Özil’s debut at Sunderland. Excitement levels were off the scale and we weren’t to be disappointed as within 11 minutes, the Gelsenkirchen born midfielder took down a raking Gibbs pass on the left hand side of the penalty area and squared the ball to Olivier Giroud to open the scoring. Much has been made of his ridiculous assist numbers over the past five years so one suspects this maiden effort in an Arsenal shirt will be the first of many. He could have had a couple more on the day too had Theo Walcott decided to play football rather than whatever it was he was doing out there. Özil then had a hand the decisive third goal and apparently completed more passes in the attacking third
Material Possession
Such was our dominance in the opening 45 minutes, it was being widely reported at half time that we had a whopping 71% possession. Away from home, that is quite ridiculous and you could argue warranted far more than our single goal lead. Unfortunately however, prizes aren’t awarded for keeping the ball. If you fail to take advantage, possession is ultimately pointless. The keen-eyed will notice I made the same point after the Spurs game with regard to their apparent superior possession.When Sunderland equalised at the start of the second half, the point was hammered home with some authority. All of a sudden it was 1-1 yet they hadn’t even been in the game up until that point. In the end, despite their overall 32% possession, they still managed 17 shots including hitting both the post and crossbar. We rode our luck at times but when all was said and done, we probably deserved the win but that certainly can’t say that was down to having more of the ball.
Wizard of Öz
Unless you have been living in a cave with no wifi having perforated both eardrums with cotton buds, you wouldn’t have failed to get caught up in the hysteria since a certain German international put pen to paper on a contract having chosen to join The Arsenal for the next few years. You’d be forgiven for thinking that nothing else has happened in the game and that umlauts had been added to the English alphabet given how many column inches have been filled by the 42 million pound man’s arrival in Islington. The only negative for gooners of course was the two week wait between the signing on September 2nd and Özil’s debut at Sunderland. Excitement levels were off the scale and we weren’t to be disappointed as within 11 minutes, the Gelsenkirchen born midfielder took down a raking Gibbs pass on the left hand side of the penalty area and squared the ball to Olivier Giroud to open the scoring. Much has been made of his ridiculous assist numbers over the past five years so one suspects this maiden effort in an Arsenal shirt will be the first of many. He could have had a couple more on the day too had Theo Walcott decided to play football rather than whatever it was he was doing out there. Özil then had a hand the decisive third goal and apparently completed more passes in the attacking third than any other player in a single game so far this season. A solid first Arsenal appearance and, needless to say, the signs were encouraging overall. If we see similar performances from hereon, there will be no doubt about him living up to the hype generated by his arrival.
Oli’s Day
The man likely to benefit most from Özil’s arrival is a certain Olivier Giroud. Our in form French goal-getter Giroud scored his fourth goal in four league games with what is becoming something of a trademark finish. Some years back, The boss coined the now infamous phrase ‘Fox in the box’. A term that has since become something of a joke based on the fact the player he used it in relation to was a certain Francis Jeffers. Over a decade later, Giroud is displaying what I imagine are the exact traits Arsene Wenger was thinking of; dropping off defenders to find space in the area to finish off low crosses from wide areas. The similarities between his goals against Villa, Spurs and Sunderland are there for all to see.
Of course, there’s much more to his game than goal-poaching as he showed with the delicious through ball for Aaron Ramsey’s second having dropped deeper to link up with the abovementioned Özil.
(Aar)on a role
Speaking of Ramsey, his good form so far this season continued in spectacular fashion. A worthy winner of the Arsenal player of the month award for August after his explosive start, the international break has seemingly done nothing to temper his enthusiasm as he scored two delightful goals to ultimately decide the game in our favour. His first a brilliant half volley from the edge of the area following a Carl Jenkinson cross and the second a nice composed finish following good work from Özil and Giroud.
Ramsey’s man of the match award also owed to his influence of the game from midfield; winning numerous tackles and being very much the key to the team’s successful ball retention over the course of the match – completing an impressive 81 of 88 passes.
Walcott Woe
In contrast to Ramsey, Theo Walcott is currently struggling to replicate the form shown last season that saw him finish as the team’s top scorer and earned him a lucrative new contract. To say he hasn’t got going this time around would be an understatement. A poor performance for England in midweek where he was described as ‘brainless’ spilled over into Saturday’s match as he pissed away three entirely reasonable chances to score in the first half. These misses nearly proving costly when Sunderland equalised. Thank God for Aaron Ramsey.
If there are any positives to take from Theo’s calamity of a first half showing, it’s that he never goes hiding. He may miss a number of chances but he continues to find himself in the position to do so. Hardly a shock, mind. We know full well he has a tendency to play like this. The difference with between this season and last is that one of these many opportunities would eventually go in for him. He needs to find that – albeit infrequent – finishing touch again this campaign.
Kos for concern
Another player who, if not for the result, would probably want a do-over is Laurent Koscielny. At the risk of repeating what I spoke of after the Villa game, Kos’ tendancy to do something stupid every now and again is what prevents him from being one of the best. The penalty that led to the Sunderland equaliser came as a result of an inexplicable lunge on Adam Johnson when the winger was running away from goal. The fact that in just three appearances this season Kos has been given away two penalties and been shown a red card makes me wonder if, despite his obvious qualities, he’s becoming something of a liability. Lesser defenders don’t commit as many misdemeanours as the Frenchman and one would hope he starts cutting them out of his game otherwise he will soon be more of a hinderance than a help as the team goes forward. One can’t help but feel he still hasn’t learned his lesson from Wembley in 2011 (I’m still struggling to let that one go…).
Ref Justice
Speaking of the penalty, at first, second and third look, it seemed pretty much nailed on to me. Much like the one he conceded against Villa, Kos’ trailing right leg catches the Adam Johnson just enough to throw him off balance. The view that Arsenal had somehow been cheated and that Martin Atkinson was in some way biased against us is something I couldn’t get my head around. I understand partisan support and I understand heat of the moment reactions but I really don’t know where this growing victim complex has come from among our fans – especially for an incident like this which on the face of it was pretty clear cut. Such suggestions just become all the more ridiculous when we receive a huge help
ing hand from the same referee that is supposedly against us. The Altidore ‘goal’ has and will continue to be much discussed but there cannot be a single gooner out there who doesn’t believe we were extremely fortunate when Atkinson wrongly whistled after the Sunderland striker was fouled but went on to score a would-be equaliser. The good luck continued given that Sagna wasn’t sent off despite ‘denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity’. It’s easy to call for ‘fairness’ when a decision goes against you but those calls are noticeably quieter when your side benefits. I guess that’s just the double-standard of being a football fan.
Top Guns
Of course, a Sunderland equaliser would have meant a different scoreline. However, maybe it’s the same football fan bias stated above but I don’t feel Arsenal deserved anything less than three points from the match overall. Shaky defending aside, the match could have been dead and buried well before half time. The fact we allowed Sunderland a way back into the game was more to do with our own failings more than anything else. The lads stepped up a gear in scoring the two decisive goals and, despite the controversy, few would argue that the eventual outcome was totally unjust. As things stand, we’re currently sitting pretty on top of the league table looking down on everybody else. Things can and obviously will change over the coming months but given the poor, depressing start the the season, it’s unquestionably a good place to be for now and will hopefully serve as a means of encouragement for us to maintain a decent challenge and remain competitive for the first time in a good while. UTA.
Related Article: Sunderland (a) – Too easy for Özil, Ramsey to the rescue & Koscielny lesson by Mean Lean
EXAMPLE OF AD POSITION
