Sunderland V Arsenal | Premier League 09/02/2013

[starmandb]

For me the clean sheets aren't down to Monreal, they're down to Vermalen's absence...

we have kept 38 clean sheets with vermaelen including the opening 3 games of this season home to sunderland and at stoke and liverpool

[ivan itchybum]

For me the clean sheets aren't down to Monreal, they're down to Vermalen's absence...

we have kept 38 clean sheets with vermaelen including the opening 3 games of this season home to sunderland and at stoke and liverpool

... and how much did we keep with Pascal Cygan?

[Massa]

Maybe as Sagna has lost some of his athleticism a move to CB would suit him.

Can't play there next game though cause we don't have a back-up RB

As part of a 3 I could get behind that but as one of the two CB's, not for me, he's too short

For a short guy he has a good leap. As long as he is next to Mert/Verm it should be okay. Similair situation to Thuram kinda maybe

[Massa]

To the user who said Sagna's heading was poor today, he made 11 clearances with his head today. Eleven! How tall is he? 5'9? Only Hoiveld made more headed clearances in the EPL today than Sagna.

Since when are heading ability and number of clearances made linked?

cause he said clearances with his head

[starmandb]

Started with 4 British players today and finished with 4 Spanish players. We've never had that many Spaniards turn out for us in a game before have we?

Im guessing Fabregas, Reyes and Almunia played together..

no we have not
and yes they did the last time was in the 0-0 group game away to ajax in 05/06

[starmandb]

For me the clean sheets aren't down to Monreal, they're down to Vermalen's absence...

we have kept 38 clean sheets with vermaelen including the opening 3 games of this season home to sunderland and at stoke and liverpool

... and how much did we keep with Pascal Cygan?

35
never understood how cygan became shorthand for shitness
he was a perfectly serviceable member of the invincible squad

[Angelito]

I'm still shocked but how I--OH LOVED IT!

Points:

- Ramsey was very good in the first half; terrible in the second half when he was playing CM, then he was in inspired form as a RB. What the heck? Ramsey for RB?

- Cazorla was immense. His movement and coordination with Wilshere was making us look like Barca.

- Wilshere: World Class. He's so good and one has to wonder looking at the class of Wilshere and Cazorla, who else of the same class on their day?

- Sagna: My Lord, he's already our best CB, by a mile. That's it. We've found the back-4 that really works and it's that of Sagna and Mertesacker. Both were immense, but Sagna just had one of the finest matches a Gunner has had for a long time.

- Sir Chesney: World class keeping. He saved us. Literally.

MOTM for me was Sagna and Sir Chesney.

Wenger got it absolutely spot on tactically. His subs and the overall layout of the game was precise and is it me--or did we deviate from our usual formation and played a 4-2-2-2? We really didn't play with wingers.

This victory is much, much more valuable for me than any thrashing could have been. Up the Gunners!

Also, Monreal's life at Arsenal has begun smoothly. He made a few mistakes, but he looks calm with the ball. His arrival and two clean sheets are a good sign.

Yesterday's back-four made our starting back-4 look like amateurs. I'm all for starting Sagna as a CB and Koscielny at RB against Munich. Sagna CB > All our CB.

[Lee71*98*02]

Just looking at the ratings thread, everyone has given Sagna an 8.5-9.5 rating and looking at the Sun's ratings..he gets a 5 (the lowest rating with Jenks) where Cazorla gets an 8

[CrimsonGunner11]

Why Bacary Sagna Was Arsenal's Star Man Against Sunderland

If you had only seen the first half of this game, you might have expected Jack Wilshere or Santi Cazorla to emerge as Arsenal’s man of the match. Instead, by the time the full-time whistle blew, it was undoubtedly Bacary Sagna.

In the first 45 minutes, Arsenal’s midfield interplay was spell-binding. A midfield containing Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla bent Arsenal’s conventional 4-3-3 out of shape, instead forming a magic square of immensely talented footballers which slowly took hold of the game.

However, at the start of the second half, Arsenal lost Wilshere to what looked like a thigh injury. The absence of their talisman interrupted Arsenal’s momentum, and the pendulum began to swing in favour of Sunderland. This change in dynamic was confirmed when Carl Jenkinson was dismissed for collecting a second yellow card.

A game that Arsenal were dominating suddenly became about a brave rear-guard action, and Bacary Sagna was at the heart of it.

Sagna’s heroic display was made all the more impressive by the fact that he was playing out of position. Until five minutes before kickoff, he was expected to play at right-back. However, Laurent Koscielny aggravated his calf problem in the warm-up, and Sagna was asked to shift over to an unfamiliar central role.

In the face of adversity, Sagna excelled.

As Sunderland cranked up the pressure, the Frenchman emerged as Arsenal’s de facto defensive leader. Other players provided able support: Wojciech Szczesny made several fantastic saves, and Aaron Ramsey filled in admirably at right-back, but no one could match Sagna’s commitment. He was everywhere, putting his body on the line for the cause.

The statistics from the EPLindex back it up. Sagna made 15 of Arsenal’s 49 clearances. He won 100 percent of his tackles and competed for 10 aerial duels, winning 60 percent. By comparison, his giant centre-back partner Per Mertesacker competed in just one.

When the full-time whistle blew, Sagna held his arms aloft in triumph. He knew the significance of this victory, and he knew how big a part he’d had to play.

Sagna’s excellence was in stark contract to the performance of his young understudy, Carl Jenkinson. In recent weeks Sagna’s form has fluctuated, leading to some Arsenal fans to call for his demotion. However, the match against Sunderland showed the difference in class between the two players: while Jenkinson was sent off for two rash challenges, Sagna was thoroughly dependable in a new role at centre-back.

It’s a day of retribution for Sagna. On the eve of the game, he admitted:

I’m going to be honest with myself - [I’ve not been] at my best. I’m not very happy with myself, but it’s football. It’s a part where I need to get better. I’ve been working since last summer but I need to work more because I’ve been out a long time.

Sagna’s patchy form has seen him become somewhat maligned among Arsenal fans. His contract has only 18 months to run, and there are concerns that perhaps his ambitions lie elsewhere. Sagna, however, went on:

Everyone is waiting for me to perform well so I’m looking forward to doing it.

Against Sunderland he delivered and we saw just how good he can be. If he keeps producing performances of this quality, he will win back the Arsenal fans very swiftly indeed.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1522 ... sunderland

Brilliant read and well done Sagna

[Lee71*98*02]

There you go^ 5 out of 10 perfomance? never!

[StLGooner]

Usually in a game like this one it seems like we always concede, but we hung in their fought hard and earned the 3 pts. Good job boys!!