Arsenal lost 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday. It was a tale of two halves in terms of performance, therefore these are ratings of two halves.
1st half – 2nd half
Wojciech Szczesny: 4/10 – 4/10 Unlucky with the penalty, perhaps could have closed down Mata quicker for the opener, had a scary Almunia moment in the 2nd half
Bacary Sagna: 1/10 – 5/10 – Hard to know what’s happened to one of our most consistent performers, but first half was terrible. Improved in the 2nd.
Per Mertesacker: 4/10 – 6/10 – Did nothing much wrong, good in the second half as we broke up Chelsea attacks quicker
Thomas Vermaelen: 6/10 – 7/10 Brilliant clearance to stop Ba scoring, some great tackles in the second period.
Kieran Gibbs: 6/10 – 7/10 – Although Chelsea had some success down our left, he was one of our better players on the day, created some danger up the other end
Abou Diaby: 1/10 – 3/10 Terrible for Chelsea’s second, looks off the pace as fitness is still a problem, passing in the final third must be better
Francis Coquelin: 6/10 – 6/10 Arsenal’s best player in the first half, wasn’t found wanting, replaced because he picked up an injury
Santi Cazorla: 5/10 – 5/10 Stung Cech’s palms with a good effort in the first half, but it isn’t really happening for him at the moment
Jack Wilshere: 5/10 – 6/10 Struggled to get to into the game in the first half, like the rest of the team, drove on in the second but without much end product
Theo Walcott: 4/10 – 7/10 Needs to work on staying onside, a touch Adebayor at times, but the run and the finish for the goal were both excellent
Oliver Giroud: 2/10 – 6/10 Should have opened the scoring but fired wide. 60 seconds later Chelsea were ahead. Again, worked hard, but finding goals a bit hard to come by. Not his fault he’s our only striker though.
Subs
Aaron Ramsey: 6/10 – Replaced Diaby, did fine.
Andrei Arshavin: 1/10 – Pointless change, would have prefered Santos on the left wing. A stark reminder of how weak the squad is that this guy, who has been finished at Arsenal for the best part of a year, is the only attacking option on the bench.
Feel free to discuss and post your own ratings, but normal comment policy applies. If you’re not familiar with it, please read.
Need to invest in new players asap. Squad looking wafer-thin right about now.
Am i not alone in the fact i want young Eisfield a run of games in the first team, or at least some playing time from the bench?
Totally agree. In the few chances he’s had so far with the first team he’s shone he is more than capable of hanging with the big boys. I’m struggling to remember exactly which game it was but I distinctly remember him coming off the bench in one game and really taking the game by the scruff of the neck
Frimpong was there on the bench.I have no idea why.Was apparently awful on loan at Charlton.Why not give Eisfeld who has really impressed for the u-21 and did really well against reading a chance?
Reading away in the cup when we were having to come back from four nil. One thing you would get from Eisfeld is effort and commitment and desire to play.
Reading in the Carling Cup
Ah yes it was the Reading game wasn’t it. Eisfeld and Giroud clawed us back into the game
nishanth, My Charlton supporting workmate says Frimpong was generally good for them. Blew a bit hot & cold but they would have liked to keep him longer.
And how serious is le coq’s injury. Without Arteta for a few weeks and now coq, we look paper thin.
Not sure, looked like he got rubbed up the wrong way. Maybe some chafing.
Chelski bench. Ba. AFC bench AA. WTF
Hopefully he gets a run out against Brighton
So a win midweek would be nice….
Not just a win, a flawless and emphatic win is what i crave for
wheres young Gnarby? He didnt look too bad when he played for a small amount of time.
Exactly! Serge Gnabry is better than Walcott, Chamberlain, Arshavin put together. For God’s sake why aren’t you playing him Wenger!?
Haha who let this guy in?
Amazing. Just amazing. Any more of your unquestionable intelligence you’d like to share?
Hahahahaha!
Gnabry is injured
So it took 45 mins , one half , for players to realise that this game was a derby and were representing arsenal of all clubs . Fuck!
It’s a mentality problem ,it always is . I hate that ! They get too complacent and don’t show up until they score like vs Bradford ,it’s when we go down that they show up
With Giroud, its an accuracy problem.
He is not good enough to play first team football for Arsenal. It is that simple.
Totally agree. Team mentality comes from the manager. Arsenal 1998-2005 had a different mentality. We need Mourinho
i was hoping arshavin would prove the haters wrong in the game. 🙁
He looks fat. It’s ridiculous.
He had nice hair if that mean anything
He does enjoy the odd Mcdonalds
I’m glad @arseblog that you mention – Giroud is limited. 🙁
I think from the start that Giroud and Podolski are great players to start from the bench. I watched Podolski lot’s of times thruout the years and he was always somehow a 12th player.
Yesterday I was trying to make perfect Arsenal team which can be competitive against everybody asap,… result is that we need CF, LW and a CD,
IF Rosicky and Diaby are well.
That’s too much players, so maybe Wenger decided not to buy anybody?
He looked & played like Marilyn from Northern Exposure, although she was lighter on her feet and could at least dance well.
Giroud is limited. Oh how I wish that we’re true. How many chances has he had that he hasn’t put away?. He is supposed to be clinical with his head but off the top of my head I remember atleast 5,6 clear goal scoring chances that he has missed.
Seems he can’t score with his feet, not clinical enough, costing us clear striker goals and eventually points. Clear yesterday. Hopefully, ah no hope we’re doomed.
Lapidarij did podolski wrong you in another life
Read this on Giroud
http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/7768
Makes pretty depressing reading, although the analysis seems pretty fair.
He is getting fat at Arsenal. He lost weight at Zenit. Some discipline wouldn’t go amiss in our club, me thinks.
And I was hoping for BJ from Angeline Jolie. That was never going to happen either.
I WOUKD HAVE PREFERED DENCHKID TO HAVE COME ON INSTEAD OF ARSHAVIN FOR FUCKS SAKE. We win against west ham, or this time, we are really really fucked. We win or we can say good bye to champions league next season.
Dench!!!!!!!!
If we can’t afford or are not willing to buy new players, can’t we at least bleed the young players instead of playing the likes of Arshavin? The children are our future, you know:).
So wenger had Santos on the bench and instead decided to stick the fat little russian in! You know how Arsene says the players suffer “physcologically” and can’t seem to be “motivated”. This is one of those many ways
Arsene – 0/10 and 2/10 – Lost the passion and enthusiasm of how to motivate your players. Sad but true.
A fat brasilian or a fat russian. Great subs….
Maybe blood them instead
“Gnabry” isnt deemed ready it seems. Although he couldnt of done worse than arshavin. Now arsene is admitting its not looking good in the hunt for the championship(4th), does that mean he will strengthen? Who knows….Arsene kn……….No!
I think realistically a CB/DM and CF is the best we can hope for. Im not gonna hope for anyone in particular, but just hope we find a couple of gems!
He’s been injured. Plus I think hoping a 17 year old will solve our problems is almost like an institutionalised mania from us, as fans. It’s the problem, not the solution.
We dont have no choice but to hope our 17 year olds solve our problems. Our squad is so wafer thin. So until he splashes the cash give them a go.
What’s the difference of hoping for a 17 year old kid this season compared to hoping for 16-21 year old kids the last 8 seasons? You know Fabregas, Walcott, Diaby, Adebaywhore, Song, Djorou, Fabianski, Denilson, Bendtner, Vela, Coq, Nasri, Clichy…….. All we do is hoping… For fuck sake
P.S Arahavin didnt look ready either so fuck knows!!
Arshavin is a disgrace.
I was hoping for Frimpong to come in the 2nd.He is raw but not afraid to take a long powerful shot.If he’d miss and penetrate on of the chelsea fans I wouldn’t mind as well.I think I really really despise Chelsea and everything surrounding that club.
Coquelin impressed, Sagna depressed.
Apperently we need confirmation of the squad’s weaknesses before “hopefully” doing something about it. 1/9, only fourth place left to fight for. Shame we didn’t put some youngsters on the bench, Eisfeld or Gnabry, instead of out of form Arshavin.
Sagna has the look of a player who knows he’s leaving in the summer.
Yep, looks like he has given up. I wont be surprised if he goes. He has no major honours as a player and he knows he will not get any under Wenger.
Sad but true.
And he certainly won’t get any honours if he keeps coming up with the shite displays week in week out that we’re now being subjected to. If players want to win things they have to fucking do it for themselves.
It’s not just Wenger’s fault it’s also the players. He clearly isn’t preparing them well enough but they aren’t doing that either. They all have to take responsibility. When they play like shit no one else is making them look rubbish but themselves.
Arshavin?Eisfield,Gnabry fuck knows on of the players from Arsenal ladies(mind you they’re better than the whole senior team!)
Ref ratings: 0/10;1/10?
Plenty of youngsters to bring in. Gnabry is the nuts.
A consistent Walcott is most definately worth 90k a week, certainly the Walcott of this season is worth 90k a week. Even on the wing he still looks like the most likely player for us
Until he floats in those balloon corner kicks for chec to collect then you feel like knocking off 50k a week
Fuck everything if Walcott is taking corner kicks without Wenger’s agreement. Blame Wenger and then Walcott.
Yeah, someone please stop him taking corners and freekicks!!
It was interesting that in the end, when we were chasing the game, Cazorla started taking the corners from the left hand side.
Yes, Cazorla took it but was unable to kick it strong and high enough.
For all of Cazorlas ability, I think he lacks the “heart” to truly play to his potential in the EPL. Maybe he’ll develop it after the first season shock of playing in this league. Not being scared of the away supports banter while taking corners will be a good first step because it will be a shame if he got bullied into mediocrity.
You know shit is really outta whack when you’re wondering where gervinho and why he wasn’t coming on instead of arshavin and realize with disappointment that he’s away at the ANC.
Sigh.
Who wouldn’t want to play us now. We’re a skeleton squad with very few of our first teamers clicking. Each individual seems caught in their own slump, with few exeptions. It is hard not to question the great mans ability to get the best out of this squad, as there are some really talented players there. This is painful.
Let’s face it, unless there’s some serious changes at the club Arsenal will never compete for honours anymore!
What can i say about the substitutions? One forced, the other tactical. One fans favourite another past it. Whichever way you see it they came on when we were on top but massively slowed the game down.
If we had a fit Rosicky to keep up the high tempo or even increase the speed of our attacks, looks like we could have picked something from that second half.
So we get closer to the last week where “there’s movement in the market eh?” fingers crossed we find “one or two” to lift the club
All this talk of buying new players or bringing in some of the youngsters is pointless unless we change the way we play. Far too often the ball is played to a stationary player. This gives or opponents the opportunity to either cut out the pass or get 2 or sometime 3 players in to block him. To compound the problem we do not support the man on the ball by moving into a position to give the player on the ball a simple pass. Incidently after the last 2 matches could someone persuade Arsene into giving his half time… Read more »
sagna was the only one who couldnt pick it up second half, shows he was struggling with an injury which sucks though and more annoying to find reports like his head is not in right place. This guy has been a professional throughout his career so stop publishing such reports. Him and diaby can do well with some rest because its showing in their performance and also shows why we have to go and buy more players the midfield is getting burnout because they are both played in midfield and winger position , some quality additions will help.Meanwhile we have… Read more »
Just concerned about Sagna he has been incredibly poor for the past 7-10 games most goals, we concede are coming from his side including both goals yesterday. We were more solid at the back with Jenkinson in the team at the start of the season we conceded a whole lot less and we had the best defensive record all that was gone once Sagna came back. Is it time to bench the frenchman? His crossing among many things he had are totaly useless
Agree rest him and let him get his hunger back and give Jenks another run, otherwise Jenks confidence will go if he can’t get in even when sanga is playing bad every week
One for those of a certain age –
Is Walcott the new McGoldrick?
LANM
I´ll get my coat…
in what way is Walcott anything like Eddie McGoldrick? Walcott can actually score!
McGoldrick is one of the biggest jokes to wear an Arsenal shirt. He’s there alongside Helder, Hillier, Kiwomya, Silvestre, Gus Caesar, Squillaci, Cygan, Diawara, Almunia, Wreh, Marinello, Clive Allen, John Lukic (2nd spell)…
NO NEW PLAYERS – Wenger can no longer judge a player. LOAN PLAYERS ONLY 4th Place is not what I am most worried about I am much more worried about whether Wenger has gone or not by Season Ticket Renewal times – 50 years reached this year 51 in great peril. Wenger out – its the only solution – sorry Arsene – you were a great manager but the players have heard it all before and your so called great scouting network is nothing of the sort. Please retire with grace ASAP. Don’t care who replaces him at the moment… Read more »
Bye bye wenger
Very few good things to come out of yesterday but atleast TV5 seems to be getting back to old self. Instead of wasting time with players that we are trying to push out off the door put some youngsters on. Gnabry did alright against Norwich, Eisfeld did well against Reading and Frimpong would atleast get stuck in.
good thing Ramsey is improving.Lets hope arshavin does as well! THought Ramsey did afine job when he came on but still nothing compared to the ramsey we know.Come on Ramsey prove these haters wrong!!!!!
PS he is not a winger(but i guess you figuered that out already)
Such a shame Rosicky isn’t fit, he instead of Diaby might have really meant something last night. Rambo should have started. He would have been keener. Fuck this waiting until the 75th minute?! I agree with blogs, rather see Santos with Santi moving in, that pesky Russian needs to be offskis sharpish. Virtually any striker would be welcome at this stage, the fact that Chamahk, Park and Gervinho are on the squad list is difficult to fathom. I know we’ve been through this before and we’re on a serious bad patch, but it really speaks for itself
I think its time we lowered or standards because we are so fucking shit. Giroud is terrible and the fake barca style continues. Need to keep Walcott upfront every match or we will finish 8th if lucky.
I thought Cazorla was worth more than a 5 in the second half, his pass for the goal was brilliant! Overall tho agree that it’s not really happening for him at present.
Great but nowhere to be seen in the 1st and we lost a game in the 1st half, and his good play (and everybody else) in the 2nd provided just one goal and we needed two, at least.
I think it would take a Togolese event to make AW even consider spending this month
Arsene needs to stop holding down the triangle button to bring out Szczesny.
whaaaaat?!!!!
so thats Szczes fault ?? no defenders?!!
you and arseblog are silly blinds but ok everyone has his point of view…
1st goal: it was free kick but dont stop until whistle! plus Mer was too deep and Sagna late .
2st:big gap between defenders, Szczes did well but Ramires dived great (oscar nomination) so penalty taken.
ref was poor but our defense even worse..
real problem is up front in my opinion, I like Giroud but he let down again!
subs!!?!! bench that is the biggest problem!
I blame Wenger for it
When Arshavin was warming up on the touchline he was wearing trainers. He never thought he was gonna get on. Probably as shocked as everyone else. Was the lamest warm up I’ve ever seen. Jenkinson got a the biggest cheer of the afternoon when he went to warm up after Sagna went down injured. It’s a bit sad, as much as I rate Corpral Jenkinson, he should still be an understudy to an established international defender that was voted best right back in the league for two years. Is this the start of the end for Sagna or just a… Read more »
Sounds like a pitch for a Hollywood movie.
Its the end for sagna . Her more concerned about his hair
I got ‘Sagna 3’ on the back of my Arsenal kit so it pains me more than most to see him in such depressing form. Jenks is good enough now the two of them need to be rotated. And if you were Sagna wouldn’t you be a bit disgruntled (he used the word ‘disrespectful’ himself) at being offered only a one-year contract extension?
[…] report – By the numbers – Player ratings – […]
Let’s face it, if he doesn’t strengthen, we’re fucked.
The same players will keep getting picked – some will get injured and some will just burn out.
Last year it was so hilariously obvious that Spuds were gonna blow it and that ain’t happening this year.
You can’t underestimate what a couple of quality signings, even now, will do for everything and everyone connected with the club.
Crazy.
“Once again, it was left to Jack Wilshere to dig in and fight a lone battle while Coquelin and Abou Diaby were overrun.” John Cross – Mirror……..
“Coquelin …..Arsenal’s best player in the first half…” – Arseblog
Does anyone else think John Cross watches different games from the rest of us?
Tabloid journalists always hype up English players, then slaughter them when they don’t live up to that hype in the World Cup or European Championships.
Rooney is a classic case from recent years, but they’ve been doing it as far back as I can remember.
The Sun billed Tony Adams as the ‘New Bobby Moore’; then, at 21, he gets destroyed by one of the greatest centre forwards to have played the game, and they label him as a donkey.
Esifeld does deserve his chance ahead of Arshavin. Against Reading in the League Cup he came on and made a difference. I fear he could be another Lansbury, where other players get enough rope to hang themselves but he does not get a chance. We need players Carzola looks as if he is running on empty. The stick Giroud is getting is unfair because I remember Drogba first two seasons he was ridiculously inconsistent but he had Gudjohnson and Crespo to help him through the difficult times in his career at Chelsea and helped him adapt. Sadly for Giroud there… Read more »
Giroud is collecting Premiership striker wages. He is not scoring Premiership striker goals. He just isn’t good enough.
We don’t have 2 seasons to invest in someone who can’t hit the target from 20 yards or closer.
He’s just not good enough.
Agreed.
Don’t mind the red thumbs btw.
It’s just depressing that we are wedged in between the Merseyside clubs..
I really don’t want us trotting the path the mugsmashers paved out, from having title races till fighting for top 8…
The squad didn’t show any desire in the 1st half. Why should they care? Irrespective of how they are playing they are given 60-70 k/week. This wage structure is killing our club. And Diaby is not going to change our season. Arteta is better than him
Heh heh, I’ve just thought of a new Viz character: Arsene Wenger The Useless Cunt. Loooooooolzzzzzz
Comedy is a lot harder than it looks, isn’t it?
Was espnsoccernet accurate stating wilshere played as striker ?
What really hits you in the face like a wet kipper, is the fact we can write off next season too. No champs league will mean no quality player would join and we’ll be shuffling around 6th place again, looking at a half empty stadium in UEFA League thingy. We are now waiting for Wenger to go in 2014.
verm deserved a 8/10 for yesterday
It’s 11:30am the morning after the loss to Chelski, and in Arsenal.com the top two items for viewing are:
1) “Pictures of Arsenal in the Snow”, and
2) “Vermaalen: We Can Still Make Top Four”
FFS… 1) is a blatant and desperate attempt to divert attentioni away from how rubbish we are, and 2) is… well, the fact that our Captain is saying these things in JANUARY says it all.
I thought Le Coq was poor yesterday, and you could see JW constantly telling him to press… Playing alongside an unfit, wheezing Diaby probably wouldn’t have helped, but I thought he was poor = 3/10 at best.
Pleasantly surprised by Ramsey’s contribution. Help the ball well, went past players.. certainly more like the Rambo we need right now.
AW – please. Just buy some fucking players.
Le Coq was supposed to be the DM which means not running forward to chase the ball all the time. Diaby was supposed to be working with Jack to close the ball down but he had a real poor game.
In the first half Le Coq was our best player.
In the second half Diaby woke up a bit (not completely) and joined Jack,
I rated up because Rambo is great.
Lots of Saturday 3pm games for us coming up apart from Spurs away.
Even SKY have given up on us as a mid table pile of shit.
I’m not ready to write off Sagna, but I think that he really needs a rest–he’s been playing a LOT of football since coming back from injury. I think he’s just gassed (who isn’t) and Jenks could use a run of games.
Just not happening at the moment. We’re terrible and everyone needs to look at themselves both players and management. We need to seriously consider what these players are getting in wages. If players are to have meaningful contracts there must be clause that reduces their wages accordingly. Yes pay them over 100k if necessary but reduce their pay if they don’t perform. We are being sold a product called The Arsenal football club which is not of the quality desired. If in business the sales team is not performing they lose their commissions may be some of the present squad… Read more »
Sea Urcins – Small and prickley
urchin – a common name for an elf or fairy that took on a prickly appearance
Sea Urcin – Not a real thing
Urchin – Middle english word for hedgehog, a slang phrase for homeless children. Not exclusively or even primarily having to do with fairies
We lacked a little bit, the helpful bench.
I think Cazorla is catching too much flack recently. He does look tired but he is certainly still one of our best players. 5/10 first and second half? Surely the assist should move him up a notch.
Yes, even I agree. His skills have not wavered, they are still eye-catching. How Ramsey got 6 and Cazorla 5 when Cazorla provided the assist? I am suspecting it’s because the expectations with Cazorla are higher.
I think 5 v 6 thing is because they serve different functions on the field and Ramsey came on as a sub and Cazorla was in the starting 11 – his introduction to the game served a purpose and he accomplished it. Besides, think Ramsey hasn’t gotten more than his fair share of slack? I feel as though the general tense atmosphere at the Emirates isn’t helping and unfairly harping on any of our players does affect the psyche of the player and the team as a whole. That said its not that Cazorla has lost his skills, but he… Read more »
Wenger has embarrassed himself putting on a player (AA), that he has said himself is trying to get him out of the club, if that’s not proof we don’t have anything past the first 11, first 11 that have players getting burnt out and playing out of position, I don’t know what is.
Anyone have any stats on Diaby, I know I am one of the few that think he is shit and has played very few decent games, I’d like to know our win percentage with him in the team, have to think its pretty low.
The sooner we spend 20 million and force Barca into selling Villa the better.