Arsenal vs Blackburn Match Ratings

[outlaw_member]

Because he is the only player of our squad who can outrun any opponent and pass a ball in front of an open goal. It doesn´t have to look like that, but the first goal, it was one of the easiest way how to score. Easy and very, very efficacious.

Walcott is waiting for a ball behind the defense all the time, all you need to have are players like Nasri, Arshavin, Cesc, Denilson or even Rosicky, who can all create a good pass, Theo will always be there ready to make a clear chance out of it by passing it into the box. Who could do what Walcott did today? No one, hence, it would be nonsense to stick him upfront, let alone when we have others, quality strtikers.

Look at the action again, it´s unbeleievable, he wouldn´t have done that had he played upfront.

Walcott could provide all those qualities, even if he was deployed upfront.

 

[celestis]

I really thought that Bendtner had a great game . Really distributes as well as any of our strikers ,has great movement and more importantly had many oppurtunities to score. Scoring will come soon enough.

 

[Anzac]

I really thought that Bendtner had a great game . Really distributes as well as any of our strikers ,has great movement and more importantly had many oppurtunities to score. Scoring will come soon enough.

AW says much the same.

 

[Anzac]

Kudos for Eboue - comes on for 10 mins & bags a brace.
Don't think I'd rate him as highly as most on here due to his limited time, but well done all the same. Have we now found his niche = 80 min sub????

 

[sesquioxide]

He was slated from day one. Right from THAT miss against Portsmouth in 05/06.

exactly. age has nothing to do with the hate ade has received from the start. he had to score 30 goals to get some grudging respect and that still wasn't even enough for some.

Adebayor hatred goes back to his debut, when he scored a goal which was dismissed as "scrappy" and un-Arsenal like. The hatred then spiked at that game against Portsmouth.

Adebayor has either equaled or was 1 off of Henry's record of scoring in consecutive matches (so he is either 3rd or 2nd ranked in the history of the club). He is also the first (and only) Premiership footballer to score hat-tricks in the home and away fixtures against a team (where in one of those games he only had 45 minutes).

One would think that actually making goal scoring records should earn him a break, yet his name could still be used as a pejorative in this thread (i.e. Bendtner is criticized as a "white Ade"). There's really no way to understand this at all.

 

[TomasCR]

Because he is the only player of our squad who can outrun any opponent and pass a ball in front of an open goal. It doesn´t have to look like that, but the first goal, it was one of the easiest way how to score. Easy and very, very efficacious.

Walcott is waiting for a ball behind the defense all the time, all you need to have are players like Nasri, Arshavin, Cesc, Denilson or even Rosicky, who can all create a good pass, Theo will always be there ready to make a clear chance out of it by passing it into the box. Who could do what Walcott did today? No one, hence, it would be nonsense to stick him upfront, let alone when we have others, quality strtikers.

Look at the action again, it´s unbeleievable, he wouldn´t have done that had he played upfront.

Walcott could provide all those qualities, even if he was deployed upfront.

Well, I don´t think so, but we have already talked about this. I´m just a not big fan of playing him upfront. If he really plays there and will be more effective than on the wing, I´ll be the first one to admit I was wrong. Until then, I´ll be happy with what he did yesetrday. He´s our Forest Gump and the only place where you can make the best of out his pace is on the wing, end of.

 

[Clrnc]

Walcott 6.5 Brought pace and directness but needs to work on his decision making else he ends up another Hleb

You're very anti Theo and that rating and summary is very harsh IMO. Theo was good today no way one of the lower performers out there he made a goal and if not for Nic would have made another.

Don't you dare forget Theo is a one trick pony in lagos book no matter what

 

[progman07]

Almunia - 7.5 nice save after a ****'s header, almost assisted a goal

Sagna - 6 nothing special
Toure - 8 strong in defense, good at passing forward
Djourou - 7 not much to do, bit worse than Kolo
Clichy - 6 nothing special

Nasri - 7 nice free kick, a few good passes, otherwise a passenger
Song - 8 great performance, loads of good tackles and brought the ball forward (!)
Denilson - 7.5 did what I thought his job should be, and played a handful of good passes forward
Theo - 8 amazing player, his directness is what we missed so much. Unlucky Bendtner didn't score in the 2nd half because Theo was involved in many of those moves, he would have got more credit, had Bendtner scored

Arshavin - 8.5 consistent class, reminds me of the Invincibles

Bendtner - 4 sorry, but a lone striker's job is to score, and he failed to do it in 4-5 huge chances. Takes away the place from a bigger talent, Vela


special mention to Eboue, whose brace and dances gave me a good laugh

 

[GaelForce22]

Paul Robinson added to his impressive record against Arsenal by the way. Including today we've scored 50 goals on good ol' Robbo in the last 15 games.

Almunia 7

Sagna 7
Toure 7
Djourou 7
Clichy 7

Walcott 8 - Great to have him back, we really have missed him.
Denilson 7
Song 8
Arshavin 9
Nasri 7

Bendtner 7

Subs: Vela 7 Eboue 10(for the celebrations)

 

[Gurgen]

I really thought that Bendtner had a great game . Really distributes as well as any of our strikers ,has great movement and more importantly had many oppurtunities to score. Scoring will come soon enough.

AW says much the same.

Yeah that's the problem isn't it - AW thinks scoring goals isn't a skill and goals will magically fall from the air at some point.

 

[sabret00the]

I really thought that Bendtner had a great game . Really distributes as well as any of our strikers ,has great movement and more importantly had many oppurtunities to score. Scoring will come soon enough.

AW says much the same.

Yeah that's the problem isn't it - AW thinks scoring goals isn't a skill and goals will magically fall from the air at some point.

Sad but true. I think Arsène's pretty much out of his depth at the moment. He's not been under such pressure in fifteen years and he seems to be trying to use the same spin he used when we were winning trophies. Bendtner was never a goal scorer, he was a creator and as such i think he's pretty much surplus to our requirements as anywhere near a starting striker. We need to goal scorers right now, that's what's choking us and we finally have our creativity back on the flanks. It's time for Arsène to tell the strikers that their job is to score, not to talk **** with "i'm happy with Bendtner, he's doing his job and creating chances".

 

[otfgoon]

I really thought that Bendtner had a great game . Really distributes as well as any of our strikers ,has great movement and more importantly had many oppurtunities to score. Scoring will come soon enough.

AW says much the same.

Yeah that's the problem isn't it - AW thinks scoring goals isn't a skill and goals will magically fall from the air at some point.

Quite the opposite, AW thinks scoring goals is about skill but also a mental thing, and I'm assuming he's hoping Bendtner will get over that at some point.

I think he could be right too, but when you have Eduardo, Ade, van Persie and Vela with several others capable of playing as a second striker then I don't think we're in a position where we have to give him time.

 

[lagos]

Paul Robinson added to his impressive record against Arsenal by the way. Including today we've scored 50 goals on good ol' Robbo in the last 15 games.

Wow that's an astonishing stat

 

[sabret00the]

Almunia - 7 - Nothing special from the Spaniard to speak of but a clean sheet nonetheless.
Sagna - 7 - Fulfilled his primary role.
Touré - 7 - Tried to take charge and that energy he brought was incredibly Gerrard-esque.
Djourou - 7 - Solid.
Clichy - 7 - As with Sagna.
Walcott - 8 - It's incredibly hard to give players like Theo an accurate rating, you want to give them an A for effort alone. It goes without saying that he was imperative to our game though.
Denilson - Had a good game. His role was to keep the shape of midfield. Much of his game was about tactical position play. Though when it was asked of him, he done the physical and on the ball jobs that were asked of him. I feel he's often marked down by fans because they have clear ideas over what they want him to do as opposed to what it's his job to do.
Song - 8 - Slightly edges over Denilson and i don't give half ratings so he'll get an eight. He was very proactive and worked hard to facilitate some nice football by us. Worked hard and threw himself about, i imagine the fans creamed in their pants as they had memories of Paddy Viera
Nasri - 6 - I stand by my initial description of his game today which was 'more passenger than driver'. Ignorance of his ugly grill aside, i felt he done enough to pass, even with our opponents today, he didn't appear to wanna ace the test.
Arshavin - 8 - He worked unbelievably hard and if Nasri was the passenger, this man was the driver. He had the gear stick in his palm, steering wheel in his grip and showed magnificent clutch control. Nice goal too.
Bendtner - 5 - LAWL. It was an incredibly underwhelming performance. A striker that doesn't score has to do a lot to get over a six for any performance and he never even done enough to secure that. He was poor. Had he another striker beside him, i'd have rated him higher, but lone striker, emphasis on striker EPIC FAIL.

Eboue - 7- Another decent performance out the bag.
Diaby - 6 - Average
Vela - Not worth rating IMO.

 

[banduan]

Almunia 7 - Solid performance despite being brutally Dioufed
Sagna 7 - again poor attack contrasts solid defending
Toure 7 - dodginess mitigated by great ball control
Djorou 6 - good but don't take crazy risks!
Clichy 7 - played lower passes, less awful crosses
Denilson 7 - nice Bert impression, needs better concentration
Song 8 - impetuous and dynamic performance, was immense
Walcott 8 - dearly missed his pace and crossing
Nasri 6 - quietly efficient performance, never top gear
Arshavin 7 - mostly quiet play laced with brilliance
Bendy 6 - put your foot through it, Nicklas!

Vela 7 - a bit hesitant, but generally great
Eboue 7 - they all came to see Eboue

Wenger 7 - good line-up and good rotation policy

Fans 8 - plus points for (mostly) applauding Bendy

Ref 5 - missed penalties, Pederson yellow, Diouf red

 

[sabret00the]

I love the way that people ignore Denilson's assists.

 

[Pepe LeFrits]

Quite the opposite, AW thinks scoring goals is about skill but also a mental thing, and I'm assuming he's hoping Bendtner will get over that at some point.

Yep. In his first season in the reserves he barely scored any, in his second season he was close to a goal a game. Scoring is something that can be worked on like anything else.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

I love the way that people ignore Denilson's assists.

Not only that but also his workrate and movement all over midfield. I saw the game again last night and he's what makes the whole team tick. You know what I gave him a 7.5 earlier in this thread but he rather deserves 8.5 or a 9. He had a great game.

 

[Shadow Moses]

Assist? You mean the one where Arshavin had to take on and beat a defender then put the ball in the top corner past the keeper from an impossible angle?

Brilliant asssit indeed.

 

[progman07]

edit2: sorry, it's totally off-topic, I wanted it in the match-day topic but missed it...

By the way, not exactly on topic, but look at the picture:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1162422/PICTURE-SPECIAL-Andrey-giant--Arshavin-makes-big-impression-pal-Adebayors-shoulders.html?ITO=1490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... l?ITO=1490</a>