Flamini shone but did other Arsenal stars take opportunity?

While the circumstances that had put Arsenal and Arsene Wenger under serious pressure meant that the manager felt he could not select his usual team full of young Gunners for our first Capital One Cup game of the season, Wenger still made many changes to the Arsenal starting line up.

After the game our versatile young defender Calum Chambers spoke about him and other players finding it hard with their lack of game time but also the importance of keeping up the hard work on the training ground and being ready to take their chances when they came along.

In a Daily Mail report Chambers said, “It was a good game, I thought we fought well and got the result we wanted in the end.

“It is a big game, it is always nice to get a win. I thought we fought well, kept our discipline throughout the game, and ground out the result.

“We were resilient. And at times we got a lot of pressure, but we were compact, and together as a team we knew our jobs. We defended well at those points.

“The second half said a lot about the character and belief of the lads. We were 1-0 up, then they came back to 1-1, so I thought we showed a lot of character to keep our faith, keep our composure, keep playing, and get the result, and get a goal to get the win.

“You want to get the results, and build up momentum. So, hopefully, we can take what we learned today into the next game.

“Yes, it would be nice to get a few games under my belt.

“But any opportunity I am given – I have been training hard – so when I get the opportunity, I can give my best performance, to show why I feel I want to be playing.

“When I get the opportunity I will give it my best shot.”

The player whose place in the team and even the squad was Mathieu Flamini and he certainly took his opportunity with both of our goals capping an all round great game. But who else took their chance to impress the boss? For me, Chambers himself did his first team prospects no harm at all and he was much better last night than in that torrid first half against Liverpool. Chambers clearly needs more games as a centre back but at least he showed improvement and will no doubt play again in the next round of the cup if not before.

Kieran Gibbs also layed down a marker and gave the manager a selection decision to make between him and Monreal at left back. Debuchy on the other flank struggled a bit and I think he needs to do a lot more to challenge Bellerin. Arteta was okay, Campbell was okay and Giroud was okay but they did not really take their chance to force their way into the first team.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continued to show that he can offer something different for Arsenal and with Theo Walcott likely to start in the centre forward role at Leicester, could it be time for Wenger to give the lad a rare Premier League start?

Tags Chamberlain Chambers Gibbs

17 Comments

    1. Campbell sucks on the right. Debuchy ok. Chambers not there yet. ArtetA is back up. Ox is showing more consistency. Gibbs is ok. We are nothing without Sanchez which is scary!

  1. If Ox does not deliver the end product to his absolutely stunning talent not sure he will be picked ahead of Ramsey even on the wings. Not like Ramsey is in a good form at the moment but it is really frustrating to see magic footwork, spuds stunned by Ox but followed by a rubbish pass. He does not defend either so here’s another reason he’s not going to start first.
    Debuchy is having the wrong mindset and he should be careful because Chambers can also play RB. How can a professional be pi$$ed off someone took his place and performed amazingly and thinking he wanted to leave Arsenal? What is this attitude? It may work at Newcastle but not in London.
    Campbell will never be ready for Arsenal, you can see it already. One game wonder but at least he’s work rate is above Debuchy. Pity he does not deliver.
    Chambers is good. He lacks game time but you can see he fights in the middle of the box. You can see that he’s better off with Mertz next to him than Kos or Gabriel. Probably with time he is going to make this position his.

    1. arteta just runs in circles. wnger’s a tool for renewing his contract. he’s also a tool for not geting backup CDM and striker. Ox will come good.

  2. I was impressed with Chambers, looks to be alot more comfortable when playing next to Mertesacker. Did well in covering for (the awful) Debuchy and besides his unlucky own goal he had practically no errors.

    1. Have to accept the fact that his conversion rate is poor and at his age not going to improve, is too slow and one dimensional….afraid not good enough to be a first choice striker at this level.

      1. Indeed at 28 years going to 29 he won’t improve,he’ll only get slower then he already is and his finishing will go even more downhill

        1. You put crosses in. The goals will come. Haven’t seen good crosses since Jenks left to the Hammers. From what someone said here after the he game there wasn’t many of those coming in. Didn’t see the game so I can’t really comment on it.

          1. Hanks can’t fix it. Bellerin is better. To slow in open play. Leicester is playing really well. Tough game ahead

  3. OX, while ineffective more often than not in his final product thus far this year, has shown more on the right than having Ramsey there.

    Ramsey, when played centrally, has not shown more than Cazorla.

    Arteta is below the standard at this point. Gibbs was better but not above Nacho. Debuchy, as someone said earlier, needs to be phased out for Jenkinson to come back in. Chambers was better than he was against Liverpool…..fortunately. We typically know what we’ll get from the BFG at this point. Ospina was solid.

    Team still needs a CF and a CDM, which were the same needs going into the summer.

    Cech
    Bellerin, Gabriel, LK6, Nacho
    Santi, New CDM (le Coq hurt)
    Ox/Theo Mesut Alexis (cover)
    New CF

    1. i can forgive wenger for not managing to get a CF: but the CDM failure: that really means something’s messed up in his head.

  4. Debuchy arteta and giroud were awful. Flamini was better than these players even without his goals. These 4 players are not first team players but while giroud arteta and debuchy have taken a hit on their confidence and performed poorly , flamini on other hand has worked harder to make his way back in the team. As of now, flamini is above arteta in the pecking order.

  5. I think by the end of summer, we can safely assume Arteta, Flamini, Debuchy, Giroud should be sold..? Jenkinson is showing good composure at W Ham. And next summer, we still need a CDM and a striker (deja vu anyone?)

    1. Well Flamini and Arteta can’t be sold next summer as they are on one year contracts. Released yes.

      Debuchy should not be judged by one match as he was rusty and needs a few more matches to get back in form.

      Giroud is still good enough to be a backup and he has over 60 goals to prove it. He is also currently tied leading overall scorer with Walcott and Flamini. He is still capable of 20 goals per season, just like Walcott, so he is good enough to be backup.

  6. Arteta and Debuchy were awful. Downright awful.

    Campbell was played out of the game by Debuchy who was often out of position and causing issues for Campbell as he was either retreating to defend or trying to attack with no support. He still showed good energy and put some good balls through, as well as making good movement off the ball.

    Ox was ok – showed flashes of greatness, laced with mediocrity. It is a shame – I REALLY rate Ox, but he needs to step up his game.

    Chambers did well at CB. Excluding the goal and the save off the line (which came from a foul), most of the game was fairly comfortable defensively. Chambers was a big part of that, often being the active defender to Mertesacker’s passive defense. I like him, though he’s still rough around the edges.

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