Arsenal v Sheffield United Player Ratings – Youngsters rule today

tight game against the Blades

Bernd Leno – 5
Not the German’s best performance but didn’t cause any major problems. Couldn’t do much about the goal

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 5
AMN was not given much chance to get forward and did his job in defence. Underwhelming.

Shkodran Mustafi – 6
It must have been difficult for him after baring his soul. Didn’t make too many mistakes until he gave the ball away in the final minute

David Luiz – 6
Not the leader Arteta is hoping he will be. Never really made any great impact and could have defended better at times

Bukayo Saka – 7
He may be a left-back at the moment but he still acts like a winger. It is great to see his energy on the field. Him and Martinelli have a great future, I’m sure

Lucas Torreira – 6
Reasonable today but certainly not as impressive as he has been.

Granit Xhaka – 5
He’s trying, but it wasn’t easy today against an organized Sheffield

Nicolas Pepe – 6
Pepe is still trying harder and his run for the ungiven penalty was exceptional, but still needs more accuracy in his passing

Mesut Ozil – 5
Ozil was not so influential as he has been recently. I hope he steps up against Chelsea

Gabriel Martinelli – 7
He always looks lively and he was definitely our biggest goal threat. Right place at right time for our goal

Alexandre Lacazette – 5
Not one of his best games and he still doesn’t seem quite up to speed

Sub:
Eddie Nketiah – 5
Never really got into the game with United in charge towards the end

36 Comments

  1. This season is just amazing,nail biting at its best.
    Newcastle won against chelsea
    Crystal palace drew against city
    Those top 4 places are not out of reach,we have to step up gain momentum.

    I would also like MA to start focusing on the attacking side becauae ww have quality players there.The transition from midfield to the attacking 4 is not good in my opinion

    1. Top 4 is not out of reach? I will be happy if we can avoid relegation, because we can’t even win easy games at home

      The No 10’s job is to facilitate the transition from our DMs to the forwards. If Ozil or the other no 10s can’t even do that, the team had better play with two mezzalas

      1. This was not an easy game.Liverpool and man city (the best PL sides in my opinion)struggled against them.I am not trying to justify the point but that was not a bad performance from the team,MA said it himself
        Meanwhile Chris wilder said he is happy with the point and shfd utd didnt deserve to win so that sums up pretty much.
        And VAR being VAR does not help either.If that(penalty incident) is not clear and obvious,i dont know what is

        And about the no.10 role,i know you are a big critic of ozil but he did alright today in my opinion.Some of his passes could have been better but he worked hard.And about the transition,if you are playing as a no.10 you need the ball high up the pitch not deep near your penalty area.Ozil stringed many passes as he could and every time he got the ball we looked like we were in control.And we dont have mezallas except for maybe ceballos and ozil will have to adapt.
        And there is a reason every team has a player or two to mark ozil every game because they all knew what he is capable of unlike for some arsenal fans in this site

    2. Shakir, you are the most irritating and silly kind of fantasist, self fooling Gooner around. Top four is miles away and getting further as games go by with a huge gap. We cannot even beat Sheff Utd at home and you think top four is still possible! Good grief! I genuinely feel sorry for fans like you who find it impossible to face reality.

      1. I will keep on being the self fooling gooner because thats the kind of fan i am.ALWAYS POSITIVE.
        As for you finding it irritating,sorry there is nothing i can do except for maybe ask you not to read my comments

        1. I think we are right Shakir to focus on our positives rather than our weaknesses and aim higher, for all I care we can win the league until its mathematically impossible. after all we have been told to aim for the stars, its maybe very hard but its not an impossibility that does not make us fool.

      1. Really fed up with the Lacazette negativity. He has been great for the last 2 seasons: 14 goals, 4 assists in his first season; 14 goals, 10 assists in his second. He has scored brilliant goals for us, yet he has a rough spell and everybody wants him out. Arsenal has got to have the worst fans ever, it’s unbelievable. Let the guy regain his form and get of his back.

        Also Lemar had a few more than half of Laca goals+assists in the 2 years he played in a top Monaco side, and has done pretty bad in spain.

  2. Torreira was my MOTM.
    I bet I know who Sheff Utd will give it to – Mike Dean! 😂

    John-Jules scored his first goal for Lincoln & it was the winner! 👍
    Also saw Haaland scored a 20 minute hat trick on his debut for Dortmund 👍
    Sorry to ramble on, but not long got home and caught up with all the other results.
    All the injuries Steve Bruce has on his hands right now and they manage to beat Chelsea 👍 I hope we follow that up on Tuesday!
    And I’m gutted City drew! Argh!!!

    1. I watched Haaland’s goals. He placed two accurate low shots and scored one tap-in

      That boy possesses Henry’s accuracy and Giroud’s height. Arsenal should have gotten him before Dortmund snapped him

      I hope Arsenal get a tall target man like him before the transfer window closes. Our small attackers need a ball winner in the front, because none of them is creative enough to create good opportunities

      1. I thought he’d do well there, GAI.
        He didn’t even play the whole game.. was introduced in the 56th minute!! Wow, just wow!! 👏

  3. Cant argue with ratings too much, Saka and Martinelli were our two best players, very impressed with Saka today, very very intelligent play. Xhaka and Ozil bring absolutely nothing to the table and whild Arteta has a blind spot for them we will struggle and may eventually cost Arteta his job. He has to stop his love in for them, they are so ineffectual.

    1. At least Xhaka helped the CBs and Torreira in defending, by being left DM and left CB. His aerial ability and long passes will be needed at Stamford Bridge

      About Ozil, he has to be benched. He rarely produced at away games, let alone when facing a big team at their turf

      If Arteta has the balls to do it, I hope he ditches that no 10 position and uses the slot for an extra midfielder instead. We need all outfield players to be combatants at Stamford Bridge

      1. Xhaka is such a predictable player, he did his usual backwards/sideways pass to the opposition that very nearly led to a goal, his usual giving away fouls when a tackle was easier, in dangerous places, that again nearly led to a goal. He slows it down and plays too many negative passes. He was in the right place to block a goal, i will give him that but his play is detrimental to Arsenal not positive. I have and will always blame him for the slow play and disorganization in midfield, he is the reason we are so slack.

        1. Totally disagree with your assessment of Ozil in this game. Did you actually watch the game. He pressed he defended won the ball back. Helped the players around him and created 4 chance. The midfield battled to get him on the ball despite his numerous runs into space.

    2. Hello Reggie
      I didn’t see the game – just listened on the radio
      I hope that Arteta has a longer career at Arsenal than Ozil who has a year and a bit to go
      Was Arteta hamstrung with Aubamayeng absent and late on injuries and illness with others?
      Mustafi would not have started for example
      We all know that he has a huge task ahead. I do think he has what it takes but hasn’t been dealt a great hand

      1. Sue p, any team would miss auba but i dont think personally that was a reason to use as to why we didn’t beat utd. Ive touched on it before, Arteta is inexperienced at seeing where we are struggling tactically in games and is not using his subs to rectify or correct, thats something he has to learn and the quicker the better. I dont see why he didn’t introduce Gouendouzi for drive from midfield, or change Ozil with Nelson or caballos, or even tweak formation. He was going to take off Ozil with 10 mins to go for Gouendouzi, for me that was too late and then they scored and he did nothing. If it wasn’t working with Ozil before we let the goal in, why was it supposed to after. Its all opinion and im not slagging Arteta. I believe some of the players let the team down with their under performances but he didn’t try to freshen it up. Its another game we should have won and we didn’t, that should set alarm bells off.

  4. Some underperformers need a kick in the butt. You will see a different motivation when they play at Stamford Bridge

    They should have shown a big match spirit, because they are paid highly and they played at the Emirates. But some of them chose to be lackluster instead

    I hope the injured players would become available for the Chelsea game, so Arteta has other options to start the game

  5. Did you watch the game Pat?

    Torreira at least 7 what else could he do today
    AMN at least 7 his best performance yet

    1. Torreira MOTM all day long. The lad was everywhere. Then Martinelli with his endless stamina.
      Its a crime Mustafi and xhaka get paid to apparently play football.
      I agree with a lot of comments from fellow gooners that Arteta needs to realise we are in a bad state and ditch those who can’t step up.

  6. If only we got the 3 points…with Chelsea losing and United hopefully doing the same tomorrow…
    Thanks VAR, thanks the FA…

  7. As long as Xhaka and Ozil are in the same starting line-up, Arsenal will struggle to win. These guys are bad news for Arsenal

  8. Completely underwhelming team performance. Defence was shaky, midfield non-existent, far too many passes going astray, cut off or too heavy. Huge holes in the midfield where the no. 10 should make himself available, but he is continually hanging around on the left, sometimes on the right. There is no penetration at all through the middle because there is never anybody there. With Lacs up front , Pepe on right and Marti on right, Özil drifting to left, and 2 defensive midfielders just in front of defence which is hanging too far back, WHO THE FREAK IS IN THE MIDDLE? Our game is far to slow, and we do everything at a trot. Just watch a bit and see that whenever a Gunner gets the ball, everything slows down. Now compare that to the running off the ball that SU did today. Saka and Martinelli were the best of the lot, I agree, while Laca should have a rest.

    I really thought Mikel would have kicked some butt in the past week, but old habits just come creeping back.

  9. Really don’t know what game people were watching, I thought we performed well, most players are much better under Arteta
    I would sell lacca something isn’t right with him
    Replace Xhaka and a top CB and we can be top four again

  10. Torriera man of the match for me.
    Martinelli and Saka, excellent, the future.
    Mustafi stepped up again today, apart from the mistake in last minute, yeah, one mistake.

  11. How many EPL no10 player are Left Footed? I’d say none except Arsenal no10 Ozil who, desperately need a link-up player or be substituted for a Right footed and quick player which we’ve got in Ceballos. Ozil need not to be playing more than just 45mins and he needs to start Shooting at least for Christ sake.!

    C’mon am not obsessed with the Lad!(Ceballos) But, he needs to be introduced once again for as y’all can see the midfield need a person like him. Since we’ve got no other.

    Y’all see SAKA doing his thing? AFC shouldn’t fail to get Kurzawa! for the LB.
    SAKA need to be battling it out with Pepe in the LW or he (Pepe) should be drifted in the Midfield I think he’ll explore there. But if MA persist on playing him in the LW, I solemnly think he should go watch clips of Argen Robben with curler Shots!.

    I THINK!

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