Arsenal player ratings yesterday was a little too harsh and a revision is required.
This is the very first time that it has been necessary for me to do a revised player ratings and to be honest, I am not at all surprised.
When the ratings were done last night I did preface it with the fact that the ratings were being done while emotions were raw. That was a mistake.
Some of the players were given ratings that were a little too low, not all but some.
Revised Arsenal player ratings
Leno – 8
Up one on yesterday, because on closer inspection his saves and calm manner were pivotal, he was commanding and that gives his defenders confidence and that was required in bucket loads last night.
Saka – 7
Stays the same
Luiz – 2
Stays the same
Mustafi – 6
Up a huge four from two to six. Yes, he made a massive error but with his confidence in the gutter even before that mistake to then put in the performance he did after that was remarkable. He stood up massively all things considered.
Bellerin – 8
Stays the same
Torreira -8
Stays the same
Xhaka – 9
Up two and my man of the match. Having watched the full game once again I was so impressed with him, not just his defending but he was the true captain on the pitch, he lead the team like a warrior, he was calm and composed, did no rash tackles and I am positive without him we would have lost.
Ozil – 4
Up two, he did not have the best of games but that was because of the way game changed, a spirited back to the wall game is not for the German but that is not his fault and not a job he can do but prior to the sending off he was trying to get a grip on the game and he was not lazy or disinterested, it was simply not his type of game and that is why Guebndouzi was brought on. Horses for courses.
Pepe -6
Up two, My rating was harsh yesterday, his judgement is questionable, always one dribble too many but he did drag Chelsea players all over the place when he got the ball and while he does need to improve, his rating was unfair yesterday.
Martinelli – 8
Stays the same
Lacazette – 6
Up one, he did work his socks off, he did his fair share of defending and just needs a goal to get his season back on track. This was a game where his best work largely went unseen.
Subs
Guendouzi – 6
Up one, his five was unfair, he did the job that was asked of him and did it well.
Manager
Arteta – 7
Five was definitely too low, he deserved more credit than I have given him in this match and while the honeymoon period is over in my eyes it does not mean that he did not make a difference yesterday. The second-half performance and the upturn in most of the player’s attitudes and determination are down to him. That I acknowledge.
Well done for coming out and admitting your original marks were ridiculously pessimistic. It takes character to admit you made a huge mistake, which you certainly did, but to put errors right is the honest and principled thing to do. Well done, MARTIN!
Thank you Jon though the word ridiculous feels harsh, overly pessimistic would have sounded better 🙂
You know me MARTIN.I say exactly what I mean and would not have it otherwise. I have many faults but lack of self honesty and straight talking is not one of them. To this end, I find the constant self fooling of so many fans, all clubs fans too, intensely dishonest and lacking in backbone and character. Just how I see it. I again applaud you, whichever way you wish to describe your welcome revision.
Honesty isn’t excuse for being harsh. If we all said what we thought, we’d be onto WWXIV by now. We all have to exist in this world together so let’s try to prioritise being amicable.
Good work admin, I think we criticize you a lot sometimes but then don’t give you credit where it’s due. Great work n keep it going. We do need some improvements but that’s how you keep up with time by focusing on the feedbacks n listening to your audience.
That you gave Xhaka 9 now a kind of pacifies me. He did put in a shift that I feel I should forgive him all his sins. Like he’s better than Sokratis+Mustafi as a CB.
Big person takes commentary and modifies! You were well within your rights to stick with the original rankings but I do like these ones better.
And you spurred on a great deal of conversation, most of it quite reasonable.
In North America we get “Premier League Classics” and it is usually Manchester United beating the stuffing out of somebody (sometimes us). They are in no way classics. This was a fantastic game – scruffy with mistakes but the emotion and twists were incredible.
I almost left three times, saying that is it, Gunners are toast. But they did not die.
Looking closely at the replay of Matinelli’s goal, you’ll notice that he was actually pretty lucky to score… at one point, the ball hits his shin and you can see on his face that he knows he’s lost the ball…
Then Kante slips and Martinelli sees that he’s clear on goal…
Great finish and great player, don’t get me wrong… but lucky goal nonetheless…
I know. I stood up and started to cheer, turned around saying shite, and then started jumping up and down. Watching this game was like an aerobics class 🙂
Touche. His tricks are not impressive as well, but his striker instinct is great and his work rate is commendable
We need more team players like him upfront. I just hope he wouldn’t let himself go like Adriano and Robinho
Brazilian attackers like Willian usually have good close control. Chelsea are after Gabriel Barbosa and probably Arsenal should chase him too if Lacazette is leaving
Hope am not getting you wrong. Martinelli worked for the goal. You think to run that distance and slot the keeper as he did boils down to being “pretty lucky”? It was his meandering that caused the confusion. That boy is a material.
“Slot pass the keeper”
I want to say how proud our team made me and presumably many of us too, last night. We all know we lack talent in many areas but we had spirit, fight and will to win last night that I have not seen matched for a long time. Under the cosh after only half an hour – and even before Luiz was sent off, trying to rectify the latest in Mustafis longline of calamitous mistakes – but staying in the game, with a thrilling end.
I applaud Admin Martin for reconsidering his original mean marks, which seemed to me to completely ignore our wonderful fighting spirit against the odds last night. Though we all crave silverware, sometimes it is just great to be proud of the character in our team. Until the arrival of MA – who in my considered opinion may go on to be among our very greatest managers at Arsenal, and who has made a huge difference in attitude and team spirit already – our chins and spirits were on the floor. I feel elated after watching a tremendous fighting performance, even though we are still a moderate side in OVERALL talent. Onwards and upwards then, but it will not happen overnight as some(though just a very few) seem to expect!
Tough away games are simply not Ozil’s expertise. But Arteta had no other choice, due the lack of personnel
Hopefully Ceballos could use the upcoming FA Cup game to regain his match-fitness
I hear you, but Ceballos said time and time again that he wants to get back to Madrid. In my opinion only those players ought play who identify themselves with Arsenal. Ceballos sees Arsenal as a means to an end.
Good one. All true Arsenal fans, can we stop blaming Mustafi at least until end of season & support & encourage him? We have no choice with so many injuries & putting him down won’t bring best out him.
Hats off to you admin now I feel Im at the right place. Good observation where mustafy is concerned cause he caused me some heart problems the way he was playing but really impressed when luiz went off xhaka rating completely agree. Well done admin
Lacazette – 6
Up one, he did work his socks off, he did his fair share of defending and just needs a goal to get his season back on track. This was a game where his best work largely went unseen.
Admin Martin, it’s good to see you took our conversation yesterday on board. Even as far as your self review of the player ratings. I’m not asking for made up numbers, just that being to critical of our team as fans can be dangerous and have a negative effect. We all understand your frustrations. but we all
Need to behind the team now.
I respect the continued analysis and reflection on this game and can relate to these ratings.
All the commendation, Admin Martin, is well deserved. Honesty is the best policy as saying goes. It feels comfortable talking with people like you. You are good company.
My dad will be proud of me that I have guys like you for company!😂
I’m really starting to feel this MA call.
I think the board will know that they’ve possibly got a quality one here, and now it’s about making some more smart decisions with personnel. I look forward to seeing who comes in, but I can’t wait til Arteta has more time working with the younger players we have now.
Nice gesture, Martin. Like Xhaka, leading by example.
Keep Ozil at 2,he deserves nothing more than that….
I think you are unfair at MA.He deserves more than that,its not a win but sure will be the turning point this season.
And also bellerin derves a 9.Maitland niles was a doing a great job in that position but you can clearly see why we need players in their natural positions.And that goal,fantastic.
And ozil,he atleast deserves a standard 5/6.Why?Frank lampard said himself that it was to hard to mark ozil and he was ginding spaces amd causing probelms on the flanks.Never know what would have happened if he played the whole 90 with 11 men.And the red came when we were getting a good grip on the game.And ozil was massively pivotal in seeing the first half out.
Martinelli’s rating should be a 7 as Saka because he had some good chances to make line breaking runs before the red card.Great instinct but should work on his dribbles and touches.
Xhaka is the man of the match.
And guendouzi deserves a 7 because he brought energy and defence to the team.He still lacks positional awareness and game reading.But i love the way he make those fouls and getting into fights.He is a fighter and one of the stars of the future
And i also think you should rate the fans.I would probably give them 15✊👏👏👏👏
I think that marking Guendouzi the same as Martinelli is not credible.
if cazorla could press and work hard why can ozil not? It’s a matter of will. Nobody asking him to be a torreira, but he just floats around uselessly when we are down to 10 men in a big game. Unacceptable, and only reason we do accept it is because we expect so little.
Glad you changed your mind on Mustafi, he played much better next to Xhaka and his blocking and his ability in the air is the best out of any of our cbs. He was our best cb against palace as well.
I’ll raise my hands and say I least expected this U-turn by Admin Martin. Very courageous and shows good character. You’ve proved that we may not always agree on everything but we will agree on most things related to Arsenal facts.
Welldone once again and I do apologise for being overtly critical of you previously.
Well done AdMart and I think that most people’s views of games change quite a bit from final whistle to the next day, and after some reflection and viewing the game again. We are effectively all the same in this respect, in my opinion of course 🤔