Goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and two from Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal their biggest win of the season so far, a 5-0 hammering of Huddersfield.
It wasn’t one-way traffic though, and the visitors were in the game until well into the second half.
Here’s how the players rated.
The crowd chanting Santi ‘s name – 11/10
I think he is probably done now, really quite depressing i hope he recovers so that the rest of his life isn’t effected.
Agreed. I know the whole millionaire footballer thing, but not having our little Spanish wizard is heartbreaking.
One superb save at 1-0 to keep the scores level? Wow, that Cech has amazing powers of…time control?
heh, oops. Fixed now 😉
Ahahaha that bonus rating
“Made one superb save at 1-0 to keep the scores level”
…?
Fixed now!
nice one from the boys
Ozil playing for the shop window. Where has this effort been in the past?
If you think just because a player “playing for the shop window”, which Mesut is NOT, he can turn it on like Mesut did. You must have the fucking skills first, to turn it on.
We win, Mesut did fantastically well and you still have shit coming out. Please just go away.
Making most assists and creating more chances than any other player in the Premiership since joined us. Who have you been watching all these years?
lil uns…he used to be a priest.
If Mesut gets 10-15 league goals a season, ppl would shut it.
Honestly, i just think he is benefiting from an incredibly solid base we seem to have had over the last few weeks. Just as he did when he was at Real Madrid and at his peak powers for Germany.
Who knew giving a player with incredible attacking ability the freedom created by having a good defence would make him better?
Ozil also tracking back and winning ball back in defensive third many times yesterday.
Arsenal just won 5-0 and Tottenham are 7th.
If this is the only thing you have to say in response to that you perhaps need to start re-evaluating some of your life choices.
Thanks blogs
You’re welcome man
Love you too man!
?
So when we beat united at the weekend and they get curb stomped by city, we have the opportunity to move into second or third (depending on chelsea) or we screw up and the top 3 separates from the pack.
Just think though if lacazette goal had correctly stood and richarlison and sterlings dives been punished we could of been in a great position.
3 of our 4 losses down to poor officiating. Citeh on the other hand benefited once again from “good fortune”, as 5 minutes were added on, scoring after the 5th minute had passed. Were those 5 minutes justified? It is just another grey area of football. With billions on the line, a middle aged man is prancing about the pitch and deciding matches. With the game faster than ever, shouldn’t the Premier League be leading the evolution of football?
Would appreciate a blog post on this Blogs if you care to dissect! 🙂
Seems Lacazette has a groin injury. It usually takes 3 weeks to heal. I hope this is just Wenger playing mind games, like with Özil’s illness that should have kept him out of the game tonight.
good times, more of the same against the mancs
some personal hate in the bonus rating, try focus the love for everyone from that beautiful football!!!
lovely bonus rating!
Ozil is in some juicy form right now. If he can produce the goods vs Manu, its fair to say he has finally responded to his critics!
Sorry to be a downer seeing as we’re on a very good run, but I have to disagree on Xhaka. I simply cannot see what he offers this team (or would any offer any other team with top 4/title ambitions)
Wasnt it his lob upto LACA that kind of setup the first goal? Thats what he offers.
Unfortunately I have to agree. I was really hoping he was going to kick on this season but if anything he’s become a liability. Most of his passes are now short and across rather than forward so his stats look better than they actually are. I can’t remember the last time he played an incisive pass. He also sits on the ball far too long in dangerous areas, often leading to risky situations where we are outnumbered and out of position, not to mention making misplaced passes that often lead to counter-attacks. Moreover, and this might be down to manager… Read more »
He makes many so called incisive passes per game. He plays alone in the midfield with Ramsey being so high up so of course he missplace a pass or two and sometimes sits on the ball for to long because of lack of options to pass it. Watch a game again and you will see how empty our midfield is on most times. I am not saying he is in great form couse he is not but don’t scape goat him. He had a rough patch at the start of the season but he is getting better game by game.
I thought Xhaka wasn’t very good tonight, overall, but this comment is absolutely spot on: he has a thankless task essentially playing in midfield by himself (this is not a knock on Ramsey per se, since at least some of the time, like tonight, Wenger is clearly instructing him to play so high up the pitch and to be fair he’s doing well there). He’s often pretty isolated both with and without the ball. Also worth pointing out that Xhaka’s tendency to play lots of sideways balls–as opposed to the line-splitting ones he was known for when we bought him–is… Read more »
Completely agree. Whoever comes into that position in this system, will make mistakes. Xhaka has the vision and passing range to hit the front men. Wilshere is more likely to risk taking on a player, which would be more of a risk in that position. Elneny hasn’t quite got the passing range or the aggression Xhaka has. Coquelin is aggressive as they come but again, not got the best passing ability. Xhaka is the man for now. Sick of people on his case. Alexis has been consistently poor but given a free pass. Kolasinac has also seen a downturn in… Read more »
Yeah, we can’t criticise Xhaka in a vacuum right? He’s still our best option and is asked specifically to play that way. But can that style of play keep us in touch with the Manchester clubs? Wenger had to bypass him tactically to produce that great North London derby performance, and in the big games we’ve lost away from home there’s a clear link between his inability to impose himself and us not being to control those games. We used to have similar issues when we played both Arteta & Cazorla away from home. And come on man, Alexis does… Read more »
People must think he doesn’t want to be Podolski-ing/thunder walloping the ball more frequently. Or, that he doesn’t miss his role in the Swiss team.
Horsess for courses. He offers Arteta levels of metronomic passing, Carzola style precision passing (weak foot 70-80% avg), and some Coquelin bite.
Fall guy. He’s probably sacrificing his natural game more than most…or is that just learning?
Santi must retire at Arsenal! TR7 level respect. Wages or not, that’s not the issue.
I thought he was average at best today; he gave the ball away at stupid times and lacked effort in defence. We let them into it for the last 15 mins of the first half by suddenly losing our composure, and it was Xhaka who started this by giving the ball away and faffing with it in midfield – it seemed to spook us for a while. His mentality was noticeable when Monreal gave the ball away high up the pitch; they broke on us, he made a feeble attempt to tackle by sitting on his arse, and then made… Read more »
He had a fine match and apart from one slip up didn’t put a foot wrong. Just cannot understand the flak he gets. It seems he has become the new hate figure replacing Ramsey
Totally agree, Martin.
We (fans) have to have a player to beat the hell out of …
Now that Ozil and Ramsey are playing well, it happens that player is Xhaka
Not sure I’m on board with your comment, or George’s reply below. You could come up with some reasons why you think Xhaka had a good game, and why you think he is a world class player such as you would want being the fulcrum of our midfield. Instead you decide to criticise other fans who have a different view to yours. This is everything that is wrong with our fan base – shame on you and George. I try and be as balanced as possible; I think Iwobi, gets unfair criticism at times considering his youth, I think Ramsey… Read more »
Exactly Skettles, seen mostly pretty reasoned opinions on both sides about Xhaka’s game.
Xhaka is the latest in a long line of players trying to fill Vieira’s boots. And today Kante is the current archetype for a title-winning DM. But Xhaka’s more of a Busquets-type who keeps the opposition chasing after the ball but is not great at defending counters.
Still think the priority upgrade is Coquelin so we have a viable starter who’s more athletic than Xhaka.
So, the rotational fouling put on Xhaka by the visitors obviously wasn’t noticed by more people than the ref tonight. He had some poor passes, but then again, so did Mustafi, Kolasinac, Sanchez, and Bellerin.
Xhaka plays the game far better than a few on here are even able to watch it.
Mustafi hit about 5 passes in dangerous positions straight to the opposition. Besides that, he was great. Xhaka not afforded even 1 mistake right now. Our fans are very selective – nicest way I can put it!
Amen
Wenger…..8 out of 10
“97 passes, 113 touches, two assists, one goal”. Ozil! I see he is still nicking a living
Yeah. Out of 113 touches, 100 times he either passed it or scored straight away. Are you kidding me Özil? How about doing a little work on the ball. No no, let your team mates do all the work. Ridiculous.
Points are points. But lots of ugly play. Hoping the boys were just saving themselves for the weekend. They’ll need to be much sharper for more than the ~25min they dominated today.
Should we not just enjoy the 5-0 scoreline and save the rest for another day?
Mate, for your own sake derive some enjoyment from a 5-0 win in the immediate aftermath of it.
Zero to complain about, few iffy moments that were all dealt with. The other team trains all week for the game aswell you know?
I enjoyed the win, no question. Like I said, points are points. But it’s Huddersfield. Sure they are a good story, but shouldn’t they be beatable by 5? As a team, Arsenal were not particularly sharp for large portions of play. Win or not, that’s the reality. If they play like that and win against ManU, wonderful. But, fairly unlikely to win playing that way against much better sides. Great to see Ozil do his thing, Giroud do his, etc. But a fair assessment of the game suggests there were some worrying moments.
He’s right, we were average to awful between the first goal and the second. Huddersfield should have equalised but Cech stepped in. Once the second goal went in 65 mins later we looked like world beaers. Funny old game. Bring on Manure win and we are on fire.
The reality is that they (Huddersfield) beat Manu and lost by one goal to City, so i think we should enjoy this great result
FFS
The back three were superb as ever.
Xhaka had a shocker defensively though. That midfield still needs improvement.
Xhaka was excellent.
I lost my cat earlier tonight. After burying her, I got back home in time to watch the game. I couldn’t focus on the game and I couldn’t celebrate. I spent most of the game mourning over her. I adopted a geriatric cat who had one last hurrah in her and I wanted to cherish it with her. But she escaped home and ended up being the victim by a pack of stray dogs while I was at work. I am so heartbroken and lost in thoughts. I just want to dedicate this win to my little girl who had… Read more »
My cincere condolances, mate. I know how it feels.
sincere* condolences*
Very harsh on kolasinac – passing stats probably low because he’s the only one that puts the ball in the box
Apart from, you know, Ramsey and Ozil who put the ball in the box tonight to create a couple of goals 😉
I agree he needs to work on his passing, but come on. The guy makes strong runs with and without the ball, creating danger, is technical and a very good defender. Jizzing over Ramsey, which is fine, but way too harsh on Kolasinac.
Ps Giroux should have let him finish his excellent run and not nick the goal 😉
I like him, and I like a lot of what he brings, but there’s something off about his game at the moment. The last three games he’s had a pass completion rate in the mid 60%, which is not good. There’s nothing wrong with making a note of that. I’m not asking that he be put to death or anything.
How dare you give a fan favourite a low rating based on factual data. You should be ashamed blogs!
another masterclass from ozil at the weekend will surely silence the idiotic people who say he nicks a living-many of whom are on this very site- for shame.how ludicrious ramsey is a fine player once he gets a clear run of games under he’s belt,future captain for me if he can stay fit…please jacky boy did the square root of fuck all again for the trizillionth game!remember him having one good game some decades ago against some barca crowd and finishing off a wonderous team goal with a tap in another time,other than that wins a few frees,swears at ref… Read more »
With Ozil, performances like this and against Sp*rs only highlight games where he doesn’t turn up like Liverpool and Stoke. Great that he’s in form, great that he’s now doing the ‘ugly’ stuff he wasn’t doing before (and long may that continue), but people aren’t idiots to criticise him when he plays poorly.
You mean Stoke game where he created four superb chances. John Terry
Ok but he was at fault for the goal because he didn’t track back or press his man. Of course you wouldn’t mention that. I think it’s ridiculous that people can’t accept that actually, when he does do those simple things, he becomes a better player.
I think he could have come on for Xhaka in the first half. Given him some actual minutes.
Regular England player winning several MOTM awards before his injuries and played constantly well for us too. Jack has matured as a person and I sincerely hope he stays with us and contribute as he did tonight.
That was for you Santi. I am going to play the second half at my wedding.
Can’t wait for our next Aaron Ramsey dis comment, guy has been an absolute credit to this football club….come back from a serious injury to score the winner in two f.a cup finals (we’ve only won 3 trophies in how many years ?) Never complains about fan abuse or his contract, gives his all for our team,yeah he may have a bad game a few times but he still loves this club and I think he deserves our respect, another great performance rambo and Arsenal….bring on United
Never Forget: http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2008/Jun/Ramsey-fee-agreed.aspx
A lot of folks will say Ozil MOTM, but for me, its Giroud. The game was turned on its head when he came on- had a huge impact.
Close second for MOTM for me is Ozil, and Ramsey not far behind (his two key passes and two assists contributed directly to 4 goals tonight).
Bonus rating: -500/10 for that lot from the Middle Eastlands ruining my accumulator with their late winner… was the ONLY result I missed today, the jerks.
Thought ozil was brilliant. Kolasinac is a player that reall excites me because he looks to be just what we need, but he seems to be losing some confidence… let me know if you think otherwise
Shall we call this site as ramsey blog instead? The level of bias is off the roof!
So biased towards a player on the team I support who got two assists and had a great game overall. Shoot me.
let’s hope Ozil can make it three in a row this weekend with great performances.
R Kelly, surely?
I for one don’t wish to piss on you.
I just think the issue with Sead’s passing stats is that rather than play the simple pass to keep possession, he will look forward and try to play a one-two pass and go down the line.
It puts him in a fantastic position for a cross/cutback when it comes off, but it is of a lower success rate.
Agreed. He also seems like a player who will keep a pass safe when he feels the need to, but will take risks when he sees the opportunity to. I think its working because of our 5 back system and Monreal’s excellence behind him. I think Kola is getting used to playing for a side as dominant in possession as us, it looks like he has the quality to make the adjustment so far.
I think Alexis makes Kolasinac’s job a tad harder. Could be having an affect on his ability to pick out a pass some of the time. Alexis is a tricky customer, often demanding the ball in demanding circumstances surrounded by players.
10/10: When Kolasinac so blatantly pushed their player near our penalty box at the death and acted as if he’d just been subject to the worst refereeing decision ever. You don’t get past the tank! Hahahahahahahah
Yes, agree. Him taking one for the team to stop a goal scoring opportunity when we’re 5 up was great to see. Thought that would be mentioned in his ratings.
Watch Kolasinacs pass to Alexis right Before Lacazette tried to curl it in Kanu style, thats the way I feel Kolasinac plays around/in the opponents penalty area most times. High risk high reward and I like it because it’s very different from how the rest of our players usually do it and ít’s a major part of why he has so low pass success rate.
The Wilshere conundrum is interesting. Like many, I really want to see him get more minutes. But who does he replace? We have a fairly decent number 10 already, wearing number 11. Ramsey in great form (and I’m the first to moan when he loses his discipline). Xhaka a bit more hit and miss, but that’s not really where Jack wants to play anyway. So where does he fit? Obviously could have played instead of Iwobi at weekend.
The injury is a worry, there had to be a reason AW had not been letting him play a full 90 minutes, guess it was a bunged up groin, I want to see everyone shift up and make space for Jack in the middle, his vision is exceptional, him alongside Ozil and Ramsey has to be the most creative midfield in the PL
I’m all for supporting our boys but until they actually show it on the pitch for a full season I think few people would pick those three over, say, De Bruyne, Silva and Sané.
I love both Ramsey and Jack and they both have the potential to be world class, but the former has only ever managed to maintain this kind of form for half a season, and the latter barely even that.
Great win last night. Only that spell at end of 1st half and beginning of 2nd half when we messed around at the back was a worry. MOM for me was Nacho. Sead does so little defending poor Nacho has far too much work. Sead though does combine well with Alexis going forward. Ramsey’s flick for the first goal was magic. If it had been A Barca player we would all be gushing this morning.