Aston Villa - Arsenal, player ratings

[banduan]

almunia - 5 caught the ball well mosta the time and had few saves to make, but never inspired confidence and persistently kicked poorly, can't even pick out Bendy
sagna - 5 his flank was targetted but he came out okayish
vermaelen - 5 not one of his good days
gallas - 7 solid all round
clichy - 5 persistently fooled by Young but wasn't awful
denilson - 4 gave away less than cesc, but in worse situations and under less pressure. looked hopeless everywhere he was
cesc - 6 had great moves but also took on too many risky passes
ramsey - 5 decent all-round performance with a few worrisome moments
arshavin - 5 nice movement, poor final product
eduardo - 4 good effort yet awfully wasteful
rosicky - 6 unlucky with the shot, but should communicate better

campbell - 6 great! just needs better recovery speed... which he isn't getting any more of
bendtner - 6 also good, laid the ball off very well and an aerial presence at last. should have shot when he had the chance though.

 

[General]

Almunia 4 – Typical average Al performance. Caught some, lost some, booted some out of play, kicked some straight back to the opposition and generally average for the most part

Sagna 6 – Fought well and stuck to the task but very little variety to his game. Too one sided when going forward.

Gallas 7.5 – Always on his toes and solid all round.

Vermaelen 6 –Ok till injured

Clichy 4.5 – Generally average and there was far too much uncertainty in his game. Had another Birmingham moment.

Cesc 6 - Filtered in and out and struggled to impose his game but always looked the most likely to create anything.

Denilson 4 – Looked a bit more aggressive but his lack of strength was telling (looked terribly weak in the physical contests). He and Clichy appeared to be trying their best to lose us the game towards.

Ramsey 5 – Tenacious as ever but with a lot of naivety as usual. Should’ve left the rebound to Rosicky.

Rosicky 6 – Drove forward well but again struggled to impose himself in front of a ridiculously lightweight midfield.

Arshavin 6 – Too quick to eject at times but his work rate was very good. Always looked threatening when he had space to drive into.

Eduardo 5 – Looked lively but his link up play let him down too often. Too far away from goal when needed.

Subs
Campbell – 7 – Solid performance and won everything in the air.
Bendtner 5.5 – Clumsy and selfish as ever but at least brought some aerial threat.
Nasri 5.5 –Looked lively but had very little impact

 

[flobaba]

To be fair, there can be a certain subtlety to Bendtner's game which requires a discerning eye.

Is this tongue in cheek or what?

Still trying to figure out what Anthony meant. Discerning eye. Like the one Sabre's got for Denilson right?


Almunia 5
Sagna 6
Gallas 8
Vermaelen 6
Clichy 5
Denilson 5
Ramsey 5
Fabregas 7
Rosicky 6
Arshavin 7
Eduardo 5

Bendtner 5
Campbell 7
Nasri 5

 

[Klaus Daimler]

Not doing any individual ratings but I found the performance very disappointing. We had a good enough team to batter them, and I think it would have turned out that way too if Cesc's shot in the first half hadn't deflected off the post. You need margins working in your favour sometimes.

Rosicky was disappointing. Apart from fluffing a shot into the bar from a couple of yards out he gave away the ball at crucial moments at least half a dozen times in the first half alone. Villa were unlucky not to get anything out of it, especially in the first ten minutes. Denilson and Ramsey were both playing at half their capacity in midfield and neither Eduardo nor Clichy had their best game (although the latter one stepped it up in the second half).

I found the subs to be quality last night, though. Bendtner won everything in the air, did his usual thing where he went past the marking man to get in a better position to pick a pass and often worked himself into several good positions. We've lacked some hold-up play for a while and I think he can provide that. His first touch and his shot lets him down sometimes but his close control and dribbling ability is rather good. Him and Campbell along with Fabregas and Gallas were the most impressive players on the field for Arsenal. I hope he starts against United.

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Almunia 6
Sagna 6
Gallas 8
Vermaelen 6
Clichy 4
Denilson 4
Ramsey 5.5
Fabregas 6
Rosicky 6
Arshavin 7
Eduardo 5

Campbell 7
Bendtner 6