Arsenal put themselves in the driving seat for next week’s Europa League quarter-final second leg with a 2-0 win over Napoli at the Emirates this evening.
First half goals from Aaron Ramsey and Lucas Torreira (officially given as an OG) ensured we’re in a healthy position for the second game.
Read the Everton 1-0 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
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 Petr Cech. Also, give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Dies anyone know what Torreiras T-shirt was for?
A Uruguayan friend of his who died the other day.
A tribute to his friend from Uruguay.
It said “sp*rs are crap”
“We are going to miss you, Rafita”
We’re going to have to introduce xI stat for Koscielny going forward, expected injuries. That man cannot catch a break!
It’s no coincidence. It happens to him so often because he always throws his body in. No matter what. Easily one of my all time favorite players at this club. And after nearly 10 years at the club he’s still massively underrated. When fully fit he’s absolute world class.
We wanted another Tony Adams – we have him and it’s just a pity many didn’t (and still don’t) recognise that.
Will miss Ramsey like the deserts miss the rain
???
0/10 – Napoli’s GK making good saves and giving them a lifeline.
5/10 – my feelings towards Ramsey: you only value when it’s lost.
Next up – Deeney Deeney what’s the score?
having been away for so long and not in his best form before the suspension, really forgot how good torriera can be and how important he is to how we play. The counter pressing and all his interceptions were huge
Blogs, dont let anyone tell you that your Ramsey infatuation/rating isn’t justified today. He was worth every single point today!
Yes, not sure how he is only rated one point higher than Auba and others. MOTM again (as he was at Newcastle).
Thanks!
You have to say, Ramsey is pure class in every way and he’s going to be a big loss to the team.
Steady
Let’s just wait and see Emery’s first real planning in the summer. I fully trust Emery in bringing the right players. The frustrating matter is that we are letting another big asset go for ZERO money that could otherwise be invested in building the team…
The money men at Arsenal should break the bank and sign Koulibaly pronto, this guy is immense, if not for him, Napoli would have gone in at half time 4-0. Just get him, no matter what.
If only Kos was made of titanium
As he always comes back and only seems to get better, could he have that Wolverine regeneration thing going?
Ramsey continues to show his worth
Can only base my observations on the first half as I missed the second so can’t go into any detail but – Welcome return from Torreira who looked like he was making up for loss time turning up all over the pitch. Excellent hustle to win the ball and score even if it were an own goal. At least there was better effort(s) at goal today and one of the better sides in europe this season taken apart for fun. Only thing is we could have scored more and been more efficient yet. Also Ramsey contributed with a more stable… Read more »
Wow I’d hate to see your post when you “go in to detail” ?
Eaggerly waiting for the book on the second half.
Anyone else forget how good Torreira is?
Nope, been missing him in the starting lineup for what seems months!
Loving AMN at the moment. I’m *this close* to naming my first-born child Ainsley.
And that bonus rating! Emery and Carcedo are so entertaining to watch
To be fair, he defended very poorly early on allowing Napoli to break on AMNs right hand side.
Would that have led to a goal, I´m sure his rating would´ve been much lower. Hopefully he can improve.
Still not 100% convinced and him, he too often looks shocked, surprised and unprepared when the ball comes near him, which is a bit of a problem for a footballer.
Hate to be too critical because he has been thrust into that position before he is fully ready, but against Everton it looked like he had never played football before.
Can’t believe you rated Aubamayang the same as Maitland-Niles blogger. The young man was incredible and Auba was rubbish tonight.
Ramsey was in a league of his own though tonight and so nearly could have had a hat trick.
Napoli has some of the best attacking talent in Europe, and we pancaked them most of the night. Torreira is a real star – that little tackle thing he does that immediately springs the ball for a counter is a beautiful sight.
Loved the argument between Emery and Carcedo. Looked like the latter wanted to bollocks the team after some sloppy play but Emery called for calm..Ramsey scored minutes later. Torreira deserved his bit of luck, won the ball high drove and then done his man with a lovely chop inside. His simplicity has been missed. Ramsey and Guendouzi dally on the ball at times, Xhaxa has slow feet an Elneny just isnt good enough. I was surprisingly abit disappointed in Auba and Laca tonight. They didnt play badly but if they were both on point we would have had more goals.… Read more »
They looked like a married couple, Carcedo accusing Emery of not havng emptied the rubbish.
AMN MOTM for me.
Kolasinac positioning anyone? I was shouting at the screen all along..
Such a gorgeous picture ??
We finally found the system. 3 CBs will give the CM fredom to bomb forward. With Ozil playing in the AM position, it adds crestivity and key passing. Auba drifting to the flanks and then make late runs to score, while Laca is the focal point to hold up ball, close down, create and score. Ramsey fits this style as he’s great at making late runs into the box. With Torrera offering strong defensive backing and winning the ball, and a good passing range, it’s the best platform for Ramsey. And then he’s leaving on a free now. Who’s going… Read more »
Guendouzi!!!
Kolasinac frustrates me. He never seems to have any energy to defend, and literally passes his man off to monreal. He barely tracks his runners and does nothing to protect monreal.
On the other flank, AMN puts in a proper shift, protects the right centre back and does his bit while attacking.
I don’t know if it is a gameplan, or if Kola just can’t be bothered to defend.
Fuckin hell. We just beat napoli 2 nil mate. Why find something to moan about.
Machha muccho saaku 😀
I’m not a fan of Ramsey but he’s shown his character since signing for Juve. Absolute class.
I really don’t like the way they take goals off the man who struck the goal and give it to the defender it deflects off. Faur enough if a winger cuts it back and the defender kicks an own goal by mistake or a cross goes in off the defenders head but awarding an O.G. from a deflected shot seems unfair to both the scorer and the defender it deflects off. Rant over.
Ramsey is really bedding down his legacy at our club. He’s been immense.
Not all deflections off defenders are own goals. This one was because the original shot was going wide.
We really should have scored twice as many, so I hope we can hold it together for the second leg.
Monreal looks very old all of sudden. Another option at LB is a must for next season.
An accurate score, based on genuinely big chances, probably would have been 5-2, maybe 6 -2. But it’s not an accident that you don’t see those often in football. We have all seen so many of “he missed when it was really easier to score” moments that there’s only one conclusion possible: it really wasn’t easier to score.
Koscielny s presence and mustafi s absence is making us better in defence. Though to be honest nacho had a pretty rough day dealing with the runs inside
Probably should whisper it around these parts but there’s a big argument for having Mustafi in at Monreal’s expense at the moment.
Monreal physically doesn’t seem to be able to cut it at the moment.
Mustafi is a much better choice in a three, right now, with Koscielny and Sokratis. With Sokratis suspended, I think it will be Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal–but I really worry about Koscielny playing three matches in 8 days.
I think we should stop mourning about Ramsey. He is just playing well to show Juve that they didn’t make a bad decision in signing him even though it was on a free transfer. There are better midfielders out there somewhere.