A Lucas Perez hat-trick went a long way to firing us to a 4-1 win over Basel, and to the top of Group A.
Here’s how the players rated.
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Monday, December 23, 2024
A Lucas Perez hat-trick went a long way to firing us to a 4-1 win over Basel, and to the top of Group A.
Here’s how the players rated.
Finally a group win!
Would love to see Perez on the right for us against Stoke.
I could watch that third Perez goal all day long. Reminds me of some of the goals I watched on his YouTube highlights reel when he first signed!
Can we call him Lucas “Pires” Perez from now on?
I can’t remember a better performance from Gibbs – imagine if he keeps this up on the left with Bellerin coming back on the right!
Have to agree, Gibbs was outstanding. He was very positive on the ball and decisive last night. In games gone be he has infuriated me with his inability to pass the ball forward, often just giving the ball back to Koscielny when he should be looking to at least try to work the ball forward.
Really glad to see a much more dynamic performance from him. Many fans wrote the lad off as serious competition to Monreal but his season he has generally stepped in and performed well.
Ozil = a rich mans Hleb
Keep it up boys…
From now on, when Perez plays, Gibbs also plays.
Such a luxury to have such a pool of forward players! Giroud, Alexis, Theo, Lucas (and Welbz coming back soon). Who said we have a striker crisis?
Superb performance. Great momentum to take into the knockout stages with that return leg at home.
Lucas has shown excellent end product and brings a fox-in-the-box quality that is quite unique in this team. He just has that strikers nack and very excited to see how continues to contribute and his career develops at Arsenal.
Alexis and Ozil just have an unreal connection. Dreamy.
Great news with PSG drawing vs ludogorets. I’m really hoping for progression through another round. Doesn’t have to be an easy opponent really we just need to take the game to whoever it is. BTW, I’ll admit I haven’t seen the game but so much passing accuracy all around. Did Basel not press much? In two separate games, oxlade chamberlain and Lucas getting some much needed game time and what performances to go with it! May not be the highest quality but the desire was top notch. Think we’re shaping up well as a squad. If we keep the FA… Read more »
Gooood, goood. Let the game flow through you.
Imagine paying 48 million for Stones because of his ‘passing’ and a 2 million pound Bolton boy can pass and defend better than him.
WENGER CAN’T FIND YOUNG TALENT THO GUYS!
Yeah. Wenger’s useless at finding good defenders, isn’t he? I mean Gabriel, Mustafi, Holding, Nacho, Koscielny – all rubbish.
Don’t forget Bellerin! A load of cobblers he is 😉
In fairness, Mustafi was a World-Cup winner for Germany when we got him. But if you want to think about young defensive players, not just the back four, then add Coquelin to the list.
Yes, Mustafi was fairly established, but we got him when every top club was
looking for center backs. Either they didn’t see what Wenger did, or Arsenal was the most appealing club and Wenger the manager he wanted to work with.
Per and Mesut already in our ranks didn’t hurt either I imagine.
Breaking news: camera caught Rob Holding John’s Stones
Lucas not celebrating goals worries me. Looks like a poor man’s version of Balotelli
How can someone get so much wrong in such a short statement.
I assume you had an issue with the Alexis hat trick on Saturday too.
Seriously? I was so impressed by the look of admiration he gave Alexis after his first goal. I thought this is a guy who is happy to be on this team
Ah, he was being respectful to his team-mates who set him up.
That’s because he celebrates wins not goals!
And just think, we also have Welbz coming back soon 🙂
Well, I don’t know about the Balotelli bit, lol. But Lucas sure wasn’t celebrating goals, and that could be something to look into. In the previous game when he scored he did celebrate markedly. Let’s not wave it aside. usually when players don’t celebrate a goal, there’s a reason.
Gabriel has slotted in seamlessly…He’s No Bellerin but what RB is. One mistake all game which Gibbs and Kos could have bailed him out of…Thought Holding was Superb again..Composed on the ball, has a decent pass, reads the game well and i still don’t know if he is quick or not because he hasn’t been caught out of position that i can remember. Much improved from Gibbs…He was stepping up well for Monreal but had two poor games and Monreal returned..But tonight he was very good. Xhaxa was excellent..Complete midfield performance from him..had to do everything because Ramsey was nowhere… Read more »
Topping the group made this sweeter.
Can’t wait for the next game!
Gotta love Gibbs tonight. Often under appreciated player for us, classy tonight though
Kieran was MOTM for me tonight. An absolutely storming performance, in attack and (less often!) in defence. I don’t know why, but the Arsenal have been blessed with classy left-backs for a long time now.
I thought Clichy was a bit wank tbh
For as long a while as Gibbs and Nacho have been in the team. Let’s not use the word ‘classy’ to describe their two main predecessors, shall we. Especially not THAT one.
Sorry, I don’t agree. Whatever they may have done since (and even the manner of their departing), both Gael Clichy and Ashley Cole _were_ classy left backs. Both of them were, imho, the best in the premiership/premier league in their time.
Sorry, but Clichy was nowhere near the c*nt Evra.
Clichy took to springing offside traps like a fish to land
He had about an 18 month period after Nacho took his place where he didn’t look himself, his confidence was obviously low, he wasn’t playing enough football to get it back, and I feared for his Arsenal career. But this season he’s back to close to his best, I think he’s got a chance to regain the starting LB spot by the end of the season (isn’t it great that we have two such classy left backs!), and in general finally fulfill his massive potential and steal the England starting LB spot from one of the c*ntiest players in the… Read more »
Delighted with the way Gibbs is playing but really don’t agree he’s been under appreciated. I think he had a poor couple of seasons where he was going through the motions, happy to take his 50k a week & play understudy to a player of very similar quality in Monreal. I think the change in his attitude this season is on a par with Theo’s.
Monreal has a fight on his hands now which is fantastic….
Lucas Pires?? LANS
Some of our performances this season have been so good that I’ve actually started to love that fucking awful looking kit. What are you doing to me Arsenal?!
You know the team is playing well when you don’t even notice the Electric Acid Yellow shorts.
I hate the kit, but maybe it helped in the fog tonight.
And how nice to have a former gooner alongside the commentator.
@sidkid I noticed the non-celebration too, maybe he’s just thankful to keep his achilles in one piece. Seemed happy for Iwobi when he scored
Top quality all round.
10/10 – Arsene Wenger – Not playing a half baked side as so many of us would have played, and believing that we still had a chance to top the group
Waiting for people to blame Ramsey for the weather since player ratings are not complete without Ramsey bashing.
“Local man shouts at cloud”
I was waiting for someone to say how crucial he was last night or use the fact that he had a decent performance to berate people who have criticised him for his previous poor performances. I guess you have proved me right…
He very solid.
I think the third goal was the first time I’ve seen Lucas Perez use his right foot. It’s obviously pretty good, when needed.
Like lots of things about Gabriel at right back, particularly his ability to drop into the centre and contest crosses.
I watch every Everton game as my mrs is a fan, and I’m not having it that he was worth that much more than Holding.
Might we have SIX players with double digit goals for us this season? Alexis is already there, Theo and Mesut just about and Giroud, Lucas and Ox are half way with more than half a season still to go, and seem more than capable of getting there in their current forms. RED ARMY!
Ozil’s assist for Iwobi … angling the ball behind himself to assist a player no one else on Earth can see coming, is +1 by itself. 9.0.
Who gives a fuck who we get in the next round? PSG are better than Bayern and Dortmund, and the Arsenal are better than PSG
As much as I admire you optimism…no just no
better than bayer(n) leverkusen
Excellent performance all round. Standout for me was Gibbs, who was exceptional. I like his attitude and his ability to come into the team and really give the boss a selection headache. Perez, doesn’t need too many chances, clinical and a real poacher. Sanchez and Ozil, the sooner they sign their contracts the better, imagine the lift that will give the team and us fans knowing that they are committed beyond this season. Top of the group, into the the last 16 again. Credit to the boss, he really has crafted a wonderful side. Let’s hope he also signs on… Read more »
You’re deluded if you think PSG are better than Bayern. Dortmund scare me more than PSG also. Also on head to head PSG would have knocked us out on away goals.
There are only 3 teams which Arsenal truthfully will find it difficult to match. Barca, Bayern and Real. Two of those teams may lie in wait for us now that we had the temerity to defy the incredible media odds stacked against us and finished on top of our group. I mean, what were the chances of that just because we were level on points with PSG. It was never going to happen because PSG are clearly an unforgiving outfit that would never drop points to second rate Bulgarian opposition at home. PSG and Juventus are beatable. At current form,… Read more »
Technically, Martin Keown is still a gooner. I believe you meant Gunner? But all in all.
Did someone say something about juggernauts?
Clearly Wenger is clueless in the market.
What was he thinking buying Granit so early on?
Or waiting so late for that Mustafi fellow.
Or buying this unknown second rate striker from Deportivo called Lucas Pires?
He’s out of his depth. Wenger OUT!
The phrase ‘straw man argument’ springs to mind.
That cretin Wenger should do well to buy a proper striker instead of trying to convert Alexis into one. What was he thinking?
And he should play Jenko never mind his lack of technicality. Why play Gabriel who is a Cback?
Gibbs he should have got rid of. Never mind the fact that we now carry a forward going threat with him at Rback
Wenger is clearly an imbecile. Fans know better. Wenger Out!!! He is ruining this club.
Great attacking performance and even though Perez got the hattrick, Gibbs stole the show with his Bellerin-like display today. First time getting a look at the Xhaka-Ramsey combination and it was pretty impressive in it’s attacking output. It was our most expansive game, Xhaka pinging balls like Alonso while Ramsey pressed, roamed and linked up with the front 4. We looked more like a 4-1-4-1 at times than a 4-2-3-1. An area of concern is that we lacked compactness at times and better teams may be able to expose the extra space afforded to them unless Ramsey sits more. So… Read more »
I thought Ramsey did ok for someone who hasn’t played a lot of football recently, and who’s been switched around to different positions for ages (still went a-wandering’ a bit too much for my liking, though…). If he concentrates on positional discipline and simple, crisp passing, he could yet nail down the starting birth alongside Xhaka in the long term. But for the answer to what our starting midfield partnership should be until Santi returns, right now I’m of the opinion that we should look no further than the lineup against West Ham: Coquelin is absolutely immense at winning the… Read more »
Agree that Coq deserves more credit and I’d go as far to say he’s been our most consistent midfielder this season. The West Ham game is a bad template though, that’s a team on its knees and at home where they’re urged to open up more. Against teams that just set up to defend at the Emirates, I’d prize Ramsey’s positive movement and passing ahead of Coqulein’s pressing game
I love Gibbs
Is it just me or does Gabriel look better and more assured at right back than center?
Thought he was really solid as a CB in the EFL game too.
Great win but Alexis and Ozil should have come off earlier when cruising 3-0. Too risky to leave on. I thought AS was injured when he won that spectacular crossbar strike fuck you keeper free kick. Just saying. Apart from that, fucking brilliant. Bring on Stoke
I suspect that Alexis hopes that Arsenal draw Barca. That will be a grudge match. They should never have off-loaded him. Crazy.
That free kick of Alexis…hope he will kick it bit lower next time. Maybe against Stoke, or better, he scores by kicking ball so hard to Shawcross’ face and it bounces off to goal
I wouldn’t complain if it snapped off Artwatovitch’s collarbone on the way in. For old times sake.
I know he made a bad mistake for the Basel goal, but Rob Holding: what a player he’s going to be!
I thought Holding was great apart from one slip up. Ozils best game in a while. He seemed to come deep to collect the ball more and he and Ramsey overlapped well.
Xhaka should be part of every central midfield pairing. LUCASZ was in the right slots but didn’t do much else. Who cares with 3 goals though.
Overall nice.job by Wenger rotating the squad a little and getting it right.
I would have been tempted to rotate more but the man got it spot on.
It may not have seemed like he did much but I was really enjoying Lucas dropping back and doing the job to defend our lead. I thought he worked both hard and smart, knew when and where to be on attack, and worked for the team the rest of the time.
Our super subs and back up strikers are scoring last minute winners and Champions League hattricks. Long may it last!
Our strength in depth is something we haven’t had since the invincibles. To think that Wenger made six changes to his line up from the weekend and we still won comfortably on an away night in UCL is such a relief from the days where one injury through us into crisis.
arsenal have many young talented game, for example iwobi, holding , Gabriel and many more …. wenger needs to renew contracts
*did not*
Guys, I really love the kit. I think i might head down to the store to get one this weekend. Is something wrong with me?
I like the kit – it means players can spot their teammates out of the corner of their eye more easily right?!
I wouldn’t buy it though…
Great karma surrounding today’s games. Even though he didn’t have to, Wenger showed great sportsmanship and respect for the competition by starting most of our top players; Ludogorets responded by taking points from PSG. One of the “feel good” days of recent seasons.
Gibbs defo got one assist
It’s performances like these that give me hope, where I haven’t always had it of late. Evidence of some depth, Xhaka is coming up big time, I like Perez. I feel that we are a chance for the title – Chelsea are favourites in my view, but we are in with a shot.
City are under-delivering.
COYG!
We have so many options it’s scary. With players like Santi, Welbz, Bellerin, Per and Akpom still waiting on the wings. It’s hard not to dream, if we can hold onto this team for two more seasons we could be one of the most solid teams in Europe.
It was just delightful watching the boys last night. They should maintain the tempo in the Premier League.