Arsenal 2 Sunderland 1
Van Persie 1, Larsson 31, Van Persie 82
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SZCZESNY made a blinding pointblank save from two yards at 1-1. He\’s good but a bit raw, a bit green.
MERTESACKER had a good game.
JENKINSON is a very good crosser but needs to pick people out. And to delay crossing until he has someone to aim at.
KOSCIELNY did OK too.
GiBBS went off with a stomach muscle injury.
ARTETA was shabby but made one nice pass to RVP, whose chip hit the post.
WALCOTT was embarrassing and should have been taken off.
GERVINHO made the goal in 27 seconds and did nothing after that.
SONG was patchy : good then bad then good.
ROSICKY had his best game for years.
ARSHAVIN changed the game, looked like the old Arshavin. Unlucky not to score.
Many readers misunderstand my nickname for Robin Bang! Persie.
Coined after I compared him to Fiorentina legend Gabriel Batistuta, a proper centre forward who used to run beyond defences and wanted the ball in front of him, or crossed to him, I called the Dutchman Robin Bang!Persie because he struck me as being similar, in only one respect, to the man they called Batigoal.
Robin is very good at shooting hard with both feet.
When I called him a bang!bang! striker it was a term of endearment, a nickname that signalled approval, since scoring goals is the hard part of the game.
It was never an insult, as twitchy Gooners have repeatedly said to me in emails over the last five years.
Right now, RVP is indispensible because he’s the only player who can score.
Reminds me of an occasion when I was talking to Paul Merson about Ian Wright. Merse said, “I don’t know where we’d be wivvout ‘im.”
Before kick-off Michael told me Seb Larsson would score. It’s what Brian Glanville calls ” the immutable law of the ex.” Footballer scores against his old team. It happens a lot and not just in England.
I can remember exactly what we said when Arteta handled Van Persie’s miskicked clearance.
Michael : “This is Seb Larsson territory.”
Myles : “Sometimes a free-kick can be too central.”
Michael : “He’ll score.â€
Myles : “He\’ll do very well to put it in from there.”
The Swede’s flat free-kick was perfect and left Szczesny rooted to the spot.
Arsenal 1 Sunderland 1
Michael: “Told you.”
Myles: “David Beckham eat your heart out!â€
It was a win, so Arsenal moved up to 10th.
But it was precarious, a bit jammy, from where we were sitting, behind the goal.
Little Sessingnon could have scored when he went round Szczesny in a wide position and should have stroked the ball into the net from an inviting angle. Inexplicably, the kid chose to cross and Song cleared. Then gingernut Jack Colback volleyed eighteen inches over the bar when Larsson nodded the ball down to him.
Wenger said last week : If we\’re still down there in January, I\’ll buy.
Arsene, if Arsenal are 10th in January, you should resign. You bungled the summer with denial and dithering and now, after you\’ve lost in a shameful fashion to Blackburn and Manchester United, every game is a stress-test for anxious Gooners.
Your team is so brittle, it’s terrifying.
This Arsenal lacks power, character, defensive organisation and variation. Fabregas made this side look better than it really was. As I said when he was there.
The club’s lies about the attendance figure are now beyond a joke. Empty seats in every part of the ground, especially Club Level. Every recent game on general sale.
Arsenal no longer announce the attendance figure over the stadium PA during the game because the numbers makes the crowd jeer and boo.
Still, I’m cool.
I’m outside of the widespread anxiety that I see and feel and hear and read about every day.
My happiness doesn’t depend on football results.