Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Inchpräctice » Wed May 14, 2008 5:56 am

The fans were looking to finish a disappointing season on a positive note but once again Wenger chose to play the kids, putting their valuable experience as a priority over 3 fairly meaningless points.

Against a side fighting for a European place this might have been a mistake but Sunderland were safe and had nothing to play for.
Despite this they started brightly with a superb attempt on goal within the first 20 seconds of the match!
Had it gone in it would've been one of the fastest league goals of all time.
Luckily Fabianski (unlike his German counterpart) was awake right from the kick off and put in a good strong save.

Arsenal immediately responded with a cross from Eboue after a pacy run down the right hand side (he does have some speed you know?) but the keeper pounced on it before Theo could get to it.
Again Eboue was involved as he set up Adebayor minutes later but the keeper came out and smothered Ade's shot well.

As usual we enjoyed prolonged periods of possession with Sunderland not getting a sniff of the ball for some time.
Gilberto and Theo were on great form that day and Bert was spraying pinpoint passes all over the pitch.
His first one was an overhead ball that landed perfectly on Bendtner's head. He then cushioned the ball down superbly for Theo to chest down.
Theo was central at this point and chose to dribble round the CB and let fly with a decent left-footed shot that the keeper saved.
Ade wanted the pass but you can hardly blame Theo for having a crack from distance, after all Ade has plenty of goals to his name this season.

Gilberto's next pinpoint pass was a perfectly weighted through-ball that put Theo between defenders nicely so that all he had to do was use his blistering pace to get past them and keep his calm to slot the ball into the net.
This calm finish was in stark contrast to the goal-mouth panicking that we saw from him at the start of the season.
He's obviously been taking lessons in coolness from Eduardo.
1-0 Arsenal.

Djourou then took a throw-in that went all the way back to Senderos who for some bizarre reason decided to have a shot from 30 yards.
Not suprisingly he missed.
Can't blame him for having a go I suppose..... or can you? :disgust:

Sunderland then woke up again and decided to join in as Leadbitter attempted a header on goal but it flew over the bar.

Song then took the ball up to the half way line and passed all the way through to Bendtner who was playing in a deeper position behind the strikers.
As usual Bendtner didn't mess about and passed straight to Ade who was running behind the back four, he then found Theo but he couldn't get his shot away from such a tight angle.

Sunderland's reply was an inviting cross into the box from Collins who found O' Donovan whose header was not on target. O' Donovan would go on to miss many more chances.

Gilberto's next pinpoint pass landed squarely on Theo's chest who enjoyed a lovely one-touch one-two with Denilson who put him through on goal again down the right hand side.
Theo crossed the ball looking for Ade but it was intercepted by Whitehead who touched it down for the goalie.
This was obviously a back pass which the keeper couldn't miss and we were then in the bizarre situation of taking a free kick from the penalty spot that wasn't actually a penalty?!

Sunderland put 10 men on the goal line in order to crowd out the goal.
Ade then set the ball up for Gilberto to shoot from a distance that was actually closer than the penalty spot. Somehow he missed!!??
It takes some doing to hit the corner flag from 5 yards out from goal. :rolleyes:

A blip from Gilberto in an otherwise impressive game as he put another pinpoint pass on the chest of Bendtner who was on the edge of the penalty area. Bendtner slipped, so it came to nothing in the end.

Once again Bendtner dropped deep into an area of space (a move that served him well all game) to receive a pass from Senderos.
He turned and headed towards goal then put a lovely ball round the back for Theo to chase.
Theo used his pace to get there and cut the ball back for Ade who was standing in front of an open net but the pass was just behind him.
A lovely sequence of passes and a golden opportunity to kill off the game.

Sunderland came back with a few quality crosses into the box but the chances were fluffed by Chopra and O' Donovan.
Wenger then brought on promising youngster Mark Randall in exchange for Bendtner, and Eboue came off for Armand Traore.

Randall immediately showed his quality with a Beckhamesque long distance pass that dropped perfectly for Walcott who had run into the corner.
Theo beat his man and passed to Randall who was now standing on the penalty spot. He turned and passed the ball into the corner of the net but the goal was given as offside.
The replay shows that it was extremely tight. The rules say that the benefit of the doubt is given to the striker in these tight situations but I've yet to see that happen to an Arsenal player.
I felt bad for Randall who could've had a goal to his name on his Premiership debut.
He'd worked hard enough to deserve it.

Traore then showed some of his quality by starting a passing move on the left hand side of the box which involved neat passing from Denilson and Adebayor who unselfishly set up Randall for another shot which was powerfully struck but well saved by the keeper.

All the kids played well that day with stand-out performances from Fabianski, Randall and Song.
Once again we were treated to an impressive glimpse of the future.
Theo was the difference though, and both he and Bendtner have shown in the last few games that if provided with a decent run of starts, they are capable of quality performances.

The away fans were superb again with a strong vocal performance that the players appreciated.

A positive end to the season.
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Trina » Wed May 14, 2008 6:06 am

Great report Inch. Randall is sounding impressive from what I have read lately.
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby arseman » Wed May 14, 2008 6:23 am

Djourou then took a throw-in that went all the way back to Senderos who for some bizarre reason decided to have a shot from 30 yards.
Not suprisingly he missed.
Can't blame him for having a go I suppose..... or can you?


Wouldn't mind seeing more of that to be honest, especially from our midfielders, we know Rosicky can hit them really well..

Great report by the way.
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Inchpräctice » Wed May 14, 2008 7:10 am

arseman wrote:
Djourou then took a throw-in that went all the way back to Senderos who for some bizarre reason decided to have a shot from 30 yards.
Not suprisingly he missed.
Can't blame him for having a go I suppose..... or can you?


Wouldn't mind seeing more of that to be honest, especially from our midfielders, we know Rosicky can hit them really well..


Yeah it's a debatable one that one.
There's no doubt that we need more players to take long distance shots. Whether it should be Senderos is another matter....
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby singaporegooner » Wed May 14, 2008 8:12 am

I say Randall deserves a spot in the squad next season...
Haven't seen much of his performances to be honest...but reading his reviews and the match against Sunderland...methinks he's got some fire in the belly to add some steel in our midfield..
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1

Postby SE13 » Wed May 14, 2008 7:22 pm

Well, as most of us didn't see the game, the report is as good as actually watching.

Nicely done, very impresssive. 8)
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby StLGooner » Wed May 14, 2008 7:28 pm

Good work Inch. :clap:
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Reverend Gooner » Thu May 15, 2008 4:59 pm

Great report :trophy: Hopefully Theo can continue this run next season.

I expect to see Randall and co in the Emirates cup, i would be disappointed if they do not play.
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby rvtheace » Sat May 17, 2008 11:33 am

Nice report mate. Hardly anyone got to watch the match, so good to hear about Randall's exploits on the big stage!
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Jimmy Clarke » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:58 am

I was able to watch the match on tv. I have to ask all of you who watch over there live: Is Phil Dowd as big a tool as he appears to be?
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Yorkyblue » Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:01 pm

Chuck Felsea wrote:I was able to watch the match on tv. I have to ask all of you who watch over there live: Is Phil Dowd as big a tool as he appears to be?


This topic is nearly 2 and a half years old. :P
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Jimmy Clarke » Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:32 pm

Ooops, don't know what I was thinking. Phil Dowd however is still a tool.
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Inchpräctice » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:52 pm

:rofll:

How did that happen?
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby Goose » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:55 pm

Theo can run so fast, he went back in time and changed last weeks result

Yay Theo
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Re: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 - Theo rounds off season in style

Postby StLGooner » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:02 pm

Goose wrote:Theo can run so fast, he went back in time and changed last weeks result

Yay Theo



Maybe he can run back and tell Song that his hair is gonna turn out shit too.
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