KJ’s Arsenal player ratings at Leicester – Alexis MOTM

Leicester City 1 – 1 Arsenal, Player Ratings

Szczesny – 6.5
He played decently but should’ve done better for the goal I felt. He could’ve moved off his line and tried and claimed the ball. It was close enough to him.

Debuchy – 6
Average performance. Nothing stood out at all and he was caught up field far too many times and Leicester tried to expose our right hand side.

Mertesacker – 6
He was lacking fitness but should’ve played better. Didn’t even try and keep pace with the Leicester City winger who crossed it in for Ulloa.

Koscielny – N/A
Didn’t really have a chance to play as he was injured fairly early on and had to be subbed off because of the discomfort it was giving him.

Monreal – 7
Only decent defender today and wasn’t given the proper cover by Ozil as he isn’t used to defending on the left.

Flamini – 4
He didn’t do anything well today and left massive spaces on the counter. His only advantage over Arteta is his mobility and he didn’t get into positions well enough to intercept or tackle the opposition to prevent them from countering. They found it too easy.

Ramsey – 5
A pretty shocking performance by the star Welshman. He constantly lost the ball, had a very poor first touch and was trying to do too much. This is definitely linked to our formation change. It has taken away a lot of his game from last season.

Alexis – 8 (MOTM)
He was our best player today. He created a lot of chances, tried to make something happened and scored our goal. He worked extremely hard off the ball as well. He didn’t deserve the poor performances by others.

Özil – 6
He was pretty anonymous for the entire game and you can’t really blame him with Wenger playing him on the left. He is not good at all in that position and is not adapted to passing out of those positions and defending the left side of the field. It’s a waste considering we have Cazorla who is perfect as a wide midfielder when on form.

Cazorla – 7
He was our best midfield player today. Tried to create stuff but was too far away from the likes of Alexis and Sanogo because of our insistence on playing the 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 formation.

Sanogo – 4
He was shocking today. Touch was completely off and failed to do anything positive. He only gets a 4 because he “tried”.

Subs:
Chambers – 6
He came on and was decent. Nothing more.

Chamberlain – 5
Struggled to affect the game when subbed on and was injured for the last 5 minutes.

Podolski – 1
Laughable attempt at playing as a striker. Even funnier that Wenger thought he could play that position when we needed someone to bring our midfielders into play.

Tags Ozil Sanchez Sanogo

101 Comments

  1. Guys slow down with the Sanogo annihilation, remember he’s just a kid and not his fault. He should never have been put in that situation in the first place, he should be learning from world class strikers at the club and at most be playing in cup games.

    This is down to Wenger.

    1. Couldn’t have said it better. People were calling for sanogo to start but truth be told he just isn’t ready yet. Give the kid time and don’t rush him. Only thing is ho can w n o t rush him when we have no other recognised striker in the team

    2. Completely agree JoJo, Wenger is exposing him to unrealistic pressure at a level that is simply too high for him.
      Sanogo needs to go out on loan, Podolski should go for his sake and the club (Arsharvin mark II) and buy 2 strikers.

      Passing on Remy for 8 million was simply madness.
      Passing on Fab was ludicrous (Jack vs Fab I know who is going on my squad sheet!).
      Not buying Bony will be a similar fluck up, he could have been helping the team from day 1 of the season.
      WTF is Wenger’s issue with buying where we need it???

      1. Just watched highlights of Liverfool stuffing Spuds, seriously good footy from the bin dippers, fast and open on the break with great goals from open play.
        Comparing that to our scuffed goals in the box as we try to walk the ball into the net and I am seriously worried.
        Jesus help us when we come up against Chelski and Citeh, especially if Wenger persists with Ozil on the wing and doesn’t get a striker and 2 defenders, ludicrous.

      1. When do we gunners learn ?? It was never the players….its that toothlesswenger spoiled the great Arsenal. I wonder if He knows anything about tactics. How on earth is it called counter attack when u have 2 defenders in front of u and u still wait for the remaining players of the opposition to re-group and then again play fuc*king tiki-taka?? Mr.stubborn, wenger, please learn that ‘the wilshere kinda goals’ last season against norwich comes once in 100 years, please fu*king stop setting up our team to play meaningless passing game to score such goals.

        Just watch Spurs vs Liverpool match today. Look at the high tempo of the game and high pressing. full on from 1′ to 90′

        Trust me…..if we can manage a draw against Pool and city at home. That would b a miracle. And talking about injuries, mr. wenger, just help us once by sitting quiet. We dont need your heavy workout and training sessions and a special dietician.Let our players train just like other players at other clubs.

        I wonder how we have 70% possession in games eliminating regular tracking back, hardly making any runs, never pressing high and still players get injured. If we play the Liverpool way or pochettino way(Southampton way), high pressing and quick passing game, we would have our entire squad injured just after 3 matches.

        Now talking about transfers….

        Let us not be idiots for once in our life, we even punish our kids when there is something wrong with their behavior. And Arsenal, Arsene & board are no exception.

        When we signed Debuchy, ospina, chambers, sanchez, I read people making ridiculous comments like we will win the BPL and some even goin further talkin abaout UCL. remember at the end of last season, we all knew that we needed a St, a DM, LW and a 4th choice CB. Lets look at our signings. We have debuchy , ospina as replacements for the departed. Chambers for cover at RB for departed jenks. We needed a 4th choice CB nd v sold TV5 making us now desperate for 3rd choice cb. We signed sanchez while v needed a left footed LW. Mind u if u think sanchez (a right footed player), can play LW. for that we dont have to spend 40mil. we have Ox, gnabry etc. Thats our transfer business. Where are we standing now? We still need a st, dm, lw , CB just like last season and on top v need another cb for 4th choice.
        Kudos to wenger. hes gonna make 1 huge signing per season. by the time he signs 11 big players , the previous signings are gonna cross their 30 yrs age. I pity us for the treatment towards us by our club. (The ozil signing was pure desperation to calm us down as he failed to sign a St). He tried hard to buy a suarez highlighting our great need for St, he failed and signed ozil, a cam. Now he says he doesnt need a st. Then why in 1st place did he need suarez? How did v suddenly solve the st crisis by signing no-one?? Its simple, he only wanted to spend some money to shut us up after 3-1 loss to AV. Bravo wenger

        How the hell can we not see that it is wenger’s but not players fault. He wasn’t sure about himself and his capabilities to sign a new contract until he won the fa cup which he did barely overcoming championship side.. That is how arsenal are playing under an absolutely clueless manager. He was successful early in his career may b coz he had excellent players, players who wanted to prove something to the world, who couldn’t bare a defeat, May b wenger was never responsible for that success.

        We still do have such players. The likes of Campbell, bellarin, chambers, gnabry, akpom, zelalem, but wenger wouldnt play them. Look how these kids played against benfica in the emirates cup, they wanted to prove that they deserve first team football. U could see the difference the next day when our senior team took on Monaco.

        But still it isnt the player’s fault, if your manager doesnt know how to make the team counter-attack, how to make diagonal runs or doesnt have clue against high pressing teams then i only have pity for u players.

        Poor ozil and sanchez, from playing beside Ronaldo and messi they have come down to a team that has a french kid from league 2 as 2nd chioce striker, not to mention the 1st choice.

        It is time Arsenel needed a change. Change in tactics, change in philosophy, change in transfers more importantly change in manager. Even if it takes 3 years for us to win something, anyhow that is what is going to happen under current manager and his tactics. COYG. Lets stand up for change.

  2. From what I saw Sanogo looked quite dangerous, always got the ball down and making decent runs behind the defence.. he needs more composure then he could be decent.. we need a quick/proper winger on EACH wing, either ozil or cazorla need to sit on the bench because putting them both on just makes the team slower and neither can defend particularly well, plus a good DM which weve been asking for since song

    1. Sanogo should be playing in the reserves or sent out on loan elsewhere. He needs 2 years at least to polish his game.

      1. Yes, Yes, and Yes, 2 years of loan is necessary, Championship this year and hopefully PL next. Look at Lukaku, I would have signed him in a heart beat.

        What the f is a french youngster with no experience and out of a long term injury doing leading Arsenal’s line? Wenger I am asking you? What the hell is wrong with you?

    2. Sanogo did not look dangerous at any point in that game, even when Ozil created a chance for him to shoot he jumped over the ball, what striker who does that shit yards away from the goal line!

    3. He looks calm and collected outside the box, took down some decent balls and laid it off nicely on a number of occasions and has reasonable control and touch in the middle third – but then it all goes haywire as soon as he is in the box, like his nervous system is suddenly shutdown and he loses all co-ordination and awareness. Could a lot of it be nerves and confidence? He can’t be unaware that the world and their dogs are watching him ready to take the piss when he fails. Too much on the young man’s shoulders and I feel for him.

  3. So, we’re just gonna let it slide that Monreal declined to inform Koscielny about the run the Leicester player made in behind him.

    Nevermind the fact that he time and again made the wrong decision. Whether it was to go in and challenge when he just to show the Leicester players the side line or to pick up his man and stick with him, Monreal made a complete mess of it.

    Monreal was far and away our worst player today. Partly guilty of the goal as well as of several other dangerous situations that should never have been so.

    1. I am not sure what game you seen today but Koscielny looked behind before the cross but unfortunately he miss timed the jump. If there was anyone to say someting that would have been Szceszny as Monreal was too far away. Not sure what is your point in bashing Monreal, I assume you simply don’t like him. That should not stop you being objective.

      1. Agreed. Zulu-boy-SA, that campbell is better than sanogo is better known and accepted to us fans but not to wenger. If only campbell can naturalize himself to french, then he will know wenger is the most loving father on earth.

    1. sorry mate,Cambell simply isn’t a striker.WINGER is what he is.and yes should take a chance on the left wing

      1. No man Campbell is a striker, that is his position, he can also play on the wing because he has pace and skillfull but he is a center foward, a better one than Sanogo because

    1. Yes, a bit worrying to say the least that our best players over the last 4 or 5 matches have been the new boys; particularly AS and CC, and MD hasn’t shown himself up in comparison to our regulars.

  4. Very harsh on Flamini. I think he was the only one putting up a fight today. Monreal MOTM but because Alexis scored I understand why he got the award. I would not go for a 6 for Ozil as I believe 5 was the proper note and give Ramsey the 6 because of the switch with Flamini in the middle. When Flamini was up, Ramsey was to be seen deep. Very sterile performance, one would expect to score at least twice from the 24 chances created but that happens when you put an young and inexperienced kid upfront. I am pretty sure Wenger knew that.

  5. But let me ask? What has Sanogo ever done to warrant starting ahead of a world cup bright talent like Campbell?

    For real, is wenger just deluded or what? You leave out Campbell who has proved that he can handle the biggest stage of all (The World Cup) and continue over looking him for a BAMBI DANCING ON ICE player (Sanogo).

    Pathetic…

      1. Hafiz Rahman, undeniable fact indeed but what an understatement that “wenger will not change his tactics”! Rather say wenger will not change his stupid, fruitless, oppressing, thought-provoking, self-centered, and racially discriminable tactics. I wonder why this unusual wenger with unusual footballing philosophies remains somehow much too racial and adamant in his descision making. Diehard gunners all over the world, believe me, Wenger has lost his success-orientated managerial stance and so, the longer he remains Arsenal manager the higher our tension and the more deteriorating our state of health.

  6. @ KJ, why don’t you rate the manager ? but before that, make sure you do have below zero rating

  7. Why blame the players for the goal conceded? It was simply a brilliant cross and a perfect header. Not every attempt on goal can be stopped. Everybody is crying and bashing a 21 years old striker who actually did play decent, made proper runs and did his best to impact the game.

    I’m not expecting any top strikers or CDM tomorrow, we all thought Wenger had learnt from past mistakes but he hasn’t. Tomorrow he will probably panic buy some average players and pull out the usual excuses. As a team blighted with injuries for years we should be the team with the most depth in the EPL but our manager seems to ignore that fact.

    Every cat and dog knows what Arsenal needs, a top striker, good CDM and better tactics. How has Wenger not realized that playing Ozil on the wing is a waste of 42.5m? Everybody knows how to beat and that’s seen in every game! Park the bus and disrupt our ONLY style of play which is passing and then simply wait for us to lose the ball and counter attack. If Wenger loves his passing game so much, he should notice it has become less effective and at least advise players to practice their long shots more or something.

    I’m so tired of this summer transfer stress, rant over.

  8. The missing link in this game was the spirit “the fighting spirit” was not there at all. Body language all wrong, I am the biggest supporter of Ozil but have to admit he cared a hoot about winning. One player who showed up to play was Sanchez only. New signings may also not work, somehow the will to win was not there for this game and this needs to be drilled onto the players..
    So-NO-goals was just like a chick hatched out of an egg, trying to find his footings for such an important premier league game with 21 million Arsenal followers all around the globe!
    Pathetic..

  9. Sorry, I’ve lost my patience now.

    It is not Sanogo or Giroud the main problem, the main problem is Wenger that he choose not to buy quality main striker.

    It is not Flamini or Arteta the main problem, the problem is Wenger that he choose not to buy quality CDM.

    And even World Class Quality Player like Messi, C.Ronaldo, Bale, Suarez, etc, can NEVER EVER help the team IF they are not given a chance to play.
    That’s also the problem that we have quality player like Rosicky and Campbell, BUT Wenger choose to not given even a single chance for them to play. Rosicky and Campbell deserved a chance to proved their worth. They absolutely can improve our attacking performance IF they were given a chance to play. Rosicky can inject much creativity, spirit, directness, game making and dictating tempo ability, penetrating dribbles to break down the opponent defence, and much much more.

    Rosicky always makes things happen, not only with individual dribbling but with individual acceleration of his passing and of his runs.

    Unfortunately, Wenger is way too STUBBORN and too old.

    The main problem is Wenger, his poor team selection and his old tactic.

    Sadly, the FACT, in our last five matches, we still have a very serious problem in beating the likes of Crystal Palace, Besiktas(twice), Everton, and Now Leicester city.

    Chelsea beat Leicester, we draw.
    Chelsea beat Everton, we draw.

    If you really watch carefully our current performance, last five matches, we really need to improve. Our current performance are definitely not good enough.

    Unfortunately, Wenger is way too STUBBORN & too old to listen any advices.

  10. Man Utd have reportedly made an offer to buy (not loan) Falcao. This is probably due to RVP’s knee surgery and Chicarito joining Madrid. We shouldn’t forget they already have Rooney, Januzaj and Welbeck. I think we need Falcao more desperately than United. Should they get Falcao – and Vidal – then United could well be in the title mix come May…

    1. They already have RVP, Rooney, Mata and Janu

      4 world class players

      and they added Herra, Di Maria, Shaw, Rojo and Blind

      another 5 world class

      and they are on the verge of adding Vidal and Falcao…….

      time to go Wenger….

      1. Who the hell is Herra? And how do you think you can have a competitive team when you change half of it? That and not counting the fact that the debt is big as the house at the trafford. Only the healthy will survive.

        1. Andre Herrera world class spaniard… one of the players fans were shouting Wenger to sign last season too

      2. You hand out the “world class” tag a lot more freely with other team’s players Hafiz; Shaw, Rojo, Blind and Herrera world class – you sure? And I think RvP, Rooney and Mata on present and recent form don’t warrant the tag. AdM is the only bona fide world class player there with sufficient recent form to warrant the tag.

  11. Honestly, the Ulloa guy is better than any of the strikers at Arsenal. He has decent pace, a good height and can finish. I’m sure he’ll do no worse than either Giroud or Sanogo with the chances Walcott, Cazorla and Ozil are sure to provide. I’m not saying we should sign him, just stating the obvious.

  12. you forget wenger:

    wenger – 0,5.
    Old stubborn man, who think that sanogo is the new henry and do not believe in the DM.

  13. Sanogo simply shouldn’t be an Arsenal player. He doesn’t have the composure to score, horrendous first touch and misplaces loads of passes. I understand that he’s young and not the end product and that’s the reason he plays the way he plays. But quite frankly, I’ve had enough of watching young players being developed by us and them get sold when they realise their potential or simply not making it. We need to look to the here and now. We have great quality in this squad we just need that world beating forward to cap it all off. We need to invest in a quality forward. Whether it be Falcao, Cavani or Reus, it needs to be a player of that quality. Teams don’t win the league with a striker like Sanogo.
    Honourable mentions:
    Monreal looks like he’s been working hard. He’s gained muscle and seems to understand positioning better now. He’s stepped up so fair play to him.
    Sanchez also looks like he’s gunna be special.
    Based on current form, Wilshere is playing better than Ramsey. As they can’t play together, I would drop Rambo for the next game and play Wilshere. I’ve been a massive Wilshere critic but he’s looked good recently. The same can’t be said for Ramsey. Wilshere has earned his chance and Ramsey hasn’t been at the races so should make way. Next game we should play:
    Szczezny
    Debuchy Mert Kos Monreal
    Wilshere Chambers
    Sanchez Özil Campbell
    New striker
    Wilshere deserves his chance.
    Campbell, if hes staying, should also be in the starting lineup. Everytime I’ve seen him he’s looked like making something happen. Cruel to drop Ox because he’s been good but Joel should get a chance.
    Chambers would be a great screen in front of the back 4. Defensively minded but is competent with his feet. It would reduce the pressure on him playing at DM and would give him a chance to play regularly.

    1. @axelhare
      If you have to write such a long critique of what you think is wrong or needs changing without mentioning the manager that is surely pointing up a blind spot in your analysis?

  14. I’m gunna be thumbed down, but I don’t like all this Wenger bashing. A month ago you were all spunking over him saying how great he was because of this summers’ signings. Now after a few games, none of which we’ve lost and only one game that should’ve been a guaranteed win (Leicester) you all want him out. Yes we need to make a few signings and there’s a good chance that Wenger will make these signings. Guaranteed if Falcao and Carvalho were announced tomorrow you’d all be licking his arse again. There’s issues with the team but I have faith in Wenger to sort it out.

    1. even if we sign Falcao aor Carvalho….they have a good chances of playing in the reserves like Campbell

    2. I dont, mate. Is just that football fans are short of memory.. A fair bunch of us didnt wanted to say anything negative about the team when everything was looking so bright during the summer … I really believed that wenger changed… he didnt. Wenger tactis and phylosophy wont never change, he will keep playing ozil wide, he willl probably stick with sanogo for the next 4 months and he will only buy a centre back.

      1. Doesn’t make it right playing Ozil on the left but probably some obscure or subtle reason why he is doing it – but can’t see it persisting when Theo is back. AS will go left IMO.

  15. If your first touch is terrible you should not be playing for an EPL team, if a player still need to polish his first touch why the f*ck is he playing for Arsenal

  16. mighty City up next….do you expect this team to win or draw???

    most likely we willl get wacked again….

  17. We haven’t really strengthen our team. Debuchy similar to Sagna, Ospina similar to Fabianski and
    Chambers similar to Vermaelen. Sanchez is the only quality addition although he is more of a
    support striker or winger. We still have donkeys Sanogoal and average Giroud injured for 4 months.
    Campbell cant really get games because of useless Sanogoal and Podolski is also terrible playing
    at ST. We still haven’t signed a quality CDM. Arteta is old and weak, Flamini is more of a squad
    player and Diaby on glass. We also have just 3 CB and we have injury prone lb.

  18. Wenger’s judgement has deteriorated over the years. Maybe it’s age.

    Anyway, obviously we will destroy City.

  19. Its sad that 2 yrs later we still haven’t replaced RVP. Mind boggling that 9 yrs later we still haven’t replaced Viera and/or Gilberto.

    But hey, Arsenal forever

  20. Costa goal scoring ability of Jimmy Greaves. Strength of Sparky Hughes. Football brain of Frank Lampard. Hardness of Chopper Harris. Sanogo goal scoring ability of Steven Hawkings. Strength of Jimmy Kranky. Football brain of Barry Chuckle. Hardness of Arsene Wenger., not to mention Jimmy Savile

  21. Every year history will repeat. We will finish 4th on final day then next year Wenger will sign top
    quality CAM and our transfer business will be over then we will have 4/5 long term injuries in
    February and we will be trophy less.

  22. Thumbs up if you think Wenger will buy no one
    Thumbs down if you think Wenger will buy Falcao, Carvalho and Paspathopalos.

  23. Guys there is nothing we can do except rant on forums. This train has passed us buy. Nobody listens to fans, the only way they will ever listen to fans is if we stop buying tickets, stop buying merchandise and protest in the stadium and Arsenal fans are too stupid and too tame to do either.
    So we keep to our mental masturbation on the forums.

  24. Where are those Falcao rumours coming from? We are definitely not getting him on loan or permanently. He has Man City or Madrid written all over him, only a bottomless money pit can buy this guy and pay him the expected salary.

    We do need a striker but some of you should stop the crack habit…honestly, weeping like Sicilian widows…

    We can judge the transfer window TOMORROW NIGHT and no team, even City or Madrid have any divine right to win games (see week end results). You turn up on the pitch and you give a minimum of 100%…I have yet to see this from our team this season and they should take some responsibility for this as well as the manager for IMHO poor team selection.

  25. Nothing much has changed in terms of the team fluidity in the first few games. What is it down to? World Cup hangover? FA Cup hangover? All is not right at AFC. The body language is terrible. The application on the field is really sub-par. Confidence appears to be low.

    The international break couldn’t come at a better time. The team needs to regroup, refresh and get their mojo back.
    The good news – there’s only upside to our game!

    Perhaps more good news in the next 24 hours or so. My belief is that the transfers are lined up and the domino effect will come into play in the complicated business of transfers. A won’t sell until they confirm their purchase from B etc…

    Mad Monday is here!

  26. its about signing the right players for the right position and

    tactics……

    Wenger has failed badly in these 2 areas…..

  27. why da helldoes wenger loves sanogo so much… he even dont have the potencial, wasting time when campbell can learn tjhere

  28. Is it too much to hope that the draw with Leicester will shake Wenger up? If he has not lined up players to sign today, it is obviously too late for the transfer market, but it is also obvious to everyone except AW that his team selection is atrocious (most midfielders and forwards in the wrong positions, and in some cases the wrong players). Moreover, the team playing tactics need a serious overhaul. Any manager worth his salt, whose team plays against Arsenal, definitely does not need to shake in his boots at the thought. Even on a breakaway with 3 (Arsenal) against 2 (opposition) we will stop the play and pass the ball back to our ‘keeper (maybe a bit of an exaggeration) to allow the opposition to reorganise the defence. I get so frustrated I can SCREEEAAAM!!!!

  29. Its nice to see people comment on sanogood hold up play and runs but hell even Emile Heskey was quality at holding the ball up hence why he was Owen’s foil for so many years for England yet how many goals was he scoring a season? We want a striker who can score 20+ goals a season not Just some target man and can hold the ball up! Its not even the kids fault wenger is picking him when you have others (Campbell, poldolski and sanchez) with world cup and UCL experience. The kid should be out on loan…..

  30. we can buy what ever players we want, i dont think it will change much. we played 5 games now i have not seen any game with a commanding presence. beside Sanchez and chambers the rest were just working in a office. i think it has more to do with tactics and mentality. I just dont enjoy watching Arsenal anymore these last few years. only things saving use from loosing games are flashes or brillances from our exceptional players, because we do have them. we just need to make them play at their level.

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