Here’s what we made of the individual performances from this evening’s 0-0 draw with Besiktas.
PLEASE NOTE: We’ve changed the system slightly, you rate each player then click the ‘Cast Vote’ button down at the bottom, rather than voting for each player individually.
Like a European tie from the 1980’s, cheating bastards, dodgy hometown ref….we’ll take 0-0 and stuff them back in London.
I recall last year people were shitting themselves about how difficult it is to play away in Turkey and I don’t think that has changed…
Still somehow this represents a giant failure to so many fans? We don’t even have our main playmaker or our main CB and vice captain back yet.
Disappointing in the sense that if we’d actually performed half-decently going forward, we could have nicked a vital away goal. If Besiktas score an away goal at the Emirates and we’re no more than one goal up, then it’s going to be a very tough night indeed as they’ll sit deep and try to defend that advantage with everything they have, and look to catch us on the break. I was frustrated with the substitutions too. Ox was introduced too late and should have replaced Cazorla/Giroud who were both poor (very generous ratings for those two, Blogs!) instead of Alexis… Read more »
We never really got going last night. I cant say I’m Giroud’s biggest fan and I think last night highlighted how far behind Sanchez he is, I thought he really struggled last night. With the Sanchez out wide, he has so much pace Ollie just cant physically keep up with him, I think we’d be a lot more threatening going forward with the Ox out wide and playing Sanchez through the middle. Because on quite a few occasions when Sanchez burst down the wing, there was literally nobody in the box for him to aim for and the moves kept… Read more »
Nobody in the box when Alexis turns the corner is the key problem. Some can blame Giroud and a little of that is fair, but if he’s the only one he’s easy to mark out especially when defenses sit deep against us all of the time. The number of times I saw nobody making a run to the spot or the back post was disappointing.
expectations have gone through the roof. Would advise anyway disappointed with an away draw in Turkey to read Fever Pitch and recall the days Graham Rix was our ‘flair player’ and we were mid table dross for a decade (no offence to Rix)
I think people thought we would steamroll them because of how easy we walked through Fenerbache last year.
However, last years Fenerbache pretty much knew they we’re getting thrown out of the competition because of that match-fixing scandal they were involved in so I don’t think they were fully motivated. Besiktas was way better and showed how difficult Turkish teams are at their home.
The ref and his crew were Serbian, which was rather surprising, given that Besiktas’ manager is a Croat. In any case, he didn’t affect the game nearly as much as the poor playing surface did.
My observations for the 2 games:
Alexis seems not very comfortable in that position. Thats is the position for someone like Walcott or The Ox to just run down the flank. There were several moments in the game that I wished Walcott was playing. Alexis should be used elsewhere when Walcott is back.
Chambers provides really good competition for BFG in defence. Will be hard to pick for Wenger.
Debuchy is looking good settling in.
Another side note: I think Wenger does not trust Campbell very much. He leaves him on the bench even if Cazorla is tired.
Bar Debuchy, I don’t think I agree with any of those points.
Lets just hope we do well in the 2nd leg and agree to never speak of this game again…
Agreed, I couldnt believe the noise in the stadium. We should sign their choir master
So much negativity on the reader ratings and earlier comments in the match reports. Certainly not a bad result and as far as I’m concerned plenty of positives moving forward.
I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to say “plenty of positives” but by no means was it the end of the world.
At this point the only positives I need are “didn’t lose” and “clean sheet”.
Pretty generous scores IMO. I’m a bigger HFB fan than most, but even I would say he was pony tonight. Doesn’t look anywhere near fit to me.
He is fit. Why wouldn’t he be fit? He’s just no use.
Being truly objective, for a team serious about winning the League and competing at the highest level against Europe’s best, surely we must upgrade on our first choice striker. Giroud is at best an average squad player, not one to carry the title hopes of a major European club like ours. I seriously.
U are bang on. The fans see this and to some extent giroud surely must know he’s not the mustard. what is surprising is Wengers ignorance. we won the league with henry bergkamp etc a front 3 that would make the mightiest of clubs shit themselves. he just needs to bring in a proper cf to complete our attack. right now we will be are every big game before we even step on to the pitch.. u know the one giroud failed expertly in last season and some would argue the reason we failed to win epl last year along… Read more »
*losing every
I maintain that if we want to mount a title challenge we need a DM and a Striker. Hopefully both will be addressed.
Being truly objective, for a team serious about winning the League and competing at the highest level against Europe’s best, surely we must upgrade on our first choice striker. Giroud is at best an average squad player, not one to carry the title hopes of a major European club like ours. I seriously hope Wenger won’t let this window close on us without signing up one like last January.
Giroud is neither an average player nor a squad player, and he certainly isn’t an average squad player. He’s actually quite unique in style. Playing him is like playing a playmaker in attack, because he has to have people making runs off him in order to be effective. The problem people have with him is that he rarely creates his own chances – although the strike against City and some of his old Montpellier goals suggest that he’s certainly capable of doing so. A lack of pace and an inability to dribble are going to hinder a striker, but every… Read more »
I dont see any reason for Giroud being this unfit. Walking and casually jogging around the pitch. Debuchy played more minutes in the world cup, and his form seems fine running up and down the field. I think Giroud needs to apply himself more and take his job more seriously instead of banging models in to the early hours before a gameday and apparently spending his time off eating cheeseburgers and drinking umbrella drinks on the beach before returning to the squad like a wreck with the fitness of my 90 year old nan. We need a more proffesional striker… Read more »
Well, look at Mulller, Klose and Inzagi real poachers and certainly more effective than Giroud.
Do we really need a playmaker as our top striker? With the likes of Özil, Cazorla the list goes on.
So Giroud is a striker who can’t dribble, lacks pace , rarely creates his own shot and is an average finisher but has hidden strengths that make up for those shortcomings ? Never mind that he leads the line for Arsenal , coached by a man who developed Henry, Wright, Van Persie , Bergkamp , Overmars, Anelka? Tell me again what the definition of a striker is ? And why was Wenger willing to spend over 40 million on Suarez, a striker with a character flaw that contradicts everything he stands for?
The voice of reason. The abuse this guy gets is unbelievable, yet Sanogo, who isn’t even half the player that Giroud is , is talked about with so much positivity.
We dnont have time to muck around, we need to win the EPL ASAP and not wait on some french striker to get his act together!
Being truly objective would involve analysing more than two games.
Some of the worst refereeing I’ve seen. A bad penalty/offside call is one thing, but to never have a grip of the game during the 90 minutes and make ridicolous calls time and time again is just bad bad refereeing.
We didn’t earn 3 points, but still. Let’s show’em how it’s done at the emirates.
excuse my spelling
I liked when Monreal was American Football tackled around the 67th minute and the call was given against him! That ref was clearly intimidated by the atmosphere. Lots of strange decisions.
All in all a good result even if we played within ourselves a bit! The ref and crowd and a huge play to part and I thought 3 yellows were total bullshit plus a lot else went their way.
People will down vote you about Giroud, but I think you are right on the spot. Not consistent enough or lethal enough for a team competing on as many fronts as we are
Its a bit strange how Giroud isn’t seemingly up to speed, who’s fault that is i don’t know. France were out of the world cup 6 weeks ago and he has been back with the team for weeks now. Still, its very early on and i wouldn’t want to be too critical. I didn’t, however, see the game tonight so my opinion could be overly kind…
And let’s not forget how good Giroud was for us at the start of last season. Have a look at the player ratings from back then. I still think he’ll start to deliver sooner rather than later. Just a shame to not have a top quality alternative on a day like this (maybe Alexis, but he needed the rest)
Surely Giroud was bad but Cazorla was the best in being the worst. Very bad perfomance, at least our back 4 and Sczezny looked ok. I am also worried about form of our midfield. Ramsey scored 2 goal but he was far from being good in these 3 games. Wilshere, ox, Cazorla also. Especially the spaniard is horrific. Hope he will find himself in the bench next game against Everton. It is Just me or Wenger at the start of the season doesn’t trust Rosicky like he should. I think he is still one of Best players, at the moment… Read more »
Giroud was utterly awful and contributed more to Besiktas. I like him but he deserves a 1 or a 2, not a 6.
Giroud made a couple of important defensive headers
The genorous scores don’t surprise me. Any reasonable negativity on this board and your considered a troll. The amount of people who are willing to bury their heads in the sand on this blog is admirable, I really wish I couldn’t see the same problems reoccurring, because I’d be much happier. Unfortunately positivity alone won’t win us the title, we can no longer play the skit card, and we don’t have the desired quality or right blend to really have a go at it. I love Arsene, but sadly he looks punch drunk, no longer has the ruthlessness or decisiveness… Read more »
Letting his protege go rot at a soulless petroclub because we’d already replaced him was pretty ruthless.
Troll
Sanchez will play down the middle when Walcott is back.
Hello Arsene, it’s way too early in the season for you to start giving us high blood pressure. Sign a defender, Send Sanogo out on loan, get loic remy.
You, sir, only tick one box with that comment.
I fully think santi is wasted on the left. The times he was (strangely) in the centre of the park he looked a lot more threatening off both feet. He’s not a pacey winger. For the home leg id like Wilshire and Santi in the middle, with cambell up front, with ox on the left and Alexis on the right again. Up the Arse!
Santi on the bench, Ozil up the middle.
Ozil should be back by the time we play them again, and given the complete lack of creativity we’ve shown in the last two games, I really can’t wait.
While I agree Santi didn’t do it on the wing, I have extreme doubts Flamini, Walcott, and Santi can control that midfield against Besiktas. Struggled even with Ramsey. Although it would hopefully stop Jack from repeatedly running straight into traffic hoping to recreate his Norwich goal.
Ahem, Wilshere. Apologies.
Word is Arteta crocked….here we fuckin go again! Don’t fuck up Wenger…buy a proper CF, a CB and DM. Get on with it, or it’s just another waste of time for the title.
I am not yet convinced that the people in charge at Arsenal feel that they can realistically win the title competing against the insane amounts of money at Chelsea and ManCity. I believe that Arsenal are happy to come close, to participate in the CL and to win a trophy in the process . There is/was the hope that FFP would be the great equalizer, but that looks to be a pipe dream with City’s ability to circumvent those rules. Although I would love to be proven wrong, Arsenal are not going to win the title with Giroud and Sanogo… Read more »
I thought we played well considering that the pitch looked positively corrugated. Almost all the passing, in the second half especially, seemed to be off the ground and that extra second it takes to pick the ball from mid air slowed us down. 10/10 for their groundsmen
I think the player ratings are way too high for this game.
I am sure playing at home and on a proper pitch will be enough to help Arsenal through.
Whatever we paid for Chambers was a bargain
You can say that again
Correct. He was brilliant. I like that Debuchy too – pulse rate of about 3 beats per minute, cool as fuck.
Two really good signings.
Decent result seeing as hardly anyone is anywhere near sharp. Even the non world cup players seem undercooked. I can only guess that a cautious long term strategy towards fitness and injuries is being followed. I don’t really blame Giroud for his performance. I am sure he is doing everything he is told to in terms of getting match fit. He is a much better player than he showed tonight. I can only think Campbell must be even less fit.
Please Wenger buy a striker and atleast another defender for us to have a chance of winning the title,Giroud was so so so poor today that if we don’t sign a striker and rely on him and Sanogo, we will not win anything.please listen to us.
He can’t hear you.
Thank Bergkamp for that.
So, over the course of two games this season, we’ve faced two former Gunners who have been completely single-minded in their drive to serially foul our players. Maybe they’re jealous of the current squad for getting to play with Ozil and Alexis…or just wish they could wear our sexy Puma jerseys.
Though fair play to Ozyakup for at least playing the ball at his feet on occasion. Chamakh hardly had a single notable touch.
He’s perfecting that Pulis patented DS position though.
Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer to watch my football played on a proper pitch, as opposed to a potato field. It’s no wonder we couldn’t to keep control of the ball!
We’ll do this lot at The Emirates!
If Arsene does not pull all the stops and get a quality striker for the team, then I will know that he is not ready to compete in the prem this season. We are glaringly lacking a clinical finisher. I dare say it is more urgent than a DM as far as am concerned. Giroud and Sanogo will not do for us am afraid. Not after Saturday and tonight. I hope he doesn’t gamble with this.
Of course he will.
Yep, no doubt about it.
Then we can as well tone down our expectations for the season.
3rd is realistic considering Man City and Chelsea strengthening, focusing on their weaknesses.
Still, some time left in the transfer window and Wenger notoriously plays his cards close to his chest.
A defender is a must, also signing a DM and a ST would give the Arsenal a chance at competing for the title.
Otherwise it is likely that the title challenge will peter out again when the squad becomes badly exposed due to injuries.
Think Arseblog ratings are a little generous in certain instances but let’s get it right, this was a tricky game against a decent enough side who to coin a Wenger phrase ‘gave absolutely everything’. I’ve actually been a little nervy about this tie since it was announced and don’t think next week will be particularly pleasant; a score draw is enough for them. But that being said think we should have enough to get the job done. Just wanted to also add while I’m under no illusion that this was a tough game and all in all the result isn’t… Read more »
Arseblogger is gay for Giroud.
I didn’t write this post.
“Arseblog rating for Giroud: 6/10”
Arseblog’s response “I didn’t rate these performances.”
Wtf?
You seem to be confusing Arseblog the Blog Entity, composed of 1’s and 0’s disguised with a Graphic User Interface, stored in a ventilated memory bank and accessed via a vast network of wires and beamed signals with Arseblog the lead Author and Originator of said Entity. Who, by the way, is not composed (entirely) of 1’s and 0’s, nor is he stored in a ventilated memory bank to the best of my knowledge.
In other words, there are multiple contributors to Arseblog the Blog, especially at Arseblog News from what I gather.
I’m not overly concerned by this result. It would have been nice to nick a win but it was way more important not to lose. We’re still not up to speed and by the second leg there’ll be another 90 minutes under the players belts. In a way this is still a bit preseason-ish. Still finding form and fitness. I think even without Rambo we’ll come good at home. It’s always tough to play in Turkey and you always know they’ll do everything they can to make things difficult. We’ve got to think about Everton now and I expect a… Read more »
I want Kos to get a rest, but, Lukaku.
All things considered, I’m just happy to get out of Dodge alive.
All the new guys did well, but we seriously need a potent striker.
6 is a bit generous for Giroud. He was shit.
More firepower please Arsene! Forget Podolski. We rarely play him anyway and he is a year from end of contract. Campbell can replace him on LW. IMO, sell him and use the money (plus some) to buy Falcao if available (should Madrid not bite). That would be truly transformative and at 29, Radamel will give Sanogo a season or so gap to develop further without undue reliance. Other areas : Chambers is looking good so perhaps someone like manolas is great value for money as cover. Arteta is gold standard. But he will age and maybe Rabiot is good policy… Read more »
Falcao is one of the best strikers in the world, so that would be brilliant. However, it’s not happening. We already spent a lot of money on Alexis, so I very much doubt Wenger is going to pay a similar sum (or more) for Falcao.
I would love to be proven wrong though.
Bonus Rating: 0/10 for the stadium groundsmen.
10/10 for their support then! Very loud and very passionate.
A minute silence for their loss, that sounded a massive but respectful noise, and the fact (apparently from ITV) they had made the largest football flag for a football ground ever made in honor of Kulubu’s passing taken off of them; due to UEFA laws.
Do UEFA have any input into FFP rules? What rules should be upheld and which ones shouldn’t?
A big knee in the bollocks vs a soft tug on the shirt (where his grip appears to not have any purchase at all!) is a tough call but one Ramsey must take.
A rested Ramsey is hardly a curse for us in the long run and a chance for someone to step up next week.
A few players didn’t really turn up and were average for this game by all standard. We probably can blame the exertion of Saturday’s for it. Let’s hope the players needed for Sunday are fully recovered for that.
What I don’t understand is why didn’t Wenger bring in Rosicky and Chamberlin to start the game to give some fresh legs with so many having played almost the whole game or the whole game on Saturday.
My local park has better quality grass than the Besiktas pitch. I believe it was a sly tactic to kill off our passing game. Sadly it worked.
We will show them how the game should be played at the Emirates!
COME IN ON GUNNERS!
I’m really concerned that Joel didn’t get a look in to spark us early in the second. Give the bloke a chance in Arsenal red!
Especially in place of the ineffective and lazy Giroud.
How in the world can you give Giroud anything above a 5?!?!?! He was as bad as I’ve seen him, pushed around, no ability to control the ball (tries that dumb one touch flick over and over when he has plenty of time to receive the ball and do something with it vs just trying that flick that works 1 in 10 times), whiffed on many attempts, couldn’t dribble worth a darn and to me didn’t put the effort off of the ball or defensively that you’d expect a professional to do in a game of this magnitude.
Chambers was excellent and impressive. I think he and Kos share a healthy defender’s attitude. Doesn’t always look pretty (but sometimes it does!), but delivers results. That clean sheet was important. Debuchy and Szcesny did more than their part, and Monreal was quite fine defending and going forward for the most part. Hope Ramsey never sees red in Europe again in his career. What a waste. It was harsh from the ref, but needless from the player. And by all means, he should have looked to get a shot off a couple times in there. Not his best day at… Read more »
The fans whistling every time Arsenal had the ball was the most annoying thing I’ve ever heard.
I guess that’s what that cunt Nasri felt when he played against us
Giroud gets half a point for looking sweaty in the shirt? Well, that makes it 3.0 then. It’s so sad that Giroud now only gets points for looking good in his shirt, and not for actual football reasons. I can’t even seem to remember anything good he did in the game. The only reason he was on for the full 90 was for defensive reasons obviously. At this point in time I’d rather have Alexis in the middle and pray Walcott returns soon.
The thing about Giroud is that he has qualties that can lead to a win. It could be that he’ll play a key role against Everton or in the return leg w/ Besitkas next week. Today, he was woeful, but he does have qualities. If there was a direct, one-for-one competitor for his slot who was a good as or BETTER than him? I think that would be healthy for AFC. The biggest difference between Giroud and Van Persie in his final year with AFC is that with RVP the squad organized itself with utter confidence in his ability to… Read more »
The down side is it was organized around RvP being the ONLY option. We were lucky as hell that year he stayed healthy through the season, as was SAF his last year.
Giroud should only start games in london. I like the guy because he loves the club, but he can be very frustrating. Today his 1st touch looked like bendtner’s
It is still early days and I’m not concerned about the team’s form but Arsene really frustrates me with his selection today…almost no rotation at all…and campbell not even given a cameo with cazorla playing like he’s about to retire…I think Cazorla’s form is quite concerning and I think it dates back to pretty much the whole of last season eventhough he’s a hero in my book for the freekick in the FA Cup final.
I will go crazy if Arsene plays the the same team again against Everton…surely he must drop Cazorla
Not a bad result, would of been good to of got an away goal but we’re in control. I agree with some comments about carzola, if there was genuine interest in him this summer it would of been a good opportunity to of moved him on. I would certainly prefer to keep poldolski over him as he provides more end product and is such a good impact player. Giroud needs to stop being complacent and realise he needs to play at a much higher level. Hopefully when Theo returns we can play him or Alexis through the middle and Giroud… Read more »
Giroud is frustrating, I’ve always said that for someone whose apparent strengths are holding up the ball it bounces off him way too often. That said, I think alexis will become the main striker once Walcott comes back. Would also like to see ox starting on the left and Campbell given a chance too. Ozil feeding those 3 up top would be frightening. Pace and movement in abundance. Also have to agree with the comments about lack of early substitutions and squad rotation. If ur not going to rotate when, by your own admission the players are not 100% fit,… Read more »
Kudos to C Chambers! What a debut what a night for this guy. The only time Demba Ba had the better of him was not due to what Demba did but rather due to his only miss of a long ball.
Giroud is a decent striker bit no more than that.we will not win the league or champions league with him as our main striker it’s as simple as that.
Sad but true.
wish i had a DeLorean and could go watch us play from 1998 to 2005 again…becuase this team is nowhere near
Letting his protege go rot at a soulless petroclub because we’d already replaced him was pretty ruthless.
I’m pretty sure you’ve mixed up ruthless and stupid?
Last night was shocking. Everyone except for our defence were playing below par. Almost every time Giroud touched the ball we would lose possession, I’m sure he fell asleep crying. I don’t know how people are saying that Alexis played well. He is currently trying too much and holding the ball for too long too often. He kept running into the opposition and losing the ball. He definitely had his moments though, and I’m sure we’ll see what he is really capable of as he gets to know the team and style of play. The ref lost the plot and… Read more »