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Arsenal went through to the 4th round of the FA Cup last night with a 1-0 win over Swansea. Here’s how the players rated, in traditional style.
Wojciech Szczesny: 7/10 – Pretty much a spectator, especially in the 2nd half. Did what he had to do well enough.
Bacary Sagna: 7/10 – No fuss, occasionally left to fend for himself down the right.
Per Mertesacker: 7/10 – Back to his usual self, a couple of weary passes late on but solid
Thomas Vermaelen: 7/10 – Perhaps his best game of the season
Kieran Gibbs: 8/10 – Developing into a very solid, consistent left back. The manager’s decision to stick with him is being well and truly justified now
Abou Diaby: 6/10 – Better than Man City, showed some nice flashes, fitness clearly still an issue though
Francis Coquelin: 7/10 – Worked hard, a real box to box performance, could have scored with a stinging 1st half volley
Santi Cazorla: 6/10 – Looks a bit tired but doesn’t stop, just needs to find some end product in both final pass and shot
Jack Wilshere: 10/10 – The man. Just brilliant, everything you want to see from a player in an Arsenal shirt. Deserved his goal, and what a finish.
Theo Walcott: 5/10 – Was in the right place a number of times, finishing left a lot to be desired.
Oliver Giroud: 6/10 – Held it up well, great at bringing others into play, would like to see a bit more decisiveness and aggression from him though. Sublime touch to assist Wilshere’s goal.
Subs
Aaron Ramsey: 6/10 – Didn’t get much more than 10 minutes, but created a great chance for Walcott whose shot was well saved.
Feel free to discuss and post your own ratings, but normal comment policy applies. If you’re not familiar with it, please read.
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Oh no Jacks only got a year left on his contract.. oh wait hang on
Seeing Young Jack pulling the strings last night gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
COYG
Jack was unplayable. It’s a bit worrying that we only got one goal after ALL those chances. But for now, fuck worrying. We have to go further in this competition and challenge for it.
Jack is as good as ever. The main reason I can persist with our poor form is jw10. Also I’m glad as fuck that abou diaby is back. When fit, I have no doubt he’s our best player (for now at least. Jack is catching up).
Lets go to Chelsea and get rafa sacked!
COYG
Oh Diaby… I do think he’s become vastly overrated in his absence. Nonetheless, he’s at a time in his career where he can’t be a spectator as he so often was in years past. And I thought he did quite alright yesterday.
Dunno if Diaby is our best player, but in only his 2nd game back he did make somoe exquisite passes! (30-yard pin-pointer to Walcott which Theo chipped wide)
Yes! Diaby is one of the best players in Arsenal FC. I hope he will stay fit to prove that to people who have a short term memory.
Rafa will be sacked anyways, even if he wins the league with that lot. But Pep’s snub to the moneybags made my day, along with Jack’s goal.
Chelsea are going to start running out of managers soon! They’ll start having to give previous managers another go. Next manager – Ranieri!
It’s predicted that in the year 2030 you’ll be standing not more than 6 yards of a sacked chelsea manager.
If I am not wrong this is the first 10/10 to any player!! Well deserved JW10.
I think cazorla got 10/10 once. if so, i request blogs to change wilshere’s rating to 11/10
#11/10forjw10
Arsene Wenger: 6/10 – still troubled by his ill-fitting-puffy-coat zipper.
The coat is a legend in the making. I know there´s already a bust of AW, but if there is ever statue (God willing) they should make one where he is struggling with the zipper
)
“The man who changed football as we know it, also he could not work a zipper”
They should make a statue of the coat only. Its beautiful.
haha yeah, and you can climb inside the giant coat for photos. like they have at disney world ‘this is a good spot to take a photo’. Why not? a sculpture of gervinhos head is already on show at the tate modern.
Sadly the coat has Chinese DNA and will be off to China to play alongside Drogba for a team no one has, or ever will have heard of.
http://imgur.com/r/arsenal/jftwK
Giroud played well.
Not really.
He was pretty average, some nice touches here and there, some not-so-nice touches elsewhere. He had several half-chances to attack the goal and would always choose the safer option and lay the ball off to a player in a wider/worse position instead of shooting or driving at the defender.
He wasn’t clinical in front of goal and missed several good chances too, including one which he hit straight at Vorm that Van Persie would have lashed into the back of the net without even batting an eyelid.
He needs to be more selfish and ruthless on the ball, otherwise he’ll end up another Chamakh. A striker that will rarely look to shoot unless there is no other choice really isn’t much use.
The thing with Ollie Giroud is at no point he becomes useless. Purely because of his height and strength he wins a lot of balls and that is not dependent on his form. Theo on the other hand…
“that Van Persie would have lashed into the back of the net” like against AC Milan when he tried to chip the ‘keeper, which sent us crashing out. That type of clinical finishing?
@Dr Baptiste
Van Pussy bangs goals in for fun routinely, Giroud does not. Obviously Van Purse isn’t perfect, but I’m absolutely certain he would have scored at least 1 goal last night with all the opportunities that Giroud had.
I like Giroud, but it’s a stretch to say he played well yesterday. He was average.
It took van Persie what, 8 seasons to ‘bang them in for fun’. Giroud has had half a season…
In RvP’s first season he scored 10 goals in total, while Giroud has scored 9. Let’s come back in 8 seasons and compare again.
@Dr Baptiste
Ok let’s come back in 8 seasons and compare what Giroud will do to what Van Persie has done. I guarantee that OG will still be in Van Persie’s shadow, even without the constant injuries that Van Persie suffered.
Also worth mentioning that in Van Persie’s first season at the club he was played as a LW/RW/CF which saw him competing with Pires, Ljungberg and Bergkamp for a starting berth, whereas Giroud has come straight in to the team as our starting ST, so comparing goals between the two in their first season is laughable.
Surely if you’re going to compare the RvP of last season to Giroud, then it’s not laughable at all.
God lazy comparisons between Giroud and Chamakh are the fucking worst.
He played well but his butt was littlebit too heavy for me to watch with delight.
Le Coq was the second best midfielder on the pitch by a lot. With Diaby and him winning the ball high up the pitch at times, it was nice and effective to have 2 physical presences in midfield that can tackle.
We’re now in that difficult position of potentially ‘killing’ a young player. A 25 year-old DM would boot Coq off the bench. Is it worth taking a gamble and not filling a position we’re short in, if Coq can potentially do it in the near future?
Not necessarily if we acquired a physically imposing box to box midfielder who can do a job defensivley ala felleini or strootman then I see no reason why Coquilein couldn’t play along side them. Look how well it worked tonight.
I did like seeing Carzorla and Jack being allowed to play further forward. Although, a signing like Fellaini would mean mean Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Diaby (when fit) and Cazorla (when not playing on the wing) would be struggle to play. I’m all for rotation but I’d rather have a quality back up in all positions rather than lots of depth in midfield and none upfront.
I think that in a year or two, with Rosicky and Arteta on their way out and some decision made on Diabys future (stay or go), someone like Fellaini would be a perfect fit. I do wonder whether Coqs potential is just enough of a reason not to strengthen when we have other priorities.
That’s because Arteta was injured…if you pushed Cazorla out wide (where he was much less effective than normal) it would leave Wilshere, Arteta and _____. The gap would either be Diaby, Ramsey, Rosicky or Coquelin. So despite Wenger’s tiring rhetoric he does have a point about 2 players for every position…personally I’d like to see some depth anyway
Buy the physical midfeilder, it’s not the Coq’s injury record we’re sweating on now is it?
I’d love for us to add squad depth, it’s clear as day we need it. However, if we’re not going to sign 4/5 players and solve all our problems at once, should midfield be the priority? If there are to be a couple of signings where should the bulk of the money go to guarantee (as much as is possible) quality?
Theo walcott is holding the club to ransom with his money issue and the his constant plea to play as striker. He’s holding us back coz we are going to need a new striker, one world class that can take near to all his chances, one who is consistent enough to earn a starting berth game in game out.
I’m sure Wenger would like this aswell but he looks to the side and sees a stubborn little boy who just won’t quit. It’s imperative that we keep him though, make a statement and all but once theo’s signed he will have to work hard to justify his big arse contract. Everything has a price (There we go again, pressure on a young mans shoulders, hope he handle it)
And you have faith in the club bringing in a replacement for theo, or a world class player ?
I would take a world class forward over theo any day of the week. But given the circumstances we’re in right now of selling our best players (not sure theo is though) every damn season. I see us holding onto theo will make a much bigger statement than bringing in a new player to replace him regardless of who the replacement might be.
“Oh look arsenal finally held on to their player, instead of the usual give away. We’ll take them more seriously now”
Please Des, think … Walcott is not the best in the world but he is the best we have, and do you really think that there is a great replacement for him if he goes away? Did you really believe that Giroud or Podolski or Giroud and Podolski are able to replace rvp? Of course not! Did we get somebody to replace rvp then? NOOOOOOO! Do we need somebody still? YEEEEES!
I’d like to see walcott on the bench and ox on the right with pod in the middle. keep the rest as was last night and we’re flying
Spot on with the marks. Fine performance big one at the weekend got to take our chances. Jack to kick some chelski arse
I worry more about Chelsea kicking some Wilshere ankles.
No doubt. He’s had his ankles kicked all season especially last week the lion that is jack will come through.
Jack -10/10 -Mr. Arsenal
Walcott – 1/10 for his performance yesterday AND also for having delusions of grandeur about being a striker for the club.
Agree, 1/10 for Theo. Even guys like Messi and RVP have their ‘off days’, but I can count 10 Theo decent chances and he failed to convert any of them. Even on an off day RVP would manage at least 1 or 2 goals given that many chances! Theo also took about 8 corners and only one of them was decent (Giroud headed it weak and wide).
Reports say Theo will be getting GBP100k-a-week and that’s GBP20k-a-week more than Jack.
Theo, if you stay, please stop being so selfish. Wenger let RVP go to ManUre because of the “no one player is bigger than the team” philosophy. At the moment YOUR priorities are bigger than the TEAM’s priorities just because we can’t afford another public-relations disaster.
And the public relations issue is the only reason we are giving theo what he wants. Hit nail on the head mate..
Had we had a transfer policy worthy of the name then theo would be gone and better more consistent players brought in to replace.
So maybe instead of blaming the player all the time, after all who amongst us wouldn’t want a pay rise and would go for every penny we can get. If the management are stupid enough to pay him then blame them, we have seen in this window yet again that we have no cohesive transfer policy. A club with ambition would have sold theo weeks ago and had better replacements in place and in Theo’s case it wouldn’t have been easy enough. We need players regardless of theo and yet we stil dither.
TW 1……..totally overrated little twerp
You should hold on to arsenal players who might never leave. Thats the only way you ll feel not left behind. But who are they? Players will nobody want. Ramsey?
Also its really annoying that Theo is with £100,000 a week contract, our highest paid player. The guy has achieved nothing with Arsenal. I can understand the clubs decision but its annoying nevertheless. It is rumoured that jack is on £80,000 a week. I would give him an extra £30,000 just to make sure that Theo is not our best paid player. Jack deserves it anyway
The reason why Arsenal “need” Theo is because of his bloody star quality. He is not our best player (by miles) but he sells a lot of shirts, stars in the commercial and it would look really bad if we were to sell our only “star.
noone that kicks a ball around once or twice a week for 90 mins deserves 100 k a week. Noone.
Games go into extra time sometimes, mate. Just saying…..
Absolutely fantastic performance! I guess it’s just pointless to ponder over the thought about a possible midfield miracle if Fab hadn’t left!
No comments about a certain striker, we are done cribbing about that, we have a better no. 10 now!
Blog, Vermaelen 7 and it’s his best game yet? I do remember that you had given him an 8. So, at least he is 8,5 to me and well deserved to with last ditch tackle and occasionally a threat at the other end.
I expect a sequel theme player ratings like one of the poster in the first FA match player ratings with Swansea suggested. Oh, well maybe some other times.
In the context of this game I thought a 7 was fine.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that as soon as player ratings article is written it’s generally forgotten about and we don’t cross reference scores v performances in other games etc.
So, in conclusion: we pretty much just make it up and stands up to little scrutiny. Once everyone’s down with that we’re all cool.
Yea gotta get down with that!
ain’t nobody got time for that
Oh, ok then. Thanks for the clarification Blog.
I do want to ask about “arse” in your home blog. Why can’t I leave “arse” there? I have registered and my status is log in. Can anybody help me? Thank you.
Nikki – is it Internet Explorer? Try with Chrome/Firefox.
I’ve been saying all season that there has been too much of a gap between the striker and midfield.
Finally Jackie boy has been pushed forward a bit and boy he is exciting! That second half was superb. Messi-esque (without wanting to put too much pressure on him! ;0))
Gibbs was also outstanding. well played boys
Wilshere>>messi>>ronaldo
Fuck Ronaldo!
Actually Ronaldo ( even thou’ I f@#ing hate him) is better than Messi. Messi is nothing without Xavi and Iniesta.
Ronaldo better than Messi yeah right. Oh yeah i detest Ronaldo so in love with himself.
Thanks for the normal ratings and comments!
Jack looks like he’s been watching videos of Iniesta during his year off.
Also, missing the themed player ratings, bring them back!
Or he just watched the video’s of himself against Barca, showing Xavi and Iniesta how it’s done
I think that nike designed the zipper on our checkbook & that’s why arsene is having such a problem using it this January. all jokes aside, everyone played great, even after the goal. santi and giroud were in full sprint to close down on the ball possessor up until the end. sagna used his left foot on some great passes. jack is back, gibbs was awesome on the left and honestly, diaby looked a better fit than mikel simply because he encourages going forward more. the player placement and roles were a lot better this game from arsene. first time I think santi started on the wing.
Watched only the second half, but that was Arsenal I like to see, to just dominate the opponent and push to the end. But for that to be regular, this team needs few more players, and Arsene to rotate more often with plan for the next few games… Tired players get injured, and then those who come instead don’t have enough games in their feet, so rest is really necessary. Also liked the way we transformed in 4-4-2 while attacking, it looked fresh and positive…
Coquelin misplaced so many passes. Diaby was better than him, he held the ball very well.
‘you dont know what you are doing.’. Sorry, I meant you dont know what you are saying. Coq made the defence stable, made Jak n d others go forward without a recourse and even had the audacity to go forward with good results.
‘you dont know what you are doing.’. Sorry, I meant you dont know what you are saying. Coq made the defence stable, made Jak and the others go forward without a recourse and even had the audacity to go forward with good results.
Well put didnt have to put it twice though
Diaby is obviously still gaining match fitness etc., but I do believe he deserves more than 6/10. When he posses the ball his team mates are allowed to make good runs.
Though I did enjoy the Coq as well
Coq had his best game as far as I remember.
He was playing well at Bradford and got hooked off
Jack is a super hero! He desreves the rating
We pressed Swansea into making mistakes, like teams do with us. Can we please press high up the pitch in future? It gives us an intensity to our game and allows us to move the ball quickly because the opposition are out of position. So do this, quit the zonal marking (please go back to man marking…players know their responsibilies better) and improve the finishing (this I dont really worry about).
All I ask.. If its just 1 thing we take away from this game it must be wilshere has to play that no10 role.. True successor to that beautiful number at our club.. The second coming..
And there was me, miss reading somehow, as spectator rating special: Jack Whilshiere- that guy who starts a chant and the whole stadium follows
Theo really wasn’t as bad as everyone says, he’s just a little selfish and his end product was terribly weak last night. He did have a fairly off day, but I’d much rather keep the lad than let him go – on his day, he’s unstoppable.
No.
Walcott knows he’s in the news. He knows the fans are watching him.
That’s what he gave us. Think of Henry, Pires, Ljungberg, Fabros… The passion in their eyes while they play for us.
He is not an Arsenal player.
He wears the red and white – he IS an Arsenal player, no matter your personal feelings on the matter. And while he still wears the shirt, I’ll cheer him on.
Wow, so generous to Theo!
5/10? He slipped, he was offsides, he had terrible finishing, couldn’t header. Didn’t chase down the defenders (Wilshere did that) – is he unfit, or what? What is stopping him from using his pace more than 5x a match? I bet half the people writing on this blog can take better free kicks than Walcott did last night.
Terrible. If he couldn’t capitalise from those chances, what faith do we have when we play the bigger clubs in the champions league.
“Okay Walcott, you’ve tried playing as a striker. It didn’t work out. Get back on the wing, take a pay cut. Or get lost!” – What Wenger needs to tell him.
If Jack was the embodiment of Arsenal that the fans want last night. Then Walcott is the embodiment of everything that we don’t want!
That right footed effort he tried to bend in to the far post was quite embarrassing…
jack was great… But you cant forget Ramsey
Yeah, he really made a difference… deserved 6/10 for a just one touch (or two)!
best play by Theo was holding the ball at the corner flag in the dying minutes of the game.
Wow, harsh ratings / comments for Walcott. AGAIN. Finishing was off? Was clearly off balance for the one on one and still got his shot away, header hit the post and other shot was good but well saved. Can’t help but feel that the contract saga has effected your (and loads of other fans) objectivity….
“header hit the post” ? He didn’t even connect !
If a defender can knock him off balance that easily, without giving away a foul, he isn’t strong enough. He gets no plaudits for getting a shot away if it isn’t on target. He didn’t hit the post, he didn’t even manage to hit the ball. He also missed another very good chance with the shooting equivalent of one of his corners.
The contract situation has affected my thinking because he wants the kind of money paid to very good footballers. In return, I’d like performances from one.
I don’t mind Theo but he used up his good will reserves by holding the club to ransom. That leaves him with what he does on the pitch. Compare this to Wilshere, who signed without a fuss and plays his heart out. No wonder people are judging Theo harshly.
so true, people forget that he put a cross onto Girouds head in the opening minutes (that Giroud headed wide).
His finishing was no worse than Girouds, but Giroud was more involved overall and had that great assist.
The “fans” here obsessed with putting down Walcott are pathetic.
Comparing Walcott and Giroud is difficult. If Giroud fucks up his finishing, it’s a worry but he can still have an influence on the game. If Walcott fucks up his finishing, he might as well not be playing.
I know this doesn’t account for his crossing and assissts and, if he’s happy playing as a winger and being judged by those criteria, I’ll happily conceed that he’s doing his job. As it is, he’s either after lots of money or a position up front, neither of which he deserves based on this performance.
No. The fan’s obsessed with Theo are Realistic. For a guy wanting a 100k, his end-product is Pathetic.
I love Theo. I really do. I always defended him when he had his purple patch. But now what I see is an egostical brat who thinks he can get away with what he wants. And he is.
FFS – We have Podolski, Santi and Mikel who are 10000000000 (and still counting) times better at taking corners and free-kicks. Why for the love of gawd- they let him take the corners and the kicks – is beyond me.
@AgentITK, Walcott isn’t known for his assists? He’s got 10 assists this season already! And your judging him playing up front on one game where he wasn’t even playing up front! You were better off not developing an argument at all, like AErCosX.
Where did I say that he wasn’t known for his assissts? I’m not sure you really read what I worte.
Who says I’m judging him from one game? My point stands that he is one-dimensional. That is, he is a fast with good finishing. If his finishing is off, he isn’t much use. Any argument to develop against that?
As for his assists, brilliant. 10 assists this season, that’s fantastic. I have no problems crediting that. If he were a winger and charged with providing assists, well done Theo.
The problem is, he wants to be a striker, which means our other striker has to sit on the bench and when people provide Theo with chances, he’s too liable to take them as he did last night.
As for ‘playing upfront when he wasn’t playing upfront’, is it somehow different when you’re in a one-on-one or heading from 8 years after starting as a winger rather than a striker?
‘years’ should obviously be yards.
@ Kid_gooner..
What argument?? Be realistic. I suppose you feel Theo is going to score a goal while taking a free kick as oppose to Santi, Mikel or Podolski. Or we have a good chance of goal ratio to convert from corners whilst the above trio is taking it against Theo taking it.
I’m not taking anything away from Theo. His goals or his assists. The team needs him. But he seems to have forgotten that he needs the team more. That’s all I’m saying. He’s not the complete package yet.
i agree with kid gooner that Theo doesn’t deserve the criticism – he was in the right place to shoot at least. Although he has a nice chant and is unfeasibly good looking I think that Giroud needs to cut out the’fancy Dan’ finishing and become more clinical.
The main problem we have with Theo playing CF is that he simply isnt strong enough not just physically but in the heart aswell and not clever enough to pull defenders out of position. He is a winger or an impact sub.
We deserved to win but we were not great at all… if there was 48 hours more to play I have a feeling that Giroud, Walcott and Cazorla would never have score! Great striker (like r.v.fuckn p.) would score a hat-trick tonight.
Jack should be a captain from the next game on.
Gibbs and Coq were good.
I am angry cos now Wenger will talk about spirit and how we have a great great team! I wonder why we can not show that against some bigger opposition? Cos we are not that good.
We need to refresh the squad.
Coquelin looked great, as did Ramsey when he came on. I’d love to see them two and Jack in a midfield trio in the future! I guess I’m one of the only people that really loves Ramsey for all he’s been through and how he chose Arsenal over United.
So you would like for Arsenal to fight in the middle of Premier league table? Always in the league, always avarage? Fuck that! We are Arsenal!
Ratings are spot on…what does it say of our captain that he had perhaps his best game this year,but could only muster a 7?
Got shivers down my spine when the fans sang jacks name at full time. 10 out of 10 for the fans last night.COYG
I’d have to say Vermaelen’s best game was away at Anfield earlier this season.
Gibbs was fantastic last night. Barely a wasted pass. He was energetic and calm under pressure as well. I think he’s already at the level that Clichy was and is showing that he is improving with each game.
Funniest bit last night was when Swansea made a ‘wall’ with Leon Brittan and nathan Dyer. The ‘wall’ was about three foot high!
It’s nice to see Gibbs evolve to really consistant left back, you’d never thought that a few years back.
Great 2nd half performance.
Nice to have midfield options for that 3 in the middle, finally!
I’d go with Santi, Jack and Diaby when all are fit & firing. But Arteta, Ramsey, Coq and Rosicky all capable replacements.
Now let’s spend some money on a class centre-forward
Theo situation = sign him up for whatever (within reason) he wants, then sell him down the line when he still isn’t a great striker. Better than losing him for nowt.
I think Wenger will keep Theo because the mood has been ever more pessimistic as we bleed big names year after year. If only to encourage the club faithful that dropping big players is not part of his plan, just unfortunate, then it may be worth it. Theo is not the greatest, but he does produce overall, maybe not as much as we’d like. 100K would be entirely too much, but it will be a dose of good medicine to keep one of our own from our competitors. I think he’ll get better, although his attitude will need to be checked once he’s re-signed.
I’m excited about Giroud. The flair and talent he shows is encouraging. It’s like I’m watching a record-breaking striker just waiting to hit his groove. He’ll be great in the long run.
Jack’s performance shines because it gives hope, and that hope can easily spread to other realms of the team as well. Thank you, Jack.
And to Arsene, the board, and silent Stan: BUILD A TEAM AROUND THIS GUNNER. If you don’t and he justifiably leaves to be in a world class team to fit his world class talent, then you will generate a huge amount of ill will.
i am gay lol
no shit bro!!!!