Arsenal crashed out of the EFL Cup this evening, going down 3-1 to West Ham at the London Stadium.
On a poor night in general, a Ben White own goal, one from Mohamemd Kudus, and another from Jarhead Bowen gave the Hammers clear daylight. Martin Odegaard nabbed a late consolation for Mikel Arteta’s side, but on the night the home side deserved their win.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the West Ham 3-1 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
West Ham 3-1 Arsenal – 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 Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Congratulations to Arteta and Edu – those were your midfield players. Pathetic. Crap.
Things don’t always work out perfectly. If Mikel played a full strength side, we’d be complaining he doesn’t rotate with Newcastle in mind.
maybe not all at the same time? (ask pep…)
Have a word with yourself Brian. And if that doesn’t work Brian, take your hand and use it to slap your face. Then congratulate arteta and edu for taking us from also rans to title challengers, champions league and one of the best young teams I can remember in a long, long time.
I’ll remember this comment when we exit early from the FA Cup and Champions League. Laughable! It would be nice to be able to rotate with decent players, not that 100 million worth of dross on the field.
Relax Brian, it’s only the cucaracha cup. West Ham are welcome to it.
He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy.
Refuses to look on the bright side of life as well.
It’s never about the competition, it’s about the performance!!!!
Look at Chelsea and man utd struggling far worse than us with even more spent. Its really not that bad, especially as it is our 2ñd midfield vs their first choice
I’ve never seen someone so angry at going out in the Mickey Mouse cup. Have a rest.
Oh Brian, Brian, Brian.
Take the L, Brian. You’re overreacting about a meaningless game. Not worth the increase in blood pressure, mate.
We’re not winning the Premier League and we’re not winning the Champions League. FA Cup and EFL Cup were the most realistic chances of silverware oh, wait… and the Ballon D’Or for Zinchenko.
Brian, you’re not the messiah, you’re a very naughty boy.
We desperately need a centre forward. It’s such a shame Jesus is so injury prone. We have to buy in January a better back up or first choice striker.
I think we need to buy a better striker for our first 11 because Jesus is so injury prone, and keep him as our backup. Sell Nketiah.
Sheff utd is Nketiahs level, top championship striker but nothing else. He has zero hold up play and offers nothing to the build ups of our attack. Would love to see Trossard as the 9, he seems much more effective in that role and links with forwards much better.
Yeah. Our dream backup striker scored against us today. To think we spent all summer negotiating with Ajax and couldn’t find an extra 30 to put down for Kudus. So he goes to them on deadline day. To go into a cl season with so little upfront looks damn foolish from here.
maybe he wanted to be a starter rather than a back up player.
Nonsense. He doesn’t even start for West Ham most weeks. We could promise him cl football. I’m not buying that, it’s a shocking miss from Edu and co. I can’t understand it.
Raya deal shows we had no money to spend with FFP. Havertz and Trossard offer options, but neither setting the world alight.
I wonder if we’ll bite the bullet and bring Toney in January. Or a surprise somebody from left field
Trossard has been a solid add to this team. Don’t let one match of sour grapes cloud the big picture.
Where’s the Toney money coming from regarding ffp
Eddie definitely at fault for all three goals.
Oh yea 100% – didn’t see the game but 100% Eddie fucked us on all 3 goals
It’s the only explanation!
It’s also a shame that even when fully fit and firing on all cylinders, Jesus is NOT a centre forward. He’s a striker
Havertz, Trossard and Vieira – £100m+ of anonymity
Take Trossard out, and there is no way we are getting value for money on the rest. To think that Maddison was available – and cheaper than £65m – is almost unforgivable. Vieira won’t ever grow beyond a squad player. Not bad if we have the Fulham-game Vieira.
Yes, he blows hot and cold far too often but I still have faith in Trossard
Trossard had a poor game but has been good value since he signed. The other two less so.
Trossard seems to do well as a sub, not so much when he starts.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Oh come on, Trossard was a bargain.
Leave trossy alone. The other two? Absolute fkn shite.
Stop buying Chelsea shit.
Fvck any fan blaming Arteta for this, fvck the crazy agent who scouted Havertz. We can’t go far with the likes of Nelson. Fvck
Nelson wasn’t the problem today. We gave up three goals, all from weakness in the left, and center- left field positions. two of their three goals were not out of craft, but out of unfortunate bounces for us, but ultimately our weakness invited them in. Zinchenko and Gabriel got beat too easily and too often.
Ramsdale:
“Coming in from the cold.”
A Song by Bob Marley.
It pours when it’s raining for the Gunners… 😭
needed someone direct like smith rowe in midfield today – our midfield all played it safe. would have been better to give odegaard more minutes today to shoot from long vs west ham’s low block. havertz is playing with no confidence taking extra touches, not attacking crosses or shooting volleys. zinchenko has to do better for the second goal, kudus skipped past him like he wasn’t there, no pressure applied. i don’t think that was on gabriel. we needed a more physical midfield vs west ham – jorginho physicality got exposed. nelson played well. nketiah has to work on being… Read more »
Yeah it was light and day when Rice came on and suddenly someone was making line breaking passes. Jorginho was conservative, slow and… annoying.
Odd season, this one. Doing great in the league but team not looking as though its clicking as well as last season. Flat up front. Need to shift balance back to something slightly less safe and more swashbuckling? Striker is a concern. Nelli or Trossard would both be good to see tried in that position.
I thought Nelson did well, then faded. Some important defensive work and good on the ball. No real link up though.
Jorginho can compliment Rice well, or Partey when he does the job of providing drive (maybe those days are behind him). But he’s never going to break lines himself, and really the front 5 offered such little movement that passing through the lines was rarely on either
We probably need a new 6 and 8 next Summer, as well as a top level striker. Signing Havertz is looking more frivolous and like a wasted opportunity with time.
We’re ‘getting away with it’ in the league IMO so it will be interesting to see how we fare against a real top 4 challenger in Newcastle at the weekend.
Well I have to say the ratings seem a bit influenced by the result, because that little spurt was the best I’ve seen Odegaard play in a while, no way that gets a 5.5 if we win or draw. Same for Kiwior who I thought had the only good performance of the night from any of our starters, don’t think that gets less than a 7.5 if we get a better result. But I get it, it’s hard to be generous with these things when your mood is down after getting beaten 3-0 by a not particularly brilliant side, as… Read more »
Yes, ratings get influenced by the result, imagine that!
As do your replies. Haha chill out, mate
That feels like an unnecessarily biting response. Was I being completely unreasonable in saying that? If you’re of the opinion that a player who plays exactly the same way twice should be rated differently because the rest of the team played differently or the opponent took more of their chances, fair enough, I disagree but I won’t go as far as to to mock you about it.
Or is it to do with something else I’ve said or an accumulation of things? If I’m not welcome here for whatever reason just say the word, I’ve zero interest in annoying people.
I think your comments are usually interesting and valuable, even when I disagree. I also think Blogs runs a tremendous website (and podcast, and etc.) and is entitled to be “unnecessarily biting” once in a while. By the way, I agree with you about Kiwior and Odegaard and I would add that Jorginho was nowhere near as bad as Ben White (a favourite of mine as well as Andrew) or Gabriel.
Thanks for the feedback mate. I suppose that’s true he’s very much allowed to be biting on his own tremendous website, just hope it’s good humoured biting as opposed to “get off my lawn” biting, easily interpreted either way in a text comment.
It’s just a feature of Arseblog’s player ratings that we are all used to by now: if a player does all he can, works super hard and plays excellent football, he will still get a poor rating if the overall result ends up going against us.
Personally I would prefer, like you, that the rating is just about the individual’s performance.
Hi, I was just making it clear that the result has an impact on the ratings. Didn’t mean for it to come across as biting, so apologies. I just thought that would be obvious. When we lose, ratings are bound to be lower.
Your comments are welcome.
Ødegaard seemed to be the only one who cared, fought against a lost cause until the final whistle. Really poor effort all around otherwise. Need a response at the weekend. Would’ve been nice to make a QF in a competition City are already out of.
Another striker in January is a must. It’s becoming easier to neutralise Martinelli and Saka, especially Saka. We need more threat from the middle. Nketiah scored a hat trick on Saturday, but is nowhere near an elite striker. All the other title contenders, bar Spurs, have better second strikers than Arsenal
Better second strikers?? They all have better first strikers, too. No offense to Jesus, who is a very good player, but as has been said in these comments since RVP, we need a striker who scores goals.
We attack through movement and quick passing to get the ball in the box. We have plenty of finishers in the team. We scored 88 PL goals last season, 6 behind leaders City. This season, we’ve scored 23 PL goals, second behind Newcastle/Villa (26). We have a team capable of winning big things.
Never said we didn’t. My comment was in response to the OP saying every challenger has a better second striker: seems an unfair criticism given that City and NUFC both have better primary strikers. I can’t be the only person who remembers that, prior to Jesus’s injury last season, the entire discussion about him was that he wasn’t scoring. He’s a tremendous player, but I think we need an actual assassin as an option at CF, too. Figuratively.
I think my point is that while we’ll always be thinking of upgrades, especially Arteta and Edu, we’ve got the assassins in the team to do the job — that’s what I meant with the numbers. We have assassin numbers, figuratively speaking. We kill with the best of them.
Teams who throw away league titles from a winning position of 8 points clear at the top can’t really be said to ‘kill with the best of them’ can they?
8 points clear as of when with how many games to go? And we finished second to whom, a club with 115 charges of malpractice standing against them by their own league? We scored 6 fewer goals than cheat-code City — Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Nketiah, Trossard, Odegaard are all killers. Even Nelson knows how to put a team down.
We bottled it but like many on here, you just prefer to pretend otherwise
Imagine that, a lemming following the pundits off a cliff …
So we were…pushed off the cliff? You couldn’t make this up
Absolutely.
If we scored 6 more we likely win the tile, no?
We need a top CF. Did last year and still do. Jesus isn’t the answer even when fit, can’t deliver (goals) in big matches and never has (even for city). All the other stuff he does is fine, but when things get tight and goals dry up, we need that guy.
Coulda used that Havertz money for Ollie or Toney…instead we have whatever he is…
We need better fringe players. This guys are not pushing at all.. NB trossard is not in that category BTW.
Can someone explain to me why we loaned out our best LB to some crowd in Spain? First goal – Zinchenko not in the line for an offside trap, 2nd – caught out. Like WTF? Every team know that Oleg is going to move to the middle to play as a CM and thanks to that they are exploiting left side as much as they can. He is NOT good at defending and with the quality that we have in the middle of the park, do we really need an extra central midfielder? We have strong partnership on the right… Read more »
I think Arteta is starting to realise this considering Tomi’s recent substitutions and seemingly drifting central when playing LB.
Totally agree. I said that in pre-season…we have a big problem at LB and did fck all to address it other than make it worse by letting KT leave. Tomi, as much as I love him, ain’t no LB either. Every team we play pummels us down the left flank once they see Zinchenko starting…dude is a liability.
For as much love zinny and Jesus get from arsenal fans it’s worth remembering pep allowed them to leave to a top rival in the same league for not a lot of money…there’s a reason he did that…!
Permanently injured Tierney isn’t the answer, Timber was supposed to be. That injury is hurting us badly.
Timber was not bought to be a LB….he’s a RB that can also play right CB..:we immediately stick him out left and he fks his knee because of it.
Cannot believe the down-votes, mate – I’ve been saying for more than a season that, for all his creativity on attack, Ziiinch is a serious liability on defense. More and more teams have worked that out and are targeting his channel – run at him with any pace and just a little trickery and he gets exposed time and time again.
It is a serious Achilles heel in an excellent defensive line… one which we cannot afford if we are to be title challengers.
Such a shame that Tierney had to go before Arteta started to realise his mistake.
Despite his proclivity for injuries, Tierney is still the best defensive left back at the club
Zinchenko is basically a midfielder, let’s just play him in midfield. He could be an almost ideal 8, or pretty much do what Jorginho does +more at 6. And it saves us from having to make 2 midfield signings next summer
Need him to provide cover at LB while Timber is out though, but it should be Tomiyasu’s position to lose now. Tomiyasu has rendered Zinchenko’s passing and build up less necessary as he has improved a lot in that regard recently
Going to have to disagree about Zinny at 6. I can see him at the 8 but he would leave a hole in our midfield on one of his walkabouts. He apparently is not much of a defender.
I’m not sure Jorginho has any more defensive ability than Zinny, although he does take up the right kind of positions which is the most important thing as a midfielder. Zinchenko is perfectly capable of taking up the right positions if that is the tactical plan, and is more mobile than Jorginho. Full backs need to be fantastic 1v1, which Zinchenko isn’t relative to other LBs, but not so much midfielders If Zinchenko plays at 6 and wonders then his partner at 8, ideally Rice, can read the situation and cover – which is normal for a midfield partnership. At… Read more »
That’s why they bought Timber
I think we are much weaker with Zinchenko in the side. I don’t think the trade off from what he offers going forward is worth it considering he is very poor defensively. I also don’t think he’s even that great with his passing, gives the ball away to often for my liking. I think Tomiyasu has to start against Newcastle and preferably as our first choice left back.
I think Zinny has hit a bit of a poor patch of form. And maybe teams know what he’s going to do now so can neutralise him better. Let’s not forget he was transformational when he arrived and on his day is a difference maker.
He has always been suspect on defense. And teams have worked that out so it ain’t going to get any better!
Have to wonder if MA chose to lose that game for strategic reasons. The whole starting eleven was pathetic to say the least.
Might be reading more than reality here but that Ben White own goal was kinda suspect
I refuse to get upset over the Carling Cup.
I’d love if we just used it to give experience to Nwaneri, Cozier-Duberry, Walters etc like back in the day
Exactly. Imagine if we were invited to, say, Malaysia to play a tournament with Liege, Fener, and DC United. That’s how much I care about this result, and I suspect we saw the truth about how much the players care, too.
The FA Cup and EFL Cup are probably the two trophies we had a realistic chance of winning this season
I also refuse to get upset about the Milk Cup, Littlewoods Cup, Rumbelows Cup,Coca-Cola Cup, Carling Cup or Capital One Cup as we haven’t entered those this season. That said, it’s still a major domestic trophy
Umm… does anyone else think the players nowadays just aren’t bothered about the league Cup?
My two pennies worth: Kiwior is class. At times it felt as secure as having Willy in the side. He showed solidity as well as very good vision and awareness. I see signs of a developing world class centre-back. It is really promising. From the little I have seen of him, Timber is a far better defender and possibly as good an inverted left-back as Zinchenko. Once he is back, there should be no place for Zinchenko in the starting line-up. I do like Zinchenko, but let’s face it, the free-ish role he has as an extra midfielder basically makes… Read more »
I say sell Zinchenko, keep
Tomi as backup/competition to Timber.
Zinchenko is not very good.
I’d like to get a look at Zinchenko at left 8.
If he has a long term future at the club it’s in midfield, NOT defence
Yeah my mind turned to Timber not long into this game. Any idea when he is due to be back?
It’s like the eyes were too bloodshot to take off the sunglasses and they never could get out of first gear. Like shuffling around the house trying to find Tylenol and Gatorade. If you’ve never seen the hangover after a coke bender, this was it 🤓
Our players clearly don’t have a monopoly on imaginary substance abuse problems
Feel bad for Ramsdale, you could tell he was amped up to impress, but had some tough luck on the goals. I have certainly seen enough of Havertz to know it was a waste of money spending that much on him. Was given another golden opportunity to show something and again was nearly invisible. Yes he makes good runs and is a tall frame, but doesn’t do anything productive on the ends of the runs and continues playing not to make a mistake with little safe passes constantly instead of trying to take someone on or actually look for an… Read more »
Havertz looks like he’s dazed and confused. Sandwich short of a picnic. Poor fella, not sure he’s cut out for this level.
As an American, maybe I don’t understand the cultural significance? But who cares? The Carabou Cup is something mediocre teams try to win. It’s a toy. Move on.
It’s still a major domestic trophy. Study the history of the game a bit more closely please tourist
All 36 of your comments on this thread are crap my astute local
My word, I can’t remember such a blatant foul not called. Changed everything. Poor Aaron.
when you make the number of changes mikel made, of course there is discombobulation. That means you need the breaks.
good lord. Foul after foul
That type of shirt pulling is de rigueur in British football. If they were all penalised there would be 10 pens per game.
I don’t know if it is just me but I got the impression Bloggs was very angry.
I think things might have improved if he went in at halftime and gave the players a ‘pep’ talk…
YIKES😬
If only the players had been angry instead….
I’ve never seen a player revert to the mean as quickly as Nketiah. Couldn’t even control the ball, pass it or shoot it. I’m sure it will be another few months before he scores again. Havertz. I feel bad for the guy. He’s so bad that when he gets the ball his first thought is pass it sideways or backwards. It’s as if he’s allergic to the ball. I thought he had two years at Arsenal before going to Saudi for 20 million. I think it happens at the end of the season. Jorghino, Zenchenko and Vieria shouldn’t play together.… Read more »
Dreadful display
Oh dear.
Two comments – one at the back, one at the front:
Ziiiinch – remains a serious liability on defense. As soon as he is put under pressure by any pace and/or trickery, he looks suspect… something which every PL team has now worked out and are exploiting. Tomi is a far better option until Timber gets back again.
Eddie – what to do about Eddie? (still!!) The gloss of the flat-track hat-trick did not even last a week as he returned to missing vital chances and lacklustre ‘Iwobi-esque’ work-rate elsewhere. He is simply not our striker solution, period.
Eddie seems to be turning into our flat track bully
Its not about this cup. No one can be arsed if we proceed in this goddamn cup or not, provided we do well in the league. But its the nature of the performances thats worrying.
And I have to admit I have seen enough of Havertz to conclude that it was very bad investment – probably worse than Pepe, because that guy used to score some great goal when he could.
None of you would be saying no-one can be arsed if we’d reached the final
Yep Havertz seems way worse than Pepe. His time is running out. Even MA will be forced to admit he was a dud unless Kai can turn himself around pronto
Yep Havertz seems way worse than Pepe. His time is running out. Even MA will be forced to admit he was a dud unless Kai can turn himself around pronto.
I grew up in 80s Highbury and I never thought I’d see another Arsenal player with GusCaesaresque levels of donkeyness. Enter Kai Havertz.
That’s a bit harsh. Gus cost nothing. Havertz cost $65 Million.Hail Caeser!
Wenger used this competition to bloody young and academy players. Arteta is not keen and has not elevated any young academy player in years. Why? No problems when eliminated with academy players. To use a full Snr team and get eliminated this way is pretty bad.
For Arteta to rest 5 first choice starters against a strong West Ham side in what is still a major domestic cup competition just reeks of misguided arrogance. It’s also testimony to how we still don’t have a bench strong enough to contend for titles.How much silverware does this deluded little man think he can win this season: Premier League? (not a prayer) Champions League? (not a prayer) FA Cup (maybe with a kind draw) EFL Cup (sign the guest book on the way out Mikel)
Our biggest problem is not the striker position we need a creative midfielder, we cant expect Zinchenko to be that guy. We have no playmaker we hardly move the ball fast enough from the back to the forwards. Our defenders always have to take 2 or 3 touches before they release the ball for it to be passed back to them.
My bonus rating is that I didn’t watch the match
News just in from 27/7/2022: ZCD (Zinchenko Can’t Defend)
I’ve never much cared about the EFL/Carabao Cup so the fact we are out is probably a good thing for how we might perform in the remaining competitions but the worry here is that too many players seem to be jaded, playing with knocks or massively underachieving all at the same time. We have big games ahead that require everyone to be a) fit, b) playing to their potential and c) actually giving a toss. It seems that we have hit the doldrums right now. It is all well and good putting five past the Blades, but we aren’t going… Read more »