Chelsea 2 (Drogba 8, 23) – Arsenal 0
Match Report | Highlights
Manuel Almunia – Did very little and as a result did very little wrong. Wasn’t at fault for any of the goals but hardly stood out either. There were no exceptional saves just as there were no major errors, however his distribution was sub-par and put the backline under unnecessary pressure. 5
Bacary Sagna - Defensively solid, which is a huge achievement considering how exposed he was thanks to Theo Walcott. Let Ashley C*le get beyond him more than once but that can be forgiven considering how well he did otherwise. Offensively though, he was dire. His crossing is awful and is a waste of vital posession. 6
William Gallas & Thomas Vermaelen – Get rated together as they pretty much did the same things out there today. Both players got it right for the most part but were always under pressure thanks to Drogba, and they failed to deal with the Ivorian on more than one occasion. Solid in the air and in the tackle, unless they came up against Didier. 6
Gael Clichy – Well and truly devoid of any shred of form. Nothing more than a liability at left back today, constantly letting the opposition get in behind him and showing nowhere near the heart and desire of some of his teammates. Didn’t really look that interested, and hardly put in any effort on the attack either. 3
Abou Diaby – Good to have him back. Industrious performance from the long-legged midfielder, and one of the few highlights of an otherwise forgettable day in Arsenal history. He was positive in his overall performance, always trying to work an opening in the stubborn Chelsea defense. 7
Alex Song – Uncharacteristically average performance from the Cameroonian. He’s usually the engine of the Arsenal side but today he was devoid of his usual workhorse qualities. He struggled to win the ball and looked sluggish and was involved in conceding both goals. I think its fair to say that today wasn’t his day. 5
Cesc Fabregas – Did his best today to spark something creative but there was little end product from the Gunners skipper. He worked hard to create space for himself in a packed midfield and his distribution was often accurate. That went out of the window when we got into the final third and everyone seemed to botch everything. 6
Theo Walcott – I really feel bad for him. Ever since his return from injury every performance from him has been nothing short of woeful. He has pace but that’s it – his touch is heavy and his movement off the ball is erratic. His crossing is terrible and at times he looks like a headless chicken on a football pitch. 2
Andrey Arshavin -Out of position again and it showed. He made zero impact against Terry or Carvalho over the course of ninety minutes except for when he botched his chance for an equaliser. To his credit he did work hard and showed plenty of desire, however he came away from the game with nothing to show for his efforts. 5
Samir Nasri – Not outstanding but far from poor. Tried to force the issue but ultimately failed and had no end product to any of his game. His touch was sharp and he was making some nice runs off the ball, however they were often to no avail as his predictability saw him shut down early. 5
SUBSTITUTES
Bendtner – 6
Eboue – 7
Rosicky – 6
Entries (RSS)
Almunia, and Clichy are totally rubbish
I agree with most of your ratings, although you have been way to harsh on Theo, the whole team lacks confidence so when players that have missed most of the season come back it’s very difficult to fit straight in to this team at the moment. I thought Clichy did much better than your rating suggested especially as both full backs are exposed to a 2 on 1 situation most of the time. Also Diaby got caught on the ball in our half much too often and gifted the ball to them, 7 is too high a score for him, 5.5 – 6. Arshavin is causing me much frustration and I have a feeling he could be leaving us in the summer.
The goalkeeper had his eyes closed on the second goal. Was he sacred? When Drogbas free kick hit the cross bar he never even moved an inch, the ball could’ve gone in, and he wouldn’t even know. Pathetic
Arsenals problems stems in the midfield . I think its time people realised that Song is rubbish his inablity to win possession in any way is just silly. Arsene’s refusal to let Bendten spear head the attach is crazy.
Alex Song had just returned from the Afcon and was clearly tired ,Clichy ,no clue ,Gallas an absolute disaster ,Sagna cannot put two decent crosses together,Walcott a typical rubbish English player with no skills tp o speak of ,the midfield was overrun
by Chelsea breaking out of defence while Clichy ,Gallas and Sagna backpedalled instead of stepping up and closing down the attack.
Ivo, what was Song thinking kicking at Lampard in that sort of range? It shows you that Song is not as good as people think he is. Last the blame was on Denilson but its funny how no one can find a fault in Song!
aresene is the most at fault1
why can’t he give mannone a chance.
why didn’t he sign a striker?!
we won’t win anything with almunia as no.1. we won’t challenge for anything without a striker. arsene is a joker.
Really very sorry with clichy and Almunia,they do not capable to play in aresenal,especially alumina he has a clear timing problem, always do the same mistake remember evertone.man unt(park), goal, he seems trained with out a couch and I don`t understand wegers patiency.
Samuel Getache
Blues for life..We repin
Don’t panic everyone. We lost to one of the teams who will finish above us. We are lacking a proper striker and it showed. As long as we beat Liverpool – and we should – then we will push on to the run-in and take third place. Which, in case everyone has forgotten, is an improvement on last season. Of course we want to win the league but it doesn’t look like we’re quite there yet. Maybe AW should have realised this earlier and pushed on for one of the cups, but he is the manager and that was his decision. We are the supporters of this club and we should support it. Vent, scream & offer opinion but always be proud to be Arsenal.
@Blues – you need a dictionary, perhaps Roman can buy you one :)
Most of you knows nothing about football, just have foul mouths, why are you guys blaming the players, did chealse played better yesterday, i don’t think so, the person to be blame is Wenger, what esle do you want those boys to do, Our midfielders are did their job also did the job of strikers at the same time, why chealse’s midfielders did their job and they had a striker who finished their job for them, could you guys imaging if Didie worn arsenal shirt yesterday, or a player like Rooney. Please, let us hit the nail on the head, our manager is our obstacle, he is the problem to arsenal football club.
I think if someone is experimenting some ideals for four to five years and if the experiment failed, you will go back to the liab and seat down and think of what to do to get it wright, our Mnanger is not the case, even a lay man, a fooball novice who doesn’t know anything about football knows what our problem are, but only our manager that didn’t, what a shame.
You guys are talking about our players, the manager is the one that doesn’t see beyond his nose, he is a disgrace, all he want is to take the team to championship league every season, that is always be his target every year, and that is enough for him and for the board, but is not enough for us, he only manage our money but not trophies, just to keep making money for the shareholders but forgotten his responsibilities as a manager, he has to go if he coninue to mess us around, we did not ask him to spend 80million on Ronaldo, he should go out there for good strikers at least two and one CH, just three players, for God sake and for the sake of these innocent players that has given their hearts and souls, these guys has proved enough that if they have someone who can be putting the ball in to empty net, they are ready to work, so Wenger do your part, because your part has not been enough except the money you have been keeping in the bank, remember this money are not yours. uuuuuuuuuuuuuup Guuneeeeeeeer for life.
The main problem was to play with out a true striker.Our club coaches should have exploited fully their resource regarding striking.For instance, I believe that had been better Theo would have been a central striker instead of Arshavin. Arshavin was very rubbish at his striking role.
Clichy showed some improvement compared to his performance with Man.Utd. But he made a costly mistake for the 2nd goal.He may be rated 4.5.
Related to Theo, the main problem was the role given him and he have not got sufficient back from Saga.He made a good block of A.Cole strike that could have been a good goal sine the stopper was Almunia. Even I could not accept his subsitution with N.B, in place of him, Arshavin should have been substituted.So, Theo may get at least 5.
Regarding Almunia, I think that Yesterday’s match would be the final game for him in the 1st line-up.Even not considering the 2 goals, he gave 2 balls/chances that could have been scored.He is always at faults specially he has a big problem in concentration ,evaluation ,reading and leading games and his team.So, the bench or over bench is a better place for him.
I am quite sure that we will see Mannone or Fabianski in the Wednesday game.
Fans, of Arsenal, let’s stand together and give any moral support to AW by giving concrete comment about the current performance of the Club.
No use to be worried with the defeat by Chelsea.Let’s think the game with Liverpool and I hope things may be changed in dramatic fashion.
Good day,