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How Arsenal players fared against West Ham at Upton Park – my ratings

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Here are my Arsenal player ratings from this evening’s 3-1 victory over West Ham at Upton Park (feel free to argue or agree with me):

Vito Mannone – Was tested once or twice by West Ham but in whole he had a fairly decent game. Came rushing out to intercept a long ball only to be beaten by Andy Carroll which could of cost Arsenal a goal. 6/10

Carl Jenkinson – Another good performance from the consistent youngster. Bombed forward well and delivered some great crosses from the flank. Never stopped running. 7/10

Thomas Vermaelen – Got stuck in and kept Ricardo Vaz Te at bay. A solid performance from the captain. 7/10

Per Mertesacker – Could have perhaps shifted across to try and block Mohammed Diame’s effort on goal but besides this the German was composed on the ball and dealt with the aerial threat of Carroll. Was unlucky not to bag his first goal for us in the latter stages of the second half. 7/10

Kieran Gibbs – Done brilliantly getting forward and looked confident on the ball. Kept things neat and tidy and always offered the overlap. Limped off with a suspected thigh injury. 7/10

Mikel Arteta – Was unusually quite and failed to dictate the pace of the game as he normally does. Fairly average performance from the Spaniard. 6/10

Aaron Ramsey – The Welshman ran his socks off today. Movement was terrific and passing was on par. Kept thins simple and was tenacious throughout. 7.5/10

Santi Cazorla – Passing and movement was great and always looked to play the killer pass. Faded at times but scored an absolute belter from around 22-yards to put the game to bed. 8/10

Lukas Podolski – Ran the left flank well and always looked to take it to West Ham’s defence. Produced a sublime assist. 7/10

Gervinho – Poor performance from the Ivorian. Failed to create any chance for his team-mates. Looked like a lost sheep. 4/10

Olivier Giroud – This may cause some controversy amongst the fans but I think the French striker was our Man of the Match. Lead the line well, won many aerial battles and held the ball up superbly. Scored our equalizer and assisted our second. 8.5/10

SUBS

Andre Santos – Came on for Gibbo in the 56th minute and did what was required of him. Got forward well but still lacks defensive discipline. 6/10

Theo Walcott – Came off the bench to replace Gervinho. Saw quite a bit of the ball and made some good runs forward. Put Arsenal ahead with a cool finish and also got an assist. Should be given a chance by Arsene Wenger against Norwich in two weeks time. 7/10

Laurent Koscielny – Only got five minutes after replacing Podolski so was unable to stamp his authority on the game. 5/10

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32 comments

  • Rob says:

    Not sure what game you were watching fella, but based on your player ratings it certainly wasn’t the one I watched… How you could give Ramsey 7.5 and Arteta a 6, is beyond me.. Ramsey had a very mediocre game in my opinion and was totally mugged by Diame for West Ham’s goal.. I don’t think Gibbs deserved any more than a 6, his crossing was not good today, although he got himself into a few good positions on the overlap, but he needs to do a lot better.. I agree with your rating for Gervinho (but think you were too generous with a 4) he was absolutely ‘sh*te’ today and looked like a lost sheep at times, he might have got 5 goals already this season, but he will never be a prolific goal scorer for Arsenal as long as he has a hole in his a*se. Giroud played fairly well today, he held the ball up well and won some important headers, he took his goal well and set up Walcott nicely for our second, but he wasn’t our ‘man of the match’ that has to go to Cazorla who really is the creative ‘hearbeat’ of the Arsenal side (you said he faded at times, I think that must have been when you nodded off mate, because he was always looking for the ball and involved in everything we did good today).. I thought Arteta linked play well (despite your woeful rating of him, I’d have given him a 7 at least).. The other player who stood out well was Jenkinson, he is our most improved player so far this season, and if he continues his current run of form he should keep Sagna out of the starting XI… Santos worries me though and I hope Gibbs is not out for more than 2 weeks, as Santos lacks pace and he gambles too much, he’s a typical Brazilian defender who wants to play centre forward, he will cost us this season if he stays in the side (mark my words, he’s a defensive liability).. As for the general shape of our midfield, the quicker we get Wilshere back the better as he is a much better player than both Ramsey and ‘sick note Diaby’.. I would also like to see Rosicky back fit again as did very well towards the end of last season, and will always create more going forward than Ramsey… Overall it was not a bad team performance today, but the scoreline suggests a much easier game than it actually was… This Arsenal team still has PLENTY of room for improvement… My advice to you Tony Merakli is to take off those ‘rose tinted’ glasses the next time you watch an Arsenal game and decide to post up player ratings..

  • chris from Cambridge says:

    Good win by Arsenal. Played some nice stuff as usual. Plus the team now has a much better balance. But I am staggered that some fans rate Manone as a really good keeper. He is a decent shot stopper … but there are lots of those around – and that’s NOT how to choose your goalie. Because he is not blessed with great athleticism he is weak in the air and does not even begin to dominate the area. He fails to come for crosses that a better keeper would gobble up .. or punch away. That’s right … he was only 3rd choice and may well improve with time but at present he looks Championship quality only.

  • JERMPAPA says:

    i sometime don’t understand ur ratings. u gave arteta 6 telling me he is average today. even though GERVAIS wasn’t on him self but still he deserve more than 4. so please for e sake of ur pedigree u should get us a new match analyst and player rater, just to save ur integrity

    • Tony Merakli says:

      Gervinho was shit, end of. Didn’t do anything. It was like playing with a man down. As for Arteta, I’ve seen him play a whole lot better than he did yesterday.

  • sir phill says:

    wrong analysis. go watch d match again. up gunners

  • ryan says:

    completely disagree with those saying ramsey wasn’t very good.

    he ran his socks off, won the ball loads of times, looked bright and was a really positive impact on the match for us. yeah he could’ve done better for the goal but if they had wasted their chance nobody would be saying shit about it, but when it goes in (despite the fact mertesacker was out of position and wasn’t covering him) suddenly he made the most terrible mistake? such an over-reaction to getting done by a fantastic turn which can happen to anyone. i’d have given ramsey a 7 probably, 7.5 at best but not lower than a 7.

    arteta was good though and if that passing stat of him completing like 97% or so of his passing is accurate that’s fucking *astonishingly good* even for mr fucking consistent that is arteta

  • Dacqri says:

    I think everybody can agree that we should never start Ramsey.

  • Insyder says:

    Right analysis but of the wrong match.

  • cajethan says:

    Obviously you didn’t watch the game. How can you rate Arteta low and rate Ramsey high without any accurate passing and was totally undressed in the goal they scored. Next time make sure you watch the game with your eyes open.

  • schoror says:

    Hey mate,go watch d game again and redo ur ratings.Arteta 6 & Ramsey 7.5,that’s a laugh. Carzola was by far the MOTM.

  • JohnW says:

    I thought Arteta should have scored higher marks. 110 touches of the ball, 106 accurate is not some thing to sniff at.

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