Another away trip, another away win, another clean sheet. What the hell’s going on? We don’t know, but here’s how the players rated.
Lukas Fabianski: 7/10 – Relatively untroubled, had one moment where he came for a cross and missed it entirely, but other than that he looks and feels solid. Distribution is noticeably better than Szczesny’s.
Carl Jenkinson: 8/10 – Followed up his storming performance against Bayern with another one yesterday. Would run through brick walls for the red and white.
Per Mertesacker: 8/10 – Calm, cool, efficient, Mertesplendid.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10 – Kosmungous in a Laurentacular manner.
Nacho Monreal: 8/10 – Back in for Gibbs, good at the back and grabbed his first Arsenal goal into the process. Que bien!
Mikel Arteta: 7/10 – Worked hard after a massive shift in Munich, a little on the quiet side but helped keep the midfield operating as a unit.
Abou Diaby: 5/10 – Looked leggy and tired, which is confusing as he didn’t do a thing in midweek. A bit better in the second half but not the kind of display that says ‘Pick me, pick me!’.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 7/10 – Showed the attacking side of his game with two decent efforts that bounced off the crossbar, his youthful legs did a lot of running too. A good step in the right direction.
Santi Cazorla: 8.5/10 – Arsenal’s best player on the day, always tried to make something happen, was unlucky not to score at least one and played a crucial part in the opening goal.
Theo Walcott: 5/10 – Ineffectual from an attacking point of view again, I think we need to call up Consistentette and get him some more of those patches. Didn’t shirk his defensive duties though, which is something that often compounds his quieter games.
Olivier Giroud: 6/10 – Ran and jumped and put himself about, gets an assist for the goal and in fairness he realised he’d got it wrong in the first place. Two very solid 90 minutes this week from him though.
Subs:
Gervinho: 7/10 – Got his first goal since October, and took it well if not 100% convincingly. Hopefully it’ll do him some good, because the more players we have on the boil in the final weeks of the season the better
Aaron Ramsey: 6/10 – Gets an assist for Gervinho’s goal, came on and did grand.
Kieran Gibbs: 6/10 – On to help shore things up at the end, did exactly that. If he were a tin somebody would make a catchphrase about how he does exactly what’s on him.
Keiran Gibbs back in for Keiran Gibbs?
Thats Nacho hangover speaking is it?
Erm, *boilk*
Fixed now, thanks to everyone for pointing out my mistake 🙂
Nah…not a mistake but a Oops butter fingers moment xx You were overawed with the joy of the win.
Well if there’s a day for boilking it’s this one.
kinda like the spud cunts who lost today. hahaha I see the downfall is eminent for those prostitute controlling bastards
Great review. Its nice to be able to say something good about the team for a couple games in a row. Lets hope they keep it up. I actually wasn’t so unimpressed by Diaby yesterday. I thought he tried to make something happen when he could. Its sad to see him still shying away from tackles, and at one point he could have helped out Cazorla, i think it was, who was harried almost all the way back to the halfway line. That opportunity he had to bang one in towards the end of the first half showed how low… Read more »
Diaby just needs to be a bit more assertive – he had a clear shot-on-goal (on his left foot) from 20 yards which he should’ve just gone for.
lets all laugh at spuds for their home loss to fulham.. hahahahaha..hehehehehe…huhuhuhuhuhuhu… st. totteringham day is coming nearer….
They choke when we want.
They choke when we want.
Rottenham Shitespurs, they choke when we want.
You’ve put Monreal as Gibbs.
Gibbs came back in for Gibbs? It’s early I guess, so…
Arsenal: 10/10
For the heart feels so much lighter this morning.
I agree!! so much better waking up for mondays with 3 points 🙂
You know who really impressed me this game lads? SZESZNEY! hold on.. let me explain…
The boy was dropped to the bench, again, but after the game i dont think there was a single player out there more excited and proud about the 3 points besides Szesz. It was really good to see that even though he didnt play, he really wanted that 3 points badly. True Gooner!
Didn’t notice that, thanks for the ‘heads-up’ Goontang… think this proves that all these stories in the press about how Schezzers is all bent-out-of-shape from being dropped are just a bunhc of malicious liesaimed at ‘harming’ the Arsenal.
ARSEBLOG Change Gibbs for Monreal Dear Sir. Ta
Drop Feo to the bench, show him whose boss! :@
who’s*
I am the boss. I will break every goal scoring record at Arsenal. It is my time now.
Gervinho, please turn up to training starting from tomorrow, we need to work on your finishing.
Thanks,
A.W
*points out error that will probably be edited pronto in the hopes of getting upvoted.
But seriously; CORPORAL JENKINSON, TAKE A BOW SON. I honestly thought he was the stand out for me this game and against Bayern. Can’t wait to see what he becomes in the next few years, such a talent.
Who thumbed that down?!?
It was me, I like only shit. And money. Yeah don’t forget money.
Are you sir balls? Asshole.
Proberly sanga 🙂
Me because he quoted that Godzilla-sized CUNT Andy Gray.
Was very impressed with Chamberlain. Direct running and unlike other Arsenal players capable of hitting it from distance. Diaby was unsurprisingly disappointing. Santi was fucking brilliant.Only if Arshavin had the kind of work rate and attitude Santi had
Arsene Wenger: 10/10 again.
Picked the right starting line up, and made the right changes at the right time.
Getting it right at the right time of the season!
Well, the right time would actually be at the beginning of the season and all throughout.
But better late then never.
Agreed. But I think with the lack of quality in our squad compared with the last few years in general, we would have bitten anyone’s hand off for a top four finish at the end of the season. If we get it, nobody will be criticising Arsene any more. But the key will be to build on the Champions League place and bring in some top players in our weak positions instead of assuming that the same group will be significantly better in the following season as we have done over the last few years.
The same group will be stronger, they will have far more understanding having played together a season.
My issue is selling our best players, which loses their skills and, importantly, team cohesion.
Avoid that and we will be better next season.
I’m not saying that one or two new players would come amiss, just that having players that know instinctively what the others will do is a big advantage ie Adams, Bould etc ie the invincibles.
At the right time ..
Well it happened to be kind of the right time this match. But it was exactly when the 70th minute popped up, just like it happens in every match :D.
I agree that Wenger showed some tactical awareness and last games, but there were matches where we needed a change much sooner. It always happens in 70th minute tho. Its like he doesnt have the option to sub before 70th minute.
It’s based on the scientific and sporting knowledge that fitness levels will drop below efficient at around 70 minutes. It used to work better when he was the first coach to really advocate high fitness training (Watch any old match around 99/00 (where we’re losing or drawing) and you will see Arsenal turning it on around 65/70 minutes). Now of course every club has a fitness coach, nutrionist, guidelines on eating and drinking, so the playing field has evened out. to the point where the difference is becoming smaller but still there. We just need the subs to work their… Read more »
That’s an interesting fact. However its frustrating when AW waits till the same 70th min mark when the game is crying out for a tactical sub.
rambo and Getvinho were great changes, but I loved thaat he brought Gibbs on to help hang on to the lead. Not often he’s done it of late,bringing a defender on to win a game.
On Diaby: “A bit better in the second half but not the kind of display that says ‘Pick me, pick me!’.”
Yet that’s what exactly what will happen. Well, until he’s injured again in two weeks, that is.
I would have Arshavin ahead of Walcott any day.
Evidently an Arshavin lover….which is great for the lad. Bless
Great win, though! It’s been a while since this team has made me happy twice in the same week!
I really enjoyed your “manager rating” bonus last week. Any chance of throwing in a “team rating” bonus occasionally? It looks like we are finally learning it is a team game. We are looking balanced and determined to work for hard for each other. Isn’t that more important than any individual rating? Will be interesting to see how Wilshere’s return effects the balance of the this new almost unrecognisable team unit. I hope he can slot straight back into it.
All achieved without Wiltshire.. We done lads, I can sit back and cheer on Fulham and west ham today…
The great thing about today is if anything happens in neither of the games; it is a bonus. We can sit back knowing we have just won one of the 3-4 hardest games in out run in, while both of them have way harder games to go than today (including playing each other).
By the way, who’s this Wiltshere guy? I know its nitpicky, but at least Arsenal fans should get it right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiltshire
God he’s put on weight. A few weeks out and gone to pot 🙂
By the way — speaking of bonuses: must not gloat, must not gloat…….
Great to see The Ox getting a start! Hopefully he’ll get a run in the side now! Looked another great display from Jenks as well!
It’s Paddys Day,he’s Irish.
Arseblog is clearly on a floor somewhere.
We all know Nacho started
:):)
While I think Jenks mostly was very good, he’s horror pass cross our backend of the field, strait to a swansea man wasn’t very good at all. If they had scored(and i was pretty close) we would have talked about Arsenals selfdestruckt botton. 7/10 from me.
Totally fair point.
He’s getting ready for the parade getting superfucked. Happy st Patrick’s. COYG
Lost count of the number of times Jenkinson looked ahead to put a winger into space and Walcott was lolling about on the 18 yard box pretending to be a striker…it’s getting a little annoying now!
I thought Theo worked hard yesterday, any player involved in a 2-0 away win against a very good team has clearly done their job. I fear the boo boys will start targeting Theo. Clearly confidence is such a large part of the game and we need all our strikers full of confidence for our inevitable toppling of Sp*rs. Glad Gervinho and Ramsey are looking like they are on their way back. Wenger has in previous years shut up shop well for little spells but we really struggled to score goals. Theo is going to get less chances now, but we… Read more »
I’ll be putting Westham & Fulham caps today. Spuds and Chelski MUSTTTT NOTTT WIN!!!! I repeat. MUST NOT!
spuds lost the football world is still spinning on the right axis
great to see wenger has perfected cloning two kieran gibbs.now just make a load of jack wilsheres and we’ll be sorted
Gervinho steadily growing in confidence, one miss and one goal from two sub appearances?, he’s well on his way people.
on another note, Liverpool fans were yesterday shell shocked! at losing 3-1 to Southampton – They didn’t expect to score.
My prefered team at the moment..
A polish goalkeeper
Jenks mert kos gibbs/ monreal
Arteta ramsey
Rosicky wilshere carzola
Podolski/ Giroud
And if need be.. I think the ox will make a gooad sub for arteta.. With carzola coming in.. Such a technically gifted team
I’d love this line up! I’d really like to give Poldi a run up top, think he might prove to be clinical up there. And Giroud needs a breather.
Dig your Pole at Goal mention.
I’ll fancy this setup someday..its gonna be a strong line up full of creativity and spirit..wilshere..rosicky…
The only thing Arsene Wenger might have got wrong with the starting 11 was Diaby (personally thought he should have stuck with Ramsey, who did well in Munich), but he had to experiment with him and see how match fit he actually was. Obviously the Allianz was not the time or place for that, so Swansea it was. Glad that Rambo atoned for Diaby’s lackluster performance, the whole team looked so much better once he got on, he pushed the team forwards with a lot more fluidity and the net result was two goals. Which, speaking of, congrats to Monreal… Read more »
Theo Walcott’s face when he got subbed for Gibbs: 10/10. Never seen someone looked so confused.
Exactly mate. He’s got it bang on for two very tough games. You get the feeling the team is just getting ready to hit real form at the perfect time.
@ noah Re: wenger
Sorry to say this after he grabbed a goal but Monreal’s defensive game is a bit wanting. I have noticed several times when he has kept an opposition attacker onside and they get around him to get a 1v1 with the keeper.
Not a serious weakness but it’s one that could cost us.
All I can say to you is the following. The Spanish Football League is more technical and slower and the England/Wales Monreal has to contend with both the aggressiveness and speed of the EPL. Give him time before you criticise him too much. At least one season. Ta
it took Nacho, a fullback, 50 mins to go up front. the goal masked it but I thought his performance was weak
Did we concede? No. Did he get roasted everytime a player came towards hm? No. So a defender did his job and scored a goal but his performance was weak? Can’t win with some people
A great start to the St Patrick’s celebrations, I have the permission of my youngest to wake up with a hangover in the morning, lets hope Fulham & Wet Spam make it celebratory Guiness!!
Awful to see theo walcott proving his critics absolutely right. Shoddy performance.
Walcott needs to see the bench for a while. He’s not been up to any mark since hes signed the contract. And Bayern’s ‘assist’ was a shot on goal in my opinion.
Walcott was more defensive minded the last two games. tracked back to the goal line twice. also assisted in bayern. not as invisible as you would think
truth Diaby was frustrating yesterday but only when he refused to pull d triger at goal . as for the rest of his game, he did well especialy in breaking up d swans attack , holding d ball well and getting into scorring positions.
Finally someone that saw what i saw in Diaby’s game yesterday.
Been wondering what everyone was seeing.
Ok ok, I’m starting to think I’m living in a dream world were I’m da only one that can see that yellow is yellow and black black is black etc. Ben mate seriously u would have left diaby out and picked ramsey instead who play well in munich? What game where u watching midweek, yes ramsey got about but he either passed the ball to zee germans or was simply dispossessed nearly every time he touched the ball. Am I tye only one who sees that altho this kid is a nice guy and may have been a great prospect,… Read more »
Mate you want to talk about dwelling on the ball then look no further than Diaby today. At times Diaby looked terrified of actually playing. Ramsey did well when he came on, got a lot more impetus on the ball. Provided the assist at Swansea yesterday. At Bayern he made the fantastic run that resulted in the first goal. At WHL he earned the free kick that got us the goal and was a constant nuisance offensively. Didn’t put a foot wrong against Villa when he came on, and before that he was one of the better players against Bayern… Read more »
Ramsey is a much better player than people give him credit for. Too many opinions are based on 6 months ago, when he was struggling for form but looking objectively over the last 10 to 12 games I cannot understand how anyone can have too many issues with him.
it’s ridiculous to judge someone based on one performance. and Bayern game wasn’t a good example. Ramsey didnn’t give the ball away more than anyone else from our midfield. wasn’t his best game but wasn’t horrible either. whole midfield IMO was quite poor (offensively). as for Ramsey. he’s passing is great, always on a high %. he fights for the ball on the whole pitch and always has many tackles, interceptions and clearences. for example Wilshere gives the ball away more than him and nobody gives a shit. plus Aaron is miles ahead of Jack tactically and defensively. Jack is… Read more »
I heart the two posts above a lot. Reason, facts, and stats. What else do you need? Go Rambo.
I wouldn’t say Ramsey isn’t developing or can become effective, but I do think people have a lot more patience with him than with Diaby, even if they’re both guilty of similar errors I definitely do not agree with some (most it seems like) that Ramsey gives the ball away less or play slower or whatever other charge they make against Diaby. Ramsey put three balls into touch within one minute during the first half at Munich. If Diaby does something similar, even less egregious, then no matter what he does the rest of the game, he’s not going to… Read more »
LOL “Zee Germans”. What about “Los English”!
Did you go to school?
I didn’t know Aphex Twin was a Gooner!
All geniuses are Gooners, surely
Was in the Twelve Pins yesterday to watch the match and it’s heartening to see the fans still behind the team because that what we need right now. We can dissect everything after the seasons over, and I think everyoe knows we need at least five new players. But that can wait for another day, let’s keep getting behind the team so they can feed off of us and so avoid the unthinkable. We look so much more balanced over the last few games and long may it continue. I can enjoy my St Patricks Day now! Top marks all… Read more »
I swear Giroud annoys me. That fellow cannot run, he plays like a lame ostrich. He’s pulling a Chamakh on us. 12 goals then he just dwindles away. Notice in Munich his goal would have been a miss if he was just inches behind. Podolski should be our main CF.
I really don’t know what to say about this post……
I don’t understand why people can’t see that giroud is not the striker we need. Why should we settle for “he gets around a lot”? We need someone who @ least makes chances to score. Giroud could probably do better as a supporting striker. I have never seen him turn a defender, the ball comes to him he immediately touches it back.
And don’t give me that first season crap (cazorla, monreal, podolski…). I’ll say it again, even the “chamakh” scored a couple of goals. Its a given u play for arsenal u’ll score.
Because he’s got talent, heart and all said and done it’s his first season in the prem. Not many strikers have had first seasons (at least statistically) as good as Giroud. Especially not coming from ligue 1, as the overall standard of the prem is quite a bit higher.
So please reserve judgment until this time next year.
Giroud is a center forward, the classical target man.
He scores goals. He also is capable of winning headers and out muscling defenders.
He wins the long balls, he holds up the ball when necessary and gets time for our players to advance.
There are many strikers and attacking midfielders who can/will benefit from playing around him. I do not believe we are as yet playing to his strengths.
The question is will we ever play to his strength? These are 2 conflicting styles. We don’t use wingers whose first option is to cross. Look @ d sexy interchanges btw podolski and gibbs, cazorla and monreal… Does it look lyk they’re tryin to cross d ball? By the time they decide, giroud has wandered out of the box (which of coz is the right thing to do). Even walcott’s first inclination is to drive into the area not cross the ball. It’s just a bad fit.
@ deji If players in a PL club do not know when or how to cross the ball to a central striker, should they be playing at this level? Theo cuts in with the ball because he wants the glory for himself. I believe he resents Giroud playing the CF role, and tries not to create chances for him. His cross for our first against Bayern was a not intentional; he went for goal himself, unluckily for him the ball, luckily for us, it went to Giroud. Arsene must have signed Giroud knowing his strengths; so he must have a… Read more »
Why do you hate beautiful people so much?
The problem with Theo is that he doesn’t know when to drop and become an option for the player with the ball. He is always standing next to the defender looking for the perfect ball to play him in.
WHAT! A six? Sacre Bleu! I deserve more than a six, I am Giroud!
Nope you’re just an average striker with tremendously good looks, get you out of well and trully deserved stick.
if your name was Diaby you would’ve gotten a 3.
I didnt think diaby was that bad at all to be honest… you can see he’s still a bit cautions though but his general play was pretty good.. except for not shooting more often. Theo also worked hard defensively and his presences can scare the oppo just because of his pace.
I am completely foxed by the above Football Managers who said Theo had a bad game because he did not score. Swansea is known for horizontal passing and using the width by pushing their full backs high up the pitch….that is where both The Ox and Theo came in handy yesterday ( Speed and Youth). For the first time in a very long time, I saw Theo defend. Yes! he may not have scored or did the flair things….but he defended like crazy. Give him the love and due respect for the little things.
exactly and he did the same in Munich and assisted our first goal to get us into the game
Hey arseblog, the arseblog app on my iPhone doesnt seem to work with 2G mobile data. Is there some problem with the app?
I think that’s a bit harsh on Diaby, I really don’t think he was that bad. He got a lot of important interceptions & tackles in which stopped Swansea from building up their play. He does look slow but I think that’s just his floaty running style. Granted, he was frustrating at times and rather lacking in sharpness but he carried the ball pretty well, got some good flicks in and tried hard to make things happen, especially in the 2nd half.
Fantastic photo, looks like the team spirit is improving each game. Bodes well for the future, a few astute additions both in terms of football ability and determination and I will feel very confident about our future prospects.
Regarding Carl Jenkinson, my pal has met him a few times and says he is genuinely one of the nicest blokes going. Obviously living the dream and very appreciative of it all. Stay humble Jenks and you are a sure fire Arsenal legend in the making!
Come on Frimpong and Fulham, let’s be having ya!!
Great job, blogs. Critical where need be…Theo’s offense and Diaby’s…uh….everything? There’s clearly been a tactical shift, which on the heels of two victories is defensively refreshing and cardiac-stabilizing for gooners. That said, should we be concerned about our minimal front two (theo and HFB) becoming non-producers (save the one against the Nihilists). It all seems a bit, “Where are the goals coming from looking forward?” Still, if the defense keeps on, maybe a neoclassic redo of the old one-nil to the Arsenal is what we’ll see out the season with. Wins are wins, even by the slimmest of margins. Keep… Read more »
Still not sure what our best MF combination is. What happens when Wilshere’s back?
Love Nacho but Gibbs for me next game
I would have Arteta and Ramsey as the first names on the teamsheet in midfield right now. They both have that combination of defensive nous, passing ability, and above all determination. They provide the perfect base for us, and I think it’s really important to have two such deep central midfielders who are also adept at getting forward. For me, the problem is the three playing in front of them. I think Giroud is first choice for striker, but Theo has struggled on the wings of late. We have Cazorla, Podolski, Rosicky and Wilshere all looking to be in there… Read more »
Clearly the way Jack Wilshere plays (cutting left, cutting right, cutting backwards, cutting forwards) is what makes him so dynamic but it most also cause tremendous stress on his bones/joints/ligaments all the time. When he returns from injury I would be happy he be ‘ROTATED’ properly (e.g. playing 2 out of every 3 games). Otherwise, you can just see him sustaining another injury that keeps him sidelined for a year. Hopefully, the fact that Ramsey is improving massively lately will give Wenger the confidence to do so.
Although Diaby didn’t play that well, he looked good going forward. He played better than Walcott. 6/10 for me
I completely agree. Diaby was decent value for me. Retained possession well in tite situations. Made some good forward passes. Not sure he ever made a pass off target. Solid. 6 – 6.5. Jenkinson an 8+?? Really dude almost gifted Michu a goal. Wtf am I missing????? C’mon Guys, I mean I love that he bleeds red as much as the next guy, but that doesn’t make u a great player. Tighten UP! That was a STUPID mistake that could have cost us. The guy had a really good game but these grade school mistakes don’t warrant all these rim… Read more »
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Something about Jenks that reminds me of a young T.Adams – no bullshit- get on with the job- hope he can stay out of Tony’s locals for the 12 pints,tho’
So happy Bale looks down for the count looks like Spuds will be be getting 7th after all.
Also surely reality is going to kick in now for Spuds.
They lose 4-1 to a team in the europa league cause they didnt have 1 player.
We beat one of the best teams in the champions league by 2-0 with some of our key players out.
Mentally I think Spurs have had a reality check.
Reality check just landed jason get in Berbatov
Am I only one who thinks Per looks a bit too fuckin scary in that pic???
That’s why his nickname is so apt. BFG! Everyone loves a BFG.