Ratings vs Arsenal

[guiltyparty]

Of course it wasn't an attacking performance, it was a defensive one - that brought about good counter attacking situations that we should of made far more of.

I'm not talking about possession, domination and working their keeper, peppering their goal etc. That was never our game plan and had it been we would of got caned anyway.

What I'm saying is, that the way we set up to play tonight, Arsenal struggle with. Teams like Villa, good counter attacking side, have gone their and beaten them recently playing this way - and really exposed them to boot.

We should of scored more tonight. We were more threatening tonight that last season - where we had twice the possession practically.

You say 'of course', but there are some suggesting it was

If Lloris doesn't have a worldy today, we lose, even when Arsenal are playing pretty poorly. I'm not sure that sounds like a particularly great plan. We should have scored more? They should have scored a lot more, and despite the defence playing well, much of that was down to Lloris

But hey, we all see things differently. I'm happy with the result, I'm happy to not try and go toe to toe with better teams too, at least a point was important. I just don't get people saying our attackers played well in any shape or form. I expect more from all four of them. Adebayor was a joke, Eriksen and Chadli largely anonymous and Lamela irritatingly showpony-esque.

Once we stitch this defensive showing with attacking of QPR/Sunderland, we'll be in business

 

[Mr Pink]

You say 'of course', but there are some suggesting it was

If Lloris doesn't have a worldy today, we lose, even when Arsenal are playing pretty poorly. I'm not sure that sounds like a particularly great plan. We should have scored more? They should have scored a lot more, and despite the defence playing well, much of that was down to Lloris

But hey, we all see things differently. I'm happy with the result, I'm happy to not try and go toe to toe with better teams too, at least a point was important. I just don't get people saying our attackers played well in any shape or form. I expect more from all four of them. Adebayor was a joke, Eriksen and Chadli largely anonymous and Lamela irritatingly showpony-esque.

Once we stitch this defensive showing with attacking of QPR/Sunderland, we'll be in business

Lloris a worldy today? He played well but everything he did I expected him to do - one very good save from a Mertsacker header, everything else was standard for him. Nearly all their efforts were from distance. All our good chances were inside the box.

I totally disagree they should of scored a lot more. No idea what game you were watching if that's your take.

 

[Bulletspur]

I have to agree with BeeCee to a certain extent. It is obvious now to me that the tactics was to soak up the pressure by defending which the back 5 and 2 CMs did superbly. then counter on the break where the front 4 were poor. IMO you have to have an element of pressing in order to counter, which was virtually non existent' A team of almost two halves!

 

[SydneySpur]

Joke of the match - Adebayor.

Time for this guy to go play in Turkey or China.

 

[guiltyparty]

Lloris a worldy today? He played well but everything he did I expected him to do - one very good save from a Mertsacker header, everything else was standard for him. Nearly all their efforts were from distance. All our good chances were inside the box.

I totally disagree they should of scored a lot more. No idea what game you were watching if that's your take.

Chadli scuffs a shot miles wide, and Adebayor created a chance from nothing with back to goal that was going wide despite their goalie "saving" it. Have I missed any? I'm now going off highlights so can't be 100%

Lloris made very good saves from Mertesacker, Chamberlain and that dipping deflected cross that was going in - none were routine - then Ozil hit a shot straight at him from a few yards out that he should have scored after a great move. Chambers hit a shot a millimetre over the bar from just outside of the box that was closer than any of our efforts bar the goal. They had 16 shots to our 6, 15 corners to our 5, and as I say, they weren't even playing that well

Cool to disagree, I just don't see it. I get that we got in the box more than last season, I don't disagree on that.

 

[VoteMe4Prez]

The new striker thing, yeah it can't be ignored any longer

 

[guiltyparty]

I have to agree with BeeCee to a certain extent. It is obvious now to me that the tactics was to soak up the pressure by defending which the back 5 and 2 CMs did superbly. then counter on the break where the front 4 were poor. IMO you have to have an element of pressing in order to counter, which was virtually non existent' A team of almost two halves!

In a nutshell

 

[BringBack_leGin]

At 0-0 Id say our chances were the better, but after we scored it was one way traffic in their favour. Adebayor fluffed a good headed opportunity (as usual), Chadli's shot with his left was pathetic, and Adebayor tested well from the Lamela lofted through ball.

Lloris was superb and made some great stops from their long range efforts, as well as from the header. Claimed crosses well too.

Naughton played very well, I can't remember Ozil ever getting the better of him.

Kaboul was superb. Proper captains performance. Strong tackling, many important clearances, intercepted very well, imperious in the air.

Vertonghen was very good, some great reading of the game and was only beaten once, by a superb piece of skill from Wellbeck.

Rose had his best ever game for us and I sincerely hope he's not hurt long term.

Capoue protected the defence well, played some lovely passes and resisted the rashness that he's been guilty of in other appearances.

Mason stood up to task well. Did his work defensively, passed forwards well and accurately, and always showed for the ball up and down the pitch. Particularly liked how he'd pass from deep and then burst forward to receive the ball in a more dangerous area. He's only going to get better, he's intelligent and he should keep his place.

Lamela was the best of the attackers, played a wonderful pass for the goal and showed other pieces of skill, but he overlooked too much and didn't create enough. That said, when he's playing with three traffic cones up front, who's he going to create for?

Eriksen needs to be dropped. He's really off form and even though he made the tackle to instigate our attack for the goal, he did absolutely fuck all else.

Chadli scored a good goal, but I can't fathom how little he does in the game. This was Dempseyesque to say the least. Between him and Eriksen I'm actually wondering why we sold Siggurdson.

Adebayor contributes nothing. I cannot actually recall one positive thing he did today. Must be dropped.

Lennon came on, took a silly booking and looked sluggish in both directions.

Bebtaleb I assume came on to help steady the ship and give us more possession, but he did nothing of the sort. Okay in moments but fairly ineffective.

Dier was very good. Tackled well, won headers, showed good pace, just a shame he can't cross. He is a cenre back though.

Pochettino made good and bad choices today. He restored Vertonghen, it worked. He stuck with Kaboul when others wouldn't have, he was rewarded with a great game. He restored Naughton and Naughton played well. Mason was handed his debut and looks deserving of keeping his place. However, Adebayor and Eriksen keeping their places was wrong, and both continued to disappoint. Kane should've made the bench ahead of either Lennon or Townsend as he'd have been great to bring on to keep their defence under pressure and bring some energy to our attack. All in all I'm happy, and I see glimpses of a good future, albeit fewer than I'd like. This is one of the hardest games on the fixture list but I've left it with more confidence in our progress than I'd previously had.

 

[VoteMe4Prez]

Impressive 7 + - Entire back 5 and Dier, Lamela (but could have been better), Capoue and Mason
Despite the neat goal the forward line really does need some serious shaking up.

 

[yusrisafri]

Lloris - 8 - Couldn't prevent the goal, but otherwise a series of solid saves and successful coming out for crosses.
Rose - 8 - Played sensibly and conservatively, dealt with most things that were thrown at him despite repeated diving attempts by Arsenal players.
Kaboul - 9 - Proper captain's performance, was absolutely immense. The kind of performance he used to put in when he was fully fit. Really happy for him.
Vertonghen - 8 - A worthy partner to Younes, read the game well and worked the ball away well, always looking for a useful outfield pass. Again, a performance of the type we hoped we were going to get consistently from him.
Naughton - 7 - Was absolutely pelted by Arsenal, particularly in the second half, but generally stood up well to it, didn't throw himself in.
Capoue - 6 - Faded in the second half but generally did a decent job of covering the defence and tried to work positive balls out from defence.
Mason - 6 - Good debut from the lad, more than justified his selection. A little more attacking than Capoue and gave as good as he got in the battle with Wilshere, until the concaine-snorting, ****-haired, foot-faced Gooner wanker admitted defeat and was subbed.
Lamela - 5 - Poor game from Coco especially by his standards. Gave the ball away too much and made too many poor decisions, and shanked his clearance for their goal. Still, was constantly trying to make things happen, played in the assist for the goal, and worked his arse off. More than can be said for some.
Eriksen - 6 - Didn't see a lot of the ball and wasn't great defensively, but made the tackle for the goal and did try and make some positive passes when he got the chance.
Chadli - 7 - Didn't do too much except score, but scoring a goal away against Arsenal is the biggest thing you can hope to do, and took his chance brilliantly.
Adebayor - minus 10 - Actively damages our football with his lazy ineptitude and inability to keep control of the ball, get into useful space, finish easy chances, or even fucking run about a bit.

Poch - 8 - Set us up well (lovely to see us playing counter-attack), generally made good decisions, but could've changed the game if he'd played or brought on Soldado for Adebayor. I'm convinced we'd have scored at least one more goal if Bobby had played in place of Ade.

Overall a decent performance, good result and nice to see us playing committed football against a big team and not giving in when we conceded.

I actually agree with many things you say except i dont think you can rate lamela worse than eriksen, who was lightweight and didn't contribute much at all.

I also dont agree that soldado wouldve made a difference 2nd half as he wouldve been even more invisible than ade and we werent even getting the ball up top.

Other than that your comments are about right

 

[TheGreenLily]

Kaboooooooooom is back.

I will believe that when he has been consistent for 10 games and not just from being pumped up at one of our biggest games of the season.

 

[ultimateloner]

Chelsea will thump this arsenal team. Well beck couldnt lead the line and they had to put Alexis to get the ball higher up. No penetration bar one pass from Wiltshire.

 

[Gedson100]

I can see where @Bus-Conductor is coming from with his dismissal of today's game.

Last season we went there had the better of the game and lost 0-1.
Today we went there had the better of nothing whatsoever and picked up a point.

I fear, as is quite typical, the result and the lack of expectation prior, is driving the post match analysis.

My frustration so far this season is that our underlying statistics peg us as very average; something borne out by our match record and goal difference. Okay so a point is fine but Arsenal weren't better than us in either league match last year and today they had the vast majority of the play. That may have been tactical and it was a very good defensive performance but I had hoped we were on a higher footing than going to the Emirates and trying to out-kid them rather than out-play them.

Lloris 8
Rose 8
Kaboul 9
Verts 8
Naughton 7
Mason 7
Capoue 7
Lamela 6
Eriksen 6
Chadli 6
Ade

 

[trevo]

Definitely Yes. Part of getting service is to make yourself available to receive it, something that Adebayor was not doing.

Adebayor is too often in the wrong place at the right time.

 

[yusrisafri]

So disappointing from Ade, how can he not get fired up for games like this. After we scored I felt we were crying out for Soldado to come on and actually hassle their defence.

Lloris 8
Naughton 7
Kaboul 9 - Absolute monster in the heart of defence
Vert 7 - Great to see him back
Rose 7
Mason 7.5 - Impressive debut, great week from him. Hopefully he can keep it up
Capoue 7.5 - Worked really well with Mason and he's starting to look like the best buy out of the magnificent 7 from last summer
Lamela 5 - I said in the match thread that I thought he was atrocious but that was unfair as he did help create our chances. I just feel he tries too hard and dallies on the ball when he could play it to someone, seemed to lose the ball on quite a few occasions and at fault for the goal. Poor clearance and didn't watch the man on the edge of the box
Chadli 7 - Took the goal well but not much else of note.
Eriksen 5 - Some really lazy passes when we was countering and think he needs to be dropped as hasn't played well at all so far this season
Ade 2 - As everyone else has said and above

Lennon 5 - Poor showing, can see why Poch made the sub but didn't help out at LB at all and got beat on a few occasions. Offered nothing going forward either
Bentaleb 6 - not much to do but was impressed with his tenacity and got a good tackle in late on.
Dier n/a

Thats the most accurate ratings and comments of all, IMO

 

[yusrisafri]

Oxlade-Chamberlain.. make of that what you will.

He was good. You cant deny that

 

[yusrisafri]

And

And you would get a creditable rating if you could use the English language properly. 'Won'

Me thinks him english good. Maybe not gooder than me, but exceptable.

 

[Bobbins]

Haha, I just knew BC would hate this game, in his mind its better to have 51% possession and lose than to have 30% and get a point.

The slating of Mason as well, absolutely hilarious.

 

[yusrisafri]

Although they combined for our goal.
Seriously 6 games mate, come Xmas I might agree with you.

Watch the goal again. Eriksen didnt pass the ball to lamela. He stumbled when tackled back by flamini but lamela was near enough to get hold of the ball.

Now youre gonna say that their "closeness" to each other means they work well together?

 

[sloth]

I can see where @Bus-Conductor is coming from with his dismissal of today's game.

Last season we went there had the better of the game and lost 0-1.
Today we went there had the better of nothing whatsoever and picked up a point.

I fear, as is quite typical, the result and the lack of expectation prior, is driving the post match analysis.

My frustration so far this season is that our underlying statistics peg us as very average; something borne out by our match record and goal difference. Okay so a point is fine but Arsenal weren't better than us in either league match last year and today they had the vast majority of the play. That may have been tactical and it was a very good defensive performance but I had hoped we were on a higher footing than going to the Emirates and trying to out-kid them rather than out-play them.

Lloris 8
Rose 8
Kaboul 9
Verts 8
Naughton 7
Mason 7
Capoue 7
Lamela 6
Eriksen 6
Chadli 6
Ade

I think we all know in our bellies that the moment we had a couple of seasons ago when we were equal or level with them has passed. Since then we've sold our world class players and replaced them with players yet to prove they too can be world class. Also they have come out from under their stadium debt hangover and are now able to play the market at a level above, almost equivalent to Chelsea and Utd and the like. For that reason today felt like a good result, whereas in previous seasons it wouldn't have. What remains is our optimism that under Poch he can turn this current crop into a side which can reach and surpass the quality of those previous sides and that amongst our number we have a couple or more who can reach the level of those previous luminaries. Here's hoping!

As far as ratings go, Kaboul was immense, Lloris too (but we expect it of him), and Adebayor was shit.