I didn't get to watch the game last night. I've watched the extended highlights this morning, but I'd like to get some opinions from those of you who either went or watched. Can you give some feedback on the players? Who played well, who didn't, ratings etc.? Opinions on things seem very mixed this morning!! Thanks Team
7 Chesney Hawkes - Solid all night. Made a couple of smart saves and positioned himself well. Bizarrely the mdeia tards tried blaming him for a di Natale shot which hit the cross bar. I say bizarrely as his hand was beneath it should it slip under so what're they b*tching about?! 5 Gibbs - Looked a bit shakey to me and then picked up an injury (who'd have thought it. Replaced by Djourou who made one cracking diving tackle in front of DN before going off with a hamstring injury (you couldn't write it....). 7 Kos - Thought he was one of my stand out players. Won his headers and made some very good challenges. He will always be scrutinised though as he just doesn't look like a CB! 7 Vermaelen - Thought he also did very well. Both he and Kos played against a good attcking force and made some vital blocks. Moved seamlessly to LB when Gibbs went off and swicthed back when Jenkinson came on as he went there. 7 Sagna - Reliable as always. My second best player on the pitch. 4 Rosicky - Dissapointing. Thought he was caught too many times and miss-placed some passes. Not terrible but desperately average 5 Ramsey - Average. Started strongly but got caught himself too many times. There's a lot of pressure on him and he needed help from his midfield team mates which wasn't there. 5 Song - In and out of the game. Seemed a little like a headless chicken to me. At times brilliant, sometimes dire. Beaten ridiculously easily by Armero (who I thought was excellent) at one point. 8 Walcott - My best player on the night. Fast and direct and obviously scored. Should have done better at the end with a glorious chance created by Gervinho. Also got a proper shove in his back when he was in the area. Quite blatant. 7 Gervinho - Also very good. Like Theo he ran at people and caused them problems. Should have got an assist for his troubles had Theo done better. 3 Chamakh - May as well not have been there. It's all very well being low on confidence but make up for it by a high work rate. At the moment there's nothing there from him bar a few feeble off-sides. He needs a good cuddle or a strong slap. Maybe both. Subs Jenkinson - Alright. Looked shakey with his first touch but improved and was quite solid. Nothing special like most would have you believe but not a bad start. Frimpong - Very strong as you'd expect. Gave away a few free-kicks in worrying positions but broke up play. Did one lovely run down the wing which was all about power and nowt to do with pace - very funny. All in all a funny old night. Think the atmosphere didn't help in a way as it was veeery tense. We shaded possession but it should have been a draw. The midfield were at fault imo for the pressure on the defence who I thought played very well all night. Next game we will hopefully have RVP back and they will need to score. I think we will score there.
Everyone seems really upset because we spent more time defending than attacking as though we were expected to dominate them with our great attacking players such as RVP, Nasri, Wilshere and Fabre...oh wait, no they weren't. It was a great game for a neutral; Udinese are an open, attacking side. Jenkinson looked great. Really really great. Better player than Gibbs. Frimpong was naive and gave away two free kicks where the opposition took advantage of him. But his introduction saw Arsenal begin to attack for the first time in the second half where he could dominate midfield. Encouraging stuff. I spoke too soon about Song, he decided he is an AM again. Why oh why don't you just defend Alex? Ramsey showed he has Fabregas' eye for the pass. However, he needs to improve a lot, though I'm confident he can. Gervinho will be a great player once he gets his head around his final ball. Just that litttttttle bit lacking. I couldn't help but think that we were one Jack Wilshere away from scoring many goals against them. ^good enough thoughts?^
Rannaramshere what the hell are you talking about ?? Jenkinson looked great ?? Really ?? He looked awful, admittedly he settled into the role and I don't doubt he will grow into the position if he is indeed a left back, but on last night's performance you'd have to say Wenger was smoking something when he bought Jenkinson. Alex Song is mediocre, I've been saying this for a long time, Frimpong is miles better than him. Song is an oaf, his passing was awful and he is slow. He did get make to make key challenges though. He needs to know his role and stick to it. What I didn't like about Frimpong was on one particular attack he passed on responsibility of picking up opposition players to others and seemed to saunter back into position, didn't try to bust a gut, I don't like that. Chamakh was a complete waste of space, utter tripe. Gervinho needs to stop trying to shoot with his left foot because he can't and just looks awkward. Made some good runs and you can see why he got so many assists last season. Good potential there. Walcott was a livewire but he needs to be more deadly in front of goal. Definitely a centre forward, he seems far more natural there. Koscielny needs to stop trying to get balls he cannot win .. committing needless free kicks in the process. Ramsey was full of energy and his passing was neat and precise. Vermaelen was fantastic, I can watch him play all day, threw himself at everything. If Kos bulks up a bit they could be a great combination but Kos seems a little lightweight at times. Same old Arsenal problems though, nothing has changed
This part I agree with. Feel you're harsh on Koscielny based on last nights performance but think he and TV can work well together. Song isn't mediocre. He's very good, but only very good when he plays the role designated for him - DM! Too often he goes walkabouts.
theHotHead, maybe me and you saw different Jenkinsons. I thought he grew into the game very quickly, just like Frimpong had to. Jenkinson is far more able to take the ball out of trouble without just hoofing it to the opposition back line.
Fingpong gave away too free kick within minutes of being on the pitch.................. in dangerious positions
Steevee, that's what I meant. He gave them away because he was naive and was taken advantage of. But then he grew into the game and played pretty well.
Song is very good ? At what ? Fouling people maybe .. what else is he good at ? He is a basic footballer and I cannot see him getting into any other so-called top team in world football.
At tackling and breaking up attacks. His problems over the last season or so is that he's always been out of position. Solve that and we should get him back to his old ways.
We played well considering the players we were missing. Gervinho, Walcott, Vermaelen, Chesney, Kos, Sagna all played well. The link up play between Ramsey, Gervinho and Walcott was good considered it was the first proper game they played in together. Rosicky and Chamakh were dreadful and hindered the team. Its a shame we sustained 2 defensive injuries otherwise we could have subbed off both. Not sure why Wenger didnt try Arsh in the middle, it can't have been worse than Rosicky. All in all a decent victory but improvements need to be made to go through against Udinese at there ground.
I wasn't at the Emirates but in that I wasnt alone , there were a lot of empty seats last evening, however lets deal with game. Thinking it couldn't get any worse I switched channels midway through the second half ut then after five minutes thinking there might be a revival switched back and with Frimpong on they gained some solidity. If we are going to give marks out of ten I would suggest as a team 5, individually Vermaelen 8, Chesney8 Walcott 7, Ramsey 6 the rest bring the average down to five. OK we have a one goal lead and with VP and possibly Wilshere back, but the defence will have to be an awful lot better if they are to keep a clean sheet. It is vital we get a result in Italy, because looking at the way we performed at Newcastle, a whole better pair of performances will have to conjured up from some where if we are to any points from Man U and draw against Liverpool. We desperately need a top class CB to play along side TV, a strong, disciplined DM to protect the back four and a midfielder who can play the ball forwards instead of sideways and a natural goalscorer up front. The squad is paper thin, look at the depth of Man U, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Arry's mob up the road, we have no where near enough quality on the bench to compete, to say otherwise is whistling in the dark to keep spirits up.
