Arsenal player ratings – A mixed bag with some players doing a lot better than others.
Well, that was a game of contrasts in what was a typical FA Cup tie. All credit to Leeds United, they look the real deal and promotion to the Premier League is on the cards.
Arsenal, on the other hand, had a shocker in the first half, improved in the second and have been rewarded with a fourth-round tie at Bournemouth.
Arsenal player ratings
Martinez – 8
I thought he should have been named the man of the match because if it was not for him Leeds could have been a couple of goals up in the first half.
Sokratis – 6
Did not have the best of games but I am making allowances for being played out of position and his improvement in the second half.
Holding – 4
Had a bad game as simple as that. I cannot get on his back though because he was clearly in desperate need of game time.
Luiz – 4
Terrible in the first half and better in the second, overall, a below-average performance.
Kolasinac – 4
Looked sluggish and I question if he is really fully fit.
Guendouzi – 6
Did his usual stuff, very energetic, won some balls, did some good passes, made some poor decisions and so on.
Xhaka – 4
On another day he could have been sent off, was very reckless, poor with the ball, created nothing and was ineffective.
Nelson – 7
Scored the winner and ran his heart out. He is getting better and this sort of game will have helped his education.
Ozil – 4
Same old Ozil in the first half and just a slight improvement in the second half. It could well be tiredness.
Pepe – 6
Frustratingly inconsistent. He has these thrilling runs but not often enough, he has to search for the ball more and that means sometimes crossing the half way line to find the ball and get involved.
Lacazette – 5
I have heard some opinions that he had a good game and was a true leader but I just never saw that. I saw him very wasteful with the ball, falling over all the time, petulant and he never looked like scoring. Perspective, hey?
Subs
Martinelli – 6
I thought he was a breath of fresh air when he came on. Every time he got the ball he looked capable of doing something with it. To me, a better option than Lacazette.
Willock – 5
Average score as not on long enough really.
Saka – 5
Same as Nelson
Manager
Arteta- 8
The players let him down in the first half and whatever he said to them at half time worked. He passed his first real big test of adversity.
I agree with most of them, although I would drop Holding down to a 3 given he was our worst player. I would also like to see Martinelli start ahead of Laca, and move Auba centrally.
Very biased unrealistic rating Admin Mart.
David Luiz rated 4, the same as Holding who was atrocious? Luiz had two misplaced passes while Holding had 7 and three of those led to goal opportunities for the Leeds players.
Martinez does not deserve more than a 7 despite his saves in the first half, he contributed to the defensive lapses by his poor passes and very poor distribution.
Kolasinac deserves the 4, as he was ineffectual in attack despite not being overworked in defence as Leeds barely used his wing.
Socrates, on the other hand deserves a 6 for his resilience in an unfamiliar position and his improvement in the 2nd half. Most leeds attacks were directed at his wing.
Guendozi deserves the 6 you gave him but Xhaka deserves a 5, lacked tactical and positional awareness hence the needless fouls which should have earned him an eventual red card. Improved his work rate in the second half but output was still the same. Ozil deserves a 5 as he was completely anonymous in the first half even though his defenders and midfielders failed to get him on the ball.
Pepe, deserves a 6 for effort in the second half but very poor decision making and abandoned Socrates in the first half.
Nelson despite his scuffed goal deserves a 6 not a 7 as he was the poorest midfielder bar his goal. Did not complete a single cross.
Looks more headless than a headless Walcott.
Lacazette who was rightly voted man of the match deserves a 7. He wasn’t brilliant but led admirably from the front and worked his socks off, providing the assist for Nelson’s goal.
Matinelli, Saka and Willock didn’t have enough time to impress. Martinelli was a live wire though.
Arteta deserves a 7 and not an 8. He did oversee one of the poorest 1st half displays by Arsenal in recent times. He only gets a 7 because we turned it around and won.
We could have easily lost this match in the first half if Leeds had taken any of their numerous chances.
Nice comment.
Holding, Nelson and most other British players in the team usually get slightly higher ratings than they deserve, but in a way it’s understandable.
The fact that no team has offered even 20M for them despite being home grown English players playing for Arsenal speaks volumes of them being overrated.
When our scouting improves and Arteta becomes renowned for developing talent, we will get Brit talents in the mould of Sancho or Sterling.
Xhaka had a good game. He fought hard for the team. He has a great attitude and I think he deserves a seven. Yes he had many fouls but no cards or goals resulted. He is trying really hard and it’s time the fans supported him. He was way better than a four.
Verg unfair on Lacazette, as he did not fall over, but was fouled at every opportunity. If Xhaka was lucky, so were the Leeds players who cynically fouled Lacazette.
By the way on BBC post match, Wright, Shearer et al gave Lacazette MOTM.
Martinez was excellent and fully deserved 8.
With regard to the 8 for Arteta, “the players let him down”, has been appropriate under Wenger, Emery, Ljundberg and now Arteta. From all reports he gave them a verbal flogging at half time.
Did we watch the same match man? Loads of unfair ratings here. The first half everyone was below par, EVERYONE. In the second half everyone upped their game. I just don’t honestly agree especially with Socratis, Xhaka, Lacca, Luiz and Ozil..
Holding was extremely poor giving the ball away numerous times in our third of the field which means we could not get the ball forward in the first half. Pepe also poor. A lot of fancy hanging onto the ball and he doesn’t pass which slows us down going forward and the end product is that he doesn’t bring Ozil or Lacazette into the game and he loses the ball. Guendouzi also poor. Drifts around and hangs onto the ball until he loses it. This upset the balance and dynamics of the team.
A far better second half and great to see some steel from the players in seeing the win through. Also good to see Ozil putting in a shift and tracking back even though he was starved of the ball. Also amazed and earned the commentators respect
Only someone with no football brain would give Nelson a 7 and ozil a 4 … Lacazette was considered man of match by BBC pundits here he’s considered a tad better than holding who was woeful … Quality is clearly in the eye of the beholder
There are many ways to disagree. You don’t need to be rude.
Skysports gave Martinez Man of the Match..
So its all abt opinions
It is hard to rate players on a performance like this. But given they corrected their poor first half in the second half and won, I would tend to overweight their second-half performances.
Holding was poor but let’s support the guy instead of putting him down. He is still coming back from a horrific injury that some never fully return from. This was his first game in a while. We will need to be patient but let’s be happy he got this game under his belt. He does not need us to tell him about his poor passing and poor decisions. He needs more games. We desperately need him to gain confident with Chambers out.
I thought Xhaka was great in the second half and took the trope the ref gave him and dominated the middle of the park (a little). And you know I was not a Xhaka fan and we know he is at his best when he plays with Torreira and he doesn’t team up well with Guendouzie.
Laca worked hard but his game is really of and that’s a problem going forward if he doesn’t up the ante. If it wasn’t for his work rate he should be on the bench.
Sokratis was a revelation to me. I would have never thought he could play as a right full-back which he showed he can actually do. He was MOTM for me.
I think Pepe is slowly growing into British football, this guy seems a threat any time he gets a bit of space. Let’s hope Arteta can help him improve the final part of his actions.
I was super impressed with yesterday’s game. It was always going to be hard to get up after the Man U game and get a result but the second half showed me we improving our mentality and fighting spirit.
Ask yourself what the result would have been with Emery in charge? IMO we would have lost this game by 3.
Admin Mart giving Holding a 4 same as Luiz? C’mon man! fear calling a spade a spade? Holding was poor, repeatedly gave away the ball (7 times) to opposition in dangerous areas. Luiz was ALWAYS covering/supporting him. He (luiz) could’ve thrown a temper tantrum like Xhaka did but chose to suffer in silence despite holding’s poor positioning and weird passing throughout the game and for that he gets a 4 same as holding! Cant we be fair to luiz for once?
Admin Mart Bar the goal. Tell me what contribution Nelson had on the match. He was the worst player on the field along with Holding. I understand your Ozil rating because I am aware of your hatred for him… Why would someone rate Nelson ahead of Ozil. The entire team had a bad first half performance and you all keep putting it on Ozil. Deluded fans
I think the problem is that people are biased against Ozil. He suffered from the entire team’s poor performance in the first half. You can not press on your own. Pressing is a team activity. To run around as an nr 10 on your own chasing the ball is a waste of energy and he knows that.
As soon as the team picked up its intensity and pressing in the second half Ozil matched that. To me, he is our most intelligent player and to say he is not willing to put an effort in is not accurate IMO.
well I do think these ratings are well off imo
We didn’t do what we’ve done in the last 2-3 games in the first half, and credit to leeds for the way they came at us, they man marked our players pretty much all over the pitch in the first half, pressed like we did against UTD and really should have been infront by HT.
Luiz a 4??? wow you really don’t like him do you?
my ratings
Martinez – 8 superb performance from our no2
holding 4 – needs games and fitness but was overall poor
Kola – 5 didn’t deal with attacks in first half down his flank, and yes there was attacks down his side
Sokratis – 7 played the position very well, some nice tackles and held the ball up well in 2nd half
Sideshow bob – 6 nothing spectacular, did well at times gaining ground and winning a few smart free kicks
Xaka -7 could have gone off but he didn’t, tough tackling which for me showed some much needed desire in the middle
Nelson – 6 didn’t do much in either half, was lucky to get the goal
Laca – 8 was sluggish in the 1st half, but in the 2nd worked his socks off, clipped the bar with a difficult FK
Pepe – 6 some glimpses of potential but wasn’t involved enough, really want to see some of that pace.
Martinelli – 7 class act when came on, showed maturity in holding the ball up to close down the clock, deserves more game time
Wilock – 5 didn’t have much time
Saka – 5 same as Wilock
Ozil – 7 was played out of the game in foirst half, found space in the 2nd, some nice runs off the ball to create space in behind, definatly not a 4
Luiz 7 – mopped up most of holdings mistakes done well, unlucky with header , should have done better with it