Posted on Saturday, 31st March 2012 by Tony Merakli
Here are my Arsenal player ratings from today’s 2-1 loss to QPR (feel free to argue or agree with me):
Wojciech Szczesny – Had a fairly quiet game to be honest. Made one or tow good saves in the 90. Shouldn’t have allowed Adel Taarabt’s opener to get by him at the near post in my opinion – 5/10
Bacary Sagna – Not exactly a great way to mark your 200th appearances for Arsenal with a loss, but he did alright. Struggled to contain Taarabt, but had no defensive support from Theo – 6/10
Laurent Koscielny – A fairly average performance from Arsenal’s most consistent defender. Had trouble keeping Jamie Mackie and Bobby Zamora at bay and looked out of sorts – 5/10
Thomas Vermaelen – Worst performance I’ve seen from the Belgian this season. Was bullied off the ball by Taarabt for QPR’s first goal and struggled to deal with a loose ball which Mackie took off him and set up Samba Diakite for the second. Got booked and was lucky to stay on the pitch after a deliberate trip on Shaun Derry – 3.5/10
Kieran Gibbs – Did ok, but lacks positional awareness. Got forward well, but defensively he wasn’t up to par – 4.5/10
Mikel Arteta – Possibly Arsenal’s best performer of the day. His passing was crisp and he always looked to create something. Was substituted for The Ox, which was perplexing – 7/10
Alex Song – Poor performance from the Cameroon international. Looked like he was on the pitch and his passing was terrible. Looked for the Hollywood pass all game, but failed deliver in this department today – 5/10
Tomas Rosicky – Wasn’t the Rosicky we have seen in previous games. Movement was good and his passing was neat and simple, but lacked creativity and attacking prowess – 5/10
Aaron Ramsey – Played out of position (again) and it showed. Didn’t really do anything noteworthy and was replaced in the 69th minute for Gervinho. Looks to have lost his touch and swagger – 4/10
Theo Walcott – Scored Arsenal’s only goal, but apart from that didn’t do anything else. Another poor display from the England international – 5/10
Robin van Persie – Never got any service today, but could have done better off the ball in my view. Should have put Arsenal 2-1 ahead, but Paddy Kenny was equal to the shot – 5/10
Subs
Gervinho – Came on for Rambo in the 69th minute but never got into the game and didn’t offer anything down the left wing. Still looks like he hasn’t got over the African Cup of Nations final penalty miss all those weeks back – 3.5/10
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Came on for Arteta in the 81st minute. Made one or two good runs off the ball but didn’t have enough time on the pitch to show off his talent – 3.5/10
Marouane Chamakh – Came on for Gibbo in the 81st minute and touched the ball once – 3/10
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Tags: Aaron Ramsey, Adel Taarabt, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Song, Arsenal, Bacary Sagna, Gervinho, Jamie Mackie, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Marouane Chamakh, Mikel Arteta, Paddy Kenny, QPR, Robin Van Persie, Samba Diakite, Shaun Derry, Theo Walcott, Thomas Vermaelen, Tomas Rosicky, Wojciech Szczesny
Posted in View From The Sphere | Comments (32)
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March 31st, 2012 at 5:48 pm
I was at the match. Agree almost completely with the ratings. Chesney rating a bit high, couple of time he looked asleep, no command of the defence.
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Thought you were generous in giving Song 5. He lost most tackles in midfield and persistently passed to QPR or out foe a goal kick. Otherwise, your marks reasonably accurately reflect a dreadful all-round performance by a team that was, frankly, thoroughly arrogant from the first whistle, and deserved what they got – nothing. I hope AW gives them the rocket their performance warrants.
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:06 pm
I AGREE WAS MOST OF YOUR RATINGS, EXCEPT ARTETA – 7/10 IS FAR TOO HIGH FOR A PLAYER THAT DOES NOTHING BUT PASS THE BALL SIDEWAYS. WALCOTT SHOULD BE 3/10 AND SO SHOULD RAMSEY. WENGER IS A BLOODY IDIOT! WE HAD A BALANCED TEAM WHICH HAD A RUN OF 7 WINS AND HE SPOILT THAT BY PLAYING RAMSEY, WHO IN MY OPINION IS EVERYTHING THAT IS BAD IN OUR TEAM. WALCOTT AND RAMSEY ARE THE WORST 2 PLAYERS IN OUR TEAM AND THE SOONER WENGER GETS RID OF THEM THE BETTER.
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Worst performance seen by a long way, they looked scared, just goes to show without experience things will go on like this. Vermalen,Song,Ramsey and Walcot were the biggest culprits, did not look like they wanted to be there.
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:30 pm
i dont understand why all of a sudden ramsey is fit he HAS to play like. wenger got it so so wrong today. playing ramsey out right was totally stupid and idiotic and made it so easy for QPR today. why is the ox not getting more game time. if he was on the wing today we would have had more of a threat going forward. key issues in my eyes are
…..Gervinho is actually useless and is a poor buy in my opinion
…..chamakh has no future at the club and should be sold for watever people offer
….. we need to play wingers to keep our pace in attack and ramsey is slow in body and in mind. constantly wants to slow the ball down.
…..song is not a holding midfielder and i totally get why arsenal is looking at yann m villa.
….. and finally kieran gibbs is not a good left back at all. probably never will be.
these are my thoughts on things today and just in general but what do i know. wenger knows best ???
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:41 pm
wenger lost us the game
by changing the team putting ramsey on the left.
why change the team when they have been winning ?
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:48 pm
This is the 3rd time I am seeing Wenger prefer Ramsey over The OX on the left hand side. I dont know whether it is strategy or shear stupidity on the managers part. But the problem today was not the left plank, it was horrific defending from our center backs, Zamora easily shrugged Koscielny and Vermaelen off the ball on numerous occasions, and all-in-all poor decision making when under pressure. Now Tottenham is again at our necks and our third place position is threatened now that we have City to deal with in our next fixture.
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Some of my friends were saying Wenger must have something going on with Ramsey’s mother and after today’s performance, I will have to agree with them. What’s up with Wenger and Ramsey?
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Ratings about right – if anything, a tad generous. We have to expect off-days now and again, but when you use players who should not be in the squad, nevermind the team, those off-days are likely to be more and the consequences greater. QPR are fighting for survival and we played into their hands. We somehow cannot saeem to play against teams that defend deep, and with players like Ramsay and Gervinho, we never will
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:54 pm
this performance shows what we lack most. a true defensive midfielder. bring in m’vila or vertonghen who can also play leftback
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March 31st, 2012 at 6:57 pm
You ratings seem to be too fair because none of them deserves to be rated above 5. I don’t like to pick individuals for our loses because they play as a team and they are suppose to complement one anothers’ efforts.
Lets face it, Van Persie is out of form including all the wingers we have at the club. I just pray we end the season in the top 4.
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March 31st, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Gibbs is always out of position and still he gets selected givan that Santos was available. I just wonder what the coach will be thinking sometimes.
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March 31st, 2012 at 7:14 pm
In my opinion Wenger is now putting economics before the Club. Why on earth would he play the likes of Ramsey and Gibbs in the same game knowing very well that they are not good at marking for the ball? I think his ploy is to give these guys some play time so as to make them more marketable or something. With this guy I’m slowly coming to the realisation that to him its all about making money. I know some of my counterparts would have realised this sooner, lets just say I’m a slow learner.
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March 31st, 2012 at 7:21 pm
so in ur view ramsey was better than verminator? Its people like you that make wenger keep playing him. Ramsey brings confusion into our midfield, he never ever should start a game or even feature at all.
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Tony Merakli Reply:
March 31st, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Vermaelen was pants today. His mistakes cost us both goals. Ramsey was poor and I don’t think he’s all that, but he was played out of position.
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March 31st, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Arsenal thought they would win by just turning up.
No surprise Arteta got the highest rating. He is more professional than some of the others.
Gibbs is not a good defender (neither is Santos) but then Wenger likes wing backs more than full backs.
Ramsey has to play if fit because that is Wenger’s determination … end of story.
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March 31st, 2012 at 8:28 pm
I see no reason why ramsy should be on the left wing when we have natural wingers that are more dangerous than ramsy.i believe the coach blew up 3pts by leaving chamabo,gervinho and even benayoun on the bench.if vermalaen has even been faulty we would at least created more and probably scored more then winning the game.All blame in my opinion is the coach’s and your ratings are fair.
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March 31st, 2012 at 8:50 pm
I agree with all that have wondered why Wenger prefers to play Ramsey. I challenge him to check how many games we have won which Ramsey started this season. We were doing well in the absence of Ramsey and now Wenger brings him back.I hope he Will not feature against City.
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March 31st, 2012 at 9:02 pm
the reason why we lost this Match is not far fetch…and i quote ‘Ramsy’ why on earth would wenger use Ramsy on the left flank when we have 2 able dude(ox n Gervinho) that would have exploited that wing to our advantage…this is a total wickedness from the coah……
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March 31st, 2012 at 9:20 pm
We all see how our game changes when Ramsey plays. But does anyone else notice how it specifically affects our center mids particularly Rosicky. TR7′s strengths are quick turns and passes that open up the defense. But because Ramsey consistantly drifts too much into the middle, Rosicky (and Arteta/Song) are too crowded and the wing is left with no option except for an overlapping run. In turn, it’s a lot easier for teams to defend when we’re all bunched up. Ox should be getting the nod in front of Ramsey in my opinion. Bit disappointed with Wenger’s decisions today.
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March 31st, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Since b4 ramshit broke his leg, i have alrdy argued that he will never be an arsenal quality but all you arsene we trust faithfuls keep arguing with me. Now, you guys are talking. I hv to agree w umoh ekwo. Challenge wenger! Dont keep trusting that french shit. Ramsey in arsenal = 100% lose, what more on the left wing??? Dude, santos on left wing is like 1000000 times better? Not to say coquellin, or even gervo or others. What is all our match winners doing at our bench and at other clubs? Have u ever seen cr7 at osasuna playing on loan? Or maybe henry14 at bolton? We have to admit arseneshit is a business shit and we are the prey. Good luck supporting arsene, keep on believin in that crap.
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March 31st, 2012 at 9:29 pm
ramsey always makes me feel like am not watching the gunners because his passes are slow and even inaccurate.wenger please dnt play him in d first 45mins again
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March 31st, 2012 at 10:25 pm
arsene’s arrogance cost us 3 points again. when will van persie sit on the bench maybe come in the second half if we need him. can he explain why is chamakh still in the squad. why ramsey get picked ahead of chamberlain and gervinho? his bad selection will cause some of our top players to drop off with injury before the end of the season. vermaelen, van persie, rosicky were sh$$t because they are tired. walcott and ramsey are always sh$$t anyway.
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March 31st, 2012 at 11:22 pm
I pray man city thrash us 8 – 2, coz thats the kind of wake up call wenger responds to. And wil somone pls tell that old easily-deceived gasbag that this is not the time In the season to start sacrificing matches for player’s form or development? 16yrs in d epl and is still so foolish! Why isnt macheda or owen or berbatov or pogba starting matches for man u? God! I wish we had fergie and not this never-do-good, never learning wenger! Idiot!
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Jay Reply:
April 2nd, 2012 at 4:50 am
U are a bastard…Go and support the spuds instead…Dick head… we will bang citeh this time…Fuck u and your comments.
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March 31st, 2012 at 11:45 pm
D Secret behind our problem is ramsey he is nt gud in anytin am tired of talkin abt ramsey,is wenga blind is he nt seein dat ramsey is nt gud 2 a team lyk arsenal nd wenga shuld often play ox at d left wing.ramsey shuld b among d pple dat wil b sold nxt season
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April 1st, 2012 at 12:02 am
Wenger should be sacked however the season ends!
Wenger wont ever change ,his ONLY objective is to be in the top four for the past 7 years!
it is enough 7 years without a trophy and there r still (in arsene we believe ) idiots !!
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April 1st, 2012 at 8:11 am
People are talking as if arsenal has no good players anymore.It was just a bad day for arsenal,and this happens to any team in the world.No team has 100% record at all time and arsenal is no exception.
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Ramshit Reply:
April 1st, 2012 at 9:42 am
Victor: if arsenal lost in style, it is argueable but how we lost was ugly. U could see that we had nothing goin on our left wing and it opened for alot of preassure from the left. We are arguing abt a player which is ramsey nt the team u moron
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April 1st, 2012 at 11:38 am
^victor we did during the invincible era
( ?´??)
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April 2nd, 2012 at 4:53 am
U people how comment shit abt arsenal go and support the spuds… Stick with your team dickheads…Jfyi, when we wont the last 7 games…i repeat 7 games….no one commented anything….Some even said TV5 was a hero for us…And when we lose…we receive all sorts of shit comments…stick behind your team man…dont be traitors…Assholes… Keep on commenting on Wenger…We are finishing 3rd this season!!!! And that would just be enough!!!…
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April 2nd, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Facts are facts Prof. is to blame.Is a high Someone drag him from his high horse.This obsession he has with Ramsey is costing as dearly.He brought nothing in terms of attack or defense.This is no the time to change a winning team and drag the champion league with it.
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