There was a lot more to like from today’s performance, an Arsenal side that looked like Arsenal, beating Man City 2-1 at Wembley to reach the FA Cup final.
Not only was it a good team display, there were some excellent individual performances too.
Here’s how the players rated today (and yes, we will be sorting out the formation issues!)
This was a last shot at some kind of redemption, and from the back to the front they took it. Some brave performances today. Loved the Holding, Gabriel, Kos axis.
Can’t get behind the Monreal MOTM – partly to be blamed for the goal. Yet besides that – outstanding performance. Ox the main man for me tonight.
He was never to blame for the goal, he was left on his own. How come a wing back was having to chase Aguero down the middle without any of three CBs in sight?
Don’t think you watched the game. The broke while we were trying to score from a corner..
Ramsey and Cech should be taking full responsibility for their goal. One lost possession stupidly by trying to overplayed instead of playing a simple pass, one wasn’t aware enough to come running for the ball and clear.
Was expecting the usual Ramsey basher on here. Never mind that he tried to do something on the edge if their box. There were three players right around him, but you sat on your couch and saw a simple pass. If it were a simple ass, it was likely sideways at which point it would’ve been some guy going ‘ffs sell ramsey he can’t do anything positive’ There’s no reason why he should be scared to attempt dribbling past the city defender that high up the pitch. His only fault is that he didn’t add to that attacking move. To… Read more »
Is Arron your boyfriend?
Firstly, what does it matter if he is? What Locksley says is still valid – Ramsey gets crucified if he does, crucified if he doesn’t. Monreal was at fault for their goal, no one else. Secondly, I think you’re insinuating that being gay is somehow embarrassing. You need to grow up – homophobic in 2017? Really? That’s pathetic. Thirdly, why are you named after a steak? Like, come on man.
Oh dear…
That is such a great name.
ramsey was at fault for loosing the ball , no matter how small the fault he did loose it . but we conceded the goal because of much larger fault , normally two plaayers stay back during corners and freeckicks to defend counter attacks , but when we conceded the goal there was only monreal defending against aguero . there should’ve been one more player back there , i think it should have been ox as wingbacks are the players who usually stays back.
Should’ve been Kosc and Monreal (Gabriel was on Sane duty, so Holding or Kosc really, but Holding was obviously out of his depth and was also urged to play forward as the third CB . Either way, we committed too much to attacking during that play and one of the fastest players in the world, and one of the best strikers as well, punished us for it. Not that big of a surprise, nor is there too much of a need to analyze it. Against 90% of all other teams, Monreal would have been sufficient along with Cech to crowd… Read more »
Oh give me a break man. Does he give you a percentage of his salary or something? There’s absolutely nothing to defend in the way he sloppily lost that ball and cost us a goal. And it’s not the only time he’s done it either. It’s really pathetic how people try to defend such a mediocre player.
But when sanchez does it. Its audacious.
OF COURSE! The Sanchez marks double digits in goals and assists every season, aside from being one of, if not, our best player match after match. What has Ramsey done in the lat 3 years, well, you know besides giving away goals, disorganizing our midfield, earning a ton of money and being utter crap? Thre’s absolutely no comparison.
So crucifying a guy on the basis of one incident out of the entire game is OK?
Alexis can lose the ball 10 times in a game in ridiculous and unacceptable fashion, but get that is all erased for 1 free kick…
Ramsey was brilliant yesterday. Hard to admit for some I guess, even Blogs!
Let’s not fool ourselves. He was not brilliant. In fact he hasn’t been since .. like that season 40 years ago.
Let me make it simple for you, Aaron’s lawyer. There’s a time to pass and a time to attempt a dribbble. YOU DON’T FREAKING ATTEMPT A DRIBBLE WHEN YOU HAVE SIX PLAYERS OF YOUR TEAM AHEAD OF YOU, standing on the edge of the box. Simple math would explain that you have only 4 with or behind you. It’s horrible decision making, and those are not the times ANYBODY is expecting him to ‘play positive’, ffs.
So when alexis plays a difficult ball to ox instead of a simple one to ozil. Loses the ball and the other team scores. Does he become as shit as ramsey? Or is he just brave for trying something?
If Sanchez was to do something shit then you would say ‘wow Sanchez, that individual passage of play was shit.’ Much the same way that Ramsey bottled it, got his feet caught up then did something shit – doesn’t necessarily reflect his whole game but it is still shit.
He’s an offensive player in the final third – that’s exactly where he’s supposed to “play positive”. The closer you are to the opposition goal, the smaller the threat of a mistake costing us a goal. It’s what happens after he’s dispossessed that’s the issue. We might have had too many drawn upfield, but we still had two men to watch Aguero. They didn’t keep Aguero in front of them and he anticipated the move unfolding better than they did. Cech was the final layer of protection but he hesitated and missed his chance to prevent the goal. It was… Read more »
People where happy enough to excuse sanchez for the exact same thing last week
Alexis Sanchez has been involved in 39 goals+assists in his last 43 appearances. Some of us give him the benefit of the doubt, because he’s earned it.
And respectfully, he scored the winner for your club yesterday so instead of spamming this thread with snarky comments about him, please shut the f*ck up about Alexis for a day or two.
Haha, no kidding, how on earth anyone can pin the blame, any blame, on Ramsey for the goal is beyond me. What? We’re now supposed to do nothing at the edge of the opposition’s box in case we turn it over? Pfft. Monreal was the main culprit. Cech, though, I wonder if he’s carrying a knock still. Very slow to come off his line all game.
No matter – great performance with this formation!
Excuse me sir, but can you tell me who was the guy who lost the ball when the team was playing forward? Who was the guy who dribbled instead of passing?
Ramsey played a big part in that win. Without his engine we would have lost. He was always there to apply pressure to Citeh’s advancing midfielders, providing the legs around Xhaka. I thought the pair of them were excellent. Yes, Ramsey may have lost the ball high up the pitch, but I suppose that isn’t too bad when you consider Alexis loses the ball constantly in far more dangerous areas! I don’t quite understand why Monreal was scrambling back as the last man… were our CB’s all up for a set-piece!?!?!?! Anyway, bar that incident, what a performance and huge… Read more »
Aguero had led the ball a bit too long and Chech was running at it – for a moment I thought he actually would catch or clear it without any problems. And then he stopped midrun and opened his goal… Why!?
I think most goals result from a series of small mistakes; even brilliant goals often come from a slightly mis-positioned defender. Ramsay lost the ball, which he should not have, but he was a long way from his own goal; Toure made a brilliant pass to a great player; Monreal–a wing-back yesterday–was positioned on the wrong side of Arguero; no other defender was in a position to help him, even though we were playing three at the back; Cech did not come out quickly enough (maybe poor starting position–can’t tell); Arguero, a very good little chip over. I think that… Read more »
I agree with you, although I think the biggest crime was leaving one against one at the back as if we were 1-0 down in the final few minutes, especially when Monreal is definitely not the paciest defender, although all that is not Monreal’s fault. However I didnt understand why Monreal wasn’t on the halfway line and got caught further up when they did break because of the fact he has no pace to rely on. I think we’ve seen it a few times now though where its very easy for our attacking corners to be a goal for the… Read more »
When my friend asked me about the goal during the game, I said we lost the ball next to their penalty box and then they lobbed it over upfield to aguero and aguero ran past his man to run to the goal n I paused because in my head I was thinking wait a minute was that really Monreal marking aguero? One of our slowest defenders is the last man and marking Aguero? Surely it can’t be. So I don’t blame Monreal too much for it because I would never expect Monreal to win a race against aguero. Perhaps next… Read more »
Kos should not of let that happen. He and Cech need to be aware of such mis-matches and should be screaming people’s heads off to correct them.
I was also a little confused at the time as to why he was alone with Monreal, was it soon after a corner/set piece? Nevertheless as the last guy there and recognising that Aguero is faster Nachos starting position could’ve been a bit deeper.
I wonder if he felt that way too. Certainly made up for it in style.
I also can’t blame Ramsey for trying something in that position.
Great performance. Let the OX rampage!
holding is an absolute steal. best bit of buisness. has only played one or two games in the premier league and with the biggest game he has ever played looked absolute class . the way he kept the ball , his composure looks like a bonafide star in the making .
Rob Holding what a lad, what a player. Top top class. The boy’s gonna be a legend for us!
Could have easily nicked a goal as well – looked like it might have even skimmed the bar!
Particularly liked the bit in the second half when Augero lost it to him, he ran to the by line and Agree was like “Ha have you now!”, then Holding just skinned him. Like it was nothing and he skins world class Stickers every week. Balls of steal that boy, and its great to watch.
I fucking hate Spell Check on my Mac…. makes me look even more of a fuckwit than I am
You can turn off auto-correction on your Mac, you know…
all deserve a 10…. except Bellerin who finally did something with his hair… but not what was expected ?
totally off topic: Mbappe stricked again for Monaco tonight. Attracting this young and clever prospect would be a great idea IMO. His attitude and play would most probably suit the Arsenal
10/10 for Bellerin who looked like shit but still managed to give his new hairstyle a winning debut. I actually don’t mind it if it proves to be a lucky charm for us !
He’s channeling his inner Sagna and I applaud that
Thought he resembled that international smash hit, Sean Paul myself but yeah… As long as it does the job I guess.
There is no chance we get Mbappe. Sorry.
Said it elsewhere so apology for the repeat, but I think Hector is growing protective head gear aka Cech or a bicycle helmet. It’ll be ready for the Chelsea showdown.
*ala
Damn you spellcheck.
a la*
Ozil 6,5??? He was great, he ran his socks of. What do our fanbase even want from him? Overall he was way better than Alexis. Not his fault he was tired at the end and couldn’t have taken those chances. Wenger ought to have subbed him earlier. He worked harder than Sanchez tho. Made some important tackles too. As for the goal I think Cech slipped, that’s why he was slow on the goal. Nacho was great yet again. Little dissapointed with Welbeck’s work rate when he came on, but he was better in the extra time. Gabriel superb. Nice… Read more »
Ozil also put two sublime crosses for holding and welbeck that should have been goals. Seems lots of folk buy into the narrative that has been created.
Would be interested to see some stats as I also thought Ozil put in a shift. A few things that didn’t come off and where his touch wasn’t quite what you might expect, but didn’t lack effort in my eyes. Looked totally spent at the end. I’d hazard a guess that he was up there in terms of ground covered
Agreed Peter. I.m not Ozil.s biggest fan but i thought he worked his hole off for 120 mins and I liked it
The only moment Ozil really messed up was cutting inside against a 3v1 situation in their box. And it didn’t cost us anything. Other than that, he was absolutely instrumental in maintaining possession after the first-half. I’ve noticed that the inside cut is his favorite move, but he also seems to do it on reflex; when he’s tired, it often pushes him into dead ends…
Me and my mate watching it spent one half watching only ozil as the commentator was laying into him. He ran his tits off, and no wonder he was fucked when he didnt have the energy to finish those chances.
There was one point that we had watched him sprinting back and forth for about 8 mins. Providing defensive cover and an outlet. As soon as it stopped the dimwit on the mic, was like look at ozil just jogging.
Great performance. Doesn’t change the fact we need change in the summer, but I do love cup final day and Chelsea are definitely beatable.
Holding looks better and better every time I see him. I don’t think Mustafi gets back in the team at the moment.
But I really fucking hate BT. Steve McManaman commentating on a Man City game? He played for them for 2 years! Hardly impartial is it, and he wasn’t. Pretty embarrassing to be honest.
Yeah and Stewart Robson played for Arsenal for 6 but he was still commentating on my stream, what’s your point
Stewart Robson is also a bitter cnut who was sacked by the club after one too many negative imbalanced criticisms of the Arsenal. Macca’s problem is that he was so one-eyed he was in danger of being renamed Cyclops.
Martin Keown was commentating on it for the BBC. Just saying.
THe point being steve macmannamon is just shit.
10 out of 10 Arsene Wenger. Love him or hate him, he got it spot on today.
Was at the game, brilliant atmosphere, boys made me so proud today, I nearly cried.
COYG!!!
10/10 for the fans too mate!
The crows erupted at endnof regulation when Xhaka fist pumped at them and got them going again. A team effort today… players, staff and the fans.
So what numpty thumbed this down toda? Show yourself please. Really interested as to why.
Steve Mccityfan
I’ve given Xhaka a bit of a hard time, but seeing his passion today has made me a big fan. My favourite moments were when he got the crowd going at the end of extra time first half, getting in Toure’s way leading to a foul and Toure sulking, and finally giving Delph a little push away (McMannaman called it ‘manhandling’ ha ha ha ha)
McMannaman is a real twat, ain’t he?
His biased punditry and obvious on-air trolling only cover up the fact that he’s not at all insightful about the game and is actually a bit of a dunce.
And Richard Dunne too – he was complaining that the Ox challenge on Aguero should have been a penalty. They had ex-referee Howard Webb poring over that decision but did they show Sane’s clear foul on Ozil late on? No.
Love the fact that our boys had the last laugh today.
Real Twats don’t deserve this kind of name calling.
Used to have to listen to Macca in The USA almost every week bitchin and moaning about our high line. Glad we don’t have to hear his dumb ass anymore, but sorry some of you all do.
Aaron Ramsey is a fascinating creature, like a butterfly. He built a cocoon and when he reemerged he was Pascal Cygan.
He is easily the worst player in this side, and that says a lot when you have guys like Theo and Gibbs.
*Lets sell The Emirates Stadium and just play at Wembley for now on
Welbeck is such a strange player in that he does absolutely everything you want from a striker in our system, except put the ball in the net! Would love him to have 18 months injury free to see if it clicks for him
Could have easily had 2 goals and an assist today – should have passed to Ramsey/Alexis instead of shooting, completely mishit the shot that Alexis scored and then failed to convert a header from a sublime Ozil cross that was probably easier to score than miss.
That is precisely what Man United fans say about him…..everything but the goal. Unfortunately that is sort of the point for a striker. If it ever does happen he will be terrific.
Then I guess welbeck will be a perfect fit for the left wing displacing Sanchez, his lack of effort and turnovers.
think your being harsh on wankblankets.
That was nerve wracking!
Whilst the performance wasn’t perfect it would be wrong to focus on anything other than the positives from the match.
It was SO pleasing to see the work rate and team spirit that has been missing in recent months.
I thought Holding was superb, his all round composure is really encouraging. And although Gabriel had deserved his previous criticism, he was excellent today.
It’s very much baby steps for this team, but I hope they can take confidence from a big occasion win.
Up the @rse!
Sooo Wankblankets?
Where do you get them then?
Fantastic performance, and I don’t even think we’ve mastered this formation yet. But it was the desire to win second balls, the concentration in important moments, the cynicism to stop City when we needed too, that saw us through today. You never ever know what Arsenal will turn up game to game, but this was the performance the fans deserved, the manager deserved and tbh the performance the players deserved for themselves. Because these aren’t bad players, not overnight. It’s up to them to prove it in games like this so congrats to them. Special mentions to Ozil, Ramsey, Ox,… Read more »
Great picture. Ox man of the match for me, but so many immense performances and never seen Özil work so hard.
Except for the couple opportunities where Ozil could of shot or atleast held ball a bit better, he was great. Worked very hard up and down the pitch.
I do get annoyed with refs though. Toure has ball middle of park surrounded by 4 defenders and gets the faintest of touches and its a free kick. Ozil gets clobbered from behind inside box 20 seconds later… sfa given. Just something that shits me…… different rules for inside the box.
I love bellerin’s new hairstyle.
Rob holding motm for me. He looked absolutely assured and aware for someone of his age playing in a big match in a relatively new system.
Bonus rating: -4/10 for Hector’s cornrows. Sort yourself out, son.
Another bonus rating: 10/10 for how sad this result must make Glenn hoddle as he spent the whole game trying to talk about how shit we were.
Yes, what is Hector thinking with that Conference-standard barnet? He’s bringing the consistently high follicly-sartorial standards of the team into total disrepute. So much so, my pal Emma started calling him “Bellerend”. Harsh, but ultimately fair.
Arsenal have had some goalkeeping issues down the years, but surely Bravo has to be worse. Everytime he touches the ball or gets near it even, mancity fans must have hearts in mouths. He is attrocious.
Saying that… hahahhaha sucked in!
The coining of the insult “wankblanket” is the real 10/10 imo. I’ll give it a go in traffic this morning
Can’t say I agree with the ratings. These are the ratings from the match announcers on television who ball-watch, not the kinds of ratings given by someone actually watching players play the game. Olivier Giroud – 7.5: Giroud did not score and if you are a pundit lookign for a talking point, that’s the take away from this game, but he was a presence up front all game. He put a nice header on target for Arsenl’s first shot on goal, and he was an outlet, receiving clearances and moving the ball back to Arsenal’s playmakers. In the first half… Read more »
No way should Sanchez get a higher rating than Ozil, Giroud & Monreal.Id give him a 7. He was better than he has been, but still needs to stop losing the ball and crap passes.
Giroud was a “presence” in the way that Michelangelo’s David is a “presence” in Florence.
Lol. I downvoted your comment coz I don’t agree with it, but it is so fucking funny
Thumbs up because this is a quality response, not because I agree with the sentiment!
It’s even funnier because Wenger took Giroud off, just as Florence took David off the piazza to protect it.
But I also disagree–Giroud put in a real defensive shift, got no offensive service, and still managed to tire out the Manc CB’s. Just exactly as Wenger seemed to plan out. Giroud is our battering ram or our ace in the hole. He’s never really the mobile striker that we want, but he’s certainly one we need.
Ashley fucking Young????
Did you not watch Tropic Thunder?
You went full retard, never go full retard……..
Right on to next match! Bring on Sunderland and the Spuds! Woooop!
All round great performance second half and beyond. First half we were still over cautious albeit not unreasonable considering bad form recently. 1) Cech – Could have done better for Aguero’s goal. Not sure if his finger tips in any way helped divert Toure’s effort but if they did, what a brilliant save then. 2) Koscielny – Getting back to his best again sweeping up at the back and now also given function to distribute from deep like a libero. Some good crunching tackles coming from deep early. 3) Holding – Who bought this lad? David Dein? Who is Stones?… Read more »
Monreal had good game. Scored a fantastic goal and defended well later in the game. There were some dicey moments between him and Holding though, so hopefully they will keep working on it.
I’d love to see Iwobi and Ozil behind Sanchez in the front three for this new formation
The Ox was definitely MOTM. I’m glad to see that his development–once seemingly stalled–has picked up markedly during this season.
Wasn’t sorry to see Steve McManaman came in for a twitting. I remember him as a color commentator with Ian Darke on ESPN–the two biggest dildos to ever occupy a sports broadcast booth.
Arsenal are much better with Ozil playing as an inverted winger on the right, where he has a bit more space and can drop into the midfield when needed. He just doesn’t have the game to play in heavy traffic in the middle. Ramsay is much better and provides a lot more defensive energy.
Welbeck came on as the striker. Extra time wenger moved him to the wing and Sanchez to striker.
Great move. Welbeck could run and defend and Sanchez could conserve energy to score our winner!
I thought Xhaka was very good actually, and the dominant midfielder in the game from the second half onwards. The Ox got caught out of position a few times as you’d expect, but was excellent coming forward. I must confess, I’m a total convert to 3-at-the-back, it actually suits our players very well. However, we still lack a bit of fluidity at the back. Giroud – through no fault of his own – needs to be benched and Sanchez moved to the centre with one of Iwobi, Welbeck or Walcott coming in to offer more movement. Finally, Gabriel…blimey. Is there… Read more »
*fluidity up front, sorry
Aguero dive penalty. Ox did touch him but he went down far too easily.
Many other men in black would have given that.
Man City fan boys bitching about the ref and hitting the woodwork twice. Karma. It’s a bitch. Love Arsenal. Must get to Wembley from Kiwi-land. Game on boys. COYG
Well, I thought Ox touched him when Arguero kicked back to contact’s Ox’s boot. This was not even one of those “he felt the contact and went down a little easy.” This was “he knew a defender was near him and purposely contacted him and fell down.” Should have been yellow for Arguero. (I’m also still mad at Vardy’s penalty when he purposely veered to trip over Monreal’s leg.)
I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not a persecution complex: Hoddle and McManaman really are monumental pricks.
Bonus point 0/10 Bellerin’s hair cut
Great performance and Wenger becoming a tactician- never saw that coming
Only Ramsey and Giroud not suited for this formation. Ramsey too indiscipline- tends to run everywhere without purpose. He cannot dribble yet tried and his failure resulted in a goal. Giroud too slow for this formation. Needs a fast mobile forward
I I Think ozil deserves more points just for the defensive shift he put in. He made unexpectedly good tackles. I understand that we should expect more from him defensively, but today I had no complaints about it
Ozil did better than that. And so did Giroud.
There may not have been much end product, but their effort was 10/10.
At least a 7 for both of them.
I’ve been thinking it over and I’m pretty sure its not a case of persecution complex: McManaman and Hoddle are monumental pricks.
Just to flag, from a technical perspective, Monreal (not Xhaka) should have been goal side of Aguero for the City goal. I agree he had a great game generally though!
is there some unwritten law that every co-commentator on every game has to be a Scouser?
The U.S. feed had Stewart Robson; I know some people don’t like him, and I don’t always agree with him, but he was fine–doesn’t exaggerate, knows about football in other countries, notices formations, doesn’t go on and on about the referee. For the Prem games that NBC does itself, it is usually Lee Dixon or Graeme LeSaux–and I’m okay with both of them as well. When McManaman did games in the U.S., usually with Ian Darke, he was awful. Sounded bored much of the time, never had anything to say that was not either obvious or wrong.
I don’t get the way that these ratings work, why do players get higher ratings just because we won? The team carried Ozil and Ramsey yesterday. If we lost they both would have scored 5 points for exactly the same performance…
We won didn’t we? All this Ramsay bashing is shameful!
Jesus H on a divine bicycle; Maccamananahowevertheeffyouspellfreetransfermanname was so critical of Arsenal but changed his time at the end. The icing on the cake was him being given the news that LFC were losing at home to Palace. Wah wah waaahhh. I did think we were better in the second half and across extra time even though we invited MC on to us. It was nice to see the AVFC mercenary Delph come away with fcuk all as it was Pep and all the other Citeh players and supporters. Clearly their ‘gifts’ to the British mediA meant that loads of… Read more »
Sorry, but Hectors hair??
The boys were awesome. I must admit that I liked that we were kicking the shit out of citeh all over the pitch. And Ramsey…things are just not going well for him these past few years, aren’t they?