A late goal from Gabriel Martinelli gave Arsenal a long-awaited victory over Man City in a tight game at the Emirates this afternoon.
City were lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch after Mateo Kovacic somehow escaped a red card, but in the end the story – thankfully – is about three delicious points for us and not terrible officiating.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 1-0 Man City and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-0 Man City – Player Ratings
The ratings are 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 David Raya. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
10/10 Arteta – the four subs involved in the goal: Partey to Tomiyasu to Havertz to Martinelli to goal
11/10 Arteta – There has to be some kind of bonus for not taking a yellow after Kovasics second tackle.
Also, there was a proper plan for the last third of the game.
Scenes from my sickbed………absoloute scenes!! COYG!!
Everyone deserves 10. Kovacic deserves red.
Haland can have 3.5 for being in Saliba’s pocket
3.5 for Haaland is rather generous. Mikel Arteta touched the ball more times than him today!
Not news to people here but Saliba is really, really, really good
Kovacic’s first yellow should have been a red. How was the second ankle breaker not a yellow?!?
GWS
Funnily enough I’m feeling much better
I read this as Gabriel William Saliba 🤫
That’s a back 3 there…
Absolutely right..
🍻
10/10 to Mikel Arteta for the subs. All 4 were involved in the goal.
Rice is incredible. MOTM for me.
Moi aussi
He was excellent today. As were Saliba and big Gabby. Another clean sheet for the back 5. Raya much better in the second half but there really is not much between him and Ramsdale.
Credit to Kai for the assist. Maybe his fortunes are turning?
Ridiculous that Kovacic was not sent off. Imagine the chaos if he’d scored or assisted for them? Especially after the VAR disaster last week.
Enjoy the next two weeks Gooners.
I think there’s actually a bit between the two of them. When we needed to play it cool, he did just that. As much as I rate Ramsdale, I can’t see him not launching the ball on a couple of occassions today. Raya may not always be precise, but he always stays cool enough to at least attempt a decent pass.
Does it really matter if either goalie stays cool after gifting the opposition a goal? It was more urgency Raya needed today not more nonchalance.
I felt like Raya almost cost us the game at many occasions. He clearly showed is immense upside in the end, but being good in defense is about consistent and accurate decision making, not flashes of brilliance (I would say it’s the opposite on offense).
Anyway, I feel like I felt before the season : we have two great keepers worthy of the number one spot.
I was at the game today and found myself watching his movement instead of the gameplay at times – the way he closes off spaces is incredible
10 for Rice
He was pure class.
Declan was great.
The best thing, ever, is that there’s more to come. He could improve so much.
His passing, I’m sure, is going to become much more diverse, and much more precise.
His attacking off-the-ball movement will get more familiar to the team, and he’ll learn where and when he can make an impact.
His confidence in the build-up play will get better. Partey and Jorginho can teach him so much. Finding space (Jorgi). Making space (Partey). Spacetime continuum (Zinny).
This is coming, I’m sure, and more.
He’s a learner.
Me too. There are tempo changers in the game. He was excellent at that today.
Tens all around except for the ref. The referee failed to send off Kovacic for the most obvious of second yellow. Even the first one could have been a red if the Liverpool spurs game is taken as benchmark. The referee also failed to send off Bruno Guimerese in the Newcastle game. Compare it to the send off of wolves player for second yellow, we can see a clear pattern.
Anyway, One Nil to the arsenal against 12 men.
it was worse than the liverpool one. curtis jones feet slipped over the ball. kovacic’s tackle was a studs up, off the ground dive into odegaard’s ankle. how that is not a red is beyond any reasonable comprehension.
We ll get a pgmol apology if we are lucky
Not holding my breath
Didn’t he also sent off Martinelli in one of the most ludicrous circumstances you’ll ever see?
So ludicrous that he got the second yellow before the first
Michael Olly is the new Mike Dean… same kinda smug ferret-face you just really, really want to slap.
Slap is too tame.
That was against Wolves away I think where Martinelli pushed the thrower at a throw in to stop him advancing then chopped him down seconds letter as if to atone for his earlier stupidity. A richly deserved double booking. I think Gabby’s learned his lesson
the first one is a straight red. thank god martin’s ankle didn’t snap. it’s was extremely dangerous in the way he was putting all his weight in that foot. do we have to wait until a player breaks for considering it a red? you’d think he’d have been sent off on his next challenge, but neither that… absolute disgraceful in VAR days
The yellow card and var ‘review’ were consequences of their incompetence at the toilet last week. That doesn’t happen, kovacic gets sent off.
Do you remember how quick he gave Martinelli two yellows vs Wolves last season but one? The corruption in this league is damning
He deserved both bookings for sheer stupidity. Let’s hope Gabby’s learned from that
The story of the game for me is how much stronger Arsenal look both literally and in terms of the squad. By the end of the game we had a team of giants on the pitch, and it’s noticeable how the final goal was from a move involving 4 subs. Very difficult to pick a MotM but our CB partnership and Jesus on the right were outstanding today.
Great point, the team grew 5 inches taller by the end of the second half. How much self belief can they take from that game? Now just praying everyone comes back safely.
Getting more like Prime Wengers team full of strong and technical athletes. Oddly enough he had scrapped that blueprint by the time Arteta had arrived.
Everyone connected to Arsenal gets a 10 from me.
Best center back pair in the league?
Yes they are & the best we’ve had since Adams Bould & Keown !
Sol Campbell & Kolo Touré? 🤗
Exactly!
Not gonna downvote this but the Invincibles
And to think they’re just 22 and 25…
And to think Gabriel started the year on the bench…let’s hope we don’t see that nonsense again.
Yep – if we can keep them as a partnership for the next 5-7years, Lord only knows how good they get!
Thank goodness arteta is no longer playing partey at right back.
Martinelli coming back from injury and coming in clutch against City. You love to see it! Great team performance all round today – they hardly had a sniff at goal. Well done lads!
Imagine what the score would be if Ode had his shooting boots on. Not to mention if we didn’t have to play against 12 men…
This guy is terrific. When 100% healthy, should be in the starting XI for Arsenal and Brazil NT as well.
An astonishingly good find at £6M, presumably from Edu.
How did Eddie manage a rating of above 3 is beyond me. Hale End product and I want to see him succeed at Arsenal, but I am afraid he isn’t the answer going forward. His pressing was abysmal to say the least and his hold up play is non existent.
Blogs is very protective about him
Blogs rated him lower than the fan average, so I can’t agree with your post.
He has limitations. He wouldn’t be playing if we had a fully fit squad. He is a good player. City fans will be saying the same about players who filled in for Rodri/De Bruyne this evening.
Enjoy the win for fucks sake mate. Moaning about a player in your side.
This is about player ratings. Player ratings. Not the match report. I am rating the player FFS?
Easy tiger – it is a Player Ratings thread, after all!
played better than haaland still
Absolutely agree with you mate. He does nothing. Can’t hold the ball, can’t win a header. His anticipation and composure are very poor. In the first half when he took a ball from Odegaard just to get offside position – pure class. People will down vote, because their bias towards our homegrown players. I don’t know how long do you follow arseblog, but back in the day it was exactly same story with Iwobi. We all know how that worked out…
The amount of times MO was throwing his arms around out of frustration because of Eddie’s nonchalant pressing. I understand Messi trodding on the pitch to conserve energy, but Eddie has not earned that right. Kai made so much of a difference.
Absolutely painful. Seemed like his lead were heavy. Rice and Martinelli even took turns doing his pressing.
The skipper was also gesticulating at Eddie to put more effort in… I just hope we didn’t flog the wrong Hale End lad!
He is taking Mikel’s trust for granted and forgetting how ruthless the gaffer can be.
Yep – here’s an interesting stat: Pepe had a better goals per game average than Eddie currently has. And that was being stuck out on the flank, in a significantly poorer-performing team… yet, he still got the Mik Ice-Shoulder…
How much longer do we carry Eddie… I’m even thinking we put Gabi at CF and put Pepe back wide right when Saka doesn’t play!
Pepe was a $30 million winger we paid $74 million for and has just left on a free transfer to Trabzonspor in Turkey
Couldn’t agree more. There is no aspect of his game that’s good enough for Arsenal. Not sure he’s even championship level. Yet he starts every match, Arteta sticks with him/plays Jesus out of position. Why on earth would Trossard be pulled in favor of Nketia? Play trossard from the right and Jesus thru the middle. Manager bias towards a mediocre player.Happy for the fortunate win, management still worrisome. We should be all in for Ollie in Jan.
Pity Watkins has just signed a new 5 year deal at Villa
Iwobi was certainly talented but his final ball and finishing never reached the standard required to nail down a starting position. Everton offered us an eye-watering $40 Million for him which we couldn’t refuse. I think even Eddie would start for the current Everton side. Iwobi’s now at Fulham (you work it out….)
I thought Eddie was quite decent. He was asked to hold up play against at least two defenders every time and he managed it a few times. He was a full participant in the press and worked hard on both sides of the ball. Okay, he’s not G Jesus. But he did his job today.
Absolutely agree. Imagine after beating them with a late winner and the comment you want to post is that one of our players, who worked his socks off towards that victory, is garbage!
If he was at City how far down the pecking order would he be? Not as good as Cole Palmer and they let him go.
Exactly.
Eddie bashing is so boring. We beat city ffs. he played his part. Arteta rates him. deal with it.
Making an informed comment that a given player is not putting in a shift equivalent to those around him is not ‘bashing’ – it’s simply an honest observation. Or did you not see our Captain repeatedly cajoling Eddie to join the press?
You may also not be aware that one Nic Pepe actually had a better goals-per-minutes stat when Mik froze him out for ‘lack of effort’? And that was stuck out wide right, in a significantly less effective squad than Eddie has behind him!
He is really frustrating to watch – always looks like he’s ‘about’ to do something and then nada.
There were a couple of occasions where you could see the Skipper getting frustrated and waving his arms at Eddie to help with the press – Martin ran his bollocks off whilst Eddie just jogged around and hardly put in a tackle.
I think the obvious position to improve next summer is at number 9. Ideally, Jesus should be our luxury back-up, playing as much as a starter, at all three positions up front.
5.5 in recognition of not making howlers
I think Rice deserves a higher rating, I’m glad Arteta is beginning to play him as box to box, and we’re just getting started.
yea i think so too. jesus on the right looked really good as well. i think that should be where he plays when saka’s not playing on the right.
I gave Rice and Odegaard a 10 for being so inspirational in midfield tonight. Set the tone for the whole team with their desire, commitment and intelligence.
Doku ran away from Zinny and switched wings. Zinny was on fire today. He’s defensive side has massively increased today.
Massively increased this season*
And then Tomiyasu came on….
Thought White handled Doku well too.
That nutmeg on Doku was quality
Loved the few moments near the end where Marvellous Martin gave Doku a quick lesson on how to actually beat players with close control.
He switched because Tommi was coming on.
I loved the commentary the first time Doku ran at Zinchenko … “Here comes Doku racing at Zinchenko and … and it’s one-nil to Zinchenko.”
Havertz must start over Nketiah any day.
Yes, Kai might have been a better choice at CF. But it all worked out. How about Tomi going up to receive that glorious ball from Partey? That cushioned header to Kai…sublime.
True but I enjoyed the burst of energy and intensity when he came on. I think it surprised everyone how ready he was the moment he came on. First time I could begin to see Arteta’s vision of Havertz in our team.
Havertz introduced a burst of energy and intensity when he came on? That was Martinelli mate…lol
Erm,let’s not be greedy. He got an assist and no spectators were harmed by his distribution. Early days…
The way our two CBs have handled Haaland in almost every game we’ve played against them since he got there makes me a really proud Arsenal fan, it’s been so long since we had a bulletproof pair like that.
And Havertz. He hasn’t been great but definitely better than the critique he’s received prior to this game. The penalty was a nice gesture from his teammates but he really needed a moment like this, hopefully he can finally relax and settle now, feel like there’s a lot more to come from him.
Looking forward to a Havertz hat trick against the Chavs in a couple of weeks.
Critique is appropriate. And after lens game you also seemed to share the view he’s underachieving…great result today but let’s not forget he’s now relegated to the bench and we’re looking for any scraps to justify his inclusion in the team…
SOME critique is appropriate, the amount he received is way over the top. Even at the start of the season I always said he should be given time to settle and not be put under the spotlight as the automatic starter at the 8, and his performance I think while always conributing more than many fans were noticing, consistently fell short of staking a claim for that spot as his own. Especially when there are at least two other candidates who should be given as much of a chance as he has been. But I never said I thought he… Read more »
This game is so important to us because the players need to believe in themselves. Now the show begins.
Man Who?
Fell to earth!
Arteta 10/10. Went for control and conservatism over emotion and energy. It looked boring but it was effective. Stifled Man City and took away all their danger in transition.
This is how Chelsea teams would beat their rivals and win the title. There are days for it.
100%. We strangled City. Only way to beat them.
He’ll be very difficult to replace eventually. I hope we find a younger gem who can do the same things he does (and less prone to injury…)
Thought zingy was fking excellent. Great on the ball and defensively
He absolutely stonewalled a fresh-off-the-bench Doku and I laughed in giddiness
How is a referee allowed to go out to the UAE and take charge of matches and then come back to referee a City match who are owned by the UAE? Is that not a conflict of interest because let’s face it, the fucker made some awful pro City decisions in the match!
PGMOL did a VAR check on conflict of interest, check completed. There was no conflict of interest, they were only aligning their interests and literally lining their pockets in the UAE.
If the players can do the cash grab, why not the refs? Good luck to them.
When Arsenal was extending a lead in the title race the same refs “forgot” to draw the lines for offside and gifted Brentford and city two points. When liverpool had dropped just two points the same chaps decided not to draw the lines. Kovacic gets a red if he’s Xhaka but don’t forget Rodri already on a yellow could have been sent off twice against liverpool last season with city a goal down but they came back to win. I wouldn’t call match fixing but we’ve seen Barcelona investigated for paying for “favourable” decisions and who knows what these refs… Read more »
The same people working at barca during the mentioned period of corruption are now working at city… coincidence?
Like the chant said, how much are they paying him?
Your rating for Oliver is way too high
Now we know what Raya brings. Those accurate long ball when the opponents are pressing forward.
And a few brain farts in the first 20 that could easily have been Fulham all over again.
I don’t know. I still don’t see Raya as our best GK option. Was Ramsdale’s distribution that poor? Won’t he be working on it? He’s the better shot stopper for sure.
The distribution thing has been done to death but Raya was also flapping at crosses today
We’ve done the experiment, Raya has some good qualities, but right now he doesn’t inspire confidence. I’d very much like Ramsdale back in goal and for us not to take up the option on Raya next summer. Probably I won’t get my way, but Ramsdale is just a better goalkeeper even if a statistically slightly lesser distributor.
Agreed. Even if they are like for like (hell, for argument’s sake I will even say Raya is slightly better), how on earth can some rent-a-goalie be starting before Ramsdale? Ramsdale has that bravado and big personality that you need on the pitch and in the locker room. He never shrinks in the spotlight. He is loved by both fans and his teammates. I feel like there is this mass amnesia with ppl griping about Ramsdale’s play. He has been massive for us since he got here.
I think Arteta wants Ramsdale to be better than Raya, he is really challenging him to up his distribution game and I’m sure Ram is working on it with intensity of a betrayed man
Pigeons and seagulls: Be afraid, be very afraid.
My take aways:
Two points better off than last season in corresponding games.
A clean sheet against a team with Haaland, Alvarez and Foden.
We are title contenders without a doubt.
And dropped points in 2 matches where we conceded goals due to individuals error, guess it is not such a bad start after all!!
Of the six goals we’ve given up so far this season, two were due to suicidal individual errors and two were due to team errors. Take away the errors – hell, just take away the suicidal individual errors! – and we would be on 24 points from 8 matches.
Rather than being despondent over this, I’m actually quite cheered because I know the errors will be worked out of the team in short order and when that happens it will be almost impossible to score against us.
If the 19 other teams in the league were to make zero errors in the course of the next 30 league games they might also be almost impossible to score against That’s the trouble with goals you see: they are always the result of an error somewhere on the pitch
PGMOL is an absolute embarassment. Didn’t City bring in loads of directors and football people from Barca alongside Pep? Txiki and the gang? The same Barca that cheated the game for over a decade now? It sure smells oily. Big 3 points and a massive middle finger to the shameless PGMOL. I almost lost my sh** seeing the refereeing today but our boys were a measure of absolute calm. Spotless.
Refs keep moaning about being criticised because apparently “its a tough job and woe is fucking me”. Considering the continued shocking standard of refereeing, ditto var, the lack of transparency and accountability of PGMOL they have no right to complaints all. They’ve made that rod for their own back..
Respect is a 2 way street and pgmol have done nothing to earn mine, therefore I won’t show them the courtesy. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Howard Webb wants to be a celebrity, not a serious person.
If you have to win the league something different has to happen from what was happening before i.e winning at Goodison and and beating citeh today. Crucially yes we were cautious probably too much at the beginning of the game but we seem to have leaned from before The usual pattern against citeh was concede an early goal then its pass pass pass pass and its either either convincing 1-nil or a drubbing. Keeping a clean sheet till late on was the key to winning against citeh.. I have to be honest the game was boring and I hope we… Read more »
People mistakingly think going toe-to-toe only means all-out brawling. It can also mean shuffling around the ring for 12 rounds before the right opportunity presents itself …
It wasn’t boring at all. It was intriguing, tactical, and compelling. You don’t need a score of 5-4 for a match to be interesting. This match was more chess than a shootout at the OK Corral. But it was no less wonderful to watch! A masterful performance from a mature and confident side. I was thrilled for the whole 100 minutes!
It was tedious, predictable, risk averse, lacked creative quality, cohesion, excitement and daring. The only things people are talking about are a booking that should have been a red card, our keeper being literally a shitkicker without a hat and a squabble at the end between Walker and one of fitness coaches. That said I’m still overjoyed we won but I know a really bad game when I see one.
Eddie pissed me off in the second half, we were trying to press and he was jogging as if he was bigger than that, like a prime r9 or Messi . And when the ball came to him he could hold on to it for his life, so so poor
He is the worst player in the whole squad but always starts.
Everytime we face city, he seems to be in the starting lineup.
We won against united when he was subbed off, similar against everton and same today. He seems to suck the flow out of the team.
This is where I don’t understand not leaving Jesus in the middle and starting Nelson. Jesus did fine on the right and actually tracked back a LOT (so I suppose that’s a tactical aspect Arteta may have factored in) but he also is the best at leading our press. Even Trossard is better at that than Eddie.
I think Eddie up top was also a factor in Raya not having a reasonable long outlet in the early part of the game.
I wish him well…but he’s not covering himself in glory.
Imagine I’m odegard charging and pressing and charging like hell and my advance player just simping like he’ll rather be elsewhere.
Sigh…I truly wish him well..
And then, when Martin danced through their defence into the box, Eddie nicks it off him from on offside position because he’s too lazy to maintain a sharp line!
2 of Havertz’s best contributions have come playing as striker, so perhaps it’s time to try him there with Partey/Fabio and Rice?
Give him a spell in goal. He’s tall and can kick a ball forwards (allegedly)
I hear you. I think Eddie just isn’t that level of athlete. I’m not sure he’s capable of pressing for 90 minutes physically or more likely mentally. If you stop expecting it, you won’t get so mad at him. He’s a professional EPL footballer and he plays so he’s in the top 0.1% worldwide but let’s be honest the pressing game is beyond his abilities.
To name but one limitation. He’s not good enough. End of.
When we’re winning, I suggest you (all above) enjoy the winning and quit the whining. Leave it up to Arteta and co to make the relevant adjustments to the squad game to game, month to month and season to season. Enjoy the win!
Everyone on here is perfectly entitled to be critical of what we see as a player’s shortcomings. It doesn’t prevent us enjoying a win or even a good performance where we don’t win. Plus most of us don’t really care to be lectured at by another credulous Arteta fan boy.
Hahaha you’re right you are indeed entitled to an opinion, didn’t say you were not. Just baffles me how people can still be negative despite one of our (potentially) most important wins in years. However, you clearly don’t trust Arteta after the clear progress we’ve made under his management which means I can be critical of you and your silly point of view (and comment above). Jees you must have been one of those relentless Wenger out wallies. Cheer up, enjoy the win and the journey and lay off our players backs ✌🏼
Does that mean you’d rather Arsene Wenger was the manager now?
Agree with 3 for ref. Gutless
Jesus has got insane dribbling, close control and strength. Something about Brazilians
Yep he’s a little magician. Great to watch. Love his energy and fight. He knows the dark arts too. Hilarious when he went down at the end in his little scrap with Ederson
Jesus is unbeatable in Fifa if you want your opponent to rage quit on you. Jesus is your man, your savior.
Make sure you do the « Call me on my cellphone » celelbration on the 3rd goal and you bag 3pts in no time.
Subs combined for goal. Difference makers!
10/10 haaland’s reaction at ft when he emerged into the cold air after being held in the warmth of saliba’s pocket for 90 minutes
I swear he was actually blinking at the daylight!
Best centre back partnership in the world? Rice was excellent also. Good to know we can without Saka
Fvck the ref, had 2 opportunities to show kovacic a red card in two horrendous tackles.
If not the extraordinary Bellingham form, Rice could be the best English midfield rn! What a fuck signing, 110M well spent.
I dunno why saliba was running so clumsy today…oh yeah, he was with Haaland in his pockets.
10/10 for Arteta. His subs won us the game. I thought this was another game in which Nketiah was basically an outage. Sleep-walked our press to death. Lacked a presence of mind in one critical moment. Didnt seem to know when to shoot or pass the ball. Couldn’t hold up the ball. Wonder if Martinelli would have scored if Nketiah was Havertz in that moment.
No is the answer. Nketia would have tried to score himself. Poor player unfortunately. Nice lad just not at level required
I just think it’s fortunate those who were poor today were attackers (Eddie and Trossard)
Even against an ‘out of sorts’ City side our defenders had to be at their very best and they were (Zinchenko aside)
Have they found Haaland yet?
Just barely, there’s a scene at the end of Fargo where you see him getting pushed into a wood chipper. Doing the pushing is William Saliba.
Arteta playing guerrilla warfare with his tutor. ..lovely.
Anyway SALIBA!!!! Why did you leave us so late in the hour last season 😫
Great things we could have done ✔️
What a player!!!
I like Nketiah. But we have got to do better come January. So many times it has felt like he is far behind the level required to play for this Arsenal team.
He needs to be moved on together with Nelson for higher caliber replacements. Arteta’s ruthlessness seems incredibly inconsistent
I fear that Saliba might injure himself. Its bad for the sciatic nerve to have something big in the back pocket all the time.
Great to be a gooner today! 😀
It’ll still be almost inpossible to win the PL with the current level of corruption amongst the refereeing officials. Really disgraceful and sickening stuff. ’Rigged’ is almost an understatement. Oliver and his VAR ’mate’ shouldn’t ref another game, ever,
It amazes me that purportedly sane, rational people come on here and make unsubstantiated accusations of corruption amongst match officials. I wonder why these pitiful little invertebrates hiding behind the testosterone of anonymity can’t provide any substance to their claims? Bjorn Slippy
Gorginho should rated higher than odegaard
Saliba feels like that premium Pokemon card you drew out of a box of Kellogs cereals.
How did we get that player again?
I don’t know much about either Pokemon or cereals, i’m half Neanderthal, but I understand your sentiment. That boy is a gem!
Like finding an untouched piece of obsidian? lying right next to a healthy branch of oak.
Gabriel must be the oak, right
Rice was motm in my view. I know Gabriel and Saliba controlled Haaland, but Rice was everywhere. F’ing excellent win. So proud of the lads. COYG
For me, this game was an eye-opener for what Arteta’s been talking about control and not losing games when we cannot win them. Both teams worked really hard to control the game over anything else and in the end we did it better. Also, despite quite a few terrible balls from Raya, I finally understand how he can make this team better. He might have been shaky, but he doesn’t crack and was super important in this mystical control that Mikel is always on about, particularly after we scored.
Raya seemed overwhelmed in the first half where I think, had Ramsdale been playing, the intensity would have raised his game to another level. It feels overly harsh to Ramsdale to be left out of the team. On the other hand, Raya showed enough in the second half to suggest that once he has settled, he absolutely has the potential to raise our game. In Arteta we trust.
It’s only luck rather than judgement that City failed to punish his distribution errors
Nketiah at 6 is extremely generous
He’s a Championship player at best. Ditto Nelson
Insane atmosphere at the end. I think in the past with 8 mins left after we scored we would have let them back in it, or at least given them a big chance, but I just didn’t have those nerves today. It may have been a boring game for the neutral but that is a masterclass from Arteta. The only times I was nervous was when the keeper who we have supposedly bought in for his distribution had the ball at his feet. He was so lucky on two occasions not to gift them a goal. So Ramsdale in for… Read more »
Ramsdale fanboys need to calm down and face reality. Raya has more clean sheets, more goals prevented, better passing accuracy overall, better long pass accuracy, way more high claims. Stats don’t lie. Focusing on the few Raya mistakes while remembering only the few Ramsdale great moments is just pure bias.
Ramsdale was consistently good last year and commanded the area well. Raya has statistically better distribution but I don’t think he makes our defence better – he’s basically there to be a sweeper which helps us control games better, but when it comes to defending I’d still trust Ramsdale more. Time will tell who’s better, I’m just hoping Ramsdale doesn’t request a transfer at the end of the year.
Some of Raya’s long balls in this game were superb. But also in about half of his games so far he’s also had errors which really make you feel shaky. I’m pretty sure I’m not being biased when I say Ramsdale commits errors like that in a much lower frequency, so he makes you (and perhaps the defenders in front of him) feel safer. But now with this win and the way Mikel talked about Raya post game it doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing Aaron any time soon, which bums me out :/ feel like he at least deserves… Read more »
Let’s all just give it time.
Time makes for the best conclusions.
Raya played like fabianski in the first half, what are you talking about?
Rayas hands are great!
Brings out memories of Semen.
Shows you size doesn’t always matter.
It’s about the commitment when you come out to claim it.
I’m loving it!
Ø was everywhere, inspiring everyone
Rice was an EMP shutting things down
Saliba is a cross between a Rolls Royce and a tank
and then Martinelli rode in on his white horse and saved the day
just tops
Kyle Walker is a cross between a tank and an even bigger tank. Least he kept his pants on today
I thought Zinchenko showed incredible mental maturity by not allowing the barrage of social media hate aimed at him for declaring his support for Israelis earlier today get on top of him. Top man!
Did you also applaud people supporting the apartheid government of South Africa?
He should know all about defending his territory from invaders like Doku and Haaland. Strange he should be siding with the occupiers but he’s entitled to his view (unlike Elneny who’s been asked not to express his because offends our sponsor Lavazza).
Anyway we’ve beaten the treble winners!
I just wish all professional footballers restricted themselves to just playing football. No-one cares what Zinchenko thinks about anything outside his job as that’s the only thing he’s qualified to talk about
Arteta says he regrets twice last season not taking the GK off during the match, and they should be as susceptible to substitution as any other if not playing well….
I call BOLLOCKS!
problem is he was talking about ramsdale. now he’s got him off.
He’s just keeping his options open, preparing both keepers mentally in case it ever happens.
Great to see Martinelli back out there, we have really missed him as Trossard just has not been as impactful as he was last season or even in the preseason. Great to see Partey back too, if we can have that central midfield of Partey, Rice and Odegaard play together consistently going forward that will make a huge difference. Havertz certainly seems better fit for a sub role right now (and he did it well today) and for the first time in who knows how long we actually strengthened by a great deal when the subs came on. They of… Read more »
Trossard has been great when fit. Yesterday he wasn’t.
He seems to thrive when coming off the bench as he’s invariably awful when he starts.
Like against PSV and Everton?
One of the best games in the EPL this season. This was a battle.
Some of the stars were missing, but this was always going to be a battle, anyway.
I absolutely love what we’ve become.
It was a sh*t game lacking in attacking or creative quality
True, but who gives a sh*t? Give me 38 sh*t games any season long as we win em 1-0.
New song for Big WIllie: There’s A Viking In My Pocket…. Excellent defensive showing against one of the world’s most dangerous sides… can we play them every week? What to do about Eddie? Very generous 6 for a player who did pretty much nothing all game. And – quite the opposite of what Blogs saw, I saw a player who lacked effort – there was a telling moment before he was subbed where Ode pressed frantically between three Citeh players while Eddie just jogged around offering nada in support. It’s like he’s scared to actually press to the point of… Read more »
Eddie is a Championship striker at best. Ditto Nelson. They both need to be moved on as part of Arteta’s purported ruthless clear-out