Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea Player Ratings – Wenger MOTM!

Arsenal won the Community Shield yesterday and Jose Mourinho showed his true sulky self by throwing his losers medal into the crowd. Arsene Wenger could have gloated more but showed his class by letting the result speak for itself rather than Jose’s histrionics in defeat…

Petr Cech – 8
Our superconfident stopper didn’t have much to do, but kept the defence calm and relaxed when Chelsea threatened.

Hector Bellerin – 6.5
Possibly our weakest link defensively, but moved up and down the flanks showing promise at times. A few good passes and I think he will improve as the season progresses.

Laurent Koscielny – 8
As always the marshall in defence. Him and Cech are destined for geat things together this season.

Per Mertesacker – 7
The jury is still out but there is no doubt that Le Boss makes Per look better than he is. I expect him to be slowly eased to the bench this season with Gabriel appearing more regularly.

Nacho Monreal – 7.5
As usual did his job solidly without looking spectacular or ever perturbed. Will be first choice this season I am certain.

Francis Coquelin – 8
Carried on where he left last season. was not letting Chelsea intimidate him at any point and earned his expected yellow card although others may have deserved it more.

Santi Cazorla – 8
He’s here, he’s there, he’s every bloody where! Expect more great things this season.

Oxlade-Chamberlain – 8.5
His finish to slide it past Courtois was nothing short of spectacular. This could be his breakthrough season if we can keep him fit.

Ramsey – 7.5
Always involved and finding spaces in a congested game. Needs a bit of time to find his scoring boots again.

Ozil – 7
Looked a little overawed and suntanned to start with, but gradually became more influential as the game progressed. Will improve Iam sure.

Walcott – 7
Given his favoured centre-forward role over Giroud in the hope he could prise open the Chelsea defence. Tried hard but wasn’t given much space to run into. Maybe he will do better against slowerteams.

Subs
Giroud – 7
Not much improvement on Walcott given that we were on the defence.

Arteta – 6
Baffling substitution!

Gibbs – 6
Can’t really rate him on 8 minutes play but he had a golden opportunity to score, but Courtois foiled him.

Arsene Wenger – 9
Le Prof finally has the squad and tactics to beat Mourinho. Nowhe knows the secret can we hope for more of the same during the season proper?

Tags Koscielny The Ox Walcott

58 Comments

    1. Dont bring out unnecessary negativity around this site as we are all happy to have beaten Chelsea for the Cup. You smell Wengers ass to much as many fans do not even care about Wengers personal mojo with Moro.

  1. Can’t find a single Oyster shell around……. My best guess ……… they’ve all been occupied by chelski fans!

    1. I say the man of the match is Hazard.

      Hazard got to our box, sees Cech, says to himself, “F*ck, I’m at the wrong end, got to clear this box.

      1. @KickAssFan……..hahahaha …….it was audible, i did really hear hazard say to Cech… “why did i keep forgetting where our goal post was”

  2. I’m still in a state of shock and confusion to see that it’s only our blinkered Manager that doesn’t see any need to reinforce this paper thin squad with serious quality. He keeps up with his mantra,”if we find something exceptional, we’ll do it”, when all the special talents have either been bought by our competitors or are still sitting there and waiting for Wenger to wake up from his deep sleep! Apart from being blinkered, is there something fundamentally wrong with our Manager?

    1. @darkingbuds aka buzz killington da 3rd
      Give it a rest til you know better…At the moment you’re just lookin foolish…

      1. He’s not entirely wrong though. ..

        Cech
        ospina
        bellerin
        debuchy
        chambers
        kosc
        mert
        gibbs
        monteal
        coq
        arteta
        flamini
        wilsh
        rams
        cazorla
        øzil
        rosicky
        alexis
        oxlade
        walcott
        Welbeck
        giroud

        22 players – remove low quality players flamini and welbeck and we’re down to 20. Now OK, chelsea won Pl using 17, but that was alot of luck, not getting long term injuries and burnouts on important players. Oxlade injured – we put walcott on rw, but then we’re down to only giroud on top – we need a new rw/striker. Same with coq – rely on arteta as cover? Injury prone af – so flamini? No thanks.

        1. You’re missing Gabriel and Welbeck shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly and definitely not put down to the level of Flamini. That’s 22, 11 starters and 11 backup, also know as a complete squad.

          Chelsea have nothing like that; guess they are hoping for a completely injury free season again where people exclaim they are in crisis whenever they are missing a maximum of two players at one time (Costa and Fabregas).

          1. Slightly ironic how Chelsea’s awesome strength in depth is rammed down our throats all the time by the media and soon as Costa is out the excuses flow thick and fast. Or when Hazard disappears from the match who can they bring on? When you look at their reserve back 5 I only see Begovic and a raw Zouma. Our “reserve” back five is Ospina/Debuchy/Chambers/Gabriel/Gibbs – don’t care what anyone says that is decent back-up. Can’t remember us having that depth in the back 5 in my lifetime.

          2. Playing welbeck is 9/10 times playing with 10 people on the pitch. Only english fans rate him anything more than a routined Sanogo. Even that Korean guy who barely even made the bench every now and then is a better goalscorer than Welbz.

            I honestly don’t know what signing was the worst of Welbeck and Falcao on last deadline day.

            Cech
            Bellerin-Merte-Kosc-Monreal
            Coquelin-Cazorla
            Oxlade-Özil-Sanchez
            Giroud
            _____________________
            Ospina
            Debuchy-Gabriel-Chambers-Gibbs
            Arteta – Flamini
            Ramsey-Rosicky-Wilshere
            Walcott

            See anyone out of their role or anyone you wouldnt want to rely on if the 1st XI-player gets injured?

            I see a lack of wingers or a striker and a defensive midfielder. You can shove your “complete squad” up your pooper, that’s bullsh!t and you know it.

        2. @sevenitti
          Let’s start doubting when the time for it arrives.
          What happened last season or before, does not count for what will be. So yes, he is totally wrong…

          1. Now that i read the first comment again (the one i said not entirely was wrong) he makes things too dramatic. But we are in need of a striker/RW and a DM, because as I’ve said before

            1) If/when Ox gets injured, we have to play Walcott on RW. Should we also be unlucky to have Giroud injured, who are to play as a striker, Welbeck? No thanks. In total for striker and right wing, we have Giroud, Walcott and Oxlade, that is not quite ideal. (Not counting Welbeck due to his obvious lack of ability to score goals and contribute on a level required for a top top club. )

            2) If Coquelin gets injured, we have to play Arteta. Now originally Arteta is a fair cover, but seeing how he is more likely to be out with injury than Coquelin, I would rather have someone else than Flamini to step in.

    2. You say Wenger sees NO NEED to acquire any new players. How do you know this? Do you have a wire tap on his telephone? Telepathy? Please teach me your trick.

  3. 33days running………. Boy! We need those signings……… It will break cheLski’s heart and give em no reason to hope

    1. Nah!……..They always be finding a way to overlook Theo’s relevance…… But it was clear yesterday

  4. Your article seems to be glorifying mediocrity by awarding a 9 to a Manager that has just managed to overcome his nemesis in one out of 14 games even in a somewhat friendly meaningless game that will have no bearing come May 2016! This man must think he can walk on water with people like you cheering him on!!!! Keep giving me the thumbs down while I keep telling the truth about the state of our team

    1. @buds of arse
      Your opinion is only truth to “you”. It has no universal influence, nor does it hold any factual weight in reality’s grand scheme…

      1. @NY_Gunner
        Tell all our ex-players and managers that and most of all our celebrity fan Piers Morgan whom by the way I agree so much with!

        We won’t win anything of note this summer with this team! Perhaps, the Carling Cup or customary FA Cup?

        Thank you!

        1. @buds of arse
          Out of all those “ex players/managers” and celebrities. Who of them are currently involved with the inner workings of the club? FCKn ZERO
          So them like you do not matter in the grand scheme of things…

        2. Do you know what most clubs would give just for a chance at the FA Cup final???

          But according to you the FA Cup is not a trophy “of note.” So I guess that leave only 2 accomplishments that can satisfy you sensibilities – League Title and Champs League.

          Whatever happened to just finding pleasure in each outstanding performance?? Do find any pleasure at all in watching football? Doubtful. You must get your fix from lifting the exact right trophy or you enter a deep depression. Chasing the Football Dragon.

          Seems like you need a club that guarantees certain trophies each season. There is no such team but I might suggest you look to Baraca, Real Madrid or perhaps Bayern. Those clubs just might come closer to meeting your DEMANDS.

  5. Mertesacker really worries me. Its like koscielny has to work overtime to compensate for him.
    Wenger said that Chelsea tried to score the perfect goal because they knew cech’s quality and I totally agree with it. This thing is now gonna help us through the whole season, whenever a team will try to score against us they will feel the need to score a perfect goal and thus they will end up with less goal attempts. Fortunate to have cech!!

    1. Le Boss was awesome. He just plays single man central defense. Mertesackers redeeming factor is that he is too slow to get in the way. Makes for the perfect partnership, complete opposites. One is a great defender, the other isn’t…

  6. The win against Chelsea still feeeelssss soooo good. Got to work this morning and a colleague of mine said welldone Arsenal’, My manager (Mourinho) Should relax and stop talking rubbish. I smiled and reply ‘Call mi CECH’ Lol.

  7. Cech was excellent and Arteta not as bad as everybody say he hasnt played long time. He will become better and can be used as sub in many matches
    But when walcott plays as sole striker, every long ball from our keeper or defenders will go directly to opposite team. There is nobody who can take the long balls or throw ins. Walcott is still lacking defensive skills and he cant head the ball. Giroud is much better in that aspect but he lacks pace. if you have both Walcott and Giroud on the pitch you have to sacrifice a player like Alexis or Ox or …. so this is the dilemma
    The solution: A world class striker and use both walcott and Giroud as sub

  8. Cech does really have the positive influence on the team. Also presence of Cech can strike fear into opposition teams a bit. Even Hazard who could have scored a goal from a close range, blew it over the crossbar. Hope to have more clean sheets and a good defensive record.

    To some of the fans who are mentioning the need of striker repeatedly, we all know that very well, including Wenger. He is just waiting for the right moment, for the player to be made available. If the player(a top player who we really need) is being made available, and still Wenger doesn’t signs him, then the critics can criticize him. Until that, let us give him time.

  9. Good pre season game but what can we say about Chelsea manager well #prick
    It was our team parking a bus by the way I could live with 1-0 to the arsenal every week. He said it’s the playing filed then his players were not protected? Thing is this man has always had the cash any player he wants but I think that will slow down no seeing as they want a new stadium. The man is a child end of. When he was at Madrid he never had the beating of Barcelona even with all that money so is he the best ? I don’t no and if he has to do what arsenal did over the last 12 years would he stay or go. This season will see 2 of his best players go EH and JT if the big teams want EH they will come and get him.
    J M just get on with it and stop the mind games coz you still have a better team then us

  10. OFF TOPIC

    IF I WERE MOURSHITNO I WOULD JUST SHUT UP. HE WON ALL THESE GAMES AGAINST WENGER BECAUSE OF ONE MAN, DIDIER DROGBA. OUR DEFENSE YEAR IN YEAR OUT COULD JUST NOT HANDLE HIM. DROGBA MADE MOURSHITNO SUCCES AGAINST US. NOW THAT THE BOY IS GONE ANOTHER CHAPTER STARTS. I M NOT SAYING THAT WE WILL WIN ALL OUR GAMES AGAINST CHELSEA BUT THINGS WON T BE THE SAME ANYMORE.
    I ALSO NOTICED ONE THING. MOURSHITNO ATTAKS WENGER AS AN EASY TARGET. THE GUY COULD BE MAYBE HIS DAD BUT NO RESPECT. WHY? BECAUSE LIKE HIM HE WAS A STRANGER, A FRENCH MAN. DO YOU THINK MOURSHITNO WOULD OR WILL DO THE SAME TO A BRITISH MANAGER? HE IS CLEVER, HE CALLS SIR ALEX FERGUSON HIS FRIEND, HE KNOWS WHY. HIS CAREER IN UK WOULD HAD ENDED AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE FERGUSON OR ANY OTHER BRITISH MANAGER WOULD HAD HAD THE MEDIA SUPPORT.
    ADMIN PLEASE SEND THIS NOTE TO MOURSHITNO FOR ME .
    CHARITY SHIELD, ARSENAL 1 ….CHELSEA 0…

    1. For this season, Wenger 2 … Mourinho 0
      The first one is for the signing of Cech in front of Jose’s big nose

  11. I am pretty sure though no one is interested in ratings….we all just wanna see Maoaninho’s face again……priceless ….!!!….Chamerlain must start at the Emirates on weekend……

    1. Some fans forget that Ox was playing so well at RW last season that he was the only gunner to appear in every game prior to his injury. Ox is giving the LW opposition absolute fits. They don’t know how to handle him short of putting 2 or 3 defenders on him.

      If they guard against him going deep he goes to the end line he cuts it back to the middle. If they guard against that he goes central and does what he did yesterday. If they double team him the middle is open for other gunners. Ox is a huge attacking tool for Wenger.

      1. The impressive thing is that two of the LBs he has delivered a personal living hell to were two of the better LBs around Europe – Azpillicueta and Wolfsburg’s Rodriquez.

  12. Every manager has a personal way of playing which they do play. Just like Wenger, Moro has played always the same tactics. Draws and wins are easier to get by playing like this, but its way to ugly to wach. Our style has changed to the worst, but like this i can see us win something big this year, with one signing or 2. COYG

    1. Rambo on the bench. What has he done all preseason? I see Sanchez getting a sub appearance – heck, I won’t be surprised if Wenger starts him even.

      1. For the WH game I think Ramsey will definitely play because Sanchez and likely Welbeck and Wilshere will be unavailable.

        But in general I also see Rambo on the bench but NOT because of poor form. I think he offers so much to the attack.

        But quite simply there seems to be no room for him as a 1st choice starter this season considering the current makeup of the team.

        Cazorla-Coq
        Ox-Ozil-Sanchez
        Walcott or Giroud Up Front. (My choice Walcott)

        Right now those are the best players for the positions. It is simply a matter of elimination. And if Wenger acquires another attacker, the available starting opportunities will continue to diminish.

        In the end Wenger will need to find a steady rotation system to get great players like Wilshere and Ramsey on the pitch often. It may be injuries that force the changes. And Wenger will certainly find ways to get Ramsey on the pitch often.

  13. I once reiterated before the knock out punch on maweeno that wenger needs to out smash the puppet 1 to smithereens and Theo walcott is not the GOal to man…

    Your wenger’s rating is astute and brilliant but theo walcott is slightly bias. I’ll normally wanna rate him 5 but for the assist I’ll add 1 which I’m compelled to rate him a justified 6!.

    I got a lot of sticks when i enumerated on the favorite long serving son of wenger and the sentimental followers of theo walcott. This big beef match crucially and critically analyzes theo strength and lorry load of weaknesses.

    Ariel duel poor

    Physical combat poor

    Ball on/at speed mode excellent

    Link up play poor

    Strike at goal poor

    Dribble speed average

    Explosive speed a threat to at least an aging john terry excellent

    Creativity (apart from the single assist to the magnificent ox which doesn’t add much weight to is overall match creativity to be self productive) poor

    striking instinct poor

    Shot on target (1) a weak header poor

    Shot on goal poor (although debatable no clear through pass but he still lacks creativity to provide space for himself like a suarez esque)

    Team work average

    In conclusion, Theo Walcott is a great player when utilize in his best position a winger while he can skim or strike inward to surprise the opposition. Other than that he is less effective as the main striker which in turn undermines the balance and cohesiveness of the team. Arsene need to cap this transfer window with at least a formidable striker who has an impeccable ability to be dangerous and score goal(s) in big matches. It’s crucial to covert our chances especially against big clubs which will not incur us on the madness in defending as if our life depends on it alibi the Arsenal-chelsea game for instance and signing an upgrade to our strikers will give us a step above the odds of losing or drawing or sustaining a winning point.

    Ps! A Benzema is will just about be ok for now.

    Coyg.

    1. So let me get this straight……

      Since coming back from a 14 month injury layoff Walcott has started in 3 competitive matches in which he played great in 2 games and scored 4 goals as Arsenal won all 3 games and 2 trophies – all that in just 3 games.

      But because Walcott was quiet and only had an assist in the 1-0 victory over the league champions in this 1 game, while playing fantastic in the other 2, you have now decided Walcott is not worth sh#t as a striker. Do I have that right?

      And because of that short-sighted analysis we should then also throw Ox to the bench when he has clearly been the best RW since the start of last season? Do I have that right?

    2. Sorry but you’re flat out wrong on a number of points here. You’ve tried to “sugar coat” your point by saying Theo is a great player when utilized correctly out wide but for the most part you’ve just slagged Theo into the ground just by stating as fact he is bad at all elements of the game. Specifically you used 1 game to illustrate this and did so without understanding what occurred in the game AND how pivotal Theo actually was to our success yesterday.

      1. Ariel duel poor
      Aerially Theo is not strong. This is well known and will not be debated. What you fail to see is, however, we didn’t really play the ball in the air to him. Until the second half we were playing the ball to feet – which results in no problem by not being a dueling forward. His runs in the box enable him to win the ball aerially to score headers as highlighted by his excellent movement for the freekick. Theo does not need to be a aerial duelist – if he is playing up top our game plan will not include this. When it became vital yesterday for us to start winning duels in order to retain posession – Wenger made the change. Good management AND nothing against Theo.

      2. Physical combat poor
      Sorry but other than aerially losing the ball I didn’t see Theo lose the ball from going shoulder to shoulder and being muscled out. In fact he shielded Terry and Cahill several times in the game when he’d drawn them out wide and laid off passes to other players. He certainly wasn’t “poor” in this aspect.

      3. Link up play poor
      Clearly watched a different game to me. Our goal came from Theo’s good link up play. Furthermore, he was consistently getting the ball and moving it, before making good runs to create space. His link play was perfectly acceptable for a non-creative member of the team.

      4. Strike at goal poor/Striking instinct poor/shot on target poor/shot on goal poor
      Oh my gosh – you broke his shooting into 4 categories to say “He didn’t have many shots”. Chelsea closed our attack down loads. NOBODY on our team got shots away in that game really, the fact is Chelsea defended well. Theo didn’t get any oppurtunities in the game to face up a single player and then shoot, or didn’t get any crosses into positions where he could finish them. Truth of the matter is that he did nothing wrong in this regard and you’ve decided to slate him. His 1 shot was a GOOD header, but it was from an awkward position with limited power on the ball against a good keeper. Courtouis still had to work to make the save. Certainly nothing wrong with his shooting ability on show today, because there frankly wasn’t the chance to showcase it.

      5. Creativity poor
      This one annoys me the most. You are saying Theo – a running forward – is not creative enough. Do you expect him to be picking out 40 yard passes to himself or sliding through balls onto other attackers? Do you expect him to be taking on a player 1 on 1 and beating him to create space? Ok, maybe you expect that last one, but when Chelsea play 3 men always around him, his better option is to create space via other means than dribbling. And this is EXACTLY what he did all game. He was making constant runs off the ball to push the defence deeper and ensure Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Ox and Coquelin all got more space and time on the ball. His runs weren’t just haphazard offside runs either (like Remy) – they were educated, well timed, well directed runs designed to move Terry or Cahill according to where we most needed space. His creativity is OFF the ball. In that game he created more opportunities by not being on the ball then Cesc created while he was on it!

      In Conclusion – you are biased against Theo in the sense you’ve already decided he is not a CF. There are problems to his game – it does limit us tactically BUT as proven yesterday we can actually play to those strengths quite nicely thank you very much. It’s like saying that Messi isn’t a great Forward because he can’t compete physically with Terry or Cahill. Do you know how silly that sounds?

      I’ll add one more thing because you’ve brought it up again – which CF do you believe we should sign who is actually available? Karim Benzema will just about be ok? Well seeing as Karim Benzema is UNAVAILABLE how the heck is he “ok”? Realistically the only strikers you could see moving are Lacazette or Cavani. There is not 10 Suarez level strikers you can just go out and buy. There is maybe 10 strikers in the WORLD of the level you want and they are already populating the teams above is in world rankings. We have not got the money to change that situation so WHY keep prattling on about something impossible? The BEST option we’d have is signing a striker maybe a little tiny bit better, but not hugely better by any stretch, than Theo or Giroud…except I think they’ve all already moved. So get over it.

      1. Great comment. There aren’t too many strikers better than Giroud and Walcott to be honest. Walcott will do good against 70% of EPL teams. Lets hope the Akpom loan works out well so we can get an internal solution to our striking problems.

  14. You míssed one rating…

    The look on Mou s face….10

    And while we re at it…the look in Terry’s face. ..10!

    1. The entire Chelsea squad was stunned. I think they had started to believe the hype and the nonsense coming out of their manager’s mouth.

      joozhey likes to influence the game off the pitch with his propaganda. Arsenal reminded him the game is ultimately played ON THE PITCH.

  15. My opinion is based on a foundation of fact and a good x.ray diagnosis on Theo. I refuse to cloud myself with sentiments and your overdose of THEOLOGY and touch not anointed one syndrome is pathetic. While you painstakingly try to drive your point to the gallery, pitching in another player(ox) to score your self a pretentious point is ridiculous.”Man my assertion is not about theo and other players in any position” it basically about theo’s efficiency has a top striker.

    Moreover, before you give me another knee jerk reaction, base your analysis on theo the new reborn striker. Neglect your bias opinion and your sympathy towards is injury and the long story how the next tsunami hit china. Call a spade a spade analyze theo’s performance without looking for a red carpet for safe landing, I know you’ve a soft spot for him.

    We know is just back from injury! We know he scored 1 goal per match and a hatrick against a lesser team before now but is he reliable? Is he consistent? Is he a natural striker? Is he a 25-30man goal machine? Is he a big game scorer? Is he ?

  16. @ffanatic

    Apparently, you’ve done a good job in stretching the TRUTH. Basically you hit home some striking point but you stretch it out to its breaking point by putting in pocket holes of bias and exaggerated assertions.

    Religiously speaking It is obvious your loyalty for theo is unmatched. It’s obvious you are a theo apologist and his game will forever speak for itself, you can infuse whatever you like, Theo does not have the attribute of a great striker and he will only give you high work rate and flashes of brilliance and not the real deal alibi a deadly striker. Take it or leave it as far as I’m concerned he’s a grade B striker.

  17. Apparently, you’ve done a good job in stretching the TRUTH. Basically you hit home some striking point but you stretch it out to its breaking point by putting in pocket holes of bias and exaggerated assertions.

    Religiously speaking It is obvious your loyalty for theo is unmatched. It’s obvious you are a theo apologist and his game will forever speak for itself, you can infuse whatever you like, Theo does not have the attribute of a great striker and he will only give you high work rate and flashes of brilliance and not the real deal alibi a deadly striker. Take it or leave it as far as I’m concerned he’s a grade B striker.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors