Arsene Wenger may only want to talk about referees after any game nowadays, but in fact Arsenal simply cannot win a game anyway and if Alvaro Morata had taken any of his chances Chelsea would have won this game in canter. But other than that the game was very attacking from both sides and exciting to watch and in the end a draw was a fair result for me.
So here are my ratings…
Petr Cech – 7
A great game for Petr Cech and could never have stopped the goal, and we won’t mention penalties ever again!
Calum Chambers – 4
Chambers is still finding his feet but he had little chance to impress against Chelsea’s talented front line
Shkodran Mustafi – 5
Helped out well in attack at times, but his defending wasn’t much better than Chambers
Rob Holding – 6
Not too bad. Seems to have regained his confidence, but it was still a rough night
Hector Bellerin – 6
Had a hard task in controlling Eden Hazard and Co. The penalty will be argued about for ever but he redeemed himself with a very surprising last-minute equalizer
Granit Xhaka – 6
Slowly returning to form and this was another bright night for the Swiss midfielder
Jack Wilshere – 8
Jack is certainly proving his fitness and he was made to play in tough London derbies. Got involved a lot as usual.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 7
He has settled impressively into being a regular very well and how come no one is talking about him being picked for England yet?
Mesut Ozil – 8
Considering he was injured last week he came back with another excellent performance. Sign Da Ting!
Alexis Sanchez – 7
Nearly scored a couple of times and tried to penetrate but Courtois and his defenders allowed Alexis very little space
Alexandre Lacazette – 6
Everyone’s talking about Morata’s misses but I only remember Laca testing Courtois once. He was watched closely by the Chelsea defence
Subs – Nothing worth mentioning
My man of the match goes to ozil, I can’t wait for him to sign another 4yrs contract with us. Gunners forever
Ozil and Lacazette missed their easy chances, Arsenal would have won if they did not waste those chances. Whereas Wilshere worked very hard, bossed the central midfield like Cazorla, Lemar and Kante:
– Tackled the opponents.
– Scored spectacularly.
– Robbed the ball from the opponents a lot.
– Produced many successful dribbles in the middle of the field.
– Made many creative turns in tight spaces.
The way Wilshere played reminds me of how Coquelin and Walcott worked harder before they got their lucrative contract extension. I hope that is not what motivates Wilshere, but his career.
Ozil didnt miss. He tried to pass the ball but it didnt go thru
morata is a 10/10 for us.
Even nicklas bendtner would have made chelsea win 6 2
I second that! Our defenders should learn from that Morata performance. The amount of times he made sure Cech wasn’t even worked was outstanding!
That was what a 58 million tall striker could only do in front of Cech. Ozil and Lacazette missed their easy chances as well, but their shots were not as lame as Morata’s.
Mo Salah, a diminutive and pacey inverted winger, did much better than the tall and expensive strikers like Morata, Lukaku, Ronaldo, Benzema and Cavani.
Not a bad comment until you mentioned salah doing better than Ronaldo.
Wilshere MOTM for me, MN second
AND Lacazette tested Courtois THREE times
morata sign da ting !
gets a 9 from me for his input
something very satisfying about jack wilshere doing well.glad hes playing 🙂
remember when amn got shipped on loan cos his mum came to wenger kicking off about her son not getting a chance
mama was right! sven get her on the scouting network!
We wiill never win the league with an ageing once-great goalie, a midfield that has no pace, who are then lost when we lose possession, and a manager who still thinks he is coach enough to turn a sow’s ear Into a silk purse. And do not get me started on the bean counting board,
Arsenal like to take other big clubs’ worn-out players, such as Cech, Gallas and Silvestre. They were great players that have collected many major trophies, but Arsenal need to have hungrier players that are not afraid to take high risks in the field.
It is similar case for the manager. Arsenal would never win another major trophy if their manager is not as hungry as he used to be and if he does not want to get more involved in match.
Silvestre great? Shame you linked him with Cech and Gallas, who at their peak were special. Silvestre was arguably Wenger worst ever duff CB. AND THERE HAS BEEN PLENTY OF COMPETITION FOR THAT TITLE BY THE WAY.
3 points is all that matters. We played well against Chelsea and Man United but played VERY poor against Westbrom, Westham, Stoke. We take a step forward and four steps backward. Our defending has been poor this season. We need a very mobile DM to play along side Xhaka. Many times a long ball from the opposition bypass our midfield. Teams just sit back and hit us on the counter attack. Wenger should buy a very quick, mobile DM.
Play 433 formation with a midfield 3 of Wilshere, Xhaka and the new DM. Front 3 of Ozil, Lacazette and one of Aubameyang/Mahrez/Draxler. Sell Sanchez. Keep Ozil. As for our ageing and injury prone defence, we should sort it out in the summer. Nzonzi comes to mind for the DM role. Or he should bring AMN to that DM role while Monreal/Sead go back to the left back role.
Agree with 4-3-3 formation, but Wenger has to be flexible with the formations as well. If Arsenal keep using the same formation like 4-2-3-1 (used for many years) or 3-4-2-1 (used since the last season), the opponents would easily prepare themselves to face it.
Maitland-Niles has a tremendous pace that would be wasted if he plays as a DM. I think he could compete with Bellerin in right wingback/ fullback position and could be an explosive right winger like Ludovic Giuly or Pedro.
AMN, oh what big eyes you got, all the better to see you with my pal. AMN, oh what big ears you got, all the better to hear you with my lad. AMN, oh what quick feet you got, all the better to catch you with my chum.
No,
we need a very mobile, box to box DM to play instead od Xhaka, with Wilshere.
So glad we didn’t lose! Hate Chelsea!
Ozil was brilliant yet again… Wilshere had a good game topped with a brilliant goal. Chambers is crap…. AMN is sooo cool…. Bellerin brilliant goal!
Next is Forest… please win as it’s my birthday!!!
Come on West Ham tonight ?
I agree, that Cech had a great match and probably saved the point for us.
Apart from that you could pretty much give everybody 8 or 9 for their forward play, but 1-2 for their defensive ability and organization, when we lost the ball.
I read an article that says a goalkeeper is as important as a striker. A striker can bring points into his team, whereas a goalkeeper can prevent the opponent from taking points.
Bravo, Ederson, Lloris and Navas often help their teams to build the attack from the back. But Arsenal goalkeepers rarely do that and prefer to distribute directly to the attackers with long balls, to play safe.
Therefore the goalkeeper factor would be crucial in the next season. Macey and Martinez look promising.
Yes, Cech saved some dangerous balls but I am waiting for him to, at least, have a touch on a ball when (not) saving penalties.
Yes, that is unbelievable. If he just stood still at penalty kicks, he would at least one or two 🙂
I think Xhaka playing with Jack has helped him improve a little bit.
I dnt think so, I think he was more focused cos it was a big game. Xhaka, like the most of our team plays better in big games.
Why? Wenger knows?!
Bellerin deserves more then 6.
He Ozil Wilshere and Niles were very good.
Alexis was sometimes slow and sometimes not holding his position, so we didnt streched them enough and didnt manage to go thru with arsenals tika-taka.
Our defence were pants last night. There is not an ounce of speed between the central 3. Chelsea had 3 one on ones which they should have scored. Yes we also had chances, a draw was a fair result but i have to say the penalty was a con. Refs have to be more aware of being conned. 2 penalties cost Arsenal 4 points and they were penalties that should not have been gave.
Great performance from jack last night!
so, czech did great, had amazing saves, he gets a 7, Laca did lousy, his goals did not go in, he gets a 6, but alexis did great, though his goals did not go in, he gets a 7? hard time following the logic, maybe spread the numbers out more. I saw Alexis give the ball away alot, thus he and Laca, who had a few brilliant shots saved, should be at least the same. Giving Xhaka & Bellerin the same rating makes no sense. Xhaka was Xhaking again other then Chambers he had the worse game on the pitch. However, given most of the team played well, Xhaka did not play terrible. He gave the ball away aften, needs to stop shooting from 35 yards away on nice buildups. But he was better. Ozil was a i, if Jack an 8, Cech also then 8 for the several saves, or we lose. Alexis a 6, really did nothing special, Niles a 7, Xhaka 5, Chambers 4, Laca a 6, Holding & Mustafi both 5s, Bellerin a 6, gets an extra for a beautiful strike.
meant ozil a 9
Lacazette needs to try his luck more. He has one of finest strikes of ball and one of finest goals to minutes ratio, but he needs to just start taking the half chances. All the best strikers can score from a half chance now and then.
Reading that we may want Auba as replacement for Alexis, yeah I could see that being ok with fans. The thought of Auba and Lacazette running with Mesut looking to feed them, then Ramsey or Wilshere running from deep, it could be a thought. Nzonzi, if we got him I think he’d have his upside, sometimes what you need in the engine room s a straight out competitor, and he is that. We lack legs a little esp late in games, he could be a welcome boost. But I’d still want us to replace Cazorla with a top notch baller.
I agree :Need to to revert to 4-3-3
Cech is fine
Kolasinac-kos-holding/chambers-bellerin
Jack- MN- rambo/xhaka
Sanchez(or draxler or lemar ) laca ozil.
Bench the rest
Chambers and Holding are unable to play even averagely for more than 2 games straight. We need a new CB that can compete with Mustafi, Kos, and Monreal because unless we get a proper DM we will have to continue with 3 at the back, and 3 decent CB in the squad are not enough.
We also should move for Mahrez or possibly Shaquiri of Stoke if Alexis goes, and try to keep Mesut at all costs. On the other hand there are loads of players that are just not good enough and will never be (Holding, Chambers, Walcott, Iwobi, even Welbeck), but Le Prof has given them salaries that are too high for any possible takers. That power has to be taken from Wenger – his biggest weakness is to give excellent salaries to players who’ve had a run of few games (remember Denilson, anyone?).