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How Arsenal players fared against Man City today – my ratings

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Here are my Arsenal player ratings from today’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City at The Emirates (feel free to argue or agree with me):

Wojciech Szczesny – Conceded two goals which he couldn’t prevent and kept out Edin Dzeko’s first-half penalty. Kicking was poor but kept the score-line respectable. Arsenal’s Man of the Match. 7/10

Bacary Sagna – The France international still doesn’t look up for it. Got caught out on a number of occasions due to poor positioning. 3/10

Laurent Koscielny – Received his marching orders in the 9th minute after committing a reckless tackle in the penalty area. 1/10

Thomas Vermaelen – Poor positioning and lack of concentration from the Belgian led to City’s first goal. Picked up his performance in the second-half and got stuck in but the damage had already been done. 4/10

Kieran Gibbs – Struggled to contain James Milner and rarely got forward because of City’s attacking play. 5/10

Abou Diaby – First game in over three months for the Frenchman and it showed. Struggled to stamp his authority on the game and gave possession away far too easily. Lacks match fitness and practise. 5/10

Jack Wilshere – Creativity was lacking but his desire was there. Never stopped running and tried to drive the team forward when in possession. 6.5/10

Santi Cazorla – Had a very, very quiet game the Spaniard. Found pockets well and off the ball movement was good but was unable to create anything noticeable. Faded as the game wore on. 5/10

Lukas Podolski – Ran his socks off and looked the only player up-front who wanted it. Sent in some good balls into the box but no one met them. 6/10

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Was sacrificed in the 10th minute after Koscielny’s sending off. N/A

Theo Walcott – Found it tough to find space and get behind City’s defence. Recorded one shot on target late on in the second-half which was cleared off the line. Poor display from the man who wants to spearhead Arsenal attack. 3/10

SUBS:

Per Mertesacker – Came on for Chamberlain in the 10th minute to sure up the back-line, but his lack of pace was exposed by City’s attack as the second goal proved. 4.5/10

Olivier Giroud – Replaced Lukas Podolski in the 57th minute. Held the ball up well and always looked to bring others into play. His first touch was a little off and missed a great chance to get Arsenal back in the game from a resulting corner. 5/10

Aaron Ramsey – Came on for Abou Diaby in the 61st minute. Found space well and kept things neat and tidy. Done ok. 5/10

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33 comments

  • silva says:

    pairing kosc and varma is always a very risky decision.today i was surprised when aw put mert on the bench!!! i don’t what’s wrong with him and his french business…

  • James says:

    The problem is that Mert isn’t all that good either. In fact you could say we don’t really possess a real top draw defender in the whole squad.

  • James says:

    One problem which is repeating itself again and again is that Sagna is the outball for the team, he has so much possession and yet doesn’t have the technical skill to do much with it.

  • ozzy says:

    Ridiculous decisions throughout the match. Indeed it was a pen, but not a red card. It wasn’t a clear goal scoring opportunity, szcsesny had already punched the ball away before dzeko hit the deck. The way in which Mr dean ref the game was awful, and all the city players had to do was sit back and watch on smugly

  • Wily Young says:

    I thought Wilshere was superb and deserved an 8. Ramsey played well too 7.

    Defence was appalling as usual no coaching / no talent = accident!!

    What has happened to Sagna ( leave for PSG)

    Why no Rosicky on bench? If he is injured again let’s draw a line sell him please. If not what is Wenger thinking

    • the king says:

      wenger gave rosicky a new contract last year…also better wages….yet wenger dose not use him..lets him just stay at home pick up the wages….great why they run the club.

  • john says:

    How is Gibbs rated as our best defender?! he was terrible, he’s so physically weak we might as well have a little girl playing. As for your assumption that Mertesacker’s lack of pace was exposed for the 2nd goal shows you’re an idiot.

  • gunnerz says:

    Wenger’s legacy = winning trophies with famous defense inherited, and winning nothing after that; worse still, unable to fix the defense for 8 long years.

    • Gooner S says:

      Invincibles =
      Lehmann
      Campbell
      Toure
      Cole
      Lauren
      None of them inherited.

    • chris from Cambridge says:

      At last someone has pointed out …. Wenger inherited the old back 4 – plus Keown and Campbell later. He has won nothing since. Graham Souness is exactly right – Arsenal with the ball often play some nice stuff. Without it they are easy to play against. Wenger’s way. ” I will nevere abandon my attacking principles.” Good luck TRUST fans … you just don’t understand.

  • Joe says:

    Wilshere was def the MOTM…….

  • indian gooner says:

    This is a shite team.AW has turned us into a cesspool of mediocrity that we are today. any single ball into our box and we panic.No marking, no defending or nor heading or a ball.We have 2 giants in the team( mert and verma) and yet they cant head the ball well. We shall continue to slide down the drain as long as AW is in charge of this team. I hope we really dont get top 4, atleast that way the saddos who refuse to protest shall find a reason to protest the baord and the manager.

  • Steve. says:

    If Arsenal are going to pay Walcott £90,000 a week
    + £3,000,000 signing on fee,and a new 4 year
    cotract,they must be stupid,he will never be a
    top Premiership player,i carn’t see any improvement in him since he came to us 6 years ago
    “TO THINK WE COULD HAVE HAD BA,FOR MUCH LESS THAN THAT,ONE OF THE BEST STRIKERS IN EUROPE,”i’m
    afraid there’s something wrong with the management
    at arsenal, “WENGER OUT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.”

    • chris from Cambridge says:

      Well Theo certainly can’t play as lone central striker all on his own. Not many (outside RVP) can do. But Wenger will not change the style nor the formation.

      • white says:

        let me start by praising all true gunners, we lost today cos of non commitment from d players.Walcot is not an Arsenal Material, she is not worth d top position or even hold d team 2 ransome. six yrs and wat has he given 2 d team; 6 to 7 gud runs and he is a saviour? wenger has destroyed many talents dat are established b4 coming 2 Arsenal;Podoski,Girioud,Arsavin n odas; plays dem out of position n people say dey are bad.RVP had many yrs b4 he became dis good but Walcot will neva b gud. Ox,Ramsy,gibbs, are all over hyped. Get beta players with d will 2 win n even pay dem wat this guys earn n u will c total commitment. Wenger has lost it yes, wat about the players? no will 2 win? Man u is no beta but d steel in dem makes d diff. wake up gunners n face d reality. we nid quality, at d moment we dont have those. dont blame Wenger, blame d board dat are comfortable wit money than d intrest of d fans.

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