It was nice to get back to winning ways, even if the performance wasn’t quite as impressive as we might have liked.
A sensational first half goal from Mesut Ozil (read the report and see the goal here) won the game for the Gunners, but it was a bit precarious without the cushion of scoring again.
Here’s how the players rated today.
No Rambo or Theo so Xhaka the go to scapegoat. Nowhere near as bad as people are saying. Is out of form, and would do us all good to change things up on MF and bench him for a game or 2.
Xhaka was sloppy and should have been given a straight red.
For what? being Xhaka?
Yep, and disgracefully…. Breathing!
Ur a disgusting human being…
You should see the leg breaker that Kane just got away with against Citeh.
And now Alli too. Jesus the refs love those Spuds English boys.
Alli gets away with diving every single week, just like Sterling.
Don’t forget to credit BTsport for ignoring the incident as much as they could!
On the American feed, all the commentators (including Lee Dixon) thought both Kane and Alli should have been sent off.
And Alli, and Dier again!
I thought Xhaka was excellent for most of the match, certainly in the first half (the same couldn’t be said for some others, notably Alexis and Bellerin). He then made a number of glaring errors near the end of the match, but he wasn’t the only one, as we completely lost our composure in the last 20 minutes (the all-too-predictable and uninspired subs didn’t help). Xhaka’s not half as bad as people think he is, and also not as bad as he’s been playing for much of the season, but he suffers from (a) a lack of in-game maturity and… Read more »
The issue with Xhaka is that he has been very consistent in misplacing passes in those final 20 minutes of matches. Consistent enough where it’s become a trend for him.
I understand what you are saying about Xhaka. Last 10 games of last season showed how good he can be when he is in form but we’re almost 20 games played in the Prem. He just doesn’t seem good enough at least to be a fullltime starter. If we do get a proper Defensive Mid I would rather have someone more with Santi ability of course but the next best thing someone like Wilshere or Ramsey instead.
Just watched the game and agree with that. He was very good most of the game, for me a 6 (would have been a 7 save for a slippy last 10 minutes)
Xhaka doesn’t feel any competition for his place like a num of other players, they know Wenger is faithful to a fault, he would even defend them all even after a performance like the ones against West Ham, Southampton, etc.
AMN should be given a chance to be the understudy in his natural position and Wenger should let him put some pressure on Xhaka for the place on form.
Agree about Xhaka and AMN, but the exact same thing could be said about Bellerin and AMN…
Yeah but AMN natural position is in midfield rather than as a defender.
I would at least like to see AMN given a chance at RB as well, Bellerin could easily be dropped instead of Kolasinac. But for sure he should be the future big strong physical midfielder we have been needing for sometime. Would love to see him with Jack, they both, including Iwobi play the true wenger ball to perfection, as you’d expect from the youth programme.
Wrong about Kolasinac.
Bellerin and Kolasinac, they both should be dropped to the bench for getting way too lazy to track back when we are countered.
I like to agree with you on the future of our midfield trio but I find Iwobi (as much as he’s very gifted technically), running out of steam after half time. Now, in my book, that’s not a very good stamina
Xhaka was great 1st half, pretty shaky the 2nd, but our finishing was piss poor through out, in that sense some of the attacking players should probably get as bad a rating. More goals = less shaky. Kozza equally had a solid 1st half and shaky 2nd, Bellerin also, picking out xhaka is just easy/lazy analysis. As for Wilshere he was the kog, he did an advanced Cazorla type display, one of which Ramsey isn’t naturally accustomed to, and it helped Xhaka especially in the first half. Sanchez should have gone off earlier instead of Lacazette. End of.
Why do we discuss Kane and Alli in this forum????????
Oh, I forgot citeh trashed the spuds 4-1, oke then let’s continue to discuss the spuds. LoL
If you saw the match, the score very much flattered Spurs–Sterling missed a tap-in or two (before he got a tap-in) and Lloris made a bunch of fine saves. City were much better against them than they were against us (and they were pretty good against us).
Feel that we aren’t even trying at times to find Lacazette in the final third, especially when we have full control of the ball and most of our players in the opposition half. He can clearly finish when he has chances, but midfield and Alexis/Ozil just seem to ignore him.
I remember in the summer with the contract issues when everyone (including myself) said they weren’t worried about Alexis because he loves football and gives 110% no matter what. I didnt want to pass judgement too swiftly, but that seems to be out the window now. He gives the ball up much easier than he used to and doesn’t have that ‘dog without a bone’ mentality when he does lose it.
Arsene really needs to have a talk to get the best out of him again.
I thought he was just as frustrating last season, in terms of losing the ball. His numerous goals and assists saw people look past his errors though.
Alexis is trying to do it all himself. He needs to understand there are ten other Arsenal players on the field with him, and if he’s not going to pass, then he should be sat on the bench. His biggest contribution in the match was getting back in the second half for a tackle on the left wing. Otherwise, his insistence of dribbling into the middle leaves us entirely too narrow, forcing the LB to run beyond. This exposes the LB position on counter attack after Alexis loses possession on the edge of the box. Against a stronger side, we’d… Read more »
He may be playing badly, but I see absolutely nothing to indicate he is not playing all out. Watch Ozil’s goal and tell me that Alexis is not trying as much as he ever did.
I thought Alexis played quite well. At least a 6 if not a 7. His pressure was instrumental in Ozil’s goal, he worked hard and created a couple of half-chances
Alexis is not a Baby ? in nursery, for Arsène to have a talk with him every week, and get into his scull the importance of each game. If my manager would pull me in his office twice inside a month, I’d be sacked.
Alexis earns £150K a week, fully grown adult. He needs to sort out his hormonal disarray
Ozil looks, but Alexis doesn’t. How many promising attacking positions were spoiled today because Alexis insisted on taking 6 touches to switch it back on his right foot, only to try a shot which got blocked or that patented (occasionally dangerous but increasingly predictable) chip over to Bellerin?
Absolutely. But people see what they want to see.
Certain fans are all too fast of having a pop at incapable players (least talented), but never on Sanchez. They ignore the fact what he is capable of doing and what he’s actually doing. There’s a massive discrepancy.
He’s stopped playing for us long time ago.
So so many touches in front of the goal. In my opinion, he wants to score spectacular goals and hoping for the goal of season competition.
And us fans, sitting/standing in stadium and having heart attack after heart attack every time he touches the ball
Well, I suppose he can finish when given the chance….. although he did have a few chances today and still didn’t take them well. And this seems to be a common problem in the team anyways. Nobody ever tries to find Giroud, even though the number of goals he’s scores shows that he can obviously put them away. But since he’s not the type of striker to run around in circles, nobody cares. Not to pit them against each other, but clearly our strikers don’t get enough service, which doesn’t seem to be a thing that is ever obviously addressed
It would be nice to have strikers, or anyone for that matter, who can put the ball in the net. Not enough pure finishers on this team.
Xhaka needs to be dropped . Maitland Niles is really doing good now. Reminds me of Coq when he took his chance.
Not as strong in the challenges as Coq, but much, much more skillful and composed with the ball at his feet.
He’s so composed and calm he almost looks lazy. I mean that in a good way
I must be watching a different match. I saw Maitland-Niles make a couple of exciting runs, good dribbles past defenders, then lose the ball due to poor judgment–a weak shot, a run into too many defenders, etc. Great talent, great promise, not quite ready.
AMN is more akin to Aaron Ramsey when played in central midfield- he runs at the opposition, and is always busy. He really needs a run next to someone who sits in CMF… I’m going to say that’s likely Elneny if we’re to see the best of AMN in his natural position.
Disagree. I’ve seen him sit and dictate well (e.g. against Southampton in the cup last year).
Serious question: who would you rather have coming off the bench, Danny Welbeck or Theo Walcott? I’d rather Walcott. 108 career goals playing as a winger, pacey and can get to the byline or cut inside and combine well with the forward. Welbeck meanwhile has only exceeded ten goals twice in his career and makes Walcott look like a natural born footballer when he’s on the ball.
Rather see Reiss Nelson coming on than either of them tbh
What has Reiss Nelson proved? You take an 18yo kid when you need a goal over a professional with over 400 apps and over a hundred goals? Fuck off
Yeah, fuck off, how dare you not have the same opinion
Yeah, 400 appearances and only he’s only run the ball out of play 6,712 times. Sign him up until he’s 50.
It’s not so simple, and depends on the game. Horses for courses and all that.
I’m a big Danny fan and I can’t stand Theo (the footballer; the man seems alright), but even I think Theo would have made a useful sub in the last two games, with our nominal “wide forwards” making our play far too narrow, and no one really running in behind.
Danny’s not been in great form since he came back from injury, and he’s actually made our play worse the last two games when he’s been subbed on.
Have you seen the Japanese guy ‘Asana I think) we have on loan @ Stuttgart. his finishing is as bad or worse than Welbeck’s! Methinks if we ever get a new manager he has so much dross to clear out.
Glad to see AMN showing his worth. It was a few Arsecasts ago that they weren’t sure what he did. But I think this is the one to watch. He played well at times for Ipswich as a young winger… tackles well, very quick, passes well between the lines, he has a bit of guile and a good shot on him too etc etc… I don’t see why with his attributes he shouldn’t be come as good as Kante in that midfield position.
He’ll have to get stronger than he currently is, and read the game even better (not that he reads it poorly now), if he wants to be at Kante’s level. But I see the point: he’s very quick and very mobile and very tidy on the ball, but also clearly has the basic attributes to be a very effective ball-winner. Personally–in the absence of Ramsey and assuming we’re going to stay 4-3-3 for a while–I’d bring Kola back in, play AMN alongside Xhaka and Jack in midfield, and push Ozil back forward onto the right hand side in place of… Read more »
Bellerin , xhaka and iwobi should be dropped
There’s a case to be made for all three, but certainly dropping Hector is a no brainer at this point. He needs a rest, mentally as much as physically, a chance to get his confidence back up, and a reminder that he’s not undroppable.
He’ll get midweek off, with someone like Debuchy coming into the side for the league cup match. Hopefully he can clear his head and come back a stronger positional player and keep his concentration for the full 90.
It’s not just concentration. He looks slower, shorn of confidence when attacking in the final third, and frankly very stupid/sloppy on the ball a lot of the time.
I thought Bellerin had his best match in a while, certainly in the first half.
What wrong did you manage to find in Bellerin and Iwobi?!
I am a massive fan of welbeck, his athleticism is something I thought would carry him past giroud in our scoring numbers….
But he just stood still most of the time he was on….
Welbeck is useless on the right. Play him on the left or central to get anything out of him
Same can be said for most of our forward players in the last 3 matches: they just stand there on the edge of the 18 and it drives me mad.
For your information, only Walcott and Ramsey do off-the-ball-run behind defense. Bellerin did it yesterday though.
Sign da ting jack
If there was a ‘ting’ to sign yes…
Did anybody else notice the blatant elbow Xhaka gave to one of their players? Honestly thought he should have seen a red card for it. For someone Wenger has praised for his intelligence, he seems to be making alot of dumb mistakes.
Assshavin, rule number 1 on here : don’t say anything (even if 100% true) that doesn’t play into the childish ‘the refs are all against Arsenal’ narrative.
On the game….a win is a win. Nothing else really worth saying.
@Kwame Ampadu down how many elbows wheb oppositions made are even fouls and red cards?
This year I am making an evidence and at least 15 stonewall decision went against us this year (penalties not given, offsides, penalties which were given to others but were dives) .
Saw it, thought it was a nailed-on red, relieved that it was only a yellow. With only ten on the field, they might’ve equalised.
Was more of an arm than an elbow, i do think it was a yellow.
Worrying form from Bellerin, Sanchez and Xhaka. Well played Özil (brilliant goal!) and Maitland-Niles!
Bellerin was shocking. Can’t understand the rating here. Gave the ball away relentlessly and was half asleep defensively. A good right back/wing back in a team dominating, but a weak link in a team under pressure. He needs a break but we have nobody to replace him!
Debuchy!
In a back 4, maybe. Never as a wing back though. He’s creaking!
1. We’ve played a back four the last two games, so I don’t see why we necessarily need a wing back
2. The obvious one is the right-footed AMN on the right, with Kola back in on the left.
Reiss!
Not a fullback. Not even a wing back.
We’re prone to lapses in concentration. We need someone to be more vocal in the middle of the field; keep everyone focused. Would love to see AMN playing in the midfield. Love his composure and attitude- he seems unfazed by the occasion, which is a very good thing for a young player. Plus he has pace to burn. Not the most attractive of wins, but we have the precious 3 points in the bag.
Him or willock, thought willock did a solid job in the europa league, only way he is going to progress is by playing against premiership players.
Yes let’s see Niles in the mid!
I was sure the extra 10/10 was going to be for the shot of Robert Pires in the stands. I have no idea what Welbeck is doing/supposed to be doing out there.
pretty painful 2nd half but great to win & what a goal. if you throw out city it’s a little like the lecester year where no team actually looks good. sneaking into 4th a real possibility which would be great for much needed rebuild that’s coming soon
Was just the Man City game. Boy! How well do they pass the ball?!
Playing good passing football and making sure you don’t over play it.. is an art to be learnt from!
I am fuming with anger because half of the people clearly don’t know how to watch football! Xhaka was one of the best players on the pitch till the 80th minute. We lost the midfield because Iwobi injured himself and Wilshere got tired. After that Xhaka got exposed and also he wasn’t fresh either. Then he missplaced a few passes BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE HAD A BAD GAME. Sadly that’s the only thing some see. He was brilliant for the first 60 minutes. Do you know that boring boring passing in their 3rd? We can maintain to control the… Read more »
Agree I also thought Xhaka was excellent for most of the game. Yet he gets slammed for a couple of sloppy passes yet jack gets next to no criticism for missing a sitter (btw I thought Jack played well too).
We’ve seen Wenger play people out of position with a view to putting them elsewhere before. Putting Maitland Niles in ar fullback is probably to teach him how he can best protect the defence as a central midfielder later on.
He seems pretty switched on though so I’d be interested in seeing him in the middle.
Terrible subs from Arsene almost cost the game, we lost all our momentum at that point and amazingly managed to be on the back foot against one of the worst teams in the league for the last 20 minutes.
We had momentum?
What subs would you do instead?
How bad do Xhaxa and Bellerin have to be to get dropped…Try Niles out on The right and bring Kola back in on the left..Speaking of Niles very impressive today. Much better passer of the ball than Bellerin and Kolasinac (watch how many times he picked Ozil or Wilshere out in great positions) Sanchez was improved today, a couple of key challenges and he made a decisive defensive block where he chased past other players whose actual job it was. Iwobi continues to frustrate…Everything is good than he gets into or around the box. May be the first game i… Read more »
Not just his goal, but Ozil’s general play was excellent. Probably worthy of higher than an 8. Let down by the general lethargy and braindeadness of his teammates in the second half.
We’re awful and Liverpool will tear us apart, unless the team puts a “spurs performance”. Can’t wait for this sorry manager to f… off here really
We are Not terrible. That said, we are pretending to be at Man City’s level and we are not. I suspect against Liverpool, (similar points so far, plenty of their own problems) we will end up drawing.
Bellerin and Xhaka cannot do the one touch, no look pass like an Ozil without giving the ball away. Alexis is wretchedly out of form for a player of his standard and should not be trying to playmake from deep but pushed right into their box where his chaotic high tempo approach can wreck the opposition defence and not our passing game.
Surely clearly it is time to drop Xhaka to the bench.
Giroud actually did a nice lay-off to Wilshere who should have scored, didn’t he?
Three goals in the last four games. Each game we had approx. 75% possession. Our front tactics are not working. We looked most dangerous when a player broke with precedent and took a run at defenders. Passing in and around the box continually simply doesn’t work for us. Our counter attacks are always slowed down as the forwards wait for the midfield to catch up – to have someone to pass to instead of taking a killer instinct shot (Welbeck doing this against Southampton made me want to break my tv). We’re so easy to defend against because we simply… Read more »
Fantastic movement and anticipation from Özil for that goal as well. He makes a guess about where it might pop out and gets over into that space. Super super super.
Positives of today: Ainsley Maitland-Niles really looks at home in the side, even if he’s played out of position at LB. Sure, it was against Newcastle, but he was MOTM for me against West Ham in midweek. He’s quick, makes runs beyond the defense, and wants to play football. One of the few players on our side looking to run beyond the opposition defense. Ozil was sharp again today. His moment of brilliance saved us from another Groundhog Day level performance of everyone standing on the edge of the opposition box in a line (like at Southampton and at West… Read more »
Agree with the exception of elneny i think he is a quality sub when you are winning calms play down makes good passes but he does not other enough in attack.
It would be nice to see Maitland Niles in his right position. Did anyone else encounter some very unpleasant Newcastle fans on the way back in the tube? One prat insisted on banging his fist on the ceiling while singing about his love for Tottenham. An older female Toon supporter told him to shut up.
Absolute discrace!
Someone publicly declared their love for totenham?
Wilshere was outstanding today for me, first thought is always a drive or pass forward, offers something no one else in our team does. If we could rely on him staying fit he’s a readymade Ozil replacement imo
Been saying it since he signed, but Xhaka just isn’t a good player. I thought I was a bit premature in my judgement, but I’m beginning to think I’m not. He’s slow, so he can’t pick up a run in behind, doesn’t cope with pressing which is why he’s responible for so many error that leads to goal scoring oppurtunities, he can’t control the tempo of a game, he more or less is static in his play, he makes rash challenges that lead to yellow and red cards when there’s no excuse for them, he lacks a right foot, making… Read more »
Id start.niles either for xhaka or for bellerin. Alexis was terrible. Bellerin really pisses me off. He blows so many chances. Off day for Lacazette as well. Wilshire should have taken his chance.