Arsenal v. Sunderland: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

It's always easier to write these things after a loss, because there's two more negative categories than positive ones - in any given loss, there's a ton of things that are bad and/or ugly, and only a few good. But I like a challenge, and I like it when Arsenal don't lose, so here I am, good/bad/uglying after three vital away points in Sunderland. To the GBU!

GOOD: Hey, you person who maybe once said WE WANT OUR ARSENAL BACK. Yes, you. The one trying to come up with a more creative way of saying WENGER OUT. Guess what? Yesterday, we got our Arsenal back. Was it 2004 vintage, Invincible-style Arsenal? No, not really. But yesterday's Arsenal was the club we all thought we'd be seeing at the beginning of the season: a side that keeps possession, takes chances, defends well, and doesn't panic. The performance of the side once Jenkinson was sent off was a credit to the 10 men left out there - Szczesny and Sagna, in particular, were legendary - but all in all this was much more of the Arsenal that we want to see regularly. Except....

BAD: ...The finishing. Dear lord, the finishing. Or should I say the "finishing". I haven't played soccer in 15 years and I could have finished some of those chances. The refereeing left something to be desired, as well, but mostly it was Arsenal's lack of finishing that made for unhappy viewing - I wouldn't say they were lucky to win, but Arsenal sure did make hard work of a game they could have won three or four-nil.

UGLY: I almost put Carl Jenkinson in the "bad" category, but I decided to demote him to "ugly". A lot of it is down to rust - he was really off his game yesterday - but the red card makes it ugly. There was some question over the first yellow, but the second one was dumb and should never have happened. He won't make mistakes like that a lot, but when he does, man....ugh.

So there you have it - TSF's verdict on yesterday's match. Tell us your goods, your bads, and your uglies. It's interactive! So interact!