Arsenal v Bolton Match Ratings

[Freagle]

Almunia - 5

Sagna - 6
Gallas - 6
Verma - 7
Clichy - 6

Denilson - 0
Diaby - 7 (for covering Denilsons ass in the second half)
Fabregas - 8

Rosicky - 8.5 Best game since his return
Eduardo - 6 Composed my ass, where the hell is our Eduuuuuu??
Arsha - 6 Should of passed to Walcott. Despite trying he is still missing. Arshas pic on a milk carton?

 

[Swish]

I'd mostly agree with that TG.

Only extra comments I'd have are as follows:

Almunia - been a lot more assured from crosses in recent games, including this one. His kicking remains crap, but an improvement in the air, and his save from the FK would bump him up to a 7 for me.

Diaby - Put in one or two exceptional tackles tracking back. Overall, I see where you're coming from on the 'tackling' comment, but his workrate coming back has improved beyond measure recently.

Rosicky - thought he was pretty poor for basically the first half hour, trying to be too clever. Improved massively after that though, and played very well afterwards.

I want to frame this comment.

Seriously though, well said Asa. I know we've had ups and downs over this player in the past, but I honestly believe thats a fair assessment of Almunia and it's good to see those who aren't his biggest fans praise that the dealing of crosses has been better lately.

As for the kicks, I'm not sure what he can do about that. I see him boot it up the field and I'll either see one of three things. 1) It'll land in between two players. 2) The player doesn't even bother trying to jump for it or 3) The player does try and jump for it but because they are aerially inept, won't make anything of it. I'd blame Almunia on door number 1, but not for the others.

 

[fabo]

His attempt to save the penalty was pathetic tbf........just to balance up the positivity regarding Almunia.

 

[Swish]

His attempt to save the penalty was pathetic tbf........just to balance up the positivity regarding Almunia.

How did you work that one out?

He was in a position where the odds are firmly stacked against him. Hence why it's an advantage to the opposition (and hence why some players do everything they can to gain that advantage even when it's easier to stay on their feet and beat a defender and the keeper).

He guessed the right way and was an unlucky not to get a stronger hand to it. With the momentum that the ball carries when a spot kick is taken, it takes a hell of a lot more than guessing the right way and getting a hand to it. The odds of him even guessing the right way is against him, not even factoring in the odds that he'd get a hand to it. Sadly, the odds of him actually keeping it out altogether was just too much. It can happen to any keeper. Even keepers like Buffon have done that.

Too much negativity.

 

[arsenalfc0719]

As for the kicks, I'm not sure what he can do about that. I see him boot it up the field and I'll either see one of three things. 1) It'll land in between two players. 2) The player doesn't even bother trying to jump for it or 3) The player does try and jump for it but because they are aerially inept, won't make anything of it. I'd blame Almunia on door number 1, but not for the others.

I'd just like to see him be more composed. seems he just tries to get rid of the ball as soon as possible instead of actually trying to get it to one of our players. A lot of times he could actually opt for a pass on the ground to one of our defenders.

 

[Swish]

His throw outs have been clinical for some time now. The only mistake he has made was the one he threw out to Sagna which was far too long.

He gets rid of the ball quickly when he is being closed down or when the ball is passed back to him by the defence to clear. Personally, I don't want to see him take his time and get composure in those circumstances, I want to see the ball as far away from our box as possible.

Still, I think you're laying more blame on Almunia here. You ask why can't he play shorter balls more often, I say why can't we teach our forwards how to attack a goal kick or at least get them to challenge for each one instead of dropping away from the taller, stronger player and hoping he ****s it up.

It's the Almunia blame game.

 

[fabo]

He certainly deserves praise when it's warranted but the penalty looked weak to me. Almunia's reaction says it all, head in hands moment. He knew he should have saved it.

Hope we terminate his contract in the Summer tbh. Sorry Swish..:wink:

 

[redanddread]

Any reason Diaby gets a higher rating than Denilson??

I thought both were average but think bias is sneaking in here. Denilson was average defensively but made many good forward passes....put Cesc in one-v-one and had a hand in the 4th goal(similar to Diaby contributing to our first at Bolton only Denilson actually completed his pass, yet Diaby gets credit). The penalty was poor play tbf. Diaby offered little all game. Got caught dwelling on it numerous time only to respond by giving a free-kick away. How Denilson gets a 4 and Diaby a 6 I'll never know.

The Bolton games? My god, you must have been watching repeats of some game three years ago. Diaby won many important headers in the game (e.g.for Vermaelens goal) and exerted a more physical presence in midfield. I remember at least one lung busting play where he ran back tackled and then loped upfield before dispatching a pinpoint 40 yd pass to Eduardo's feet for the Crozillian to fire over the bar. Guess two swallows don't make a Summer.

 

[redanddread]

Improved in the 2nd half though when Diaby setback and he pushed forward

Improved when Bolton became disorganised rabble ya mean.

U ever have anything good to say mate?

 

[redanddread]

His throw outs have been clinical for some time now. The only mistake he has made was the one he threw out to Sagna which was far too long.

He gets rid of the ball quickly when he is being closed down or when the ball is passed back to him by the defence to clear. Personally, I don't want to see him take his time and get composure in those circumstances, I want to see the ball as far away from our box as possible.

Still, I think you're laying more blame on Almunia here. You ask why can't he play shorter balls more often, I say why can't we teach our forwards how to attack a goal kick or at least get them to challenge for each one instead of dropping away from the taller, stronger player and hoping he f***s it up.

It's the Almunia blame game.

There's a host of ****s on this forum that all they do is blame some player or the other. even when we are sitting at the top of the league......I cannot imagine just how perfect they must be in their own day to day lives