Another game against Chelsea, another defeat, another red card, another day when we’d all like to go back in time and give Diego Costa a first class ticket for this fantastic new airship called The Hindenburg.
Here’s how the players rated.
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Monday, December 23, 2024
Absolutely gutted. 🙁
Yes and a great opportunity squandered. A few takes from me: 1. Not for the first time, we have seen that we can’t hold a high line with Per. This used to be the case in away games mostly but at home, against better opponents, he has been exposed too. The lead up to De Bruyne chance against City when Per was a clear example. 2. Flam was the worst player on the field. Exactly what he was doing in the box (even before the sending off) baffles me. Chelsea are having a terrible season but on no account are… Read more »
Firstly, the game was made difficult with the sending off. Per wasn’t beaten by pace. Instead he was foolish to attempt the tackle. Koscielny was caught ball watching when the pass was executed. Per should have enough experience to know what Costa would possibly do and let him run, trusting Cech to cover his ankles. He needed to just keep close on Costa’s heels, Costa isn’t the quickest either. Secondly again, plenty of knives out for Flammini. He covered the most distance when down to ten men running more than anyone-else at 13.2km. Yes midfield was stretched but that was… Read more »
Theo’s rating the most sarcastic of the year?
Was at the game and you must have been watching a different game to me. Ramsey other than the one great bit of skill to set up flamini was awful. The times he lost possession or was just to slow in playing the right pass. Still everyone knows you love him so not unexpected.
Nothing to do with ‘loving him’, just my opinion. And you’re perfectly entitled to yours.
Thanks, that’s why I gave it.
Agreed, Ramsey was pretty woeful. Walcott was worse !
Sarchy tw@
Except Bellerin,Sanchez and may be Ozil/Cambell everyone was poor.
They have yet to prove they are big game players.
Ramsey was the worst for me, not because of his lack of effort but lack of intelligence and adaptation when under pressure. He was taking ages to think where to pass.
Hopefully its a one off from him.
Also I personally think (without any rationale) that Gabriel should have started instead of Per.
Overall its just one game.
Wipe it off or wash it off (your choice) and flush it away.
I’m tempted to agree with blogs, but I may not have watched closely enough after the goal to have an informed opinion. Honestly, these Chelsea games feel like some maniacal form of torture, and next time this fixture comes up I may just punch myself in the dick five times and call it a day. Either way, I also love Ramsey and think he will contribute a lot once Coq comes back and Walcott is hopefully benched.
Given, that in my own life and Sunday football team, I am usually a bit of a Wilshere and cannot stay fit for an entire season (Knees, Hamstrings, Ankle – you name it) you would think I would have reserved attitude towards wishing harm on any player – I know first hand that the frustration of being unable to play can be truly devastating. You would THINK I would have that reservation… but for Diego Costa I am sorry (glad?) to say that it would please me more than a threesome with Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman if he had… Read more »
Ive got to be honest with you, I would totally take the threesome.
Do you miss Santi, no?
It’s a tough one with Ramsey. I think it’s also a problem with the partnership than him alone. The first counter by Chelsea, Willian had a clean run through our midfield. Sure Ramsey lost it but the whole set up was wrong, where was Flamini if Ramsey is already high up the pitch? After being down to 10 men I think Ramsey stepped up, winning tackles everywhere on the pitch and trying to make things happen (by the end of the match he was absolutely knackered, at least we should be grateful for the effort alone). But that was mostly… Read more »
Football is a game of small margins my friend. He may not have had the best game but Ramsey tried to make things happen. He lost the ball as much as any of our forward plays did today. No one is criticising Ozil for example yet he lost the ball resulting into several dangerous plays. I’d rather have our players try out things than stifle their creativity. Let’s not forget that each of them today worked hard to regain possession whenever it was turned over. Despite having a man advantage, Chelsea didn’t fashion any serious chances of note. On a… Read more »
I hope Barca come in with a £50 mil for Ramsey this summer and we take it and go out and buy 2 top MF. we will also throw in Theo to sweeten the deal for them. both these players have no idea what a first touch is and for their passing and decision making has to be the worst in the league. we ont win anything with the 2 of them starting every week
Aaron Ramsey again doing what he does best losing the ball high up the pitch for Mertesackers red card, but lets forget about that and let’s forget that’s it’s ultimately cost us the game.
Losing the ball high up the pitch happens when players try and make things happen – if you don’t try and make things happen you end up playing like van Gaal’s Man Utd.
For me the bigger issue is how easy it was for one ball to cut through our midfield. Like, I don’t think Willian would have been allowed make that pass if Coquelin was playing.
They cut through out midfield because Ramsey dived in playing about 10 yards further forward than he should have, allowing Willian 30-40 yards to run into. What was Ramsey doing that far up the pitch after 17 minutes? We didn’t need to chase the game, why leave the defence so exposed so early? That’s why we keep on getting beaten by the top teams because we’re far too open. Ramsey’s experienced enough now to know the difference and if he hasn’t learnt by now he never will. Defending isn’t optional for a central midfielder, it’s a basic and fundamental requirement,… Read more »
Why want Elneny playing? What’s the point of getting a destroyer if not to put him in the first team straight away? And Mertesacker has to go. He is not good enough to be captain, not good enough to be playing. Always costly errors against teams.
I think if you’re expecting Elneny to be a ‘destroyer’ You may be disappointed.
Beside that, I certainly wouldn’t throw him on for his first start after less than 2 weeks with the squad against Chelsea. Even this Chelsea.
Why did we get him then? According to Wenger we buy players only who improve the first team. Is he better than Flamini? If yes, why is he not starting? If not, why did we buy him?
Of course we bought him to improve the first team. But he’s been with the squad 2 weeks or less. You don’t throw in a player unfamiliar with the Premier League and the squad straight into the engine room (or what’s supposed to be the engine room anyway) against Chelsea. That’s suicidal.
Alexis back now- let’s move on lads.
Theo deserved at least 11
Sarcasm(Walcott) is the coward way to face reality, and that´s why England National Football team will never win anything. Start being toughly serious on your debilities and you´ll start lefting the looser side.
I actually thought we did pretty well 10 v 11 for 70 minutes. It was tought, but we stayed in the game and could have grabbed something. The dislike of Walcott is getting boring now, he often does things in big games for us, we all know what he can and cannot do!
Walcott is tiresome and continually disappointing. His one asset is his pace but with a lack of touch, dribbling skills, decision making or passing ability he seems to be a bystander in so many games. I would say deadweight.
We all know he can take chances but if that doesn’t fall to his feet, he doesn’t seem to offer anything else. Really disappointed in his last few games.
Although we lost, I thought we played really well and was nice to see the passion. Just a shame we got beaten by the chavs yet again.
🙁
It’s his lack of effort that annoys me. He doesn’t have to be the most tactically aware or have the best technique, but just fucking try!
I think the really important question here is as follows: Why is it, having been woeful up top in previous games, did Theo then play against United like he had been inseminated by alexis; put in a sensational performance, harry and chase everything, as well as terrorise their back four. Then, having received due and deserved praise, revert back to his default lethargic showings which have been nowhere near the level required by his pay packet? I’m fed up of watching the rest of the team carry him in most games. He contributes goals every now and again but just… Read more »
bizarre love in with ramsey, he was useless and never ever in the right position. poor pass after poor pass and generally shoddy decision making, ran around a lot though
AW rating: 3/10. Wrong decision to start PM (speed v costa), wrong decision to sub OG rather than TW (proven so by the fact he took him out anyway later). Look how we pressed towards the end – Giroud would have been perfect in that position. Seems AW got most wrong today.
It’s like the psychological hurdle to beat Chelsea is more with the manager than the players… 🙁
We can still do it!! COYG
At 0-0 it was completely the right decision to take giroud off on paper, even without the knowledge that he was carrying a knock.
Unfortunately we went 1-0 with pretty much the next kick of the game.
The plan to keep it at 0-0 and hit them
on the counter was right. Shame it lasted all of 30 seconds
Every player on the world would tackle like Mertesacker did, you have to react quick. Don’t blame him for our defeat today. And also he barely touched that scum Costa. Is any posibility costa gets a ban for diving? It was clear before the match that Flamini – Ramsey doesn’t work. Ramsey is useless. In the past he was at least running. But nowadays we get nothing from him. We are outplayed in the midfield for some games now. Flamini at least tried today. But the biggest credit for todays defeat takes Wenger imo. Giroud makes things happen in our… Read more »
Per should just let Costa through for one on one with Chech, if he scored, so be it….but at least we would still have 11 men on the pitch – had a better chance to equalize.
If Per had just let him through and he’d scored everyone would be having a go at him for being slow and wondering why he didn’t tackle him. “Why didn’t he take one for the team” and all. He made a split-second decision which didn’t come off, happens all the time. If anything Kos should’ve been covering for his defensive partner knowing he’d struggle for ace any day. Per is a top top defender who deserves more credit than he deserves. He’s one of the best readers of the game in the game currently.
The reason why Per did it was to deny Costa a clear goal-scoring chance. A pity we conceded almost immediately after, rendering his sacrifice worthless. That is the deeper issue haunting Arsenal over and over again – the question of mental strength. Another lamentable fact is how no one (not even Per) seemed to even raise a finger in protest against the ref’s decision – sure it won’t have changed his mind but there is always a slight chance a vigorous complaining ‘might’ have made it a yellow. Again, a basic lack of nous on the pitch. When will Arsenal… Read more »
Thought Cech’s action at the end of the game to get Kos back up onto his feet and stop him from doing a Gallas impression showed the sort of attitude Arsenal players often seem to lack.
Theo is…… man. Dude outside of the City goal has arguably been our worst player.
Flamini and Ramsey doesn’t work.
We all knew sooner or later, Per’s lack of pace would cost us.
And I do worry we may have burnt out Ozil.
Ozil is not burnt out just that his work rate is still but I would rather him on the pitch than Walcott what he lacks in work rate he makes up with creating chances and assists
I thought Cech’s action at the end of the game to get Kos back up onto his feet and stop him from doing a Gallas impression showed the sort of attitude Arsenal players often seem to lack.
Apologies for the duplicate posting – I didnt have my glasses on and thought Blogs had added a “Punch Costa” button where in fact it says “Post Comment”
Lols! I’ll do the same thing, who wouldn’t want to punch the “cheating-snake cunt?”
Sorry for the duplicate posting – I wasnt wearing my glasses and through the haze thought a new button had been added offering to “Punch Costa” instead of “Post Comment”
Apologies for the triplicate posting, I am formally requesting a ‘Punch Costa’ button.
Found it::
http://gph.is/1Umtu5R
Thanks for the great work you are doing blogs. I can imagine how painful it must be to write the match report after such a painful game and go on to rationally rate the players. Thanks mate and if you are ever in Bangkok, I will buy you a beer.
ok, but Flamini deserves at most a 3 just because he is Ozil’s best friend.
You’re welcome, thanks for reading. I’m sorry I contributed to our loss today by giving Ramsey a higher rating than some people think he deserved.
Even with 10 men on the pitch we were the better team. Chelsea won by cheating because that’s the only way they could beat us. Costa is a diving cunt and that’s what he’ll be remembered for.
Look that was a soft call on Mertesacker. The commentator even mentioned just the day before a similar play was only given a yellow. Such b******* on such an important game to put us down one man for 72 minutes. God how I hate Costa. Mertesacker didn’t even really hit him. He went under him and Costa then rolled around like he had been shot. Under the circumstances, I believe we played a good game. Really a soft call that changed the complete complexion of the game.
Mertesacker has lately been an accident waiting to happen. Red card? Of course. How would we have reacted had it been against the Arse?? Just stupid. And not excusable.
I agree with you both. It was a cunt dive- Costa wasn’t even interested in going 1v1 wig Cech, his only thought and goal for the day was to get us down to 10.
And although I wouldn’t say ‘Accident waiting to happen’ Mert made a rash, rash tackle he never should have done. Stay on his feet, footsteps hounding Costa, hope to force an error, force him wide, or slow him enoug for Kos to clean him out.
Our destiny is still in our own boots … somehow. With the returnees being like new signings, and own goal back from his Xmas break, we are ready to surge home and seal the deal.
Get ready to sweat tho cos it will go all the way to May in a wild dogfight with and versus the Mancs, Leicester and perhaps the cruelest/kindest cut of all, Spurs.
COYG! …
if we fuck it up, pse let Leicester win the thing. That would be gold.
Are we ignoring the first Flamini chance where he fell down trying to shoot? He looked like he’d never seen a soccer ball before. Generous rating IMO.
I know you guys call it a football but whatever. It might as well be a fucking banana when Flamini has it.
His 2 goals at The Lane makes your point irrelevant.
Calling it a ‘soccer’ ball made it irrelevant
RACIST
It’s a fair example to bring up, but wouldn’t his most recent performance be the most relevant?
Ramsey should a 2. Pointless player who would not look out of place in Tony Pulis west brom side.
Elneny should play with Coq. Can bear to see Ramsey start another game.
What the hell are you smoking?Remember his winning goal in the Cup Final?Bellend.
I believe you’ll find only about 1/3 of those on the Hindenburg died in the crash. If you have the power of time travel there are many doomed vessels to put Costa on with much better odds for his painful demise. Any suggestions? The greater chance of his suffering the better.
MV Doña Paz – collided with a petrol tanker carrying 8,800 barrels of gasoline on 20th December 1987, it caught fire and so did the shark infested water around the sinking ship. Of the 4,401 people on both ships, only 26 survived. 0.5% survival rate and a horrific way to go out.
I am genuinely patient with Aaron Ramsey. But I really hope he gets benched for a bit. I thought he was awful today and has been on a sustained run of iffy form, with the odd goal or assist covering up game after game of shoddy passing, zero common sense on positioning and a sense of losing the ball at any given second. I don’t know if it is partly done to Flamini who is clearly a limited player beside him or is it just that we now see Ramsey’s great 2013/2014 was a freak? He worries me as a… Read more »
Unless it’s a simple sideways ball it does seem a 50 50 bet that Rambo will give it away or get dispossessed at the moment. I swear in the last 20 minutes Alexis couldn’t be bothered to pass it to him. And you know somethings rotten when an obi fucking mikel shimmy puts you on your arse!
This attitude of ‘theo can play winger, flamini can play DM’ works against bad teams or half decent teams, but not for physical, high pressing teams like chelsh*t, soton, stoke, even spu*s . Flamini doesn’t deserve much stick because its not a lack of effort. His legs are slowly going, just like Arteta’s. We need a big physical DM presence to help retain the ball. How many times do you see people trying to press Wanyama or Yaya Toure to steal the ball?(I’m not calling them DM). There’s no point in it. Arsenal’s ball retention on the other hand is… Read more »
I totally agree. If you use Walcott as a CF against big and alow defenders, you can rest Giroud and have him fresh for defences that suit his style of play. Playing Walcott on the left was crazy and I can’t think why he did not take a CF position when Giroud went off.
Think what Walcott’s pace would do to Terry. It would stretch the play more on a 11v11 as the Chelsea defence would not push up.
We’ll see won’t we – if the Coq comes back alongside Rambo – then maybe you lot can all quit whinging about him. Rambo is quality, why do you think he used to get started on the right, when the other 3 right sided mids were fit. He’s on the team sheet before Theo and Ox for me. And JC is before those two. Wonder if Elneny will get a start against Burnley.. Playing him today would have been too high pressure, last thing you need is to risk screwing up his confidence from day 1. If we don’t think… Read more »
Rambo is quality?????. Please follow another sport.
He will not even get into the Spurs side presently. Dembele is a superior player.
The Welshman is lucky Wilshere can stay fit. Bang average player if ever I have seen one.
Arseblogs constant singling out of Walcott is a tad embarrassing. All his offsides were so close, split seconds. He laid one on a plate for Campbell. No one covered themselves in glory today apart from Sanchez maybe and fuck was it good to see him back. It’d be good to see some more objectivity, but then it’s a blog and it’s just an opinion, but it’s so predictable. Mertesacker lost that game for us, not Walcott. We were all over the show defensively and Theo was playing as a left winging striker more or less alone against a decent defence.… Read more »
bit like when he used to snipe at Joel Campbell.
Theo celebrated a decade with us, thought it was a bit strange i didnt see it mentioned by blogs but i think i get it now, he don’t rate him.
Y u no score m8.? Sounds a lot our pidgin. Lol…. how I missed Alexis 🙂
Walcott….
The only time you see genuine passion from him is during contract negotiations
I can forgive anything but lack of application I just don’t understand why he starts, let alone gets the armband he looks like he needs a massive boot up the arse
I guess we will play the next 3 EPL games with Gabriel.
I hope he proves himself.
I love BFG but I think it’s time to give Gabriel a chance and help him improve.
Coqzola is desperately missed in midfield. Flamsey is simply inept. Hope Sanzil will kick on from now
Mertesacker… not really on long enough to rate.
Ramsey is so inconsistent.
But, I suppose they all are they fucking cunts. Have to win the next two now. 2 points from a possible 9 plus a jammy win at home v Newcastle. Need a few players to step up now, and fast. January can fuck off.
Surprised Campbell only got 5, I thought he was our best attacking player today and was disappointed with him being subbed even more than Giroud.
Joel missed a sitter in the 3rd minute on his left foot, should have known it would all turn to shite after that. Clattenberg is a Spurs fan, obviously. Kos would have got back to at least challenge Costa cunt and it was a dive. Per should have know better tho, time for Gabriel to take his place. 3 Flamini chances, 3 cock ups … just flush the funny and move on. We are still going to win the league if Alexis stays fit, he was the one shining light fro that pile of cat poos. And lay of Rambo,… Read more »
I dont understand all the stick for ramsey here today… he played in midfield with flamini who offers absolutely nothing cant oass to him i cant be the only one who noticed 4 times where ramsey olayed the ball straight to his feet and he literally either jumoed out the way or just acted like he didnt see it… never have i ever seen a player so bad when the ball is played to him and he didnt even do the defensive job on fabregas today would love to see elneny and ramsey together feel like ramsey would be sooo… Read more »
Flamini is not the right for this team and all these recent games have shown why Ramsey is not a central midfield player we want. A basic requirement of the central mid is passing ability and range which is way Santi plays so well there. Secondly, he needs to be able to do Defensive work and work in tandem with his defensive midfielder. Ramsey looks like he has never seen flamini before and frankly I don’t remember a single time they have passed to each other. Third is positioning. Neither him or Flamini knows where to position themselves at any… Read more »
Totally agree, after 10 games or so together you would think that they would have a semblance of an understanding of each others games but they play like complete strangers. It displays a complete and utter lack of intelligence on both parties part and really can’t see what either of them add in the long term.
Did we watch the same match? Don’t know but what I saw was that a CB of the other team got a red in the beginning of the match and that team had a hard time scoring a goal with one man less, despite creating good opportunities. So the conclusion of this is that some players on the pitch were sh** and should be blamed for not winning while being one man down? don’t really get the logic behind this one…
Mertesacker rating – N/A. Not on long enough to rate.
wrong – he was on long enough to cost us the match. 0/10 imo. how does he let costa beat him like that after all the pre-game bullshit about mental strength and knowing how to win tough and per being a leader in the dressing room. he absolutely failed the team today.
We’ve come a long way with the same tired players and now we’re faltering, the defence looks jittery, this is the third game we’ve had no effective midfield, and the attack is unconvincing. Theo has been virtually invisible for a while now, Flamini and Ramsey are a disaster and Mesut should consider going back to his old boots because it isn’t often that his touch is so off. Add cheating, diving, disgusting Chel$ki to the mix and it was always going to be difficult. I think that madness from Per is a symptom of tired minds and trying too hard,… Read more »
Cech scoring a 95th minute equalizer would have been so, so delicious that I don’t know how it didn’t happen.
A number of players not at the races today but ffs Per, we know your slow…. but we expect you to be sensible at least
One postive is that as soon as Alexis came on his explosive running and workrate really actually looked like they might make something happen. Delighted hes back because we’ve been a bit ropey since City and that kind of positivity will really help.
Nice to see Alexis back, but to this team it will make no difference. They’ll perform as awful as today again. Southampton away and now 3 games in a row without a win and amateurish performances…we’ll finish below Sp*rs and probably another 4 or 5 teams.
Is January Arsenal’s new November?
How does the Ox not get a rating?
Played more minutes than Mertesacker and did more in that time than £140k a week.
Still nauseous. They played us like a fiddle yet again. Losing 0-1 to them is worse than losing 0-4 to Southampton. I’m seriously borderline in tears.
We miss you, Santi 🙁
Agree. With Özil nowhere no creativity anywhere. But it doesn’t really matter, we’re fucked now losing at home to a bottom team thanks to Wenger – again – choosing to play a snail at the back. Mertesacker has been really bad for a few games and shouldn’t have been playing. A disaster waiting to happen.
I said before the game, gab for per, Theo for Sanchez and at least elenny for flam. Wenger too loyal for some players!!! Keep things fresh its a long hard season.
You’re talking about 2016/17, right?? This season is done…
Sorry, but this Arsenal side is overrated. Too many players are just not good enough and have been over indulged by Wenger for too longer. Walcott, The Ox, Flamini Mertesacker, Giroud should not be in our starting eleven and the our 3 world class players can not carry the rest of the team. Two points from nine is poor and not the form of potential champions.
Pretty much agree with every opinion there Jimbo.
Wenger is just too ‘nice’ to certain players.
I do wonder what Giroud will make of things now though. No proper football team takes off their only real striker. That one decision sums up how Wenger really feels about him.
Was unable to watch the game and was planning to download it after for a post-watch. Definitely not doing it now. 100 to 0 real quick.
All those people slagging off players have to realise, that they have played pretty much every game for the past 3 months. We can’t drop Ramsey, as there’s no one to drop him for. The only player we can swap with Theo is the Ox, the one player whose form is even further down the toilet. Who do we rotate Flamini for? Arteta’s hardly covered himself in glory the past few times he’s been on the pitch. You could argue it’s our age-old problem with injuries, or a lack of recruitment. Hopefully, it looks like some of the injured players… Read more »
Sign somme players who can stay on their feet…without getting sent off.
It amazes me the negativity towards Ramsey……………. Has he played in midfield this season yet with Coquelin for example? With Ozil central and perhaps with a functioning winger on both sides. While Flamini has been in the “holding” role, and Walcott misfiring on the wings, not to mention the Ox being deployed in various roles about the park, he has kept going, that box to box operation, where I suggest lesser players would be overrun. Like it or not , when Coq returns, Ramsey will maintain his present position, and then judge away people, judge away. If it then turns… Read more »
He played against West Ham alone side Coquina and was shit then as well. We’ve seen enough of him to know he’s not good enough to win the league.
Obviously it’s not Ramsey, it’s a team problem. Or rather, a managerial problem.
You know i said after the Liverpool game and none of you agreed with me but i said it anyway it was a terrible result it showed such weakness… a liverpool side full of injuries always mid table and we couldnt beat them we started off nervous didnt go in to kill…. we should of hammered them we should of smelled blood and went for the jugular and it was the same today… we started poorly didnt go in with that wining mentality not taking advantage of chelseas poor form… we have to start taking advantage of these teams look… Read more »
Dropping points at Liverpool like Arsenal did is the mark of losers not champions. Pathetic.
Your right but whats more disappointing is it showed we were weak and how Mertesacker after the game said it was a good point, a good point? Can you imagine the great Arsenal Captains of old such as Tony Adams making a statement like that when playing a mid table team with the most injuries in the league when we are chasing a title… this Arsenal side doesnt have the leadership or the mentality they simply dont have it!
Time to get pissed now and play angry for the rest of the year. Let’s win this damn thing. If we can stay healthy and get our injured players back it can happen.
Can’t knock the effort after conceding the goal but upto then wasn’t really good enough. The most Arsenal of Arsenal performances today for me. Shot ourselves in the foot as only we seem to do in these games. I thought the next 3 games (in early Jan) would tell me where we were at and 2 points from 9 does not instil me with a great deal of confidence. Ok, players out haven’t helped but the last minute goal v Liverpool and general performance against quite a poor side plus today leaves me feeling very unsure re our title chances.… Read more »
Respect hugely arseblog view and player ratings but – “Ramsey up for it” is a joke.
Ramsey is incompetent and continually putting other players under unnecessary pressure by trying to be flash when simple will do
I think the hate towards Theo has been ridiculously harsh. We were down to 10 men ffs! No player stood out, with 11 who’s to say he wouldn’t have scored a tap in or a worldy from a quick break. No one will know because the ref fucked the whole game up for us. Yes technically it was a red but the ref can use his own discretion. We see it time and again where challenges that could or would be deemed a red if committed later in a game are dealt with discretely to keep a game flowing and… Read more »
No way block on Fabregas is penalty. Kos has just stood his ground.
dziady , łamagi , łajzy – ja bym lepiej zagrał … champions ? we must be joking !