jambug
October 26, 2014 at 1:40 pm
WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!
“THESE STATISTICS ARE QUITE SIMPLY A JOKE AND UNACCEPTABLE”
You can say that again!!! and again!!!
Maureen and Chelsea had a dose of what we get, week in week out, with 6 cards for 16 fouls against Man Utd (well lets face if it’s ever going to happen it’s going to be against the PGMOLs old favourites isn’t it) and listen to them squirm.
This is what I heard a pundit say on the radio yesterday(not word for word though)
‘I can see why Jose’s upset. He employed the same ‘spoiling’ tactics today (I think that’s apologists talk for rotational fouling)As he employed against Arsenal and yet this time got all those bookings’
So no debate as to why Chelsea GOT AWAY WITH IT AGAINST ARSENAL, just as to why Chelsea weren’t allowed to get away with it again today.
Our pundits/media are actually sick in the head.