Oxford v Arsenal Player Ratings – by Peter Doherty
This was the archetypal game of two halves. Arsenal were woeful in the first half and showed their superiority in the second.
However it is only fair to highlight the incredible work rate of the Oxford team as they gave the opposition no time on the ball and harried Arsenal into mistakes. Here are my ratings….
Turner (7)
When Arsenal replaced a German international with a player from the MLS many eyebrows were raised, including my own. However Turner has proven to be an extremely competent goalkeeper. Gave Oxford no reason to believe a mistake was in the offing as he was assured throughout. Snuffed out their one real chance and his distribution was superb.
Tomiyasu (5)
Looks off the boil at the minute. His decision making in timing his tackles isn’t quite on point, and winning duels is generally one of his major strengths. His passing was awry and he missed a couple of opportunities to create forward momentum.
Holding (6)
Rob Holding is a perennial 6. He is limited but those limitations weren’t stretched on this occasion.
Gabriel (9)
It may come as a surprise to award a 9 for a premiership player against League One opposition but you’ve got to play what’s in front of you and that’s exactly what Gabriel did. His head was on every cross, of which there was a lot and he was alert to danger any time Oxford had the ball in the box. The rough and tumble of this game truly suited him.
Tierney (6)
Was solid in defence but the attacking aspect of his game wasn’t as accurate as usual. Lacked a foil on the left side to work with as Lokonga offered very little.
Lokonga (4)
They say there is a player in there somewhere but I’ve never seen it. Needs an extra second on the ball every time, and that is a luxury not awarded in the English game. Could possibly do a job in Serie A but hasn’t shown anything to demonstrate that he has what it takes to make his mark at Arsenal.
Elneny (6)
As with Holding I could have given him his rating pre-game and felt fairly confident it would have rang true. Another steady squad player and delighted to see him score the goal as he rarely gets the spotlight. For all his limitations you have to love him.
Vieira (6)
Rescued his mark considerably with his two assists. Had a horrible first half and looked shaken by the physicality of the game. But the free kick delivery was sublime and his through ball for Nketiah perfectly weighted.
Saka (5)
Didn’t offer much really, with the exception of one piece if skill that almost opened the scoring. The boy takes an awful lot of abuse and remains unprotected by referees. Might have paid a high cost for playing him
Nketiah (8)
Was industrious throughout without being remarkable but then does what all instinctive goalscorers do, he pops up with two superb finishes. That is the very reason why he was awarded the new contract and although he doesn’t offer as much an all round game as Jesus, he is probably a better finisher.
Martinelli (6)
Tried hard without really succeeding. The Oxford right back did really well to subdue him. Played a lovely through ball for the third though. You’ll never fault Martinelli for endeavour.
All in all a true cup tie with the underdogs having a go, but the quality coming through in the end.
How do you Gooners rate it?
Peter
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Marquinhos should have played instead of Saka. He head no business in this match. Good thing ESR is back. If Nelson is injured, I feel an academy player should have taken Martinelli’s place. If anything was to happen to any of them, we have no proper ready-made replacement. Same goes for Nketiah. He showed how much of a poacher he is yesterday. I’m so happy for him
Eddie 9
Magalhaes 9
Turner 7
Viera 6
Eleney 6
Tomi 6
Zinchenko 6
Saka 5
Martinelli 5
Lokonga 4
We need to send Lonkangoon out on loan and Marquinhos needs more game time
But we need to send him on loan to any English side…
He needs to play in English Environment to succeed..
Also 1 thing we need to understand that yesterday Arteta gave Lokanga much advance role.
The role nowadays Xhaka takes.
That’s not his primary position..
Lokonga is termed as DM but yesterday he was playing much more advance and he was ineffective there
You are spot on with Gabriel, he was immense, just as he was against Newcastle.I had my reservations concerning his positional sense, but he has improved in this area and is no longer diving into high risk tackles which proved costly hitherto.Lokonga is a big concern, indeed our entire midfield were woeful in the first half.
Zinchenko changed the flow of the game.
Eddie and Gabriel the stand out performers.
Lokonga and Vieria need shipping out and that’s being kind .
Tierney and tomi I would sell while they are fit ,nothing more than decent back ups and they probably know that themselves by the way they are playing .
Would like to have seen Marquinhos form the start but obviously Arteta thought that a league one team sitting in 15thwould be too much for him .
And whats the problem with having “decent backups” in Tomi and KT? Would you rather have those two as backups or have Tottenham’s backups?
Seems he wants all the backups to be gone and we only have starters.
What club only has a squad dull of starters?
However, if we can get decent money for them and get just as capable backups then we can let them go.
Lols great answer sws
So you agreed with me after all that .
What a joke….let them go and get ‘just as capable back ups’… ridiculous comment. Why get rid of people to replace with the same and have to integrate those new players which takes time
And Vieira gave 2 great assists.
Yes you would have thought a player bought for 30 million pound could have abit of end product against a team ranked 60 places below us ,his first half was atrocious,his second wasn’t much better except from that threw ball .
As for the replacing of tierney and tomi ,myjpoint being is that they are finally fit ,but for how long ,there’s always a time to sell a player ,now is that time IMO .
Maybe they know once Arteta has picked his favorites then you have basically zero chance unless there is injury.
I don’t usually comment on posts that award points for players, as it really is a personal opinion only.
However, I must comment on your breakdown of each player, as I really enjoyed your views…. especially as I couldn’t watch the game or the highlights.
Your views regarding Holding and Elneny as squad players is absolutely spot on and I wish those who try to “trash” these players would step back and evaluate their importance for MA.
I cannot understand, like you, why Saka or, indeed, Martinelli were risked in this game, but I guess the boss wanted to ensure progression.
Finally, on the thoughts regarding Tierney, this is the kind of player we need to keep as part of a PL title contending squad.
He is a proven and able full back, who will always give his all for the shirt and I haven’t forgotten his great performances last season.
Excellent article and thanks for giving me your insight into the game and our players… a ten out of ten 😀😀👍
i find it mad that people are thinking of getting rid of tierney, altho zinchenko offers a lot going forward, he is very suspect defensively, even shown last night, he was pretty poor defensively.
in games that will come where we are under the cosh, i would trust tierney over zinchenko
I second that☝️
Ouch – I don’t think he’s a DM at all and always thought the plan was to have elneny backing up partey and Sambi backing up xhaka. This is why I thought criticism of Sambi earlier in the season, when cover injured partey was too harsh.
If he can’t play xhaka’s role well either, then I don’t see a way forwards for him now.
I’m convinced there’s a player in there but he needs to wake up. Maybe he needs a move at this point.
This was a reply to kedar regarding lokonga’s main position being a DM.
(for additional context, Vieira was called a DM but was typically the more advanced of the midfield pair, with gilberto or petit the anchor – I see lokonga as being that more advanced midfielder)
The rating is nonsense Fabio should be rated 8or 9cuz if not for him arsenal will not win he kill the game with pass for saka and montneli I don’t know why arteta is playing them
I agree,Fabio deserves a higher rating.
Ratings seem a bit strange considering there were three away goals and a clean sheet
A bit harsh on both Vieira and Mo but especially Fabio.we could see the difference in the 2nd half when substitutions were made.Vieira did what he was bought for(make an impact in the attacking 3rd).as for me his pass to Martinelli showed that if players make themselves available,he will find them.lastly,the pitch was not the best,truth being told,which explain the hesitation from Tomi…trying not to injure himself.
“Elneny, for all his limitations you have to love him”! What tripe!
Why on Earth would any sane Gooner “love a limited player”? I just want all “limited players” gone from our club ASAP and replaced with better quality.