What a bonkers game that was. A perfect storm of terrible performance, tiredness and a very good Man City. So, how did the players rate?
A bit like this.
Wojciech Szczesny: 5/10 – Conceded 6 but had no chance with any of them really. Gave away a penalty at the end but it was a dive by Milner.
Bacary Sagna: 5/10 – Absolutely knackered in the last 20 minutes, not helped by a succession of right hand side partners who didn’t exactly help him out.
Per Mertesacker: 5/10 – Had his poorest game of the season.
Laurent Koscielny: 4/10 – Same goes. Switched off to allow Aguero space for the first, couldn’t get ahead of Negredo for the second. Hopefully in the injury isn’t serious.
Nacho Monreal: 4/10 – Struggled, but like Sagna was often left exposed.
Mathieu Flamini: 5/10 – Made a costly mistake in failing to control Ozil’s pass which gave City their 3rd goal early in the second half.
Aaron Ramsey: 5/10 – Nice assist for Walcott’s second goal, you could see him looking for movement ahead of him and not finding it.
Jack Wilshere: 3/10 – Love Jack, but it’s hard to look at that performance and not put it into the same box you’d keep all Phil Collins’ music in. A box that would be chained up, cast in concrete and dropped to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Theo Walcott: 6/10 – Typically Theo? Hardly involved at all but scored twice. That’s got to be a positive from today.
Mesut Ozil: 4/10 – Another assist but pretty indifferent on the day overall.
Olivier Giroud: 4/10 – Missed good chances in the second half, as much as anyone looked tired and on days like today you can see why an alternative striker would be a boost to this Arsenal squad.
Subs
Thomas Vermaelen: 5/10 – Came on for the injured Koscielny, a little suspect at times, but hard to quantify on a day when Arsenal’s defence was that bad all day.
Serge Gnabry: 5/10 – Gave the ball away carelessly which led to a City goal. It was odd to see him get on ahead of Santi Cazorla.
Nicklas Bendtner: 5/10 – The only option we have if Giroud isn’t playing well. Scored a good goal but the officials ruled it out wrongly for offside.
Bonus rating
Linesmen: Get a new job/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.
And watch out for something new and exciting coming to our player ratings in the next few weeks!
Agree with them all except Chez, a great keeper would have done better
You mean like the world class Lloris?
No world class Nuer or Degea
Oh, so De Gea is world class now is he?
Hahaha!!! De Gea, worldclass….hahahaha!!!! Thanks for that one….
Didn’t De Gea concede 4 against City as well? And 6 against them 2 years ago?
One might question your capacity to proffer accurate assessments of said keepers inasmuch as you can’t even spell their names.
Who mentioned Loris,I know I didn’t.This was the kind of performance that got him dropped last year.you could say he is the diet coke of goal keepers.If Vito or Fab had let those goals in they would be shot with balls of there own shit.
You didn’t mention _anyone_
Without an example of a better keeper, ideally one that’s available that we should be buying, you might as well be rolling your head back and forth over the keys at random. Because why not superman in goal? I bet superman would have done better.
Utter bilge,
he barely had a chance with the goals,
go back to reading Jackie or Bunty as you clearly have no understanding of this football thing
Casillas,Real Madrid.There is one for yea.
Shut up you twat.
I though Szczęsny played the same he normally does, but the midfield just didn’t try and close down, Wilshere and Ramsey have no excuse they rested on wednesday. I think the game was lost when they went 3:1 when flamini lost control of the ozil pass, we should have played more compact, knowing we were low on energy and tryed to nick a goal on the counter, yaya and nasri just ran straight through everytime.
That 3/10 for Wilshere is very generous. He was utterly pathetic. The only good news is that we can put to rest that whole Arteta-Flamini debate. Arteta makes so many tackles and interceptions in a match – where was Flamini today?
That’s just nonsense, Arteta has had bad games so far this season and this was probably Flamini’s first.
Arteta has had a few poor games, but even in those he still contributes. I repeat – where was Flamini today?
I like him, and I’m happy with him as a backup, but he offered zero protection for the defence.
I stick by my comment the other day Arteta and Flamini are going to be pressed to maintain a professional level to the end of the year…Willshire coming in and giving us a performance like he did doesn’t help. But the lack in protection in front of the backs when we move forward is always going to be critical with the formation we employ. While Chitys movement up front caused us problems we should have stopped it further up the pitch…and held it there. Possession was critical and we were wasteful. They gave up 2 goals at the Ehitad all… Read more »
You could see wenger getting upset with him for their second goal.
flamini WAS there, in fact he had too much of the ball in the first half, whereas Ozil was anonymous. Flamini looked tired today, a bit off the pace whereas City were snapping into the challenges.
First really bad performance that Flamini has had with us so lets not get carried away. The biggest problem we had yesterday other than the pricks officiating was our passing.
More than his dismal showing, I’m worried wilshere is getting all the hype typically showered on promising english player into his head. He is one of the vocal players in the team but he needs to channel that into positive influence in the game. Throwing his hands up at team mates and blaming his colleagues on the pitch is not going to improve his game or help the team’s morale
the funny thing with Jack is, i can’t stop myself thinking he’ll explode at one moment, just as Aaron did. Ramsey seemed equally clueless at times, before he decided to start being a world class player.
Jack isn’t the only one who throws his hands up in frustration though. Practically all our players do that when something doesn’t come off, which frustrates the hell out of me because they should just keep playing. Flamini and Arteta are really the only two I can think of that don’t do this and that’s because theyre the most proffessional members of the squad. And i concur with you Countleaf, its almost eerie how the Ramsey and Wilshere criticisms are diverging. Both had a major injury, both played out of position and struggled to recover form, and both were battered… Read more »
I really don’t know why Wenger would play Wilshere on the wing ahead of Rosicky.
Or at least bring Ros on at 4-2. His energy was missing, and he is a better crosser.
Ramsey is not world class, he doesn’t have a ‘football brain’. I’ll be proved right come the end of the season!
That’s unfair. It was after Flamini got subbed that things went truly tits up and you could see no one else in our midfield cared about defending apart from him.
Spot on DH. As soon as Flamini departed the pitch City became rampant in the middle, which is pretty much effective proof that he was much more involved than he got credit for. I have no idea why he’s being selected for criticism. City had numerous players breaking into that space in front of the box and Flamini, who often had to fill a gap vacated by defender, is criticised for not marking every player that broke free there. Even Fernandinho scored ffs.I think he needed more support from Ramsey tbh or to be partnered with Arteta yesterday. Granted he… Read more »
While I understand all of us love Jack but truth be told he has been terribly bad this season barring one or two games where he has been above average. Throughout the game he contributed nothing to the team. He’s lazy and gave the ball away all the time. A timeout on the bench might do him some good. Still top of the league though. COYG!!
Man, Gnabry played so badly he even helped Chelsea score today. What’s that all about eh?
Fixed that now!
Can’t argue with that but monreal should have gotten a 2/10. Where the fuck is Gibsy?
Serge Gnabry: 5/10 – Gave the ball away carelessly which led to a Chelsea goal.
this did put a smile back on my face 🙂
How you’ve given Wilshere a lower score than Monreal is beyond me. Monreal’s was the worst performance I’ve seen from an Arsenal player since Santos was at the club.
Monreal didn’t have the best of games especially in the 1st half but that was compounded by the dismal showing of Wilshere
You would think Arsene would have enough sense now NOT to play Wilshere on the left wing. He has been consistently below-average at that position.
It’s almost as if we have different opinions 😉
Bullshit. He was poor, but Wilshere left him exposed at all times against the best offense by far. It was completely epitomized by the second goal, which was 100% Wilshere’s fault.
Agree. No one even Gibse can have a water tight defense against attacks from 2 city players.
Gibbs and Poldi combination for the chavs please.
I would’ve given jack a 1/10. Ozil is Ozil. That’s how his game is. Anonymous for a while and then a touch of genius. So when the genius doesn’t come.. well he’s anonymous and we are annoyed most. But I expected a lot from wilshere. Very disappointed with him. Nobody in this team today deserves more than 4/10. Except Walcott who would get 6/10.
Seems pretty fair over all,
Wenger should probably get a 2
and hit with a rubber mallet until he buys another striker –
then given a new contract – but clearly in that order.
If the linesman got “Get a new job/10”
then the ref should probably get a “ready to be used for glue/10”
Wenger bottled it yet again. Wiltshire was so poor in the first half, he should have brought Rozza and Santi on at half time to try to save the game.
Agreed, except I’d give Wenger a 5. The team was clearly tired and there wasn’t much we could do about that since we don’t really have much depth in the squad. Only thing I’d say is that Monreal and Sagna pushed way too far up the pitch, and he took Flamini off instead of Wilshere. And also (I can’t believe I’m saying this) that he didn’t bring on Bendtner on earlier.
I can’t believe your saying that either, I can believe even less that i’m agreeing with you
You may want to correct that Gnabry, Chelsea mistake. That could be a bad er! hmm! Omen for the next game.
As much as we can appreciate Giroud’s hold up game, we need a different type of striker. We have a midfield that can create lots of chances for a player who can run fast and score clinically. We are not a team who crosses and relies on it. Giroud has a strong body, but is slowish. We could do much better in that department.
Scored 3 and should have had a couple more. I think it’s pretty obvious why we didn’t win the game.
so basically we need someone like theo?
I thought Walcott was great today, the goal to put us at 3-2 was a great finish but also should have been the most important goal of the game. Most regrettable thing of the match was that we let them score on their next attack.
So true!
with Poldi on the other side
The answer’s Lewandowski. It might be a pipe dream (actually, it is a pipe dream), but he would just be perfect for our game in every way.
well, he definitely isn’t a different type of player than Giroud. maybe a little better, but not different.
the system’s alright. Giroud plays like he plays, the wingers do the runs in question.
Screw Lewandowski….we need a left foot defensive mid to offer protection
why don’t we convert Vermearlan or pik one up?
He’s a great guy and we all love him but it is time to admit that Giroud simply isn’t good enough. He hasn’t got Arsenal striking quality, nor does he have the potential to make it at the required level. He doesn’t score the required number of goals. It is that simple.
We should buy Lewandowski. Giroud just isnt good enough.
And all the thumbs down in the world will not change that fact.
Any thoughts on Niang from Milan, assuming he is available.
Or Messi. Or perhaps we could put bergkamp in a time machine.
Wat the hell was Per berating Ozil for at the end of the match? That looked really serious
Ozil walked straight off down the tunnel, didn’t applaud the away fans with the rest of the team.
I loved it. BFG had a poor game like the rest of the team but still performed like a real Captain when Ozil should have applauded the away fans. Leadership in bundles. Time to rest and regroup before Chelsea.
I didn’t think Ozil was a 4, I’d say he was no worse than Giroud or Ramsey. Monreal was atrocious though.
Tactically we looked naive, I’d have to say Wenger called the wrong tactics for both Napoli and this one but still, the team should’ve performed so much better.
Perhaps a timely reminder to all concerned just how much we need a couple of extra players in specific areas?
i hate it when football fans use cliches like “tactically we looked naive” w/o actually specifying what went wrong tactically. It makes football fans think that they no more about tactics than the people whose jobs it is to no more about tactics than they do
But then you yourself are generalising. I don’t have to justify myself to you or anybody else. You know absolutely nothing about me or who I am or whether I have credentials to comment. Instead you’re trying to be another clever keyboard warrior shouting ‘Look at me, how big must I be for trolling’ Well son, give yourself a nice pat on the back. Kindly, and respectfully of course, don’t comment without first finding out something about me or even asking a question. For example, “How do you mean ‘tactically naive’?” This is the proper manner to discuss like a… Read more »
Ozil was nowhere to be seen in the first half, if he was so ineffective ‘in the hole’ he could have come back and helped win the ball, at least Ramsey and giroud wanted the ball.
I think you will find that Ozil had more touch and more passes than you think.
Wow even chelsea scored for city today .
“Gnabry gave the ball away which lead to a Chelsea goal”? You’re really done with this game and looking up to the next one blogs. Heh
Tad harsh on Bendtner (Even though he wan’t on for too long). Generous for Flamini and Jack. Our double pivot left too much space for Toure and co.
He was actually bizarrely impressive. The few touches he made were very good – scored a goal that shouldn’t have been disallowed, brilliantly created a chance for Walcott and was generally tidy.
My good vibes about this season: 0/10
Your name -10/10
That’s a MINUS ten
Koscielny, 2/10. Stood next to the best striker in the league on a corner while he smashed in the early first goal completely unhindered.
Harsh on Kos. I thought he was our best player until he left the field. The corner that led to the 1st goal kos did well to prevent negredo a free header on goal. Aguero’s finishing was top draw sometime you just have to give credit to the opponent
“top draw” is not a phrase, “top drawer” is. And Kos should have done something, the Danish commentators were remarking about how he did not even move.
he definitely went to sleep on the corner
Thought Monreal was the poorest, most of the goals seemed to come from his side, but didn’t have any protection in front. Thought should have started with Rosicky, to get stuck in.
As soon as we got the ball in central areas, City became crazy compact. Surprised Cazorla didn’t get a look in.
Nine days, get recharged and bounce back.
Agree, our midfield us always a better unit when TR7 plays.
Can anyone inform me about the whole Mertesacker shouting at Ozil for not clapping to the fans?
At the end of the game the arsenal players go over to the away fans section to appreciate their traveling with the team…Per was organizing the players for the curtain call and specifically shouted to Ozil to participate…Ozil blew him off and Per got into his face, before going to the away section with the rest of the team…Ozil continued to walk off the pitch….
Had to wake up early for this too. but unlike some people i am not that fickle to start blaming players who genuinely did their best. I think Arsene Wenger was the reason for this loss. his tactics were wrong..City has probably the best attacking team in Europe at the moment. There’s no shame in that. What i think was the problem is choosing to play only Flamini but i am sure city will still drop points and we dont get too hangover from this result. And more importantly the only difference between city and us today was that they… Read more »
“attack will be our defense”
Agree. This result was an outlier. But if we screw up against Chelsea too, then it would point to a deeper malaise.
bullshit-did they did not do their best,otherwise six goals would not have been conceded,wake up and say how it truly is, complete tosh,we all want to see us win and get behind the team but when we perform like this they need to be told end of.
I’m sure people will hate me and thumb me down for saying this but I haven’t been impressed by Ozil till now. He has to step up his game. His style is too lackadaisical for the Premier League. Adapt in order to survive, or we should let him sit out a few games.
I agree about Ozil . too many 5 yard passes . and doesn’t look arsed at times
Yeah, shit 5 yard pass to make an assist today. Especially didn’t like that one.
He wasn’t great today, but then nobody was. And when you look at what he’s contributed since he joined you’d want to be some spoiled cunt to complain. (General point, not aimed at you in particular)
Ozil is doing fine the problem with some people they are expecting miracle performances from him. It is his first season in the premier league some of our legends took time to settle in. Lets not get carried away he will only get better and better over time. It’s not a bad position to be in top of the table with improvement to come. Think we will see a much improved team performance against the chavs after a nine day break.
He has the second highest amount of assists in the league, behind Gerrard and has scored 4 goals for us. Not too shabby if you ask me.
LOL man… He has to step up his game? What do you expect from him? 2 asissts or 2 goals per game? And maybe a magic trick that will make Yaya-Tank-Toure dissapear? I think he adapted incredibly well. His stats are great, he creates a lot and covers a lot of distance even if you don’t see it (cause he doesn’t make many tackles-doesn’t mean he doesn;t defend). Phisically Premier League is a different challenge compared to La Liga and you should we wise ebough to give him some time to get used to it. Still, he plays 90 min… Read more »
It’s not just about stats. He doesn’t come back and defend, even Giroud comes back to do that. It’s the way Arsenal functions. We back up our defensive players when they are left exposed. And you just contradicted yourself by first saying that he has adapted well and then you say that give him time. We have replacements for him at our disposal. It’s not that I don’t like him, I want him to contribute more to the team than the attacking third. Because in games where the game is won or lost in the middle of the park you… Read more »
He was BRILLIANT at the start of the season. Or don’t you remember all the assists?
Yes, BRILLIANT against the likes of Norwich, but does that REALLY count when he can’t get the job done against other bigger teams challenging for the title?
Errr, Remember Everton?
I kind of know what you mean in that his style is often casual and slightly nonchalant but his desire to get in the box against Norwich shows he really does want it.
It’s that time of year when the Arsenal team starts falling to pieces. Wilshere is the most over-rated player ever. Wenger is not capable of motivating his players for such an important game; instead he was reported as saying yesterday that City are under negative pressure and so should advantage Arsenal – what a load of bollocks! Anyway it was good while it lasted.
1. He said “If we win we go 8 clear. That is positive pressure. If they lose they go 9 behind. That is negative pressure.” And that was when he was asked about the pressure of playing City. 2. It is still early in the day for “falling to pieces”. Agreed the team looked off the pace today and we were overrun in the midfield (despite Jack/Ramsey having been rested against Napoli) but the result was an outlier. The 4th goal killed us and Wenger went for broke (He took of our DM). After that it was always going to… Read more »
Shez 5
Per 4
Kos 5
Sagna 5
Monreal 3
Flam 4
Wilshere 2
Ramsey 5
Ozil 5
Walcott 6
Giroud lol
So koscielny gets blamed for not being able to get across negredo for the second. Funny! He stretched so much he injured himself! Who was covering zabaleta? fucking wilshere! And monreal! Wimp!
Agreed. Wilshire should be benched. Same with Monreal. Too slow.
Kos caught a cleat. And he was shit.
Giroud lol thumb down for that one!
Wilshere was pretty darn awful. And flip their fans off? Does he realize that they’re the same people who root for him when he plays for England?
Jack is immature. Period.
And his match performance, let’s just say, if Rosicky had started (which he should have) he wouldn’t have let the second goal happen. I don’t know why Wenger feels Wilshere is good defensively, he’s really not.
‘Does he realize that they’re the same people who root for him when he plays for England?’
Do they realize he’s the same Jack they root for when he puts on the England shirt?
Give the lad a break, every single one of us Gooners would have done exactly the same. Fucking loath those dirty manc twats.
Do you think a Rosicky/Ramsey/Arteta or anyone else from our team would’ve done that? All the ‘prodigy of England’ hype seems to be getting the better of him, sadly.
I don’t really think it is Hugo. All decisions went against us today, 5 key ones in fact, all highly blatant; so when the opposition fans pissed him and him giving him the finger was an accumulation of that anger. The kid’s prideful, maybe a little too much but anyone who makes a big deal of this is a just a twat.
Who was our double pivot today, Wilshere/Flamini or Ramsey/Flamini?
Ramsey/Flamini. Then when Flamini went out it was Ramsey/Wilshere
Thought Bendtner did pretty well when he came on. Scored with a good header, and also played a lovely ball through to Theo which he should have scored. I’d give him a solid 6. Theo probably our man of the match because of the 2 goals
Almost all the goals we scored were avoidable. Sloppy mistakes gifted them the ball which led to their goals. That word, sloppy, pretty much sums up our game today. Citeh didn’t run over us and score goals that make your eyes gauge out like they did against the other “big teams” (this doesn’t include the Sp*ds) they played. They were ruthlessly clinical though something that we unfortunately lacked. Case in point, Giroud, missed about 3(?) brilliant chances that a couple of weeks ago would have put your money on would have scored. Can’t fathom why he and Özil were played… Read more »
is Jack Wilshere a good choice for wing? i think he can’t play good at it and most play in center. when he playe in wing he like to play in center and forget postition. no?
Confused why he kept both rosicky, arteta and cazorla on the bench and instead introduced bendtner and Gnabry, the latter who hasn’t been involved for weeks.
yes that is two games in a row now where you have to question the subbing…both games you wanted to at least draw…
Comedy of Errors I was laughing in the last 20 minutes (Nerves) I know its our players rating and I commend the ratings of Andrew above But Man City played well especially Yaya Toure. Their is a possibility Arsenal could be down to 4th at Christmas if we lose to Chelsea at home December 2013 is not being kind to us I think our players need lots and lots of sleep And Giroud even more so. BUT we are still top of the League I just know we are going to get Barca or Madrid on Monday morning #CL Theo… Read more »
We’ll just have to go and fucking beat Chelsea then won’t we?
Anyway, we’re due a bit of a blip…and I can guarantee you that when Chelsea and Liverpool and those other cunts go to play City – they will get fucking beaten too.
City’s defence is poor away from home, their goal difference is -1. Every match is worth 3 points, not just the home games.
And also, fuck John Terry.
Form wise the team should probably be Szczesny – Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs – Arteta, Ramsey – Walcott, Ozil, Rosicky – Giroud. Pretty good btw for those who have DropJackWilsherePhobia
stupidly low ratings based on emotion. a tired team away to the likley championships, a pen that should have been given, goals that were not ofisde. you dont score 3 and rate 3 and 4. get a grip of yourself
You should try to abide by your screen name.
I honestly don’t buy the whole “they were tired” excuse. Sure, they traveled to Napoli, but what exactly did they DO there, bar jogging around and conceding two shit goals? They took that same attitude and lazy approach to the Etihad, and we paid for it, again.
Could have used Rosicky in a game like this. Too many times, the Arsenal player made a mistake and threw his hands up instead of blaming himself or looking to correct it right away. Rosicky and Cazorla are the two attacking midfielders who always get right back in it. There was too much entitlement in this squad today. City was always going to be buzzsaw at home, especially with us on short rest. We needed to play like an inferior squad playing for a result, meaning pack it in, work hard, play on the counter, and not make mental mistakes.… Read more »
That second goal from walcott though. Very henry-esque. Now all my enemies will bark that we can’t beat top teams. Really need to beat chelsea now. Coyg
stop right now with the comparisons….what are you his agent?
Oh yeah linesman 0/10… Like what the fuck? Not the only reason why we lost but played a huge role (obviously)
Flamini didn’t give enough protection and with Ramsey bombing forward for most of the game he was horribly left exposed. One more point Wilshere’s positioning while defending was way too narrow, it led Zabaleta to enjoy freedom on our left hand side. Tactically it was very poor throughout the match, Wenger really needs to have a plan B in this type of games.
Wenger 1/10 for bad tactics, persistent late substitution and verherment refusal to buy a striker all summer
1/10 for your post.
I thought Walcott was our best player today.
You think?
Was it the goals?
We need to strenghten if we hope to win any trophy. Giroud needs help, work load is too much for him.
@ mohammad Wilshere cannot play well anywhere at the moment! even if he gets to play behind the striker he is shit! Just because he needs to pass the ball rather than dribble, he is not fucking messi! and will never be!
Yis are having a laugh lads. Chez was terrible -1/10
Its ok he will slag spurs off during the week and everyone will forget about his bad performance
I can feel the tumbs down already!
Fuck that, I hope that’s that beating we needed to kick start our season again, everytime we got back into it we gave away a goal again, we lose to Chelsea and that’s 3 defeats to the big 3 witch is not good, hopefully the rest and podolski back aswell gets us going, at least we’re still top
Ozil didnt clap the fans look here. https://vine.co/v/h2DXPO3LUWp For that he deserves a 3. There is something I really dont like about Ozil, today for example whenever he gave the ball away he just didn’t react and never tracked back. For Fernandinho’s first goal, what the fuck was that pass people blaming Flamini for the miscontrol but shit pass in truth. He’s a great player but he’s got to care more for the club and repay Wenger for spending that much money on him. Ramsey looked lively today I thought. 6/10 for me. Giroud should have scored a few but… Read more »
I think he was frustrated about the players he was playing alongside today. For players like Ozil, for players like Rosicky and Cazorla, its important to have like minded and technical players around them. The more experienced duo just get on with it but Ozil it seems let it get to him.
Every thing just looks worse on a bad day including the manager and the fan. comes JAN we need more than an average striker or else we would all blame Giroud.
did anyone see per’s look at wilshere, utterly disgusted!
Not our best display by a long way. Agere with your ratings, maybe a lttle high even. Too many mistakes giving ball away and not closing down. Actually not seeing the threats was by far the biggest disappointment. City were good but we helped them out so much. Going forward we were just not sharp and still scored 3 goals!!
He refused to buy a striker?! You’ll have to ask Liverpool about that one.
And Real Madrid.
Of course we are talking about man. city, who just beat bayern, so are team was not at the best form, theo did well, sagna & pers were quality because of the bad passes you see what happened & to make it worse the team could av had 5 or 6 goals the best
Thing now is prepare for next game still top of prem & had very tough matches rest time players coyg
Based on the fact that our guys were gonna tire out and were less fresh I was somewhat surprised we didn’t play both arteta and flamini as I think we would have kept the cretins (citizens) a lot quieter – lets face it jack w did jack shite! Depending on Kos think we need a defender and striker in January!
Don’t know what to say on this ratings.
All I know we lost against good city players..and that’s not the end of the road simple!!