Arsenal 3 – 0 Stoke Player Ratings by KJ
Ospina – 6.5
Didn’t have anything to do for the majority of the game. Had to make a couple of decent saves near the end but wasn’t tested properly.
Debuchy – 6
He was playing well until he was injured by Arnautovic. It seems like he’ll be out for a few months with a dislocated shoulder which is tragic. This season has basically been a write-off for him.
Mertesacker – 7
Wasn’t tested much at all defensively. Did his job properly anyway and was never really exposed.
Koscielny – 7.5
Similar to Mertesacker, never really tested. He did score a great headed goal to open the scoring at the Emirates.
Monreal – 7.5
He was really good today. Constantly overlapped in attack and provided a good passing outlet at all times. He was defensively strong as well and was rarely exposed.
Coquelin – 6
It was a pretty average performance by him. Didn’t do anything special and lost the ball a lot later on in the game.
Cazorla – 8
A quality performance by our little Spanish magician once again. His close control is phenomenal allowing him to keep the ball in unfavourable situations.
Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7
He was pretty good today. Used his dribbling effectively, was always involved in our attacks and made a lot of things happen in offensive areas.
Rosicky – 7
Another decent performance by the Czech. He just adds a lot of zip to our attack with his direct dribbling.
Alexis – 8.5 (MOTM)
Genius. He is relentless with his performances. He just doesn’t give the opposition an inch and he constantly punishes them for making mistakes. It’s beautiful to watch.
Giroud – 7
A solid striker’s performance. He physically outmuscled Shawcross on numerous occasions allowing us to keep possession in the final third.
Subs:
Bellerin – 7
Came on fairly early for the injured Debuchy and looked comfortable. He needs these games against smaller teams at home to acclimatise to the pace and power of the Premier League.
Walcott – 5
He came on and wasn’t really involved much. He did get a chance one on one but scuffed the shot. It’s going to take time for him. His runs are still perfect and he still seems to have the pace but his touch and finishing needs fine tuning and it’ll come with more game time.
Özil – 6
Came on fairly late and looked understandably rusty. There was still moments of magic and you can see he’s actually bulked up over the last three months meaning he’ll be able to cope with the physical battle a bit better now.
Kash
Great Game well done Lads
team against mancity
ospina
bellerin mert kos gibbs
coq ramsey
ox/walcott/ozil santi alexis
giroud
i will choose bellerin over the chambers.chambers is too slow
@ranger, this/that/…/ make up your mind or leave it to wenger!
i know the curious case of wenger
If we win the next two match, then we are in for the league trophy
Monreal for Gibbs and Ramsey in only if he’s disciplined enough to actually work for the team and not wandering to look for the goal. No Walcott in the first 11.
KJ, you didn’t do the player rating last time we play them, why do this now?? :/
Honestly, Mertesecker damn acts like a girl too often. Crouch be like: “Man-up!!! Dude!!! Get your red a*s off the ground!!!”
6 definitely too low for Coquelin. He’s come in and has been doing a really tidy job in there, all the dirty work that no one enjoys doing and rarely gets a mention. He was tough against a team like Stoke as well which is good news for us, although he will have tougher tests. I’m happy with him in there and glad to see him given a chance, he’s definitely put himself above Flamini for me.
Suggest you take 2 points from GIROUD who did nothing and give 1 to OSPINA 7 and 1 to COQUELIN 7 ….GIROUD 7 is over the Top, he is there to score Goals not to run like a Chicken all over the place and have our Defenders and Midfielders do his job GIROUD 5
Coquelin 6! were u watching the same game i did
Referee allowed they usual Stoke fouls and that foul on Debuchy, and it was meant, should have been punished with a card.
Sanchez Cazorla and Chamberline are our standout performer this season.
Chamberline just need to work on his finshing, the he will become world class player. He like sanchez dribbeles the 1st man at wil, but then unlike sanchez, he seems undecisive at the last moment. Having said that, he is very young and under Wenger will definately improve, He will soon become genuine world class player.
No words for sanchez, he is the best player in the PL.
One disappointment apart from debutchy’s one is we should have won it 6-0 or 7-0,
Considering the kind of attack we have , if we score like that , it will create a fear in the opposition’s mind and that in turn will suite us.
We are creating hell lot of chances, need to be more clinical.
Very true about the Ox. However can still create goals for us by driving fast into the box and either passing to someone with more accuracy or getting brought down for a penalty. Should stay behind after training just for shooting practice – just as Mourinho did with a youngish Frank Lampard many moons ago.
We clearly wound it down in the last 30 minutes – I don’t think you can be too critical of that when you think of all the times we have blown a lead by continuing to chase and press. More professional than normal IMO.
Didn’t manage to watch the game yesterday but all av heard and read is good stuff. Good 3 points from the boys against the thugs though sad to see Debuchy out again.
One question I have is does TR7 have the legs to play 3 matches in a role and should he be considered for the city game?? 2 games in a role alongside Le Coq and 2 clean sheets plus valuable contribution in attack aswell.
With Rambo just coming back and Flamini being Flamini should Wenger disturb this partnership or take a risk with the brilliant and reliable Czech??
Your valuable responses will be highly appreciated yawl.
I have the same view as you. Now we’re only playing once a week so no problem for rosicky. Ozil can not fit in with this 4-1-4-1 system unless he play on the wings or return back to 4-2-3-1 to accomodate him. Ozil can not do what rosicky and carzola are doing at moment i.e defensive duties.
Prefer same line up. Hope welback comes back…
Fantastic performance from the boys yesterday
#WENGER OUT!!!!
With all our midfielders fit, who do you play?
Wenger deserves a mention this time around, even though i have already made my mind his time is up. but he was genius yesterday, from XI to subs. weldon for once!
Why was Sanchez not playing at Barcelona? What a btw by Wenger! Long may it be
Because Messi, Neymar and Suarez are!
@Twig, Suarez was never playing for barca when Sanchez was there!
Suarez. £75M: 2 goals in all domestic and UCL comps. (Won’t count his 3 goals in the Intercontinental comp). IMO he will never be prolific in the wide role assigned to him with a Messi and Neymar next to him.
Sanchez.£32M: 18 goals in domestic and UCL comps. (with a few weeks head start due to the LS ban).
I wonder what the Barca forums think about it.
Sanchez just didn’t fit in with their system or style and Messi cast a big shadow. Still only Ronaldo. Messi and Costa who outscored him in La Liga in last full season.
A DM’s priority is knocking opposition attacks of their stride and rhythm, Le Coq did that very well, he’s been doing that very well in fact, carrying the ball out of defense and moving it on promptly is an added extra that he still has to add to his game. Now we need some muscle alongside him for the bullies.
@007, I begin to suspect that Rosicky is younger than his written age, for me he don’t look like someone who need any rest anywhere near! So I say #StickToWinningTeam
True that!!! His absolutely amazing. He should have started playing earlier in the season when we were underperforming in that midfield. I hate to say it but some injuries are blessings for our team due to favoritism (case in point Jack and Ozil’s injuries have brought out the best in Carzola and TR7)
Moussa Sissoko & Winston Reid
Sissoko all day long, Reid NO, not good enough.
Forget signing forwards we need a cb and dm in this window must pay whatever it takes to get top quality players in. Afraid we will be saying the same thing next sun after we are beat by man city be the same excuses and all our weaknesses will be exposed we are nowhere near good enough to beat the top clubs!
if we had wayanma or sissko we would hv won 5nil…
coquelin.is juz not good enough
Sissoko asking Wenger to sign him
;D
we need to sign a rb to replace debuchy….
come next season we will 4 rbs to rotate and provide competition….
Good performance by the team. Sanchez and Giroud up fro t really makes a difference because ironically the majority of our physicality is in attack.
For me personally, Cazorla was MOM. Was an absolute nuisance and stood up well to Stokes midfield.
Anyone feels Ospina looks rather slow and unfit? Oddly, it’s Martinez that fills me most with confidence out of all our keepers. He has the best distribution as well…
Can we stop wishing for Sissoko he is a AM, we have lots of those and his defensive stats as way. Behind even Flaminis
You can’t compare Sissoko and Flamini, 2 completely different players.
Sissoko is very fast and that in itself is a worry for opposition, he can play a more defensive game if required, he simply wasn’t asked to at Newcastle where they tasked him with bombing forward as well. Have you seen his runs?
I disagree on the rating of Le Coq. He deserves 7. Has really step up that am afraid Wenger will not buy a DM this window because we would do well agaisnt MC. You know he will never learn from past mistakes.
I agree, a 6 is a bit harsh for Coquelin who didn’t make as much errors as the author seems to make believe. He was a pest for Walters, Whelan and (later on) Sidwell all game. The only minor criticism I have on the lad is that he drifts out to the side a little bit too much (following his man that interchanges position). Against big teams he will get exposed for that.
Great game overall, on to City! COYG!
If sanchez got 8.5 (which he deserves), Coquelin deserves an 8!. if not for Sanchez, Coquelin would be the man of the match.
Sissoko and Schar for less than £25 million. No t a bad spend that will save our season. We can spend BIG in Summer IF Wenger decides to.
Heck, even Milner and Schar or Reid or Van DiJk for less than £20 million would be an improvement
I’m still hoping for Howedes and either Gundogan, Kondogbia, Schneiderlin or Carvalho
Le Coq deserves a 7 all day for me…if only it was flamini against walters and nzonzi….you get the picture
I have the same view as you. Now we’re only playing once a week so no problem for rosicky. Ozil can not fit in with this 4-1-4-1 system unless he play on the wings or return back to 4-2-3-1 to accomodate him. Ozil can not do what rosicky and carzola are doing at moment i.e defensive duties.
Prefer same line up. Hope welback comes back…