Ratings and post-match discussion vs Shakhtar Donetsk

[Humble Rex]

Lots of people way OTT regarding Rosicky. He was not particularly good today, but he wasn´t poor either. Decent 5,5-6/10 performance.

There were in general way too few attempted runs behind their defence. Bendtner, Nasri and Rosicky were ALL guilty of this. Feo was the only one who attempted this with any regularity. As a consequence we became way too static and predictable. We have seen it before.

 

[Big Poppa]

When I saw Eastmond and Wilshere as our two most defensive midfielders, I feared the worst. Especially with fullbacks who defend like its because they have to not like they want to.

 

[Raider]

Nasri as man of the match? What are you guys smoking.

In the final 15 minutes alone I counted 4 final balls which were Horrendusly inaccurate.

I saw nothing of Nasri today. Fabianski was the man.

 

[Raider]

Got to give a little shout out to Shakhtar Donetsk. I thought they played some great football at a high pace.

they clearly wanted it more, and would attack us in numbers and at speed.

We'd have Clichy Squid and Djourou in what looked to be a line, and Eboue as some sort of make-shift wing back.

Only he didn't look interested in running back at anything above Grandad speed.

Fed up with this guy. How long is this torture going to continue.

 

[AshburtonGhost]

Off day, Shakhtar good enough to capitalize, fair enough.

Poor defensive efforts undermine us again, nothing new and yet again not good enough.

 

[justinmitchell]

fabianski 7, solid respectable game, did what he had to with minimal fuss. good control.

eboue 2, disgusting first half. really needs to go.
squillaci 6.5, pretty solid throughout but carried the defense all on his own
djourou 5, crap first half. better 2nd. some good interceptions, some ridiculous defending.
clichy 4, enough said.

wilshere 7.5, bossed the midfield
rosicky 5, crap.
eastmond 5, way out of his depth what was wenger thinking

walcott 7, good goal, did what he wanted to OK
bendtner 5, unfit and unprepared
nasri 7, played well

subs
meh.

Arshavin cops a lot of flack on these boards, but I've always believed unreasonably so. Nasri played in the same position and had an Arshavin. All the play goes down the right flank and the left flank is always isolated.

One of the worst defensive efforts I've seen. Totally at sea. If it wasn't for Fabianski we'd have lost by a lot.

 

[Y va marquer]

Wenger, post match;

"Congratulations to Donetsk, they played well and won the game. We had a good start, but after that we lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much. We lost concentration in the duels and you could see what was coming towards half-time"

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/champions-league/8108989/Shakhtar-Donetsk-2-Arsenal-1-match-report.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... eport.html</a>

 

[celestis]

Have noticed nearly everytime we score an early goal we seem to visibly take our foot of the pedal and become a little complacent . You would think guys like Rosicky and Eboue would be a bit more hungry than what they showed tonight . Seemed to treat it like a nothing game until it was too late .

 

[redanddread]

Not sure why everyone has rated Rosicky so low. I thought he could have done way much more with the ball but he worked tirelessly without providing that killer pass.

Several things that stood out to me:

1. Clichy-WTF were you thinking. If we cannot cut out this kind of nonsensical mistake (seconds from 1/2 time) then we have NO chance of winning anything.

2. MANU & Chelsea would NOT have lost this game.

3. Eboue has no effing brain and pairing him with Waloctt on the right effectively meant we only attacked with any purpose dwon the left. Clichy can't cross so effectively we attacked without purpose down any flank!

4. Wilshere is ready for the big time. This kid is so good and has the mentality to perform on the big stage.

5. Nasri should have been played centre and Tomas out wide.

6. Defensivley we looked shaky - a throw back to Arsenal of the last few years.

7. Fabianski has turned a corner.

8. The verdict is still out on Eastmond. He looked out of his depth but he is young and he will gain valuable experience.

9. Once again we failed to capitalise on our best chances (Squillaci & Jack in the 2nfd 1/2). If we fail to take these, we will NOT win anything.

10. Can we all sign a petition and demand that Wenger has the players practice crossing and free kicks. We were AWFUL in this department again. Clichy's crossing was hopeless as usual and I cannot remember one good cross from the right.

11. Our decision making in the final 1/3 was pitiful. No composure and no clue! Never created anything of note with all the possesion we had in the 2nd 1/2

12. We still cannot win the big ones without Cesc.

13. Chamakh ahead of Bendter every day of the week at present!

A result that had everything to do with the things we consistently do poorly. And we were carrying three passengers in Eboue and Eastmond & Bendter.

Wenger has to sing a new tune- We didn't lose becasue we were complacent, we got beat because we didn't do the simple things right. We got the perfect start but no real LEADERSHIP on the field, stupid mistakes and not taking our chances cost us-AGAIN!!

There was enough talent out there to get a result-we have to learn HOW to get that result before we can truly talk about winning any of the major trophies!!

 

[chandraraj]

Wenger, post match;

"Congratulations to Donetsk, they played well and won the game. We had a good start, but after that we lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much. We lost concentration in the duels and you could see what was coming towards half-time"

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/champions-league/8108989/Shakhtar-Donetsk-2-Arsenal-1-match-report.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... eport.html</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's frustrating to hear this sort of comment from Wenger. If he knows what was coming, why appropriate changes were not made much earlier? Generally I don't understand why would he wait until after 60 minutes to make any changes! A case to point today was Bendy, Eboue and Eastmond.

 

[dreamLord]

Worth mentioning is that while Clichy made another dumb mistake he had a good game otherwise. He looked like he was uncomfortable with playing the ball back to the midfield when no one really stepped in to offer an option. He should have just put the ball over the line instead though. Many of the mistakes he's made in the last two seasons could've been avoided that way.

That's Clichy for you. Plays decent all game, but ****s up once in almost all games and gives away chances/goals. It's about time we cut him loose.

 

[dionysius]

I'm surprised anybody is saying Eastmond was deccent. He looked way out of his depth today. He was culpable for both of the goals scored against us, and he had many more moments that could have easily led to disasters. Wenger was right to sub him off early.

 

[fabo]

Fabianski...........7

Eboue........4
Squillaci......6
Djourou........6
Clichy.........4

Eastmond..........5
Wilshere.............7
Rosicky..........6
Nasri..........6.5
Theo..........6

Nik.........5

Chamakh, Vela, JET........N/A

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Fabianski 7
Eboue 4
Squillaci 6
Djourou 4.5
Clichy 4
Eastmond 4
Wilshere 5
Rosicky 5
Nasri 5
Walcott 5.5
Bendtner 4

 

[GunneDown]

Fabianski 7
Eboue 3 - Really Really poor in defence and attack.
Squillaci 6
Djourou 4.5 - Great last ditch tackles, have seen better passing from a 2 year old!!
Clichy 4 - Clear the ****ing ball!!!!!
Eastmond 4
Wilshere 5
Rosicky 5 - Didn't lead
Nasri 5 - tried hard, but needed to be the main man in the middle tonight.
Walcott 5.5
Bendtner 4

 

[arsmile]

fab-7
eboue-3
djourou-6.5
squid-6
clichy-2
eastmond-4
wilshere-5
rosicky-5
nasri-5
theo-6
bendtner-3

teah...that

 

[rich 1990]

Fabulousanski-8 Very good again 8))

Eboue-3 Dreadful
Squid-5 Not his best game
DJ-7 Done well i thought
Clichy-3 **** me

Rozza-5 Meh
Eastmond-4 Poor
Wilshere-5 Gave the ball away on a few occasions with over-ambitious passes,

Theo-6 Good goal, not a lot else
Nasri-5 Meh
Bendtner-5 Dire, but coming back from a long term injury so i won't be too unkind

Subs

Vela-2 Useless
Emmanuel-Thomas-5
Chamack-5

 

[Herbert Chapman]

DJ-7 Done well I thought

A few sloppy passes but once again won everything in the air and made crucial interceptions on the deck.

Easily our best defender, glad you spotted it.

 

[Galahad]

I dont quite understand the Clichy situation. He already won the ball but somehow stopped right before clearing it...similaritys to Birmingham eh? Already won the ball and then having a lapse of mind...I dont quite get it.

I dont understand why most rate JD so poorly? Did he lose the header against Chygrynsky for their equaliser? If so he can hardly be blamed for that...I doubt any of our players would have won that header. And aside from it he did very well I thought.

 

[Yaya]

Fabianski-7
eboue-0
squillaci-6
Djourou-5
Clichy-3
Rosicky-4
Eastmond-4
wilshere-6.5
walcott-6
Bendtner-4
Nasri-5.5