Although maybe it didn’t quite feel like it until we scored, Arsenal didn’t play that badly against West Brom today.
The breakthrough was hard to come by in the 1-0 win, but we completely dominated the game from start to finish and had to deal with a goalkeeper in outstanding form.
Here’s how the players rated today.
Bonus rating: 10/10 for that one fan who kept screaming through out the second half
10/10 for sending Pulis, the cunt, back to Birmingham with zero fucking points.
The only thing I will say to critique Girouds performance today, is that he didn’t run past Pulis during his celebration and slap that fucking cap right off his head.
For what it’s worth, this comes close (from The Guardian):
> “He put his hand across him early and outmuscled him,” said the West Brom manager, Tony Pulis, almost in admiration. “I think if Gareth takes a step forward, then he stops Giroud pinning him. Once he pinned him he is so strong and overpowers him. I’ve got no complaints.”
I think having Giroud outmuscle and outsmart (hahaha) one of Pulis’s defenders to the point where his manager can’t even whine about it is a much more poetic way of smacking the cap off his repulsive head!
Finally, Ozil found his long lost target man
Great game overall. A few seasons back we would have lost that.
Iwobi was nice today..
Xhaka is the man.
Did anyone else watch his long balls from to the front. Pleasure to watch.
Cannot wait for him to pair up with Santi. It will be probably Arsenal have ever had in last few seasons.
And I do think, Perez deserves a go too.
10/10 for the fans who kept the Ozil anthem alive. In the end, he provided for the goal.
Just relieved, lets build on this
A walcott-less Arsenal is always more effective.
false gooner.
True idiot.
In fact, Walcott’s absence removed one of the most effective one-two options (Theo and Bellerin; Theo and Alexis) that might have broken through Albion’s 4-5-1 (and often 6-3-1) a bit earlier. Think of all those times when Hector almost, but not quite, got a good shot away after getting into the box, and picture at least one of the defenders who swarmed him, maybe two, trying to follow Walcott’s run instead.
Good performance overall but a bit worrying it took us so long to open them up. Foster was in incredible form but I also feel we lacked movement and penetration for a lot of the game. Improved a lot when Perez and Ramsey came on and could be a shout to start at least one of them next game. Fantastic goal by Giroud too. I feel that we’re much more fluid and unpredictable with Sanchez up top but the goal won’t do Giroud a lot of harm at all, he deserved it
I think it was always going to be about grinding out a win today after the last couple of results. Good to get back to winning ways. Up the arse.
Iwobi is not yet at the desired level or consistency to start for us and he’s hit a bit of a wall.
With Oxlade seemingly never fit, ideally Perez can stake a claim.
Teams like west brom will always sit back with 2banks.Its up to us to get in behind!!! When this is the case,we need better in game managment…get it wide!!! We have the players to do it,reacting to negative tactics is too slow!!! COYG!!!!
It’s interesting how much results shape player ratings. My guess is that if Giroud’s header had been a few inches the wrong side of the post, there would be a lot of 5s and 6s out there.
Not a critique, just an observation / speculation.
Do you mean to tell me that when strikers score, they get better ratings than when they miss?
Whoa. My whole world has just been rocked.
I wasn’t talking about 5s and 6s for Giroud, but for the rest of the team.
Oh, well, ok then.
I will now look down at my phone, pretend like something urgent has just come up, and hightail it out the door.
Whatever else you can say about Giroud there’s no denying he is one tough bastard.
Hmm I dunno, there’s a plausible critique that he spends too much time on amateur dramatics (lots of anguished poses and punching of the ground), and that he sometimes gets bullied by centre halves (for a guy his size).
But yes, he used his strength well for the header.
I should add that he is mentally very strong. Perhaps that was your point.
Giroud doesn’t get bullied by CB’s or any other players, he gets fouled a lot. Great 3 points, we needed it. However, I still don’t like the balance of the team! Lucas and Ramsey offer direct attack and smart movement and goals respectively. But they require others to cover them defensively. Gibbs, Ox, Theo and Ramsey need to stay fit and repay the Manager’s faith in them. they get injured and miss way too many matches for a supposedly title contenders. PC needs to read the corners and crosses better and come out for them! Help your defense and Ozil’s… Read more »
By mentioning “amateur dramatics” and body language rather than how someone plays you sound like a commentator. maybe you should get a job on BT, no qualifications needed.
I like Giroud, but he plays with half an eye on the cameras. He’s not alone amongst our players in doing so. If you don’t think that’s an issue, fair enough.
Although Perez is not the best passer on the team sheet I think he contributes a lot with his movement and positioning. I would like to see him from the start in the PL. Then we will know more surely. Gibbs made himself in such good positions but why he never crossed the ball, he always cut inside. He was also weak link at the back. With Nacho I think we were more solid. Maybe Gibbs looks more flashy and that but we get more out of Nacho. I liked him since his arrival and consider him as one of… Read more »
Thing is, I was begging for Lucas to come on for Giroud from half-time. Shows how much I know. Our Olivier is a conundrum; not agile, often slows down the attack; but he does score important goals. One every 85 mins this season so far, better than any other Gunner. Walcott takes 137 mins, Alexis 145 mins for each goal. Only Lucas comes close (1 every 96 mins).
Based on a back of the envelope calculation, Giroud averages a goal every ~ 120 mins since summer 2014. This is equivalent to Henry’s career stats at Arsenal. Not too shabby!
Giroud should never be taken off, there is always a chance he’ll score, or assist or contribute to a goal or prevent one with his defensive skills!
Liked the fact that we kept the ball and possession, it was a long time ago we dominated a game like this. Ozil in a deeper role was nice to see, same with Alexis (allthough he is effective as a striker too). West brom are tough to break down, especially whenthey come to a game to get a 0-0 like today. Giroud up top is definitely a strategy we can use when we want to keep the ball. Thought Ramsey and Perez looked good after coming in, Ramsey should maybe have scored at least once but played well otherwise. Not… Read more »
A bit unfair on Coquelin. Watch how many times he won the ball back inside the final third of the pitch. Almost every time WBA tried to play themselves out he would intercept or crunch in a tackle and get it back. As a result they just lumped it forward and Kos and Gabriel collected because they were two on one against Rondon. The impact of this was that Gibbs and Bellerin could be much further up the pitch creating width.
Sometimes there is more to what a player contributes than defense splitting passes or 50 yard glory balls.
You are ? right.
Coquelin was immense, he did his role as well as any player could have done. He was our best player, which is hard to admit when you’re playing a 10 men behind the ball team at home.
I also thought Iwobi was one of our better attacking players, at the point at which he came off he had contributed more than Ozil but I guess a player of Ozil’s talent can set up a goal at anytime.
What Chris66 said. Coq kept them bottled up in their own half and allowed us to dominate the ball as a result. Because of the way they defended, Somme like, with two rows of trenches and their striker often getting involved defensively. We needed to be careful with our passing. Coq was, admittedly, extremely risk averse yesterday, as was everyone else. Ta da! Clean sheet. Yesterday the handbrake was part of the strategy. Consider this: in prior seasons we would have lost that game 0-1 because we took chances with the ball, lost it and got counterattacked with 8 men… Read more »
Really happy AW played Giroud up front
today. Really believe he needs to play up front whenever we play a team that is going to sit back, park the bus and just wait for a chance to counter. His headers are great and we won’t be able to run in behind the defense anyway if the opposition is just going to sit deep. Good combination up front with Alexis on the wing with Giroud except I would have liked to see Perez from the start instead of Iwobi.
Someone should explain to the guys on Arsenal Fan TV that we won.
I’m not doing it.
I’m busy
Would have rated Cech lower as he flapped on a corner that Yacob then kicked over the bar from in close; a big let off. And I don’t understand why AW went with two holding midfielders when he had to know that Pubis would shut up shop from the off. Would have preferred Ramsey instead of Xhaka as Baggies offered no offensive threat. Finally, thought the rating for Iwobi was too high. Lucas Perez should have started instead, as this is the type of match where someone with his nose for positioning within the box would be ideal to nick… Read more »
Ramsey was just back from injury
Not sure he was ready to go 90 minutes in the middle of the park against a pulis side.
I was actually a bit surprised at how negatively West Brom played–maybe I’m the only one. They’ve scored a lot more this year, had few clean sheets, and been rewarded with their best results in decades. I think, in fact, at least one other person may have been surprised: Arsene Wenger, who thought he was going to get a game of football from Tony Pulis at last.
For me Ozil’s lacking on physical condition, necesary to win some challeges. Otoh, he could confront more often defenders to provoke more fauls in Arsenal favour.
Just to dispel the myth that some hold against him, Ozil has provided more assists (at 36) per first 100 games than anyone-else in history of the PL bar Cantona (at 39) That’s more than Fabregas or Bergkamp. He is also one of the players who covers the most distance for our team. Where there may be some criticism levelled at him is work rate when we do not enjoy enough possession. But I think too many get a little carried away with their criticism of Mesut….likely as per usual ‘media’ influenced. Its the same with Giroud who has been… Read more »
Giroud certainly is a gal scorer.
I wonder if his post-coital celebrations are as emphatic and boisterous as they are on the pitch?
One would hope so. They should be!
Can’t dispel facts. However I do think the only glaring issue with both Giroud and Ozil is when they are not effective, they really are not effective. Ozil can’t handle being tightly pressed, you put a good man marker on him and Ozil will go missing for large parts. I also believe this even more glaring when Santi’s out injured because that means we have even less midfield possession and Ozil can’t keep the ball in dangerous areas. Giroud can’t do much against a good team playing a high line. Sadly all these attributes that they struggle to play against… Read more »
Certainly don’t want to bash Walcott, but this is exactly the type of game where we benefit from a more static Giroud up top with Sanchez being more active in the midfield vs up top and a player like Iwobi on the wing in place of Walcott that can work the possession more when a team sits as deep as West Brom did. Those are the games that Walcott’s best attributes are taken away and one where Giroud’s are more valuable. Wenger certainly has plenty of options now during the busy run to rotate and play a lineup best suited… Read more »
Chamakh obviously you do not know the worth of arsenal only true defensive midfielder and apparently only identify with the attacking input of various players, but we can not all be stars that hugs the limelight.
Good game and good team selections
As some have already mentioned here, plenty of misperception on GIroud. Per minutes played, he is one of the most effective goalscorers in any Wenger team. Also big up to Ozil. He works harder than many deem him to. Where he struggles is when we are up against it with a game that we face less possession with. But today he came up with the decisive assist which was NOT from the flanks crossing into congestions but angled in from the diagonal. Wenger did well today I thought. Iwobi is tidy and does not give us possession easily. So we… Read more »
Perez gave it away a couple times yes but on other occasions he was very tidy plus that ball in that should have been a goal was a cracker.
I would love to see him start along side Giroud, I reckon they’d work well together.
Anyway, a good grinding win, it was always going to be tough and it’s a vital 3 points, now to just win the next five!
Ramsey, one on one with the goal keeper, every option available, decides to execute his favorite move- go backwards!!
Really don’t understand why there are a lot of people very displeased with the performance. We absolutely dominated the game against a very good defensive side. Just because there was only one goal in it doesn’t mean we were shit – Chelsea had to rely on McCauley’s fuck up to score and they were praised.
Agreed, it was always going to be a tough one, I’m happy!
It’s games like these, against sides like this, that we miss Santi and Theo. No denying that.
Theo? Santi definitely because of his ability to play in tight spaces. Theo to me seems more effective against teams that attack and leave space behind for him to run into
Nah I would say we miss Theo on games like this and Perez’ introduction shows why. Against a team as compact as West Brom, off the ball movement is even more important and when Perez came on his movement created space for himself and teammates where there was none before. Walcott does the same when he plays, and especially alongside Sanchez
With the benefit of a smug 3 points I thought we were good value – some excellent passing – a few fast drives – any other day 3-0 and highly satisfactory
Mr Wenger never really gets the credit that is deserving of how he sets up the team. Wenger’s always critiqued by his lack of adaptability. But in this particular fixture he had the foresight to combat a resolute and physical backline by entrusting the no 9 role to Giroud. It was a strategy which ultimately was effective and Wenger should be credited with this win and getting us back into winning ways.
Ramsey : once denied by foster, once denied by hollywood personality.
Should have made the easy pass to Giroud. Then later should have passed to Ozil. Check out the reaction of both GIroud and Ozil when Ramsey made the wrong choices.
Apart from the 3 points, very content on seeing their time wasting tactics go to shite with Giroud nodding one in at the 86th min!
3pts is all that matters today. Regardless of what Chelski or the others do, we must get 18 pts from these next 6 game. We got the 1st 3 today, just. But a win is a win. Hopefully the confidence comes back after the two recent defeats. I would like to see Lucas get a run of games but happy that Arsene switched it up a bit more than usual today. Please continue to do so Boss. We have the squad to successfully rotate and keep guys fresh and on their toes if they are not performing to the required… Read more »
P.S. Perez should be replace Iwobi. Enough!
What the hell chelsea? Please loose a few matches for crying out loud.
What the hell chelsea? Please lose a few matches for crying out loud.
Why did it take so long for the referee to book Foster for time wasting? There was a point he had the ball in his hands for around 14 seconds… That’s a bit ridiculous if you ask me. The rule is 6 seconds and they should stick to it. Referee should be doing his bloody job properly, and the officials should be warning the ref of this. He broke the 6 second rule multiple times, it was infuriating.
It wa a well earned, hard fought 3 points, which from the 2nd half was also a lot better than actually seemed when watching from the stands. We could have actually ended up winning 3 or 4 nil if not for some great saves from the time waster in goal. I do want to make a point about the crowd however (not on ‘player ratings’ subject matter I know but hey ho). The Emirates was the worst I have heard it, or rather not during that first half. Now I go and get involved and try and raise some atmosphere… Read more »
You meant hairs standing up on back of neck.
Comment: admittedly a trip to west Brom is hard… but this is the kind of games that could have gone either way given westbrom’s threat from set pieces.. a good game but perhaps we left it too late.. again.. a trip to westbrom is hard… but when you drop six points from winning positions back to back and go 9 points behind a good Chelsea side you kinda don’t know what’s next. a slim win today but what about the next game? more importantly what about the next game against a top team Giroud had a job to do.. he… Read more »
When teams come to visit emirates, pretty much i know they gonna park their magic school bus for a precious 1 point… this has been proven seasons after seasons and we know there will be games where we choked and the goalkeeper went into savior mode and attain godlike status after the trip to emirates… Last night arsenal was notably conservative than usual… Against the WBA bus, Arsenal played SO SO narrow against 10 bodies behind the ball which is so slow and predictable. Only till the last 10 min then Wenger was then willing to take the risk. Just… Read more »
However frustrating they are, keeping Ozil and Giroud on till the end of the game always results in a goal.
Ramsey continues to waste chances. Nowhere near the potential he promised 2 seasons back.
Tidy job by the defence and Coq.
Honestly miss Santi in games like these. But Xhaka and Santi would be a real treat in the future.
Need a solid 15 points in the next 5-6 games though to get anywhere near the top 2 spots
It’s so frustrating to see Giroud start but not get any service. Its.obvious that wenger Instruct winger to cut inside rather that go to the he byline and get crosses in. If we.play Giroud you have to get him service. Especially against an opponent where you know you’ll get possession back. I thought Perez got some good crosses in. Iwobi had some good stuff but nothing really came off. We need to change tactic if we change the team. Bottom line this was.a.boring as he’ll match where we caused very few problems. It’s one thing to be patient but you… Read more »