Reviews

Arteta, Mertesacker, Chamberlain, Jenkinson and Gervinho were all bought in 2011. Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud were all bought this summer with new boy Monreal coming in the winter of 2013. This is not to mention young players who are establishing themselves into this new team, the likes of Szczesny, Wilshere and Walcott are all works in progress to varying degrees. It is little wonder that Bayern Munich have higher confidence in themselves in their team mates, it is little wonder why they are more organised and it is

The team that opened up Sunderland at will was close to the same team that hardly had a shot on goal against Sunderland, Stoke City, Norwich and Shalke. Our offensive game has greatly improved since then and it is in performance and not personnel. The players have needed to gel together, to click into the Arsenal way of playing and this for me has been our strength since Arsene Wenger took hold of the Arsenal reigns. It is why so many players have been able to flourish at this club. Yet I believe our strength can also prove to be our biggest weakness. Our style of play needs all the boxes ticked for us to win matches, even against teams far poorer than us.

I really like the three passers in the middle with Cazorla out on the left but what we miss is the efficiency of Lukas Podolski. You cannot ignore his wonderful goals and assists stats stuck on the bench. I thought we played very narrowly today and could have used our full backs better in attacking positions. It meant that we were a little one dimensional when it came to breaking down Sunderland. A few crosses from Jenkinson and Monreal could have given us other options but it didn't matter in the end because Santi Cazorla

Arsene Wenger has been warming to rotation a little more in recent weeks and it was Cazorla and Podolski's turn to sit on the bench. Abou Diaby's return was expected but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's start was more of a surprise. Mikel Arteta replaced the recently impressive Aaron Ramsey in the side and I had almost forgotten just how good Arteta is at keeping the ball and keeping the play moving.

It is difficult to understand why goals like this come about and how they can be stopped or indeed why they happen to Arsenal so often. Individual mistakes have been a thorn in our side for far too long now. The finger will most likely be pointed at our manager and coaching staff but the fact is that both Sagna and Vermaelen were in the right positions to deal with the situation, we had at least two

Arsenal defenders. Credit to Brighton though, they did show great character to get back into the game twice and they played some good football doing so. These are the types of team I want in the Premier League. Arsene wanted to inject some drive and goal threat into the game so he introduced Wilshere and Walcott for Rosicky and Chamberlain. Wilshere actually gave the ball away on a number of occasions when he came on but added bite and drive to the midfield. Walcott is influencing games much more these

The first half could have been different even with our lack of urgency to win the ball back. Giroud was presented with a great chance, on his stronger left side clean through in fact it was very similar to his chance against Coventry where he lifted the ball over the legs of the keeper, instead Giroud blasted wide. If you want to win tough games, you have to take those chances. For their second goal, it was Abou Diaby who dwelt on the ball for too long against Ramires who has been exceptional in pretty much every game he has played against us. I would go as far as to say that had we had Ramires then we would have won that game and that is not just down to the part he played in the goals. His work off the ball is what you want from every player in your side.

The two midfielder's ahead of the central defenders had changed from our current starting duo. Mikel Arteta out through injury and Jack Wilshere being deployed further forward allowed the returning Abou Diaby to be partnered with the tenacious high energy Francis Coquelin. It is only one game and it is very difficult to come to any definite conclusions but the balance of those two looked much better than previously. Coquelin's running, hassling, tackling and pressing was great it always has been. Abou Diaby provided power

I still think that Theo Walcott is currently used as a blank jigsaw piece. A jigsaw piece that Arsene may have already identified outside of London Colny. Oliver Giroud may not fit that part of the puzzle if Arsene has decided to change the way the team functions going forward. But hey, that is purely conjecture and based on nothing more than a swirly whirly fantasy in my head of a speedy, two footed

Today's Arsenal team would have been safely tucked up into the semi finals of the league cup. On that cold night in Yorkshire we saw a team devoid of ideas, passing from side to side with no movement ahead of the midfield, tonight Arsene sprang a surprise by playing Theo Walcott as a central striker flanked by Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain