The Struggle is Real
The only blot on the Invincibles’ otherwise perfect season was the loss, 2-3 on aggregate, to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter finals. Chelsea was knocked out in the next round by Monaco who went on to lose to Porto, guided by Jose Mourinho, in the Final.
It’s easy to make up arbitrary stats points and draw conclusions but in this case, that loss seems like a real watershed moment: it was the beginning of the Abramovich era as he had spent €167m on players like Duff, Crespo, Veron, Makelele, Mutu, Scott Parker, Wayne Bridge, and Geremi; and Porto’s win in the Champions League launched the career of the self-proclaimed “special one”.
Chelsea also battled Arsenal in the League and finished second in 2003-04 to Arsenal. The next year, with another €162m in spending (on Cech, Drogba, Carvalho, Robben, and Ferriera) and with new manager Jose Mourinho, Chelsea won the League with 95 points and nearly went the entire season undefeated, losing just one game: Manchester City away.
Arsenal’s record before that Champions League loss was just 2 losses in 24 meetings and both of those losses were in the League Cup in 1998 (spanning two seasons of course). The complete record was P24, W15, D7, L2.
But since March 2004, including that Champions League loss, these two teams have met 31 times (again, this is in all competitions) and Arsenal have only won FIVE. That complete record is, P31, W5, D8, L18.
This year, of all the years, it felt like we should have gotten something from Chelsea. After all, we beat them in the Charity Shield, and while it is often considered a friendly there are no friendlies between these two teams. And after that loss, the wheels came off Jose’s bus.
And when they were saved by Mike Dean and his “naive” refereeing Arsenal fans felt like we should get something in the second meeting, but from Jump Street Arsenal were nervous. Koscielny gave the ball away in the 3rd minute, a straight pass to Oscar for a shot that Cech had to save. That set the tone for the game.
And in the 18th minute.. Theo’s failed cross, Ramsey’s failed tackle, Flamini fails to stop Willian, Koscielny was out of the play guarding nothing, and Mertesacker makes a stupid tackle, which lets Costa simulate a foul and get him sent off. Then in the ensuing chaos, Koscielny fails to guard Costa again and Costa scores. And let’s be frank here, Koscielny could have conceded a penalty for that NFL tackle on Fabregas.
I’m not picking on Koscielny, but that is what a “hoodoo” looks like: a complete mental meltdown. It doesn’t seem to matter what manager they have, what tactics they employ, what players they have on the pitch, Arsenal simply fall to pieces when they face Chelsea and have done since April 2004.
Match Stats
I don’t want to frustrate you any more than you already probably are but… even against 10 men Chelsea sucked. They sucked. But we sucked worse.
For example, Arsenal had more passes in the final 1/3 than Chelsea, 125 to 121 and 20 passes to their 11 in the 18 yard box. This indicates great penetration by Arsenal. But Arsenal only managed 9 shots and only got 1 on target. 1 shot on target.
The reason why Arsenal only got one shot on target was because they were playing without a forward. Flamini was allowed to play in the center forward role and took 3 of Arsenal’s 9 shots, he led all of Arsenal in shots taken. Ramsey also took 2 shots, meaning that Arsenal’s “double pivot” took 5/9 shots.
I like my midfielders making runs late in the box but Flamini wasn’t making late runs, he was camping on the 11 meter spot, where Arsenal’s forwards should have been. Again, when it comes to the “hoodoo” here is where I would want my forward to go over and kick Flamini out of that spot.
This is going to be more fuel for the Walcott haters and I don’t mean it that way but I can’t understand why Walcott — who was captain and was left on the pitch by Wenger as Arsenal’s center forward, and who really wants to play in the center forward role — didn’t play in the center forward role. Walcott took 0 shots on the day. Even Giroud, who only played 19 minutes, took a shot.
I suspect Wenger wanted Walcott to play wide to take advantage of the mismatch between him and Ivanovich. Walcott did set up three shots, leading Arsenal, but none of them were on target: Giroud’s long distance blast, Campbell’s bumbled shot, and then a long break before Gabriel’s shot in the 63rd minute.
Ramsey had the best overall game for Arsenal: led Arsenal in passes, 58/66; created a chance (for the flim flam man) and was 2nd on the team in final 1/3 passes, 18/23; led Arsenal in dribbles with 4/6; led Arsenal in ball recoveries with 8; led Arsenal in tackles with 5/7; had 2 interceptions; and led Arsenal in fouls suffered (2) and committed (6).
Fabregas was winning all the plaudits but when you compare the two players, Ramsey had an excellent game.
Ramsey did all that a man down while basically toiling alone in midfield, while the Flim Flam man played center forward.
@7amkickoff
Sources: 442 Stats Zone app, Transfermarkt, Statto
I’ve seen him bashed and complained about how poor he was yesterday. Thanks for posting the stats that proves he was anything but anonymous yesterday. I reckon Rambo is looking forward to the return of Coquelin more than us fans.
It won’t change a thing. A lot of people watched that game without actually seeing it and just decided that Ramsey was to blame. It was pretty obvious that he was our best player by a mile but I’ve seen many many people describe his performance as woeful and call for him to be dropped.
Anyhoo thanks for the article 7amkickoff
Another stats guided moron. Ramsey was awful yesterday. Have you ever actually been to a game or do you make comments without ever watching. Ramsey is a decent player but yesterday he was far from decent.
Exactly, where are the stats for missing tackles on the the edge of the opposition box or giving the ball away in the centre circle?
Ramsey missed zeo tackles on the edge of the box. He made a tackle in the 18 yard box and won the ball. Fabregas missed two tackles in his own final 1/3. Ramsey was dribbled twice, once by Willian and once by Fabregas. Cesc was dribbled 3 times. Twice, like I said, in his own final 1/3. As for dispossessed, Ramsey was dispossessed one time, and yes, you were right, it was in the center circle. Fabregas was also dispossessed once, that happened in Arsenal’s final 1/3 as Chelsea were building up the attack. Again, I will also point out… Read more »
Yeah he did, he missed a tackle on the edge of the Chelsea box that lead to Mertesacker’s sending off, and thats exactly the problem a lot of people have with him. He shouldn’t have been on the edge of their box but 10 yards deeper cutting off the opportunity for a Chelsea counter.
Seems a big leap to blame Ramsey for missing a tackle on the edge of their box for a foul that happened almost on the edge of ours. There’s a long way between them and the team, Flamini in particular, should have done more to prevent the situation
So should he have been on the edge of the box when he scored against Liverpool? Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t.
Here they are, John.
Sadly, I think it weakens your intended point.
Flamini also has to take some of the blame, but Ramsey is 50% of the partnership so must provide defensive cover also. The whole midfield’s dysfunctional and neither player is good enough. Flamini plays either quasi-central defender or quasi- centre forward whilst Ramsey plays quasi-centre forward/winger, neither seam capable to play along side each other in the heart of midfield and form a partnership. I have absolutely no expectations from Flamini as i thought he should have been off loaded in the summer if not the summer before, the fact he’s still at Arsenal is ridiculous in my mind. Ramsey… Read more »
Hey 7am, I definitely get what you’re saying cause as you said it was far from the terrible game that people make it seem like he had. So my stance is that even though it wasn’t the worst performance, the giving away of the ball, and a few bad passes were only highlighted and exacerbated by the fact that we lost frustrating. And some fans just like to react irrationally cause in truth it may just stem from the fact that ramflam as a collective unit just ain’t working. To end it though, it wasn’t that bad of a performance… Read more »
Shouldn’t be comparing Ramsey to Cesc, Cesc was playing in front of Matic and Mikel. Ramsey numbers might look spectacular but his primary role was defensive, lapse in concentration your defensive minded players even for a single moment is more costly than offensive players. Ozil on the other hand was MIA
Aha. So as Flamini’s performance shows he was the shit of the two, we shift to ‘well there’s two of them, so Ramsey’s 50% of the problem’. Nice. That’s making the numbers work for you. Flamini was bombing forward so Ramsey was doing exactly what you claim he wasn’t- covering for him. Hence the tackling, recovery, and fouls stats. Flamini should have stayed put allowing Ramsey to play end to end. He didn’t. What we’re really suffering from is no Central midfielder who can control the tempo and clock over the passing in midfield the way Santi or Arteta (when… Read more »
It’s not me who’s using numbers to prove he had a good game despite what my eyes saw. Ramsey was playing in the final third of the pitch after 17 minutes leaving our defence exposed, yes Flamini was playing next to our centre halves exacerbating the problem but sorry, to say Ramsey wasn’t being un-necessarily gun-ho is just plan wrong. He could have at least done the professional thing and trip him up and take a yellow card. As for Flamini bombing forward, if you look at his chance just before half time you will see that 10 seconds before… Read more »
Can’t speak to Ramsey’s performance because i went outside to shovel snow after we conceded, but Ramsey is responsible for that red. He sitting with Flamini and he leaps forward to tackle Willian. Misses, leaving Flamini, Kos, Mertesacker backpedaling, with Bellerin trailing behind because he’s already too far forward. There were no options left at the point but bad ones. Ramsey needs to either drop with his team and slow down the attack or take. Willian. out. Take the yellow, which he probably wouldn’t get anyways because of the field position. Every team does this to Arsenal. Why can’t we.… Read more »
Have you ever watched a match? Ramsey was great yesterday and created our best chance of the game and worked his hole off all match. Also, 2012 called and wants it’s irrational hatred of Ramsey back
I have been to Highbury in 2006, Liverpool away, Swansea away, twice to Munich, and many, many games at the Emirates. I saw Hleb score, watched a 16 year old Fabregas absolutely run the Arsenal midfield, witnessed a miracle at Liverpool (double-save by Szczesny and I was right behind the goal when van Persie scored), I saw Arsenal beat Bayern, I saw Senderos score against Blackburn, saw Arshavin’s debut, I was at Wembley when we lost to Birmingham City in the League Cup final, I was there when our own fans screamed hate at Diaby in Swansea, and watched Arsenal… Read more »
Dang, and here I am hoping to just make it to one game at some point in my life! Can be rough being a stateside Gooner 🙁
Your comment to me now makes sense “Ramsey was great yesterday ” of course you a stat, especially a soccer star hehe
I wasn’t actually talking about you. My comment was aimed by way of reply to swish. By the way talking of stats I thought your comparison of Ramsey and santi was incredibly revealing. Oh how we miss santi in there hey, recycling the ball like you highlighted, staying close to coq and most times taking control of the middle. We ain’t done that since our reserve midfield of Ramsey and flamini have played.
You’re clearly a liar.
You saw Hleb score? LIAR. No one ever saw Hleb score.
Can’t agree on the Ozil point.I was at the game and he worked his arse off albeit to no great result. He often had little in front of him to pass to but MIA he certainly was not.Sad to say I even saw an article in the EVening Standard yesterday claiming he failed to show in big games – such tired journalism.
Tarquin mate, guys like you who have no problem calling fellow Gooners morons just to hate on Ramsey are so boring. Careful you don’t turn into Piers Morgan or Donald Trump when you eventually grow up.
Hi, it’s perfectly ok to disagree and have a debate, but please leave out the name calling. Thanks.
Apologies blogs. I just struggle with some people’s intelligence regarding football. I’m afraid Ramsey was never as bad as some made out and equally never as good. The love in bugs me. Mind you I sat over there with some John Terry’s around me who thought Denilson was great and always had stats to back up their delusion. His pass rate his tackles bla bla bla.
‘I just struggle with some peoples intelligence’….you’re quite the charmer Tarquin
I presume the thumbs down are for those who want name calling during a debate? Blimey.
Moron means stupid person. Your comment probably took 10 seconds to write. This informative article took a lot longer. I think we all know who the moron is…
You sir give credibility to my comment on intelligent people. Thank you.
I’m looking forward to Coq coming back in, but I don’t think it will solve all of our central mid problems. Coq was thriving with Santi mostly staying along side him.
Ramsey isn’t that player. Part of the reason the center of the pitch is so wide open because Ramsey is pushing up and many times leaving the center of the pitch wide open and exposed with Flam alone to cover the whole thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s Flam or Coq, they aren’t going to break everything up covering that much space.
BTW – I’m not bashing Ramsey here, I think #10 is more natural for him and would allow him a bit more freedom to play the way he does, but we’ve got that covered, so we fit him in where he is playing currently.
It was actually the opposite yesterday, Flamini was more forward than Ramsey.
While I wasn’t watching him the entire time, when I noticed Flam in the box, it was in the dying seconds of the first half when there wasn’t time for a counter, around set plays, and at the end of the game chasing a goal. All are understandable times for him to be there. The rest of the time, I recall him being where we all expect him to be.
The heat maps measure touches only, the problem was that Flamini was involved in the attack without getting touches. Technically, he only had 3 touches in the final 1/3 but they were all on the 11m spot.
I agree! I don’t understand the grief Ramsey gets from his own fans, especially on this site. I thought he was one of our better players yesterday and the stats certainly show that.
Subs really hurt us when you consider we ended the game with neither Walcott or Giroud on. I would have taken off Walcott, Campbell, or even Flamini for Gabriel and left Giroud on to hold the ball up top.
Ramsey certainly will fare better with Coquelin back in the lineup, though I would have liked to see a Ramsey/Elneny partnership once we had to chase the game.
Usually I defend Wenger’s decisions and agree with them, but taking Giroud off was his biggest mistake off the season. It must be very frustrating for our top scorer, that people (including Wenger) don’t have any faith in his counter attacking ability.. He has been the fulcrum and often indeed the finisher in many counter goals for us. He is in far better form than the increasingly formless Theo, and once Giroud gets going, he is a very powerful and surprisingly fast runner. Not to mention his superior set piece scoring record, a potent weapon for the few moments during… Read more »
We’ll never know what Wenger was thinking but: Monreal can cover at CB & Flamini can cover at LB. He could have dropped Özil into midfield next to Ramsey – it’s obviously not his natural position but if he expected Chelsea to push forward then he is the obvious player for the Cazorla role. Obviously that would be expecting Campbell to do a lot but he has shown the appetite for it. If Chelsea instead decided to drop deep then Giroud is still on the pitch to hold the ball up. Oh well, on to the next game and the… Read more »
I think the frustration with Ramsey stems from the fact that we know he can be so much better especially when it comes to his decision making. That said when I saw him tracking back around the 90th minute trying to stop a counter and his cloth all dirty, it almost brought a tear to my eye. Sometimes you gotta look pass the result no matter how it hurts. I love that guy massively
One of the things I have noticed is when Ramsey makes a bad pass, it looks bad. Either an unnecessarily complicated Hollywood pass or one that gets cut out with obviously no chance of getting to its recipient. And since he’s usually box-to-box, he’s caught chasing back in the dangerous middle of the park. It’s not that he makes bad passes more than anyone else, they just seem to be more noticeable. That’s how it looks to me anyhow. He works his arse off, and is never afraid to make himself available and take on responsibility, and takes some chances… Read more »
I don’t think the risk reward ratio favors playing a high line w Mert. On the other hand versus teams that are dependent on set plays and humping it into the box or when we are going into the low block then the BFG is good to go.
That’s why you play a big fella like Per alongside Koz. Koz is there to clean that stuff up. He didn’t.
I think we’re reaching a (very dreaded) point where Koss the Boss is perhaps not the super sprinter (in Cback terms) that he used to be. That’s what I saw yesterday in the play that lead to their goal, the line was damn near level when the pass was made and yet Koscielny couldn’t get past Mert quick enough to make it a yellow and not a red. I hope it’s not true, but maybe at 30 he’s not quite so pacy anymore that he can bail out Mertesacker’s utter lack of pace. again, I hope it’s not true, I… Read more »
I thought Kos would 80% have got back and the ref and his two blindsmen did not take that into account when cunting us. The result was a shocker but overall we could still have won if Giroud had been left on. Strange, but maybe Arsene felt he was feeling that mysterious knock mentioned before the game on TV and wouldn’t be able to cope with all that extra running. Ozil wasn’t helped either by a couple of dreadful non fouls. On another tropic, are Burnley going to be road kill or do we have to sweat over another FA… Read more »
If you watch its because he moves up to try for offside that he can’t remake the ground. That in itself, with hindsight, was not a good decision.
I suspect that Kozza is suffering from too many games and possibly a recurrence of his hammy problem, otherwise he goes for it. I do not believe that this is the beginning of terminal decline for him…
The fuck is up with Flamini?
And why did wenger not play ElNenny, at least he’d not take his sorry arse up at the no.9 spot and try to score scintillating goals. It’s getting on my nerves, our midfield is like diabolically dismantled courtesy of that dumb flam FFS!!
He did knock Spurs out of the Milk Cup with a wonder strike and will save the world.
But why, oh why, could he not nudge home 1 home v the cunthooks. Costa us a lot that.
But merely a blip on the way to the title. We are Arsenal. Hmmmmm
That report and stats is pretty damning on Flamini. I remember it was soon after his NLD Double that many here were claiming “he’s not so bad” and “could do a job/is better than Arteta/better than what people give him credit for/is actually a good DM”. I wonder who has those thoughts now. What we can all agree on is that our current CM pairing doesn’t work. Some say Ramsey, others say Flamini. And based on the data, it kinda points to the latter. Would love 7am to post some qualitative images (heat maps, position relationship lines, etc.) so we… Read more »
For a different stat.
Arsenal are top of the fair play league and have only been given 3 red cards all season.
All 3 have come against Chelsea.
2 have come in incidents with Costa.
I’ll just put this here:
http://gph.is/1Umtu5R
This was quite interesting even though I didn’t feel like reading anything Arsenal. It sucks to lose to Chelsea( actually it more than sucks, it hurts like your Dad bangs your chic, it burns my soul) I said that before that I personally feel the team played well (having watched it again last night, Los Angeles pacific time)……. considering we play a compact passing game, Ramsey being all by himself and Flamini drifting forward a lot, will cause a lot of ill connected passes. No center forward will bring about lack of shots on target. I saw a slight improvement… Read more »
Sorry to say this but Walcott has had ten years and I think yesterday should have been his testimonial. He is never going to be a top quality stroker or winger and I think we need to buy a really good penetrative winger who can beat players and shoot etc. That bloke that played against us for Bayern would do.
I knew that Photo would be the cover of this article.
Priceless.
Quit the bashing, and move on to the next one.
COYG!
There are games where our team’s overall quality compensates for individual failings – this game was not one of them. We should have adjusted our line-up to factor in some of Chelsea’s strengths, and for all of Mertesacker’s tactical nous, his inability to dribble forwards and instead rely on his passing keeps us penned back (even when it works). And Flamini to some extent has the same problem as Mertesacker. We can’t carry two players in the spine of our team who can’t manipulate or dribble the ball effectively. And we definitely shouldn’t be trying that against Chelsea, who showed… Read more »
How you want to look at it. Flammini put in a shift covering 13.2km the most of any player. There was no dissconnect with Rammini rather with 10 men, we was always going to be stretched in the midfield. Ozil and Theo had to be more aware helping Rammini track Fabregas who had too much of a free role to roam. Remember, those simplistically saying Rammini isn’t good enough should remember the same pair took us through a high pressure game against Olympiakos and beat a much better City side. You can understand the tactical switch by Wenger in preference… Read more »
So flamini runs about like a headless chicken and manages to win only ONE TACKLE, misses 3 chances and that means he had a good game?? His job is to defend, not go all gung ho and be the furthest guy on the pitch.
That’s like praising oliver Giroud for Defending corners while missing chances. Flamini first job is to shield the back 4, not think he’s zlatan.
Rammini has been poor against high pressing team. Anyone with half a brain can see this. It’s a disjointed partnership and we’ve been barely scrapping wins with them.
Per should have more experience than that to not go diving in on Costa. Koscielny was caught ball watching and Per was beaten positionally but it was a way off goal and he needed to trust Cech to cover his angles, If he kept on Costa’s heels (Costa isn’t that quick) with Koscielny covering, we would have had a better chance than giving the C#nt the excuse to dive again. Those cirticising Per for ‘speed’ should do well to remember Gabriel was caught ball watching which ended up with the goal. Ref of course ruined the game but we made… Read more »
I think it’s fair to say flamini is ‘not so bad’ and that ‘he could do a job’ which is not to say he can do the job of covering the midfield by himself when Ramsey goes forward. Nor is he going to deliver the first touch and finishing of a top forward or attacking mid.
Thise limitations are why he is a backup. No ‘sure thing’ is going to want to be Coq’s backup. So we have to look afield for someone who wants to prove themselves in
I think a CleanShaved Ramsey can perform better than the current one with a beard/stubble.
If Diego Costa hadn’t cheated in both games it would have been an easy six points for us. He is the scum of the earth.
Thats so weird. Could have sworn that Ramsey had a bad game. My apologies to him for yelling at the screen!
By the way Costa is a c*nt
Seriously. Flamini sucks, y’all.
At least he looked like he really wanted to win, and he was giving it his all. It just happens that his ‘all’ isn’t quite good enough any more. Reckon we’ll demolish Southampton…
Not good enough is pretty much what matters. Hes a holding midfielder who wont hold who thinks hes a striker but cant shoot.
On the zoomed in slow motion i saw on German television you can see Costas foot reacting to the impact, so there was actually contact but its impossible to notice from the regular TV pictures or replays. They zoomed the picture and looped it in slow mo and you can see his foot getting caught. But he surely drama queened it though, But still not a ref in the world who would not give a red in that situation. Poor decision by Per, but kind of a doomed if you do damned if you dont moment. But in hindsight it… Read more »
There was a ref at the $iteh game that wouldn’t have given a red in that situation…… provided it wasn’t an Arsenal Player!
Let’s move forward. We have some new players, and some players coming back from injury. There are opportunities to rotate and for some new blood to step up. Here’s hoping they make the best of the opportunities!
I want the team to win the league and not go down in flames of psychological self and fan abuse. COYG!
I feel we needed a player like Cazorla. Whenever we had the ball in midfield, they pressed our player on the ball with 3 players. Sure that’s because they had the numerical advantage, but a player like Cazorla has the dribbling skills AND passing skills to get out of such a situation, or at least make their 3 men-pressing tactic riskier if it fails. In this kind of situation yesterday, all we did was back pass because it’s simply not part of Ramsey or Flamini’s game (and because Flamini is past it).
Flamini confused me. After Santi-Coq were both injured, pairing him with Ramsey seems like good choice in paper, but I thought both of them never really gel together. In several games (i.e. vs Liverpool away, Stoke away), Flamini was sitting very deep I thought he basically played CB. In contrary Ramsey was upfront most of the time like a tandem to Giroud. Reversely, sometimes Flamini was like in front all the time (i.e Sp*rs Capital One game, his brief appearance Everton home, Chelsea home). This imbalance the mids, as Ramsey is also mobile one. I’m afraid this open area to… Read more »
I bet the Koss jinxed it with that interview about being one of the best.
The old kiss of death routine.
Given Ramsey and Özil had no outlet during Theo’s nap, and crosses from our flanks were out of the question, one of Ramsey and Flamini had to take up the striker mantle next to Joel on the wing. It makes sense that Ramsey opted to sit deeper, as he has the better legs to cover defense and help Özil create chances for, well, Flamini… The key is that Ramsey usually plays for two in his box to box role and now had to play for three due to having no midfield partner.It was not pretty, but he got stuck in… Read more »
We play Southampton next in the league.
Ramsey will not get in their starting eleven.
We have accepted mediocrity at our beloved club and the Welsh man is as average as they come .
I appreciate the stats, but what’s the solution in the meantime re: midfield? I mean, the solution is obvious if Cazorla and Coquelin are healthy but what about now? Ramsey and Elneny? None of us know what Elneny can do. And where does Ramsey go when Cazorla and Coquelin come back? Wasn’t it at the beginning of the season when the talk was about how poor Ramsey was playing on the right because of his tendency to drift inside, thus cramming the middle of the pitch. I would love to know other people’s thoughts on who should be starting XI… Read more »
Excellent and 1000% relevant, Tim. BRAVO! BRAVISSIMO!!!
The mighty Gooners who have their rose tinted ‘Wenger can do no wrong’ specs superglued to their head need to stop blaming the vital players of this team like Ramsey. They need to knock firmly at the door of a manager that will once again give fuel to the dumbasses in the media to slaughtered us for yet another season without the premier league trophy.
Flamini has done well but we all know he is a place holder, most likely out of arsenal come next season…Ramsey on other hand wants to play centrally and his future is with the club and I think for this reason people are more frustrated with him for his lack of defensive discipline in a position he desires, Carzola is 31 btw…his numbers looks good but for a CAM, a position already covered by Ozil…the one game he played alongside Le Coq was disastrous and Wenger had to move Cazorla back in the 2nd half! Defenders and defensive minded players… Read more »
Ramsey is slowly becoming a marmite player. the goodwill from injury victim to slow burning all action player is wearing thin. I don’t think he is bad player. I just think he has created an image of player which is unsustainable. Because so much is expected of him his mistakes are magnified. Which is unfair. But then again, Hollywood passes, are his thing, so is making an over stylizing a trap like when he could have killed the ball with his first touch but instead tried to drag it back behind, good when it comes off instead the ball went… Read more »
I.m glad to see someone put up a defence for Ramsey, thank you. His 0.5 readers player rating really pissed me off bcos he worked ever so hard at both ends of the pitch. And as someone else pointed out, considering our nominal attacking options were the invisible Theo and Mesut then others had to take up the mantle
And as an aside, I think Kos has gone badly off form in the last few weeks. He looked like he was daydreaming when Mert got caught out
How can Ramsey be the best player on the day when Alexis changed the game? Thank goodness he’s back.
12 points John Terry estimated Petr Cech’s signing equated to.
6 points Costantics (Son of Lucifer) stole from us this season, which is
21% of Chelsea’s total points tally so far this season.
10 Clean sheets in 22 already kept by Cech, each worth 1.5 points (on average).
1 trophy won this season by any premier league team.
It’s a jinx alright.
No change, no chance.
No change, no chance.
No cha…
Bloggs – why are my comments always in moderation for so long? I try my hardest (albeit in vain at times) not to be a complete tool with what I say..
I don’t know 🙁
Playing with Walcott these days is like playing with 10 men so when Per went off 9 vs 11 was never going to end well. On the Ramsey debate,he does run around a lot but shows a complete lack of discipline and knowledge of the cm role,when he’s not scoring he becomes liability
People dont realize how much Bellerin’s speed and workrate covers up our midfields lack of positional awareness. Fact of the matter is Flamini is not good enough to be playing that role in a game of that magnitude, and he only pushed forward when we were chasing the game and the space was there. Arsenal Football Club should have a proper defensive midfielder at all times. Even if injuries take their toll, an able replacement should have been bought. If that replacement is Elnenny, then Elnenny should have played. If he is not up to that level, then he should… Read more »
These are important stats (P24, W15, D7, L2. But since March 2004, including that Champions League loss, these two teams have met 31 times (again, this is in all competitions) and Arsenal have only won FIVE. That complete record is, P31, W5, D8, L18.) I’ll add the fact that Arsenal have failed to score in their last 7 meetings against Chelsea home and away. Exclude the Charity shield, doesn’t count. Don’t agree with this tough “Arsenal simply fall to pieces when they face Chelsea and have done since April 2004.” 04/05 season Arsenal didn’t fall into pieces. We drew both… Read more »