It wasn’t pretty and if Leicester had a player who could finish rather than shoot JUST wide it well have been very different, but it wasn’t.
A 2-1 win meant we took three points and here’s how the players rated.
Friday, December 20, 2024
It wasn’t pretty and if Leicester had a player who could finish rather than shoot JUST wide it well have been very different, but it wasn’t.
A 2-1 win meant we took three points and here’s how the players rated.
ozil was best player on the pitch and he gets a lower rating than monreal from blogs? why the hate?
I like Ozil and he has the same mark as Monreal!
You sit on a throne of lies!
i swear that when it was first posted ozil had a 6.5 from blogs. i think someone below thought the same. no matter. but i do think ozil was good enough for motm.
monreal got completely skinned one-on-one 2 or 3 times leading to v dangerous chances.
Ozil was the decisive factor in winning the game for us, but I remember quite a few sloppy passes, particularly in the second half. I’d give MOTM to Kos on this one. I think the fact he was so aerially dominant in a way obscured just how important it was to be aerially dominant – if we’d been dealing with knock-downs all game we might not have won this.
Can we put Walcott’s lack of involvement down to him still finding his feet? A year out and no real pre-season can do horrible things to a player.
Also, quick shout out to the Arsenal Medical Team (serious): Mesut’s come back in great form, and as much as I feel he should be playing better, Walcott’s goal tally is quietly impressive. Hoping they work their magic on Wilshere too.
Bulking up Mesut has done wonders, I loved him before but I love him even more now. He’s gonna be so important for this team.
I agree that we have to give him time and coming back from a long term injury can be hell. The attitude changes. The willingness to go in for tackles and challenges could be diminished, definitely, but he can really be so frustrating. I was at the Villa game and it was the same. No tracking back. Leaving Bellerin exposed. Pointing out players Bellerin (and even Giroud at one point) should mark and not doing anything about it himself. This league does not allow for 10 players to carry one who only gets goals and nothing else. Really hope for… Read more »
I really do sympathise with him for the past year. An ACL is almost as bad as it gets – no running, minimal leg exercises are possible and it takes a lot of work to come back from. Plus the chances of doing it again are stupidly high, which is absurd considering it’s 9 months out on average! It’s quite literally a first in, last out mentality. Unless you work that hard it can significantly damage your ability. What I won’t sympathise with him for is his defensive effort, which is shocking at times. I’m not going to reference it… Read more »
I felt the walcott slating was unfair, we tend to overlook movement off the ball. I think the reason why Walcott doesn’t get so involved in the build up is because he’s mostly an off the ball player ( a very good one that too). His movement is unmatched by anyone on the team, most of the others including ox run mostly with the ball. Walcott gives us the cutting edge to score, he doesnt need to have the number of touches or passes as cazorla in a game
Well said, if only blogs could understand football, let his hate continue. Everyone knows Theo is a unique and vital player for us, blogs would rather get rid of him because he has less touches and doesn’t make 70 passes lol.
Wenger said this about Walcott last week, “Theo’s first [attribute] is the quality of his reception, it is absolutely exceptional, one of the best in the world”. Read and learn blogs: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150206/wenger-the-secret-of-theo-s-success
Yeah, here’s the quality of Walcott’s reception – http://gfycat.com/JoyousEthicalIndianhare
Why didn’t you use the example of his goal against Aston Villa? What, did you catch him with the misses or something? Yeah, he wasn’t as involved but apparently he made more sprints than any other player in the first half. That might not mean much but how about this; 9 appearance 3 goals. Actually I think it’s 3 in his last 4. Ox has 2 in 32. And this is a player who was out for a year, still finding his feet and before this injury was playing some of the best football of his career. Do the math.
So you disagree with Wenger blogs. So no player can ever have bad control right, he hadn’t even been on the pitch long, not to mention being out for a year injured. If he had started against Sp*rs I don’t think we would have lost, at some point his quality would have made a difference. Would Kane have made a difference in just the 10 or so minutes that Theo had. Three goals in his last three starts.
What about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF1bCc2-xSg
Christ, we played Armand Traore in a cup final.
We played with Gus Gaesar in a cup final…
Walcott is in a tenuous situation, the more disappointing aspect being his failure to recognize it. The day of the indulged striker never attempting a defensive shift (previously often encouraged by the old school managers) is fast disappearing. Success is increased when teams employ a high pressing game (doh!) and managers will/should expect increased fitness, productivity and defensive awareness from every position. As others have noted, Walcott has sat on the bench and watched not just the industry of Sanchez but Welbeck who has always had a high work rate also. He has obviously seen Oxlade-Chamberlain up his productivity and… Read more »
Theo has never been very involved. It’s just not his game. He runs behind, picks up a pass, and scores. That’s what he does well. If pressed he can maybe square the ball to someone else, but that’s about the extent of his “build-up” play.
The referee’s a wanker
Aren’t they all, the fat cunts.
Mike Jones you solid gold twat
Theo has got to put a bigger shift in or he will have to play second fiddle to Welbeck.
except that Welbeck does not score goals, 4 in 16 starts, Theo 2 in 2 starts
I am often impressed with Welbecks play, but as all the United fans pointed out, he does not score and he often does not even try.
That’s Welbeck’s main issue IMO. He needs to be more selfish and take more risks imo. He doesn’t shoot enough and doesn’t put himself in enough positions to score. Walcott may lack in some of his over all play (and he was much better in that regard before his injury) but you can’t knock his stats cause he always wants to be in a position to score or assist. You’re a forward, goals and assists please! 🙂
I partially agree – Welbeck is not selfish enough. However what I love about both Welbeck and the Ox is they pull defenses around and create opportunities for others.
I am not that bothered as to who scores the goal or even racks up a high personal tally – I just want opportunities to be made and taken.
I just wish Giroud would throw his weight around a bit more. You’re about 6ft 3, be stronger man!
Also, what constitutes a ‘failed’ clearance, just out of interest? Missing the kick completely?
I could be wrong, but I think a clearance constitutes getting the ball out to another Arsenal player- a “failed” clearance then is booting the ball out to an opposition player.
Giroud knows how to use his body, not his fault if the referee doesn’t like him.
He’s knows how to use it with glamour models in his hotel room before a big match but on the pitch he’s a bit of a girl
More like my cunt!
WHAT?!
The referee have no pressure to perform like the club do. They should be as much under media scrutiny as manager and players and their standard will finally rise.
I’ve always thought that myself. They should have to be interviewed after and explain some of their decisions
So many sport websites put up player ratings after games. Just add a referee rating there and immediately some pressure exists. Been wanting that for ages.
Mike Jones is a wanker
Did Coquelin’s attempted dinked chips into Walcott tonight remind anybody of a previous dm of ours?
The cycle of life just keeps repeating itself..
Nah man, he’s better than Song.
Le Coq has discipline and athleticism in abundance. Song never felt quite so safe. I would rather a DM who surprises me with an assist than a DM who surprises me with a tackle.
Very average performance but at least Spurs lost.
Downside, however, is that there’s now only 3 points separating 3rd place and 7th place. It’s getting tight and I can already feel these other teams breathing down our necks.
As expected arseblog gives Walcott a shoeing and is full of praise for Koscielny. Koscielny is clearly a favourite of his and never has a bad word for him. Koscielny was shit against spurs. Shit against Brighton and was shit tonight. Koscielny’s been awful for weeks. He’s a liability at times that has at least one cock up a game. It’s a joke that many Arsenal fans believe he’s world class.
As I commented in the match report:
Koscielny scored a goal, made 42/51 passes, 10/10 clearances, 10/10 aerial duals, 2/3 tackles, and two interceptions and you say he was shit. Fair enough, that’s your opinion.
But Walcott scored a goal, made just 6/9 passes in all the time he was on the pitch, had less touches of the ball than Giroud despite playing 50 minutes more, so what does that make his performance?
You can spin stats to make any player look good. Flamini had the best pass completion rate in the league last season and he’s hopeless. You mention Koscielny won 10/10 aerial duels. One on those headers went about 2 yards then right into the path of Kramaric. It was a terrible header. But the stats don’t show that. They don’t show Koscielny give Kane a free header in the derby. Or him shying awaying from the ball for Brighton’s first goal. Or Koscielny shanking a clearance straight to a Brighton forward for a great chance. I’m not a big fan… Read more »
I don’t have it in for him.
He confuses the life out of me because he scores goals but does little else and I genuinely wonder how or if it’s possible to keep a player like that in the team in the long term.
I thought Kos was poor v Brighton, not great against Sp*rs (but there were 10 others that day too), but to pick on one moment of his performance tonight, while offering no defence whatsoever for Theo, suggests you might have it in for him more than I have it in for Walcott 😉
nice example of a civilized back and forth over disagreements. Both Bloggs and HK1 make some good points. Eventually, we all support the team and have our favorites. Its all good, long as the differences are put aside during the game and we support wholeheartedly.
You just said it yourself, Theo “scores goals”, that’s why he gets in the team!! Quite simple really isn’t it…not to mention the assists which he is also normally great at(before injury). His off the ball movement is unmatched.
Here is some of Theo doing “little else”
He steals the ball (in our half, playing defense no less) and draws two players, setting Giroud free to assist Ozil for a goal
http://arsenalist.com/f/2014-15/arsenal-vs-aston-villa/goal-mesut-ozil-2-0.html
We all know, blogs, like all humans breathing, have their favourites. Giroud for one in blogs case, that tall handsome guy can do no wrong. Aye. Personally, I’m sure Theo improved his all round game before being injured. Cut him some slacks blogs.
Well, we’ve seen it all before. A team plays deep and packs the defence and theo’s rather useless. This is why he plays better against stronger teams as they push out more.
I personally will cut him some slack because of the ACL tear. I recall a certain bobby pires also needing a few games to swag back to his best.
You are not right here.
Aside from a very nice finish, Theo did fuck all today, though. Not a great day to man this barricade.
That nice finish was the difference between 3 & 1 point.
It’s frustrating to see football fans or audience chastising defensive players for mistakes but turn a blind eye to offensive players missing simple chances.
To me, the error is in the same magnitude.
We glorify a striker for scoring a goal and conveniently forgot that he missed several chances. Should we glorify a defender for a goal line clearance but gifted goals or chances to the opponent too?
Well no there’s a big difference, a defender makes a mistake that leads to conceding a goal, a striker misses a chance and it makes no difference to the score line and the miss can be atoned for
On top of that, Koscielny, in just about every form of evaluation, does a better job than Walcott. Not that I don’t like Feo, but Koscielny has been a critical starter, covers extremely well for a slowing Merte while carrying an injury most of the season, one of our more effective players on corners, and on and on and on.
Stop this bs, Koscielny with Özil and Coquelin were our best players tonight.
Walcott was alright (partly thanks to his goal) but you can see he’s struggling a bit to play with the team.
Did you actually watch our game? Or did you watch Sp*ds and then come on here angry because you lost? Kos’s numbers don’t lie, he was up there with Mesut tonight
I hope he hasn’t used up all of his goals already this season . . .
. . . we might need a Kos special on the last day, again !!!!!
WTF is going on with refs this season!? Anybody else getting really frustrated with some of their shit decisions or lack of?
On a positive note…I’m liking this new and stronger Mesut, he looks hungrier and more aggressive!
Let’s be pragmatic. I rate the ox very high but would start Walcott every time ahead of him, if I were the manager. The difference is called goals. In four games Wally already scored more than the ox did this season. I was critical of Ozil in this forum. The guy scored three goals in three games after his return. I now find him very useful for the team. I do not care about defty flicks, I care about goals. During invincible era, I would but now this team needs to win, period. Gervinho was more spectacular than Ozil with… Read more »
Very Happy with Özil’s contribution tonight, and overall we looked quite stable but there was a lot of space for the opposition to exploit. With Bellerin being asked to carry Walcott defensively, which is a big ask that he’s doing quite well to respond to, it suggests that we either need Walcott to find his feet sooner rather than later, or we need Danny-Boy to get back up to speed, otherwise we’ll be vulnerable down our right-hand side for some very winnable fixtures.
its true about Walcott’s rehabilitation and finding his feet, but I have in general never seen him use his pace to defend wholeheartedly, even before the injury. Something he needs to work on to make himself indispensable to the team, because Oxlade-Chamberlain is right on his heels, and if the Ox starts finishing well, it might mean a difficult situation for Walcott. Also, improvement does not have to be only in what you do well (finishing, though he can improve his reception of the ball), but also what you have not been doing.
As soon as the Ox is fit, he comes back into the team. Easy decision for the manager.
The Ox will never get as many goals or assists as Walcott…
The Ox has 2 in 32 and Theo 3 in 4, in my opinion non-scoring attackers will cost you more points in the long run
But is it easy? Ox has 2 goals in 32 appearances this season. Walcott has 3 in 9. Do the math
The problem being the Ox believes he has major repsonsibility to support the team in all areas and Walcott has one focus-score goals.
The problem being Walcott’s goal scoring ebbs and flows ( are we pretending he is a goal a game striker now?) – the Ox’s energy does not (or Welbecks).
Credit to Leicester today, they played well.
Agreed, looked like they came to completely park the bus but after going a goal down they genuinely showed ambition to get back into the game, we’re seriously lucky we weren’t up against a better opposition as we gave Leicester way too many chances
Some of the stuff Mike Jones turned a blind eye too today was just horrific, letting Leichester players kicking and tackle all they wanted too without handing out cards at all. And lets not forgett that handball in the penalty area by Simpson, the handball rule is indeed as clear as quantum mathematics, but come on…that was a pen all day long. What an absolute wanker of a ref.
Same thing happened at Shite Hart Lane.
We have a thing for attracting kicks because we are one of the few teams actually trying to play football and referees don’t seem to understand that.
And you wonder why England looks off in international competitions.
His calls deja vu’d all the way back to Saturday
That Danny Simpson is a right Cunt. My mind was praying the players focused on the game but my heart was hoping the flamster would give him a 2 foot to the face.
Onwards and upwards! I seriously think we can even finish as high as 2nd this year!
Will take any kind of 3 points – villalike with swagger or Leceisterlike with fingernails gone.
With hind sight though, keeping Welbeck and Giroud on the bench was not very wise after all. We couldn’t alter our play and all the high balls by Ospina ended up with their taller defenders. One of them should have started in place of Alexis.
Giroud deserves higher, Schwarzer couldn’t get around him at all by the end of it
“Can the goals continue to offset a player who is just so uninvolved for huge swathes of matches?”
smells a bit like podolski to me
So Per performed better than Özil?
Please note: player ratings are subjective opinions. There’s room for you to leave your own ratings too. Tomorrow everyone will have forgotten them. Except the bloke up top who will remember the fact I gave Kos a 7 instead of giving him diphtheria.
Haha, the ratings, as usual, are spot on. Only Arsenal fans can find this much to whine about after a WIN!!!
The rating for Ospina is rather high, imo. I have very little confidence in this guy, but at least we have a quality keeper on the bench chomping at the bit to get back in the action. Ospina has looked shaky in his last two appearances and should be only makeshift.
I’d say he did. Ozil will be remembered for his decisive points but he was still a bit dodgy for vast swathes of the game – this wasn’t a Santi vs City or Rosicky vs Brighton performance, Ozil didn’t exactly help the team to control the game. Meanwhile the defense was solid in dealing with long balls and most of the danger came from the right with Mahrez. Per made some excellent clearances and deserves a high rating. Perhaps arseblog has his favourites, but the notion that Per played better isn’t incomprehensible.
Özil created the 2 goals and he looked to fight hard to the finish. 6.5 may underrate his contribution on a day when Arsenal’s other creative players may not have been at their best.
Delighted by the form Ozil’s showing since coming back. Long may that continue.
Walcott was, well, same old Walcott. Same awesome clinicalness when he doesn’t have to think, same frustratingly being on the periphery for too much of the match. I know I shouldn’t judge players on such things but I’d be more tolerant if he didn’t keep pulling the same bullshit every time his contract needs renewing. You’re already a top earner, have a look at how that chap on the left wing acts like it.
I know that I’m going to get a right load of bullocks for this, but I have to say that I have not at all been impressed by Ospina the past two matches. He looks completely nervous in goal and, like Szczesny I guess, makes quite a few debatable decisions. Today he managed to let the ball through his legs at the near post (luckily rolling out for a goal kick), parried the ball back to the opposition in a dangerous area, got chipped (Per had to clear it off the line), dropped the ball from a corner, made several… Read more »
I don’t disagree with you–the last two matches have suggested to me that, unless Szcz matures in a hurry or Ospina suddenly grows 5 inches, neither one is the solution (although I like Szcz’s chances of growing into the role). I honestly think Ospina is playing the position better, but he has to parry and punch when I’d expect him to catch and control the ball, so the ball stays alive longer than my heart can take.
I think tonight we have to give credit to Leicester and not analyse our own performance too much. The effort was visible but Leicester both defended and attacked well and being brutally honest were probably worthy of a point. Rosicky buzzed around, Ozil had some very good moments and once again I felt Monreal was solid but all in all it was a case of us not playing well due to 2 factors. Firstly, we weren’t quite at the races, and secondly, they were good – certainly not the worse team by a long chalk we’ve played this season at… Read more »
Talking about naturally gifted footballers, can anyone remember Dennis Bergkamp’s hatrick against Leicester which won goals 1, 2 and 3 in MOTD’s Goal of the Month competition?
That guy was truly a footballing genius.
No I’d completely forgotten about that 😉
*however,
Sometimes I look at Theo and wonder if he’s just completely unaware of what’s going on and everything he does is pot luck. Other times I think maybe he’s purposely disappearing or fluffing his lines to lull the opposition into a false sense of security so when he picks his moment they will be caught off guard. I just don’t know what to make of him sometimes but one thing I do know is that he has something special about him, something that can change a game in the blink of an eye. I’d really like to see him up… Read more »
Ospina 6. Good man blogs
if that was chezz in goal we would be talking about a draw or even loss tonight .
look at chez one on one v Southampton.
Then look at ospina tonight.stands tall stops the chip goal
Eventhough Ospina saved that lob by kramarić it was mistake because he shouldn’t go out there. Bellerin would have cought him. He was very lucky there.
Bellerin made some intelligent runs, it was a shame that neither Ozil and Carzola didnt pick them out. I also thought we played way to direct and to narrowly. We didnt exploit the speed our full backs had and I felt they were just waiting to get the ball. What a shame. (I know we didnt have a target man for the first half but I felt that it would have created a lot more chances) But overall a poor performance. Defence was poor, Leicester had way to many clear cut chances, we were lucky to get all 3 points.… Read more »
Always so so so harsh on theo
I don’t understand Coquelin’s stat “9/9 in the air”. Didn’t he lose the aerial duel to Cambiasso for their goal? Just curious how these stats are calculated/determined.
Walcott – lazy arrogant and deluded. Great at post game interviews but lacks the application to be a part of a consistent winning team. He’s a luxury we can seldom afford. Dangerous and unreliable in too many ways.
Also, he needs to remember he has some defensive obligations. He should have closed down Bentaleb in the 86th minute of the match against sp*rs. That would stopped me feeling pissed off all weekend.
That’s my biggest gripe. He can stand 5 yards away from an opponent yet make no effort to apply pressure. It’s seems it’s beneath him or he doesn’t consider it his responsibility. Either way, I’m sick of the attitude. The hit and miss technical elements of his game are more acceptable as at least they’re honest
yet there’s no other play on the same scoring form as him? Are you blogs in disguise?
Maybe we should have a referee rating as well. TBH I wasn’t happy about the refereeing in the spuds game, but that wasn’t half as bad as this one,
Granted, I’m hardly a disinterested spectator, but it seems as if we’ve been badly used by referees in general. So badly used that I began to wonder if Wenger, naughty boy that he may be, has slept with the wives of all the refs.
My feeling is, he is constantly told to do something on the defensive side, and he can’t figure out how, so he stands in a position that looks defensive, and thinks they will see it and stop telling him. I doubt he has a very good sense of passing angles and things like that. If he improved there, he could do better defensively without having to add tackling and stuff, which I think is beyond him (and that’s fine, just do a job marshaling the opposition away from dangerous areas, and be available). Its kind of like when I see… Read more »
I do think Theo gets a rough time on this site blogs (I guess you’re entitled to, it’s your site) I see Theo in the same light as Özil. Both players have 1 or 2 world class attributes with some glaring deficiencies as well. Özil has superb vision, movement and is an amazing passer of the ball. It’s also plain to see that he is bundled of the ball easily and sometimes lacks aggression. Theo has exceptional movement, is an excellent finisher these days and has terrific pace. He also gets lost in games sometimes and never really gets involved… Read more »
It’s a win, it’s 3 points, and it’s good immediate response to the previous game against ‘you know who’.
the concerning thing now is how tired a lot of these players are starting to look – and with a flurry of games in all competitions coming up, it’ll be interesting to see how Wenger prioritises, and how the players respond. Personally, I’d throw everything into the FA cup – let’s be honest, our best bet.
People get carried away by the Spur of the moment. Chiefly Walcott and (Welbeck) are coming back from being out for a while. They will have consistency issues. Remember Santi? More poignantly Spur of the moment are those Spud fans that enjoyed 2 to 3 days of sunshine before going back into our shadow. They never fail, comedy goal. Other spur of the moment issue has been criticism of certain players and Coq stroking of others. Coquelin has been a great LANS for us but people seem to then suddenly think Flamini is rubbish. Frankly had it been Coq coming… Read more »
Ozil could have had assist for the beautiful weighted pass to Walcott. We dont see that type of through balls often enough…from any player in the league. Awesome stuff. His two shots on target, one leading to the 2nd goal showed his class…especially the grounder to the corner that was taken quickly. He has shown his class since he came back. Calm on the ball with the touches but deadly with the passes. More good stuff from him for sure. Cant wait!!
I just cannot see walcott and ozil playing at the same time.
they both are weak defensively. but ozil is clever in and around the box. he knows his next move before the pass is made to him. blogs forgot to mention how walcott delayed squaring a pass and let a glorious chance let slip.
but both are not very clever in defense or middle of the pitch. as they are too weak physically and are loathe to make tackles.
tbh much rather have chambo than walcott. chambo come back quick.
-“Bellerin looked exposed because of Theo.” Seriously? Sagna always played with Theo in front and NEVER looked exposed. Be objective don’t make excuses. Yes he’s 19 and he’s done some impressive stuff but he is short in so many things as well as you would expect from a 19y.o. No need to sugarcoat it.
Also blogs, I remember you defending Podolski and asking for him to come on several times the days he was benched. After the loan move you were all aboard with stuff like “yeah he was lazy he doesnt fit in, etc.” People has been full of praise for Theo in recent times, he’s out for one entire YEAR, performs poorly 2-3 games and you’re already asking for his head in the summer. Come on guys..
God damn son..i thought arsenal won today
We miss the Ox. Honestly, he is miles ahead of Walcott for me – despite being not quite as clinical in front of goals. It will come. But he has such drive and energy, is great defensively, and he can beat players not just with speed but with technique.
“…despite being not quite as clinical in front of goals…” Not quite? It’s 2 in 32 vs 3 in 9! And those 3 came in the last 4 games, it’s not even a comparison and it also ignores how much better Walcott was before his injury. Now, I like Ox and I think he absolutely has the potential to be better than Walcott (though I reckon he’ll end up at CM). But let’s get real here.
I’m sorry for this but if you dont end up on the winning side, you dont deserve to win. I’m an Arsenal fan, you will never hear that WE deserved to win. We dominate games and then lose, “Arsenal tacticaly outclassed, too much tippy tappy football, Arsenal defensively weak, Soft center this, Soft center that.” If on the other hand, we beat someone, then its ” Arsenal beats weak villa, Arsenal win against small team, Arsenal lucky to beat relegation candidates, Arsenal take advantage of toure-less city and steal victory.” We have never deserved to win, so what if they… Read more »
Maybe Ozil’s doing something I’m not seeing. I’d just love to see him trying a bit more. Also, got bullied out the game so easily last night, I thought he was meant to of bulked up while he’s been off. Was a real pussy in the second half. I just kept watching him get knocked of the ball then crying on the floor for ages then crying to the ref – it’s pathetic.
I think Monreal’s in great form a the moment. Also – the difference it makes when Giroud comes on.
I think you have to accept Theo is not the most technically gifted player in the world but he will give you 10-15 goals from wide positions which if we had 2nd half of last season you will find we would have been close to winning it.
I really think we weren’t as bad yesterday as they want to show us. The only really bad think it was that we weren’t dangerous in the last third but that was because we didn’t play with lone striker upfront (read:Giroud). For me Nacho was man of the match and Ozil just behind him.