Player Ratings - PL: Manchester United vs Arsenal | 17/09/06

[Ratinho]

And one of the reasons he does give the ball away sometimes, is because he looks for a killer pass, which is a GOOD thing. I'd rather he was looking for that than going sideways, because that's his role. We reaped the benefits yesterday with that stunning ball for Ade to win the pen.

However, he did give it away a few times yesterday, fortunately he corrected his own error twice by chasing back, and winning it back.

And I'd say it's the first time i've seen him lose the ball 2-3 times (which is a few for a tight game against a big side) in a game for ages.

 

[Ratinho]

BUT the past 3 or so games those careless passes have more or less disappeared, the only time I've seen him mess up is when he has been under great pressure, although he still often finds a way to get out of it.

Posted just as I was writing the same thing. Such love in here. :**)

 

[YuenBiaoFan]

Yeah it's laughable the stick Hleb gets for 'losing possession' or 'passing to the opposition' in every game.

STUPID talk from STUPID people.

Look sunshine, you're irritating enough at the best of times. In my opinion Hleb lost the ball quite a few times, and in some dangerous areas when he was tired in that second half. The very fact i've rated him highly shows that i'm aware of how well he played overall.

Maybe the fact you can't actually respond to that claim with anything further than the above post, shows up your own ignorance fella.

Ignorance? No.

Lethargy? Most definately.

Bemoaning a player who loses the ball a few times a game when trying to move play forward is pathetic.

And frankly I can't be bothered to argue any point round here anymore since it's infested with 5 year olds whose opinions swing wildly from being **** when not getting 3 points against teams where they were hugely lucky not to get a spanking to being the bestest ever when the rewards for good play DO come.

 

[Ratinho]

eh?

Know your audience son.

 

[YuenBiaoFan]

Oh and I said 'people' not 'person' so that comment wasn't aimed enitrely at you as you're clearly not stupid.

But those calling for Hleb to be dropped cos a pass or 3 gets intercepted or misplaced per game ARE.

 

[Ratinho]

But we know the people doing that are stupid, and that's why they get ignored.

You posted it straight after my comments, so meh tbh.

 

[Legend#1]

OMG OMG LOLZZ LETZ MUVE KOLO 2 CM CZ E WUD B GRT DER !!!!1111

:roll:

Kolo is a world class CB, but let's move him to a totally new position, that's like, such like, a cool idea yay!

Fools.


Anyway, Legend's ratings:


Jens - 9

Eboue - 6.5
Kolo - 9
Djourou - 8.5
Gallas - 7.5


Hleb - 7
Cesc - 8
Gilberto - 8.5
Rosicky - 8
Freddie - 7 (Some very underrated defensive work, although attacking wise he's being left behind)

Ade - 9

My MOTM was Kolo.. Followed by Jens and then Ade.

 

[saphen]

Lehman 8 - save at the end lost his face great match

Eboue 7 - Stop c ronaldo...always in time
Toure 7 - sureness
Djourou 7 - surprised by this young player...
Gallas 6 - not bad..but he can do better...really loved the way he screamed to supporters at te end of the match!

Hleb 7 - team player...fight on every ball
Gilberto 7.5 - what a player...just great...a truly captain
Cesc 6.5 - not very good for all the match...absolutely great in the goal'action
Rosicky 7 - good! he is in arsenal game..gots to learn few things...but yesterday was really good ( and what a shot this guy got! )
Freddie 6.5 - everywhere runs for 2..

Ade 7,5 - great work,good movement,cool and quiet when had the opportunity..

Wenger 9 - Yesterday when tv framed him i thought about arsenal' future...i'm scared by the day he will left us...i love the way arsenal play ..i love his style and his class.

 

[asajoseph]

A really good all-round performance yesterday - everyone did their job, Wenger got the tactics right, and we beat a Manchester Utd. team who were better than many of the on-line pundits seem to think. Utd's passing was crisp, fast and accurate, and the fact that apart from Ronaldo's effort into Jens' face they didn't have any really clear-cut chances says a lot for the team-ethic on displaye.

Jens - 9 - perhaps getting too much credit for his save from Ronaldo (he couldn't have got out the way if he tried), and too little for his unbelievable stop from Solksjaer, which showed the athleticism of a 23 year old. Apart from that, he was pretty much flawless, punching and catching extremely well, controlling his box, and showing hints of that eccentricity that we've come to know and love.

Eboue - 7 - Made an absolutely shocking error in failing to deal with that cross that ended up at Ronaldo's feet. He's always been pretty useless in the air, but allowing that one to get over his head was pretty much schoolboy stuff. In addition, he was caught too high upfield at times, which is becoming usual for him, as he pushed too high, and dived in a little too early sometimes. But otherwise, this was a very good display, both offensively and defensively. He put in some excellent challenges on Ronaldo in the second half, and pushed forward strongly for much of the game.

Toure - 8.5 - A Terry Butcher-esque performance yesterday, from a player who's clearly being pressed into service when not 100% fit. Made some unbelievable challenges, particularly in the second half, unleashed the cannon from a free-kick, after selling Scholes a cheeky dummy, and generally nullified two on-form strikers.

Djourou - 7.5 - Formed a watertight partnership with Kolo, played Rooney out of the game, generally was exceptionally solid. Another very impressive performance from a player who is still 19, and at the end of the day, our 4th choice central defender - those who still mourn Cygan, take note!

Gallas - 8 - We all knew he wouldn't provide the same attacking threat as Cole, but going forward he was strong regardless, whilst defensively he certainly outmatches his predecessor. An exceptionally solid performance, allowing the players in front of him to push forward, and doing more could be expected attacking-wise himself.

Hleb - 8 - Interchanged seamlessly with Ljungberg on the left, he'd suddenly pop up on the opposite flank without you ever noticing him run there. Proved invaluable in the central third of the pitch, maintained a cool head in possession, and set up Adebayor beautifully in the chance which ended up with Gilberto's penalty. Also covered back extremely well, and put in a few, almost Vieira-like challenges.

Gilberto - 7 - No more silky Brazilian skills in the attacking third from Gilberto today, and was unfortunate to slip for his penalty, but as the anchor of a 5-man midfield, he did the job that was required of him. Perhaps gave the likes of Saha and Rooney a bit too much time in front of our defence at times, but defensively was very tidy.

Cesc - 8.5 - Seemed excellent in possession to me, used the balls he recieved extremely efficiently, showed some beautiful skill on the ball to keep it at his feet in the middle of the park, and his assist for Adebayor, albeit including a small slice of fortune, was exceptional. It would be lovely if he coud time his tackles a little better, but we seem well equipped to cover for that these days.

Ljungberg - 7 - Lots of endeavour, huge amounts of effort, but you struggle to see what the end product is these days. His passing isn't great, and with the boxes in the Permiership getting more and more crowded, he'll struggle to find the space to score goals like he used to. That said, he shielded the ball well on the left, and made sure that the ball ended up at the feet of our sparkier players. Whilst his days as a regular match-winner may be over, he certainly still looks like a player who'll be a very solid squad-member.

Rosicky - 8 - Who'd have thought 6 months ago that we'd have a midfider in our squad this year who perhaps shoots too much?!? Still, when you've got a shot like Rosicky has, it's hard to criticise too much, and his well-struck volley from just outside the area was well saved by the Manc keeper. Fantastically direct, and whilst he lost the ball a few times he tracked back superbly to try to win it again. He's a great dribbler, and gets himself into dangerous situations, from where he's got all the tools to execute - his long-range passing could have been sharper, but he's becoming a key player for us already. Cracking signing, Arsène.

Adebayor - 7.5 - It's hard to criticise a player who scores the winner at old Trafford, especially when his workrate and movement were so good. Yes, his first touch is, frankly, appalling, and he should probably have already scored one or two before finally putting away his decisive opportunity, but he showed some very nice touches on the ball before that, and beat more than a few of the Utd. defenders with the ball on the ground. A performance containing both highlights and lowlights, although it's undeniably the positives that we should take away from this one.

Substitutes

Baptista - 7 - Looked incredibly dangerous, especially in the final third, whilst making one or two nice tackles in the middle too. In and around the box he's going to be an incredibly valuable player for us, and I'd not be surprised to see him get his debut against Sheff Utd. next week.

Flamini - 6 - His introduction signalled a bit of a panic, as we tried to hang on for the last few minutes, and didn't really make any hugely memorable impact on the game for me.



Wenger - 9 - I said last week that this team is just half a yard away short of some great results, and that I hoped Wenger would be able to rectify that as soon as he got to spend some quality time with the squad, and on the basis of yesterday's performance, that's exactly what's going on. My only criticism, tactically, would have been the apparent panic that deciding to hold on for the draw seemed to induce in the side - it's an understandable reaction, but if we'd been trying to sit back for much more than 5 minutes, we were certainly starting to creak. Otherwise, everything Arsène did was spot-on, our gameplan was exactly right. I was worried when, for the first five minutes of the match we barely got a touch, but as soon as we got the ball down our passing and movement was noticeably better than it has been for most of the season, and the pace of our game has definitely improved.

Win our game in hand, and we're 4 points behind the Mancs and Chelsea, and if we hit form, that gap suddenly doesn't look so big.

 

[athreya74]

Re: Man U - Arsenal, player ratings

cesc - 5
a down right horrible first half. better in the 2nd half and a terrific assist to ade's goal, but overall a disappointing performance from the spaniard.


Sometimes i really don't get you :shock:

what's there to get? cesc didn't play well. i suspect most have forgotten his performance, because of the great assist to ade's goal. if you go back and look at cesc' first half, you'll see that he was very, very poor. his passing game was slow and even inaccurate at times and he gave the ball away needlessly a few times.

But still his display merited more than 5. He gave away the ball because he was trying to move the ball forward. Agreed he may have been over ambitious and casual at times. But as you yourself imply he tightened his passing in the second half and finished the game strongly.

As usual you want to be contrarian and draw attention to your post, so suit yourself.

 

[goon4zlatan]

I'm still buzzing, I have to admit I am one of those that thought the best we could hope for was a draw. Don't worry, I'm kicking myself and I will try to never doubt Wenger again.

MOTM for me has to be Jens, how could it not?
Mad Jens - 9 I love him so much, and his crazy antics make him endearing. OShea seemed to be laughing at him which made the whole thing even more amusing

Toure - 9 I agree, he is a top top defender and a gooner through and through

Djourou - 7 great game, has a top class defender beside him though

Eboue - 7 his offensive play is excellent

Gallas - 8 very very solid indeed

Gilberto - 7 penalty miss but broke up play well and distributed albeit not always accurately

Cesc - 7 good game and great assist, worked hard but not his magical best

Rosicky - 8 I love this guy so much already, like someone said before, you expect something to happen when he is on the ball, I'm tempted to give him a 9.

Hleb - 7 ive always said that this guy has to be one of the most tecnically gifted players today. he works hard, tries to dribble, make clever passes - didnt always work but played well

Freddie - 7 to be honest i can't remember much of what he did, but because the whole team played extremely well, he gets a 7.

Ade - 7 I am not too enamoured by Ade, he frustrates the hell out of me and fails to finish chances that Henry would with his eyes closed. he does work very very hard though and its hard not to forgive him now after the goal. like someone said before, its the law of averages! for every 10 missed chances, he scores 1!

Wenger - 9 *sigh* I apologise for my lack of faith in this great great man

 

[psycho_chihuahua]

Lehmann - 8.5 - Excellent saves

Gallas - 7 - Decent
Djourou - 7.5 - Solid
Toure - 8 - Rock Solid
Eboue - 6.5 - Decent

Ljungberg - 6 - Worked hard / Good effort and did well holding the ball when needed
Rosicky - 8.5 - Excellent all-round performance from my favourite player
Gilberto - 6.5 - Played his role well albeit some miss-passes
Fabregas - 9 - Although he lost the ball too easily a few times, he controlled our midfield and just dominated / Excellent set up for the goal
Hleb - 8 - Another great all-round and gritty (might I add) performance

Ade - 7.5 - His first touches are a big let-down expecially when we're in good positions / However, he did get himself into good positions and well.... scored the ****ing WINNER!

There were times when Ade screwed up a few clear-cut chances, and I couldn't help but wonder that Henry would have definitely done justice to them, as those were his kinda chances.... Then again, with the way he's playing, doubt he'd even get into those positions....

Nevertheless, we ****ING beat Man United in their own backyard with an amazing display of gritty yet flowing football - and that's all that counts...

Whooo the **** are Man Uniiiiiiiited...
Whooo the **** are Man Uniiiiiiiited...
Whooo the **** are Man Uniiiiiiiited...
Glory to the Guns!

 

[Clrnc]

definitely our best performance this season. c'mon guys keep it up. heres the ratings

lehmann 7.5 - will get an 8 if he didnt commit that stupid yellow card in the first half, nevetheless a superb performance. the ole save is just world class

eboue 7 - nulified ronaldo whole day, proved to be as fast as him. very solid.

toure 7.5 - fought on though his hip is in trouble. towards the end he felt pain but continued playing as he dosent want us to be a man down in the closing stages. heroic!

djourou 7 - just 19 yr old. could you believe it. he actually wrestled rooney. wonderful solid performance.

gallas 7 - the commentator actually said it was because of gallas that brought us luck lol. irrelevant, but his performance is as solid as ever. still gelling but keep it up william!

gilberto 6 - missed a first half penalty. not entirely his fault. but a fine second half, though need to keep possesion and not give the ball away at dangerous place.

cesc 8.5 - to say phenomenal would an understatement. nuff said

rosicky 7.5 - not afraid of trying shots, good performance, just tired towards the end.

hleb 8 - wonderful. his willingness to track back saved us lotsa goals. nergetic performance

ljungberg 6 - he is getting old, his runs arent really spotted.

ade 8 - great performance. earnt a penalty, caused man utd problems throughout. that goal just made my year. hopefully he can proceed into double figures this season

baptista 7 - from his short time in the field, he looked good. need time to adapt though. anybody told him his stepovers arent gonna fool anyone? lol

flamini - n.a

wenger 8 - surprised us with the lineup and most improtantly the win!

 

[RocktheCasbah]

kel- is "disappointing" the same as being the worst player on the pitch?

For my money, in the midfield, ok Cesc misplaced a few passes (who didn't?) the only player who you could argue outshone Cesc is Mr Rosicky. And then you have Cesc producing THAT pass, surely he's worth at least a 6 just for that?

My ratings:

Jens- 9.Brilliant. Loses a mark for being such a **** with O'Shea when already booked. But two fantastic saves.

Eboue- 7. Kept Ronaldo quiet, but that final ball is so frustrating.

Gallas- 7. Plays very well, very sensibly, made a good early block, didn't seem troubled after that.

Gilberto- 7. Shocking passing at times, as ever! But protected the defence well and was very unlucky to miss his footing with the penalty.

Toure- 9. The Rock. Smart defending when he had to get back against Rooney, he obviously knows the old Arsenal central defenders motto "You will never.... pass... the Arse!"

Djourou- 7. Mighty impressive, gets better by the game. Senderos is gonna be 4th choice soon.

Fabregas- 8. Wayward at times, but he held it together and was the architect of the best Arsenal performance at Old Traffod for 4 years. Mentioned the assist already, class.

Rosicky- 8. Very unlucky not to have added to his goals tally yesterday, I don't think we're near seeing his absolute best, but I can't wait for it when it comes. A smart footballer.

Hleb- 7. Industrious, usual performance, good football at times, some bits not so good, unlucky to be subbed though I thought.

Ljungberg- 6. So. Slow. I feel this guy is being left behind by the new breed, he just can't get on the end of anything these days.

Adebayor- 9. Class performance- should have scored much earlier, didn't but kept going. His movement and trickery obviously provided something different for Rio and Brown, they couldn't handle it. A fully deserved and beautifully taken goal.

 

[phenn]

It's not like I have a replay of the game to watch but I feel like a lot of people here are being pretty harsh to cesc. No the boy didn't have an 8 game but he didn't have a 5 either. You can talk about his first half all you want and yes he wasn't good but he wasnt THAT bad and in the second half he started to really take things over. He can boss a game like few players in the league and really started to do so today. He's becoming more and more like Riquelme I think. Not that they're the same but they have elegant, simple but great moves on the ball and can just play at whatever pace they want.

Hleb played quite well too. We are a much more dangerous side with him on the pitch.

Lehmann's last save on ole was one of the best saves I've ever seen. The look on Solskjaer's face says it all, he KNEW he had just scored the leveler and could not believe Lehmann got to it.

 

[tduffell]

Lehmann 8
Eboue 8
Toure 8
Djourou 8
Gallas 8
Hleb 7
Rosicky 8
Cesc 9
Gilberto 7.5/8
Ljungberg 8
Adebayor 8
Baptista 7
Flamini 6
Great goal from Ade but i just feel he had chances in the game that should have won it for us long before the goal he eventually scored. and for theis reason my man of the match was fabregas. no one could touch him all game, amazing passes and he ruled the midfield.

 

[Gurgen]

kel- is "disappointing" the same as being the worst player on the pitch?

For my money, in the midfield, ok Cesc misplaced a few passes (who didn't?) the only player who you could argue outshone Cesc is Mr Rosicky. And then you have Cesc producing THAT pass, surely he's worth at least a 6 just for that?

When you give the ball away three times in dangerous areas, once resulting in a 3-on-3 break, you haven't been playing well, especially when you're Cesc Fabregas.

THAT pass doesn't make up for the fact that if those chances had fallen to anyone but Cristina Ronaldo, we would have been 2-0 down.

 

[Rohit]

kel- is "disappointing" the same as being the worst player on the pitch?

For my money, in the midfield, ok Cesc misplaced a few passes (who didn't?) the only player who you could argue outshone Cesc is Mr Rosicky. And then you have Cesc producing THAT pass, surely he's worth at least a 6 just for that?

When you give the ball away three times in dangerous areas, once resulting in a 3-on-3 break, you haven't been playing well, especially when you're Cesc Fabregas.

THAT pass doesn't make up for the fact that if those chances had fallen to anyone but Cristina Ronaldo, we would have been 2-0 down.

Cesc certainly wasn't playing at his best.Whether it is fatigue or a slight dip in form we'll see but whatever it is he quite a few times will be a victim of the very high standards he has set for himself.

Not condoning any of his mistakes and i personally think he had an OK game too,but i don't blame him for loosing possession that led to Ronaldo's chance.It was a poor throw from Lehmann.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

kel- is "disappointing" the same as being the worst player on the pitch?

For my money, in the midfield, ok Cesc misplaced a few passes (who didn't?) the only player who you could argue outshone Cesc is Mr Rosicky. And then you have Cesc producing THAT pass, surely he's worth at least a 6 just for that?

When you give the ball away three times in dangerous areas, once resulting in a 3-on-3 break, you haven't been playing well, especially when you're Cesc Fabregas.

THAT pass doesn't make up for the fact that if those chances had fallen to anyone but Cristina Ronaldo, we would have been 2-0 down.

I still question the notion that Fabregas was the worst player on the pitch..

 

[el jefe]

kel- is "disappointing" the same as being the worst player on the pitch?

For my money, in the midfield, ok Cesc misplaced a few passes (who didn't?) the only player who you could argue outshone Cesc is Mr Rosicky. And then you have Cesc producing THAT pass, surely he's worth at least a 6 just for that?

When you give the ball away three times in dangerous areas, once resulting in a 3-on-3 break, you haven't been playing well, especially when you're Cesc Fabregas.

THAT pass doesn't make up for the fact that if those chances had fallen to anyone but Cristina Ronaldo, we would have been 2-0 down.

I still question the notion that Fabregas was the worst player on the pitch..

After watching the match a second time, Cesc did have a pretty shocking first half. He is a victim of his own high standard though, as we've come to expect impeccable touch, passing, and decision-making from him. He was much more assured in the second half. And I had forgotten that minutes before the goal, he almost set up Ade with a brilliant through ball from around midfield.

And btw....anyone else impressed with how eager our so-called lightweight midfielders (Cesc, Rosicky, and to a lesser extent, Hleb) are to get stuck in?