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Review Overview
DEFENCE - 86%
MIDFIELD - 79%
ATTACK - 72%
79%
Overall
After a valiant effort against Bayern Munich last night, it’s time to get out the player ratings cards to see how the lads fared.
Lukas Fabianski: 8/10 – His selection raised eyebrows and his performance might have too. Benefited from the kind of protection most goalkeepers would like, but was solid in the air and on the ground. A good return to action.
Carl Jenkinson: 9/10 – His best game in an Arsenal shirt? There was a moment in the first half when Robben broke clear, Jenks tracked him, nailed him and came away with the ball. His post-match put down of Geoff Shreeves was as classy as his performance.
Per Mertesacker: 8/10 – Won it in the air and on the deck, passed it well, got a yellow card for clobbering Robben, and a big part of a defence that worked really hard all night.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10 – Back in the team at the expense of the captain and after this showing Vermaelen will be on the bench against Swansea too. Tackled like a stone-demon and made Bayern poo themselves with his late headed goal.
Kieran Gibbs: 7/10 – Back from injury and it did show at times but a willing runner and like the others part of a solid unit.
Mikel Arteta: 7/10 – Worked his hole off in midfield, got stuck in and disrupted the Bayern rhythm when he could. Tired late on and got a bit careless in the final few but put in a real captain’s performance.
Aaron Ramsey: 7/10 – Made a fantastic run to play his part in the first goal and his energy and willingness to work was important. Passing was a little off but a brilliant track and tackle on Lahm in the second half summed up his work rate.
Tomas Rosicky: 6/10 – Looked like a guy who hasn’t played much, some of the touches were off but showed his experience in the second half with a great foul on Robben as he was breaking away.
Santi Cazorla: 6/10 – Like Rosicky didn’t really find his passing range and was crowded out as Bayern obviously had him earmarked as the most dangerous Arsenal player.
Theo Walcott: 6/10 – Giving him the benefit of the doubt regarding the ball for the goal (I have a feeling it was a shot), but apart from one more good pass in the first half was disappointing.
Olivier Giroud: 7/10 – Fine goal, did his best against two very strong centre-halves and never got a free kick all night despite being pulled and whacked all over the place.
Subs:
Gervinho: 6/10 – Almost scored after a brilliant turn in the box (why was nobody following it in for a tap-in?) and added some zip when we needed it.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6/10 – Did well enough in a short period, won the corner from which Koscielny scored.
Bonus Manager rating.
Arsene Wenger: 8/10 – Made a big call with the keeper and Vermaelen being left out, and it paid off. Gets hammered when things go badly so some props when what he does comes off seems fair enough.
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So close….
Walcott was rubbish. Hiding throughout. 100 K a week you’re having a laugh?! The reason he became a permanent player of the first XI two years back was because of Arshavin’s poor work rate. Walcott’s now is even worse than that. Our standards have really dropped, he’s our best paid player.
Koscielny was boss. He is the best defender we’ve had for a long time when he’s in form. Anyone saying otherwise is short sighted. Keep Fabianski in the starting XI until he makes a mistake, Szczesny has made errors similar to him throughout but gets away with it cuz of his age and also when he broke in he started to declare his ‘love’ for Arsenal, and we all love a player that LURVS the Arsenal. Also, Rosicky shouldn’t be rated lower than Ramsey. Come on.
Absolutely, Wally is so overrated, sell him I says along with the rest of the dross.Give jenks and jackie boy a payrise, give it to people who bleed arsenal and have a bit of passion for the club.
Walcott is not the same player since he came out with his desire for playing as a CF.
He doesn’t seem to be bothered to play as a winger anymore, what he is/was really good at. He doesn’t realise he doesn’t have the attributes of a CF.
I think Wenger has given him enough opportunities to the point of detriment of our performance.
What do you want from Walcott?
He did his bit in a whole team defense that meant we got a clean sheet in one of the toughest places to do it in world football.
Oh yes…the rubbish, cannot be bothered to play on the wing anymore player got the assist for our first goal — from the wing.
Thats not forgetting he was a decent linesman from a 1 on 1 with the keeper for a potential second.
The inadvertent assist for the first goal? That was Theo going for glory, a pathetic attempt. He is lucky it turned out as a cross for Giroud to save him blushes.
If he is the classy winger, why only just the two crosses towards Giroud in the whole match? Shouldn’t he have been doing it the whole evening?
Its not just the match last night, its about how he has played the last few months? Where was he at the WHL? He sat in the box, he left Jenks totally exposed and to work alone on the right.
What do I want from Walcott? I want him to play as a proper winger, to his full capability, when he is designated that role. Not chose to play where he wants.
walcott did fine, some people just want to moan, id of given gervinho 6.5 or 7 to be fair, its what he’d have got if some1 was there to tap in and couldnt really have asked for more
Walcott is a player who is perhaps the ultimate outlet player. Therefore when we attack lees he is less effective. I don’t think it was because he wasn’t up for it. Simply, the game did not allow it.
That’s an unfair assessment of Theo’s shift last night I think.
He was largely responsible for our first goal, whatever about the intention of the shot/cross. And only an outrageously incompetent offside decision from the officials robbed him of a goal in the second half.
Theo did ok I think.
I’d like more game time for Rosicky. And that was a really good defensive display – PM and LK are pour most effective central pairing, have been form the get go. TV5 has a bit to do.
And Fab had a great game, but so does Ches when he has that level of defending in front of him. I would be surprised to see a change of regular goalkeeper.
And I am still not convinced by OG. Notwithstanding the goal (which was superb), he just keeps “blasting” away, (its so fucking wasteful, and I thought AW was going to run onto the pitch and kick him up the arse at one point last night) or simply failing to get the ball in control at his feet. I admire his spirit, its his ability and his guile I have grave concerns about. He’s just not an Arsenal grade striker.
A little harsh on Giroud there. Henry, RvP, Bergkamp etc all came into teams which were playing awesome football or had great belief. Give the guy some credit, we don’t create as much as we use to, and his goal conversion is pretty decent for a guy in his first season. He can only get better. It is not his fault we don’t have another striker.
Ramsey should be absolutely be rated higher than Rosicky. Along with Arteta, who do you think protected the defense? TR7, as much I love him, was a bit off last night. His passing certainly was, especially in the first half. But he still did well all things considered, drove the team forward when he could.
I think all the ratings are very fair. For me the men of the match were Jenks and Koscielny. Jenks’ post match interview was pure class. Loved that.
Not fair Rosicky gets a 6 and Ramsey 7. Ramsey misplaced as much passes and wasn’t quick enough to get the ball from attack to defense. Our game was much better after Ox came on, maybe we should’ve started with him.
Rosicky had a rusty first half, but considering how rare he plays, and the intensity of this game, he was still the driving force.
I think we it’s unfair on Coquelin, I think he should be getting to play alongside either Ramsey or Arteta, who was very sill towards the end too.
I thought Rosicky was lucky to get a 6. Many times during the first half his wayward passing meant we lost momentum. Fair play to Fabianski, good solid performance, I’d like to see him keep the shirt now and make Schzchzenzy work to win it back.
In the cold light of day was that a good result? Does it cover up the cracks just enough to keep plodding on as we are? To see some serious change in direction of the club would it have been better to have been tonked 4-0? Personally I hope it gives us the self belief to fight for 4th place. One more dodgy result for the Scum and a good away win at Swansea and the pressure is well and truly on them.
Anyone else been picking up on Arteta’s habit of committing 5+ fouls per game this year? I don’t know if it is the change in position or what, but he seems to be committing fouls left and right (something I’ve noticed all year but more so in recent weeks and last night he may have reached double-digits).
I figured it was a consequence of his defensive role. It makes sense that its part of his brief to break up opposing play, and that’s naturally going to lead to more fouls.
Arteta is a bit of a risk in the defensive mid position; he has cost us a needless penalty this season (can’t remember against who) and was lucky not to concede a penalty against Everton. While his passing ability has generally been great from the deeper role, he doesn’t really have the instincts for the defensive side of the role, compared to guys who have played there their whole career. Arteta was also fortunate against Bayern; in the first half he gave the ball away twice in very dangerous areas that led to shots. Had one of them gone in he would be getting more scrutiny.
I thought Walcott made some of Ramsey and Rosicky’s passes look poor. If they weren’t inch perfect he stood and watched the ball roll out of play. At least try and keep it in! Very frustrating.
Also I thought Cazorla was good, he always tried make things happen when he got the ball. Just didn’t get involved often enough.
Back 5 were excellent.
No I agree with all the points you made, especially about Rosicky and Ramsey. All the folks I watched it with thought the same.
Fanastic performance by this unusual line-up. Glad to see some nice Gervinho touches. Also, let’s pray we’ll use this match as a template for the next fixturws, we’ve shown that we have the power to finish 3rd.
One of the few Romanian gunners
In such a good mood this morning
Yes same, and how weird and funny is that, considering we just got dumped out of Europe, and possibly have to face the prospect that will be our last CL for a whlie?
Really does show better than anything that the performance and effort matters, almost as much as the result some times
I just can’t feel down about it, not after an incredible match like that. If only we could play like that in every game. Hell, even in half our games, and there would be no worry about not getting CL next season.
Its nice though, after all the misery, dreadful results, players leaving etc. to have a reminder that even despite all that – on our day we can still take on the absolute best and come away with a win and a fair bit of pride restored
Why?
Because we won? You see, most times, it works like this: support a team + they win a huge match = happy. Basic equation, don’t you think?
Yes yes we didn’t make it through but we did ourselves proud nonetheless, went down with a fight. In Munich no less. If that doesn’t make you happy as an Arsenal fan then go and support some other team; in fact I’ve got an idea, I hear Millwall progressed in the FA Cup…yes?
Arteta was very irritating at the end giving away ridiculous fouls for no reason. Coquelin should get in a run in for a game or two, he’s more or less a proper DM.
Arteta did commit some silly fouls, sure. All the same, Bayern were proper floppers at the end there. I thought the reffing was a little soft towards what were some very artistic falling efforts on their part.
In other news, Arjen Robben is a cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunt!
There were 3 minutes left. Bayern are clearly time-wasting. You want to win so bad. Honestly, I don’t blame him for getting a bit frantic towards the end. It happens to everyone.
There were 3 minutes left. Bayern are clearly time-wasting. You still want to win extremely bad. Honestly, I don’t blame him for getting a bit frantic towards the end. It happens to everyone under those circumstances.
This shows that we really have a great team but to many personal errors have cost this season.
4 new players need to come in!
1 cb, 1 dcm, 1 cam/winger, 1 forward
5 as we do need a top class keeper to challenge Szczesny. Let’s not be foolish and think Fabianski has a future here. Like Diaby, he’s entirely too injury prone to be depended on. And Mannone is, well, Mannone.
Personally I think we need a DM, a truly world class striker/finisher, a CB if Vermalen leaves (for cover) and a young RB if Sagna leaves. Okay maybe a keeper, but that’s really secondary. But I guess if Manonne leaves as hes saying then we’ll need one. Our midfield is stacked, our wings are stacked.
id settle for 2 dm/mc something like lars bender and or fellani ect an out and either a first rate striker like villa or a first rate left winger/ striker like jovetec and move podolski to primarily a striking role, jovetec would remove some of the burden from cazorla and for the love of god flog bedntner arshavin chamakh park i literally dont care what we get for them just get rid
out and out striker like villa*
Couldn’t agree more with the ratings. Koscielny in particular was a beast, and he needs to be playing football until the end of the season. Great performance, we just need to use it as a foundation for the rest of the season.
Exactly this!
Jenks! Top gooner in current squad after Jack. What a performance, lad!
Yeah really. Don’t think many of us would have predicted last year that he would improve half as much as he has done. So, so pleased for him, obvious that he really loves the club, can see how much it means to him every time he steps on the pitch.
That’s what a genuine fan who’s lucky enough to play for the team they love looks like. As opposed to a RVP ‘I’m an Arsenal fan right up until someone offers me a whole lot more money and an easier route to a medal or two’ type of fan. We’re never ever going to see this kid put in less than 110% effort in every minute of every game.
So proud of the lads, a great display by all. Beat the “best team in europe at the moment” and “tournament favourites” in their own backyard, keeping a clean sheet.
What more could a Gooner ask for?
( ok, someone could have followed up Gervs last minute effort, giving us a glorious qualifacation, but I’m still a happy gooner )
Lets take this form into the EPL!!!
Europa League?
Walcott dosent merit a 6 in my opinion,a 4.5 or 5 maybe but definitely not a 6,koscielny was astounding and gibbs is ready to fight monreal,I loved last night back four,reminded me of the back four enroute to 2005 championsleague final.rosicky needs more games and please letz change verm from being the captain so that we can bench him witout blinking coz he has been disastrous this season.nice game from the team,I think I am glad we left but we left with our heads high,now to focus on finishing 3rd please!
Walcott deserves a 7/10
Really good performance from everyone yesterday.
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Poorly-rated
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He was not good at all yesterday. FACT. but we do not say that anymore here. He is afterall ramsey.
seriously? he workes his cock off and ran more than walcott has done in his last 5games, are you seriously hating on him?
Your opinion isn’t a FACT.
FACT
There’s a difference between working hard and being good. You can run your socks off but still fail to connect your passes and not really be in the same wavelength with team. I’m not hating, i’m disagreeing with the players’ ratings of 7, i’m allowed that.
You’re entitled to disagree with the ratings as I am with you. I think Ramsey played well on the whole, put in an immense defensive shift and had a vital role in the first goal.
Since when did opinion become FACT?
FACT: an opinion will never be a FACT. FACT.
i’d have taken Arteta off instead of Ramsey – he was offering little going forward and didnt seem to acknowledge the refs insistence for blowing up at the slightest contact….hence the ridiculous last few minutes where he conceded about 18 free kicks.
“…last few minutes where he conceded about 18 free kicks.”
To be fair to him, several of those were caused in aerial duels by the Bayern player feeling a hint of something Arteta-shaped behind him and dropping to the floor as if shot.
Man yeah you’re right, that run he made for the first goal was horrible. Also he was horrible all throughout the game. He didn’t do any defensive work at all, he absolutely didn’t track and keep tabs on Lahm at all, who is one of the best players in the world. And he was horrible before the game too. And after. In fact he will be horrible tomorrow even though we don’t have a game. And the day after too. In fact, he was horrible on the flight over to Munich too. Ugh.
Wait oh wait, if one was to look at the game rationally, Ramsey did well last night. But never mind that. Ramsey out. And if anyone says anything good about him, “oh its this site, its SO biased”. Yeah, that’s rational.
Amazing game last night! Just wish we could have squeezed through! But is it just me or is our passing terrible? And even after we lose the ball certain players *cough*walcott*cough* don’t try to win it back? Nevertheless thank god I stayed up last night! One of the best defensive displays for Arsenal this season. Lets hope we can keep this up!!
according to whoscored.com Arteta’s pass accuracy was astonishingly poor by only 78% (Ramsey 76%, Cazorla 76%, Rosicky 75%). Usually he completes about 93% of his passes.
Yesterday I read that Arsenal didn’t have a final training in the Allianz Arena. It was obvious in the first half that they weren’t too comfortable about the pitch and the conditions.
I’m loving the new review system. Good stuff Arseblog.
Carzola was pants should have got a 4/10 very bad game from him. Hope he is back to him self on Saturday and is getting an 9/10 on sunday player ratings
BAYERN MUNICH AND MYSELF IDENTIFIED SANTI AS YOUR BEST PLAYER SO WE HASSLEED HIM ALL GAME AND GAVE HIM NO TIME ON THE BALL. WE UNDERESTIMATED THE QUALITY OF THE REST OF YOUR SQUAD THOUGH. BUT IT WAS NOT SANTI’S FAULT THAT HE DIDNT PLAY WELL LAST NIGHT, THAT WAS OUR STRATEGY.
Btw, I’m a total knobhead who whinges like a schoolgirl when other players touch me.
Arjen Robben
Spot on ratings. Good from Wenger. I’d say 9, brave smart selection. More of the same please!
Yep keep Fabianski for Swansea. Give Schezzer something to think about while he’s on the bench. “so I miss one game and now i’m looking to be replaced?, i better work hard then, make it hard for the manager to drop me in the 1st place”
Confidence reigns supreme in yesterdays team, don’t change the starting xi for swansea.
I think you have to give Gervinho a 7 out of 10. I know he has been terrible in the past but in this game he made a difference from the bench.
Had someone been on the end of his cross, he would have made an amazing assist and won the game for us! He beat 2 players in the box and showed real skill.
Credit where it’s due – even if it is a donkey.
Lazy defending though. I know he wasn’t on for long but he was the first one to go back to the usual “I wont track that run, I’ll leave it to Gibbs”
The thing I love about Rosicky is he always make those risky passes, encouraging other players to always moving and attacking. Such a brilliant footballer. What he’s lacking is only match fitness, I think. But still he’s running all over the pitch to press Bayern’s players.
We need to see more of him this season!
Great match.
the 3.30am kick off time here in Perth are killers,even though we didnt go through proud of the lads,hope it continues for the remaining games
hahahaha
I’ve always said and still maintain that the shaky performance of this Arsenal team in a while had stemmed from the way some so-called ‘fans’ had stripped the players of their self-belief with inappropriate remarks and assessments of the team’s strength in-depth and quality. Noone gets the best the best out of anyone through destructive and unjust criticisms. A shame most Arsenal fans have no respect for the very players and the team they claim to be rooting for.
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Poorly-rated
4 
56
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
please, go back to your mommy
Fans outsinging the Allianz Arena regurals 10/10
Second that.
The away fans are always brilliant, and were sublime last night.
Yup, Ze Germans owned on the pitch and in the stands, Away crew brilliant as usual!
Yes, German crowds have the rep of being awesome, but last night? Could have been at OT, or Anfield or any of the other overrated ‘fortresses’.
Oh mate this this this and this. I was shocked watching it on the telly and all I could hear were the Arsenal fans. AT THE ALLIANZ!! Brought a tear to my eye.
A good overall team performance. But still there are some players not putting the effort required for such an important game, especially the attacking ones. Walcott, Carzola, Giroud, Ramsey could have done a lot better than they did. It was really do or die situation & their output left a lot to b desired. Dropping the capt & Gk was the best decision by AW so far. He needs to look at these few too. But option wise he has little room to manouver. Why not play Gibbs infront of Monreal, or start Ox instead of Walcott. AW has to be committed to change when it is needed. He has done it for the Bayern game
Another possible change is bringing in Coq. Be brave AW. . .we need you to be. Non performers can warm the bench for a while.
I think Arsenal deserved to qualify but 1st our mistake is 4rm Ucl 1st leg.Ramsey shld hav been given 3/10 becos he is not serious.I would prefer Ox nd Gerv starting against Swansea dis week.Up gunnaz keep the fighting spirit of top four.
No offense but straight from comment policy. “You agree to use real English. No text speak is permitted. Please use ‘you are‘, not ‘u r‘ etc. Comments using text speak will not be published.”
Thanks – here’s the link – http://news.arseblog.com/comment-policy/
I’m sorry Ramsey is not serious how? I mean I’m pretty sure I disagree with you but also I think something got lost in translation between pre-teen text speak and actual English.
Please please Mr Wegner allow Rosicky a run in the side. He is only going to get better with a string of games behind him. He can inject that sudden speed to an attack when needed. The whole team did us proud last night, may it continue for the rest of the season.
I have to agree. We always seem to look sharper, pacier and far more fluid in midfield when Tomas is playing. I reckon he’s a hell of a sight more influential than many give him credit for.
I think he actually deserves 7.5 or even 8 when his impact on the team as a whole is taken into consideration.
Technically Gervinho is better than Walcott. If only he could improve his shooting accuracy he would be lethal. Walcott would have been better coming off the bench, I think he’d make a good impact player.
I hope HFB doesn’t get injured for the next 10. The boss would try a front three of Gerv, HFB and Pod.
Well done to the team.
I think kos deserves a run out now but we defended as a team, which helped. I don’t like the idea of having captains. Verm, just like most Arsenal players, works hard. You can see that when he plays. Maybe Verm should play somewhere else, maybe DM?
I agree.
A front three of Gervinho, Giroud and Podolski will be a force to reckon with.
Lets not get too carried away!
Gervinho has 1 moment of competency & you think he should start ahead of Theo for the remainder of the season?!?
Good thing you’re not the manager!!!
Walcott any day duh!!!
He’s electric. N with great pace and direct plays every time you get the ball, you’re bound to miss a few dribbles.
But, we just need two moves that come off. He’s certainly improved his shooting very much. 2-0. MOTM.
Walcott’s our third best player dude.
Jack > caz > theo.
Walcott MOTM? You’re joking. And this is from someone who actually likes Theo. MOTM most definitely belongs to someone who worked on defense, so that’d be either 2 DM’s, 2 CB’s, RB, LB or GK. Personally I think it goes to CB Laurent Koscielny.
Oh and also, how can you rate players like that in the team? Walcott our “3rd best”? Who do you think our 12th best player is? Ludicrous. Every single player serves a different purpose.
I get what your saying but every single time Theo doesn’t play we look toothless!
Take the game at Bradford as an example, pretty much full strength apart from Theo & we all know what happened.
Theo might not be our 3rd best player but he’s without doubt 1 of the most important.
I’m not talking about any specific match.
In general.
We have a player hierarchy.
That’s why the wages and the transfer fee.
And based on what a player can do, I think our top three are the ones I mentioned.
12th, I’m not bothered.
Cazorla should have started in the middle in Wilshere’s absence, wasted our most gifted player on the wing in our last Big Match of the season, Wenger gets a 5 just for that.
Playing Rosicky was a risk that failed, maybe dropping either arteta or ramsey for rosicky to be in the middle would have been a better risk, him and cazorla could have made more happen closer together, gervinho or Ox on the left and we might have had a better chance,. I just feel sorry for cazorla really, Rosicky’s first start for a while and you chum him in the middle of the park against bayern, cazorla would have kept us ticking better, rosicky nows how to play left wing too, tracks and tackles well, it was obvious he and cazorla could have swapped at some point at least, wenger, please mate, look at it and be decisive!
Why are there so many dislikes?
Cazorla definitely is our only proper camf/cmf.
He shouldn’t be wasted out wide.
Rosicky is the only other decent player in jack’s absence.
Ox, gervinho, poldi are all wide players.
Arteta and ramsey are mere back ups.
We sorely missed jack.
But, stating gervinho or ox on the wing, caz instead of ramsey or arteta would have given a lot more shape to our midfield. The tie was there to be won. Bayern were poor, n unlucky as well with the attacks plus we defended really well.
Hopefully, wenger will play caz more centrally now that gervinho’s back.
Okay genius, and what about defensive cover for our back four if you were to drop Arteta and/or Ramsey?? You want Cazorla, Gervinho or Rosicky tracking back to defend? Right. Let’s agree to disagree on that.
Arsene to stay on another 2 years
And he should…We all, including Arsene, have been promised 2014 as the year when we return to glory and will be given the financial allowances to do so.
I don’t doubt the man’s desire and love for the club.
At this point, who better to come in and replace him?
Kos has to keep his place in the side.. He’s been improving with each cameo and he was a rock last night. I love TV but he needs to get his head straight. Why can’t we play like that every week?!?!
I dont belive Rasmey is good enough for us. Having watched the Barca game (which is the quality we should be looking at) Ramsey would not make the bench.
I do agree he is a great passer of the ball, he works incredible hard, he is comitted and never hides from his team mates. BUT he takes to many touches on the ball, he´s not quick enough and every opponent always catches him on the break.
He should watch a replay of his movement and pass during the 1st goal and use it as a template for the rest of the seaon – there is a decent player in there who can play at the right tempo!
His passing was off last night, but the same can be said for Arteta, Cazorla and (especially) Rosicky. But he’s been completely on tempo for recent games, just look at the last two: Tottenham he was massive, he won us the free kick that got us the goal, and he didn’t put a foot wrong against Villa when he came on as a sub for Diaby-whatshisname. He’s improving for sure, and he really should get a starting run, he’s been doing well of late.
Probably the best defending from the back four and keeper I’ve seen all season. Hope Wenger keeps it the same for Saturday, Chezza and Verm need a break…
To quote Blain Cooper, Jenkinson was a sexual tyrannosaurus.
Revelations from Arsenal 2-0 Bayern last night:
- Flappy-anski: wish he played every game as if he’d just been ‘rested’ for 13 months!
- Vermaalen: if Barca really want him for GBP15mm, they should have him
- Arteta: thought he was an experience, smart player… but NEEDLESSLY fouling Bayern players TWICE in the last 3 minutes and allowing them to waste more time was indeed not ‘smart’ at all
- Giroud: too slow, he should spend the entire Summer running 20-yard dashes to improve his speed
- Gervinho: good effort, but why, just why does he always seem to miss a crucial goal by a few inches?
- Koscielny: by far our best Centre-Half. If we do have a summer ‘clearout’, he is the one who should be retained
- Rosciky: Top-4 finish is counting on this maestro. Needs more gametime to flourish up to potential.
- Schechzny: we would have won the tie had he performed better at home. He should be demoted to ‘number 2′ in 2013-2014.
- Ramsey: getting better and better… hope he isn’t satisfied with just this… needs to maintain his current trajectory
- Theo: for once, unselfish. Provided two quality crosses in 1st-half (the 2nd one would have also been a goal had Giroud been a bit quicker)
- The Press: for fook’s sake why are they so unappreciative of what Wenger & Arsenal have done for English football the past two decades?
- Overall: bugger. It would have made an otherwise sh!t season somewhat worthwhile if we could have been the only English team standing in the CL quarterfinals.
Few thoughts (tend to agree with everything else)
A guy like Vermaelen doesn’t suddenly become crap — rest him for a bit, maybe take the captaincy away. I’d rather try to get the old Vermaelen back than have to replace him.
Gervinho? He enjoys our suffering? Seriously the guy is unlucky even by Arsenal standards.
I’m, getting more and more convinced that Wenger is grooming Ramsey to replace Arteta as our version of a DM.
The press? Why talk about Arsenal when its waaaaay more important to talk about how badly United were cheated out of their rightful place in the QF.
I agree about Ramsey, if Busquets can do it there is not reason why Aaron can’t. Busquets is by no means a Makelele but he is an efficient reader of the game and good passer of the ball. He is effective because his game is simple (and a good cheat) something which Ramsey has shown suits him.
To be honest I don’t think there’s any reason why Rambo can’t far surpass Busquets. Keep it up dude, you’re 22 and you’re doing well.
And also, its just my opinion but there’s no way he’s satisfied with just this, he’s a fighter, look what he’s battled through to get to this, he’s not going to settle.
Last night was good….but if Wenger comes out with a quote saying we dont need to buy players because we beat Bayern, I’ll spew. Desperate for a quality forward.
In terms of a stand-alone 90 minutes, a very encouraging performance. The damage was done in the first leg obviously. What the game showed us is – Competetion for places is vital. Giroud, Szcz & Verm need that pressure to improve. Gervinho can be a handy impact sub, pace and ability to skin knackered defenders, but he’ll never lift his massive forehead up to pick a pass so you have to depend on luck. Also no-one else will win at Bayern this season, with a clean sheet, so there must be something big within us.
Gonna put this out there an Say is one of the best center halves in the world. And I wouldn’t be to gutted to see vermaelen hop off to barca in the summer, obviously the media will love it mad abuse US for selling. Our captain again but I always feel more confident other kos and bfg in the back 4
Felt ramsey was great last night. really reminds me of parlour willimg to run everywhere even if his technical ability is less than the rest. a great performance.
I must say even in defeat i am a very proud arsenal fan today and im freezing f*cking cold but im at work showing off my arsenal colours as i speak. Lets keep this momentom going coz it feels fucking great!
Seeing lesser and lesser of Walcott’s high speed get- always from defenders. Has he lost some pace? That was his biggest asset. Thankfully he can finish well but I am worried he is turning out to be like Micheal Owen.
*get-aways
The game dictates how many get-aways he can attempt. If he is having a quiet game it us usually a result of the opposition sitting deep or preventing our passage to get him through. Despite some low key performances of late, he is a huge weapon and outlet for us, probably our most deadly so we just got to try improve our supply to him. Cesc was a master at getting Theo through. I think Rosicky has the vision as well to capitalise on Theo’s pace, I just really hope he gets a run in the team now. He is my favourite player at the club still even though he hasn’t played much. I got his name and number as well on my shirt, so hopefully not to waste!
Actually think that Ramsey, for some reason or another, can read Walcott’s runs really well, and can place perfect passes to him. Didn’t happen tonight, but its happened before, it happened against Everton in the 3rd minute and other times. I think the two of them are good mates, along with Gibbs and Wilshere. That must help.
Cannot disagree much with the ratings. Would love to give Koscielny a 9. Dropped back in the team and it was like he’d never been away.
Its slightly sad that we beat one of the best sides in Europe 2-0 at their own gaff, and our entire strike force are only worth 6′s and 7′s
Wenger only a 8 out of 10 !!!! pffttttt come on blogs!
Prior to the game he made 2 big decisions and remained defiant and believed when we all struggled to. He made some good substitutes too, Gervinho and the Ox giving us that boost for the final 15-20.
The boss has taking HUGE HUGE criticism over the last few years and especially the last few weeks, so hats off to him. The board should give him as much financial backing and let him finish this very promising team he has created.
Honestly, I can’t say what I’m feeling today after that win. How could he have justified Fabianski over Sczcesny? How could you drop your Captain, especially after he did the press conference? He chose the team. They did it. All 13 of them. I love it. God damn it I love being a Gunner.
Yay we’re all feeling somewhat good again. Last night was a cathartic moment, we all were so pessimistic and negative before the match but now we’ve had a good cry about what might have been and it’s time to get behind the team for the last 10 games. As good as the result was, we need to repeat that 10 more times! Gosh darned consistency.
Rosicky was a big part of why we won last night. He should get an 8 not a 6.
Ramsey and arteta were piss poor.
I don’t remember us putting 3 passes together in the bayern half expect for the first goal.
Bayern were dominant throughout. As much as the win will do for the confidence of the players, the performance was very poor.
They simply didn’t turn up to win when the tie was there to be won after such an early goal.
The defenders were excellent. The midfield was absolute mess. Pathetic!!!
Worst display this season. Jack’s absence is one factor. But, playing ramsey and arteta together is another. They both just don’t have the quality.
Caz needs to come centrally and get more of the ball. N may be coq can do a better job as a dmf.
It’s crazy to think we won 2-0 in Munich. The early goal was great, and I can’t remember the last time we defended that well, but for the 80 minutes between the goals I don’t think Neuer had to do a thing. He could have had a couple of cocktails and chatted up any ladies in the crowd. We didn’t mount much of an attack and, as you said, had problems stringing passes together. We gave the ball away to empty spots on the pitch where there were no Arsenal players.
Fantastic win but the midfield—Ramsey, Rosicky, Arteta in particular—were not good last night. Shame, Bayern were poor and the match was there for the taking.
What game were you watching? The pressing game and injection of pace in the midfield was the big difference between that and numerous dismal performances earlier in the season. It’s not always about stringing passes together, it’s just as important to not allow the opposition time and space.
What team are You talking about?
Bayern were the ones pressing hard.
See the replay again and you’ll notice how comfortable we’ve left them on the ball inside our half and bayern start pressing half way down our half.
We hardly kept hold of the ball. Bayern had the ball all game. They were just unlucky not to score.
The very odd ratings are crystal clear. Giroud had an appalling game. I think his worst performances of the seasons have come in the last month and I have gone from being a fan to worrying about him. Arteta? Nothing new there. He was sloppy at the end as he very often is. Why? because he is marginally less athletic than he needs to be at this level in my opinion. I hope he is not a regular starter next season as I just don’t rate him very highly. He isn’t an effective non-flashy player before anyone disagrees, I don’t expect fireworks from him in that role. Rosicky was poor in the game but let’s face it he has been often brilliant when fit/played/brought on as a sub for the last 2 seasons, no? Walcott? He did alright, again not found consistently enough by our more creative players. But main message from the game is that we CAN defend well against quality teams.
i really felt like this was possible to win. the team played valiantly but not well. couldn’t seem to string more than 2 or 3 passes together for most of the first half. how many passes did they make that just rolled straight out of bounds? if they had played with the passion they did in the second leg against milan last year we’d have pulled it off. kinda feels like we’re ok with not winning a game 3-0 that we could have won 4-0 or so just because the media already wrote the team off. hopefully this gives them the boost they need to beat swansea this wkend.
Man that must be so easy to say behind a computer not having actually played the game. Mind you, obviously I didn’t either, but then again I’m not spouting the same shite you’re saying. Say what you like, but you cannot say anything about the lack of effort from any of the Arsenal players last night, subs included.
Away fans: 10.5/10
Robben : 10/10 cuntism. His dive ( or spasm) at the end of the game was disgusting.
0/10 for the ref who definitely loves sauerkraut…
10/10 for Bayern and their efficient time-wasting methods.
10/10 for Müller who cried rape every time the referee didn’t go his way.
And 0/10 for the Wimbledon ambiance. Munich fans are shite.
Great job on the ratings!
Our young core is so effing promising. Aaron Ramsay…a boy becoming a man. Great to see!
One small issue with Giroud’s rating…gotta mention that ill-conceived 40-yd blast from a great counter attack run which saw us four vs. three only for the HFB to fire the ball somewhere towards Dusseldorf. Two times as of late he’s done it…three’s a habit. Knock it off, Olivier!
Otherwise, COYG!!!!!
Almost spot on. But seriously, you have to stop curling Ramsay. Treat him the same way you treat the other players while rating. He didn´t have a good game(only has one so far this season) and simply slows the team down with missed passes and nervous ball control. Great ratings apart from that a a good night to be a gooner. Let´s build on this and stay humble.