Them Mugsmashers got done smashed, here’s how the smashtastic Gooners rated.
Oh, and just in case you didn’t know, we’re top of the league.
Wojciech Szczesny: 8/10 – Made good saves, was really solid on crosses and corners, another encouraging display. One mad moment late on, but he deserved to get away with it.
Bacary Sagna: 8/10 – More reliable that Johnny Reliable from Reliable Town who has just taken his Reliability medicine. Love him.
Per Mertesacker: 8/10 – Im-Per-ious. Geddit? Yeah, you do.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10 – Made life so difficult for Bitey that by midway through the second half he’d more less given up dropping off to pick up the ball in midfield because he knew Koscielny would get right through the back of him.
Kieran Gibbs: 8/10 – Hopefully the injury isn’t bad but his progress continues and it’s great to see.
Mikel Arteta: 9/10 – How quickly people forget how good he is. A little taste of Flamini strange and all of a sudden Arteta’s a liability? Pffff. Outstanding yesterday.
Tomas Rosicky: 8/10 – Ran his floppy-haired hole off, making life difficult for the Liverpool midfield to get any hold on the game.
Aaron Ramsey: 8/10 – Was kinda quiet by his recent standards, then scored another fantastic goal. He is in irrepressible form.
Santi Cazorla: 8/10 –Looked much sharper than in recent games, the goal was excellent after attacking that cross in the first place.
Mesut Ozil: 7/10 – Off the pace a bit, but did get involved in good stuff. Twice made brilliant runs into the box which weren’t spotted and would have created good chances.
Olivier Giroud: 9/10 – Hey Bobby, what’s the French for ‘Holy shit, this guy is a monster. A big, beautiful monster?’
Subs
Nacho Monreal: 7/10 – The usual solid cameo – may now have to do a job in Dortmund with Gibbs injury.
Thomas Vermaelen: 6/10 – Slotted in at left back when Gibbs went off. Did grand.
Carl Jenkinson: 6/10 – Performed a quite magnificent rugby tackle on the halfway line.
Bonus rating
Luis Suarez’s missed chance: LOL/10
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.
Home Fans at the Emirates : 8/10
Got to give credit when its due, so much better than home crowd on Tuesday.
Looked as if the fans needed motivation. team provided that yesterday. it would have been impossible to just sit there….The players!, each with their own paint brushes, some on their left foot some on their right, special ones like cazorla had paint brushes on both feet cooking up what was football art as most people would call it.
I really like starting with Rosicky, especially in the “big” games. Moves the ball around quickly, works his socks off, slides into tackles.
He is like a creative Flamini in the final third.
I agree Arteta had a great game but there was one really dodgy moment. Whats-his-face made a run through our middle. Sagna eventually got a yellow. Arteta SHOULD have been tracking back that moment. We got a way with it. But ‘ey, I am just nit-picking. Everyone was awesome.
i saw that whole Arteta thing too…makes about 2bn of us. i’ll tell you what i also saw. giroud bringing the ball down from the air with a touch of class.
what i didn’t see was STEVEN GERRARD.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ArsenalChannel/status/396870433909116928/photo/1?screen_name=ArsenalChannel
Another thing I didn’t see Heroldgoon, Mr Hansen on MOTD. Funny he vanished after running his gums last week!
Please help!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200809809280846&set=a.1154840484483.22070.1631820251&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
Pure artistry was Arsenal’s display yesterday. Poetry in motion.
Not catching a single glimpse of Brenden Rodgers’ pearly whites: priceless.
Sturridge’s sulking face when he misplaced an injury time cross field ball ball by a good 30 yards…10/10
Arsene Wenger 10/10 great game plan
any idea why rogers is moaning about the ref stopping bitey for taking the quick free kick..? professional foul = yellow card = stop play to give player yellow card = shut the f up rogers
Seeing the replay it looks like Suarez goes down a little easily as well. It was a foul, sure, but Suarez made sure to sell it.
Our players had switched off (rightfully) before that cross went in anyhow. Hilarious how people are saying it was a “disallowed goal”
That’s like calling it a disallowed goal when a striker passes it into the net after being called offside 5 seconds prior
Rosicky was incredible yesterday, didn’t give them a second to breathe. I really hope he wins a trophy with us.
As I watched him pour his heart and soul into the game, thought exactly the same. Would be a travesty if Tomas and Bac – who have been two great servants and still have much to give the club – finish their Arsenal careers without a trophy. After years of injuries great to see him contribute so much.
I really want him to retire with us. What a player.
5 points clear 10/10
Everton 0-0 Tottenham – 6/10
1/10
Fuck yes! Now let’s get those three points from Dortmund
Five points clear.
I will never get tired of saying or hearing it.
Until we’re 8 points clear next weekend!
Rosicky is a 32 year old with the legs of a 26 year old.
Glad to see him playing well and enjoying his football after those long term injuries.
I love his energy and tenacity in tackling back and winning the ball.
33 year old with the legs of a 24 year old*
I would make a joke along the lines of
“I wish my girlfriend” had the legs of someone 6 years younger than her”
but I don’t have a girlfriend.
🙁
Giroud is king. He’s not just a handful for a defender he’s a beautiful handful. Defenders be like “im gonna go for the ball now…err wait, are those abs of steel showing through his shirt?”
Meanwhile giroud lays it off to ramsey…and stunner!!
matt hummels for some reason wants giroud to remove his shirt and give it to him at full time.
[Dortmund vs Arsenal. 6th november]
I think we all want to see him do that…
It was Ozil to Ramsey. But I get your drift 🙂
Any chance i was speaking of future tense? you know the dortmund game where i see giroud laying it on a plate for ramsey who will again hit another stunner? i even put matt hummels there ffs!
The euphoria of making the mugsmashers look below par: 10/10
Title challenge status: Legitimate
Wenger’s suit- 10/10
I’m glad someone else noticed.
Agree with a lot of the ratings, however Sagna should get a 7 instead of an 8. In the 1st half he lost the ball twice in very dangerous areas which could’ve lead to at least one goal. Just because Arsenal won, one shouldn’t forget that kind of mistake. Also: Giroud 9/10?!? WTF? He did good as a hold-up-player but far from well as a striker. Did he even have an attempt at goal? He had one clear cut chance where he didn’t even hit the goal. I wouldn’t give him more than a 5/10: A decent performance but nothing… Read more »
What are you on? Stop taking it.
What are you on?
Did you forget the two sitters he missed?
9/10? Pfft!
On Giroud: it’s ludicrous to suggest that holding up the ball, generating space for the midfielders and defending at set pieces should have no bearing on how we evaluate his performance. Those tasks are what he’s there to do, not merely score goals.
I gather from your comment that your idea of a “striker” is a pure goalscorer who faffs about for most of the game and occasionally dinks a ball past the keeper. That is not, and never has been, Giroud’s role.
5/10 isn’t a bad performance. It’s average. IMO it’s based on good defensive play, a great work-rate and a good job as a hold-up player. I don’t understand why you say that I’m not taking that into account when rating him? 1-3 is bad. 4 is below average. 5 is average. 6-7 is above average. 8-9 is great and 10 is just about perfect. But Giroud conversion rate is awful and his passing % is statistically around 60 this season. Good for an attacker but neither great nor impressive. His positional awareness isn’t good enough; I noticed on several occasions… Read more »
in short, we wouldn’t have the first goal without Giroud dragging mugs’ defender off. fuck off to Denmark, you Dane.
It’s safe to say that you don’t know much about football. Thanks for your high quality bacon though.
The point is that all of the things that you discount as merely incidental to his main role are, in fact, central to the role that Giroud plays in the team. It is simply false and misguided to try to draw an artificial line between his skills as a “hold-up player” and an “attacker” and suggest he did well at one but not at the other. Giroud has certain duties as part of this side, and he undertook those duties superbly yesterday. Your criticism seems to betray a preconceived notion of what a “striker” or “attacker” should do, and anything… Read more »
@CountLeaf I think that your argumentation is excellent. I have now changed my mind completely.
@Cyril Washbrook I agree with your views. And as I’ve said before: Giroud is a good striker and good at the hold-up play. But he’s not a very good finisher which he showed yesterday – again.
If AFC had lost or drawn the match everyone would’ve criticized him for not having more attempts on goal and especially for missing the clear cut chance in the 2nd half. But when teams win, their fans often forget the negative aspects.
Bendtner is that you?
What are they smoking over in Denmark?
To an extent, I agree with you Danish_Gooner, but he did work hard and did hold up the play beautifully at times, showing off his incredible physical presence. All strikers have bad days at the office, but so far Giroud has scored 8 and assisted 4(?) I think it is, and personally, I think that’s fantastic so early on into the season. Furthermore, the workrate and skill he often puts into build up play is fantastic. Didn’t have a great game last night, lost it a few times, but overall I think his tireless workrate shows he is incredibly passionate.… Read more »
I agree: His workrate is great. And I like him for being so tireless and having a great physical presence in the attacking area. I can see that a lot of people here disagree with me, but I just have to say that he still hasn’t won me over. I do like him; he’s a good striker and he’s great at creating chances for his teammates – maybe even the best striker in the league at doing that. However, against Liverpool Giroud showed us what he does best and what he still needs to improve drastically. A statistical analysis from… Read more »
His mere presence scares the shit out of some defenders. He doesn’t have to pass to be effective. When he is just running around on the edge of the opposition area he is still making a valuable contribution, because his ‘running around’ forces the opposition to follow him. He makes space without having to touch the ball. You’ll never find a stat for that so your stats will never be the whole story. He may get 5/10 from you but his running around is worth another 3/10 for the space it makes for other players so that they can get… Read more »
I understand why you are getting thumbed down because some of your reasoning is suspect (ie. that his performance should be negated on his lack of goals) however I think that you have actually hit on a good point. Giroud has a lot of fantastic qualities (ie. hold up play, defensive headers, flicks, link up play, good control) but I don’t think he is a good one on one finisher. I can’t remember (please let me know if I am wrong) when he finished a one on one chance. He seems to not have a lot of composure in those… Read more »
Awesome! Giroud first touch was sublime! Loving his link up play.
Santi – Ozil – Mozart
So good it almost hurts.
Not to mention the others.
Those three have got to start against Dortmund, even if Jack is in top, top, top physical condition. We need Rosicky’s energy.
And those Germans only got a look at Santi on a bad day, just returning from injury. Boy are they in for a surprise.
Oops! did Arsenal play yesterday? Did Arsene Wenger’s team actually play? Oh shock horror and they washed & rinsed Liverpool in the London drizzle? Arsene must buy! Arsene must go! Arsene is rubbish! Arsene has passed his sell by date! All of you who didn’t believe when I said that the only reason we lost to Villa was a cheating referee, can know it’s too late to appologise. Wenger is the best football brain that has ever reached English shores. Our players are honest and clean. We still need to have fair referees; fair FA; fair commentators; and most of… Read more »
very well said menace and a huge ‘fuck you’ to the ten clowns who voted you down.
is that you payton with your bitches? hehehe …
Tbf, we underperformed in the Villa match and were caught out…sure we should have finished with 11 men and the second penalty wasn’t a penalty, but we ended up in that situation for a reason.
We weren’t as bad as some have suggested, but to put it solely down to the ref is inaccurate.
Except that following that logic, we wouldn’t have been 2-1 down in the last 20 minutes, would have been pressing for the win rather than the draw, and when we were overextended for their 3rd goal, we’d have had another man on the pitch to cover the break.
Yeah and if we were as lackadaisical in our defending and as cautious with our attacking as we had been for the rest of the match I’m not sure it would have made enough of a difference.
There are games we would have won if the refs weren’t against us but this was not one of them imo, there are any number of hypothetical situations we could imagine but the fact remains that we allowed Villa to win with our play, this was not the 50th game at OT but a tepid performance exacerbated by a bad ref.
Giroud’s ability to stick to clearances, hold and then find a team mate is amazing. It’s the first time we’ve had an outlet like that since Smudger I think, and it makes a massive difference to the defence if they know they can knock it long and there’s a good chance we’ll keep it, rather than it coming straight back and the pressure growing – Giroud is possibly our best defensive asset in that respect, we don’t have to worry about trying to tiki-taka the ball out of our own area. Apart from when Santi does it, but that’s OK.… Read more »
This was a team effort, and it’s so very hard to say “this one guy made all the difference” because there were so many stellar performances. I loved the pragmatism behind Sagna’s foul. I wish I knew which player ran full tilt back solely to ensure Sagna wasn’t the last man. I loved the recognition that the foul was crucial, so there was no thought given to subtlety. If he tried to win the ball the play would have either gotten past him or he would have injured the Liverpool player whose name I can’t remember. Cazorla finally looked like… Read more »
Best Wenger suit ever.
Lol/10 should have joined big club
I must have watched the wrong match because the Giroud i watched was struggling to hold onto the ball. struggling to control the ball at times.failed to take his chances. should have done better with his chances. didn’t spend enough time where he should have been, leading the line. went walkabouts too often for my liking. His job is not to look for the ball in midfield his job is to win, control and take his chances up front. let those who can create. his job is to score ( & create in and around the box) We know he’s… Read more »
you dis-honour your name
An opinion based on an analytical view isn’t “dis-honouring” anything. Don’t get carried away by the impressive victory: Several players were great but if you watch the match again and keep an eye on Giroud you’ll see that his performance was average. Defensively he did good, though.
Same answer for you Danish_gooner. You don’t have to be impressed with him but his play was good yesterday. Time after time Sczc booted the ball forward – how many of those times did we lose possession? All down to Giroud’s play.
your analytical view is clearly flawed and missing about half the match, infact it looks more like you watched the 2 min highlights, checked if giroud scored or not then proceeded to question his performance. the fact that so many facets of his game seem to have eluded you makes a mockery of the name of Cesc as a great footballing mind
The kind of performance Giroud had yesterday is praised because the team won. If AFC had lost people would criticize him for not scoring – especially the sitter he missed in the 2nd half. Watch the entire 90 mins again and you’ll see that a lot of his passes failed and dribbles too. I’m not saying that he has to complete 80% of his passes – I know that he plays in an area where you lose the ball often. But I noticed a lot of missed passes, failed dribbles and bad positional awareness. Way too often he was positioned… Read more »
yes he is a striker and should score goals, yes he missed a very glorious chance but if you have been watching the arsenal team ever since We started the 4-3-3, 4-5-1 system, you will know his hold up play is second to none in the league. This has allowed our midfield to be as awesome as it is now. take him out and our midfield drops a level. and even more importantly for someone like me he has been an outlet for long kicks from our own half….i have always wondered how he won those duels consistently getting knock… Read more »
I profoundly don’t care if Giroud ever scores again if he keeps playing like this. Surprisingly, he has about the same number of assists as Ozil.
I think you, Danish gooner, need to watch the match again. I was there, and time and time again I found myself turning to my brother in disbelief as he battled 2 or 3 Liverpool defenders, brought the ball down beautifully, and played in one of our midfielders, finding myself muttering “That is world class centre-forward play right there” almost every time he got the ball.
His interplay and movement around the box created chances for Özil, Cazorla, Ramsey, and himself as well. Goals and chances are what matter, not who scores them.
You clearly watched the wrong match mate. Giroud’s hold up play was amazing. He even successfully completed dribbles – something he’s not known for. His play is crucial to how we play the game. Yes the midfielders can create, but they need to have confidence in the target man that he will would hold up play and ensure a smooth transition from defence to attack! His chip over Mignolet, on another day, would have been a superb goal – definitely the right thing to do. And his toe stub attempt at goal was down to pressure from the defender. But… Read more »
That’s very true! A lot of people under appreciate Giroud, and don’t realise everything else that he contributes to the team. The chip that he missed in the second half- we have to remember that he had no right to even be in that position, it was a superb piece of positional awareness and anticipation, just let down by the finish. The chance would never even have existed were it not for Giroud’s positive play. With the system we currently play, I can think of very, very few strikers that would do us a better job. It doesn’t matter that… Read more »
One of his jobs is to make space for our other players to shine by clever running off the ball. You can’t do that if you have to stand on the penalty spot all afternoon.
That was so good. Had tears in my eyes. I loved seeing Tomas R getting so involved in tracking back in defence. So totally awesome to see our defensive unit snuff them out time and time again. Liverpool have been spoken up by every dog and his men. Great to see them getting a proper caning! Gunner be a great season, long may it continue! Big games coming up. Time for our boys to show off what we are all about. The invincibles ‘became’one game at a time.
Our midfield bossed it so much I had to keep reminding myself that Gerrard and Lucas were actually on the pitch.
Everyone in the team were up for it, defends as a team and attack as a team.Apart from Santi and Aaron decent efforts , the lads showed they want it more than the oppo. Fully deserved win.
And oh ,
Alan Hansen – Lol/10
i feel when we are without walcott or the ox, Rosicky on the right is absolutely the way to go, such a positive player, Arteta showed his class as did Koscielny; Mertesacker did his usual organized efficient job, Sagna is still teaching the league what a 1st rate fullback is meant to look like(insert hair joke~), Giroud again proved that he is a tremendous asset to the team even when he don’t score he makes the difference, for all you moaners about him not scoring tell me this, would the team have played as well with Bendtner ? good effort.… Read more »
I’m struggling to pick which goal was better Santi’ or Ramsey’s ? Any help? You have to admire Santis ability to header the ball with so much pace and smash home a volley off 1 foot.
I pick Santi’s
We’re top of the league 😀
Completely forgot Gerrard was playing, think he only touched the ball to take their set pieces. Our energy in the midfield in partcular was epic. Kos and BFG dovetailed beautifully. Imagine how good we’ll be with a squad including Jack, Pod, Theo, Ox and Flamini as well. And whoever the fuck you are, fuck off slagging Giroud or I’ll find you and crush you with his beautiful abs.
“flamini strange”
Well done for repeating it…..
Every single ball stuck to Giroud. He won everything. How could you ask for more? If that’s a 5/10 performance I can’t wait to see him have a good game.
I’m just amazed by Rosicky. My MOTM!
When you can’t decide who is your MOTM then you know the team has played well. Arteta, Koscielny, Sagna, Ramsey all monsters. And the best part is the rest wasn;t bad either. Nobody was poor yesterday. Everybody gave 100% and you could see it. Brilliant result. Phisically very demanding though. Wednesday will be extremely difficult especially when none of Wilshere, Flamini, Gnabry will be back. Some post-injury fresh legs required immediately. COYG!
the most disappointing part of yesterday was that hansen wasn’t on match of the day with his tail between his legs, eating his words. i hope the arsenal squad have a dvd of hansen’s early season comments that they watch on a weekly basis. and a copy of michael owen’s “arsenal won’t make the top 4” article pinned up on the wall. we really can do something this season – now for dortmund!
Anyone else noticed that when Wenger wears a suit, we fare much better.
No long ridiculous coat this year please.
What is up with the suits our players and the boss wore last night? Are we going to walk into our dressing rooms like that? That is fucking classy.
Think the whole team played well. Sagna is realiable.. He is the only full back I know who consisting goes forward and still gets back well enough to defend. At times, you think there are 2 Sagnas. Kos and Rosicky always seem to bring their A game to the important fixtures. Mert was as efficient as the German cars. I was thinking ozil and Ramsey were having iffy game and 2 mins later one laids the pass for other to smoke it over Mignolet. Cazrola is getting back to his best and not sure why people were criticising him last… Read more »
In my opinion:
Arteta – 8.5
Rosicky – 9
Giroud – 8.5
Agree with the rest. COYG!
I know this sounds not right, but all the right players are injured except for Flamini, forcing le Prof to choose this line up. Thats why we’re doing so well this season.
I;m talking about the starters and not the subs.
Aye, it doesn’t seem right to me.
I feel like one of Theo/Poldi gives us more incisiveness from out wide, and a better balance to the team, same with the Ox to a certain extent and I guess we should include Gnabry there too.
I see what you’re saying though, Rosicky/Ozil/Santi has more creativity than Shakespeare on acid and that is pretty awesome but not that well balanced imo.
I’m as happy with unbalanced wins as balanced ones, to be honest.
Monreal has been impressive whenever he played. He’s really pushing gibbs for that spot.
Fully agree. Plus he’s actually a great winger.
He hasn’t had a lot of time, but when’s he’s been out there he’s been very sharp.
Marijuana Chamakh – 10/10 for giving Arteta a much-needed week off
Superb! Superb! They tried there best and we smashed them!!
Arteta, the epitome of an unsung hero <3
Kos-per connection seems to be bearing fruit under steve bould and was good to see Arsene being more defensive in the second half with jenko and monreal on.
Five points clear.
Hey Bobby, what’s the French for ‘Holy shit, this guy is a monster. A big, beautiful monster?’ : putain de merde,ce gars est un monstre. Un geant, beau monstre!
Doesn’t ‘putain’ mean whore?
As in Whorely shit?
That’s pretty awesome, although my french ain’t great.
Now let’s take maximum points at oldshitford….united and moyes should be very scared
Never thought we could play such a fast-passing game…every arsenal player on the field look beautiful…no mistake at all…#top-notch
Shearer on MOTD last night said that we’re still not legitimate title contender, since we havent play the big 3!!! (Chelski, Dubai FC, Manure). Last time the c*nttits said that we havent fought the big 4 yet, now that we tore Liverpool a new one, they are coming up with the big 3 crap. So much bullshit on that show now…
So if we beat Manure next weekend it will be “Yeah, but they’re only a midtable team this year”, totally overlooking the fact that we can’t possibly beat this year’s top team because we ARE this year’s top team.
MOTD May 2014 Lineker: So, Alan,,do you think Arsenal will win the title? Alan H: No chance. Lineker: Even though they are twelve points clear with three games left? Alan H: They will lose every game 5-0. Lineker: And still win the title. Alan H: Not if they get points deducted. Lineker: For what? Alan H: Fighting. Lineker: When? Alan H: Soon. Mark my words. Look at Sagna. The man is a nutcase. Ready to blow at any minute. Cazorla? Seems all nice and innocent. Look at this clip. See that? He spat on the pitch. Disgusting hooligan. Lineker: I… Read more »
I really don’t understand why you Brits get so butt-hurt about what some pundit has to say on a weekly wrap-up show?
The squad is up five points. Enjoy it and quit the moaning.
Never really understood it either. Lets the results shut them up. They want a reaction and people are giving it to them.
Let*
It’s not moaning. It’s piss-taking. Don’t knock it if you’ve never done it or don’t understand it, because you’re missing out on one of life’s little pleasures. There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as taking the piss out of somebody or something irritating (like most Anti-Arsenal pundits, Spurs, billionaire’s plaything teams, Spurs, ex-players who insulted us when they left, Stewart Robson, Spurs, Liverpool, Man Citeh, Chel$ki, West Ham, Spurs, people who call us “Brits” 😉 , people who aren’t “shut up” by results because they invent reasons why the results are meaningless, and last but not least, cunts.)
New contract for Sagna Please Le Prof.!
All we need is for Everton to win today. Still have one eye on Sp*rs
to be honest,had ramsey not scored the goal,i would have been giving him 5/10. losing possesion,misplacing pass,and sub standard work rate. Thx to Rosicky who saved us many times with his tackling n tracking back.Cazorla n Rosicky my MOTM.
i would like AW to continue with these 3 playmakers.. freaking good!
ramsey again tackled and harrassed like a beast..to criticise his work rate is probably the daftest comment on here!
allow me to draw your attention to the hating on giroud up a fair few, im sorry i just inflicted that on you but still
Watch the game again mate
Some of his touches and passes were absolutely brilliant. The only occasions on which he hesitated was when he had 3 -4 defenders in front of him and he had no support. And I cannot believe you criticized his work rate (only TR7 and sagna worked harder).
On the other hand I thought ozil had a quiet game by his standards.
Arteta MOTM for me, followed closely by Rosicky, Sagna and Giroud (always beats me why some fans still don’t rate this guy. Probably because they only rate flair players and can’t really appreciate Giroud’s qualities). Having said so my real concern is both Mikel and Bac aren’t getting any younger. Jenks is pretty much pencilled in to take over from Sagna. But the CDM role, maybe Le Prof sees potential in Hayden but I’m very disappointed we missed out on either of Illaramendi and Bender (any of the brother would do for me). Illaramendi especially, he plays exactly like Mikel… Read more »
Oh, the joy of being number one. Bring on Dortmund!!! SO PUMPEDDD