The run of away wins came to an end but a draw at West Brom isn’t a bad result at all. How did the players rate?
See below …
Wojciech Szczesny: 7/10 – Another solid, confident performance from the Pole, made a fantastic first half save too.
Carl Jenkinson: 5/10 – Always full of running and effort but his inexperience really showed at times today. Standing off West Brom attackers as they lined up their crosses is the kind of basic stuff he should be on top of by now
Per Mertesacker: 6/10 – It’s a testament to his consistency that he didn’t seem to be involved much but still kept things pretty good back there.
Laurent Koscielny: 6/10 – Was the late challenge on Long a bit rash? We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Kieran Gibbs: 7/10 – Good again, really switched on and his tracking of Amalfatino late on snuffed out a very dangerous West Brom attack.
Mathieu Flamini: 6/10 – Got a booking, of course, and scrapped his way around the pitch as usual.
Aaron Ramsey: 6/10 – His first really subdued performance of the season. Was feeling his knee and came off in the second half.
Mikel Arteta: 6/10 – Did fine, if a little bit conservative at times. The two midfields kinda cancelled each other out.
Jack Wilshere: 6/10 – Nearly eligible for two marks. His first half was, frankly, appalling, but his second very good indeed. Got the equaliser, might have been given a penalty and played the pass of the game to Giroud whose effort was well saved.
Mesut Ozil: 6/10 – Maybe just feeling the impact of so many games in such a short time in a more physically intense league than Spain. Quiet today.
Olivier Giroud: 6/10 – Some very nice hold up play at times, may feel he should have done more with Wilshere’s pass, but did ok overall.
Subs
Tomas Rosicky: 6/10 – Came on for Aaron Ramsey and injected some pace and pressure to proceedings.
Nicklas Bendtner: n/a – Not really on long enough
Feel free to debate and discuss in the comments, but please read the comment policy first and don’t get angry with each other, or me, about imaginary points.
I feel like Jenkinson only plays well with Sagna at CB next to him. Maybe he needs a mentor to help him and to cover him while he plays, so he can learn.
no he seems to play well when hes had a couple of games to get back into the swing of things.
Mixed feelings. We need our players back AND fast! Burnout risk very high at the moment.
Agree very much with this. Arsenal need to be able to rotate players.
Wenger make a rong selection whilshere state in the flank where rosiky is in the bench i don’t like it
I don’t like the fact you can’t spell properly. And Rosicky was coming back from injury so it was the right decision to leave him on the bench; Jack just did not play well. It had nothing to do with his position, he simply was not at his best.
Lolwhat. How do you know it wasn’t because he was on the wing? He def looked out of sorts out there.
well on FM you can select whoever you want, i think reality is a tad too unfair for you
its not selection
its just ozil was silent today…or else
arsenal would have won…
n
ramsey had a off day too…
Despite the dodgy spelling, I agree with this comment. Rosicky should have started, or at least brought on at half time. Him, Ozil and Ramsey were superb against Napoli, and when he came on today we had our most promising spell – his movement helped us a lot, when previously there was not enough running between the lines or one touch attacking passes… two things Rosicky does really well. Overall it wasn’t a bad point against a physical side who dealt with Giround much better than Napoli (one of the reasons we were able to boss the Italians was because… Read more »
I feel abit for Jack, Steve Clarks game tactics must have been to his team just pick on Jack, man mark him and take him out of the game, which I think most mid table teams do and its effective. Lets hope the team think of better ways to deal with physical teams and dodgy refs.
Thought Ozil had another great performance today. Strong defending and beautiful passing as he took the ball from 2 west brom players and passed it through to giroud for the Wilshere goal.
Özil was basically flawless: made the most passes, made the second most tackles (4), chased back well, created 3 presentable chances, had a hand in the goal. 6/10 is incredibly harsh. Incomprehensible even. He can’t do it all himself!
Not a great game from Jenks but he’ll be ok- just needs a few games under his belt
Ah, a fellow Oatmeal fan! Ahoy there!
Top of the table.
Fingers crossed for no further injuries over the international break. Theo & Santi won’t feature. Wales are out, should seemingly save Ramsey. Germany are all but qualified might save the German contingent a game. France has it all to do though!
Ok so Jenkinson isn’t Sagna…who is? always get commitment from jenkinson and given time and some extra practice delivering crosses he should do well enough. Assuming no injuries picked up over the interlull and cazorla walcott and sagna returning to the fold we should do fine, i’d expect cazorla take the left, Özil the center attacking mid and fingers crossed a fit walcott the right. Flamini and 1 of either ramsey wilshere or arteta for me as partner except in the toughest of games, in which the defensive pair can hold our central berths. sorry Verm, still no way in… Read more »
The dude lacks positional sense. there were a couple of times during the game when the goal keeper made a short pass to Per and Jekinson was wayyyyy up field for no reason.. and Per couldn’t pass to him because it was too risky so he passed it to Koscielny and he then passed it to Gibbs.. but like seriously tho doesn’t he know he’s a defneder FIRST before anything else??? Like what is he doing so up the field when your team hasn’t even started an attack yet. As a RB youre only supposed to join and Help out… Read more »
or perhaps when were idk lacking pace on the wing?
I think 6’s are a little bit harsh for Wilshere and Ozil. His first half was 5/6 but his second half was 8 at least. So seven would be fit. Ozil runs his socks of today, very aggresive in the second half, deserve a 7. IMHO.
Wilshere’s first half was a 4 to me so a 6 overall is fair. Let’s not baby the man, he was quite poor in the first 45, credit to him to recover in the second 45.
Agreed , how the hell was Arteta rated the same as Ozil and Wilshere when he created next to nothing and added nothing defensively. Should have started Ramsey in the middle and Rosickyon the wing.
For me, Arteta should have been rated at around 5, if you compare his performance today against Cabaye’s then you can see why wenger sees Cabaye as a long term replacement for Arteta.
I think we didn’t have good bench today and we miss walcott cos nobody to provide and outlet when we are attacking from right.
No one over a 7/10 sums it up, good battling performance and top of the league..players coming back will make a massive difference, and Spurs…ha ha ha
Some like it hot
http://gifsoup.com/view/2042078/fabregas-tottenham-goal.html
Disappointed not to win but will take the draw. We really need our wingers back. And Cazorla
we missed theo badly.lacked a bit of directness.nevertheless a decent point.
Come the end of the season, this point will be massive.
So will the 2 points dropped.
No It wont. We going to win the league by at least 10 points. 🙂
🙂
Are we too conservative with both Arteta and Flams in the mid? Didn’t look that way in the first half against Napoli. Hard to see Ramsey in anything other than a central position these days though.
You would think so, but in tough games against top opposition it will give us a steady platform (Like it did against Napoli). It did seem a bit too “static” in midfield in this particular game. The risk Wenger had to contemplate is starting a returning Rosicky again on the wing and dropping 1 of Arteta or Flamini, OR simply bringing in Gnabry in. He went for who was the fittest and most experienced in the end. It shows how much of a difference Rosicky makes really. We were awesome from the start against Napoli, then only found some fluency… Read more »
Nice Game GunnerZ but West Brom deserve the point as well, the played with commitment and the draw is also ok especially as that stupid neighbour of ours got HAMMERED @home …lol
WBA are a decent side and a point there is a good result. Yes, it wasn’t some of the sublime stuff we saw v Napoli, but it is these sort of performances that win leagues. Dig deep and grab a point when knackered and playing badly.
Girouds hold up play is just absolutely sublime at times… Wish he finished what he was given today, that pass from Jack was superb
Could I get a thumps up for how many people hate sir balls ha has to be a a fuckin spurs fan by the way sir bollix west ham bet ye today 3 0
I don’t think Arteta should have started. I think he upset the balance in our midfield. Five central midfielders and no natural winger was just plain wrong. We tried to play through the middle and all Westbrom had to do was stick a boot in each of our passes. There was no speed and not enough through-balls because there were no runners. That’s why all of our midfielders had okay games especially attacking wise. Ramsey was played on the wings which frustrated him last season. I think arteta and flamini shouldn’t play at the same time if either Ramsey or… Read more »
Don’t know. We worked with this tactic in midweek. Personally believe rosicky is far more suited to this system than Jack. And he’s horribly out if form too. Let’s hope the goal brings back the old jack wilshere.
Tbh, he needs to develop his game now, since referees don’t protect him and the opposition are happy to foul him, he needs to time those bursts a bit more. Still hoping he’ll be as good as we thought he would be
I think now that we are having a good run, it is the perfect chance for Jack to develop. Ramsey’s form coupled with ozil and cazorla can make up for his mistakes. The spotlight is not on him. I think Wenger has so many good midfielders but trying to play them all at the same time is bad. He should find those whose qualities match. I was really pissed off by the fact that arteta played the whole game. Gnabry or rosicky should have been introduced much earlier in place of arteta.
It worked midweek because there is more space in the Champions League. Rosicky or Gnabry should have started, the former scored two goals on that ground last season. And within minutes of him coming on he set up Wilshere for his goal.
tottenham fans are such fucking losers
Seriously. How have you not been banned yet
Contrary to belief, our winger position is really not a winger, but an attacking mid. In the 4-2-3-1 the width/wing play comes from the fullbacks. Thus Wilshire and Ramsey are in ideal positions, they simply had an off day. Diddo for the fullbacks. Oh Sagna where art thou?
This isn’t FIFA; Arsenal play a flexible and lopsided formation which is at it’s best when the right wing (yes, wing) is occupied by someone who is pacy and provides a threat behind the opposition defense. Otherwise, the attack has no balance and there is a load of passing in front of the opposition defense like we saw today.
Laaaa La la Come off, Come off
Giroud.
You can’t eve hit the target, target
you brute.
Bonus rating for the spuds: 10/10 keep up those kind of performances
I know we didn’t win but I am a little surprised why no one is talking about Ozil. His pass two Giroud during Wilsheres goal and the chance created for Giroud when he went wide was fucking beautiful. He created more chances too. And few might have noticed but Ozil took the defensive responsibility today which honestly I saw for the first time. Good work by him.
played in Gibbs with a superb ball, Gibbs blasted over, should have done better!
This is a game this time last year Arsenal would have lost in typical fashion. Good to see the boys now quite comfortably handle a type of pressure game like this one.
I really feel we could’ve won this game had Rosicky started in place of Wilshere.
Wilshere driving up the pitch, straight at two defenders, then getting DISPOSSESED in the middle of the park. I thought I was watching Francis Coquelin or Emanuel Frimpong out there. I counted a half-dozen such dispossessions just in the first-half… all in the centre of the park which gave West Brom the chance to break on the counter.
Rosicky scored both goals in this fixture last year… why not start him again this year?
Agreed.
Not sure about the Wilshere love in on here tonight. He was a fucking liability all fucking game with the exception of his goal.
I actually feel dirty and violated having to agree with Jamie Fucking Redknapp.
Plus this post hast cost £3 quid for the fucking swear jar…… Oh bollocks.
Sort it out Jack ……. Oh and lay of the fags
I think that Jenkinson is among our better options of attacking full backs. He times his overlapping runs extremely well and his crossing is probably the most direct and accurate. Defensively, he is too adventurous to play alongside Mertesacker. On a side note, good to see Ozil embrace English football more and go in for the tackle to win the ball back.
Considering that WBA won at Old Trafford last week and also very well today, it looks like a good point that we fought back to win.
Show me an example of one cross which you could describe as accurate – I felt our crosses were a let down today
Agreed. Jenko was extremely poor today. It was a bit scary because it seemed to be the Arsenal of old. It was almost as bad as his performance against United when we lost 8-2
Nicklas Bendtner: not really TGSTEL enogh.
We just about deserved the point. West Brom are a decent side which take more points off the big boys, especially at The Hawthornes. Wilshere was dreadful, especially in the first half. Jenkinson awful too. This game pointed out how much we lack pace: Walcott was badly missed. A quality striker to come on instead of TGSTEL would have been nice too. Overall a good day, especially as the Scum were humiliated at home by rubbish West Ham.
We did well to stand toe-to-toe against West Brom today, but it was clear that the boys were a bit knackered after the Napoli game. About Gibbs, I felt that his first half showing is only redeemed by some good play in the second half. He needed the help of Flamini and Wilshere to cover for him at times because he didn’t track back fast enough, or was simply caught flat footed. Also he didn’t really get in the way of Yacob or put some pressure on him when he scored the goal (have a look at the video-link Blogs… Read more »
This was the same team that played napoli off the park except jenkinson and rosicky. The difference between jenks and sagna was fully realised today and i hope the small section of gooners who started to get on the bac mans back (after two leg breaks and 5-6 years as the best rb) are silenced. Jenks did not have the best of games but he hasnt been in the team for a while and he kept berahino who terrorised man u fairly quiet. He was just poor on his own deliveries and stopping their crosses. Got a good future ahead… Read more »
I want to be critical of Jenkinson, but when you play as sporadically as he has, you’re going to get these type of performances.
He is a professional, he gets paid to “perform”.
He played last week as well so shouldn’t be that ring rusty.
The most nervous, unsecure and bald reff in the PL. Always scratching his head like a teenager at the prom when a player went down.
Wilshere might not have actually smoked. Have you thought to yourself why isnt there a picture of him blowing out smoke
Don’t be daft. He smoked.
Does it really matter? Not really.
I thought Giroud deserved a 7 at least today. All of our attacks went through him and he was the main focus of threat on their goal.
THIS IS WHAT I SAID ABOUT JENKINSON 11 DAYS AGO AFTER THE CARLING CUP GAME AGAINST THE SAME TEAM WEST BROM I gave him a 6 Rating. Today I’m giving him a 5. and this is not because i hate him. This is what i said >>”JENKO 6. (Seriously neeeeds to improve his 1v1 Defending.. he kept being turned all night by sessegnon my goodness didnt he learn anything from Sagna.. when an attacker is running at you.. you dont let him peg you back from the edge of the box all the way to your 6yard box like WTF?!)”<<… Read more »
suddenly me felt like both arteta and flamini just dont complement each other, any thoughts Goons?
Agreed, unless we’re playing Barcelona, Arteta/Flamini should rotate (alternate) games. Ramsey (or Wilshere) should be the one next to Arteta/Flamini initially, only to drive up the pitch and cause all types of problems for the opposition upfield, while either of Arteta/Flamini stay back. Neither of Arteta/Flamini is a 25yr old Sergio Busquets. Both are 30yrs old or thereabouts and neither are chosen for their “physical presence.” Too many games is precisely the reason Arteta got injured last January. Moving either of Ramsey/Wilshere to ‘defensive’ midfield will also allow us to finally see ‘CazÖzil’ in action in advanced-midfield once Santi is… Read more »
I pretty agreed with your ratings and comments. I had Gibbs our best player (nobody really merited “Man of the Match” today) with Szczesny a close second. Giibs because he didn’t put a foot wrong and was excellent both going forward and in defence, and Szczesny because he did nothing wrong either, made a couple of really excellent saves, but didn’t have too much to do apart from that. Wilshere deserved a 3 for his first half, and a 7.5 for the second half (including the goal). Maybe 6 is generous (who knows how different the first half could have… Read more »
Two observations from Twitter: @MesutOzil1088 tweeted “One more unbeaten game, two weeks more leader – wonderful time in London” after the match, which is so positive I’m loving the guy more every week.
And @SpursOfficial tweeted to its fans “Who was your Spurs Man of the Match against West Ham?” You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you?
Overly harsh on Giroud, who aside from wasting a couple of chances (one was well saved, nothing you can do about a save like that) was great and especially Ozil. That pass to Gibbs? The one to Giroud that led to the goal? Everyone other than the keeper and wilshere’s second half were average and deserved their sixes. WBA played great. Another week unbeaten, top of the league… Pretty good!
I think wenger was too cautious in the final 20 minutes. I can’t understand why we didn’t go for the win and adopt a traditional 4-4-2 with bendtner and giroud up front wit ozil and gnabry down the flanks. This was our chance to make a statement and pull clear of the rest.
Good point in all
Fair result since it was 6/10 performance from us..only complaint is why bring bendtner on? Gnabry would have been better
west brom seemed to cope with our midfield set up easily and we couldnt get any runners ahead of Giroud – thought we might have taken Arteta or Flamini off for the last 20 and given Gnabry a burst – system worked well against Napoli so was worth trying again but it was the 1st time in a while were we created little…Arteta neat and tidy as always but the whole dynamism of the team seemed flat
Never thought I’d read in Arseblog: “Nicklas Bendtner: – Not really on long enough” ! 🙂
Can I just say respect to all the fans that got behind Bendtner when he came on. He is a Arsenal player for now and we need him.
I thought Ozil showed the other side of his game, willing to get stuck in and a bit running his socks off. Great to see him putting in such a performance.
I thought Ozil showed the other side of his game, willing to get stuck in and a bit running his socks off. Great to see him putting in such a performance.
Overall i think a point was very fair. I believe if we had started gnabry instead of wilshere or arteta we would have been more of a threat going forward. We missed a winger who was going to pressurise the incredibly ridgewell and jones. Wilshere and ramsey were not able to take them on for pace and we couldnt get behind their defence enough. Very good point in the end though as theres countless times an arsenal team of old would have lost this game. FLAMINI is first name on the team sheet for me..bosses this team about which is… Read more »
Thought Mesut was best player on the pitch yet again, pure class and showed a bit if spikiness as well which was very encouraging. Know it is a risk, but why not Gnabry gwide. Not only does he replace Theo’s pace, but showed a willingness to track back in defense, which is needed to supplement a still unproven Jenks. Push Rambo back into the center where he has been brilliant and Little Mozart wide left, with Jack and Lego Hair as impact subs. The way I would have liked to see it anyway. Nonetheless, a well-earned away point against a… Read more »
It seemed like putting Ramsey out wide right was going back to last year’s problematic spells. Wenger needs to rotate Ramsey with Arteta and Flamini rather than trying to have all three on the pitch together (at least starting together). This combined with Wilshere on the left side spelled near disaster. To make the system work we need speed, Theo speed, Gnarby speed, Ox speed and Podolski speed on the flank…at least on one flank if we are using Cazorla as a pseudo winger.
Why do people say rosicky should have started? He had an average game against napoli. His first after an injury. I think it was the right decision to bench him.