Arsenal won through the Champions League proper tonight thank to Alexis Sanchez’s first goal for the club and with a battling defensive display after going down to to 10 men. Here’s how we thought the player rated.
PLEASE NOTE: We’ve changed the system slightly, you rate each player then click the ‘Cast Vote’ button down at the bottom, rather than voting for each player individually.
They were all Stars tonight. Well done lads.
Proud of Jacky boy this evening. Gave it his all and in the end it was his determined and driving run straight up the guts that set up the goal.
Hopefully that will send a few of the gremlins who call themselves fans back into their holes.
jack suprised me ,he must play every game like this…flamini did great job,we play much better with him on DM…it obvious that we need world -class DM
every one was great today,wish to see poldi and campbell but its ok we won it 😀
sorry for my bad english
COME ON YOU GUNNER
Oh come on, what are you talking about? I agree Flamini did a great job defensively, but if we had Arteta in today the game would have been over by half time as simple as that. Flamini didn’t control the tempo and allowed too many passes to be played in between the lines. He also panics whenever he gets the ball in tricky situations.
i think that arteta is better against teams that sit in their box
“sorry for my bad english
COME ON YOU GUNNER”
Nailed it.
gunners*
It’s looking more and more obvious: Jack OR Ramsey.
If they’re both going to be on, they need clear roles. They’re not sorting it out between one another.
Wenger reminded us all today what a tactical genius he is…. Effectively split Arteta’s job into two, between Flamini and Cazorla, and helped create the usual middle overload by having ozil drift in from the left. Debuchy naturally likes to go forward, while Monreal is a bit more conservative, and so there’s the overload from the right as well – and defensively, the balance held. Ramsey is great of course, but he’s more often the finisher than creator of goals, and his run timing is superb. However, if Sanchez is to be a tricky CF, then he needs the service,… Read more »
Jack shouldn’t surprise you. That is the beginning of his normal game – not the low on confidence, pummelled by press and twitter, recovering from bad bad bad injuries version we’ve been getting. I personally think TA on him needing to be ‘upset’ with the arrival of Ozil in a positive sense is so bang on…Jack should be asking himself ‘am I good enough to make myself undroppable in the position I want to play in’ If he does that…well…it’ll be scary…
We need a great ball winner more than we need a tempo setter. We must accept that Arteta is very average DM. Pirlo sits deep for Italy and sets the tempo but he is not a DM. I say call a spade a spade and Areta despite being a decent playmaker will never be the world class DM we need.
Agree, thought he revelled in Ramdawg’s absence with the added responsibility. The only criticism is during the last 5/10 mins he was still trying to play clever passes, nutmegs etc. Just hold on to it. Not many better at keeping the ball.
UTA
This sounds a bit racist to me “Ran his little Chilean hole off all game”. Stop doing that please!!!
how!? he is chilean isn’t he? how could it be racist to say his nationality, followed by “hole off all game”? nothing racist about it
I know we’re all on the same team here but.. steady on princess.. the world is getting so precious
Not only that, but it could be seen as insensitive towards the, ahhh, shall we say “vertically challenged?” In all seriousness though, there are some genuine problems with racism in football and beyond, and nitpicking in this way really does nothing to solve them. Are you by chance the same fella who got upset about the Nintendo comment back in June?
Oh stop that right now! you wouldn’t be saying a damn word if it was Jack and he had said “ran his little English hole off” either it’s all acceptable or no of it is, it’s praise spoken with tongue and cheek phrasing and something that shows that this writer is definitely NOT a racist. It’s the extremist on either side of the coin that make this whole thing an issue.
Yeah Blogs, you totally bought into the stereotype that Chileans have small holes. You’re such a chileafobist. I’m canceling my subscription…
I think you need to learn what racism actually is.
um, if you want to nitpick semantics then you should probably note that being “chilean” is not a “race” (its a nationality).
The em rating shows we’re not far imagine that rating was a 8 9 (khedira) can we dream!
What?
Today’s game showed some of our defensive flaws, our cb’s worked really hard and our wing backs stopped pretty much everything but we are missing a dm for our team. Yes I know we didn’t concede any goals today but 1 major problem with how teams can counter our defensive flaws. 1 long ball pretty much against flamini or arteta is all it takes to penetrate our hole (hehe), other team wins header and they start their attack and all of our outfield players has to run back and help defend, wasting their stamina in the process. After 5 or… Read more »
Ref -5
Alexis, what a player. I got tired just watching him run!
He paid for himself tonight.
Spot on ratings. Alexis is on fire (excuse the pun). He ran all game! I even felt knackered looking at him from my couch with a beer in hand !
I feel özil needs to get some points on defending from bouldy. Throughout the game our left side was open to attacks.
I had a close eye on him and the same applies to the Ox. He could work on his defensive positioning a bit and he didn’t always track the opposing fullback. The boy has bags of potential though 🙂
It is just that Ozil is ideally suited for the number 10 role, at times may be feels that it is beneath him to defend, the OX will mature with games and will be better with his defensive side, now may be Cazorla can actually play in the left and if he can perform like this on the defensive side, then we have an intimidating side.
I think attacks down our left initially were due to diagonal balls from their right. I honestly felt that someone had shown Bilic a tape of our last two games against Everton. Ozil tracked his fullback pretty well later in the game. I think he even made a block inside our box. Ox on the other hand didn’t offer Debuchy a lot of protection even though he was on a yellow. He needs to improve in that regard just like Walcott did. Gone are the days when AW has to shout “Theo, get back” many times in a game.
Hate to say it but I agree with Jamie Redknapp(sorry!) on Ozil. If we use him behind the striker as our main creative attacking outlet(and not on the left) then he can be the one player in the team who doesn’t really need to defend because his attributes don’t lend themselves to that side of the game very well.
Having said that, as long as he’s playing on the wing then he’ll have to put in a defensive shift too.
While I agree and prefer Ozil in the middle from an attacking perspective, I disagree that the player in that role has fewer defensive duties. With the way Alexis (and Giroud) pressures the ball high up the pitch, another central player that can match his energy (Santi, OX, Rosicky) will, hopefully, create chances through forcing errors around the opposition goal.
Again no Rosicky. Strange.
He’d have been perfect to see the game out, pressing around etc but there was no need I guess.
My issue is I think Rosicky is more suitable for a LM spot than Cazorla or Ozil, who are both dire in that position. Rosicky would press high up, be energetic and track back.
Rosicky is usually used later on in season when others are shattered.
I’d say after their exertions tonight though he may get a start on Sunday
I think it was more down to the fact that the lads on the pitch were concentrating and doing well and a lapse from a fresh player wasnt a risk worth taking. I always feel wenger is way too conservative with his substitutions but for this game I think it was worth it.
Very strange. Wonder if it’s a conscious decision to save him a bit until later in the season?! He always seems to play more games second half of the season. I don’t believe he is so far down the pecking order.
In all fairness we did not make subs either. Even the Chambers one was enforced. It is a bit like the Chelsea home game last year where Arsene refused to make subs so as to not upset our defensive shape. I am sure Rosicky will get some games soon. As we know he is after all, one of the Manager’s favourites.
Why strange? He could have only conceivably come on for Jack, and Jack was having a fantastic game.
He can put in a shift on the wings too, but the travesty of a Ref made that moot because the sub for knackered Ozil had to be Calum.
Loved Sanchez’s commitment and work rate, but, mamma mia, Santi Cazorla! His best game for us in a while, and just when we needed someone to step up. Mucho Santi!
Looks a lot fitter than he did against palace and over in turkey anyway that’s for sure. Good to see the real Santi back 🙂
And it’s not a coincidence that he had a great game when he was playing his natural or best position in the middle of the park, where he has protection and a bit more freedom. I think he doesn’t quite have the fitness and the mobility to be as effective on the left where he has been played for the last year. With all the wide options we have now, hopefully we see him more in middle where he is capable of these good performances – was a bit of message to AW I feel as well.
Curious about the Flamini rating. He made, by some distance, the most clearances on our team and was useful in the air. He didn’t seem to be especially poor, a solid 7 maybe?
Frankly I started trying to give ratings but in the end I gave them all nines. It was such a team performance yesterday that I couldn’t find it in me to discredit any of the boys…
He seemed uncomfortable on the ball to me especially when it was on his left foot.
just imagine a fully connected attack of Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Walcott
And the Ox. The Ox is turning into a fucking terrifying player.
I think he is already a fantastic player, and I would personally have him in the middle ahead of Wilshere, but he is being held back a bit as others are placed ahead of him. When Ozil and Ramsey were out in March last year, we were very reliant on The Ox last year for our attacks.
Alexis is going to be a major star for us. I’m completely convinced of that.
Hell yeah. Loved seeing Ox and Alexis walk out the tunnel side by side at half-time, like men on a mission, and Flamini and Monreal bigging him up after his goal. Anyone else notice how similar the goal was to the one he scored against Brazil at the WC?
Deadly.
Alexis was insane today! Pleased to see him score and I reckon he will score 20+ if he’s given the chance upfront.
Good victory!! Hard fought no doubt. And fair ratings. Just that Ox missed inside 6 yard box was criminal & after the red card could have haunt us back.
But happy that the lads hang on til the end. The reports I have read so far from other sources as usual are not cimplimentary at all.
Im sure many of these cock reporters would be more than happy if Arsenal had failed tonite.
the performance by Alexis makes me less worried about filling the CF role. (still would like to get a CF but would prefer we got a CB and CDM 1st)
Personally I hope we buy a diminutive number 10.
We already have someone in the diminutive number 10 role. His name is MESUT OZIL
Alexis literally gives 200% everytime he plays, he challenges everything runs after everything and he scores too.
I would love to see the exact same attitude from all our offensive players.. Hopefully Alexis keeps this up and doesn’t stop doing it since the other attackers aren’t really following his example yet.
You can’t say literally and 200% in one sentence, man.
Anyway, I missed Rosicky the genius.
It’s impossible to give 200% effort. By definition, 100% is the maximum anyone can give.
Bonus rating:
Referee:
1/10 for being a complete douchewaffle in the 2nd half. Will admit he was nice to the arse in the first – that gets him the one point
Referee: -10 out 10, one negative point for each of those twattish yellow cards.
What is it with these ridiculous second yellow card decisions in the champion’s league?
It’s getting absurd. Debuchy’s was even softer than Ramsey’s last week. That’s never a second yellow, he gets the ball cleanly, the arms are 50/50, maybe a free kick…never a yellow.
They need to put me in there!
9/10 for the ref. Why you ask? For not giving the penalty for Besiktas and sending Jack off for the tackle from behind (Wonder whether all those praising Jack here would have done so had it been the case. Still Jack had a good game for the first 75 mins- much better dribbling and less careless on the ball than usual) Why not 10/10 for the ref? Ridiculous yellow for Chambers.. And no complaints for Debuchy – he dragged the man back right in front of the ref before making a solid tackle – a clear foul in the more… Read more »
Mike Dean/10
10/10 Being in Champions League and Manure not being in Europe at all.
They’re already out of 2/4 competitions by the end of August which is beyond comical…I get almost as much joy from watching them fail as I do from watching us succeed.
Don’t forget the Community Shield. They were only in 4/5 competitions to begin with and now they are only in 2…for now…hehehehe!
I know you’re joking and all but let’s forget the community shield lest we sound like scousers
I absolutely abhor ManU and avoid them like the plague. But, since last year I have even subscribed to some of their fan channels to hear their rants. They make my day.
Great team effort.
Santi, so instrumental in our FA Cup triumph, put in a heroic, massive performance. So glad rumours of his departure have proved unfounded. Loved Sanchez’s guts and skills, and wonderful to see Jack bursting past players with all the panache of old – his critics really haven’t taken proper account of how long and how seriously he was injured.
I think he was really good last year as well even though he was out played out of position a few times. The problem to me is pretty obvious. His best games last year were Norwich home, Cardiff home, Fulham home, AstonVilla Away. The pattern is pretty obvious, Ramsey didn’t start any of those games.
I love how hard Sanchez worked for the team. Great team performance
MOTM : It is a difficult call to give between Jack and Alexis. What a shift Jack put in today!! What an engine Alexis has gotten!! Top top performance by the lads!!!
Red army
10 for the fans they were awesome, had my tv up full blast 🙂
Alexis is one committed, passionate and utterly ballsy mother trucker!
Can’t disagree with those. Maybe deduct 1 point off Debuchy for his douche bag hair cut, but he made some great interceptions.
Is Ozil going to stay out wide? Maybe he wants him as our new pires!! Who knows….
No, bad hair cuts come with the RB position. Sagna pioneered that
I think this is the first time I’ve seen a game where Flamini didn’t get booked.
Özil is very very disappointing and needs to step up or be dropped….so many good through ball he could have provided for Alexis but always made the wrong decisions.
Bonus rating:
0/10 for the referee having a Besiktas cock up his arse the whole game.
I’d like to see how Chambers gets on in goal.
I was at the game and haven’t seen any extensive coverage yet, but from the ground Ozil looked poor. Admittedly he is often a player that has subtle influences in games that aren’t picked up real time, but he really didn’t look up to it today
Ozil Assisted on the goal. Most important moment of the match. Jack made it, Ozil served it up, Alexis chomped.
He’s obviously not fit yet.
Oh shit…can someone tell me why people say alexis isnt ready physically…i think i have never seen any cf running that much..I would like to see the stats to it..anyone knows where i can find them?
I didn’t watch the ganee, so what was ozil like?? Feel he really has to prove his worth this season..especially with fabregas shining.. Big seasion
*game **season… Its late
*Thierry
Bonus rating:
0/10 for the referee having a Besiktas dick up his arse the whole game.
Bonus rating: 10/26 cards for the ref, who also managed to turn the cunt-o-meter all the way up to 11. Masterclass in how not to referee.
Jack was MOTM for me. That was his best game for months. Also, I’m loving Debuchy. I thought we’d really miss Sagna but Debuchy has fitted in seamlessly.
It’s amazing how much of a difference a win vs a draw makes when it comes to player ratings and overall perception of the game. A 2-2 draw away against Everton is much more difficult to achieve than 1-0 at home against Besiktas, and the matches were quite similar: – Slow start yet again. The first 40 min were terrible. We need to fix that before the City match in a few weeks or we’ll be down by several goals before we get going. – Much better second half in both matches. – A ref doing all sorts of weird… Read more »
Good performance against a side who can consider themselves unlucky not to be in the Champions League when you look at some of the other qualifiers.
Not firing on all 4 cylinders just yet but saw good signs tonight.
Wilshere played his best game for a good while and 2nd half Sanchez justified his price tag – simply immense.
No passengers tonight and in my opinion all players can pay themselves on the back. It was tight, tense and very nervy but we deserved to take our place in the Champions League proper I believe.
People slagging off the ref….but a different one might have have given a penalty against Wilshere, and we’d be out. So count your blessings fellas!
I completely agree. Like I just wrote: He did some weird stuff. A lot of it actually. But terrible? No, a terrible ref would’ve sent us out of the whole competition with a penalty or two.
I actually felt like that was less of a penalty than Debuchy’s challenge, which I think was probably a penlty.
However, I can’t count the number of games I’ve said to myself ‘well, we should have had a pen but you can’t rely on these things, you need to make it yourself’, so it’s about time we’re the other side.
Disappointed with Ozil, but it’s a long season. I suspect that Wenger is playing him on the left wing for the same reasons that he played Ramsey and Jack on the wings a few seasons ago. At the time, we all questioned Wenger’s tactics and look what has become of Ramsey. Ozil will get better as the season progresses.
Good effort from all the lads loving the tenacity that Alexis brings. If he’s not quite physically ready for the season yet then god help our opposition when he is. His goal was well taken and vital but that effort in the last 20 mins was extraordinary. I love the quality and intricacies of our play at times but nothing gives me more pleasure than watching someone give 110 % in the Jersey. He was winning tackles and headers he had no right to and when Besiktas out numbered us in the final third you’d see him full on sprint… Read more »
I was just on besiktas blog and they were talking about….. oh I don’t know it was in Turkish
Why would Wenger not bring Rosicky in to help kill the game off? He would have fresh legs and could have added a threat on the counter with his energy.
I imagine the red card had something to do with that.
If none of the players he would replace was showing weakness, best not to mess with the chemistry. Especially when defending to battle out the game.
at least he could have used him for some timewasting in the end.
Ozil should be playing the #10. That is no brainer. Jack should be on the bench. Missed an easy shot in the first half and then almost gave Arsenals Champions league away with another completely stupid tackle. Had no chance to do anything and thats what he comes up with. Rosicky every day instead of Jack. We got lucky not allowing the away goal to them. Fortuntantly the official didnt call it. He seemed to be trying to make it up to them the entire 2nd half though. Wilshere made a couple of runs but overall hes crap. We were… Read more »
Nacho and Santi playing at that world-class Spanish level was just what we needed. Nacho’s cushioned header down to Jack before the goal was maybe the crucial intervention of the night. And Mesut Ozil – how many players could give that pass to Wilshere/Alexis in such a big game? A massive, massive assist (or hockey assist – Jack took a small touch before Alexis’ shot) and that’s why we spent the money. He does need some of whatever Alexis. Chambers with a great cameo, rugged, great feet(!) and awareness of what the game needed. Very high technical level from Bilic’s… Read more »
I’ve got to say you’re the first one who has mentioned that world class assist the maestro Oxil made. .simply mind blowing that whole move..a bit reminiscent of the Wilshere goal from last year. I thought Ozil played really well today..gave him an 8. Wilshere was bossing it today and Alexis has got to be the hardest working man in the game + has got the skills to go with it..if I’m dreaming a bit, I think if we got his Chilean teammate Vidal, who we were heavily linked to before he went to Juve btw (but Wenger hadn’t seen… Read more »
I concur, Vidal is a beast. He is the best all round footballer. The guy is a tackling machine and literally runs for 2. Juve must be out of their mind to sell him for anything less than 50mill. If Vidal leaves Juve, Pirlo might as well retire from the game.
Cannot say enough how great a player he is – Vidal has all-around game, and would slot right into this setup. We’d be mad to not be in for him if he does leave Juve but looks like they’re gonna hold on to him and Pogba.
Imagine Vidal teamed up with Ramsey… might could work!
Oh, It definitely might could work! Agree with you guys, he could very well be the best “all around player” in the world now…can’t think of any better.
If Vidal was available, I think Arsene would be in for him.
Wenger: “Vidal is one of the best midfielders in the world. He has everything. Incredible stamina, perfect timing. He’s a marathon athlete who plays football.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arturo-vidal-to-arsenal-arsene-wenger-reveals-his-interest-in-44mrated-juventus-midfielder-9569993.html
Monreal was actually fantastic all game I thought, filling in for Gibbs brilliantly so far
I really like flamini for his work ethic and the fact he has a grittiness that others in the squad don’t, however I thought he was really poor today. He was sloppy on several occasions (his technique really seems to let him down when he’s tired), and found himself getting over run in the middle of the park – this may have been down to the way we were set up in midfield, but watching him I couldn’t help but feel the team is desperate for a more physically and technically capable player in his position. In terms of strength… Read more »
Its no surprise Jack best performances are in Europe where they actually attempt to play football. He doesn’t get the needed protection in England
Great players adapt their game to the conditions on hand.
Santi was unreal. Looked like he wanted to prove he owned his place in starting 11
After a few more matches, we’re going to be absolutely lethal with Alexis in the middle. That is all.
Bonus rating: – 1million trillion/10 for the referee
Report writer and I obviously watched a different game and the referee didn`t help plus a Scottish commentator who gave me headache so much I watched it in silence.
Not sure if we were playing cards or football but if it was football Arsenal have a fair way to go if they are going to be a serious challenge for the title, much of the time it was schoolboy stuff, tight and scrappy.
Don’t you think the opposition had a lot to do with that? Personally I thought Besiktas was a very tough opponent over the two legs..a bit too much dirty play for my liking though from the Turks.
Arsenal gave Sanches No. 17 shirt, and in turn he gave Mr. Wenger the number 17 champions league football. Debuchey’s Red was very hard to take by any means…ref’s colour-blindness?
Sanchez paid off his transfer fee with that goal
Please stop saying that.. No offense to Besiktas at all but a better team at home would have thrashed them 9/10 times. Hell, we had three clear-cut chances as well and Alexis converted one.. Let Alexis help us win the CL or PL (or at least get us close to them by being top scorer or assist-maker) – only then can we say he was a great buy.. BTW, what is with many fans over-celebrating this CL Qualification as a trophy (with a narrow, unconvincing win) when we won’t reach the final? Careful not to set the bar too low… Read more »
Its cus we continue to qualify for the champions league when every over top team doesnt. Im sure with the money coming in over the next few seasons we will be able to assemble a squad that is able to challenge for it.
Furthermore, despite Di Maria going to Man Utd where he will be getting £300,000 a week, top players would be hesitant to play for teams which arent in the Champions League.
So yeah qualification is important.
forgive my poor english