Arsenal hit a new low after back-to-back wins against Liverpool and Manchester City as they were beaten 1-0 by a hard-working Aston Villa side.
It was a terrible display, not a single shot on goal, outplayed in midfield, no passion, no creativity and a mentality that can only be described as weak.
Arsenal player ratings
Emiliano Martinez – 7
Didn’t have much for most of the game. not at fault for goal and did his job when required.
Rob Holding – 5
Poor game, no idea what happened to his change in performance.
David Luiz – 5
Struggled with the trickery and pace of Villa’s attacking players and the frustration from giving away fouls might be the reason he was substituted.
Sead Kolasinac – 4
Still struggling when he plays as a centre back and he was still unconvincing in this game. Booked for his troubles.
Cedric Soares – 4
Could have done better for Aston Villa’s goal and wasn’t productive enough when he went forward.
Dani Ceballos – 6
Worked tirelessly to get Arsenal back into the game. Tried his best to create chances for his teammates, but it just didn’t come off for them today.
Lucas Torreira – 4
Should have helped Arsenal hold possession more, but hardly did that. Struggled to mark Villa’s attacking players and was shown up as a very mediocre midfielder.
Bukayo Saka – 5
Tried his best to get Arsenal on the front foot in the attack, but like most of his teammates, it didn’t just come off for him today.
Eddie Nketiah – 4
Wasn’t allowed much space to press the villa defence as he would have liked. Almost scored from a header but hit the post.
Alexandre Lacazette – 4
Held on to the ball for too long, looked tired and Villa defenders were always quick to dispossess him.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 3
Very very disappointed in our captain, looked like he could not be bothered and what was that at the corner for their goal. This was not a captain’s performance.
Substitutes
Granit Xhaka – 5
Did his best to try to get Arsenal back into the game, but Villa were resolute and he was reduced to making passes that didn’t really do anything.
Nicolas Pepe – 4
Was crowded almost every time he had the ball. Struggled to beat his man and create a good opening for his team.
Kieran Tierney – 4
Brought energy to Arsenal’s game. But he offered no threat, his touch was awful, probably his worst display in an Arsenal shirt.
Manager
Mikel Arteta – 3
Got it wrong from the team line up onwards, could not motivate the players at all and the buck stops with the manager.
Ratings from Ime
It seems we got paid back for what we did against City. Although we lost but for me i still give them the credit. Villa needed it the most.
Ceballos worked tirelessly by spraying good passes around the pitch. Decent display from the Spaniard. Xhaka didn’t do enough to get 5
David luiz is the only one i saw making some penetrative passes and maybe a very few from others.
Cedric worked tirelessly but his crosses were not very good and defensively he was at fault for the goal(but hard to say that as well because that shot is just💯)
Kolasinac cant defend 1v1 or collectively.
Holding was poor and slow.
Saka,torreira struggled defensively but saka was good going forward.
Ceballos and xhaka are my joint MOTMs and the latter made a difference when he came on.Both passed really well but couldnt generate chances much but they really tried
The front 3 struggled.Auba had some chances in which he should have done more but really cant blame Auba right?
And a small point on nketiah.Please never sell him,the way he got his head on to the ball with the likes of mings marking him is just really awesome.He is class.
Auba can be blamed. There’s that awful delivery he made with Eddie right in front of him.
What a difference a few days make! I gave them all 10 on Saturday…… now back to earth with a thud…. was disappointed with all of them last night… wouldn’t give any of them above 5 and certainly couldn’t pick a MOTM!!!
👍
I actually think the result, but more importantly, the performance, came at the perfect time as the league was dead anyway. There is always a danger of getting carried away after some wins. Even winning the FA Cup in the past was only papering over the cracks.
The Villa defeat is a timely reminder that there is still so much to do at Arsenal. Auba, and Laca starting together rarely works, our squad is the worst in over 30 years, too many inconsistent players, Arteta’s first ever season as a manager (so we have no reference point in regards to his ability), and so on.
I am infused with Arteta, and I feel we’re slowly moving the right direction, despite not improving in the league in regards to position. I just hope he gets the backing, and we can FINALLY offload our deadwood!
Agree 💯
The unpopular opinion here is, realistically, Laca is a better CF than Auba, Auba is a better second striker than Laca. The truth is they complement each other and aren’t interchangeable.
I agree to an extent but over half that team were fully fit and rested. Apart from Auba, Laca, Ceballos and Luiz. The rest of them were awful considering they were fresher. If I was Arteta I would be questioning if any of them were even trying to prove they should be there next year?
It seems evident that our inability to get the ball forward without the usual sideways and backwards passing is ever present. Our style of play is limited only by the inabilities of individuals who persist on reverting back to “usual habits”. I just hope Arteta is able to change the squad enough over the summer to improve our midfield and defence. Because it’s a damn shambles still!
I just hope we get the performance we saw against City last week in the final and not the performance we saw in the final last year against Chelsea!
Bloody hell how long will it take to offload the deadwood?! We’ve been doing it for what seems like an eternity 😄
Try to stay calm, Sue. I sense your blood pressure rising again! 😡
😂😂
I agree TMJW. The only positive is that this brought the club back down to earth and we see how many of these players are not good enough to go another full season with. That includes players like Lacazette, Torreira, Ceballos (id take a loan, but we need another creative player)
It’s dissapointing that the players who were fresh played worst. Lucas Torreira should be the freshest arsenal mid in the squad, but he looked like he played against City. we need an alternative to Xhaka. We’ve been down this road before where the ball just won’t move without Arteta in the middle . I actually remember a time when we had to field him injured just so we could get into the UCL . Arteta can’t allow history to repeat itself. Curb the reliance while we still can. There needs to be a plan for how to play without his long passes. Fair ratings. Couldn’t be arsed to argue.
Ceballos to me was by some way our best player and he would be even more productive in a 4-3-3 system .I’m afraid Holding is not suited to playing on the right of a back three where his lack of pace is exposed..As for Kolasinac and Torreria, they have not been good acquisitions and along with a number of others they need to be moved on.I thought the Villa centre backs did very well .
I watched Holding on numerous occasions as he looked to his team mates every time he failed to deal with a situation. He was like a rabbit in headlights sometimes. He just can’t seem to concentrate or focus!?
Don’t even get me started on Kolasinac (Grug)!! 😠
Grug 😂 He’s driven me mad lately.and his hair is too bloody short!! 😄
Hi brain is a bit short too, Sue! 🤣 🤣
🤣🤣
Can’t really argue with the ratings though thought Aubameyang perhaps a 5 for effort but can’t see how Martinez gets a 7 for doing nothing, should be a 5 IMHO.
Declan, very harsh on Martinez, he made a couple of good saves and wasn’t at fault for Villa’s goal.
The team as a whole didn’t turn up and games aren’t won on the team sheet.
In terms of Arteta getting a 3 it’s difficult to say he should get more than that There were very tired legs and minds out there but I’m sure he was hoping that the team he put out could and should have dispatched Villa. That said they had more to gain by retaining PL status. The EL via the league was pie in the sky in my opinion as the others above are in better shape And probably Arteta knew that. Nobody shone. It was if they had all the time in the world to beat Villa; an expectation rather than driving on and getting the job done
I hope that ratings are 8 and above for the final because last night was decidedly wishy washy
Odd assessment … the attack was toothless and lifeless … 3s all round … the midfield was directionless though never lost grip of it … 4s all round with a 5 for ceballos who at least worked hard … the defence didn’t do much wrong but wasn’t really tested … criticism of holding and soares for not being more forward minded a bit unfair holding actually looked reasonably composed just nothing in front of him and soares made plenty of crosses in to box though not decisive ones … right side was better when tiernay came on but he never got in to a groove … simply an absence of quality and determination on pitch … the difference with man city on both fronts also against a relegation team fighting for survival is obvious … front foot from the start … new players the only answer to mid table blues
Just seen the video of the goal again with the close up of Aubamayang joking with Mings before the corner is taken and then Mings peels away as the corner comes in and Aubamayang is left for dead. Then they score. 🤬
That hasn’t gone down very well…..
Starting with the manager, he gets a 1 for me…
How anyone can choose an unbalanced forward line like that is beyond me. A forward line should have at least one winger. No illusions!!!
The rest of the players get 3 bar Martinez, Ceballos and Luiz who get 5.
People keep having illusions that the likes of Holding, Chambers, will come good. Keep dreaming. Even the Torreiras, Guendouzis, Xhaka simply have no technical skills to play in a midfield of a top team.
My conclusion on the defenders is that they don’t practice passing in training.
That’s why you’ll have to expect back passing from now on.
SueP Who are going to be daft enough to buy them and as for Pepe the man with the ball out ran Pepe £72 million the picked him the should be fired it a pity they don’t after go in front of Sir Alan Sugar or they would be gone long ago
Que?
Our youth academy is shit, look at youth players like rashford, greenwood, foden, mount,glimour, they are improving and look at our youth players like nketia who is a striker he can’t even hold the ball for a second and can’t pass , our overhyped youth players have one decent game in whole season and get the contract extension,