Arsenal 4 (Abou Diaby 17, 21, William Gallas 51, Aaron Ramsey 68) – Portsmouth 1 (Kaboul 37)
Match Report | Highlights
Manuel Almunia – Solid without being spectacular, apart from one disastrous moment for Pompey’s goal. Should have jumped much earlier, and to be beaten in the air by the opposition is embarrassing when you can catch the ball and they can’t. Needs to command his area more. 6
Emmanuel Eboue – Typical right-fullback performance form Eboue. He looks far more comfortable at right back than in the midfield, and bombed forward well. He was defensively sound, and provided a nice assist for Diaby’s second goal. 7
Thomas Vermaelen – Perhaps his quietest performance yet, although to be fair he did not have much to do. Made no mistakes, and won the vast majority of his tackles and aerial duels. 7
William Gallas – Somehow managed to score his second consecutive inadverted goal (and his third overall goal in three games) after his wayward touch sent the ball flying off his foot on to his forehead and then into the back of the net. Sound performance, even if he was a little quiet. 7
Kieran Gibbs – Got beaten all day and was far from impressive. Weak in defence and quiet in attack. Hopefully we can put it down to the fact that it was his first game of the season, coming off no pre-season thanks to the Under-21 Championships that have seen Theo Walcott ruled out. 5.5
Denilson – Put in a decent showing today without replicating the exploits of last weeekend. Neat and tidy with his passing, I thought he was quite busy in the middle today. Did get quieter as the game grew older however, but nevertheless it was a sound display. 7
Cesc Fabregas – Played amazingly well up until his half-time substitution. His passing was unbelievable today, and he played a major role in the first two goals in the game by providing defence-splitting passes to create the openings for both goals. Let’s hope his injury isn’t too serious. 7.5
Abou Diaby – I never thought I’d describe a Diaby performance as majestic, but that is exactly what he was today. Diaby was everywhere in attack and defence. His run and finish for the first goal was Vieira-eqsue, and he took his second with aplomb. The best performance from Diaby in quite a while. 8.5
Andrey Arshavin – Was menacing with his off-the-ball runs and did show one or two moments of sheer class, but was once again well below his high standards. Seems like he isn’t suited to a wide forward role, as he is waiting too long to receive the ball rather than getting it early and looking to tee others up. 6
Robin van Persie – The effort was there but there was little end product. Great through ball for Aaron Ramsey’s goal, but other than that he was sluggish. He looked frustrated, and I feel for him. He’s been putting in the hard yards in these first couple of games but nothing has been coming off. He needs a goal, badly. 6
Eduardo – Looks far more comfortable when operating centrally rather than on the left, but still put in a very good performance today. He beat his man on more than one occasion and provided a great assist for the opener. We are definitely a whole lot more dangerous when he is on the pitch. 7.5
SUBSTITUTES
Aaron Ramsey – Tidy second half performance from the youngster. Did his best job of emulating Cesc, and provided some great movement up the pitch. Could work a bit harder off the ball though as he did seem a little sluggish at times. Took his goal with seeming ease. 7
Nicklas Bendtner – 6.5
Fran Merida – 6.5
Entries (RSS)
I thought our defending was poor. It lacked intensity and the usual leadership Gallas provides. Gallas was lucky to be on the field although I havent seen the replay of Utaka when he was goal bound.
these ratings are stupid! I watched the whole match and apart from diaby, van persie played the best on the field and was very unlucky not to get on the score sheet he put in the most effort by far and showed a lot of heart. Also you rated arshavin at 6 but eduardo 7.5 when they both played equally as good. 2 out of three of our strikers were given rubbish ratings when we scored 4 goals! our attacking play couldnt have been that bad if we won by three goals(I am aware that none of them scored but they were involved in the build up e.g. arshavins free kick leading to the third goal, van persies pass to ramsey for the fourth goal, and eduardos pass to diaby for the first goal) plus you gave vermaelen a 7 because portsmouths attack sucked and he had no real work to do at CB, but he didnt make any mistakes so he should at least get an 8.5.
btw gallas did not foul any1, utaka kicked his own ankle the dozey fuck! haha! lmao
@ Lee.
I don’t know what game you were watching mate, but AA was not showing enough urgency and got caught in possession a couple of times. Admitedly he played some good stuff, but Eduardo was terrific. I think that when Eddy gets totally match fit again in a couple of months he will be as good a player for us as Wrighty was, although I think Eddy has more skill than Wrighty had and a better eye for a pass. I’m sure AA will also be an Arsenal great, although he doesn’t seem to have picked up where he left off last season yet and for some reason he doesn’t look as happy???? Just watch him after goals, it’s almost like he just goes through the motions during team celebrations???
I agree with the writer’s comments on Diaby – but I recall watching him play a one-off great game last season, which was then followed by many games of absolute rubbish. I’m going to reserve judgement on whether he has matured like Song and Denilson clearly have, until he puts a run of several good games together. He should be credited for yesterday though as he was immense.
Anyway – I suppose it’s a game of opinions, so we shouldn’t fall out over it – Hopefully everyone continues to get behind the team and some so-called fans don’t start booing when we stutter a bit.
Gibbs performance would have cost us dear against any of the top 4 but I think he will get better. Bendtner and Eboue still run into trouble far too much for me and Almunia should not have conceded they way he did. Yes we won 4-1 but Portsmouth are not a team we can learn much about our team. We will form a better opinion on out strengths and weaknesses when we meet the two Mancs teams and later when we meet Chelsea and Liverpool – and dare I say it Spurs who have started well.
Diaby was quite a revelation, really. Another great performance from the boys but the bigggg tests are coming, tho’ we’ve got the Arsenal weaponry ready and primed, hopefully Cesc will be fine by then.