Player Ratings - CL: Arsenal vs Real Madrid | 08/03/06

[eddie_wills]

Eddie,

I'm high as a kite, but even tomorrow morning, when my hangover kicks in, I can't believe I'll understand why you gave Cesc only 6.5 and Hleb 7....

Haha that's fine, to be fair everyone seems to be giving Hleb MOTM so maybe i missed something. He saw a tremendous amount of the ball, to his credit, and kept on trying. I just saw some wayward passing, unwillingness to shoot and thus poor decision making, not clearing his lines and holding on to the ball a little much and losing it in potentially dangerous areas. I think he had a good game though - I tend to deliberately rate a bit lower than others if you observe my ratings in previous threads... just to be ostentatious I guess.

I didn't really notice Cesc particularly, he was a metronome in possession but didn't help the creative effort didn't do too much to help the defensive effort - could have closed down a bit more perhaps, although he was probably instructed not to. No real tackles/interceptions, I noted. It was a self-contained performance, which was perhaps what we needed. I just think he gets a bit crowded out when we play our 4-5-1 which has limited width. Solidly unspectacular allied with tremendous determination forms 6.5.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but so it goes.

 

[Pepe LeFrits]

Drank waaaay too much tonight to be able to analyse the game properly, but I got the vague impression that Kolo and Eboue were immense, the ball seemed glued to Hleb's feet, and Fabregas always seemed to be involved. The rest worked their arses off and played great too.

 

[LostAndFound]

Haha that's fine, to be fair everyone seems to be giving Hleb MOTM so maybe i missed something. He saw a tremendous amount of the ball, to his credit, and kept on trying. I just saw some wayward passing, unwillingness to shoot and thus poor decision making, not clearing his lines and holding on to the ball a little much and losing it in potentially dangerous areas. I think he had a good game though - I tend to deliberately rate a bit lower than others if you observe my ratings in previous threads... just to be ostentatious I guess.

What impressed me (and maybe most of the others here) most about Hleb was his running. We already KNOW he can dribble and do his tricks, but today he was like a bloodhound chasing down opposition defenders. Even more so than Reyes, which says a lot.

 

[yonatan]

My ratings:

Flamini 8 gave away a few fouls but it's hardly his fault as he isn't a LB and some of the fouls conceded weren't actually fouls, refs respect Zidane too much.

Senderos 8 the slight usual **** up near the end there.
Toure 9 won everything
Eboue 9 amazing

Hleb 9.5 amazing passing, footwork, getting forward. amazing. In all honesty should've been MOTM if it wasn't for our legendary keeper.
fabregas 8.5 great game, not as good as in madrid though but of course that one was hard to top.
gilberto 8.5 great game, i explained why in the other thread
ljungberg 8 good defensively, didn't do much offensively but he was up against some very fast defenders and tbh not many runs were being made on his side (flamini mostly stayed back, henry didn't make runs and only reyes did and was marked).
reyes 7.5 could've done better with those chances although he was honestly unlucky with that crossbar and hitting salgado's head, there's something stopping him from finishing and I don't like it.
Henry 9.25 I'd give him a 9.5 'cept he wasn't as good as Hleb. He was amazing but I think he got injured\very tired late on which prevented him from getting that ball where he picked up his yellow card. I think he should have scored and should've ran around more and not been the "playmaker" but I suppose that probably has something to do with Wenger instructions and the fact that Henry can't really play as a lone forward so we were basically playing with 0 forwards but tons of players getting runs into the box. Was truly a captain's performance, even making an inspiring tackle here and there and fighting for the balls, getting by players. Finally Henry has repaid those who were working in the Tity for Captain campaign last year (and who were subsequently shot and stabbed this year).


Jens Lehmann 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

MAN OF THE ****ING MATCH

He single handedly (no pun intended) got us through. If he wasn't a legend after last year's FA Cup final (and he was), he is now. His save wasn't a "world class" save as some say. It was beyond world class as most world class keepers wouldn't have gotten to that ball, they probably wouldn't have even had the determination to get up after the Raul ball got past them. That's seriously the best save I've ever seen and he really has been having the best season of his career (I think). Did his little antics with Raul (putting his studs up when Raul came too close to him after the first "encounter" ). I really don't think our team is mentally strong enough to have gotten back to win the tie after going down 1-0. Hleb should've been MOTM but I mean, if a save like that which really is what brought us to the quarterfinals isn't worth a MOTM award, then what is?

 

[Ricky_AFC]

Lehmann - 9 Legend. Won't hear anything else said about this man.

Eboue - 9 What a demon he has become since coming back from the African Nations cup.

Toure - 9 Rock. Vital tackle on Zidane.

Senderos - 8 The odd little mistakes as we have come to expect but was solid otherwise.

Flamini - 8 So unappreciated, brilliant performance.

Hleb - 9 Motivated by pure heart, wobbly first 20 mins or so but once they were over he was off and my god everything came through him. Endless possibilties for this lad. It almost brought tears to my eyes.. seriously.

Fabregas - 8.5 Touches and passes of sheer class. Is he really 18?

Gilberto - 8.5 Deserves the credit tonight, was exceptional. Didn't see one misplaced pass and the tackle on Ronaldo was PERFECT.

Reyes - 7 Full of running as you'd expect and was well up for it, but should have scored.

Henry - 8.5 Looked most likely to score and the effort that has been sometimes lacking this season was on show for all. A captain's performance.

Probably a few people will disagree with some of those but I don't give a damn, I am so pumped!!!

Spot on in my opinion.

Same here but i would give Eboue a 7. Overall good performance but some slack marking at set pieces which fortunately we were not punished for.

 

[jaguars4ever]

My ratings:
Jens Lehmann 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

MAN OF THE f****g MATCH

He single handedly (no pun intended) got us through. If he wasn't a legend after last year's FA Cup final (and he was), he is now. His save wasn't a "world class" save as some say. It was beyond world class as most world class keepers wouldn't have gotten to that ball, they probably wouldn't have even had the determination to get up after the Raul ball got past them. That's seriously the best save I've ever seen and he really has been having the best season of his career (I think). Did his little antics with Raul (putting his studs up when Raul came too close to him after the first "encounter" ). I really don't think our team is mentally strong enough to have gotten back to win the tie after going down 1-0. Hleb should've been MOTM but I mean, if a save like that which really is what brought us to the quarterfinals isn't worth a MOTM award, then what is?

THAT Mad Jens' save was on par with THAT David Seaman one-handed-catch!

 

[AFCFan4Ever]

Everone gets a 10 for such a wonder accomplishment but my MOM is Hleb...he arrived officially tonight. Finally everyone got a good taste of why we bought him and what he can do, the guy was absolutely money for us. He took everything physical and mental that the Real Madrid players could dish out and just kept coming and coming...what a match from him.

 

[GunneDown]

Lehmann - 8.5
Eboue - 8.5
Flamini - 7.5
Toure - 9 (MOTM)
Senderos - 7.5
Hleb - 9
Reyes - 7
Fabregas - 7.5
Gilberto - 8
Ljungberg - 8
Henry - 8

i would go with that. The back four were great last night Big phill and Toure cut out a lot of balls.

 

[Sammer]

Despite the joy of going through, I still feel that some of the ratings in midfield are too high:

Lehmann 9.5 - no words for his save. A game-changing, breath-taking moment. Perfect display.

Eboue 9 - again faultless, immense and composed. Lauren will have tough competition from now on.

Kolo 9 - no need to comment on his performance

Senderos 8.5 - that partnership with Kolo works so well, if Senderous gets his mind together and refrains from technical flicks, he is great

Flamini 8,5 - special credit to him - has adapted to his position really well and has kept Beckham even more out of the game than in the first leg. His work-rate is amazing.

Hleb 9 - slow start with insecure passing in the first half, but full of confidence and skill in the 2nd. That´s how he should play ! Especially like his ability to pick up tempo while using the slightest space for his outstanding technical skills

Gilberto 8.5 - a great match for him, did his job well and even his passing was quite accurate.

Cesc 7,5 - some great moments from him, but he wasn´t allowed the same freedom than in the first leg, which affected his passing and play. Good performance, but not oustanding. Central midfield was a bit too open for my liking at times.

Freddie 7,5 - decent display, high-work rate, but not the same attacking threat as in the last games. Still good though.

Reyes 7 - ran his heart out, but didn´t really find the rhythm of the game. His one-on-one skills were not too convincing and he should have scored that bloody goal.

Henry 8.5 - they really double-and tripple marked him today and learned from their lesson. He still looked dangerous though, kept the ball well and almost scored. Special mention to his defensive work !

 

[Offy]

10 for everyone, and as for Lehman, the Gr8st save in footballing Histroy?