Manchester United Vs. Arsenal Player Ratings (3/11/12)

[arsenallegends]

Mannone- This scoreline could have read so differently if not for him. Made a couple of good saves, in particular low to his right late in the second half. It was also evident he was delegating marking duties on corners. (7)
Sagna- Seems like he's back with the level of fitness he showed. Impeccable 1v1 again, did well to get a **** booked, and delivered numerous searching crosses into the box, which actually highlighted our well noted lack of presence in the box. It was just his link up play that was a bit stagnant, but thats mostly due to United closing a lot of angles and our midfielders searching for options out wide, which Podolski and to a lesser extent Ramsey were not really offering. (6)
Mertesacker- I thought he stuck to his task really well, some of his clearences were iffy but at least he was snuffing out danger consistently. (7)
Vermaelen- ****. Terrible captain as well. Did give us impetus coming from deep though. (3)
Santos- ****. Some good overlapping runs but just doesn't link up well nor release the ball early. Comes infield without much purpose and gives us a lack of options. Again, he was only useful when he made overlapping runs. (3)
Arteta- Off the pace, just didn't really work out for him. Couldn't dictate the game on either front. (4)
Cazorla- Picked up the ball in interesting places, and generally tried to make things happen but couldn't dig us out this time (6)
Wilshere- I really liked what he gave us in midfield and looked like the only one that could win us a free kick or provide a good final ball. I'm a bit worried I haven't yet seen that bit of acceleration he use to display before his injury problems. (6)
Podolski- Did nothing to cover for Santos, didn't know how to link up with anyone from midfield, picked awkward positions and trampled in Girioud's territory (3)
Girioud- Good hold up play, could have scored as well but isolated and unable to inspire (5)
Ramsey- Once again, showed a bit of guts and endeavor. Too bad he's **** (3)

 

[Airknight]

From what i could watch

Mannone 6
Sagna 6
Per 6.5
Vermaelen 3
Santos 4
Arteta 3
Cazorla 5
Wilshere 4
Poldi 1
Giroud 3
Ramsey 3

They were nothing special, but we keep being the side that doesn't care at all.

 

[Hoya]

I agree with arsenallegends scores and analysis, except I would hand Vermaelen a 2 because he made so many mistakes and did some hoofing the ball forward when he got frustrated. I would also give Wilshere a lower rating for the numerous rash tackles he made throughout his time on the pitch.

Freaking Mannone was our MOTM.

Very disappointing effort.

 

[tactica442]

Mannone - 6 - Kept the team from being slaughtered.

Mertesacker - 6 - Read opposition's attack well.

Vermaelen - 4 - Untidy with his defending first touch.

Santos - 4 - Shaky yet good at going forward. Problem is he couldn't weight his passes right... even short passes.

Arteta - 5 - Looked out of idea, but again, not much off-ball running from his attacking teammates.

Cazorla - 5 - Tried to make something happened. But again, him not being helped by his attacking teammates.

Poldolski - 4 - Can't hold the ball and turn un der pressure. Too often choosing to stay in the same zonal grid with his teammates on the ball.

Wilshere - 5 - Tried and fought. Again, can't spread the ball as our wide players did not attack space. His decision for the second card is very unwise. He still needs games and Wenger needs options.

Ramsey - 5 - Shouldn't be played as a wide player again English teams, especially against ManU.

Giroud - 5 - Couldn't hold the ball. Dwelled on the ball too much some times. Should've dealt his shots and header better.

Walcott - 5 - Showed a glimpse of sparkle. That's it.


It seems ManU shadow the team's midfielders very well. Whenever Santi and his shorty co. about to get the ball, they were shadowed by lanky players like Carrick and Cleverly with zonal responsibility. Seconds before our players touched the ball, they were pushed a bit and the ball was tapped away by those lanky legs. The team's wide players didn't help either, showing very little movement and speed off the ball. Santos did some good overlapping runs but his final balls are let-downs. Sagna seemed a bit occupied when going forward.

Defending-wise, Santos and Vermaellen were shaky. Podolski didn't provide much cover either. Vito did well by keeping us in the game. In all, the scoreline is within prediction and not a bad one. However it's bad to lose three points and Jack due to his ban.

 

[Kroket]

Mannone 7

Sagna 7
Mertesacker 6
Vermaelen 4
Santos 3

Arteta 5
Wilshere 5
Cazorla 6

Podolski 4
Ramsey 5
Giroud 5

 

[benjamin86]

Arshavin and Walcott i'd say were 6.5's

 

[Vela]

Mannone 6.5
Santos - 5
Verm - 5
Per - 6
Sagna - 6
Wilshere - 5.5
Arteta - 5.5
Santi - 6
Podolski - 5
Ramsey - 5
Giroud - 5.5

Arshavin - 6
Theo - 6

 

[Rain Dance]

Mannone 6.5 conceeded 2, yet kept us from getting a ridiculous scoreline. says it all on how many Manure could've finish us off

Sagna 7 a beast offense and defense

Mertesacker 7 pity he misjudged the flight of the ball for the 2nd goal, was a perfect game otherwise, the amount of offside trap the guy pull perfectly was amazing. Failed a trap once though cause Santos daydreamed.

Vermaelen 2 the amount of chances he linked up with RvP is staggering, too bad RvP and Young missed those sitters.
with a player like this, who need opposition players?

Santos 3 ahh, Santos.. don't understand the offside line, and generally not a defender. It's quite clear Santos is the target of Manure bombardment, Most Manure attack went through our left, and those through our right gets a side change to the left.

Arteta 6 effort .. check, vital tackling ... check, tried to make us going .. check. Just another day at work for Arteta

Wilshere 5 was rash with the tackle but his passing etc, could've work. -1 cause unnecessary red card

Cazorla 6.5 0.5 for the goal otherwise another day at work

Podolski 4 stagnant and as per our other Left wingers has shown the classic "why am I responsible for defence not the fullback?" confused state

Ramsey 4 You are a RIGHT WINGER FFS!! Why the **** do you often run Left and Center! You are even spotted at Giroud's position at times! You left Sagna alone. And that attitude when you lost the ball to Evra and instantly give up is ****ing lethargic!

Giroud 5 did try, hit the post and all. but overall a poor game

Walcott 5 you decide to put your invisibility cloak on, did you?

Arshavin 6 a yellow for tackling, and another assist. typical Arshavin performance, defender of none but creator from none

Wenger 2 If I could guess your line up and your tactic. Do you think Fergie can't think?

Mike Dean 7 Made a great chance for Rooney to miss a sitter

 

[dreamLord]

Mannone 7

Sagna 5
Mertesacker 6.5
Vermaelen 3
Santos 3

Arteta 4.5
Wilshere 4
Cazorla 5

Podolski 3
Ramsey 5
Giroud 6

 

[dysphoria]

Mannone - 6.5

He kept the scoreline respectable for us, did very well for a 3rd choice GK, made some very good saves and also released the ball very well on a couple of occasions via one good throw to cazorla and a couple of kicks to giroud. Can't ask for more, well, maybe consistency would be nice but then again, if i'm being honest, none of our GKs are that consistent anyway.



Sagna - 6.5

Sagna did as sagna usually does, very solid defensively, shielded the ball well, prevented people from getting past him so much so that he got kicks from cleverly, carrick and mr **** himself. Sagna and jenkinson, what i'd give to have that kind of quality, fight and depth on the left side.



Mertesacker - 5.5

Had a decent enough game, covered as best as he could for our captain, made some smart interceptions and clearances, should've cleared the ball for evra's goal but he missed his header, is undoubtedly our best central defender.



Verms - 4.5

I don't know what to make of him, looks to me that the captaincy has brought out the worst in him, has made him more nervous and error prone, not sure for all his bravado that he has the mental capacity to be our captain. He isn't a very consistent defender as it is, had a poor game, was out of position on more then one occasion along with that fat ****, he seems to be a lesser version of kolo toure, puts in the fight and effort but at least kolo was lesser error prone. Shouldn't be captain, probably shouldn't be in the team at the moment but in true arsenal fashion, our backups are in even worse form then he is.



Fat embarrassing **** - 2

Its a disgrace and a shame that this **** represents us, his lack of pace, his reluctance and inability to put in a shift and just do his ****ing job, to stay in position and not be miles away from the LB position when we get attacked, valencia was obviously taking the piss outta him with the nutmegs and passes to team mates between his legs. The complete lack of fight and passion, to go to the **** and ask for his shirt during half time when we're 1-0 down, you've just had a **** half, how can getting all 'blokey' with an opposition player be on your mind? That fiasco really disgusted me, it shows you how far removed this **** is from the situation and its magnitude. Even his attacking play is useless, on more then one occasion he had the opportunity to put in a good cross from out wide and he ****ed it up all times. His defending is exactly like his driving, dangerous and now, non-existent. Winterburn, cole to clichy and now this abject ****, that's the trajectory we see.



Ramsey - 4


Is not a wide player, does not have enough pace or strength to be playing out wide but wenger in his brilliance continues to play him there which in turn has only brought out the worst in the team and ramsey himself. Yea, you continue to play square pegs in round holes, save that money and destroy what we had going on the pitch for us.



Arteta - 5.5


He had rooney on his shadow at all times, he was our actual captain out there, trying to get players to raise their heads and game, tried to get the ball moving, made some exchanges with cazorla but because there was so little dangerous movement ahead of him and that he was playing so deep, he couldn't make as much of an impact as he would have liked to. At least he put in a couple of tackles, pressed when the situation allowed, he and mertesacker are probably are most intelligent defensive players, to the people who complain that he should contribute more in attack, let me remind you that we cannot have it both ways, not with the money we're willing to spend. You either have a defensive shield like song who was usually non existent in defending but contributed greatly in attacking passes or someone defensively sound like arteta who'll not contribute as much to attacking because he's trying to do his ****ing job.



Cazorla - 5.5


Scored a nice but meaningless goal towards the end, his overall play throughout the 90 was poor though, seems to have dropped some pace and was quite well pressed at all times by the manure ****s. Can't believe that a pen was awarded against him for that handball, 9 times outta 10 you see when you see a similar situation, you get the commentator quoting that that could've been a pen but naturally, you play by different rules at old ****ford. He's also starting to get frustrated at his team mates, on more then one occasion he threw his hands up in the air in disgust when he had the ball and we could've broken towards a counter only for him to realize that no other team mate was in space or breaking their necks to get forward, well santi, welcome to this clusterfuck.


Podolski - 4.5


Energy levels has dropped, pressing was very poor, he didnt track back as much as he previously did with gibbs, his body language tells me that he doesn't rate santos and isn't thrilled at the idea of playing ahead of him, with gibbs, you could see podolski communicating, that is not existent at the moment with the current sorry excuse we have at LB. Podolski out wide in this system is another square peg in a round hole, he isn't a typical wide player, rather, he's more dangerous when he cuts in from deep to fire a shot or go on the inside to be another forward threat, at the moment, because his fullback provides 0 width and 0 defensive solidity, because he should be doing more defensive work then that is required for him to attack, what we end up with is a non existent and useless left flank.



Wilshere - 5

Put up a good fight, was probably our only player who seemed intent at getting in their faces, gave judas a kick which was nice to see and got kicked himself on a couple of ocassions. Was sent off because his manager claimed he had no choice but to keep him on because he had no other midfield options, who's doing is that then wenger? He's obviously not 100% fit but will be in time we'll definitely need him in this team. Was non existent as an attacking threat, similar to the rest, what i'd like to see from jack is more communicating with team mates, he needs to be groomed into a potential future captain.

Giroud - 4.5


Lost more then his fair share of headers and knock downs, he's never going to be the player we need up front, he should be the 'other attacking option' we've been calling out for years but ONCE AGAIN, cheapness and over the top frugality has ensured that he is all we have. Played so deep because the team was set out so deep, on more then one occasion, he had to drop back to midfield to try to get the ball because the supply was non existent. He had one chance at goal the entire game and hit the post from the resulting shot, i really don't know what to make of giroud other then that he in a nutshell, represents this whole bullshit policy of buying players just because they potentially represent bargains but do not fit into our current system. You put giroud into a team like yanited where you have wingers and fullbacks who put in a bucket load of dangerous crosses and balls into the box and you'll see him scoring his fair share.




Subs


Walcott - 4.5


Came on, expected a great much from him, did **** all, can't be blamed when there was 0 service and unlike at reading, we weren't allowed to play.



Arshavin - 4.5


Did more attacking in 5 mins then anyone else managed in 90. Got a yellow card for his efforts, wish he had kicked judas. Interesting to see that whilst warming up in the 2nd half, he was at the near touch line and was trying to urge sagna on and trying to help him out via communicating with him.

 

[iced22]

Mannone - 6.5

Sagna - 6.5
Mertesacker - 6.5
Vermaelen - 4
Santos - 3.5

Arteta - 5
Wilshere - 5
Cazorla - 6

Ramsey - 4
Podolski - 3.5
Giroud - 4.5

 

[DontPushMe]

Mannone - 7

Our MOTM. Would of been slaughtered without him. Shows just how bad we are that Mannone can let in 2 goals and be our MOTM but thats the state of our club right now.

Sagna - 6

Looks to be back. Was probably our best player outside of Mannone

Per - 6

Solid as always but did make a couple of mistakes. I have him slightly behind Sagna

Vermaelen - 3

Pathetic performance from a failed captain. If Wenger wasnt such a nice guy he'd strip him of the captaincy. Then again, who would he replace him with?

Santos - 1

Was a horrible player again today. I'd prefer we play Coq or a youngster at LB over him. Hes completely useless. His play rates out as a 3 probably but I'm docking him 2 points for taking RVPs jersey at halftime. He looked like a little kid. ****ing chump. Hope he got **** in the locker room for that, though on this team im sure he didnt.

Arteta - 4

Poor performance. Honestly i didnt even notice him there.

Cazorla - 5

Good early start to the year is long gone. Nice goal but it was worth nothing.

Wilshere - 5

Mediocre performance and stupid to get the 2nd yellow.

Ramsey - 4

Why is it that the fans can see that he sucks and wenger cant? When was the last time anyone can remember him actually playing a good game? He looked ok coming off the bench early in the year but he is in over his head as a starter. Simply not good enough.

Podolski - 4

Looking like he may of been another poor signing. Has been invisible since the first few games.

Giroud - 4.5

I thought he was slightly better than the guys i gave 4's to. Still poor. Got very little service but it seems pretty clear he isnt the prolific striker we needed to replace vp

Walcott - 5

Decent, should of come on sooner.

Arshavin - 5

Decent as well.

 

[Dwangoon]

CHANTS:

Ivan Gazidis what do you ****ing do?

We want our Arsenal back.





Mertesacker and Sagna were the better players, finding it easier to name the bad ones.

 

[Vela]

We want our Arsenal back.

This chant is stupid, what time in Arsenal's history are they referring to?

 

[arsmile]

mannone-7
sagna-6
per-8
verm-2
santos-5
arteta-5
wilshere-5
cazorla-6
podolski-2
ramsey-3
giroud-4
walcot-5
arsh-6

 

[jones]

From what i could watch

Mannone 6
Sagna 6
Per 6.5
Vermaelen 3
Santos 4
Arteta 3
Cazorla 5
Wilshere 4
Poldi 1
Giroud 3
Ramsey 3

They were nothing special, but we keep being the side that doesn't care at all.

This pretty much, minus 1 for Per, think Evra's header was his fault, and at least +1 for Mannone, hasn't done anything wrong in the game and made some huge saves.

 

[Azeem Khaja]

Vito - 7
Santos Vermaelen Ramsey - 0 BIG Fail
Per 7
Sagna 7

Jack 7
Arteta 5
Santi 6

Podolski 2
Giroud - no service not fair to rate him. For the sake of it, I will give him 5.
Arshavin 5

 

[albakos]

Mannone 6.5 - He was quite good and made some decent saves. I think he might have saved Judas goal if he stretched his arms longer. From replays it seemed like double thoughts on that shot.


Sagna 6 - Our Mr.Reliable RB did his defending duties well, but when you have dross like Ramsey and Walcott, you barely can do anything in attack.


Per 6.5 - Our best defender. He was reliable in reading the game and had to cover for the **** performance of Vermaelen. Shame that he misjudged the Rooney flick, from which Evra scored.


Vermaelen 2 - As others have said, he needs to be dropped immediately, right on the next game. He is nowhere as near to captain material and his performances have lately been rubbish. But then Wenger never drops captains from starting lineups, so we can only hope he improves.

Santos 0 - Utter shambolic display. Valencia and Rafael were making rounds on him for fun. The only decent overlapping run he did, he finished it off with a terrible cross in row Z. That smile, hug and asking for shirt from VP means how detached this bugger is from reality. Wenger should have dropped him right in HT. He should never ever play for us anymore.


Arteta 5 - He had a subdued performance and was being chased by Rooney all the time. He failed to link up with Wilshere as expected. One extra point for smacking ***** and telling him to screw himself.


Cazorla 5.5 - unfortunately, when Cazorla is heavily marked in recent matches, our whole team are reduced to mediocrity. This match was no different, as Carrick was glued to Cazorla all the time. Cleverley was also marking him sometimes. Plus one for a nice goal.

Wilshere 5 - showed some bright patches of his skills, but lack of fitness and the big occasion got into him. He made some rash tackles, although I liked when he flattened Cleverly. At first I thought it was VP which made me cheer and stand up in a Yeaa moment When he got off, you knew the game was over and it's good we didn't get slaughtered like last season.


Podolski 2 - It's obvious that since Gibbs got injured, Podolski's performance have dropped drastically. What's more worrying is that he looks uninterested and barely did anything worth during the whole match. As with Santos, he was a circus toy to Valencia and Rafael


Giroud 5 - His hold up play is OK, but he was subdued by their CB's all game long. He still managed to get two decent chances and his link up play is solid.But I am not convinced he will brings us goals to win you matches.


Ramsey 3 - He is Bendtner mk.2 in RW. I still cannot understand how Wenger thinks Ramsey can offer anything on the wing when his lack of pace and horrible crosses make him a real liability.


Walcott - 3 - Offered very little.


Arshavin - 5 He showed more than what Podolski did the whole game. We found a slight rhytm after his introduction and he should be given a chance on the next home match. It was typical of Dean to show him a yellow card on his very first tackle. Typical OT refereeing