I remember my Sunderland review last season. I told you the story of my visit to Roker Park. My many visits. My many unplanned and increasingly frustrating visits as we attempted to escape from Sunderland en route to Cullercoats. In passing I might mention that Cullercoats is a pleasant little seaside town between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay, but that needn’t concern any of us today. The simple fact is that as I allowed my pre match thoughts to wend their way down a nostalgic B road I entirely failed to predict the events that would unfold, and surely bloggers should be able to tell you mere mortals the precise ways of the future. Shouldn’t we?
The game was a real dig in and fight for it affair on a horrible bumpy pitch. We played in yellow with nasty red brown shorts and won the three points with a lovely crafted goal finished with aplomb by Santi Cazorla. Only heroics from Mignolet, the Sunderland post and Wojciech Szczęsny kept the score to one nil but the story of the match hinged on a few defensive performances and one truly dreadful refereeing display.
Cattermole wasn’t even booked when he could so easily have broken Aaron Ramsay’s legs with a really ghastly challenge while young Carl Jenkinson was sent off for two miss timed tackles. Throughout the game that man Anthony Taylor allowed appalling violent play to pass entirely unpunished and it remains a bewildering mystery that Arsenal had to see out a tense final half an hour with ten men whilst a thuggish Sunderland side who would have received red cards on a rugby pitch for some of their assaults on our players completed the match with eleven. Jack Wilshere was literally kicked off the pitch, Fletcher nearly equalized after controlling with a blatant handball and we had to play in a cauldron of vociferous partisan support with a resilience and courage for which we are (unjustly) not renowned.
However, despite all of this drama, the performance which stands out in my mind was that of Bacary Sagna. Drafted into the centre following a late withdrawal by Lauren Koscielny our uber versatile defensive maestro was an absolute rock. I know Arsène had used Bacary in the centre before and as a left fullback during one of our most horrendous injury crises but never has the man’s versatility shone as it did that day. It was an often brutal affair with a lot of old fashioned high balls and crunching aerial collisions but Bacary Baresi was equal to all of them. I don’t want to give the impression that his performance was all about strength and resisting the hooliganism of the opposition though. It was the coolness with which he managed to direct his defensive headers to team mates that impressed me. It’s one thing to go up and stick yer nut on it and quite another thing entirely to turn that head butt into a weighted pass to a midfielder. Instigating a quick counter attack from a ball that comes down with ice on it is no easy skill. Not that he was averse to launching a forty yarder onto Olivier’s head when the occasion called for it, but mostly he won the ball and played a quick imperious pass to a team mate and resumed his station alongside the BFG. He was resolute, tidy, athletic, decisive and perfectly placed throughout the match.
Judging by his remarks this week we might get to see more of him alongside Lauren or Per in the future. In an honest appraisal of his own advancing years he accepted that the modern fullback needs to put in a shift to which he himself might not be equal in the coming seasons. More than speed and agility though it was mental strength that he identified as his key attribute. I think it’s all too easy for us to overlook the psychological fortitude of our squad sometimes. Easy because we are so often dazzled by their quick feet and lightning fast movement. Sunderland away last year showed the importance of the mental strength Bacary talked about. He is a player who has had to pick himself up after some awful injuries and a couple of costly errors in high profile games but he’s done it with a quiet determination, a deafness to the pathetic knee jerk reactions of the worst of our supporters and I believe will be a key member of a squad for many years to come.
If news of Per Mertesacker’s upset tummy are true it looks like Bac will have a chance to reprise his masterful performance of last winter. How the new Sunderland will shape up is more of a mystery though. As with our previous opponents from Middlesex the Black Cats have made a whole raft of new signings recently. I think it’s fourteen but I could be out by half a dozen or so. Like Arsène Wenger I believe a settled squad with personnel who are completely at ease with each other’s style of play is far more important that wholesale changes. One or two key signings joining a team on a roll ought to trump a bunch of strangers still trying to learn one another’s names. Of course this is sport not maths and as Anthony Taylor proved when playing for Aston Villa and very nearly managed in this fixture last time around, sport can be an unpredictable and ruthless duchess. The one factor Sunderland will have on their side today whatever the form and regardless of the line ups is the home support. The old cliché about the twelfth man is nowhere more certain to have an effect than in the Stadium of Light. They took the Roker Roar with them when they moved house and will howl at every perceived injustice, hound the officials and lift the home side for every second of the game and quite right too. A little more of that at the Emirates and who knows where our home form might take us.
I am a hopeless blogger when it comes to predicting the future, and I apologise for this lack of superhuman talent. All I can say is this is the classic post international situation for us: a tough trip up North. I see no reason not to be optimistic but I know that we will need all the courage and fighting spirit with which our makeshift centre back held us together last time around. Whatever happens I just hope we don’t wear those bloody awful shorts again.
Positively Arsenal 
Theo needs his other boots. When he starts firing too we will destroy teams.
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Almost another assist. Özil might be better than the hype.
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FG – I agree ref Jack. Aaron now leaving the spotlight too which is excellent.
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Özil doesn’t need a touch, the pass is instant which is why he’ll be important for us. Oh imagine when TR7 and Santi are out there with him. *Sigh*
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Özil is like a German Gedion Zelalem isn’t he? Similar passing style.
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Flamster never lets anyone around him rest does he? Switched on 100%
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Please be OK, Aaron.
Jack is doing well.
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I have to say in fairness to Il Duce his side are nowhere near as agricultural as last season’s outfit.
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Jack has started to shake the cobwebs off for sure. Özil is a Rolls Royce, Goal-a-Game Giroud has put in his usual shift and Aaron owns the midfield. But I love having Flamini nipping and biting away at the back of the midfield.
Just need Theo to find his range and we’ll kill teams off for sure.
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How are we not 3-0 up?
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One more before the break, please
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FG – as your post appeared I thought just that.
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Well, brilliant performance so far, I am very happy with the way the team has presented itself. Özil is a genius and there seems to be proper balance in the team. Last season we were too defensive at times, now we seem to have got it perfectly right. Keep it up, boys!
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Feels comfortable, though. Imagine once these guys have more than one training session with each other. One training session. It’s amazing to me how well Ozil has integrated. And that’s down to all of them, not just him.
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Feels like old times. Couple of training sessions more and…
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Kelly – he will bring more out of Jack and Aaron as they get to know him. Imagine the joy of playing with a guy who will find your run no matter how difficult the angle or how tightly marked.
I imagine Poldi is in knots of frustration not to be out there with him.
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Not the best start to the second half.
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Christ – made the mistake of looking at twitter. People cannot cope with any disappointment can they?Suddenly Kos is the bad guy.
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Ah, people overreact during the game. The downside of instantly being able to say what you think.
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Me too Stew,cry-babies galore.
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All the good work of the first half just dissolves the moment we concede. As far as I can see we still passed them off the pitch and still have the better players. Now we just need to score a couple of times.
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Aaron has nearly got that Rosicky turn hasn’t he? Just needs a squirt of WD40 on it.
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@ alabamagooner September 14, 2013 at 4:13 pm
The virtual sphere in a nutshell.
Phew, offside!
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Ha ha ha ha ha. I love few things more than a disallowed goal. A saved penalty is right up there, but that makes me so happy.
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What the fuck happened there??
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We need to dig a little deep here for five minutes. Then break out and break their hearts.
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Might see Monreal soon. Gibbs a little lonely over there.
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What a beauty. Like I said. Dig in. Then break their hearts. Thank you Aaron.
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!
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Oh Ramsey!
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What’s the fuss? Whistle had clearly gone long before they scored.
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Must admit I’m impressed with Sunderland’s attitude. They’re having a go this half. One more please chaps.
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Aaron might get more than 10 goals this season. Just imagine if at the end we have 5 players with over 10 goals each. I don’t think it has been done in the league before, has it?
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!!
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My fecking stream froze at the vital moment then.
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From Wally’s control of the long pass…what a goal!
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If we are a one-man team, that one man is Aaron Ramsey.
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Time to give a run out to one of our plucky youngsters?
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@ steww September 14, 2013 at 4:30 pm
“What’s the fuss? Whistle had clearly gone long before they scored.”
Yes, that has to be it.
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FG – he was blowing himself red in the face as the bloke was wrestling with Bacary
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Another assist for GAGG as well let’s not forget.
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go on, TV, welcome back!
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“GAGG”
Huh?
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Özil must be thinking “Why the fuck have I not heard of Aaron Ramsay before?”
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FG = Goal-A-Game Giroud
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Tommy V, welcome back. In midfield? But surely I was laughed at for suggesting he could play there.
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Oh no sorry Gibbs has gone forward. I’m wrong still everyone else still correct.
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Aha. thanks, steww
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Monreal on… er…ok, I give up. Where is he playing?
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Is that 3 left backs on now?
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