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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I expect everyone of you to point out our weaknesses rather than doing the analysis of the match. As a team, once you are short of players in one or two position, that should be seen as part of weaknesses. How can we play diaby as our holding midfielder when we know his style of playing that he loves to hold on to the ball for long time before he released. Striking positioning is very important, walcott is not yet a striker, he is still learning. Sagna is not as good as he is before since he came back from his broken leg injury bcos players like patrice evra, ashley cole are older than him and they are still very active . If we had manage to claim a point against city, wenger will be saying the team is good enough. Now that it is like this, what will he be saying by now. I don’t think wenger will step down as our coach unless we force him out by protesting.
To be candid,arsenal is no longer a team to be feared. This is killing ! Serious !
I t was a midtable team against the Champs of EPL.Thats what Arsenal have become and as Souness stated as a sky pundit,Arsenal now have B class players for the ticket prices they are charging.If Wenger is no longer interested then give the job to someone else.But I’m afraid no champions league football for Arsenal next season.
The problem with this team is not just the defence it’s the fact that we sell our best players to rivals and the don’t replace the player without any quality I want to no where all the money has gone from selling all these players please bring back David Dein
You are an idiot ! Your ratings suck balls ! Vermaelen 4 ?! I only wish our team today was consisted of 5 Vermaelen’s and 5 Wilshere’s.
Also, Arsenal fans inside the Emirates arena are just pathetic ! I am embarrassed that they love the same club I do. And also, you morons – stop blaming Dean for the red card and realize that Koscielny has been a walking disaster all season long. Thank God we will finish this season out of top 4, and I hope that it will make the board accept some facts and change the club policy.
Well Kos was very good a while back. There is something about Wenger and Arsenal which makes good players become ordinary (or poor). Arshavin for example. Denilson, Chamakh, Sagna … Kos … even Ox has gone backwards.
spot on…i agree….the only people showing some grit and determination in this particular situation(10 man) was wilshere and vermaelen….the rest were in their own world…
Not a really good game to give ratings. Once we got that red card everyone’s role changed. Gibbs and Sagna weren’t allowed to get forward. Diaby and Wilshere had to do the work of three players, and they both actually played pretty well except for maybe Diaby’s last 5 minutes before getting subbed off. Cazorla and Poldi had small bursts but nothing much. As for Theo, he needs to impose himself on the game instead of waiting. Compare what Theo to what Giroud did. Giroud mde himself available and was always trying to make a play.
there was no way city was going to lose this season to the most predictable team in the league in tactics n formation wihout their most influencial midfielder arteta.why did diaby start? AW couldn’t even improvise n put koscielny as DM,since he has all attributes of one.today without arteta who by the way still struggles as DM,showed how important the DM position is,we saw how the defense was been exposed,only for AW to put diaby there trying to justify why he will not buy one,though needed urgently.where is rosicky? carzola has been having now too many average games due to fatigue,but still he’s never rested or subbed.
we seriously need a new manager,only AW would play a unfit player like diaby n bench his most intelligent defender mert while playing league champions! not a mid table or relegation bound team.diaby starting n mert been benched proved costly! we are seriously predictable! lack urgency! lack winning mentality! AW is a total liability now,the sooner they get rid of him,the better coz there is no way we’ll ever win silverware again with him as manager.AW outttt!
I thought Rambo did really well. Made some good passes and nearly got an assist with his through ball to Walcott. Think he’s deserving of a 6
They are seriously badly coached by Wenger and Bould,some of the mistakes they committ is nationwide material,it would never happen with a drill sergent like Graham.
Wenger 3 for sending ox off could hace run 3 4 2