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- Written by Alex Johnston
Arsenal left the Stadium of Light as victors after a turgid affair with a resurgent Sunderland side. Arsenal never really looked on top form, failing to maintain a fluid passing rhythm against a Sunderland side who seemed content with a draw. Oddly, despite the presence of the likes of McClean, Sessegnon and Campbell, Sunderland rarely threatened going forward, a real failure on O’Neill’s part as they could have really gave Arsenal a run for their money.
Tactical Praise
The first half was a case of Sunderland having an answer for any question Arsenal seemed capable of posing. O’Neill knows how to organise a team and the first half was a dire affair, not helped by a pitch that looked like it had held a midnight Weight Watchers rave. The second half gave us a glimpse of something that we have rarely seen in recent years, clever tactical substitutions from Wenger, granted though that the first one was forced.
Mertesacker was stretchered off with what was confirmed later as suspected ligament damage and Wenger replaced him with Aaron Ramsey, dropping Song in to defence. This changed the shape of the team into more of the 1-2 in midfield we played at the start of the season, with Arteta acting as a pivotal defensive midfielder. This helped the team apply more pressure on Sunderland and the extra attacking body of Ramsey brought our first goal with a tricky finish from the Welshman.
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- Written by Graham Hitchen
Yesterday’s performance showed a perfect mix of youth and age - the youngsters and the more experienced players combining to produce a brilliant performance and a fantastic result.
Fast and feared
Three goals for RvP were mirrored by three assists for Walcott - none of which involved lucky bounces off opposition backs! While Oxlade Chamberlain got his just rewards: two excellent goals, showing his pace and skill for the first goal, and his speed of thought and quick feet for the second.
Van Persie, Walcott, and Oxlade-Chamberlain were described on Match of the Day as “probably the quickest front three” in the Premiership. And on yesterday’s performance, among the most feared.
Youth and experience
At last Arsenal appear to have found a combination of youth and experience, risk-taking and solidity which has been missing throughout the season. In all areas, Arsenal seemed to benefit from being able to mix up their play. As well as Oxlade-Chamberlain and RvP working for each other, there are notable partnerships on other areas: Arteta, for example, has provided a solidity in midfield all season, which has allowed Song to make his occasional forays up-field and, yesterday, enabled Rosicky to drive forward and support the front three.
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- Written by Jimmy Gossard
Arsenal remains winless in the Barclay’s Premier League in 2012 after a wasteful draw against 17th place Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium.
The Gunners were able to stop a streak of three league losses in a row, but were not able to make up any ground on fourth place Chelsea. The North London club now find themselves in 7th place, grasping desperately at any chance of qualifying for Champion’s League football next campaign.
Arsenal have taken only eight of the previous 24 points on offer.
Wasted Chances
Among the many missed opportunities for Arsenal included Theo Walcott’s wasted chance when he was in clear on the Bolton keeper and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s miss off a feed from Robin Van Persie. Van Persie, who was the best player on the pitch by a good distance, nearly used his class to break the deadlock, but twice hit the woodwork in the second half.
The missed goal chances against Bolton have led toa big picture missed chance. With Chelsea drawing at Swansea yesterday, Arsenal had a chance to get within three points of 4th place heading into the weekend. With Arsenal taking on Blackburn at home and Chelsea playing Manchester United, the Gunners could have feasibly been even on points after Sunday.
The draw with Bolton erases any chance of that happening, and the current form of the team has seen Liverpool and Newcastle pass them in the table. Arsenal must begin to win games or this conversation will start to include supporters questioning whether the team will qualify for the Europa League.
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- Written by Aasim Hashim
Well, I must say that at the end of the first half I thought that this post was going to be completely negative and be a complete criticism of the team and lack of skill that this current squad. But credit to the guys to get the job done even if it was not as comfortable as it maybe should have been.
A first half in which Arsenal did fairly well on the offensive side produced 2 goals, but for Aston Villa, a tale all too familiar for Arsenal fans.
Wenger
For much of this week Arsene Wenger was still facing his critics after the substitution decision in the Manchester United game. However, today’s game was the perfect example of why he is the manager of this club. After 2 first half goals, the Arsenal players were booed of the field at half. I don’t think the ‘boos’ were for the way that Arsenal had played, but more so because they were down 2 goals.
Of course, nobody but the players know what was said in the dressing room at half time, but whatever it was seemed to have completely lifted the spirits of the team as the performance in the second half was completely different and I for one was not expecting Arsenal to come out firing like they did.
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- Written by Arsenal Latest
Only a total of three goals this time around but the result was the same as Manchester United left with all 3 points in what was another poor display from Arsenal.
Where is the Confidence?
It was certainly a tale of two halves for Arsenal in this match. In the first half we saw the type of play that is the reason behind their three straight defeats. The side appeared to be playing with no heart and no desire. They appeared to sit back and let Manchester United take control of the game. Van Persie was getting no help up front from Ramsey, who has been placed the burden of replacing Fabregas in the role of playing behind Van Persie. But with Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the flanks, Arsenal should have had no problems running at United’s defense but instead Walcott again had a very poor outing.
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