Arsenal vs Sunderland

First game of the season, home to Sunderland, who loves to just sitback and hope for a counterattack, as they did under Martin O'Neill last season. They certainly 'parked the bus' and set out to frustrate Arsenal, with the Sunderland goalkeeper even resorting to time wasting only 20 minutes into the match.

Except for one chance where Sunderland got through a little too easily early in the game, where the shot was directed straight at Szczesny, it was all Arsenal. Possession and the chances were going on all game.
However it was not to be, Arsenal despite a few good chances, and one glorious chance, could not break down the resolute Sunderland defence.

Cazorla had a good debut. A few times he looked a little too complacent, losing the ball and misplacing passes on a couple of occasions, but when he clicked into gear, he created some glorious chances. Podolski had a fairly quiet league debut, despite the good performances against his former club in a friendly.
Giroud could have had a great debut as a substitute, but somehow put it wide.

Frustrations grew with the fans as they got more and more restless as the game continued. One of the major gripes I had was the tempo was far too slow with no real urgency throughout the game.
Arteta should have been pushed up more, but now that we have lost Song to Barcelona (again), one wonders about the DM position. Arshavin came on late and despite people willing to give him another chance after a brilliant Euro 2012 performance for Russia, unfortunately he looked like the player we are used to who gives balls away and doesn't seem to 'try'.

After the match, Wenger had this to say, "We played in a good spirit and tactics... with creativity and the chances we created, we couldn't finish" and also admitted its difficult without RVP as he would have surely put that chance away that Giroud missed.

It is disappointing to not win the first game, especially home, but I think its far too early to feel all doom and gloom about it. We just have sit and wait and be patient. Something that by now we as Arsenal fans are good at.

Lets hope in the next couple of weeks, we do bring in at least a couple of more players, as on the face of it, we need it.