That’s enough about the Brighton v Arsenal game. I think everyone agrees that it was very unimpressive, so it just leaves us to get the Player Ratings out of the way. And I’m not sure how this is going to go…..
Aaron Ramsdale – 8
I don’t think anyone has ever won MOTM for just two saves, but it’s possible today!
Takehiro Tomiyasu – 5
Considering that Cucurella was lauded to be the star of the game, I think “positive” Tomi did okay in defence. Gave nothing in attack though.
Kieran Tierney – 5
Didn’t have much to do with Tomi getting all the attacks, and to be honest didn’t look keen to get involved either.
Gabriel – 7
Again an excellent performance from our two centre-bcks for another hard clean sheet.
Ben White – 8
Even better than Gabriel, and will be proud on his return to the Amex.
Thomas Partey – 6
Did well defensively, but he obviously took Xhaka’s job of firing long range shots out of the ground!
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 5
I’m not sure if he is usually this defensive, did okay considering but looked a little out of his depth at times
Martin Odegaard – 3
Oh Martin. Possibly the worst I’ve seen him play. Did you not get much rain in Madrid?
Bukayo Saka – 7
Getting back to his best, but those big defenders didn’t give him any quarter.
Emile Smith Rowe – 8
Our best striker, but I was disappointed with his really big chance at the end to give us three points.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 4
You could say he got no service, and he was unlucky with his header that hit the post, but other than that he wasn’t involved at all. Only 5 of his passes reached their mark in 70 minutes…
Substitutes:
Nicolas Pepe – 5
Got a few crosses in, but no impact.
Alexandre Lacazette – 5
Ran into good spaces but never really made an impression
AMN N/A
Both full backs looked awful , would love Tavares to be given a run out at LB
Odegaard was just Odegaard,always will look good doing the simple stuff but when the going gets tough ,he disappears ,IMO 30 million down the drain .
Ramsdale dropped a clanger ,no one seems to have mentioned that .
I have no idea why Martinelli is not getting minutes on the pitch a complete mystery to me .
Overall another Arteta masterclass ,not sure how many times we are going to have to see performances like this before the club get rid of the magician ,I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, he’s totally out of his depth 45 minutes of good football all season ,clueless .
That was a foul on Ramsdale and I doubt VAR would have let it stand after a goal. He dropped the ball in very wet conditions but then got smashed by one of their big players no where near the ball right after.
Tyical Arteta performance, he really is out of his depth, but will give him till mid season before getting the knives ready.
Dan kit You see the difference Potter was calm his team had a plan and system and they stuck to it
I know mate
Artetas constant shouting on the touch line and throwing his hands all over the place must be a tad off putting ,give your instructions before the match and let the boys play .
The first 10 mins i thought ok this is going to go our way but it quickly went down hill .
I just wish he would sit down and shut up TBH .
Dan
How many fans castigated Wenger for not showing any emotion and giving instructions when we were losing?
Wenger got results though Pat and keep us in top 4 ,difference is with Arteta we are going completely backwards ,results and league positions do not lie ,let’s see mid season where we are at then I’ll eat my hat if he’s got us in top 4-6
What is the point bringing again Wenger. People speaks here about arteta and his tactics.
Let me tell the hard truth, Arteta isn’t what we need to compete. He is not there yet. With MA8 we will be a mid table Team. If we finish in Europa conference we’d be lucky. We have a tem that can give fight, if we have a manager that reads games and makes decisions when appropriate. Auba ought not to have returned after 45 mins, he was out of sort in the gme. Martinelli and Laca should’ve been in earlier to force a quick break. And Arteta can’t Motivate these group to do extra. He doesn’t have the Pedigree!
A strong Manager would’ve frowned at ESD on that last attack, should have played in Pepe!
Agreed. But apparently it was Saka running forward who ESR should have squared it to.
I honestly don’t understand why Auba kept starting, I think the 5 was generous. There was nothing he did that Matinelli or Laca wouldn’t have done better
Our defenders’ efforts were commendable, considering the intense pressure from Brighton’s attackers. Maupay, Trossard and other Brighton’s high pressers were boosted by their supporters and the loose ball from our attackers
Aubameyang got roughen up by Dunk/ Duffy/ Burn and didn’t have the energy to do high pressing after getting bullied for thirty minutes. Arteta and the team left Aubameyang alone, to fight Brighton’s towering CBs for Ramsdale’s long balls
Arteta should’ve instructed Ramsdale to distribute the long ball to Smith-Rowe instead, because he could’ve beaten Veltman in the air. By the time Arteta assigned Pepe to do that, it was too late
Hai
So we say the coach got his tactics wrong. Even if Lacazette is going, he is till Arsenal player till he leaves. He should have been brought in much early to ease the pressure on Auba. Brighton was good in the day but they have also lost games this season. In some games we need the energy and pace of AMN as against Lokonga in Midfield. That’s why every thing rises and fall on Leadership which is Arteta. Arsenal coach is still on a learning curve. We move on.. Palace game next.
Gai I mean.
So we say the coach got his tactics wrong. Even if Lacazette is going, he is till Arsenal player till he leaves. He should have been brought in much early to ease the pressure on Auba. Brighton was good in the day but they have also lost games this season. In some games we need the energy and pace of AMN as against Lokonga in Midfield. That’s why every thing rises and fall on Leadership which is Arteta. Arsenal coach is still on a learning curve. We move on.. Palace game next.
I agree that Lacazette should’ve come in earlier. Arteta has been making a series of bad decisions since last season and hopefully it won’t cost him his job, because he’s a highly talented coach
Partey may have been better defensively, but his passing was worse than Lokonga so can’t see him higher than a 5.
Arteta should find a way of fitting both Aubameyang and Lacazette into the starting eleven. Our goal scoring woes have continued from last season.
Again you can see our reactionary fan base. According to many fans we were world beaters after defeating 2 relegation favourites and a Championship side.
Beating Spurs was our only impressive victory in all honesty.
As things stand, we are in the bottom half of the table again. Reality is we are still struggling to find any kind of consistency.
Literally no one has ever said we were world beaters at any point this season.
Correct
World Beaters? LMFAO As Bob stated not
even the most deluded Arsenal optimist
would consider this squad to be anywhere
near the vicinity of ELITE atm.
And this REACTIONARY FAN happens to
consider Arsenal closer to the top four
(4 FREAKING POINTS) than bottom of the
table.
But by all means flame on with your negative
nancy narrative.
It’s Obvious we need a young Energetic striker,
IMO, Lacazette should have started not Aubameyang.
Saka was consistently robbed of possession 4/10. Aub yet again contributing nothingbto team play 3/10. Tomi 4, Tierney 4 . Laca! He sparked teamminto life
ESR an 8? 😂😂😂😂
The guy had a 95% pass rate (best on the pitch) on a windy, rainy day and with slightly better decisions would have gotten 2 assists despite the team playing poorly. Probs not an 8 but definitely not laughing amount off 😅
@Bob
Completed passes mean jack, when you’re too arsed to track back and help shore up your midfield…Reminds me too much of Ramsey, who I think was equally as overrated. IJS
Brighton attacked from the left most of the time… not the side Smith-Rowe was playing on, and, no, pass success rate doesn’t mean jack shit when your team’s main weakness was losing possession too much.
Auba can’t just play, I always say it but I don’t understand why most fans n arteta can’t see this and even this writer saying he didn’t get much service. Granted but did u notice how poor he was with his touches when he gets the ball, that alone demoralised the young team and they have to start defending again and considering our opponent are pretty good using the ball. The moment laca came in then it was evident that auba is sham footballer that can’t even make simple touches of control and pass. May God help us coz I think the guy is using some sort of voodoo coz it’s so glaring he shouldn’t be playing and it’s criminal putting laca on bench. May God help us again
Team against Palace….
Ramsdale
Tomi. White gabi Tierney
Saka. Partey. Loko. Esr
Lacca pepe
I didn’t see an 8 in white … not sure esr deserved an 8 either but one of our better players .. but I recall some on this site in the summer window asking why we needed b Silva when we have smith Rowe .. I guess some fans just don’t have a basic grasp of the game .. arteta another 3 … the man is way out of his depth .. outsmarted by some guy who honed his craft in the Swedish pub leagues .. pretty sad state of club really
Ramsadale. 8/10
Tierney 5/10
Gabi 5/10
White 7/10
Kongful master 4/10
Lokonga 7/10
Partey 5/10
Saka. 4/10
Esr. 8/10
Ode. 1/10
Auba 1/10
Laca. 5/10
Pepe 4/10
Harsh on Gabriel and Partey. Hard on Partey, when under atrocious conditions, he was expected to be a one man midfield.
I mean we both think Lokonga at least as well as him so not a one-man midfield at all.
A well hard fought draw, a clean sheet, complement the coach and the lads. During the Wenger ending era, we would have been easily beaten for fun. Give credit where its due, the team is gelling well, Mikel knows his short commings, If we could get rid of Laca last summer and get a young tall CF, we could have nicked a win. A poor contribution by Tomi & Ode, they will need time to adapt to our weather and conditions. Saka and Tierney need a break and they have two weeks to recoup and rejuvenate.
Will take a point off the Amex with our current strike force as a an achievement. And finally that save by Ramsdale could be the decider of a point at the end of the season and the good part it keeps Leno on the bench for the next game.Good boy Aaron!!
You said if Leno and Xhaka do not play we are nailed on for 4th with the magician in charge .
Now it’s if we can get rid of Laca 😂😂
I’ll give credit where it’s due ,and it’s not due any time soon that’s for sure .
You’ll give credit where it’s due?
This is the second time you’ve questioned the prediction that Leno and Xhaka not playing would get us top 4 (not my position).
Let’s look at the numbers AGAIN:
10/12 without Leno.
7/9 without Xhaka.
That exact form would have us finish top 4 without a doubt.
If you are going to question predictions, at least do it when we aren’t perfectly on track for them to come true. A draw at Brighton clearly refutes absolutely nothing.
I think you need to re read my post buddy ,you obviously did not get what I was trying to put out there .
classic non-answer
Maybe peddle your wares somewhere else bob because I aint buying .
Cheers bud
And again
Loose Cannon Where are you coming from Lacca sparked a bit of life in the forward line Auba done feck all and you want to sell him. Lacca always give his all credit to him puts in a shift every time more than some I can mention.
We sit 11th BOb not 4th so I’m not sure where you are going with this mate .
ffs Dan. Without Xhaka and Leno. We are in 11th because every game they have played in has ended in a bad result. If you look at only games they didn’t play in, we are 1st or 2nd in the table, ie. top 4 form.
Seems you only rate some of the players’ attacking performance.
One of our big problems was, we didn’t have the ball, because ESR, Odegaard, Saka and Auba hardly put in any work in pressing and winning the ball back. Just look at how hard other teams have all their players involved in this, while many of our players are just looking and waiting to be given the ball. Or if they bactually try tro press, they do it not with a sprint like Liverpools players, but at a nice strolling pace.
Very true. This has been annoying me for over a year now. Oedegard seems to be the only player who gets how a press works. Everyone else up front is late at best and highly ineffective.
This is down to the Coach and it has nothing to do with the players. They do what they are told by the Coach.
I doubt very much the players have been instructed not to work hard. I am sure just the opposite.
But maybe the coach isn’t able to motivate them hard enough, and that is a different story.
Suddenly it seemed the motivation and intensity disappeared. The team looked confused and Aubameyang was non existent. Why Martinelli is constantly ignored when Auba and even Laca are just not doing it, is a mystery. Tactically totally inept. No intensity or effort at all except for the first ten minutes, then like the hypnotist said, “go to sleep”. Despondent performance. Arteta?
Ramsdale 7
Tomiyasu 5
White 6
Gabrielle 7
Tierney 5
Partey 4
Sambi 4
Odeggard 3
Saka 5
ESR 7
Aubameyang 3
Yes reason is double : auba was made captain (mistake), in a hope to make him sign a new contract but it ia hard to change captain now. 2) he is on a 55m/3 year contract. With add ons, almost 350k per week. Even salah just dreams about getting that (reports argue that he would seek between 300/380k). Arteta already had to deal with ozil situation. Maybe he also has some hope that auba recovera some of his old goalscoring form ?
Laca brought on energy and attack when he came on. He should have been brought on earlier and I hope he starts against Palace.