Ok, it wasn’t the best performance, but this is a team hugely afflicted by injuries, so it was good to get back to winning ways despite that.
Rode our luck a little, had Petr Cech to thank for a lot, and Mesut Ozil, so here’s how the players rated today.
Good win despite the heart in mouth moments… Up the Arse!
(though they managed the same number of shots from less than half our possession… Is that a Coquelin problem?)
can we do that again midweek please?
Campbell has every chance of becoming new Coquelin/Bellerin
That moment building up to his goal, as he realized that Ozil has the ball he recognized the space in behind and took off before the ball was played. He almost reminds me a bit of Podolski in that he’s always out to get himself goal (I’d mention other left sided midfielders but we’ll hope to save those for later days), indeed a handy quality in a footballer.
podolski didn’t work nearly as hard as campbell does defensively.
that looking for the dummy bit after the goal kind of killed my enjoyment of how sweetly it was taken. otherwise, i’m looking at him and chambers to coq it up.
Flamini a 6.5, really? His job is to shield the back four and add some bite to the middle of the park. He was horrendous at that – again our opponents were strolling through the middle of the park like it was nothing. 3.5 at best.
Agreed. He was awful. Brought back memories from seasons in the past where teams would just run right through our middle.
i feel like this is more down to Coquelin being able to stop counter attacks and runs rather than Flamini being terrible. just different types of players.
But that’s what defensive midfielders are supposed to do, stop counter attacks. Flamini’s interpretation of the defensive midfield role is to charge around trying to boot people in the air, whilst it’s fun to watch when we play say Spurs, it’s not really the long term solution. Effective defensive midfielders are very disciplined, they hold their position, don’t commit to the tackle, slow the opposition down and funnel them into parts of the pitch they don’t want to go to. Flamini commits far to quickly and is prone to being bypassed, Ramsey’s wandering doesn’t help. That deep lying 2 of… Read more »
That’s eight goals in the league for Giroud despite not being a regular at the start of the season. I think it’s time to appreciate what we have rather than bang on about what we should have.
Giroud did well to undo his mistake. He’s a good striker but he’s really not suited to bring out the best in this team. Does anybody have statistics (say, win%) on how we do with Giroud vs Theo up front ?
Bear in mind that 5 of his goals have come directly from Ozil’s assists; a player who is on probably the best form of his career currently leading the league for assists.
Being appreciative of him doesn’t necessitate a lack of criticism. No amount of hyperbole will ever be able to escape the fact that he is a great striker but not quite world class. The difference this year is that between him and Walcott I think we’ll make up whatever the difference would have been with an Aguero-esque player. Wenger’s totally de-necessitated the need for a single goal outlet.
Couldn’t have said it better.
I think Blogs described it best, Giroud is a great striker when he’s fresh, but after a couple of games he’ll tire and his goals will dry up. So having two fit strikers is a must if we wants him to continue scoring goals at this rate.
..And here’s an OG fanboy coming out to defend him after he cancelled his OG.. He may not have been a regular at the start but he still saw about 30mins from the bench. Also he was 1st choice for a couple games before losing his place to theo.. Plus he’s been the only CF in the team for over a month now.. He’s played a lot of games bro, stop sugar-coating it.. He prolly wouldn’t have scored if he didn’t do an OG
I say we should appreciate Giroud for what he is, and that makes me a fanboy? Alright then “bro”.
What’s interesting about Giroud is that i’m pretty sure that he scored when Walcott was literally on the side of the pitch about to come on and whilst it might have been a coincidence his performances do appear to be markedly better when his position is under threat.
Some really concerning performances, I thought. Bellerin’s level has considerably dipped, but as a young player in his second season you have to expect that – it’s just a shame that it’s happened when we need him to step up most. Giroud got a goal but is so far off what he needs to be to deserve a starting place, he looks as lost as he did when he first came here. Oxlade Chamberlain is probably the most concerning of all, I just don’t understand what’s happened to his touch, his drive and confidence. He’s not put in a good… Read more »
Agree with pretty much all of that. Campbell is now ahead of Ox for me.
Ramsey had plenty of chances from midfield, you can see why he wants to be there.
A goal and and assist and will kick on I reckon.
But we did leave a lot of open space in the midfield with him and Flamini. They don’t quite complement each other as Coq and Cazorla did, but it’s still early days. Let’s hope for the best.
Agreed, I wonder if Chambers would be a better match as a more athletic and defensive minded player. Though he is still young and immature.
I’m not sure Chambers is really more athletic. Bigger, yes. But he’s nearly Per Mertesacker slow.
He’s nowhere near that slow, his acceleration isn’t too hot though, once he gets going he’s not too bad.
Ramsey knows he was being reckless. In a post-match interview, he said he would have to be “more professional” against Olympiakos. Ramsey, get your shit together mate.
the guy comes back after an injury, plays in his favourite position in the middle in the absence of Santi, previously having only played on the right, has an assist, scores a goal and is yet critical about his own performance and YOU tell him to get his shit together? Some ppl…
That özil flick, the definitive definition of pure filth. Yedelin will be wondering if he’s really as silly as the wizard made him look.
Класс
Ramsay was very poor with his passing, decision making and shooting, he rates a five.
Flamini ran his socks off, did shield the back four, rates a seven, it was Ramsey thar did not pull his weight as a DM.
Need a strong DM January 1st
Ramsey is not a DM and wasn’t asked to play as one.
He might not have been playing as the DM, but if he is playing as one of the 2 MF in a 4-2-3-1, he’s got to show a bit more tactical awareness. He can’t be the farthest forward player on nearly every single attack and leave us short of numbers when the other team counter.
YES!! he needs to mind his defensive duties. AND can’t be wasteful in front of goal and leave us exposed like that.
Not to mention has to move ball faster. Overall better second half from him. Hope he gets better as we go on.
Wenger stated after the game that he asked our midfield to get beyond their midfield in the second half of the game, yet some idiots want to be critical of Ramsey for doing what his manager asked him to do.
Agreed. Blogs is very generous with Ramsey. He is our most overrated player I’m afraid. Let’s pray he improves but not sure he is capable. He is just above average for me. Good squad player maybe. Let’s give him this chance and if he continues to be as poor as he has in possession then sell him in the summer.
goal and and assist on 1st full game after 6 weeks out and 1st game in the middle since god knows when. Give the man some credit!
Ramsey completed 92 % of his passes. Had 4 key passes.
Ozil completed 79% and had 5 key passes.
Obviously, Ramsey should have done more defensively which he has done before(2012-2014) but to say that his passing was poor is weird
some just want to find fault with Ramsey, for a lot of them, it goes back to 3 years or more ago, when they decided he was not good enough. So the like to makes things up or bend the facts to suit their agenda.
What the stats don’t tell you is how and where he lost those 8% of passes. He’s prone to elemental mistakes, like misplacing square balls and back passes that expose us to attacks, thats what the stats don’t tell you. We could have easily lost that game not for poor finishing and good goalkeeping and better teams than Sunderland would have punished the freedom allowed by Flamini and Ramsey. It’s their first game together, so you can give them some benefit of the doubt but it’s something they’re going to have to work on because i’m not confident that Man… Read more »
“The OG from OG wasn’t very OG”
I didn’t know Mr Blogs had spent time in the hood!
How i missed Ramsey at CM dictating play with Ozil while also roaming freely around and inside the box. Cazorla’s injury is a big hit, but Ramsey back in the middle can be as good as Cazorla at CM if not even better. Just look back at the 13/14 season, he was amazing, goals and assists. Wish Coquelin was fit to partner him.
Unfortunately though, that version of Ramsey had Arteta next to him.
We won the match and had lots of possession but we never really had any control of the game. That’s what Arteta, Cazorla give you. They know how to distribute the ball. Ramsey and Coquelin? Not so much.
Arteta + Ramsey works, Coquelin + Cazorla works. Switch them and you get an overkill of passing with no real physicality or an overkill of directness with not much control.
too much stock in this Cazorla dictating games, its goals that win games, Ramsey scores goals, and makes goals, what we get with him in CM is far less of this tippy tappy, sideways, over and back and anywhere but in the danger areas. Ramsey gives us a player who wants to overload the oppositions defense, who makes runs into scoring areas, who is willing to go in where it hurts. its all well and good Cazorla doing his lovely footwork, and nice neat passing, its pretty on the eye, but is it leading to goals scored, is it hurting… Read more »
There’s different ways to win a football match. I personally felt today that in Cazorla’s absence there was no player who really felt like a ‘safe place’ for the ball to be. Sometimes the game just needs calming down, and Cazorla’s one of the best in the world at that. To my mind the ideal solution wouldn’t be replacing Cazorla with Ramsey, it would be Cazorla refinding form and being better at being Cazorla. There’s no doubt he could play better.
hhhhhooooowwwweeevvvvveeeeeerrrrr he’s out for three months minimum so yes Ramsey is the way to go.
I don’t agree with the “Ramsey can’t control and dictate the game without a Cazorla/Arteta player next to him” opinion. I think that Ramsey is not only a big goal threat as a CM but also capable of controlling the game alongside Ozil and creating chances. A fit Ramsey in CM gives you AT LEAST 10 goals and 10 assists in a season. The quality of his runs from midfield into the box is second to none. He might not retain the ball as good as Cazorla but he offers so much to the attack when he plays as a… Read more »
I guess Terry was completely right when he said Cech would be worth up to 15 points
Wenger was right to buy him for a mere 11m quid.;)
mans made my weekend with that comment
We did what we needed to do. Same d cliche talk about champions winning ugly, but with us it will inevitably be described as a lucky win.
I’m proud of the team and the guys who have come in to keep us up there in the chase
I said a few months ago that I think Campbell will be a better player than Welbeck and was laughed at. Feeling increasingly more confident with that prediction.
Well done.
Any views on the weekend results and our current position?
Extremely worried for Ox. Even when everyone else is injured he can’t just put up a performance to save his life. He has bags of potential but it seems likely it is just going to end there. He could be another Andros Townsend
I am worried about Chamberlain as well but let’s not forget he came back from an injury and the team’s balance is off. His season is looking a lot less bright than expected but his value to the club is still great in my opinion. He has no choice but to kick on and he will. I’m sure.
To be another Andros Townsend he’d have to be a total cunt first.
If he was constantly getting games and not showing any progres whatsoever I’d be worried, I’d give him a few more games before starting to get worried
great teams find a way to win even when not at their best. Ramsey and Walcott back from injury too!
Get us to the Greeks!!!!
Not a great performance but to me you have to grade this game on the curve given all the players in new positions due to injury. Will take time to build up the automatisms.
Ozil. Seems like that guy is pretty good.
Cech. Anyone keeping track of the number of points he’s saved us already this season? Has to be close to double figures.
Ox. Concur on his difficulties. Great University of Texas coach Darrell Royal once said “potential means you haven’t done anything yet.” Really hoping Ox can put it together, but so far he’s struggling.
Did they have a certain DM called Mvilla? And how crazy are Gooners on the need to put a signing on him half a decade ago?
M’villa has been great for sunderland. At the moment, he’s better than Arteta and Flamini.
I preferred when Ozil made that pass to himself, on the side line, seriously, simply stunning. That boy can play.
Extra point for flamini for not chewing off his long sleeves.
Flamini is increasingly becoming a liability. Eventhough blogs praised his pass completion he gives the ball away in dangerous areas and wonders off from his position leaving the team exposed way to much.
Campbell deserves an extra point for beating Spurs loanee Yedlin for the goal.
1) We won. 2) Struggled to find fluency as expected with so many changes but what is that about Champions finding a way even when playing badly? And 3 goals despite us being ‘poor’. I’d take that any day to silky football and a draw. 3) City. What was that about them being well prepared for this season because of strength in depth? Bony? Seen our GD? Same as City and they apparently have better striker options where we ‘failed’ to strengthen in this department… according to media. 4) United. Martial they said was money well spent. NO Rooney no… Read more »
Someone has thumbed you down for that? I can only think they pressed the wrong button.
Remember that we have won a game after string of underwhelming performances. Not to mention that we have fielded a team with players returning from injuries. Some of the players seemed desperate and didn’t really stick to basics. But that is expected during such days. Not all wins need to be pretty. Sometimes, we need to grind out such results to get the train rolling again. Not the ideal game we are used to seeing from this team but I can say that I am satisfied today. Also, this comes the same week where City lost, Sp*rs drew and manu… Read more »
With this kind of performance its goodbye champions league. Better to rest key players than loosing them to injuries and derailing the league title.
Same nonsense about Flamini. Much of our issues stemmed from wide areas. Flamini made the pass to open Ozil up for the assist to Campbell. Did a decent job covering in the middle and kept the ball well for us with a good pass completion rate. He will never be good enough for those bias against him. Defending is a team game and we were a bit out of sync today understadably bc of changes. I mentioned last season we dropped lots of points first half because of the lack of Cback choice and new full backs coming in. There… Read more »
A bit off topic, but anyone else watching Chelsea losing at home!? Looking like a fantastic weekend so far!
Chelsea losing is never off topic.
I had the great pleasure of attending both the Arsenal and Chelsea games today (first time in London). It was glorious to see our boys win and then the blues lose to Bournemouth.
Cech has been MASSIVE for us. To think that some on here felt we didn’t need him.
Ramsey despite scoring and an assist, didn’t play that well today. Olympiakios will give us problems if we play like this on tuesday.
The Ox should cut his hair. That would help.
I like Ramsey in the middle. As mentioned, he just makes things happen. He’s not as tidy in possession as santi, but he adds a physical presence and crucially provides more of a goal threat from the middle. Sure the team shapes up differently, (esp w/out coq) but I’m hopeful Ramsey in for cazorla works out well for us.
Campbell – I mentioned it was wrong for people to denegrate him before he even got a chance. Most have been wrong about Bellerin and Coquelin so what makes these pompous voices think they know anything more about footy let alone Campbell? He protects the ball well, uses it well, can finish now and also puts in hard work. As I mentioned, he is every bit on par with Ramsey and Ox for a wide berth (if now ahead of ox) Ox. Go easy on him as lest we forget, he has only just returned back into the squad! Ozil… Read more »
15 points from 15 played. Now that is funny
Bonus Ratings: 11/10 Bournemouth leaving Chelski 3 points above relegation, LOL.
Genuinely concerned Bellerin…
Yeah his positioning was off today. Maybe a good time to give Debuchy a go again? Actually, considering how he’s performed in cup games, maybe a cameo vs the Greeks and a start at the Villa game would be the better course of action?
It would be slightly freaky if a guy of his age mantained that kind of form, he’s competent when he’s out of form though, which is pretty damn good.
I don’t think 6 for flamini is fair. May not have Santi’s intricacies but the plays with heart. 8 from me for today
Well the specialist in victory has struck again. This time at home against Bournemouth. Not a bad day after all.
Is it just me or in the past few games we have been exposed on the wings way too often. I think Nacho and Bellerin are pushing too high. Without Coquelin covering, they should be more cautious.
Anybody noticed how in the last few games we scored a goal in the first half only to let the other team score just before the half-time? should we be worried about players switching off as we get close to half-time? I know it was an own-goal but what about the other games.
And what do you think of Moureenho?
Can you guys imagine what would’ve been said here had Campbell miss those chances Ramsey missed and given the ball away as often? Andrew, this is exactly why I keep saying that we shouldn’t be so harsh on our own players…by your definition from a few weeks ago, Chamberlain is “out his depth”. but far from that he is just having a tough time. Now with regards to Campbell it’s so obvious that what he needed was to be around the team and play more often and we are seeing the results. Let’s stop bashing players for the sake of… Read more »
? man. Enough said
there we go again, – given the ball away as much as Ramsey –
here are some stats from todays game – Aaron Ramsey recovers the most ball (15) & completed 114 of 124 attempted passes, 49 of 57 completed in final third, 92% pass completion rate. Oh and yes one goal and one assist.
A couple of seasons back Rambo was head and shoulders best player in the league until he was injured. Today there were signs of that promise again… I’m very excited to see him get a run in CM. He has that special something about him!
I think it’s people see that with him and Flamini in the team we don’t have nearly the control in the middle of the pitch we do with Coq and Cazorla and just assume that translates to bad pass accuracy. When really it isn’t about pass accuracy so much as Cazorla’s ability to dribble out of trouble and Coq’s ability to snuff out danger.
Ramsey is a good passer. Where he doesn’t really measure up to Cazorla is in his positional discipline and his dribbling.
Yes and no, supporting a player and giving them the benefit of the doubt is important, but without constructive criticism it’s quite hard to have a meaningful discussion about a player.
Chamberlain just can’t seem to get going in matches or at this club since he signed for that matter. He is too self_critical it’s affecting anything he stands over.
Rambo played alright I thought. Goal, assist, decent possession stats. Bit rusty maybe, but we’ve seen him score from range before so I’m not too bothered if he’s taking pot shots. Frankly we’ve missed goals from that position, and while Santi is undoubtedly THE man, I’m not going to argue if he scores and assists every game. Campbell looks to be getting better and better, which is good news. Walcott looked bright when he came on. Ozil keeps going well (probably his worst performance for while actually today, but shows how fucking good he is). Flamini was a liability, but… Read more »
The Wizard of Öz
I would have given Ozil at least a 9, great match again from him. His work rate was tremendous and is really showing a lot of fight this year to win the ball back and constantly showing to receive it. I just wish he’d look to score some more as he’d easily be able to score 20 goals a season if he wasn’t so unselfish (sometimes to a fault). Giroud did have a nice goal, but other than that one and the header on the corner kick was pretty anonymous. Of course nobody else in the squad that can get… Read more »
Harsh on Ox – he wouldn’t have started if we didn’t have 10+ players out injured. Just not fit
Thought Flamini was dreadful tbh. Guy just doesn’t know where he is, out of position all the time. An actual defensive liability, got to find a better solution fast if we’re not to go tumbling down the table. Make no mistake, a massive part of the reason we weren’t able able to control the game in midfield was because he gave us no base whatsoever to work off.
Is Ox good at football? I used to think he was good at football, but now i can’t tell if he’s good at football.
Flam is a liability.
bought my boy an ozil shirt this afternoon. couldn’t be put off any longer.
Dang. Numbers aside, I thought Theo looked pretty switched on and dangerous in the box. Ox on the other hand, sad to say…
Campbell had a couple stray passes, but was confident and composed on the ball, and a well timed run. A welcome sight given our current situation!
Back to winning ways, also, RIP Ernie
Özil.Cech. ‘Nough said.
A good result and it is great to see Joel Campbell start to find his feet and prove some of his doubters wrong. It just goes to show what a bit of game time does for confidence. I am sure he is going to play a big part in coming weeks…but does need to work on his goal celebration a bit which always seems a little awkward.