Ratings and post-match dicussion vs Chelsea

[Freagle]

It might come as a surprise to some of you but I really am disappointed with the result. Mind me, the performance was good to justify the players who played at the Bridge, but it was very obvious that we have not learnt from our mistakes last season. Yes, we had a couple of attempts on goal, but they were not enough to shake the Chelsea defense. I might be sounding harsh and forgive me for that but I really had enough with playing beautiful football when results aren't going our way. I can understand if this happens once or twice but not so frequently. Some of you might argue that if we had Fabregas, RVP, Walcott, Vermaelen and Bendtner we can win the match. I believe that too but I don't believe we will ever have a fit first 11 for Arsenal with our current crop. There is no point in hoping anymore, we are a fragile team. Simple as that.

Some of you can be happy with the attitude in which the players put out and some can be delighted and feel somewhat unlucky. For me, I simply think it's the same old story over and over again and to be honest, I just can't be bothered. I wasn't at all surprised yesterday with our performance, I knew we can match them even with our second string team. But to have Wilshere stand out more than the other players who have played in the team longer comes as a surprise to me.

Arsène Wenger deserves another topic but quite frankly I believe we covered every inch about him. The only thing I would like to add is that he has got seriously stand up now. He has got to speak the truth and not only his mind. It's really time for him to address our weaknesess because I really do believe he won't be here any longer. The fans frustrations have been heard this year, starting with Almunia, Diaby in the Brom game and it will only be a matter of time until they turn to Arsène.

Anyways enough rambling here are my ratings:

Fabianski (7): Happy for him, did good. A couple of shaky moments but he grew in confidence.

Sagna (6): Worked hard and you can see how much it meant for him but he should have seen/sensed Cashley **** for their first goal.

Clichy (5): I liked him because he didn't want to get bullied but he left a lot of space for the likes of Anelka and Drogba. Don't know what happened to him.

Koscielny (6): Looked very nervous after he missed the golden chance in the opening minutes and took time to recover. First big test for him and I believe he has the potential in him to succeed.

Squillaci (6): Obviously still didn't adapt to the pace of the EPL and it showed yesterday. I hope he watches the video again and spots his mistakes because at his age, he can be crucial for us. Got bags of experience but not enough to match Chelsea. A couple of shaky moments as well, but I believe he was as good as Kosc.

Nasri (6): Stop drifting him from one position to another. He had a couple of good chances here and there and should of bagged one but was unlucky. Good link-up play up front but very sloppy at the back.

Diaby (7): Loved his strength yesterday, I hope he proved a couple of people wrong that a fit Diaby is not the same as an unfit one. He looked much sharper, much stronger and he actually played very very well before the injury. Unlucky injury for him and that's all you hear about Arsenal these days..

Song (5): I could of given him a much lower rating but I give him credit for actually defending more this time. At the beginning of the season he attacked like hell we wanted him to defend, now that he defended he seems to have forgotten how to do it. He only tackles a player when the player is already being harassed by a team-mate. If he tackles alone, he simply loses. He doesn't seem to know what his role is and might of taken instructions from Arsène. I just don't understand, you had something working wonders for you, why the change? Why do you take a risk that not only you suffer but the whole team as well? Very disappointed.

Wilshere (8): MOTM for me. Showed the whole midfield that he doesn't have to play here for years to understand the philosophy and style of football we play. He doesn't look out of depth, on the contrary, he looks to be the best midfield we have right now on par with Fabregas. I really do believe he should start along side Fab because these two can cause havoc.

Arshavin (6): Looked like scoring on a couple of occasions but was a little lost there. At times, he looked like the only one who can get us back but as well he looked like the only one who wasn't interested.

Chamakh (6): I don't know. Maybe a bit harsh but to be honest I was opting to give him a 5. Strong in the head but weak on the ground. Passes was all over the place. Decisions were poor, first touch lacked a bit. Had a couple of chances to take the ball in and score but either chose to pass or lacked in controlling the ball.

Arsène Wenger can **** off to be honest. Had enough of those injuries and had enough of Arsène backing his fragile players to come back. At this rate, we will bloody lose the whole first 11 before April. It's disgusting.

 

[albakos]

Chamakh has a real problem with controlling the ball. Several times yesterday, he chose to return the ball on first touch which resulted in losing the ball. And losing the free header while the score was still 1-0 was criminal.

Wenger tried to utilise Rosicky against tiring Ivanovic and it immediately showed with soem neat play from our left flank, but Ancelotti is a smart technician and noticed that, by introducing Ferreira right away

I am shocked to read most think Clichy had a decent game. His two comical shots from 25 yards should be enough for him to sit on the bench.

I think Diaby had one of the best games so far. He is much better when he plays further up the pitch.
Just so stat gimps know, although playing with injury after that horror tackle from Essien, Diaby had 32 successful passes and no unsuccesful ones.

 

[Captain]

Man of the match: Wilshere

Donkey: Song/Squillaci

 

[outlaw_member]

I must say that even though I spared him in the ratings, I was hugely dissapointed with Chamakh yesterday and too be honest apart from the fact that he can head a ball, I'm still not yet convinced by him as a goal machine.

He wasn't a goal machine at Bordeaux, so there's nothing to suggest that he'll be one here. I try not to lambast Chamakh for his hesitancy inside the box, because it's a flaw that has troubled him throughout his career. So it would have been quite illogical to suddenly expect him to turn into a composed finisher.

 

[outlaw_member]

We were predictable and played right into chelsea's hands. Forget all this talk about possession and half chances - that was chelsea's game plan. Chelsea know we like possession, but they also know how to defend against us and importantly, how to hit us on the counter attack. Seedorf was spot on in his analysis on match of the day when he said we lacked aggression in the final third. We never really worked Cech and we never got inside their full backs (like cole did for 1st goal).

I am not one who uses passion as an argument, but i seriously question the mentality of some of the players. When Wilshere came off, he gave a fist pumping "come on" to JET. You could see he didnt want to lose. At the final whistle Koscienly was having a laugh with Drogba, WTF!!! That's the difference between winners and also rans. Currently we have too many passive players. The fact that Squillaci was captain says we really lack certain leadersip qualities in the squad. This may seem a knee jerk reaction, but i am fed up of losing big games. These games are not lost because of tactics or ability but because of character. Injuries is no excuse because i have seen worse arsenal sides win games through determination.

ratings

Fabianski - 7 - made good saves and commanded area
Wilshere - 7 - was direct and kept probing
Nasri - 7 - he played well but he isn't direct enough.

everybody else - 6 - no one was poor, they just didnt do enough

When Rivaldo dispatched his penalty against us at Wembley in 1999, Henry was sitting on the bench laughing his head off with a teammate, almost as if he couldn't give a damn about what was happening on the pitch.

 

[CandysRoom]

Far to pissed last night to post, but was fairly happy with the boys performance yesterday. While i'm aware we lost, and probably didn't look like winning, it was an absolute step up from that shower of ****e against WBA. The worst bit again was it was another game where a couple of defensive clangers cost us the match.

Fabianski had a good game in goal. Don't see what he could have done about Drogbas fluke, and no keeper in the world would have stopped Alex' thunderbolt.

It's a shame we are having to blood two prem leauge inexperienced CB's together. Vermaelen is a big loss.

Wilshere is quickly becoming my favourite player. Enough said.

My main concern again is our constant injury situation. I scoffed at the idea of replacing RVP a while ago, as he is as Arsenal as any of us, but we need a world class finisher, who isn't as injury prone and can be relied on for most of the season. When i see Torres loping around doing nothing at Lolpool because of lack of service, and see us once again posting ridiculous profits, i start to wonder what if...

 

[outlaw_member]

We were lucky not to give away a penalty when Koscielny fouled Drogba in the box with his scissor tackle. What disappointed me was that Koscielny and Squillaci were allowing Drogba to trap the ball, when they're both generally aggressive in their marking.

 

[Kain]

I'm not actually sure why Song's being given such a hammering in the ratings bar not sticking his head in the way of a monster freekick in which amusingly enough Arshavin on the other side of Malouda literally jumped out of the way from.

He was one of the few players who actually gave their all in the game worked in tandem with Diaby & Wilshere, Song covering the right side of the midfield duo with Jack on the left Diaby infront of them, all three played their roles very well.

The centre back pairing & the front three had a nightmare, Nasri was appaulling, it was awefull stuff considering he had clocked a few decent displays this season, for those who didin't notice Nasri literally abandoned the right flank after 65 mins what happens a few minuets later? Cole runs up the left free as the ****ing wind and comes within an inch's offside call of putting Chelsea 2-0 up!

One aspect that is quite worrying from this game is substitutions, when we make subs do our players actually talk and recognize the positions on the pitch they need to be deploying or do they simply take a guess?

When Wilshere was subbed off for JET nobody took up his role in midfield... nobody it was insane how can you do that against the champions Chelsea, it took several minuets for Nasri to drop back in there!

Do our players actually talk to eachother on the pitch, wheres the communication, why isn't someone stepping up and taking control being the captain?

by the end of the game we was fielding....

.......Fabianski

Sagna Squill Kos Clichy
........Song
........Nasri
........JET......Rosicky
...Vela.....Chamakh


... what in Gods name is that? is that going to break down Chelsea? That formation is a crime, it's laughable.

I dunno maybe a slight over reaction I'm just left slightly mystified by the whole we had a good game situatuion being spieled, I'm not sure under what criteria that's judged for most I just feel we're quite fortunate to walk away only 2-0 down.

Fabianski 7/10

Sagna 6.5/10
Kos 4/10
Squill 4/10
Clichy 6/10

Wilshere 7.5/10
Song 7/10
Diaby 7/10

Nasri 3/10
Chamakh 4/10
Arshavin 4/10

 

[rich 1990]

Wilshere man of the match? Really? Not so sure about that, i voted for Diaby myself.

 

[sabret00the]

Wilshere man of the match? Really? Not so sure about that, i voted for Diaby myself.

The man in the hole that failed to create anything. Wondrous reasoning you have there.

 

[rich 1990]

Wilshere man of the match? Really? Not so sure about that, i voted for Diaby myself.

The man in the hole that failed to create anything. Wondrous reasoning you have there.

what exactly did Wilshere do?

 

[sabret00the]

Wilshere man of the match? Really? Not so sure about that, i voted for Diaby myself.

The man in the hole that failed to create anything. Wondrous reasoning you have there.

what exactly did Wilshere do?

Didn't play in the hole and thus his job of being a b2b midfielder. He put in a disciplined performance, won tackles, kept possession well, kept us ticking forward and released the ball to the players ahead of him on time.

In conclusion, about 100% more Diaby.

 

[outlaw_member]

Did anyone see Squillaci's idiotic part in the first goal? A freekick was given to Chelsea and the ball was at his feet, and he inexplicably passed the ball back to Drogba who then took it immediately, and they scored just a few moments after. Myself, as an amateur was in that very same position yesterday, and I refused to give the ball to the opponent, so that I could get back into my position. Squillaci, the professional, on the other hand basically handed the ball to them on a plate.

 

[outlaw_member]

I'm not actually sure why Song's being given such a hammering in the ratings bar not sticking his head in the way of a monster freekick in which amusingly enough Arshavin on the other side of Malouda literally jumped out of the way from.

He was one of the few players who actually gave their all in the game worked in tandem with Diaby & Wilshere, Song covering the right side of the midfield duo with Jack on the left Diaby infront of them, all three played their roles very well.

The centre back pairing & the front three had a nightmare, Nasri was appaulling, it was awefull stuff considering he had clocked a few decent displays this season, for those who didin't notice Nasri literally abandoned the right flank after 65 mins what happens a few minuets later? Cole runs up the left free as the ******* wind and comes within an inch's offside call of putting Chelsea 2-0 up!

One aspect that is quite worrying from this game is substitutions, when we make subs do our players actually talk and recognize the positions on the pitch they need to be deploying or do they simply take a guess?

When Wilshere was subbed off for JET nobody took up his role in midfield... nobody it was insane how can you do that against the champions Chelsea, it took several minuets for Nasri to drop back in there!

Do our players actually talk to eachother on the pitch, wheres the communication, why isn't someone stepping up and taking control being the captain?

by the end of the game we was fielding....

.......Fabianski

Sagna Squill Kos Clichy
........Song
........Nasri
........JET......Rosicky
...Vela.....Chamakh


... what in Gods name is that? is that going to break down Chelsea? That formation is a crime, it's laughable.

I dunno maybe a slight over reaction I'm just left slightly mystified by the whole we had a good game situatuion being spieled, I'm not sure under what criteria that's judged for most I just feel we're quite fortunate to walk away only 2-0 down.

Fabianski 7/10

Sagna 6.5/10
Kos 4/10
Squill 4/10
Clichy 6/10

Wilshere 7.5/10
Song 7/10
Diaby 7/10

Nasri 3/10
Chamakh 4/10
Arshavin 4/10

There's no leadership in our team, which invariably means that there is no proper communication. If Nasri failed to get into his new position, can't say I remember that myself, a commanding leader would have immediately directed him. We just don't have that.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

Did anyone see Squillaci's idiotic part in the first goal? A freekick was given to Chelsea and the ball was at his feet, and he inexplicably passed the ball back to Drogba who then took it immediately, and they scored just a few moments after. Myself, as an amateur was in that very same position yesterday, and I refused to give the ball to the opponent, so that I could get back into my position. Squillaci, the professional, on the other hand basically handed the ball to them on a plate.

I haven't been particularly impressed with him on the whole. He looks like a decent third or fourth choice to me but certainly not a starter, and definitely not a huge improvement on Djourou as things currently stand. He had a mare yesterday.

He's a huge improvement on Silvestre though, which is important enough for a team like Arsenal where the first choice players always get injured.

 

[Biggus]

There's no leadership in our team, which invariably means that there is no proper communication. If Nasri failed to get into his new position, can't say I remember that myself, a commanding leader would have immediately directed him. We just don't have that.

It's so blatant now.

 

[Captain]

Wilshere man of the match? Really? Not so sure about that, i voted for Diaby myself.

The man in the hole that failed to create anything. Wondrous reasoning you have there.

what exactly did Wilshere do?

Bossed the game for 30mins in the first half and then bossed it for another 15mins in the second half.

 

[ricky1985]

Fabianski - 8. Couple of great saves late on. Caught some good crosses too. One thing I love, and have always loved, about his game when compared to Almunia is his distribution. Much calmer and more intelligent.

Sagna - 7. Cole's movement is a nightmare for anyone, and was certainly at least as much Nasri's responsibility as it was Bac's. He certainly dealt with Malouda really well.

Squillaci - 4. Bit of a horror show for the guy. The sheer speed of the game caught him out, and he needs time to adapt to it.

Koscielny - 7. Far better than he's being given credit for. Did very little wrong, although he did tire badly in the last 10 minutes or so.

Clichy - 6. Hard one to mark. Did a lot of very good things, and his energy and pace is just amazing. So wasteful going forward, though, so very wasteful. Also does the strangest things defensively at times.

Song - 5. Much better second half, because he stayed deeper than Jack and let him play with more freedom. Some shocking moments though.

Wilshere - 8. Battled hard in the first half, and shouldered the defensive burden in midfield. Second half he was the one moving forward and it's no surprise that not only did he start to dominate the game, but that we played much better as a result.

Diaby - 5. Some good moments of power and skill, but didn't play any incisive or intelligent passes or threaten goal - and from the position he was playing that's what we needed.

Nasri - 7. He played well, but nearly all of his good moments came when he either dropped deep or played in-field. Put in one absolute pearler of a cross from out wide though.

Arshavin - 6. Some moments of real class, but just not enough from him over 90 minutes.

Chamakh - 7. Worked tirelessly, and his movement was absolutely terrific. Finishing just wasn't there unfortunately.

Subs

Vela - 4. What a poor touch.

JET - 6. Hopefully this signals a few appearances for him.

Rosicky 7. Made a real difference, injected some needed pace and directness. Finishing was poor though.

 

[Y va marquer]

Was yesterday the day that showed categorically that we have not progressed since last season?

That the new signings are not of the standard required to give us that edge that we need in games against the top teams?

That without Fabregas and to a lesser extent RVP and Walcott our style of possession and passing centric play is not adequately designed to overcome a tight and organised defence?

That the potential match winning genius that Shava possesses cannot be relied upon when we most need it?

That both our defence and our overall defending as a team is almost terminally naive and ill equipped to deal with swift counter attacking football?

Bar the question on new signings I would say the answer to all of the above is “YES”.

Are we at a stage where the above issues can no longer be addressed by Wenger or where the squad that he has put together is not capable of regrouping and responding to this defeat?

I don’t know.

The 2 defeats that we have suffered are very different in nature – in the WB game we were punished for our lethargy, wastefulness, lack of commitment and GK ineptitude in the Chelsea game we were punished for our full commitment to the style of passing attacking football that requires a level of goal scoring excellence and sharpness that was not available yesterday.

The WB result made me angry the Chelsea result has, for the moment, caused me to lose heart.

 

[Captain]

Was yesterday the day that showed categorically that we have not progressed since last season?

That was September 1st.