Kevin Whitcher
It was in the reverse fixture earlier this season that Mesut Ozil made his Arsenal debut, and undoubtedly impressed. Six months on and Arsenal’s record signing found himself dropped. The player may have found it difficult to adapt to the Premier League, but with Bayern Munich as the opposition, there was less of an excuse. To get the best out of the player between now and the season’s conclusion is going to require some good work from the manager.
Olivier Giroud may have considered his own demotion to the bench against Liverpool in the FA Cup as something to be expected. Remaining there against Bayern Munich though, would have been humiliating. It seemed to work, as his performance in his return to the side was more like the player that was rattling in the goals when Arsenal were winning game after game in the autumn. I have previously stated that if the Gunners are to have any chance of winning the title, Giroud needs to get up to 20 league goals by the season’s end. Two yesterday took his tally for the campaign so far to 12 in 24 appearances with 11 games remaining. A purple patch is required, and some of it will be needed during March when the opposition gets tougher than yesterday.
Sunderland have done far better under Gus Poyet than Paolo Di Canio and have proved obdurate opposition to some teams. Fortunately for Arsenal, one suspects a little of their focus may be on next weekend’s cup final against Manchester City. The two relatively early goals killed the game stone dead, and there is no defence, if you will excuse the pun, for the second, a gift of a back pass which Giroud gleefully accepted.
The third goal by Rosicky was an example of how Arsenal’s short quick passing game can show dividends against switched off opposition. Unfortunately, such goals rarely come off when better teams have to be broken down.
Arsenal’s dominance of the half, goals aside, was pretty much total, and it was a hark back to certain home games when guest of honour Dennis Bergkamp was in his prime. Get the job done early and get your feet up for the last hour of the match.
Sunderland responded to what I imagine was a fairly severe bollocking about their opening 45 minutes by coming out after the interval with more purpose and commitment. Arsenal were a little weakened by the withdrawal of Nacho Monreal, meaning Bacary Sagna’s switch to left back. Although at 3-0 up, no-one was overly concerned. Poor marking at a corner made things even more comfortable as Koscielny made it 4-0.
Koscielny joined Monreal on the bench due to what transpired to be a problem with his back. It must be hoped that a few days off will allow time for both players to recover. Sunderland gave their traveling fans something to cheer with a corker of a long range effort to take the gloss slightly off the victory, as defences thrive on clean sheets, but a three goal margin at full time was perfectly acceptable.
Podolski did not score, but had a fine strike saved by Vito Mannone and it was a collectors’ item to see him play 90 minutes, presumably due to the fact two of the three subs were used for injuries. The team played well, and adapted to all the switches in defences ably.
It was a case of job done and Arsenal remaining consistent in not dropping cheap points, the reason they are one point behind Chelsea. Unfortunately, I suspect the late winner scored by Jose Mourinho’s team yesterday against Everton will prove very significant come the season’s end. For the Gunners, a win at Stoke next weekend is vital and it will be interesting to see where they try to squeeze in the Swansea match. I suspect the club are waiting for the likely elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Should there be progress against Everton in the FA Cup, it would leave a run of weekend matches with home games against Swansea and West Ham to fit into a couple of midweek slots. That should not prove too physically taxing and some of the rotation we have seen amongst the midfielders and attacking wide players in the last three games suggests those that do most of the running can be rotated without significantly weakening the line up.
Obviously, Arsenal will need to produce results against the teams around them to retain genuine hope of delivering a first title since 2004. Many are understandably pessimistic, but it is up to the players to prove them wrong. Is this side a different animal from the others that have played since the move to the E******s? Arsenal play Chelsea on 22 March and Manchester City a week later. By the time those two fixtures are completed, we will know.
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