Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5 on pens) – player ratings

Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup in disastrous fashion this evening, going down 5-3 on penalties to 10-man Manchester United.

The visitors went ahead through a fine Bruno Fernandes finish in the second half, but Gabriel pulled one back before Diogo Dalot was sent off for a second yellow card offence on Mikel Merino.

The Gunners had chances to win it. Martin Odegaard missed a penalty, Kai Havertz pulled off a brace off unbelievable misses, while the United goalkeeper had the game of his life saving twice from Declan Rice to deny the substitute. After the German missed his shoot-out penalty, Ruben Amorim’s men were 100% from the spot to go through to face Leicester City in the next round.

Here’s how the players rated this evening.

Read the Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5 on pens) match report and see the goals here 

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.

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Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5 on pens) Player Ratings

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Daveod

Saka is clearly better than I thought he was……and I thought he was one of the best players in the world

Daveod

Whoever downvoted go celebrate your 3-0 extra time win against Tamworth

GoonerJust

Quality of set piece delivery dropped considerably without Saka and Rice. Odegaard and Martinelli deliveries were below par. And Merino, he is operating in a different frequency, Rice comes in and instantly forcing a save.

Rob

Sterling was decent particularly in second half
And martinelli also good

gunnerboreus

I liked Sterling’s performance more than any other front player….and by some distance too

Reality check

Definitely. Out of who we have available, only Sterling can beat his man on the outside, which is absolutely crucial if you’re a right-footed playing on the right.

karl g

Saka is just masking how blunt the rest of the team is. We shouldn’t be so completely lost without him.

John C

With his 5 goals

Shivam

Feel bad about Saka, Saliba and Gabriel. There performances in the last few seasons deserve some reward.

BB12

Unfair to Sterling, he contributed for the penalty and another bit chance.

Daveod

And he managed to do that whilst being in utter shock on coming onto the pitch as arsenals 4th choice in that position 😂

mt91

Yeah, I thought he was way better than Martinelli, who reminds me of
Forest Gump – grab the ball, head down and just RUN towards the end line, god forbid you look around

Daveod

Martinelli is the kind of player who if he moves will light the league up for a season and have the world saying arsenal were foolish to get rid of him. Then do nothing for 3 years

truj

I think he was way better than Tross or Rice.

CaptainKhan

Agree, I thought he looked lively, he made a few runs between players but our players kept passing it sideways

Ebo

Also agree, other than Odegaard he was clearly the player most making things happen for us tonight. If there’s one silver lining for tonight, and I think there is just this one, it’s his performance which for me was very encouraging.

gunnerboreus

Yup. And I hate to say it because Jesus seems like a decent bloke and looked badly injured but I think we will better off without him available.

Morrisey fan #1

I agree, he was our bright spot for a good 20 minutes of that second half, driving at the defenders, which is what we need Martinelli to do more often.

AGoon

He did well, looked sharp with a good burst of pace, some very positive runs, and he was instrumental to build up for tje pen.

Royalknightmu

Arteta should be promoted to football/technical director. We need a new manager.
It’s all pointing to the fact that we won’t win any titles with him. He is a good coach/environment maker etc but not game tactician.
And It wouldnt be surprising we dont buy a striker in this window.
Yet again we’ll see if kroenkes are about winning titles and money or just money.

Mr Nobody

Lmao. You want to promote someone with such a terrible talent ID to what?

Royalknightmu

Football director isnt just about talent ID. He is/ was good at creating the right environment and day to day running. Just not good enough as a football manager in terms of tactics and gameplay.

Peter

I’d day the opposite. Get him a strong technical director to talk him away of buys like Harvetz and Merino. Terrible waste of windows.

Crash Fistfight

But I thought Edu was brilliant at his job?!?!

Hindheader

Wow. What utter nonsense

Kanu’s Size 15

We have injuries. We had officiating decisions go against us, and a tough first half of the season fixture list. The last two years and this one too, we have been in the title race. I think most arsenal fans recognise we are underperforming and yet we still have a chance to be there at the end of the year in the CL and PL. can you imagine if we hold the fort down at least until saka returns? It is time to start getting behind the squad and supporting them through a rough patch, rather than essentially crying out… Read more »

Adeola

And I wonder who those clowns want to replace Arteta with.

BelgianGooner

I bet lots of them want Emery back

Graeb

A tough first half of the season fixture list? We played every other team in the league once, as has everyone but Liverpool/Everton.

Shot Power 99

I think Kanu’s Size 15 is referring to our tough games away from home. In the league they included: Man City, Villa, Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea, and our new shiny bogey team Fulham

Wengerball

Forget Pepe, Havertz is our biggest flop.

Daveod

Kallstrom

Daveod

Merino?

Daveod

Sango?

Daveod

Matt Turner?

Patrik Ljungberg

Daveod?

GoonerJust

Park Chu Young

Arsenalnut

Little Mozart because he lacked a most important ability-availability. Due to his injuries I dub him the most talented and least productive signing we’ve had. When he played he was wonderful but that was not a regular enough occurrence. Then we have the whiffs-Joel Campbell, Denilson, Andre Santos-guys Arsene was not able to reach, or did not have the potential he saw in them. Ah then we have the ultimate Arsenal story-a very good player injured very early in his Arsenal tenure and seemingly never recovered his form. I give you Mathieu Debuchy. Goodness, we are long suffering bastards. I… Read more »

Wengerball

For the money spent , it’s Havertz. Unlike Pepe he’s been given concessions, like pity penalties and starts that he didn’t deserve. We benched ESR who was a promising youth to help Havertz “integrate” at the left 8 and now we lost a potential star in ESR and moved Havertz to striker simply to save face.

El Mintero

“Pity penalties”…that’s good 😂

Chippy

Havertz is too mentally frail, for an elite sportsman. He does have periods when his obvious talent shines through, but he then has periods when he is like a deer frozen in the car headlights. The miss against Newcastle and the 2 misses today are purely down to lack of nerve/bottle. It might sound harsh, but that is the truth of it.

Merlin’s Panini

He scored the only goal in a CL final. All players have rough moments. Yes he’s not the perfect striker but far from a flop. He has done a lot of good things. Everyone was kissing his ass last season because he came through all the shit he was given at the start. All of our forwards are off the boil. That’s the problem. No one is playing like we know they can and they’ve lost the confidence they had from their obvious reliance on Saka. It’s like they’ve all forgotten who they are and why they’re here. Now we… Read more »

Chippy

I knew that someone would mention the CL final.
There is a big difference between lack of confidence and complete stage fright, I feel for Havertz, I really do. But he is on 280K per week, and can well afford a hypnotist/therapist to overcome his fear

Serpent

At least Källström scored his penalty in the FA cup…

Kanu’s Size 15

Were meant to be supporters, through the hard times too. Havertz has been integral to so many good things. He is on a bad run of form and this week has been dreadful. But you could say the same about so many other players. 20 goal contributions last season means nothing already?

Wengerball

It’s called bring ruthless. We want to be the best in the Prem and in the CL, right? Is Havertz….Has Havertz ever been the answer to our striker needs? He’s not useless but he’s not the star man and maybe not even the first eleven man.

UzesGooner

The worry now is that his confidence is shot to bits and he may need building up again.
With the Jesus injury we need a loan or two – Rashford, Barcola, Ferguson….
Otherwise we may not be able to attract main targets in the summer if the season just fades away

Vonnie

We can’t loan from the Premier League, we have two already, Sterling and Neto, and that’s the limit.

Shivam

Thankfully

El Mintero

Havertz is the worst signing in the Arteta era. Remember he was meant to be the upgrade on Granit at left 8, except he sucks at left 8. So let’s try and make him work at center forward. Well it ain’t working there either is it. But he “runs around a lot off the ball and gives great effort”. Time to punt him and buy a proper ball playing creative left 8 and a striker that can stick it in the net from 2 yards out ffs.

Billy bob

Oh please that accolade belongs to willian – now he was total and utter dross, the worst arsenal signing EVER!!!

Crash Fistfight

Willian was free and earned less than Havertz. And then left when he could have stuck around getting paid to do nothing.

Tsavyange Mbaave

I think he played right back for Germany one time. Arteta should try him there.

Adeola

If the fans who go to the stadiums are like these impatient folks, no Arsenal “fan” would occupy the seats at Emirates by now.

rnab08

Yep. When this many attacking players are in bad form, I’m hesitant to say it’s a player issue, although Kai has missed some absolute sitters, no denying that.

Morrisey fan #1

You mean our top scorer? The same guy who makes tackles in our own box and regularly stifles attacks? He was atrocious today, but by no means is he the only one to blame, and not our biggest flop.

How quickly you all forget his song being sung week in week out after many excellent performances.

BelgianGooner

Thank you

El Mintero

Many excellent performances?!! Nurse! Help! My sides are splitting!! 😂

Absolut

Not slagging Kai off. Two very rough games, yes, but these were the exception. Normally much better than this in link play and commitment. Goal on Wednesday for sure.

Pookins

I hope there is a goal in Wednesday. For any player. Spurs and Villa next. Im concerned that we arent scoring even over the 180 minutes

BelgianGooner

A goal on Wednesday and people will be back singing his song. It is what it is

allezkev

Michy

Optimist

No idea how you came up with those ratings, honestly. Too many 6/10s from our worst performance in years

El Mintero

Yup. I’d give the lot of them 0/10. That’s a shit Utd team down to 10 men, we’re at home and we still lose. How does that happen? Low point of the season for me.

gunnerboreus

Too harsh on the scores but 100% youre right that this is a VERY poor United side, we got all the breaks and failed

Marje

3/10 for those ratings. Blogs is better than this. Sterling’s best performance in our shirt in the second half (yes that’s a low bar but still true). Maybe Blogs had the same team brain fart today. Hopefully he’ll reassess before morning blog and Arsecast.

Stuart_Ten

Thought Sterling was good tonight, at least he was direct and played with some speed and intent.

Arsene's Coat

Agreed. It was nice to see someone actually run at their defense and try and make things happen, even if it didn’t always come off, as opposed to reverting to the turgid sideways passing routine

Stuart_Ten

100%, we need more risk takers and unpredictability in our play

Morrisey fan #1

That is exactly what we have lost this season. We are WAY too careful now and its showing in our lack of threat going forward.

Royalknightmu

And he will be benched for that

Serpent

I don’t know if we have enough players to do that…

loose_cannon

I thought he was good until extra time, then he started making some really poor decisions in the final third. Still, enough encouragement to start him in the NLD, not that we have much choice with the Jesus injury.

Ebo

Fucking hell, imagine if he’ll be our fourth right winger (including Nwaneri and Jesus who both got injured playing there) to get injured. That’s just about our luck this season, earlier at some point having 5 injured left backs, after that both of our right backs, now right wingers. What’s next, Raya, Neto and Setford all injuring themselves by jumping too high and hitting the crossbar?

Doudou

Good ?? No, please. He had intent, he tried, he tried to be direct. But good? When? Where?

BelgianGooner

Agreed but he made the worst choice every time he had to make one.

Stuart_Ten

Try but could come from match sharpness, at least looking to make things happen

Wengerball

He at least had the DESIRE of a winner if not the ability. And to me that’s refreshing.

The Bob

Agree 100% how many more players need to be injured so Sterling gets a string of matches to prove himself. Or end all speculations, either or. No idea why he was loaned in otherwise

Ollie123

Shambles.
Can use the Jesus injury as an excuse to buy a player now
Great NLD prep….

zeke60

Too many players failing to show up. You can’t hope for trophies under these circumstances. Realistically the only competition left for Arsenal is the Champions League, and we all know how hard that is.

Royalknightmu

“Realistically the only competition left for Arsenal is the Champions League,”
Sarcastically* there fixed it for you

Bjorn

Realistically?? Totally unrealistic.. the league is still there, but can’t do it without real leaders who take responsibility.

catbiscuits

If you want a chuckle, most bookies have Arsenal second favourites for the Champions League, ahead of Real Madrid!

Faisal Narrage

Gotta be one of the worst striker performances I’ve seen since Giroud against Monaco.

I’m done with Havertz.

Richard

He’ll be sorry to hear that.

Richard

Some of you guys need to grow the feck up. Havertz played 26 matches this season and scored 12 times. Hardly world class, but respectable numbers. Jesús is a much bigger problem with his close to zero impact up front (except against Crystal Palace). Our main issue is that everyone plays a low block against us which is a challenge for any team, not just ours. We need a ruthless striker and there aren’t many of those around, even less of them available at a price we can afford. We can probably afford to buy one, but then what do… Read more »

Chris L

Cheer…..?!

Edzo

Also. We only dropped 5 pointsin the second half of last season with havertz as the 9. But still, we do need a striker. A winger and an attacking mid. We have no options off the bench now. Havertz. Martinelli. Trossard. And odegaard can’t play every minute of every match for the rest of the season.

Pappy

Stfu.. for the transfer fee and wages given to havertz, he has been very terrible! This dude is our top earner for ffs!

Richard

You’re definitely one who needs to grow up. Some people behave like hysterical women when we lose a football match or don’t play well. You mustn’t lose sight of the big picture, how much we’ve improved, we have a realistic chance at winning any trophy, we can beat any team in the world. Just look back to the late Emery days when it was all so absolutely hopeless. Any team in the world would need years to get back to where we have and there’s always going to be bumps on the way. We are competing against teams funded by… Read more »

Exit the Lemming

“we have a realistic chance at winning any trophy, we can beat any team in the world” We’ve just been knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup and we don’t have a hope in hell of winning either the Premier League or Champions League. This is true even with us at full strength as we haven’t improved the squad sufficiently for at least 5 seasons now. Currently, two of our best attacking players may be out for the rest of the season (Saka and Jesus) Our 1st choice right back is out for the rest of… Read more »

Peter

Tl dr; Arsenal Football Club is too poor to buy a striker and a midfielder in the summer.

gunnerboreus

Agreed. Havertz had a stinker but he’s way, way better than Jesus, Martinelli and Trossard

Exit the Lemming

and as soon as any decent side which doesn’t play a low block prtesses us high (like Newcastle) we get battered.

kas

Well we’re stuck with him. No one in there right mind would pay a fee + his wages along with many other of his signings (Viera, Jesus etc)

Mentalista

Jorginho was excellent.

Yes Kai was horrible but not his fault our game plan is to throw 50 crosses in and hope for a generous scramble.

Brazilian Gooner

His fault is that he can’t score with two loose balls in the penalty area, being our number 9. The second one being worth of a comedy show headline

Vonnie

He’s not alone though, Trossard is terrible and expects a long contract and a salary increase for it, Martin Odegaard is scared to shoot, Martinelli stuck out on the wing trying to do it all by himself. Rice can’t hit a barn door. Without Bukayo there doesn’t seem to be any threat at all.

gunnerboreus

Bit harsh on Rice who forced 2 saves in the time he was on

Mick Malthouse

It’s not his fault he lacks talent and the ability to play football.

Doudou

Toothless. And boring. Despite some great players in the team.

Arteta’s position needs to be challenged, now. Is he the right person to move this team on?

Why would Saliba stay at Arsenal? Gabriel? Rice? Even Bukayo. If the situation didn’t change, I’d think less of them as it would show no real professional ambition.

loose_cannon

Arteta either brought in or developed all those players you mentioned. If he’s not the right person, who is? We can all see the need for attacking players and I think Arteta’s comments about Isak after the Newcastle game were telling.

Doudou

Just because you can spot talent doesn’t mean you’ll be good at developing it. Don’t forget, he seemed not very keen on Saliba in the beginning. Or maybe that was just an impression. Anyway, it’s not important. What matters is what he can do with this crop now. The club needs to give these players a real chance at winning major trophies. I am not bothered about Carabao Cup. Not even FA Cup – Arsenal has a lot of that. The players need the league and the Champions League. Arteta may not be elite enough (or experienced enough) to get… Read more »

Rich

Why do mugs like you always think Arteta doing the right thing and letting young players have time to adapt without being thrown in to the deep end is the same as him not being keen on them? He is doing the say with Nwaneri and I see people saying Arteta doesnt rate him. As soon as I see someone with this opinion I wouldn’t believe them if they told me the sky is blue because their judgement is seriously flawed.

Doudou

You seem very sure of yourself and of what others think. Good for you. Try read the post, rather than answer what suits .

Crash Fistfight

Do you think it was the right thing to do to include Mustafi and Sokratis in the EL squad and have Saliba stuck playing reserve football?

Isarsenalbig

” Is he the right person to move this team on? ” to make us competitive: yes. To win titles: no. Do only titles count for a team as big as the arsenal? I say yes but then others will say to go and support another team. So when will arsenal win? Or is arsenal small and the reason we wont win any cup?

Doudou

I kind of agree. The main I am trying to make is that the best players in the team want major titles. It’s not even about what fans want – a competitive team or oa title winning team. If the team doesn’t live up the expectations of the best players these players will leave That’s the point. Added to that, the team won’t be very competitive.

Brazilian Gooner

Havertz’s performance is the worst I’ve ever seen from a striker, you can’t have a player capable of such a performance leading your line, it was honestly baffling and shocking in a level I can’t even begin to explain

Goonerjag

What pisses me off more than anything is that this pathetic performance is not unexpected at the moment. We were marginally better (or should that be less worse?) against Newcastle mid-week buy failed to take any lessons from that game. We will end this season with sweet FA. Again.

Wengerball

Honestly that performance is worth the sack.

Flashman71

Agree to an extent, he has a terrible record in cup football – one off games or 2 legs. He lacks experience or the ability to deliver in knock-out comps. We don’t have to be fantastic throughout a season and manage or control matches, just fucking win by “hook or by crook. In certain cup games you might as well fucking go for it “balls out”, particularly when losing or drawing in certain time periods of matches. It’s nice to play well in cup matches, but really and ultimately none of us give a fuck about how we played in… Read more »

Wengerball

Spot on, he’s a death by a thousand cuts guy not a smash and grab type and good managers know when to be one or the other when scenario presents itself

Exit the Lemming

Why did we hire a manager with precisely zero experience in the first place? Was it to let him make his inevitable rookie mistakes and learn from them? You can’t be allowed to learn your craft at an elite club like Arsenal. You need to learn from your mistakes at a lower league club then move up the managerial ladder.

Royalknightmu

How long before players lose faith in him with his over worked tactics? The players can’t play freely on their own it seems like. It’s so predictably sideways and go for setpiece. Once the set piece goals have dried up, what will he do now to get goals? Boring FC will be here for a while. And long balls to no mans land in the box. He is doing the same to rice as pep has done to grealish. Martinelli is a joke as LW for a while and still playing. Yes he defends. Then might as well use him… Read more »

Wengerball

I think they might have lost faith subconsciously, they don’t look like they enjoy being out there and are just going though the motions. Very little passion or winning desire. It’s all been sucked out of them for this awful thing Arteta calls “control”

truj

Bonus 2
Rate the manager after two home defeat!

Daniel

Let’s go for 4th place trophy!

Billy bob

Honestly, that is going to be a struggle – top spot is a battle between Forest and Liverpool (hope Forest do the job), after that I think Newcastle and chavski will embarrassingly take the remaining two spots!!

Exit the Lemming

I think Forest will fall away but yes, serious clubs like Newcastle and Chelsea will likely finish ahead of us. Arsenal are COSPLAY contenders.

Axel

I have one word for this team and management at this present moment “Clusterfuck”
just get back to basics and if I never seen Trosard in an Arsenal jersey again I would be happy.

MikeC

This team so badly needs a clinical finisher. So many chances created with nothing to show to many games this season.

SpaceDad

I don’t think I’ve ever watched a team do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. This team and manager are completely broken at the moment.

Exit the Lemming

In other news: One thing that has changed this season is our full backs NEVER overlap.

Appelsenpere

A new striker isn’t going to all of a sudden change how our defense and midfield start(don’t start) counter attacks.

Brazilian Gooner

We created the chances today, and there was no one capable of finishing them… our best attacker is our CB for gods sake

John C

We were already 1 nil down at that point, we only started to create chances once Utd were down to 10 men

John C

Exactly, our structural problems start behind our attack. Our build up play is so one paced, especially in that left back, left 8 area.

What we really need is someone who can increase the tempo of our game from those deep areas, otherwise we’ll have the same problems

Tombo

If we aren’t gonna buy someone surely we must have a half decent striker striker in the academy that we could throw on. It’s how the likes of rashford and kane made their discovery

Royalknightmu

Good luck with arteta using him

StuArse

Sad thing about this is we could all see it coming a mile off. It’s been in the post for a few weeks now.
There is no fun watching us anymore. It’s both an entertainment and results business and right now it feels like we have neither. What’s worse is our best player this season is likely leaving on a free at the end of the season.
I was angry at full time, now I have thought about it, gone through the stages of grief and am accepting of our fate of another trophy-less season and no new signings.

Edzo

You have to admit. We are excellent at passing sideways and backwards. And waiting for the other team to set up defensively before going into the final third.

Exit the Lemming

Wasn’t Kane at the Arsenal Academy but released cos he was a bit of a lard arse?

truj

Try to play good and entertaining football again! It’s is a nightmare.

Gervinho is Driving

No killers.

Edzo

I feel bad for Havertz. Had a stinker which happens but sadly it’s been happening too frequently. With the injury to Jesus, I think our only attacking sub is Sterling. We are in serious trouble. Trossard looks lost. Martinelli has no end product. I’d say we need to buy a player but we actually need, as we all know, three. A striker. A winger. And an attacking mid. We will hear the club say it’s so difficult to work the transfer window. Maybe. But the alternative is struggling to score. And the current players will have no rest which means… Read more »

Brazilian Gunner

A 4/10 performance can happen to any good player, but he had a 1/10. That second miss is not acceptable in the stage he plays in, he is our top earner and not some poor guy we found on the street

Flashman71

Agree totally.

Nikolaj

By now, we can all see the need for a new striker.
Also, the way we are attack at the moment seem very pedestrian. Surely there must something tactical to be done also?

Bjorn

Quite generous to Ødegaard there.. yeah yeah key passes – but how many of those actually created good scoring opportunities? He’s been really poor of late, same tonigth. Def not a captains performance!

Morrisey fan #1

70 minutes with an extra man and you wouldn’t have noticed. There was no change in the tactics and they played with no urgency.

Our top scorer to miss chances like that has turned us back into the laughing stock of the league. I’m not sure whether the players are tactically lethargic or just no longer have the drive and energy, but i hold little hope of any silverware this season. 🙁

Royalknightmu

Well said. And yes trophyless again unless lady luck of artetas first season is back

Greg

Again it is about the finishing, thought Martinelli , back 4 played well. Best game from Odegard in some time, but if you don’t score ……

Pappy

Battle of two shit team.. both team doing all they can to be more shit than the other

John C

Is Lewis-Skelly’s contract up for renewal because he was awful again tonight.

I’m throughly over the inverted left back, it adds nothing to our defence or attack and makes Merino redundant as he wants to occupy the same areas.

If Arteta is going to insist on playing one they need to be either a competent playmaker or defensive midfielder, Lewis-Skelly is neither. And if it’s the later a top class creative midfielder has to be in advance of him, which Merino isn’t either.

T. House

0/10 for the white kit. Dress like Sp*rs and you will play like Sp*rs. That white needs to be permanently retired.

Chippy