Sunderland 1 (Bent 71) – Arsenal 0
Match Report | Highlights
Manuel Almunia – Looked awkward between the sticks today. Had he had much more to do the outcome would have been far worse. Made a hash of a William Gallas back pass that thankfully went unpunished, and did not communicate well with his defence. Also hit far too many high balls up the pitch, despite the fact that we had nobody aerially proficient up front. 5
Armand Traore – Didn’t do that bad considering it is his first real outing of the season. Got forward well and put in some nice crosses, but what worried be was his somewhat erratic defensive positioning. Got caught too far up the pitch at times and was lucky not to get caught out. 6
Thomas Vermaelen – Looked like one of the few Arsenal players that gave a toss out there today. Was positive in his movement forward when trying to start up an attack, and was solid defensively up until he lost Darren Bent for the goal. 6.5
William Gallas – Was under a lot of pressure from the crowd following his winner against Ireland during the week, but kept his head high and put in a respectable showing. Performed as well as partner Thomas Vermaelen in defence, however did not slip up for the goal. 7
Bacary Sagna – Adequate defensively and did try to force the issue down the flank, however all too often he would run into a corner or fail to get his cross past the first defender. Made no defensive blunders, however must work on his final ball. 6
Aaron Ramsey – Struggled to find his feet throughout the match and was unable to keep posession for prolonged periods. He did show a few good touches and his movement was lively, however he gave the ball away far too easily in the middle of the park. 5.5
Alex Song – Once again the best Gunner on the pitch today. He was dynamic in defence and put in a tireless shift. He must have covered a whole lot of ground out there today. He was one of the few Arsenal players that was strong in the tackle, and did show some craft and creative nous. 7.5
Cesc Fabregas – Spent the entire ninety minutes in the pocket of rumoured former Arsenal target Lorik Cana. Was closed down as soon as he gained possession, and Sunderland’s tactics prevented the Spaniard from gaining a foothold in midfield. Did his best to force the issue but was largely unsuccessful. 6
Samir Nasri & Tomas Rosicky – Both of these players showed flashes of their creative brilliance, but ultimately failed to deliver over the course of the match. Neither provided the width that was required in their positions, and both Nasri and Rosicky have the ability to perform far better than they did today. 5.5
Eduardo – Isolated in what I thought would be a more favourable central role, and as a result kept dropping further back into midfield in an effort to gain posession but then had no support when he received the ball. Took one touch too many on more than one occasion and didn’t fashion a single decent chance. 5
SUBSTITUTES
Walcott – 5.5
Arshavin – 5
Vela – 5
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I disagree with some of your rating
1 almunia- 5 is less because he conceded only 1 goal and that was a fortunate goal for sunderland. he throw himself to stop the goal but in vain.
2- varmaelen- he did some good defensive works. and he moved forward in a very defensive manner and knew how to position in the final quarter of the pitch and he he was given good pass he would have probably scored.
3-sagna- the goal was his fault and he conceded the corner. he was good for nothing when trying to pass the ball for goal. by chance against spurs his 2 goal pass went to van persie. he never tries to improve his passing skill and he lacks commitment to win.
4-ramsey- most arsenal fans hate diaby but ramsey is even poorer than diaby. he losses to many balls with his stupid pass and is never creative. useless against sunderland.
5-song- he is a good fooballer but his caprice he hold on the ball sometimes for to much time as he tires to rule the midfield, he should be qucik.
We need a finisher(chamack), vela is better than eduado. N-way we wasted alot of chances.
Sagna was crap! he cnt fckn make 1 decent cross ne dumbass knws atleast beat ur 1st defender when crossing!
Here are my ratings:
Almunia – 6 – Nothing he could’ve done about the goal
Traore – 5.5 – caught in possession many times but still young and learning.
Vermaelen – 7 – assured and committed.
Gallas – 7 – assured and committed.
Sagna – 5.5 – Caught in possession. Seemed to run out of gas in the second half due to playing midweek.
Cesc – 6 – Tried to create. Lacked killer finish
Song – 7.5 – Mopped up well. How far he has come in the past two years!
Ramsay – Did well going forward but poor defensively and lost possession in bad places at time.
Nasi – Linked up well. Needs to be a more attacking threat well playing part of top 3.
Rosicky – floated in and out of the match. Can do much better.
Eduardo – Lacked service so hard to blame him. Seems like Eduardo needs a support striker and cannot lead the line alone. Before his injury he was playing with Adebayor and was scoring for fun…not sure whether this system will suit him as the main striker.
Good rating. I though was ranked too high, well the whole team in general. Gallas was the only person who started and finished the game. Some started, but didn’t finish and vice versa.
My rating
Almunia (5) – got some good judgements, but his body wasn’t following his mind. In fact, he body seemed to be fighting against his mind. But you are right, there is nothing you can do about the goal.
Sagna (4) – Every cross went into the defender. I remember once in the second half, he ran forward and tried to cross three consective times. But they were all bounced back. He also had lots of lapses on defense (probably Domenech’s fault anyway).
Traroe (4) – Started okay. Didn’t run forward much (because we were focusing our attacks on the right). Had some good tackles in the first half. Went forward a lot more in the second half, but held the ball too long. He was doing one of those DeNilson (not our Denilson) types of cross over a several time, but didn’t work. Had a bug mistake that required Sagna to run all the way to the left flank to defend.
Vermaelen (5) – Miss-judged lots of long balls.
Gallas (7) – I would have rated him higher if we had won the game. Went forward well, and defended well. At first I couldn’t imagine that this guy just played 210 + minutes emotional football in the last seven days. Had to cover for Song, Vermaelen, Sagna, Ramsey, and Traroe’s mistakes. Seriously looked tired in the last 20 minutes.
Ramsey (3.5) – Bad performance. Gave away lots of possessions. Jumped all around long ball, but never won one. Got punished a lot due to his physiques. Poor lad. I am sure he will bounce back.
Song (6) – Bad first half. Bent ran at him and past him a couple times. Didn’t have good long ball judgement. Gave away fouls for dangerous long pieces. Held the ball too long. Thing picked up for him in the last 20 minutes. Passed well, evaded well, and tackled well, whiched saved his rating.
Nasri (3.5) – Didn’t do much but passing things back. Got knocked around a lot and dispossessed a lot.
Fabregas (6) – In visible on offense, but covered well on defense. Whenever Song, Gallas, Sagna, Vermaelen went forward, he would be running back to cover. Offense started to pick up in the last 15 minutes, but too late.
Rocisky (4) – Gave away from dangerous possession near our box. Didn’t pass well either. Compete faded after the first half. He did have a brilliant moment early in the first half. We may have won if he grabbed that goal, but it’s too bad. Just came back from injury, he will get better.
Eduardo (3.5) – I guess international goals didn’t give him that much more confidence. Looked uncomfortable doing everything. Had one good moment, and that was it. Perhaps lots of pressure is on him, and he will do better once that first goal is made by him.
Subs
Arshavin (5.5) – Had good runs, which was unexpected since he played both games for Russia. Almost scored, Wasn’t knocked around and down as much as our other fowards and MFs.
Walcott (2.5) – Had one good cross, and tons of bad runs. Bad passing, and run into 4 defenders tried to pull and Henry. It didn’t happened. Also come back fom injury, so I am not gonna rate him 1.5.
Vela (3.5) – Didn’t contribute much, but didn’t make bad runs either. Also just came back from injury.