Player Ratings as Mystic Henry Predicts MotM in Advance
By Boris Mellor, matty & Nomi
January 18 2015
Thierry Henry, on his debut day for Sky, spent his entire pre match punditry praising Cazorla. How right he was, this was the performance of the season by an Arsenal player. Alexis found it harder to get up to the pace in this match but I hardly agree with giving him a 4, this match will be a learning curve for him. This was intense crunching football at its EPL best, this would be something Sanchez has not come across before, at home doesn't compare.
Tactics played an important role the midfield kept close to the defence and played through from the back, not hanging around in the last third hoping to increase their goal tally, this was team work, this is the ethos that could take the club forward.Can they can keep doing it? Well before answering that lets relish this victory against the champions and argue about the ratings for the players:
Ospina : 7 (had nothing to do but did well )
Bellerin : 8 ( I thought he was awesome )
Kos: 8 Excellent
Mert:8 Excellent
Monreal: 7 V.good
Sanchez: 4 (he was woeful )
Coq: 9 (MOTM 2 )
Cazorla: 9 (MOTM)
Ramsey : 7 put a good shift in
OX: 7.5 (Some good runs)
Giroud : 8 (some of his touches were extra ordinary )
SUBS:
Rosicky : 7 (some excellent passing when he came on)
Gibbs and Flamini not on long enough
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More ratings by Matty
Ospina - 7. Didn't have loads to do but was solid.
Bellerin - 7. Took the occasion in his stride and did very well. His third good game for the club.
Mertesacker - 7. Solid.
Koscielny - 8. Immense first half despite the early booking, solid in the second.
Monreal - 7. Gave Navas a lot of space in the first half but did excellently for the penalty. Solid second half.
Coquelin - 8. First big test and he passed with flying colours. Brilliant first half, solid second.
Ramsey - 7. Worked hard and put himself about, but didn't really get the rub of the green.
Oxlade-Chamberlain - 7. Another hard worker and willing runner.
Cazorla - 9. Comfortably the Man of the Match for me. Worked his socks off and p*ssed all over City.
Alexis - 7. Worked hard and ran a lot.
Giroud - 7. Not so good in the first half, excellent in the second half. Great header.
Subs:
Rosicky - 7. Good decision bringing him on. Worked hard and put himself about.
Gibbs - N/A. Not on for long, broke forward well once.
Flamini - N/A. Not on for long, should've done a lot better when he somehow broke free behind Clichy though.
Wow! A lot better than I was expecting. Easily our best result/ performance of the season so far. We worked hard, kept things tight and kept our shape throughout. We were so good defensively, I can't recall Sergio Aguero ever having such a quiet game, and David Silva has been red hot recently and we really did a job on him. City had a shed load of corners but we defended them all well. I could talk all day and analyse the performance, but I don't really need to. All I will say is we had a plan, stuck to it well and toppled the Champions.