Arsenal v Celtic Match Ratings

[nidza7]

Almunia 5
Sagna 7
Gallas 7
Vermaelen 8
Clichy 8
Diaby 5
Song 6
Denilson 8
Eboue 7
Eduardo 6
Bendtner 6

Ramsey 7
Arshavin 7
Wilshere 5


I thought Eduardo went to s**t after his goal. I think the whole row with Boruc got to him and he was trying to hard to get another one past him and it meant he lost his usual composure.

Denilson was everywhere. He was showing up in very dangerous positions and was really doing a great job of linking play going forward, this was especially useful considering Diaby was a shadow of the man who scored 2 on Saturday.

I'm surprised its not really been mentioned but I thought Clichy was impeccable too. He was much, much better going forward than most of last season. He had a couple of truly brilliant moments.

Bendtners growing on me too. He didn't have a great game today but his constant pressing of the ball means he's still useful even when he's not clicking.

this ,

only IMO qs has been harsh on Song.

 

[lagos]

cesc 6

You gotta love it.. Cesc didn't play and he still gets a 6 from Lagos.

Ramsey gets an assist. Who cares? 5.

aha busted! I was going to say he seemed rather anonymous!

 

[General]

Almunia – (5.5) Not a lot to do but caught in no man’s land for a cross in the 88th minute. He's regularly making errors that would normally get punished with a goal. Again, good goal from Donati but how on earth did he get beaten from that angle. Pathetic.

Sagna – (7) Very solid and disciplined

Gallas – (7.5) Full of energy and enthusiasm.

Vermaelen – (7.5) He can ping a pass.

Clichy (7) – Did well but dilly dallies too much on the ball at times.

Diaby (6.5) – Did ok. His defensive work rate still leaves a lot to be desired. Went missing a few times but good vision for the assist.

Eboue (7.5)- Positionally shocking but good goal and lively throughout.

Denilson (8) –Disciplined performance and further evidence of how easily he excels when not shackled with the main defensive role.

Song (7)- Brought much needed physicality to the middle of the pitch and passed well. Has a habit of selling himself and getting caught on the break.

Bendtner (6.5) –Good work rate but far too clumsy with some of his touches and never really got going.

Eduardo (7)- Poor dive but played a smart game with some excellent link up play.


Ramsey (5) – Poor. Naively tried to nutmeg a player in the middle of the pitch and nearly cost us a goal.

Wilshere- (6) – Involved when he came on but quickly went quiet after.

Arshavin (7) –Looked very lively with his quick feet and forward play.

 

[ricky1985]

I actually thought Diaby was impressive again - lots of neat lil passes, and had they been to say Arshavin or Rosicky instead of Bendtner, they would have sparked off better attacks.

Bendtner - I like him, and feel he's not showing how good he is at the mo, but let's be honest - he adds naff all in this system.

I agree on both counts. I thought Diaby had little impact on the game, but I think he needs a clever passer of the ball alongside him. Someone who he can give the ball to and then 'run-off' of. Denilson clearly isn't that player. When Diaby has to try and make the play himself he looks a little lost.
I'm really struggling to warm to Bendtner. He works hard, so I'm pleased with that, but he takes way, way, way! Too long to release the ball, and much like Denilson, Diaby and Eboue 95% of the time he either picks the wrong pass, or plays the right pass at the wrong speed, or time. I think it's why we used the flanks a lot more tonight because none of the aforementioned players were good enough to create chances with their passing in the congested centre of the pitch.

However, in no way am I negative about the performance. We beat a decent Celtic team, who admittedly played like a bunch of cowed little girls, very comfortably, and did a good professional job. With a team that is a long way from our best, and we comfortably, and without too much effort, achieved our objective.

Almunia - 6. Pleased to see him throwing or passing the ball short more often. Couple of dodgy moments punctuated what was an otherwise a solid performance.

Sagna - 7. Thing is with Sagna, to be really effective he needs intelligent midfielders to link with and 'run-off'. That is when he excells. He was very good tonight, but had no way of 'getting in' in the final third. The midfield in terms of passing and intelligence was not good.

Gallas - 8. Someone above said William Gallas has been 'reborn' since the summer, and although he was also very good in the second half of last season, I've got to agree with that. My only complaint is that it's taken 3 years to pair the man with a 'proper' defender. No disrespect to Kolo, but Vermaelen is in a different league. MOTM

Vermaelen - 8. Incredible! I'm gonna ramble a bit here, but I remember watching the FA cup semi final, between Everton and United last season. Both teams crossed the ball a lot. Really good, testing crosses, and I remember being incredibly jealous and offering begrudging praise because Vidic, Ferdinand, Lescott and Jagielka were magnificent. Every single cross that came in they were almost, inexplicably, perfectly positioned to head the ball away. I thought why can't we have a centreback who can do that?

Clichy - 7. He's fit again, and I'm loving it. He's definitely took onboard criticism of his game in the final third. He knows aimlessly lobbing it in the box is not going to work. He showed real intelligence and even more incredibly real composure, nearly every time he went forward yesterday.

Song - 6. I felt he didn't have the best of games yesterday. Wasn't as focussed as in previous games. Missed having Fabregas alongside him, or Arshavin in front of him. Somone he can just simply and consistently give the ball to. Big game for him at the weekend and he knew it!

Denilson - 7. Ah, Mr. Marmite, he wasn't bad yesterday, in fact he was probably our best performing midfielder, but he still leaves me really frustrated most of the time. Won a lot of tackles yesterday, lost a lot of tackles yesterday, made a lot of passes yesterday, missed a lot of passes yesterday, did a few flicks, made a few slips. And that is why opinion is so divided, it's open to interpretation. Some see the positives in him, others see the negatives, truth is there is quite a bit of both in his game at the moment.

Diaby - 6. Looked a little lost out there to me. Didn't have a 'gameplan'. A way in which he felt he could be successful in the game. Too congested to surge in his trademark fashion, but no one to simply give the ball to and make clever runs in to the final third. Needs a Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, type of partner if he is going to be successful in these type of games.

Eboue - 7. Bit like Denilson, lots to appreciate, but lots to make you want to hurt him; badly! Took his goal fantastically, but he does make a lot of bad decisions.

Eduardo - 7. I could not believe the commentators and how much they went on about Eduardo's 'dive' during the game. It makes me sick, to the point of anger, the double standards are absolutely incredible. Rooney is one of the worst divers in the Premier league, so is Gerrard. Why the **** don't they talk about that, bang on about that, go on about that, talk rubbsih about that?

Because Edurado is a 'cheating foreigner', and his kind have corrupted our game since they first flew first class over here. Cheating, money grabbing foreigners, how dare they? Makes me sick, don't get sucked in by it.

Bendtner - 5. I'm tired of the 'he worked hard line, but.....' I keep trotting out. A few nice touches aside yesterday, he was downright poor. Didn't look like he had a particular threat that made him dangerous, and his passing and decision making looks as immature as his midfield colleagues. Easy to forget how young these guys are, how much more there is to come, but that doesn't help us any right now. Also, played 90 minutes so strong chance he won't be playing on Saturday.

Subs

Ramsey - 6. Showed great pace when he burst through on goal, only to be thwarted by the crazy, tubby, Pole in goal for Celtic.

Wilshere - 6. As soon as he came on I felt much better. To suddenly see a player who had a picture in his mind before the ball came to him, who had the ability to create chances for his team mates with clever passing or movement, was very nice.

Arshavin - 7. Very well taken goal, and another who just made you smile when he came on. Reminding us how this season is different to last. The first 65 minutes was last season, no movement, no creativity, no real intelligence. The last 25 were incisive, intelligent and exciting.

 

[asajoseph]

It was a stream asa, and surprisingly a pretty good one, 24x7tv.com something. make note people. And I dont know why people expect picture perfect games from our players. Eboue sure was lazy, has always been, but I would rather compliment him on his forward play. It's not like he's the first choice in the team either-just a makeshift and was playing in midfield,almost as a forward rather. I'd give him his due and move on.
Sure it was nice passing football and pleasing to watch. So many moves and celtic had only few passages of play.I dont know what people in the stadium see,and I repeat it was great from a young team in a return leg with a 2-0 advantage.

Not slating you for watching the game on TV, indeed, I think that with the benefit of replays and camera angles you often get a lot more than what you get from sitting in the stands. I didn't know that Eduardo dived until after the game, for example (though the Celtic fans sure did! ). However, I am surprised, as I said, that people are praising the performance as highly as this given the impression that I got from the game.

For me, the first half was pretty terrible. We were naive in midfield, both in posession and without it. We definitely perked up in the second half, and played some nice football at times, particularly when we made a few substitutions, but all I got from the team in the first half was the same brainless rubbish that saw us humiliated all too often last year.

 

[asajoseph]

Oh, and our set pieces were hilariously bad. Denilson must have put 3-4 corners out for a throw in. Which is a shame, when you've got a taregt like Bendtner to aim at.

The hypocrisy is, to be honest, hilarious. People giving Van Persie a 5 for his performance against Portsmouth, who played a hell of a lot better than Celtic, and yet the Denilsons and Eboues of the world are getting 7s and 8s?

 

[Norfbanker]

[For me, the first half was pretty terrible. We were naive in midfield, both in posession and without it. We definitely perked up in the second half, and played some nice football at times, particularly when we made a few substitutions, but all I got from the team in the first half was the same brainless rubbish that saw us humiliated all too often last year.

Well I thought we controlled both games and progressed with a minimum of fuss. Job done.

 

[MAK 14]

Oh, and our set pieces were hilariously bad. Denilson must have put 3-4 corners out for a throw in. Which is a shame, when you've got a taregt like Bendtner to aim at.

To be fair i thought Denilson corners were decent, it was Eduardo's ones from the left that were rather poor. I think the only reason he was taking them is because he's left footed, so it should be Van Persie taking them against Man Utd. But you're right, we really have got to improve our set plays, especially for when Fabregas and Van Persie aren't playing.

 

[flobaba]

Eboue 8 - from RB to pass-master to a no. 10.

Gallas is our number 10 already. 8))
Loved that little step-over he did down the right wing in the 2nd half. Tried hard to imagine John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Vidic, Carragher etc trying that out. Lol.

I think he's beginning to grow on me. Hey Biggus, what do I do?

 

[ricky1985]

Eboue 8 - from RB to pass-master to a no. 10.

Gallas is our number 10 already. 8))
Loved that little step-over he did down the right wing in the 2nd half. Tried hard to imagine John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Vidic, Carragher etc trying that out. Lol.

I think he's beginning to grow on me. Hey Biggus, what do I do?

Embrace it my friend! He is an Arsenal player, and an extremely good one at that.

 

[fabo]

Almunia...6...mistakes creeping in.

Sagna...8...excellent again.
Gallas...8...best player of the opening month.
Vermaelen...7...solid and won pretty much everything.
Clichy...7...if he had some vision going forward he'd be better.

Eboue...7...good game for most part.
Song...6...not as good yesterday IMO. Sluggish at times.
Denilson...7...grew as game went on. Always a few really poor moments aswell.
Diaby...6...games just pass him by too easily.

Bendtner...6...lot of energy. Bringing players into play alot. Good back-heel for goal and should have scored a header. Needs a goal pronto.
Eduardo...7...good pen. Great curling shot saved and should have scored with his right foot.

Arsh...6...delighted he scored. Looks heavy to me though.
Wilshere...6...class act but needs time.
Ramsey...5...gave ball away couple of times in space of a minute.

 

[mjkgooner]

Almunia 6

Sagna 7
Gallas 8
Vermaelen 8
Clichy 6

Diaby 6
Song 8
Denilson 7

Eboue 6
Eduardo 5
Bendtner 6

 

[progman07]

Bendtner - 5. I'm tired of the 'he worked hard line, but.....'

Same here. Every player works hard, by the way. If it wasn't the case, they wouldn't be playing for Arsenal.

 

[fabo]

Bendtner - 5. I'm tired of the 'he worked hard line, but.....'

Same here. Every player works hard, by the way. If it wasn't the case, they wouldn't be playing for Arsenal.

Not necessarily true.

Bendtner is playing well - his overall game has come on leaps and bounds. Yet to see him get into many goal-scoring positions from those wide positions but he's quite effective.

One weird thing for me last night was why we had to go with 5 across the midfield against a Celtic team playing with two strikers. Are the midfielders simply not good enough to carry out a 4-4-2?? A quality issue if you ask me.

 

[ricky1985]

I think it was more a case of leaving a system that's working as it is.

 

[fabo]

Totally understand that Ricky but Wenger has also suggested that a switch to a 4-4-2 might happen on occasions, depending on the circumstances. We didn't have the personnel to play 4-3-3 effectively i.e aesthetically good, dominant in possession, creating endless chances - looked perfect chance to go with a 4-4-2 with Eboue/Diaby wide and Nik up top with Eduardo. Also Celtic are crap, played with 2 strikers and were chasing a two goal deficit.

Are the CM's good enough to allow that? It frustrated me at times to see Bendtner wide left/right tbh, especially in a game like this.

 

[ricky1985]

I think Wenger's comments regarding us changing systems is mainly to keep other teams guessing. I genuinely think he has been blown away by how well the 4-3-3 has worked for us, or maybe I'm not giving him enough credit and he had planned it for a long while, he certainly bought the right personell for it. Either way I think he loves it.

 

[thegame24]

sorry to nitpick

"Vermaelen 8 - probly the reason Gallas is great"

I really ****ing hate comments like that, and its no wonder our players **** off, no loyalty from fans. How can you say that? hes consistantly been our best defender since Sol left.

 

[ricky1985]

Praisng one isn't a slight on the other, mate. Gallas has been world class so far this season, and Vermaelen has been every bit as good. Both great players who compliment each other perfectly, and both play better as a result.

 

[thegame24]

Im more pissed at the "probly the reason Gallas is great line".

Its a ****ing joke. Gallas has been our best defender since hes arrived.