Arsenal’s first European game of the season ended in stalemate after a 0-0 draw with Atalanta in Bergamo this evening.
The Gunners had a couple of attacking moments, but didn’t threaten consistently – and had David Raya to thank after making a brilliant double save after Thomas Partey conceded a second half penalty.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the Atalanta 0-0 Arsenal match report and see the goal here
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Brutal performance. The manager has to change tack by the weekend.
Genuinely, change what? There isn’t much to change and I don’t think this is the game to try something new. We have to survive out of possession against City and try to snatch something.
no, he has to change something… if we are that wasteful in possession it’s gonna be a long 90 mins against city… even mikel would have been disappointed at the standards of our possession play. Atalanta couldn’t really hurt us but the firepower that city have is different matter entirely. I think we are defensively quite sound but you make a defender’s job so much harder when you keep giving the ball away and don’t fully develop on your attacking threat. Even Gabriel, Saliba and Raya, as heroic as they are, are only human…
The obvious one is to start someone with any kind of creativity in midfield, that’s where I’d start. Most disjointed performance since his early days.
Buy Lookman
No.
Raya best player so far this season.
I have to agree with you, but ideally you really don’t want your keeper as your best player. De Gea was United’s best player 3 years in a row and look how low they went. We need Raya to have comfortable games and let the other players do the business at scoring.
I think it’s time to bench Martinelli. This lack of focus in front of goal and form has spread from last season. He just needs a reset or some time.
He needs a goal not bemch time. Plus he is better than Leo for starters
I don’t trust anyone else to do the defense of work needed against City
Defensive *
I think Neli is misunderstood. If you intend to compare him with Saka then you would be wrong. They are wingers but a different kind of wingers. Also no side has been as unsettled as our left which would inevitably affect his play, movements and dynamism. There is reason MA plays him. You can’t Have on both wings, it would be unbalanced. Neli ha been asked to play a different almost season on Season, he makes differebt runs, whilst he’s a forward he’s almost alwsy playing as wing back. Sure scoring would be nice for him but that’s not totally… Read more »
U can sugarcoat all u like, but he should be doing much better in front of the goal with his shots and final passes.
Ok.
Timber only played ~70 min or so 🙂
Raya 8.5? Seems harsh!
Also looks like the tens are counted as zeroes, because his average rating is under six at this point!
He needs a hat-trick to get a 9.5
When did he have that through-ball-throw that Trossard ended up scoring? That was cool. With Martin out we need him at his most creative best, perhaps *he* should be our deep lying playmaker.
Timber wasn’t on for 90 minutes.
Ah don’t get all snooty lads
Init
Thank you for teaching me a new word! 😁
Take more cialis next time.
Starting our two non scoring Brazilians alongside each other means Saka has to score or the two number 8s otherwise we become too one dimensional.
Nothing against Martinelli but I feel either Trossard or Sterling should be starting ahead of him till he regains his composure. Obviously the injury to Ødegaard doesn’t help but it also means we have little room for poor finishing given how lesser we are to create them
From just the two limited appearances so far, I don’t see Sterling doing nearly enough out of possession to displace Gabi. He’s actually playing quite well in every aspect but finishing/final ball. While I realize that’s a big deal given his position, I think the defensive solidity is more important for this three-game stretch through Sunday.
Why is in Jorginho called Borginho in the ratings?
His Christian name is Jorginho. Family name is Borginho. Rhymes.
I saw that too! I was like, hang on, was it always like that??
Watched this one without commentary actually. Was nice(r). Was that pitch made of molasses? We could have taken a few more shots from distance. Should’ve converted the couple we did take from point blank.
Ah, the glamour of early stage Champions League nights – glad we have 2 more of these than earlier.
So you missed Savage saying that the outstanding rebound save from Raya was actually a poor header about, I dunno, every 3.4 seconds?
Tsetse flies are less irritating to humanity than that man.
With thie defensive foundation and a keeper in world class form, we’ll be incredible when we actually start playing football.
Wake me up when that starts please
We’ve entered our mourinho phase…just part of the maturity curve…peak Wenger after that hopefully.
Ha.
Partey looks like a shadow of himself. Passing was really poor throughout the field, we so miss Odegaard and the creativity he provides. I would go with Trossard in the midfield until Merino can come back or even give Calafiori a try and defensive mid (after the City game) as he looks very comfortable there.
I think one of the worse players in the world to have is one who was extremely reliant on his athleticism and starts losing it. You have the opposite example of someone like Thierry Henry who was both very athletic and very skillful and that tends to age well, but Thomas, while good technically with the ball, was defensively never one of those great anticipators like Declan (who I expect to last well into his 30s) he mostly relied on his athleticism to cover wide area and stay with players running in the middle of the pitch, and now that… Read more »
Instead of a simple solution for Odegaard’s absence Arteta chose to put Havertz at 10 and Jesus at 9. Neither worked. His continued insistence on playing an obviously out of form Martinelli is forcing him to overcomplicate. Trossard is simply a more productive winger than Martinelli. Havertz is our best striker. Rice is a world class 6. I hope we see a back to basics at the weekend as Arteta’s convolutions aren’t working.
If we played Trossard on the wing, Havertz at 9 and Rice as a (lone) 6, we’d have two 8 positions to fill…
Nwaneri replacing Odegaard is worth a shot. The other is why I wouldn’t have sold ESR
😂😂😂 this is hilarious.. arteta isn’t complicating anything rather manking do with what we have . Rice can’t play 6 cos we’re shot of 8s.. so he has to play 8. And then one of partey or jorginho must start.
Why not Zinchenko at left 8?
He’s injured.
Thumbs up for Nwaneri, but ESR needed to go to play regular football.
I’m not trying to be a dick when I say this but fck me I’m fed up hearing the “he needed to leave so he could play regular football” line rolled out every time we stupidly sell some talent or let an academy prospect leave. ESR did need regular football you are correct – but it should have been with Arsenal and no one else.
Absolutely and the cruel irony is with Odegaard out injured for at least the next few weeks if we’d just kept him one more season he’d finally be getting that playing time right now.
It’s obvious Arteta had an eye on the weekend with this line-up. was clear as day the moment he made subs so early. It’ll be Trossard in the Odegaard role on Sunday I would bet.
I recon it will be the big man, little man combo of Havertz and Trossard interchanging.
Not sure what more Raya needs to do to get a 10/10. He was perfect this evening and that double save was one of the best pieces of goalkeeping I’ve ever seen.
He didn’t score or made 3 assists
Ball progression was poor generally, there was too much backwards stuff and relying on the keeper to recycle possesion. Our press never stressed them, they were able to keep the ball and push us back time and again. We were very solid defensively but too easily pushed back, and we couldn’t win it back, or get out once we finally did. It was a bit like playing Liverpool a few years ago when we crap, but without conceding the obligatory five goals. I wonder does missing Odegaard as the leader of our press pose as big a problem as the… Read more »
A solid defensive performance again but it’s concerning how little we create – apart from set pieces – we offer no real goal threat from open play.
Raya was easily a 10 for me, great to see his growing confidence. The rest of the performance was decent defensively but we’re really struggling for creativity without Odegaard. Ball progression through the middle was basically non existent until Trossard came on. Lots to think about before the City game, though I imagine it will mostly be the same starting 11
Arteta should had been brave enough to introduce Nwaneri in the second half. It’s the nearest we have to Ødegard
The moment after Partey gave the penalty away… I was deep in a monologue about how finished he is and how much of a reckless decision that was… but then I saw something in the eyes of David Raya that made me think, “wait a minute… is he gonna save this?… he’s gonna save it isn’t he?… he f***ing saved it!” Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had so much confidence in my goalkeeper from the spot. we are blessed to have this guy.
So it seems no one thinks that was a soft penalty? C’mon It was ridiculous.
Agree. A Champions League peno for sure. Trossard needs to have a word with his Dad!
It wasn’t a penalty. TP5 exerted nowhere near enough pressure on the attacker to make them fall over like that. It was a dive, the attacker should have been booked and it’s yet one more farcical decision gone against us. Brilliant double save by Raya though.
Our players seemed totally with the ball. First touch was poor and short passes missed their mark on numerous occasions by almost all the players. Big Gabi and Saliba probably the only exceptions. Don’t think that was on Arteta but the players.
who’d have thought selling our two backups for odegaard and no replacement would be a bad idea! martinelli has been average at best for almost two years now, gabriel jesus has only delivered 5 months of top performances since signing: no permanent reinforcements either. im not bright at all, our shortcomings were there for everyone to see. white never puts a foot wrong, but how often does he put a foot right? we come from the era of jordi alba, marcelo, dani alves, but we’re happy with a rightback that “only” does the basics. partey has not been a footballer… Read more »
Odegaard, you are amazing effing player. This performance only enhances his value in our team as lets face it we are hopeless without him. We set up good like Sean Dyke did against us but have you run up of ideas now Arteta as we are not fucking Everton and should be playing better. Of course WD are always going to miss Odegaard but FFS get a better team out as at the moment we look shit if you looked at Liverpool yesterday. They stole the show. We should not have any problem if anyone is absent. Just shows how… Read more »
The same Liverpool that got beaten at home by Atalanta last season?
You missed the point Jobrighton as Liverpool finished 3rd in the premier league last season so hardly a team to match our expectations to. Arteta has had a big treasure chest and by his own choice saw the departure of the only genuine challenger to Odegaard and that is ESR. There are other options he could use such as playing Saka there and Sterling in Saka:s position or the exciting Nwaneri but he plays Trossard or Havertz. That might be ok if Partie or Jorginiho We’re 10 years younger. So our main plan of action is to copy Sean Dyches… Read more »
For all the concerns regarding martinelli not scoring, he still works hard. Before saka’s free kick he ran out to saka and said something. Saka kicked the ball right where martinelli had been standing as he moved to the right.
Still working still thinking
Our best attack and opportunity to score comes from Harvertz being up top, target man, spearheading the attack. By dropping him to the midfield to accommodate Odegard’s absence we have done two things to weaken us. Loss of goals, loss of midfield control. We can only defend for so long before things start falling apart. I still feel our best lineup in Odegard’s absence is, the back five as they are, Trossard, Partey and Rice midfield, Saka, Havertz and Martinelli up front. With Trossard in the Odegard role (not to play like Odegard). Trossard is mature enough and skilled enough… Read more »
Without real creativity we have to stay solid and take the few chances we get. Unfortunately this is where the 2 attacking gabbys kill
Us. Sadly shocking at finishing chances. We all knew it. Arteta knew it. But the logic is they’ll get better and if we create enough it doesn’t matter if their ratios are poor. Have to say I dislike that thinking. Ans here we are. They ain’t getting better and we aren’t able to create the volume they need.
We are basically going to park the bus until Odegaard returns. It’s shocking we don’t have back up for him. We have 3 left wingers.
We are desperate to get our new Spaniard back.
I fear that City will run circles around Partey.
I hope Partey won’t be playing, he’s a liability.
This might be the grumpiest rankings I have ever seen on Arseblog. Blogs was NOT happy with this game…
What does Raya have to do to get a 10?
I agree completely, but tbf he got one vs. Villans
😉
We will not win anything by just scoring from set pieces.
Really have to improve on the attacking front!!!
Love the avatar for Sterling and Trossard. Lets personalize the whole squad.
Who was commentating on TNT? Sounded like Darren Anderton or some other dweeb