Alexis Sanchez came back to haunt Arsenal as Manchester United took advantage of injuries to Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny to end Arsenal’s FA Cup hopes with a 3-1 win under the lights at the Emirates.
Two goals in two minutes from Sanchez and Jesse Lingard did the damage for Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side and even though Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reduced the deficit before the break, the Gunners never really looked like completing a comeback. Anthony Martial put the game to bed with eight minutes remaining as Petr Cech pushed a Pogba shot into his path.
Here’s how the players rated…*spoiler* not well.
Read the Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United match report and see the goals here
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, give the ratings a few seconds to load.
At this rate, 1/10 for Arsenal’s future.
Team needs a massive overhaul, that or face dwindling in mediocrity for some long years.
Sad but true. One of 2 things need to happen. Either Stan gets bought out and we get an owner (hopefully not an evil one) who will spend on players. Or one of the other “top 6” will need to be seriously weakened to give us an easier path to the CL. The homeless goblins very well may have their manager and a few if their top twats leave. It used to be a 3rd option could be getting in a brilliant manager. A visionary type where can squeeze some synergy out of the squad. I don’t see that happening.… Read more »
Nothing significantly different will hapen until Kronk is gone. We might win the odd cup or maybe finish third or forth occasionally, but there will be no title challenges.
But then, you already know that.
But what else are we gonna do to avoid the creeping inevitabily of death? Paint? Charity work?
Jesus, give up on the doom.
I thought we played pretty well and would have stood a good chance without the injuries.
Ramsey, AMN and Kola had much better games than those ratings suggest.
Sure the squad needs investment and Emery needs time. I think we have to put some trust the new recruitment team to spend wisely over the next 12 months.
Giving the manager time is up to us.
First half we played pretty well without threatening too much. Then apart from the initial 10 minutes of the second half where we almost equalised the entire team went AWOL and kicked the ball aimlessly from side to side in front of two rows of four United defenders. Unfortunately every PL team knows our weaknesses and as soon as we lost the ball Pogba just had to pick out a United player for us to concede again. Sure you can blame the players but Managers and Coaches are well paid as well and for an entire team to be bereft… Read more »
Not sure if that’s directed at me, but I’m not really dooming. I have totally lowered my expectations for Arsenal and it has helped.
The only way out is through, and I’ve bursted through the zone of dissapointment into the meadow of no expectations. Arsenal is just a thing I talk shit about with my friends and my brother, a thing I read about online, and the footy I watch on Teevee.
Let go. It feels good.
This post is only about 35% in jest.
I didn’t think we played THAT bad. Some would talk as if it were the West Ham game.
What was clear was, unlike United, for all the talk of we need a playmaker out there (which is just a call for Ozil), we seriously lack direct pacey players who can carry the ball and have end product. United had Lingard, Sanchez, Pogba then later Martial and Rashford. Only such player of similar quality as the aforementioned was Iwobi….and he definitely lacks in the end product department.
But that I think would require a lot of changes to our system & style. Where I think we are losing is in the midfield- we’re clearly not comfortable without the ball, as we don’t defend well but we’re losing the ball too much in midfield. More often than not we lose the second pass from our D and end up with the ball near our D again. What we need in my opinion is a midfield enforcer like Santi or Arteta, someone who can get struck into tackles, win the ball, dribble past people and transition the team from… Read more »
I wouldn’t say Arteta and Santi were ‘midfield enforcers’, but more deep lying playmakers. I think in fact a lot of the problems in those teams came from them being asked to do both roles which they clearly weren’t suited for. The problem is that what you describe is basically the complete midfielder… Someone who can do literally everything. How many of them are there out there at the top level? And how much would it cost to bring one in? Instead most teams have to break up that role, by having players who specialise in certain areas and that’s… Read more »
To me, one of the only positives of this match (and it certainly does not outweigh the negatives: dropping out of the FA Cup, losing to Man United, injuries, possibly serious, to defenders) was the further indication that a manager’s job is largely to figure out how to get the most out of his players. That means man management and psychology, but it also means tactics. So Pogba, almost a joke when Mourinho was his coach, looks like the world-class midfielder who played in Russia. We have one world-class player, and two strikers who are close. I hope Emery understands… Read more »
Totally. Our midfield is pretty slow and unathletic. Torreira looks tired and against pogba, it was very obvious that we need a more athletic player in CM. Not saying drop Torreira, he is good at what he does, but like you said, we need another ball carrier.
Ultimately, papakos going off was the killer
True, Torreira was outmuscled and outrun by Pogba. But that pretty much describes what Pogba brings. He’s a rare combination of size, athleticism, and decent technique. Torreira is neither the first nor the last opponent by far Pogba will do that to on his current form.
I thought ozil played well today for the time he got. We had all the posession but were still not creating any decent chance until ozil and guendouzi came on and then we started pinging passes together right in and around their penalty area. But then our defence came apart and conceded the third goal which effectively ended the game. All our attacking players played as well as they could be expected, but defence keeps failing us. We are going nowhere until we fix the defence.It seems wise right now that we keep playing the three man midfield for added… Read more »
how many points for MRI ?
Man U got the tactics right and we didn’t have any answer for that. Losing Socrates so early in the game I felt it was gonna go that way.
I can see Emery’s tinkering becoming a focal point for criticism in 2 years time
How about now lol
I’ve said this in another thread. He reminds me of a type of manager that belongs with a smaller club where they need to keep tinkering every match like I assume Sevilla did with him there. His Lack of man management skills showed at PSG and it’s backfiring here with the handling of Ozil, Ramsey and even elneny.
I think it’s too early to pass a judgement on Emery. At the same time, I too had commented earlier how his treatment of players that are left out of squad is concerning. IMO he is freezing a lot of players out too early. But our problems go well beyond him. Why do you think we hired him in the first place – because Stan didn’t want to invest his personal money into the club & in buying top players which any top manager would demand. If you think we are limited by Emery’s capabilities then it’s because we chose… Read more »
Emery is a good manager and is doing a good job for us, however, the task he has been handed is a very difficult one. He has inherited an average squad, with a budget that is on par with Cardiff City. I’m hoping this summer he is ruthless and we ship out the likes of Mustafi, Elneny, Mkhitaryan and Ozil with a few more. If this can help raise around £50m plus and we make smart acquisitions then we don’t need a massive budget this summer, we just need to identify some gems again like we used to do. It’s… Read more »
Think this season is important for salvaging the transfer value of certain squad members but I definitely agree that last summer’s overhaul wasn’t radical enough.
As Clive from Arsenal Vision podcast always says, “blow it up”.
Sevilla was a fourth place club in Spain. We’re at the same level.
Does that mean we get to move to sunny Spain and eat Iberian ham?
I’d settle for Jamon Ruffles.
We are not a 4th place club. We aspire to be a 4th place club.
What concerns me is our continued inability to defend. It would be one thing if we played youngsters but this was virtually our first choice line up except Leno
And our first choice centre back went off within 20 minutes.. how can that not have an effect today.
Well, that terrible rebound on 1-3 killed the game for me. Before that I kinda had a hope that we could snatch something, but after the goal you could see the players give up. I wouldn’t say it’s a terrible mistake, but our goali should have don’t better there…
We always had hope at 1-2, in fact we we’re starting to turn the screw on them, but the third killed us, and Cech was horrendous for it, tame enough shot at him he could of and should of put it anywhere bar where he did, shockingly poor goalkeeping
I disagree.
Sokratis and Koscielny don’t get injured and I reckon it would’ve been much closer. This game was lost entirely on the counter.
Also we really missed Bellerin today.
When you lose your defensive organizer 20 minutes in and then your best defender 20 minutes into the second half it’s hard to really say we have “our first choice line up.”
I agree but then Manure left their best strikers lately on the bench until late on. It still comes down to organisation/coaching. Watch the first goal in freeze frame and wonder why Mustafi was rushing at Lukaku when there were already 3 players on him whilst crossing directions with Sanchez instead of marking him. Basic schoolboy ball-watching. 3rd goal I was blaming players for not tackling Pogba but watching it again his power was just tremendous, we were left with too many upfield yet again. Xhaka was left with Pogba coming at him and Rashford behind him to cover so… Read more »
I was waiting for someone blaming Mustafi for that goal. It’s just ludicrous. Insofar as one of our defenders was to blame, it was Koscielny. But, as you recognise in your second point, there are two teams on the pitch. Lukaku made a very good pass, and Alexis scored a pretty brilliant goal. (No one would argue with that characterization when he did it for us.)
The only attacking player we had on the bench was Ozil, our squad isn’t just lacking in quality in certain areas, we’re also lacking in numbers.
i wasn’t expecting much this season, and I’m expecting we’ll fall further behind next season.
Cash reserves of £231,000,000 last May, and yet we’re pleading poverty in January….
WTF is going on?
Mustafi the same rating as Sokratis? Ramsey was much better than a 5, more like a 6 or 6.5. We’ve had terrible luck with injuries. I hope this problem gets a lot of attention for the rest of the season. When we have had Bellerin in the game with Sokratis and another solid CB (it was Holding, now Kos), our D shines and frees up the midfield to focus upfield. Emery’s plans can come to fruition. If you look hard at the quality in our squad it simply isn’t there, especially at the back. We have good players who can… Read more »
That defence hasn’t looked solid all season, yes, including that unbeaten run
Fair enough, but: Bellerin Sok Kos Kola back four was excellent and the first time we saw it all season. Holding was certainly Holding it down. And with back 3 +2 wingbacks, Sok and Holding could contain Mustafi’s weaknesses. It’s just a bit tragic that our worst first team CB, Mustafi, is the only one who hasn’t had a serious injury all season. And Kola can’t do his Kola thing alone, when Bellerin balances out that running up the channels strategy he’s lethal and then Iwobi is all of a sudden a much better player. I’m just sick of the… Read more »
What is the moral panic over?
We lost our best central pairing which disrupted our momentum, controlled the game for the most part and worked it really well, missed a couple of good chances and got punished by a very fast and talented team on the counter.
We lost a great game of football in which we were unlucky with injuries – no more analysis required at this point
Would bump all these ratings up by at least 1, you can play well and not win – just one of those days
Agreed, I thought we played well, AMN as well. But to read here everyone was shit. United had the rub of the green, but playing like that we would beat most teams. Losing Socrates and Koscielny to injury, what do people expect.
Thanks man, at least one sane comment when a lot of fans act like United was classes above us. We were better in almost every stat of the game. Just that we had 10-15 minutes each after the 2 injuries and in that time we lost the game. I’m proud how the boys fought and far from embarrassed or anything like that. As a fan I’d rather think about a pretty poor atmosphere inside the stadium and loads and loads of empty seats 15 minutes before the final whistle again. Do you guys really think our fans have deserved better?… Read more »
Fully agreed with your first paragraph, esp thought we did well to regroup and pin them back before half-time. As for the rest of your comment attacking our fans (as usual for you), you do realise no-one wants to be stuck on packed public transport on a Friday night? Except maybe Newcastle(?), every other club’s fans would head for the exits having gone 1-3 down at home in a Cup tournament of minor importance. Before the Emirates, it was the Highbury Library. We will never be Dortmund’s Yellow Wall, so get over it. We still have the 2nd highest home… Read more »
I spend as much money for the few times I come over to London per season as other guys spend for a season ticket. And I’ve always been there when the game kicked off and I always stayed until the final whistle. When you think it’s normal to leave the stadium 15 minutes before the final whistle in a game in which you‘ve lost your 2 cb‘s to injury and against the most in form team in the league, because you think we don’t have a chance to come back from 2 goals behind, than you’re not the one who… Read more »
Berlingoon I get what you’re saying but I think you’re wrong to judge all of the fans that leave early, they have their lives to get back to you know! It’s great that you’re always there until the final minute, other people might have other priorities or transport concerns. And especially on a Friday night when many will be wanting to get back to their families/friends/whatever after a long week. It’s not nice to the see the stadium half empty on occasion but I think we fuss about it far too much. If people want to leave early, that’s absolutely… Read more »
There was a discussion about this last season and Berlingoon was asked how many times he went a year and said once. He’s now upgraded himself to “a few times” a season lol.
Everyone wants a full stadium for 90 mins, but you have to be a bit of a sociopath not to acknowledge the very practical realities of mass transit in a huge city like London on a Friday night.
Wait, when did I say I felt “betrayed” by the club? You’re such a weirdo. Regulars who went last night, bought food, drink and merch and left early are still contributing far more to the club than you and your few fictional trips a season. Even if you travel all the way from Australia, Arsenal aren’t making money from your airline ticket so how much you personally claim to spend is irrelevant. We should all encourage Gooners to stay behind and clap the team off at the end. But you take it a bit far with that rude, arrogant tone.… Read more »
Do we really have the 2nd highest home attendance in England? I don’t think we do in terms of how many fans actually turn up to each game, it’s just that Arsenal report attendance as tickets sold for some reason.
Yeah there’s some dispute about how accurate the figures are, but yes we have the 2nd highest home attendance after Utd.
I specified *home* attendance because Sp*ds actually have a higher attendance at Wembley, but they’re homeless goblins and they don’t count.
“No more analysis required”
That’s my motto this season. Some people are gonna give themselves a heart attack trying to over-analyse us. It’s a transition year guys, you win some, you lose some.
I thought Ramsey worked hard and deserved a better rating than that. He was regularly running past others to press and was always trying to keep the tempo up, often running off the pitch to collect the ball and take quick throw ins to keep us moving
You could see he was trying harder than usual tonight but when we’ve got the ball he just marks the opposition CB. It helps the opposition to sit in a defensive position. You can make runs into the box but there’s no point in just standing there with the other CFs..
You thought he was regularly running past others, and always trying to keep the tempo up. Blogs called him a trundler who looked a bit lost for long stretches. One of you is talking nonsense apparently.
Blogs hasn’t written this
You’re right, mate. Blogs didn’t even remotely imply that he trundled about or looked a bit lost. Juve are getting the best player to ever lace up a pair of boots.
Little harsh on some of these ratings I think. With nothing doing on the other side and few runs into the box, how is iwobi supposed to get better end product? Torriera same kind of thing. He was tidy and made some important tackles. Of course he’ll be a little behind here and there if he has to press and cover for the outside backs
Am I the only one annoyed by Özil not at least trying to pressure Pogba in the run-up to the third? Sure, maybe you can’t win the ball back, but you can put him off a bit…
And Torreira? It is his job, no?
You could tell Xhaka was trying to both cover Pogba and not commit too early to give a free run to Rashford on the right, so his hands were full. Between Torreira and Mustafi one of them should have stepped up to Pogba and the other actually mark Martial.
Mustafi should have stepped up.
If Ramsey could have stayed closer to Rashford it would have given us a better chance but he didn’t realise the danger until it was too late too.
Move on from your Özil hatred. We lost not because of Özil!!
Move on from your Özil hatred. We didnt lose the match because of Özil!!
I think Kolasinac is being miscredited with the creation of Auba’s goal in the ratings above. He brought the ball into their half, but Ramsey made that goal happen. Ramsey should at least have a 6 IMO.
Doesn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but Rambo deserves the credit there.
Seen matches like this, all too often over the last 11 or 12 years, when will we see a change. That wasnt even a great Utd team.
They gave us a 10 point headstart in the league and they’ll probably be ahead of us within 2 matches.
Your first paragraph has some merit, but we are running more, we are working harder, and this is a big change. Tonights result sucks but I do think a culture change is happening, we won’t be outworked, we will change our style of play depending on our opponents. It’s going to take a while but I still think we are on the right track. Your second paragraph is negative hysterical nonsense that deserves a good sound slap to snap you out of it. Sp*rs have everyone injured. Ole’s honeymoon will end. Sarri has pinned it all on a 31 year… Read more »
Comment of the week mate.
Higuain is coming to the Premier League too late and out of form, and once the CL starts again Utd will struggle after they got knocked out by Kylian Mbappe.
Looks like we need to buy a centre back or we’re facked.
Terrible result, but it was a good game of football until their third goal. I agree with Emery’s post match comments, the defensive injuries seemed to halt our momentum a bit though 🙁
Hello Young Fabregas. Can we just go back to 2006? Before the CL final
On a positive note this loss made me indulge in soothing brandy.
Iwobi and especially Ramsey deserved higher but otherwise I think the ratings are fair. Not sure what was up with our tactics, obvious choice would have been to play the same team as we had against Chelsea and match up with United’s diamond. But instead we ended up playing Aubameyang wide right! He didn’t look comfortable there at all. Defending was very shoddy, especially the second goal. Lacked penetration up top as well; sometimes you need a bit of power and dynamism to break a team down, and we just don’t have it. We played like how Chelsea played against… Read more »
I’m sorry but I don’t agree with all the people on here saying Ramsey was great. He was shocking, all that toothless running without any sort of end product exactly why we didn’t renew his contract. Glad he’s effing off to Juve honestly. You can disagree all you like but last year most of you would have said the same and now he’s leaving and somehow I’m supposed to be the opposite way? I think the rating is harsh for Maitland-Niles who played out of his skin! He was at fault for letting Alexis be on for the first and… Read more »
Agree on AMN, not on Ramsey, though he faded in the end, as the whole team did.
Odd you’d say Ramsey lacked end product when he basically created our goal. Your comment totally ignores Ramsey’s contribution to our attacking play; what good we did going forward, went through him. And I will disagree all I like, thank you very much! Especially because he’s going for free.
Agree AMN had a better game than Blogs is making out.
Agree on AMN. He was up against Alexis and Pogba all match. Not easy for any defender. He didn’t shrink away from it at all.
Can see why Cech is retiring. Poor for both the second and third. Why step away from your near post on the 2nd? You shouldn’t let in a goal at our near post like that. If he goes far post and puts it in the corner fine, you hold up your hands. But don’t get beaten at your near.
Bit of a recurring pattern too.
I’ve seen people criticise the quality in our squad a lot, and don’t get me wrong I’d love it if we pulled in a few new players to improve it in key areas (I’m looking at you defence!) However, I definitely feel the manager should be getting more out of the squad. We have a star attack, if it’s set up well. But frankly none of the players on the field know what they are meant to be doing. There is no system or philosophy that is being worked towards. And what scares me the most is that we are… Read more »
I wonder how people can say we have improved against the top sides. We have played 9 games against the top 5, won 2, drew 2, and lost 5. I know we look more competitive, but our stats say we are worse in those games. It’s like with Iwobi, he looked busy and dangerous, but without an end product, what’s the point? That seems to be us this season. We praise players for what they look like their doing instead of focusing on what we are actually getting from them. Lacazette is a special player though. If he were in… Read more »
“We praise players for what they look like they’re doing instead of focusing on what we are actually getting from them.”
Well put.
I agree with you Devlin about Lacazette. He works so hard. I think he and Auba would score more if they received a better (and quicker) service from their team mates. Too many passes go sideways or backwards.
1) Cech – He’s slower than before for sure but he should have done better for all 3 goals against us. Came out well enough for the first but did not block the shot. Second goal maybe it was the power but it was a shot close enough to him to do better. Third one was just poor palming it back toward Martial. I have reservations about letting him go this summer only bc I’m not sure with the sort of budget ‘limitations’ we like to impose on ourselves that we will get someone better. BUT you have to wonder.… Read more »
I agree Santori with virtually everything you have just said. I only want to add we need to reduce the passes going sideways and backwards.
Good old arsenal; different manager same shit explanations
How come Steve Bould still has a job after years of failing to organise our defence?
Even if Arsenal have Messi or Ronaldo in their team along with Auba and Laca in attacking positions without proper defense in the team, you achieve nothing with that.
Arsenal have no balance in their team…. Like
Attack:- Strong (May become even stronger with proper Wingers)
Midfield:- Average (Xhaka not good enough, Ozil’s creativity is over)
Defense:- Weak probably weakest considering the injuries.
So it’s very difficult and saddest thing to expect lot from this unbalanced Arsenal team.
As long as they don’t fix this defensive problem then it will be same story for Arsenal every season to come.
Arseblog and other you do realize that a ball bounced just in front of the Cech and that he couldn’t push ball out for the corner? The mess made the defense and not Cech.
I would say that the problem Arsenal is facing with starts after 2007 when David Dean left his position as Vice Chairman. During Dein’s time at the club, he was responsible for football matters taking an active role in the transfer of players and contract negotiations where he was able to use his extensive network of football contacts. Dein was behind the appointment of the then little known Arsène Wenger to the manager’s job in 1996; under Wenger, Arsenal have won the Premier League three times and the FA Cup seven times, and Dein strongly backed him and his transfer… Read more »
This is going to be unpopular but are lacazettes stats good? I just feel like he’s not converting the chances too many bad touches at critical moments, didn’t he lose the ball that led to the 3rd goal. I am sure that hes lost the ball at least 2 other times that led to a an opponent scoring? Am I a just missing something.
Yes, he misplaced that pass, but we really can’t keep blaming goals on a forward losing a ball in the attacking third of the pitch. That’s kind of the reason we have defenders and defensive midfielders. In theory, anyway.
Surely a quality manager can teach his team to defend and organise them regardless of who he inherited? All internationals ffs.
Mustafi was most culpable for the Alexis goal, not Kos. Just terrible. Give him a 2.
despite the injury crisis selling Mustafi would actually increase the quality of the squad.