The Gunners were 3-0 up and cruising, but blew the lead and, most likely, any chance of finishing top of their Champions League group.
Here’s how the players rated in our eyes, feel free to add your own ratings and comments below.
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Thursday, December 19, 2024
I know I’ll get negged to Bolivia for this, but since the transfer I’ve resisted on jumping on the Welbeck bandwagon even when it seem to was a sin to not praise him.
He’s not to blame for anything today, but I just want to go off topic and say I do think, by the season’s end, he will end up a bit of a polarising figure much in the mould of Giroud; after the honeymoon is done, we’ll be seen as a good squad option, but not a starting striker (which is still what I believe now).
To be fair it does seem that Sanchez’s work rate seems to be rubbing off on him. He was tracking back to collect the ball at some crucial times – something that Giroud has never, and will never, do. He does need to work on his finishing but he does make smart runs, he’s energetic, he’s fast, he’s strong and most importantly he makes attacks happen rather than waits for them to happen. Give him some time. After all, it seems the whole squads going through a tough period at the moment.
He’s always had good work ethic, nothing to do with Sanchez.
Ask United fans. It was his goal scoring and general quality they questioned… which I still question.
Yup. Commentator kept saying the same stupid thing about Welbeck being ‘inspired’ by Alexis. You know who could use some inspiration? Ramsey. My oh my what a shadow of a player. He jogged around the pitch like he was hurt or just couldn’t be bothered. Couple of nice runs, but what happened to the ball recovery machine of the previous 18 months? And it breaks my heart, damnit. It breaks my heart
I disagree, Giroud always defends especially set pieces, I prefer Giroud because he hustles defenders all day and it opens up spaces for other attackers to score.
See, I’m not convinced of Welbeck’s ‘smart’ runs. For me, he doesn’t drive into space often enough – he still makes runs constantly, but sometimes it feels like he’s just making them for the sake of them. If he could start making double movements and feint runs more often, he’d be an absolute handful.
I agree here. His runs are a bit like Giroud’s, either straight line predictable, or a half a yard short of where he should be. Hopefully he can add some deception to his game soon.
Ramsey has already let his hair drop. This is good, but not enough. Now he needs to trim it and get a baggy shirt. Then we may see Aaron c.2013 again.
Missed HFB today. And the other french blokes at the back. I also wonder if Poldi and Campbell shouldn’t be given a chance. Wenger frustrates me again!
What a steaming pile of shit that was
Steaming pile of shit reminds me, that vandenborra is a right little sod.
And Ramsey’s body language has been shockingly bad, really poor.
The whole Welsh Jesus thing seems to have gone to his head. Ironic really, considering Jesus was so humble.
Even condidering Jesus probably never existed?
Only: 1. Arsenal and 2. Football. Thank you.
Why make a polarizing comment like that and offend the God of 3 Billion people on this world? Are you aware that there are Arsenal fans from all backgrounds? That includes Christians, Muslims, atheists etc! Just keep your comments Arsenal related, if you have nothing possitive to add!
Do give it a rest.
Either take it as tongue in cheek or waste your time praying for the man.
hahahhah
thought christians were forgiving
Argue if he’s the son of God and performed miracles.
If you want to debate his existence, then you’re on your own.
Still love you Ramsey, but a part of me questioned your devotion to the overall cause last night when you genuinely seemed pissed off after Ox’s goal (yes, you had 5 yards of space but there were 2 defenders in front of you).
And what’s all this bombing forward at 3-1 and at 3-2 for? It almost felt like you’d bet your mate a tenner (ten GRAND, that is) that you’d score.
What a pile of piss shit that was. The thing is, there hasn’t been one single WHOLE match where we’ve completely controlled this season, just a few chunks of quality (and 90% of that is Alexis god bless him). These boys need to get their act together and start playing like their wages depended on it.
The worst thing to come out of today is that we’ll lose Arteta for possibly another 3 weeks. You can hate him for all you want, but he is the best defensive midfielder we have. And its is absolutely no coincidence that we’ve played better since he returned from injury and before he went off today. No hand waving, two-footed crunching tackles but just did his job effectively and won back possession a number of times. Beyond that I think people underestimate Arteta’s influence in the team. We’re a young team that lack leaders, and last year we had Per… Read more »
Hard to rate someone who played well first half and switched off completely in the second
How many bad games in a row has Ramsey had? Has he had one good performance this season? Unbelievable how much he’s regressed. Cazorla, too. There was a game earlier this season when we were hanging onto a one goal lead (Bestikas, maybe?) and he worked his tail off defensively to make sure we kept it. What in the world happened to that?
I think the thing that epitomized our collapse was Ramsey standing over that free kick preparing to top corner it, and me, him and even Alexis knew that it wasn’t happening.
Yep. As soon as I saw him standing over it, I knew the Anderlecht keeper might as lean back against the post and chill out, because Ramsey free kicks go nowhere.
This match just epitomises everything that’s wrong at the club right now.
Might Coq have been a better call than flamini?… Never got a fair run in the side for someone who always seemed to perform reasonably well when afforded a chance.
The thing is I saw no change in tactics when we’re leading 3-0 and that’s the manager’s fault. When you are leading you change tactics to shut the shop. Wenger can blame the defence all day long but he didn’t do anything to help them from August to now.
This is so wrong on so many levels. 1) “When you are leading, you change tactics to shut the shop”. That’s bollocks, we’re supposed to shut up shop and try to defend for 30mins? The fact that we probably did try to shut the shop and sat so deep, probably led to the draw. 2) How do you change tactics to shut up shop? We had practically our whole team in our own half for 30mins. And it’s should be just basic defending to win the ball back, try to keep possession and stay compact. There’s hardly any tactical you… Read more »
Villa away, this season. We went into the second half 3-0 up and passed the ball around for 45 minutes. It’s not difficult.
It’s about playing smart. Not taking risks. Not forcing the issue for another goal which we didn’t need. Fullbacks staying in their defensive areas. Ramsey staying back with Flamini as mentioned. It’s called game management. Speaking of management, it would be nice to see Wenger actually do some of it during a game. Far too often he is so passive on the bench and just seems to accept the fate of how a game is unfolding. Not to mention his substitutions are as baffling as ever. Ugh just frustrating to be a fan of The Arsenal these days.
We should get a manager rating, every game we play bad is down to his ineptitude. Not sure what he brought podolski and rosicky in to do . Should have been an extra cdm or cb coming in… But wait we have none and whose fault is that
The problem today was lack of options. Injuries + Wenger’s total disregard for reinforcement= disaster. What happened today does happen very frequently in football but . the difference with other big teams would have been to bring in defensive options especially when they (Anderluck) got the second goal. an Extra CDMF,Center half and a pacy forward to counter would have made a difference. All which we do not have except for Walcott who is still recovering. I blame Wenger and the God’s of injury, but Wenger out ? Not an option But pls Sir pleaaaase !!!!!! My 12 years old… Read more »
I think Ox was my motm today, although alexis scored that peach of a goal and played very well, I was very impressed with Ox’s work down the wing constantly beating his man, putting balls in and just generally making things happen. Plus he scored a very nice goal too.
With the gunners 3-0 up I switched off my tv and went to sleep.I didn’t think the Newcastle nightmare will rear its ugly head again.However it did. This shows Wenger has really lost the plot. If reports linking a new guy with Arsenal are true, I am really glad. To be honest I think he shd with the greatest of respect have no say in who ever is to be the next Arsenal boss. Enough of his philosophy. The buck stops with the manager. Wenger has shown himself incapable of closing up games and not choking at the finishing line… Read more »
“This shows Wenger has really lost the plot.”
If you didn’t watch the second-half, how would you know its Wenger who lost the plot?
Arseblog once wrote “Imagine Monreal as our only CB playing against the big teams”
When Wenger did not bring in any backup defenders during the summer transfer.
I swear I imagined today and it was scary then and it’s depressing now
I know people have been complaining about Rambo’s performances in a few games leading up to this one, but I thought he looked okay. He just didn’t look as amazing as before, I thought.
But today he was utter shite today. He was so, so bad EVEN when the team was doing pretty well.
Hope he picks his shit up soon.
Unreal. I feel sick for Alexis for carrying a team and scoring such a fantastic goal all for that result? It’s a damn shame. And once again, I look to the weekend and fear that an away draw may be even tough to achieve for this team at this rate.
Gunners for life…but these types of results are affecting my bloody health.
I can only hope Alexis the Sanchez keeps helping the squad, and hoping for January to come in a hurry.
Subs were atrocious…Clever guy Wenger, lets take our pace and outlets off and bring on a slow not striker and a guy who has hardly played.
Cazorla was not ‘so-so’ he was fucking shite…again
Ramsey at the moment is so bad..But what is worse is that Wenger and other people have highlighted what he is doing wrong weeks ago and he doesn’t seem to be heeding the advice.
Flamini was just Flamini..He looks like he is doing something when in fact he does nothing at all…His game is built around energy and legs..Both of which he no longer has.
Wenger and his stupid favouritism yet again. His substitutions never cease to amaze me.
The Ox and Welbeck ran their socks off, tracking back, high pressure, gave us that option for the counter attack and got stuck in. Yet they were subbed off…
How Ramsey who now thinks he is the Ozil of the team and Cazorla who quite honestly could be out muscled by a child stayed on the pitch is beyond me..
I do remember a few attempted counter attacks by us after the substitutions.. They all led to Cazorla attempting to chase on to balls…… pointless..
We’re Shit & we know we are…..
TBH I didn’t think Ramsey or Cazorla played that badly (I’m guessing they’re gonna come in for heavy criticism) and it’s definitely not their fault that we conceded 3 in 30 minutes. The defence has to look at itself. Playing an offside trap in your own box (albeit successfully)? Wrestling someone to the ground in the box for no reason? being 6ft 7 and still beaten in the air? Until we sort out our problems at the back, we’re gonna keep going into matches with a glass jaw
I was there and thought we had a good game. We looked dangerous. After the goal that was offside we seemed to crash and continued to crash after every poor decision. Again several poor decisions, especially with them kicking us during the second half and being allowed to. There was at least 5 or 6 professional fouls and only a couple got called. It’s about time we got video replays, then we can all see the decision. The stadium screens didn’t show the penalty, or the goal that was offside either. Gazed over. Whether that’s to avoid the crowd getting… Read more »
wow, your levels of delusion amaze me. Referees cost us a three goal lead?
Sorry, I meant they weren’t punished.
A foul was given but no yellow card.
Probably would have been better to have had Monreal get a red instead of a yellow for touching the referee like he did as that would have possibly encouraged us to sit deeper and work harder. Pathetic that a team of the level of Arsenal with a manager of the experience of Wenger craps on themselves like that at home having a 3-0 with just 30 minutes left.
Cazorla looks like a midget out there and not in a good way. Literally nothing he does comes off these days
Where is Diaby Lol. Remember Arsenal.com running stories on his comeback at the beginning of the year. Why there wasn’t a DM signing is really really hard to fathom. What a horrid collapse
It’s a long post, but it’s 2:00 am in the morning, and I’ve been unable to sleep I was there at the Emirates last night I arrived straight from the office A very long day I saw a fabulous penalty I saw a fabulous free kick I saw a fabulous goal All by Arsene Wenger players I was there at the Emirates It was wet cold and miserable night I stayed till the end I saw our midfield tremble when Arteta was substituted I saw Ramsey going forward at every opportunity to score a goal I saw Ramsey forgetting his… Read more »
It’s about time Mertsacker stop making big errors. Imagine a minimum-wage grocery store worker say: Since my wedding, I’m unable to concentrate and do my job. Would he keep his job if he repeatedly forget the poultry outside the fridge ?
Wenger really just seems to have lost his desire to win. There is this air of acceptance in every post match presser that we are just here to participate and the most important thing is that everybody had a good time. The fans aren’t having a good time, though. We move forward in one area and backwards in another. Up top we look as strong (and FAST :D) as we have in a long long time, but there are a handful of players whose place in the starting XI of a champions league team is hard to justify at the… Read more »
There it is right there. We are repeatedly forgetting the poultry outside the fridge. Was there any poultry in the fridge in the last 30 minutes? Nope – all forgotten outside.
And don’t get me started about the toiletries in aisle 5…..
The fact we can’t bring on a defensive player off the bench to wind down a game is why we collapse time and time again. I remember Sp*rs a few seasons ago when we finished the game with 6 defenders on the pitch. A 3 goal lead should not be lost. At home, against Anderlecht. We need Debuchy and Kos back badly.
Winston Reid of West Ham is the answer … he’s a New Zealander and knows how to tackle …
Why have Sanchex on in the second half at all … rest him for weekend get Podolski on and win …
great game though …. not
It’s not all doom and gloom… Not far from it, though. Alexis and The Ox looked awesome. Wellbeck showed some quality. Our defence is scary at the minute, though.
Is anyone else baffled by the fact that Arteta, flamini and santi are getting so many starts?!
The poor defending in the second half is also due to the tired legs.. Wenger has been playing the same XI every game.. He needs to rotate the squad..
Well, I really think you’re being too generous with the BFG. Its not the first time this season that he has been completely appalling when dealing with attacks. In the German team, he has some of the best cover a CB can ask for. In Arsenal, its a different story. While the Kosh is amazing, I’v had my doubts with Mert’s ability to stand his ground against quality attacks. This was Anderlecht. Not Real Madrid, and they still managed to crack through quite effectively. All they had to do was attack. I think we have to be grateful for the… Read more »
Same old story midfielders breaking their necks to get forward but not to get back.Ramsey has one good season and thinks hes a superstar.
Welbeck tries hard and I give him props for that. But comparing him to Giroud is really wide of the mark. Giroud’s runs have end product. There’s a time him and Walcott used to link up to devastating effect. When Walcott got the highest number of assists, Giroud had been at the end of 70% or thereabouts of those assists.the two had around 20goals between them by one teeing up the other. We can’t keep saying The Ox, Chambers and Gibbs are whipping nice crosses while the target man doesn’t seem to get on the end pf those crosses. Its… Read more »
3-0 up and we were playing as if we were chasing a game when we should.’ve shut out the game. It.s beyond belief, although we’re talking about arsenal here. The only positives were Alexis and ox, who was at his rampaging best and matching Sanchez in the hard work department. I really feel for Alexis. What on earth he must be thinking about the level of ineptitude shown by his teammates.
Our back 4 gets too much stick for this performance.
We should be looking at the midfield. Half-assed pressure from midfield means easy passes in the box. If you’re leaving your back 4 so easily exposed, you’re going to concede.
Flamini, Ramsey and Cazorla were awful.
Subbing in Rosicky was arguable but Podolski is useful when he’s in the box and we’re controlling the game. We were under a lot of pressure and we needed to defend, I wish we used Bellerin or even Sanogo instead.
Disagree with that, defenders are there to defend. We put enough pressure on their midfield, to the point where even the commentators noticed. If Mertersacker loses his man and then an aerial battle to someone half his size, I don’t see how you can blame Flamini, Ramsey and Cazorla.
The pressure was perfect until the hour mark. Take a look at their 3 goals, no one bothers to close down the man making the pass.
I’m not trying to find excuses for the defense, they should have done better than that, but it’s unfair to criticize them when the whole team was deficient.
You say defenders are there to defend. I say the whole team has to defend and we failed to do just that in the last 30 minutes.
Agree that the whole team is there to defend. And closing them down may have prevented those goals but teams will always have at least a few chances. And if our defenders fail in even the simplest individual tasks, you’re always going to concede.
Absolute bullshit. I am getting fed up with defending AW and after that shower of shit final 30 mins I am unable. It’s never gonna change, he’s never gonna change, stubborn and unadaptable and I couldn’t care less how many thumbs down I get. As for matey talking about religion *coughs, it’s 2014 mate, go to a library and look for Richard Dawkins for crying out loud get a grip
I think some of our players have become glory hunters and have developed the I instead of we mentality. Everybody needs to go back to d basics if we win we win as a team or lose as a team. Its beyond no 1 to track back or get stuck in.
no doubt it was a meltdown, but i think the mad panic that sets in amongst arsenal fans anytime we slip up often translates to the team. there seems to be a constant pessimism around arsenal that gets a bit tiresome and is damaging for a young side. i mean, if you could pick any game to absoloutely botch, a draw in the champs group stage that all but confirms out advance would be it. onwards and upwards against swansea. if liverpool can do us a favour against chelsea its all on.
wtf? I watched the game win friends and we thoroughly enjoyed it. yes, we gave away a 3:0 lead, yes whoeful defending at home, not a good result against a ‘lesser team’ and so on. I am with most of you on player ratings, AW etc.. BUT, wtf is going on? We are possibly the shittiest fans ever: Ramsey is shit, Bfg is shit, AW is shit, in fact according to ppl here everything is shit. Don’t get me wrong, I am equally dissapointed and frustrated as most of you, but we don’t seem t be able to draw a… Read more »
Well…the appalling end to that game really over shadowsthe positives.its one of the few games I’ve seen this season in which we threatened with real purpose,cohession and end product.yet to throw it all away is by no means excuseable.the life of an arsenal fan(SMH)
Arsene has perhaps read the stats that teams that consistently start with the same players tend to do better.
That’s understandable and fine and dandy. Except when you choose your starting players badly in the beginning.
Santi and Ramsey will cost us more games until AW sees sense and drops them. There are alternatives in those positions.