Not much to say other than we pimp slapped the Arse tonight. Absolutely solid from everyone. Ratings - Dubs - 7 - Solid, not much to do though. Krafth - 8 - Solid Burn - 8 - Solid Schar - 8 - Solid and great on the ball Lascelles - 8 - Our best CB tonight, won everything in the air, was excellent. Targett - 8 - Great at both ends of the pitch Longstaff - 7 - A few poor moments, but played mostly well Bruno - 9 - Superb defensively and offensively. Joelinton - 8.5 - Tank ASM - 7 - Some threatening play, good switching of play, but not great off the ball. Wilson - 9 - MOTM - Unlucky as could have had a hatrick today, slaughtered Arsenals defence, played a big part in both goals. Brilliant performance. Almiron - 8 - Great attack and defence. Murphy, Fraser, Gayle - n/a - Did ok. Murphy should have scored.
You're harsh on ASM there, he was significantly better last night than he's been in recent times, and he definitely got the Arsenal defence on the ropes in the first half and allowed us to hammer them in the second half. Tomiyasu in particular was absolutely ripped apart by ASM.
Max is starting to learn to pass and Howe could turn him into a class player if he listens and I think he is
On reflection, I agree with you actually, but I wouldn't give him more than a 7. He wasn't as good as the others.
Hats off to Krafth last night and since he has stood in for Tripps RB is a position we are sorted with
Lots of good runs ending with getting crosses it, a great shot which the keeper did well to save, and a great pass to set Joelinton up to get the cross in for the first goal. Plus his runs into the defence defintely got Arsenal rattled and shaky. ASM is getting quite underrated these days
I think he sometimes gets some unfair stick but he doesn't help himself being **** off the ball and not offering much to the defence. I think he could become a great player under howe.
Longstaff was good last night - some crunching tackles and the ball through in the lead up to the second goal! 8 all day
Mostly agree. Like everyone else I thought ASM had a very good game last night so he gets a 8 for me. You could see he was actually passing the ball which made it harder to be marked because when he doesn’t the defenders know to just crowd him out. Adding passes to his game means they can’t predict what he is going to do.
Nah, he lost the ball and got skinned quite a few times. He was good at times, some good work and looks like he'll be a decent squad player, but he made quite a few errors.
Just watched the game all the way through and I was bemused by Tash's comments on Longstaff. I thought it was one of his best games for us. He hardly put a foot wrong. His work with Krafth and Almiron in the first half had Arsenal all over the place. Thought Krafth struggled more when Martinelli came on and then switched to their left.
Agreed - looked like he was definitely keeping things simpler, making passes to team mates and not trying to take on the entire opposition by himself. So much more effective when he plays like this
If you think ASM is going to change to be the type of player that gets back to help the defence, then let me know what the odds are for Dubravka being top scorer are next year. It's pretty much making the same assumption for the type of player they are.
Not the best comparison really, but I get your point. I'm not saying we can't make ASM a better player, but the argument was about ASM and whether or not he deserves the stick he gets and sometimes he does because he either doesn't track back, or his rating for the game will suffer because of how exposed our defence was by having him on the pitch, and whether or not his contribution to the attack was worth his negatives. If other players can be praised for their hard work and contribution to the defence, than he can be marked down for not contributing enough. ASM's flaws can be improved upon, but the criticism towards him at times has been well deserved.
