Player Ratings - PL: Arsenal vs West Brom. Albion | 15/04/06

[Liberace]

Flamini was excellent yet again. No premiership player is finding it easy to go past him anymore. He's improving his distribution and attacking play as well which is encouraging.

Hleb was good today also, made some excellent runs and defended well, problem is there was a lack of movement up front for himto pass the ball.

RVP didn't really get into the game, couple of neat passes but nothing else.

Henry, not his best yet still created chances, made an assist and could have scored a fantastic goal.

Gilberto and Diaby played ok.


I must say Curtis Davis is a very good player. Henry couldn't go past him. He reads the game very well. I was really impressed.

 

[PaulDavis]

Lehmann - 6

Eboue - 6 Nearly cost us dear with some very bad defensive errors. Excellent forward runs.

Toure - 6.5 Decent game but looked very tired.

Senderos - 6 Sloppy at times. Did well though.

Flamini - 7 Another solid performance.

Diaby - 6 Careless and complacent on numerous occassions. Seems too eager to impress and neglect his primary duty.

Gilberto - 6.5 Decent game.

Hleb - 7 Kept it neat and simple. Show some really nice touches at times. A very well taken goal.

Reyes - 5 Disappointing. Gave away far too much possession. Never look like threatening at all.

Van Persie - 5.5 Did ok, still need some games and match fitness.

Henry - 5.5 Curtin Davies did an excellent job on him. Frustrating afternoon for Titi.

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Adebayor - 6 Did well.

Bergkamp - 7 A brilliant goal. Legend.

Pires - 7 Bobby and Bergy introduction gave us a new lease of life. I really hope he will stay. We still need his goals from midfield.

 

[JLo5777]

Did you ppl watch the game? Flamini was terrible. He only had one good moment in the game - when he prevented Campbell from scoring. There were 3...4....5 moments when he just gave the ball away and put aresnal in a whole lot of trouble. There were also 2 passes in the first half when he ended up scaring Lehman out of his wits.

 

[adjie]

Most of them same with people here, however :

Lehmann - 6
Not a lot to do

Eboue - 6
Very Good for the 3rd goal but very sloppy for Baggies goal,
also for the clip against C.Davies during 2-1 scoreline
were so lucky it hasn't been paid by penalty from ref.

Kolo - 7
Start to recover to his high standard

Phil - 6.5
Solid all afternoon, except few miss passes and clearances

Flam - 6
He needs a rest Arsène ...

Gilberto - 7
As usual not so flashy, but consistent

Diaby - 5.5
Few excellent passes and few off-the-ball running,
most of the time hard to make a present in midfield

Hleb - 7.5
Very good, start to getting his Stuttgart standard, eh ?

Reyes - 6
Same with Diaby, however I note overlapping process
between him and Flam not always running well

RvP - 5.5
Needs to watch DB10 video tapes collection
named "how to be a match winner effectively"

Titi - 6.5
Off-day ? But still involved in setting up the Hleb goal

sub - Ade - 6
As usual, few good runs and average game,
but shows his fitness for the 2nd goal

sub - Bob - 6.5
Very determined to make an impact for the game

sub - DB10 - 7.5
What can I say, eh ? He's Dennis Bergkamp,
less than 20 mins and he had 1 goal and 1 assist

 

[rednwhitearmy]

"Pires - 6.5 - Other than the goal I didn't notice him too much." WTF


Can i ask one question as it is really bugging me. Why do SOME people rate say Adebayor as a good game, while they give Pires a bad game. Pires played beautifully when he was on. He cleared the defense well without giving up the ball, and he scored a goal with style! I just dont think people realise how much structure he adds to our team. I would like people to rate players such as Pires with honesty not because you want to join the bandwagon on hating him. He is and always will be a legend!

 

[raphael_as]

Pires played beautifully when he was on. He cleared the defense well without giving up the ball, and he scored a goal with style!

Well, I wouldn't have said that the goal was particularily stylish, but generally agree with the sentiment.

But it's quite natural for people to have their favourite players and cut them some extra slack, or be extra hard on players they don't particularily like. Hopefully in the end it all evens out....

My own (highly subjective) ratings:
Lehmann: 6. Solid game, not a lot to do, not much chance with the goal. Seem to be saying that a lot recently. His command of his penalty area is in a different league to what it was his first couple of seaons here, and he makes some really good reaction stops, but I must say that for the fantastic season he has had I wish he could have made some of the spectacular 1-on-1 saves that he has been presented.

Eboue: 6. Thought he was unfortunate for the goal rather then guilty - he slipped. They must have watered the pitch just prior to the game 'cos it was happening all over the pitch all game. Having said that he loses a point for the foul which (IMO) should have been a penalty and he still needs to work on his defensive positioning and covering - it's all very well going forward, but he does leave the right-flank exposed at times. Flamini's approach (defend first, attack when comfortable) is much better I feel.

Flamini: 6. Looks tired, made some mistakes in concentration (backpasses too light etc) which he doesn't usually make, but still effective as left-back. Wish Arsène had rested him for this game.

Toure: 6.5. Contrary to the statements about him looking jaded, I thought he look decent and that the rest had done him good - tailed off a bit at the end though, so perhaps there is something to it. I think continuously covering for Eboue when he gets caught up the pitch also makes him look worse then he is.

Senderos: 7. Same as Toure but with a few forays up the pitch showing his confidence. No obvious mistakes though West Brom didn't really trouble us that much.

Hleb: 7.5 Good game from Alex - still not a 100% rapport between him and the front-men, but a nicely worked goal gets him some extra marks.

Gilberto: 7. Solid and dependable - also saw him giving the ref some verbal (calling the captain?) after he got a call wrong for a free-kick to West Brom in a dangerous spot. Glad to see he is finally back to his best.

Diaby: 5. I'm not sure he knows whether he is meant to be doing a Cesc, or sitting back and helping out Bert in defence. As such seemed to get caught with the ball quite a lot and squandered possession too much for my liking.

Reyes: 6. Agree with the general comment - brilliant one moment, unbeleiveably mediocre the next. I thought that him and Henry were actually working out quite well alternating roles on the left, but that seems to have deserted them recently. At his best when spraying those inch-perfect crosses in from deep a la Beckham - I hope he continues developing that skill, 'cos it means defenders can't stand off him and wait for him to try and go round them, which can only help him when he decides to do that.

Henry: 6. Generally not a good game from Henry. Gets a point for getting the 1-2 with Hleb back when the pass was actually quite some way behind him. Hope that he looks more with it on Wednesday.

RvP: 5. Again, not really a factor - tried hard but nothing came off for him, perhaps trying too hard now, his selfishness is becoming a real concern to me since he is NOT (currently) playing as an out-and-out striker.

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Adebayor: 6. Didn't really notice him tbh.

Pires: 7.5. Changed the game for us when he and Dennis came on. Well taken (scrappy!) goal, and generally seemed to liven us up when we were in danger of squandering all our good work up to then. I too hope he will stay next season, he does still have something to offer us, especially I feel in the 4-5-1.

Dennis: 8. On his day he gets my MOTM for his 20-minute masterclass and nostalgia trip on why he is probably my all time favourite Arsenal player. Hope he stays around after he retires to train our young strikers some of his magic.