Post Match Thoughts v Hull, the Players reviews and ratings, the Manager and the Fans
 G4L_Harry (20 December 2009)
Player Ratings:
Almunia 8
Much better performance, not a massive fan of Bacofoil, convinced he hasn’t recovered from the CL semi of last season, as upto then he had begun to win me over. Yesterday was the best he has done since. More commanding in the box, collected crosses and didn’t spill. Good distribution and came out to clear quick which was one of his strengths of last season, hadn’t seen much of that this season. He saved a weak penalty but a saved penalty is worthy of praise indeed. Late on (87) he made a great save from Hunt. Need more performances like this to retain his position as number 1……….Although I dont think wenger was looking elsewhere................
Eboue 8
Another quality show from Eboue, he is so more productive in the RB role, he defended well and attacked with vigour, his close control and short passing have improved remarkably and no messing about with play acting, he is finally learning?. A hybrid of Sagna and Eboue would be awesome!! Eboue is a quality back up squad player, who is valuable and he can play in several positions…………
Vermaelen 8
Another solid display from our Belgian rock, he reads the game well and intercepts so many moves. Strong in the tackle and steely drive epitomised by his running down of McShane at the end of the match when he ran him down and gave no quarter. His partnership will Gallas is very important…………..
Gallas 7.5
Good display and a calmness that settles the rest down, showed good recovery pace and makes the right decision with ease, deserves a new contract, hope he stays for 2 more seasons. The experience he has is really needed……………
Silvestre 7
Best game I have seen from him for Arsenal, one blog had him as a 5, why I am not sure, but no blame for the penalty decision. Purposeful and well positioned, strong in the tackle and good distribution, got forward well and even had a reasonable shot. Playing infrequently makes it hard to get his game going. Will be made to work harder by Villa……………
Song 7.5
Fast becoming Mr Dependable, most have now be won over, despite his languid style. Song is involved all over the pitch, breaking up attacks and he has cut down on the niggly fouls he concedes outside the box. When in possession he holds the ball well and distributes intelligently, well mostly. Drives forward when a chance shows. Would like to see him score the odd goal.
Denilson 7.5
Another simple but effective performance capped by scoring a quality free kick, at last a free kick has been scored direct!!! Having someone in the team who can do that is worth 6-10 points a season in my mind, maybe more??. How many times have you seen United make the break through from a free kick and then go on and dominate a match. Another player who lacks support from all corners of the ground, many feared when Fabregas was out, but remember who was the cornerstone of our midfield when Cesc was out injured last year…………
Diaby 8.5
The enigma that is Diaby, the Clone of Vieira with a touch of the Carlton Palmers about him. Many fans berate him continually and get frustrated by his inconsistency. But with niggly injuries and Wengers constant moving around in different positions it has seen Abou struggle to nail down a regular starting berth and understand his role, but more performances like this should win the fans over.
Strong in the first half, saw him gain his confidence and in the 2nd he took the game to Hull. Driving forward and pressing their play back, he was influential in the games key moments that saw Arsenal pull away from Hull. Winning the free kick for the first, setting the 2nd up after great exchange play with Song, and then a great calmness about him as he drove into the box holding off the defender and smashing the ball through Myhill. But the notcieable thing compared to normal, he didnt hang onto the ball too long, choosing to make a pass and then move into space, as perfectly illustrated for the 2nd goal..................
Nasri 7
Efficient and probing, always available for his teammates, he worked hard and tirelessly, his end product was slightly lacking, I prefer him deeper and behind the ball coming onto it, within a more central role. And although I wont say he was right to step on Garcia’s toes, because really it was much ado about nothing, but that got the fans and team really up for it…………..so it helped a tad.........
Arshavin 7
Hard working and a constant thorn in Hulls rear, closed down the ball and chased all over, even though he was physically weaker than Gardener and others he never gave in. His vision is his strength and when others fully link with him, he will open up more teams, he is like a conductor as he waves and directs the play.
Eduardo 7
A fans favourite and rightly so, but his form this season has been erratic at best. Clearly lacking confidence with a visible reluctance to his play in the box, maybe due to constant injuries and the backlash of the media after he was seared down in the box by Boruc in the CL qualifiers. In the first half he went close with a curling effort, but little else, did not much wrong but didn’t make a nuisance of himself. In the 2nd half he improved and his confidence was boosted when he tapped in from Abou’s cross, which aided his mark. From then on he gained further in confidence and started taking the play to Hull more, taking players on and been more tricky, lets hope he keeps this going now…………
Subs:
Ramsey 7
Already far more involved than he would have thought he would be this season, he has been grabbing his chance with both hands. Dynamic and tenacious, he embodies spirit and a will to win. Looks for the gaps and never gives in, definitely stronger and in the programme he makes mention of the weight training he has been doing. Will be a regular in next 18months at this rate. Great cameo and added that extra bite that kept Hull back.
Walcott 6
Frustratingly inconsistent and annoyingly forever injured, supposedly over his shoulder issue and is up for it according to the papers, but rightly dropped after poor showing against Liverpool and Burnley. He could be the key to the run in for me, with his searing pace which he showed notably three times yesterday, once he ended up on his backside and the other saw him tear through their midfield and put Vela through, but Hull blocked his path. And finally he was unlucky when he was put down the middle and he opted for the lob and saw it agonisingly go wide. He thrashed at another chance right at the death of the match.
Vela 6
Little time to make an impact, nice touches and always looks for the chance to get at the goal, his time will come. Needs more time on the pitch to find his feet in the Premiership, or we will have to give him a bit more time to show his true ability.
Le Boss: 8
Wenger got his team selection spot on, (easy to say when we win I know), but he dropped Walcott, rested Sagna (?), gave Silvestre another chance. Paired Song and Denilson with Diaby. He gave Eduardo another chance, and hopefully has given his confidence a boost.
He made the changes at the right time for me, Ramsey added that little extra impetus and bite, then he gave Theo a reasonable amount of time to show his stuff, especially as Hull pressed forward. Vela was only given 10mins or so, but his time will come.
Personally I didn’t feel that Hull really troubled us much and we contained them and limited their chances and then pressed them, so wenger must get credit for that.
The Fans: 7
I have consistently given the fans at the Emirates a bashing, not all, the ones that sing do us proud as do our away fans it’s the ones that just sit there and do nothing. As I had moaned after the Stoke game, that fans negativity had drained the players as we struggled. I wrote an article yesterday asking that we fans at least didn’t breed a negative attitude, and overall it was better than against Stoke last time out. There were still the inevitable shouts of shooooooot, laughably, usually when a player had his back to goal and was surrounded.
There were some good chants and Phil “Tango” Brown got his fair share of good humoured banter.
The handbags at dawn got the fans going as well and certainly give the temperature a little rise. A little injustice or dust up always gets the fans behind the team.
But the atmosphere was just about ok, much room for improvement and I hope the fans who don’t sing much understand what they need to do to help the team.
Overall:
When I returned from the match I watched a rerun of the match, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the commentators, especially , Joe “and Sleep” Royale who was wittering on about how we were flattered by the result, well sorry old chump, I felt the score line reflected the match just nicely. The penalty was one of the softest I had ever seen given and I wouldn’t place any blame on Silvestre.
Ok the free kick from our first goal was soft, but we didn’t get others free kicks, that’s the rub of the green, Hunt was continually fouling and twice followed into Almunia, how he didn’t get a yellow was beyond me.
But a solid performance, not free flowing throughout, but sporadic flashes of our ability, mixed in with some grit and determination, a bit of fight that we have lacked at times, and we kept them at bay quite well. Good 3 points………….Especially with Chelsea, United dropping points again.
Massive game on the 27th, Villa come to us in good form, lets put some breathing space between us…………………
Comments: | | | tete | 20 December 2009 20:17:14 | | | | | | | | | agree to your predos, in relation to theo he is just not up to it,i rarely criticize anything arsenal but he has been a let down, terrible touch,composure,finishing control..still worry about the front, nasri should be in mid field.. maybe eddie and vela and let andrei feed off their scraps,think vela deserves a real go, and with eddie getting rid of rustiness they could be deadly | | | | | | | | | | G4L_Harry | 20 December 2009 21:40:52 | | | | | | | | | I understand why people are frustrated with theo, but i would persevere with him, he has had some bad injuries and needs his confidence rebuilding, wenger did the right thing by dropping him and bringing him on late, i would do this for the next few matches.
I agree about Nasri and I alluded to his positioning in the article, i would play him in the middle with Fabregas with Song or diaby in behind. Nasri is more devastating with the play to his front, especially down the middle.
Well lets hope that goal boosts Eduardo. ............... we need him to be prolific. I agree about Vela, but he has missed a couple of chances he has had in the last few games, disappointingly but he will come good.............
| | | | | | | | | | clichy22 | 21 December 2009 02:41:37 | | | | | | | | | theo is 20 years old but coz hes been around forever ppl expect him 2 be perfect all the time. as for no composure or finishing i dont think u were saying that last yr when we playd villareal...didnt show any composure or footballing ability in that finish. for a 20year old he coulda easily with his pace rounded the keeper and had an easier finish or squared the ball 4 some1...his touch will improve with time
wenger on diaby - I am touching wood that Diaby can stay fit now because sometimes he gets strange injuries and is out for three or four weeks, We will be patient with him, he looks to be a promising player.
"He is an offensive player, not a defence-minded one. He goes from box to box like it is no distance, and can dribble. You need good solidarity. We do not need to fight and have players sent off, but it is good that we respond."
Comparisons have been made between Diaby and the former Arsenal midfield maestro Patrick Vieira, but Wenger is not wholly convinced. "I believe Vieira was more a passer of the ball than Diaby, he is more penetrating with the ball. They are not completely comparable."
he can go from box to box like there is no distance is said v.well...he has v.gd pace and strength about him. hes found his position as the lcm and it suits him. hes got goals in him too the lad. he offers us height pace physical presence goals and the touch of unpredictability. him and song just hold of players like they arent there. his goal against pompey sums diaby up. gr8 composed finish and the way he broke 4rm defence to attack in a second was brilliant lets hope he stays injury free | | | | | | | | | | tete | 21 December 2009 05:18:34 | | | | | | | | | on theo having composure, well he doesn't nor finishing, i am sick of him talking about what he will do, he may be only 20 but for the last 3-4 years he wastes chance after chance.. he is a terrible finisher and constantly loses the ball, i do not want to be knocking arsenal cause i love them but theo is not good enough for arsenal, he was terrible last year and nothing has changed,rosicky and vela should be ahead of him, vela has showed glimpses of world class and this season has only got two proper games, if we are going to play 4-3-3 and we dont have a focal point, two of the three attackers have to be strikers to make it effective, thats why bendy,robin,arshavin worked well, we cant have a strike force of two mid fielders and luggage(theo) come on u goooners
| | | | | | | | | | Xtreme Gunner | 21 December 2009 07:08:19 | | | | | | | | | From this match, i only hope that it is the 1st and last time that i'll see Sylvestre at Left Back. Waaaoooow he was awful. Slow, disgusting offensive runs, bad passing and he has this bad habit to pass the ball back to the keeper under pressure and what a bad pass.
Heard that he was thinking of leaving!!! Hehehe what a good news!!! | | | | | | | | | | G4L_Harry | 21 December 2009 07:54:07 | | | | | | | | | XG, whereby Silvestre is not my favourite and as i said he will be worked harder by villa if he plays, he wasnt bad on saturday, he put in a good shift, saw it live and have watched it twice since, wasnt perfect but did some good things. That penalty was a joke. You have to remember he is fourth choice LB................. | | | | | | | | | | highbury44 | 21 December 2009 17:54:14 | | | | | | | | | We didn't play that great especially in the first half,yet we still won and with the other results going our way its looking good again.However as i have said before there are no easy games in the premiership and no certain 3 pointer.With the next 2 games in mind i would again settle for 4 points and so long as we can keep unbeaten, confidence will improve as will the performances.It will be a very bumpy run this season,so get ready for more unexpected results throughout but we won't get a better chance to be Champions. | | | | | | | | | | G4L_Harry | 21 December 2009 18:17:53 | | | | | | | | | Bang on the nail H44, we didnt play that well, but i also didnt rreally ever feel that we were under the cosh, except when that dodgy penalty was given, when we scored the 2nd i had no doubts. Ramsey gave us more of an edge when he came on.
I said at the beginning of the season that it would be the closest title race in years, so it is proving, i said liverpool would finish outside the top 5, there were lucky last year and then they got rid of their most influential player who was consistently brilliant, in alonso.
IF BIG IF NO VERY BIG IF wenger does purchase a striker to play in the abscence of RVP then we are in with a shout, I still would love a keeper and a CM, but at minimum a striker, Luca Toni or Dzeko are the obvious myabe even old horse face but i cannot see that, Chamakh says not till summer so for a non cup tied youngster how about Fernando Llorente? he looks quality and ticks all the boxes............... Then IF he does then maybe we can push Chelsea all the way, but at the beginning of the season I said they would win it and we would come 2nd, lets hope i got that one the wrong way round? | | | | | | | | | | Xtreme Gunner | 22 December 2009 09:30:13 | | | | | | | | | Gal Harry, i respect your opinion but for me Sylvestre is a liability and will always be a liability. Everytime he touches the ball i have a bad feeling. Seeing his performances i'm surprise of how much time he made at Manure. I hope Traore come back quickly. Against Villa he will have either Miller or Young against him. He could even have Agbonlahor. Yes he will be worked harder, very hard i must say and will certainly STRUGGLE!!
Wenger could shift Eboue on the left when Sagna come back. Sylvestre starting against Villa! Its 3pts 4 Villa All these players that were available i can't understand what particularity or talent Wenger saw in Sylvestre. he is just Beeeurrrkkk! | | | | | | | | | | G4L_Harry | 22 December 2009 11:24:13 | | | | | | | | | XG, in essence I dont disgaree with your comments, my main point was against Hull he played ok, I would be happy to see traore back, or as you point out stick Eboue there who has played the role before for us, they have some searing pace in their side, Silvestre with all the will in world would struggle to keep up with Petrov {very slow} but agbon, young, milner will skin him if given a chance. Even Heskey. lol........... | | | | | | | | | | TJ 14 | 22 December 2009 13:52:35 | | | | | | | | | Sylvestre did well on Saturday. he supported the forward play well and had some good moments in the attacking 3rd. Penalty not worth mentioning as he did nothing wrong. he was solid and did as well as can be expected for someone who hasn't played much at left back for the last 4-5 years.
Hull came with a 4-6-0 formation and it was always going to be tough to break down, unless we got an early goal. missing Cesc, Rvp and TR7 meant a lot of creativity was missing in our side. Add to that Arshavin playing with his back to goal and it is easy to see why it took time to get through their defence. You could see in the second half we opened them up at will and could have had 5 or 6.
Villa will be an interesting game. I would put Eboue at Left Back, or Sagna for this one. Pace is the key against Villa's forward line. | | | | | | | | | | clichy22 | 23 December 2009 00:25:21 | | | | | | | | | he did play against hull..a poor team with practically no pace in the side. villa play at a high pace and intensity and all their attack minded players have pace | | | | | | | | | | Adohom | 23 December 2009 09:56:21 | | | | | | | | | this Villa game is scaring the hell out of me... we have to win 3 matches in a row! so that we regain consistency...
We've a better team. and I believe Cesc will be back... keep Silvestre as a full back at least he's more accurate than Eboue. our strenght shall come from NASRI, CESC and DIABY in front of Song and Denilson and behind Arshavin.
WE"RE STRONG ENOUGH TO BE VILLA
| | | | | | | | | | Adohom | 23 December 2009 10:10:53 | | | | | | | | | TO BEAT VILLA. I mean | | | | | | |
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