Chelsea looked nigh on unbeatable for most of the season, but Arsenal matched them in every area to give Wenger his 7th FA Cup winning medal. Here is my ratings for the brilliant victory….
DAVID OSPINA 7
He was selected ahead of Petr Cech to many fans’ dismay, but made a number of excellent saves. Deserved his medal.
ROB HOLDING 7
Has been brilliant since Wenger decided on a three-man defence and played well again here. Was not overawed by the occasion at all
PER MERTESACKER 8
His first start for over a year, and his first time in this formation. But still managed to be on top form. Brilliant
NACHO MONREAL 7
Was not allowed to attack quite so much as previous games, but looked solid at the back
HECTOR BELLERIN 7
Nearly back to his best. A shame he couldn’t put the match to bed but his all-round play was excellent
AARON RAMSEY 8
He didn’t score a League goal all season, but made sure he scored the winning goal in a Cup Final yet again. He has grown into his new role
GRANIT XHAKA 7
He has definitely improved as the season progessed. Very solid performance but of course he had to get a booking!
ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN 7
Yet another position taken by the Ox this season, and he performed as well as usual
ALEXIS SANCHEZ 9
Mr Duracell Bunny caused Chelsea problems from the staet. Please don’t leave!
MESUT OZIL 8
Another one that was unlucky not to finish off Chelsea, but he was much more visible than usual
DANNY WELBECK 8
Excellent performance again by Danny. If he finally has a fully fit season he will be awesome next season.
Absolutely chuffed for the lads to pickup some silverware again. Even more chuffed for wenger coz he deserved it at least. Unfortunately we must accept that he will remain here for the next two seasons. He has started winning, slowly, but surely. Hes not been good enough, but most teams havnt been good enough in recent seasons. Best i can hope for is another season similar to 15/16, but with arsenal remaining consistent and maybe, just maybe we can do a leicester. I want alexis and ozil stay with a few epic signings, deadwood out and for wenger to prove to us all that he can at least be tactically competent. Personally i would use europa as a chance to give youngers experience, we have too many players not playing/improving.
I agree with everything else but not Welbeck. He won’t be awesome next season, he will be like he has always been: decent. He just lacks the basic instincts of a striker. Phenomenal athlete though.
Great squad player to have but we cant rely much on him to win matches for us.
Question we’ll have is, should we sell Welbeck, Perez, Theo or Giroud? Or keep all of them and lose Sanchez? Because we really need a new forward.
Special shout out to the manager as well…thought he did a great job. So kudos to him. I m one of those real fans that criticise the team when things are sour. Let’s enjoy this victory.
I would have been gutted if we lost, I mean really sad simply because we could have scored 4 or 5 in the first half. I had all kinds of butterflies in my tummy after the first half. Lol.
Once again, Congrats to the players, coaching crew and of course WE the fans. It wasnt our best season but signing off with a trophy feels special especially defeating Manc and Chelsea to it against all odds..
I know we have won the FA cup and its not a time to have a go at certain players .
BUT
Danny Welbeck is probably the best Defensive Forward Ever. Thats just it for me. That sitter against Everton was the final straw for me. He has got everything apart from scoring goals. The problem is I don’t just see him ever becoming a great scorer. Am not saying he is not useful, But you cannot win the league with danny Welbeck.
He has I think 10 premier league goals in 52 games for Arsenal. The most Premier league goals he has scored is 2013- 2014 for manchester uited and that was 9 goals.
Welbeck is a very useful player and in some of the difficult away games you would need his fighting spirit and pressing. But we shall never win the league with him or Giroud. He just lacks that calmness and composure to ever be a great striker.
If we have to buy just 1 player, it got to be a striker, Spend what ever it takes .
can we try to sign the outgoing aguero at all cost?
To score a lot of goals, a striker or a forward has to be selfish. For example, Suarez, Ronaldo and Aguero.
Welbeck is a very unselfish striker. He can help Arsenal to wreak havoc in the opponent’s defensive area and help the others (such as Sanchez) to score.
I agree that we have to get a lethal striker like Aubameyang, Lacazette or Kane. But we also need to keep him, because:
– He can be a good competitor for the main striker.
– He is English, so he can help with the English quota.
– He is a team player.
– He is a very fine and versatile athlete. Because of his energy, speed and technique, he can also play as winger, attacking midfielder and maybe a wingback.
I reckon it will be onyekuru for 8 mill roughly
Kolisinac on a free
Which will free up a huge offer for someone like belotti
But with sanchez we will need another player
He is bar getting neymar Ronaldo or messi irreplaceable
Yup, Sanchez is our Messi. His ball control, dribbling, composure and vision is outstanding in this last three seasons.
Another player like him that I wish Arsenal could get is Mahrez. Not as spirited as Sanchez, but he can read the game like Ozil.
We do not need to keep Welbeck, he needs to go ASAP, for himself and for us.
A good competitor? No. Sorry. Good athlete but poor CF.
So what about English, we have a number of them in the youth.
He is a team player but we want a CF who is a bit more selfish and a bit hungrier for goals.
Great athlete yes, pathetic CF as he can not score regular and also poor winger if he is unable to score more than 10 goals through the whole EPL season on a regular basis…
The CF that should be kept is Giroud as the super sub.
Yet AGAIN he came of the bench to have an impact on the game.
I’d argue that it was welbeck’s movement that cause them the most problems yesterday. I would for sure keep welbeck because he doesn’t seem to run out of juice and he can play on the flanks as well. I’d rather get rid of theo than welbz tbh. Just my opinion.
Agree. If Giroud started, Chelsea might be able to contain him easily and their defenders would easily distribute the ball into the midfield.
Welbeck has been working very hard for the team. He is our Dirk Kuyt. He doesn’t care so much for goal statistics like Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, but he will help the others to score and release the others from pressures.
Of course, Arsenal can improve by finding another striker with his characteristics and composed finishing as the additional skill…
agree, best striker not scoring. but he can improve as well.
happy with the rating, I just think Xhaka should have and 8. people said 75% of the world is covered by Ngolo kante? Xhaka made kante to run run run and yet he couldn’t come near him.
Big ups to Ramsey as well , This man covered 14.4 KM in one game. His Engine is unbelievable. When he is fit he is unstopable .
Luckily players can have a good rest as there are no real tounaments this summer, confederation cup is a very short tournament as well so sanchez should have enough rest too.
Where was Kante?
Where were these our players February to April?
For BFG, he was injured.
For Sanchez he was around.
For Holding, he was not fielded.
For others, they never showed us they can be this good.
First time Ozil showed up in a big match for us.
Wenger claims to keep his winner’s medal this time around for the 1st time, does that point out anything or am just trying 2 read between the lines?? his last medal in the last game of his afc’s career? just a taught.
Ospina final game for Arsenal
Jus like his predecessors Flappinsky and szechney
Per was my MOTM.
Brilliant and solid performance.
I said I don’t wanna hype Holding, but man I can’t help it! That lad is the definition of Calm..what a player!
I enjoy watching him as much as I enjoy watching Cazorla..I want him to hit the gym in the summer though…
Ox was not 100%…Monreal was solid…eventhough, I don’t do ratings, I think Mertsacker or Ramsey deserves to be MOTM…
If am to choose one, I would go for the BFG!!
And the article said Ramsey didn’t score all season, have we forgotten his curler against Everton or does the game not count as we didn’t make top 4??? *smiles*
In a day when we dominated our opponents, win the FA Cup in such a categoric manner with sublime football, there are Arsenal fans giving less than a 10 for every player. Arsenal fans …
ARON RAMSEY 8
He didn’t score a League goal all season, but made sure he scored the winning goal in a Cup Final yet again. He has grown into his new role
Are you for real? Can you please remind me who scored the third goal against Everton?
What to do with mesut ozil
See yesterday.. That’s when he tries
But over a season he doesn’t. He coasts
He’s had years here. I still say sell
Sanchez I’d rather keep for a year an miss out on 50 mill. Hes that good
Alexis MOTM again? Come on. Both Mertesacker, and Ramsey had much stronger performances. And not even an honorary mention for Giroud’s beautiful assist?
I would just like never to hear anything negative about our main striker OLIVIER GIROUD 12. Guy shows us again that he is the most serious player. Comes in like a boss, first touch with the ball and the assistance. So pretty please stop crying for Danny the Wood Welbeck in the attack because it was really hard to watch that guy falling around the box. I am one of the fans that think that OG12 would be a great asset in the last 30 minutes of big games and full time striker with clubs beneath first 5. So let’s get one fast striker that knows things with the ball and let’s rotate him with Giroud. I love seeing that guy in the field. Thank you fellas. Let’s hope for the best in this summer. Have a nice holiday and vacations. I love this club!
I agree, I think that’s the first time all year that the subs were not mentioned in the recap. What a shame because Giroud came on and provided a cross that was perfect that won the FA cup. It’s funny that he provides a perfect cross because he very rarely got crosses provided to him all year.
They all get a 10 from me (even Wenger)
Winning trophies is always a 10 for me
Awesome day winning the FA Cup, beating Chelsea and Fabregas
Now Wenger should resign in Glory and make us even happier
people like you infuriate me.
Wenger must go blah blah blah.
STFU.
Wenger is so bad then how has he won the FA Cup 1/3 of all the times he has been in it? Remember those 9 years with nothing? so 21-9 is 12, 7 out of them was wins.
It takes a manager with skill to win 1/3 of the FA Cups they have been in and it takes a better manager to win 7 out of 12 when spending… SAF couldn’t do it.
So why did he do so bad in the EPL?
Nothing to do with board struggle which Wenger has blamed?
Alexis has backed Wenger. You slander Wenger.
Shows how much of a fan you really are, a newspaper fan!
The newspaper is always right
First game for such a long time that the lads never looked like losing. If only…..
this match shows that every player has equal importance, just because you are not playing, doesnt mean you will have no importance. From Welbeck/Giroud to Per/Holding.
What about Perez who didn’t play?
Equal importance to Alexis?
Per should have had a 9, same for Alexis and Ramsey along with Xhaka.
For me, the worst player on the pitch was probably Welbeck, great athlete but easy to mark… don’t bother and cover the real threat.. Alexis.
I thought Welbeck worked hard without the ball and he generally does work harder than Giroud without the ball, kinda why Giroud is a super sub 😛
We need a CF who is hungry for goals though as well as being a great athlete.
Welbeck adds to the attitude of walk the ball into the net, too much emphasis on teamwork rather than grab it yourself, Alexis knows this and look how we all love him.
Found it very difficult to fault anyone – no one seems to mention Rob Holding any more, and he had an excellent game, as usual – maybe we are getting too used to his excellence?
Only thing to fault was Bellerins hair style – very Richard III, but with our ‘winter of discontent, made glorious by this sun of York (Wembley)’ perhaps spot on?
Football has its moments a team like Arsenal with no chances to win the FA Cup with a overwhelming performance run away with the victory.Never the less overrated Wenger because he won this cup he claims is beyond criticism. Well no to my point of view sorry he has to go and give
a chance for a new Arsenal to come forward next year.
congratulations to the Arsenal fans it is their Victory!!!
like always Ospina never deserved a good rating? He always do things wrong but if you really saw the game he did great saves during the game.