Arsenal do the Laca Xhaka Saka, Ratings v Chelsea Leno MotM
By Matty Sadler
December 26 2020
Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-1 in what almost turned out to be an easy victory, of course Arsenal wouldn't be Arsenal without some kind of panic at the end, but Leno made a rare penalty save to steady the ship. A youth revolution caused partly by circumstance and partly by design saw Arsenal score a month's worth of goals and get a comfortable win. No more time servers please. Ratings below:
RATINGS:
Leno - 8. Nothing to do in the first half really but a great penalty save late on.
Bellerin - 7. My only criticism is I thought he made the Smith Rowe chance as difficult as possible with a pretty sloppy pass, but that's me being harsh. Otherwise I thought he looked much better than in recent weeks.
Holding - 7. Dealt with a situation with Werner well early on. In similar situations this season he's stood off and it's resulted in a goal. Did get away with one as he cleared the ball straight to Werner in the first half. Otherwise a good performance.
Mari - 5. Awful booking in the first half and gave away a penalty late on. Still not convinced as he is just so slow.
Tierney - 8. Constantly up and down the left offering an overlap. Worked his socks off. Won the penalty for the opener. Best game this season?
Elneny - 6. Has a tendency to be a headless chicken but did okay. Smashed the woodwork in the second half.
Xhaka - 7. Conceded a free kick on the edge of our area after a clumsy tackle after we were on top, but scored a brilliant free kick later on. Did well overall.
Saka - 8. Slow start but otherwise I thought he was great. It's the decision making at 19 for me every time. Spot on. Great talent, though his goal was slightly fortunate.
Smith Rowe - 8. Pressed, showed for the ball, passed and moved, kept it simple. Regained possession more than any other player on either side while he was on the pitch (which we'd never get from Ozil). Missed a good chance in the first half but offered qualities we've lacked in an area we've been lacking since pre-Arteta. Keep him in the team.
Martinelli - 8. All about this guy's hunger and desire, which seemed to energise the rest of the team around him. He's not long back from a 10 month lay-off but played that left-sided attacker role better than anyone else has this season. Manage his fitness and he could kick start our season.
Lacazette - 8. Did well at centre forward. Worked hard, held it up, dropped deep, scored his penalty and could've had a second in the second half.
Subs:
Willock - 6. Added legs but maybe could've done more to stop the cross for Chelsea's goal.
Pepe - 6. Was okay.
Mustafi - N/A. Not on long.
Started well, Chelsea grew into it, but we finished the first half strongly scoring twice, the first a possibly soft Lacazette penalty after good build up play and the second an excellently hit Xhaka free kick. Second half we maintained our work rate and attitude, with Saka's goal either an act of fluke or pure genius. Chelsea did score late on, but Leno's penalty save kept it a pretty comfortable and impressive win.
Yeah, Chelsea were poor and didn't really rally till late on, but we were the better side throughout. Honestly it was like watching a different team to what we've seen the rest of this Premier League season. Completely different attitude, and even some of the players I've been critical of like Bellerin and Holding looked much better.
The real difference was the three playing behind Lacazette - Martinelli, Saka and Smith Rowe. Those three provided a combination of qualities that we haven't seen enough of (if at all!) from the other players who've taken up those positions this season. Qualities like passion, hunger, work rate, off the ball movement and decision making - dare I say it, the right attitude. The more senior players in the squad should take note, particularly of Martinelli, who is just a winner.
Another factor to note is having the right players for the system. When you've looked at our passing and heat maps, and I'm even going right back to the end of Emery's time as coach here, there's been a noticeable gap in between the midfield and the attackers, aka the #10 role. Is this the first time this season in the league where we've had an actual #10 playing as the #10 in a 4-2-3-1? It's a shame it's taken so long for Smith Rowe to get a chance when we've all been calling for it, but on and off the ball he added a lot in areas we've been lacking.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020:12:28:22:47:00 by Padre Pio.
Win against Brighton and WBA, we truly turned the corner.
Don't agreed with Mari rating.
He may be slow like Mertesacker, but it is his positioning and his partnership with Holding that the sums of the integrated whole is greater than its individual parts.
It's a long time since I do not panic whenever Chelski attacked the box. I think the DEFENCE kept Chelski attack quiet with no shot on attempt barring the goal and penalty.
How times had we seen all Chelski headers went over the bar and missed the target?
Now, combined Mari positional plays and shuttling players away from the box into Gabriel skillsets, we will have Gabriel as a very much improved CB.
It was a great performance.
But our C/Backs are weak.
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
Quote:Boston Gooner
Chelsea got to many headers.
It was a great performance.
But our C/Backs are weak.
let's wait and see our CB against all those hackers and kickers against Big Mouth WBA; and that is the only tactic he knew how to beat Southern Softies.
With Gabriel out for 3 games at least, and Luiz being a suspected COVID-19 contact, Arteta will be daft to take a risk to field them against Brighton and WBA.
Whatever happening to Chambers - still injured or still in Christmas wrapping in readiness for January Sale?
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
Our passing and heat maps have made grim viewing recently. The Leicester, Wolves and Leeds games immediately spring to mind for me, where our midfield essentially took up a "U" shape, half-hearted overloads out wide (often Tierney-Saka-Willock on the left and Bellerin-Ceballos-Willian/ Pepe on the right), with Aubameyang or whoever isolated upfront and nothing in the #10 position.
(taken from @pwawrzynow on Twitter.)
That is much more like it. Xhaka is where he should be, right at the centre of things, rather than taking up the same spaces as our left-sided centre back. We also pulled off the triangles and wide overloads on both flanks, basically Arteta's trademark towards the back end of last season, much more successfully. The keys to this were Smith Rowe and Lacazette, in the left and right half-spaces respectively, who actually want to take up those positions, plus obviously Martinelli who played the LW role with far greater commitment than anyone else has this season.
(taken from @pressingtrigger on Twitter.)
Also, it's been so long since they'd played together, I'd forgotten all about the Tierney-Martinelli and Martinelli-Saka partnerships. Insane how much one 19 year old made it all link together. Protect him at all costs!
I always rated Saka as the highest in the intelligence department and hence as a footballer among the youngsters, then Martinelli and then the rest.
Smith Rowe just pipped Martinelli in my book for intelligence.
Don't get me wrong, Martinelli is still going to be our ronaldo. He is a much bigger goal threat and absolutely explosive. But Smith Rowe is even better than Saka in terms of movement, intelligence and execution of passes in the final third. Which would make sense since he was always a 10. If he improves his ball retention under pressure and shooting, we have our very own KDB.
Quote:CazOnARola
Smith Rowe was the difference. The guy knows what it is to play in the final third. In the final third, it is more about keeping it simple rather than trying to play the final ball all the time (Ceballos, Willock, Sanchez, Wilshere, Ramsey). Ozil does this and that's why he was rated so highly.
I always rated Saka as the highest in the intelligence department and hence as a footballer among the youngsters, then Martinelli and then the rest.
Smith Rowe just pipped Martinelli in my book for intelligence.
Don't get me wrong, Martinelli is still going to be our ronaldo. He is a much bigger goal threat and absolutely explosive. But Smith Rowe is even better than Saka in terms of movement, intelligence and execution of passes in the final third. Which would make sense since he was always a 10. If he improves his ball retention under pressure and shooting, we have our very own KDB.
No wonder it was alleged that half the senior players wanted Ozil to play in January onwards.
Senior players knew what was wrong on the pitch and their frustrations that winnable games were lost simply virtually no goal scoring chances were created and the team lacked a 'No. 10".
I see it as not that Arteta was enlightened, just that he had no choice with Auba, Willian and Luiz out of the game.
If Willian and Auba were fit, it will be the same old same old with Willian and Auba playing and ESR and Martinelli on the bench.
I would not hold my breathe and just observe how the team setup will be for the next 5 league games.
Of course, ESR will get his chance to play against Newcastle in FA Cup tie.
"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas