Arsenal hit the wall and bounce back? Player ratings
By Boris Mellor
November 9 2015
The first half was lethargic and Arsenal looked like they had hit the wall, no pace at all. Indeed Campbell would appear to have no pace at all, and Debuchy also seems to have lost any pace he may possibly have had before his injury. Why the team was so dead on its feet is hard to judge as they had Wednesday night off (Joke.Ed), clearly some players have had too many games, but that doesn’t apply to Giroud or Campbell. Considering how lacklustre and tired Arsenal seemed Tottenham only managed a one goal advantage by half time. The first half was dire, with several missed chances of which Giroud I remember the most.
The second half continued the same way, and I was beginning to doubt it would ever change, but change it did. The key was removal of the hapless Carzorla and the introduction of Flamini who began to run around like one of those faulty fireworks on November 5th. Secondly the introduction of Gibbs gave the team some pace at long last. I don’t know why Wenger waited so long to make that change, perhaps he thought Campbell would get faster as the game progressed, I remember my Grandma’s tortoise having more pace.
When the equaliser finally came there was a roar of half relief half jubilation. The crowd began to sing you’re not singing anymore at the stupefied Spuds, which was a bit ironic as they had not been singing that much themselves.
Arsenal pushed on for the winner but just weren’t good enough, and quite frankly a win would have flattered them. However the crowd left in a happy mood as at least the old enemy had not won on their turf.
Unfortunately local rivalries was not the main issue here, the important issue was that Arsenal had failed to take advantage of Citeh drawing at Villa. Once again Arsenal lacked the killer touch when a must win game demands a big performance.
Ratings follow
Cech 7: Not much he could do about Kane goal but made many fine saves.
Debuchy 5: Doesn’t seem to have recovered from his leg injury.
Mertesacker 4: Slow and error prone
Kos 6: Not his best performance, but dread to think how it would have been without him.
Monreal 6: One or two errors, but a solid performance overall.
Coquelin 6: Solid game, some good passes, but was isolated for most of the game.
Cazorla 3: Kept misplacing the ball, Wenger says he was ill, so should have been replaced even earlier.
Campbell 3: One half decent shot, but no pace whatsoever.
Ozil 7: His one stroke of genius saved the day. Giroud kept miss heading his crosses.
Sanchez 5: Maximum effort, minimum inspiration, needs a rest.
Giroud 4: Built like a tank but is put off by any sudden puff of wind. He could try practicing heading.
Subs
Flamini: 6 at least he got stuck in.
Gibbs: 7 He created more fear in the Spurs defence during his brief spell than Giroud, Campbell and Sanchez combined. Scored the all-important goal.
Arteta: I heard his name over tannoy but did he really come on?
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:11:18:19:20:39 by Padre Pio.
I wish I could say "if Cazorla was legitimately ill, then no way should he have been involved at all", but unfortunately we're that short of players at the moment we don't really have a choice.
I don't understand what has happened to Joel Campbell. I saw videos of him before we signed him, I watched quite a bit of his loan spells in France, Spain and Greece, and I saw him playing for Costa Rica, and he looked a lot, lot faster than he does now. In fact, here is some video evidence from 2013:
If he really has lost all of his pace at the tender age of 23, then he is @#$%&. I think some of it may be to do with his fitness though. I remember last season there were some worries here over his fitness levels, or lack there of, and he always seems absolutely sh*gged after 15/ 20 minutes of football. I still admire his finishing ability and his work rate but, of course, the biggest worry is his seeming complete lack of knowing what to do on the ball. You can see why the likes of Ramsey, Walcott, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Welbeck are all ahead of him in the pecking order. I hope to god we get a few of those guys back after the international break, otherwise I'd be inclined to go with Gibbs on the left and Alexis on the right.
Quote:MattySadler
I agree with all of your ratings apart from Giroud. I know he missed a hell of a lot of easy chances, but I thought he was a handful (Vertonghen agrees, enthusiastically) for the Tottenham centre backs and seemed to be our only attacker with any fight in him. I'd have given him at least a 6, personally. Our lack of alternative to him at the moment is a concern though, we have no way of freshening things up. The same can be said for most of our attacking positions at the moment, though.
I wish I could say "if Cazorla was legitimately ill, then no way should he have been involved at all", but unfortunately we're that short of players at the moment we don't really have a choice.
I don't understand what has happened to Joel Campbell. I saw videos of him before we signed him, I watched quite a bit of his loan spells in France, Spain and Greece, and I saw him playing for Costa Rica, and he looked a lot, lot faster than he does now. In fact, here is some video evidence from 2013:
If he really has lost all of his pace at the tender age of 23, then he is @#$%&. I think some of it may be to do with his fitness though. I remember last season there were some worries here over his fitness levels, or lack there of, and he always seems absolutely sh*gged after 15/ 20 minutes of football. I still admire his finishing ability and his work rate but, of course, the biggest worry is his seeming complete lack of knowing what to do on the ball. You can see why the likes of Ramsey, Walcott, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Welbeck are all ahead of him in the pecking order. I hope to god we get a few of those guys back after the international break, otherwise I'd be inclined to go with Gibbs on the left and Alexis on the right.
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
Let's face it, if Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere, Welbeck and Oxlade-Chamberlain are all fit, Campbell doesn't even get on our bench.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.