As is the Arsenal way we do make life difficult for ourselves. Twice we opened up a two goal lead, twice we let Swansea back into it. Granit Xhaka’s red card caused us more problems, but a 3-2 win was probably deserved on the balance of things.
And even if it wasn’t, who gives a fish’s tit? Here’s how the players rated.
If we judge based on “what the players have achieved”, I would give Xhaka a 3 and Theo a 9.
Xhaka’s performance was obviously food for thought for the many who think he should permanently bench Coq. He nearly cost us points. And his kicking of Barrow might be indicative of lack of pace. Bellerin could have caught up with him.
How many players have the pace of Bellerin? I doubt there are many. Xhaka is not employed for his speed, he’s there as a strong physical presence who can pass like a demon, occasionally score with his cannon of a left foot and he does it well. And that Barrow lad looked like he has some serious pace to offer himself. Not least evident by him running our defence ragged at times. Xhaka did what he felt he had to do when he fouled him. We’ll never know but he may have saved us from a draw and even a… Read more »
Rating Xhaka low based on his foul for the red card is a bit unfair. Chelsea players made an art form of doing exactly what he did, and closer to their own goal and the middle of the pitch too, and I don’t remember seeing a red produced like that. I think we’re all agreed that the red was harsh, and if he had been given a yellow as we expected then we’d be praising his act for possibly saving us two points. The ref should be getting the down-vote.
should have been a lot more comfortable than it turned out to be but in the end we hung on to get the all important 3 points, on to the next! Well done to Theo…again!
Jon Moss is a fat cunt who should be axed from the Premier League. Fucking disaster of a referee.
How about a bonus 0/10 for the linesman who got about 3 offside decisions so very very wrong?
Arsenal are clearly too fast for him.
Six wins in a row is a great achievement, fighting back to joint top after a dodgy opening day.
I’m not about to start complaining that it was a hard one it we made it too hard for ourselves. I’m taking that with both hands!
I wudnt agree with you comment about iwobi, he used to be defensively liable but he has gotten much better, there was almost zero threat from barrow in the 1st half, the iwobi got tired wch is expected due to the international break, monreal cudnt hold barrow and swansea scored and iwobi was substitutued, and after then barrow came to live, monreal was poor…he has been all season…give gibbs a chance
Iwobi got tired from the international break? His game for Nigeria was on Sunday, a full week to the Swansea game.
generous Xhaka rating
He mad one mistake… the ref made the other. Never a red card in a million years…
Walcott did not exactly blast over at the end, it deflected off the corner of the goal post, just.
True, he should have scored both but at the same time he was really unlucky with them too. 2 goals and hit the woodwork twice, stunning performance from him and it’s really put that England nonsense to bed. A very big difference between playing with Ozil, Sanchez, Iwobi, Cazorla and “playing” with Alli, Lingard, Henderson, Rooney!
i don’t know whether i should feel happy for theo scoring 2 or sad for him missing 3
Happy. Always happy when we win.
Coquelin just fits into the team’s setup. I thought Cazorla had too many wayward passes today. Some of the counter attacks went begging when some of our players took a second too long on the ball or opted for the wrong pass e.g. a ground pass instead of a ball over the top of their defense. Monreal got a bit exposed but I thought it would have done us some good if someone kicked Barrows out of the game, and although Xhaka got sent off for his troubles, he did exactly that. Walcott, well done next time we will get… Read more »
Subs did well. Seems to me Ox is in remission + coq looks like a starter over xhaka, for now at least. I wonder if he doesn’t add some snap to our passing too. It isn’t flashy but it’s quick, and we’ve looked a little too ponderous going up the pitch with Xhaka in that position. Here’s to those three points though. A good day all in all.
One bad move for KOSTAFI (their 2nd), otherwise impressed with some brilliant combinations to deny swans. Couldn’t do alot with the first, but the partnership is developing with each game. Could yet turn out into a legendary defensive pairing! I love Özil/Alexis understanding too. Too much similarity in Özil’s goal vs Chelsea and today’s! In my opinion Giroud has to be at his best best if he has to get back into this team.
Had a son born early this morning on Mesut’s birthday and we win, and City and Tots don’t! Glorious day! not a coincidence.
Congratulations
That kid will just be glorious to follow through life! Welcome dear boy!
So you have to call him Theo
Congratulations!
It will not be a coincidence when I get hold of the Spurs fans that sneak in here to thumbs-down every comment.
Hard fought win. But we got 3 points
Good result, which is all that matters. We could have used Mertersacker’s height and leadership today, especially after going down to 10 men and having to set up in our own half. Happy with the win though.
I think Xhaka took one for the team. Barrow was slaughtering us down the right, and his (xhaka) kick on him led to his (Barrow) substitution which to me secured the three points for us.
Well said Jeff.
Up the Arse.
Ox and Gibbs did really well when they come on to see out the game, I’d have given Ozil and Theo an extra .5 as well for their contribution! A little harsh on Iwobi I thought though. I’ve said for a while he needs to replicate Walcott’s workrate, and certainly Bellerin gets a lot more protection than Monreal at the moment. But It’s not like Monreal was constantly in 2-on-1 situations, he was just losing his duels with Barrow. Nacho has been blowing hot and cold for a while now and I feel this may be the time to give… Read more »
“needs to replicate Walcott’s workrate”! Nice to have a comment like that on here.
Cech – 6.5 – could do nothing for both the goals. some distribution was poor. Bellerin – 7 – Had some good freedom down the right. Walcott and he have formed good partnership. Should have scored or assisted. Mustafi -6.5 – should have marked for second goal. He is very vocal and tries to go forward. That hand to apologize kosc shows he accepts mistake. Koscielny – 7 – had decent game, looked tired, need a breather for champions league match. Monreal – 6 – should have covered their player, but he received little help from iwobi. he also went… Read more »
Pretty happy we won but the 2nd goal that we conceded was terrible. Both Cazorla and Monreal were on him and they still let him cross the ball. Time to give Gibbs a chance to play?
Xhaka needs to feel welcomed to Arsenal, and it is our job as fans, our responsibility to do something, anything to help him settle. Time to get louder at Emirates in a positive way.
COYG!!!
My heart. Thank you for the 3points. It was just a bad day for Xhaka. I hope he learns from it. Great day for Theo. I wish he had a hatric but good game from him. Ozil’s goal was just delicious.
Clearly the better team but lacking in absolute sharpness. But believe we had more players away on international duty so not surprising? Red card harsh and feel ref was far too lenient with them also. Should have won that 5-2 (Theo has to score both those) but also gave up a couple of great headed chances when down to 10 men. Think Monreal will be lucky to stay first choice too if he puts in another defensive display like that. Really like him but has been roasted in a few games for pace this season thus far and certainly wasn’t… Read more »
A bit harsh on Santi – I felt he totally ran the game for the first 30+ minutes …
Something tells me some Arsenal fans, the same ones adamant that he should start and (rightfully) praising his performances up until today are gonna be quick to turn on him.
I’m already seeing signs of people apparently blaming him for our passing being “ponderous” (hey, maybe it’s him or maybe our midfield lacks a bit of energy due to sheer fatigue maybe?) and that Coq is a better fit.
Maybe there’s truth in that. Maybe Xhaka works beer with Elneny or Ramsey rather than Santi. Either way, too damn soon to start turning on the fella.
Better*. Stupid phone.
Alexis assisting and Özil scoring. Have they switched bodies?
Who is Jamie Vardy? Walcott for Engaland.:D He could have had 5 goals today. We would have been a man down and 5 goals to the good had Walcott been more clinical. 😉 Which is why it’s not a zero sum game about whether Alexis is better than Giroud. We need all of them to be good. We need to shoe in Lucas at some point, we will need Giroud for different circumstances, we will see Alexis fire in one day and Theo the next (or hopefully both) And Ozil too. Similarly in midfield, it has never been about Coquelin… Read more »
What’s with the Barrow booeing? Gooners are better than that.
True. He had a great game. But made the most out of that foul.
Barrow went off legitimately limping and we booed him. Xhaka’s challenge was poor.
Were we expected to cheer him? The booing was meant to affect him psychologically.
Bradley just needed a dark knit hat to finish that outfit. Maybe a mask as well.
I think that if Arsene had one regret it was not bringing on Coquelin at 3-1.
You were a little hard on Cech. I remember a couple of good saves that save our bacon.
Bob “Suitcase” Bradley definitely deserves the 0/10.
Just to continue to celebrate Mesut on his birthday. Here is an awesome video. My legs turned to Jelly when I saw Bob Pires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azdq8-FEKx4
Did you seehe gesturing “fight!” to his teammates, when he was substituted? A bit of nice surprise for me to see how passionate he was.
Would like to see some more of Elneny now that Xkaha should be out for a few matches.
Prefer ospina to cheq
Last season, after the red card, we would have conceded one goal and got a draw. Two and three years ago we would have lost.
Now we win.
This could really be our season!
COYG.
Ummm, 0/10 for Bradley is a bit harsh. His touchline attire today was him dressed up for the occasion. For context, during his US national team days he’s been referred to as “coach sweats” from time to time…
Mustafi will one day captain The Arsenal – wanna bet? (:
Iwobi should try to press more rather than the defensive runs with no actual defending.
Get Ramsey back asap…
I felt coq was little high up the pitchallenge when xhaka tackle happened. On today he was surely brought to shore things up and especially cover monreal
So #Arsenal make a #hash of what should have been an easy game to win. Hmmm… In other news, grass is green and the sky is blue.
As a long time Bradley observer I can tell you those were his good clothes. I cannot recall ever seeing him in anything but sweats. Not sure he owns a suit
I would like Wenger to refresh the team for the CL clash in the midweek. He needs to start Gibbs, Holding maybe in place of Kos, Granit since he will be suspended and am sure he will want to prove that was an accident, Ox and Perez. I think thats one of the main purpose of having a large squad
Granit is not suspended for the CL match. He is suspended for the league matches against Middlesbrough and Sunderland, and the EFL Cup match against Reading. League suspensions don’t apply in CL matches.
I was very happy with that win. We always struggle after the international matches and were up against a team that not only had a new manager to impress but always seem to get a good result at The Emirates. We had some difficult moments to overcome to which I thought our responses were excellent! We also dug in for the last 25 minutes with ten men.
On to Wednesday!!!
Swansea tried to rob us off the win. Maybe that was why Bradley dressed like a burglar..
We looked concerning in the middle of defence at times, some poor marking and aerial challening. I’ve been fairly impressed with Mustafi to date, but not so much in this game. I’d give him a 5
Why do we always make such a meal of games with Swansea? This had dropped points written all over it. Holding on at the end barely is huge but I do think we are riding our luck at the moment and we better learn from it.
We started showboating after going up 2 – 0
Instead of making the simple play.. and they made us pay.
It’s strange that Alexis never seems to be in the box but Theo is. I Wonder if that’s intentional? Fair play to Theo for being in the right position.
Walcott’s last miss did glance the crossbar. Doesn’t make his miss any less frustrating…just wanted to point it out.
Also, if you look carefully at the replay, you’ll see that the ball bobbled a bit just before Theo made contact. He was very unlucky there.
If we can maintain our form right to the end we will surely win it this season.