Arsenal 2-2 Fulham Player ratings and Match reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

I think Rice could potentially do Xhaka’s role if he had Partey next to him. He’s got enough energy to play box to box and isn’t afraid of shooting and linking up with the forwards. That’s just my gut feeling.

Partey at right back is just stupid, a total waste of a very good player who was quite instrumental in the good we showed last year. White isn’t perfect but it’s much better for the team if he’s there than Partey.

I don’t know if something has gone on with Gabriel but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be Saliba’s partner.

I don’t think Rice could play there, he hasn’t got the range of passing and he’s no quicker than Xhaka. Maybe for games like Man United where it’s safety first but I don’t think Arteta understands the concept of putting different teams out depending on what opponent you’re playing.

The problem is he’s trying to get us to play like City, and neither Partey, Rice or Odegaard are good enough in possession to make that laudable. That’s why we concede so many goals at home, we get dispossessed and teams can run at us.

I think the players we have are better off at playing on the counter attack. We’ve got very good defenders, we just need to be able to tweak things so that we can soak up pressure and break on other teams

[Mac76]

I think Rice could potentially do Xhaka’s role if he had Partey next to him. He’s got enough energy to play box to box and isn’t afraid of shooting and linking up with the forwards. That’s just my gut feeling.

Partey at right back is just stupid, a total waste of a very good player who was quite instrumental in the good we showed last year. White isn’t perfect but it’s much better for the team if he’s there than Partey.

I don’t know if something has gone on with Gabriel but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be Saliba’s partner.

Fair enough, though certainly for aome games I might prefer Vieira at 8

The Gabriel thing is strange but it has the look of his having fallen out with Arteta

The test will be the Utd game, now Zin is back I suspect White will go back to RB, so if Gabriel isn't slotted back in beside Saliba we'll know something's definitely up

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Just realised the Man U game is at home, not looking good as Arteta's brain seems to skip when in front of us.

Against Man U its simple, no need to force the play, just play our best players and the team that got us where we were last season. Basically what he did against Citeh, but make sure Havertz doesn't even make the bench this time.

Eddie is our best striker currently, end off. Jesus is still rusty and shouldn't start.

Saka nailed on, though he had a poor game yesterday... but we have to accept that he's the best attacking player we have.

IMO, Trossard should start ahead of Martinelli. He's been making bizzare last min decisions for the past few games and is low on confidence. You get that with babes. Trossard on the other hand has bags of experience, he either plays well or doesn't . Also he's the only forward player I trust to put the ball in the net when given a good chance instead of hiting it directly at the keeper over and over again.

As for the guys behind them, Odegaard has been extremely poor this season, but wakes up in patches. Unfortunately I can't think of someone else for now. Who knows, if we had tried to get Kudus like I screamed all summer we would have had able deputies.

Partey and Rice to start. Stable midfield, we win the midfield battle, dictate a slow game and help out the defence.

Like everyone is saying, 4 defenders at the back. Gabriel brought back in, though likely to get a red or give away a penalty now that he is rusty. White on the right and whoever he wants to play on the left, though Zin might be an overkill in a already crowded midfield.

With the team I stated, it might end up being a boring slow game, but we are less likely to lose.

We had the easiest start to the season of all the big boys and we've wasted it already. Its a big shame our manager doesn't know his strongest lineup after 3 games (and a summer where everyone knew his transfer targets 4 months back!) but now he'll have to find out the hard way with the next couple of difficult games we have.

We largely failed and were taken advantage of in this summer transfer window, something I got chastised for screaming about, but we need to get over it. The most important thing is we kept all the players that kept us ticking. We as fans probably need to get involved and let Arteta know clearly, that we won't allow him to dismantle what we've waited years for, just to prove he knows everything and is not a poor man's version of Pep. I hate booing players, but we need to let him know none of us wants favourites and passengers in this team.

Its stupid we start moving backwards when we have everything to actually advance. Really really stupid.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

https://www.metro.co.uk/2023/08/26/m...-19400754/amp/

I missed their goal, but when I did see the replay the main person I blamed was actually Ramsdale. I wonder why everyone else was so quiet on it here. His habit of losing concentration in the first few minutes is firmly a thing now.

Anyway he did make an unbelievable save from Traore later on in the game, but of our last few keepers in the EPL (Leno and Martinez), Ramsdale is getting shown up more and more and its clear why Southgate doesn't rate him.

[HCZ_Reborn]

https://www.metro.co.uk/2023/08/26/m...-19400754/amp/

I missed their goal, but when I did see the replay the main person I blamed was actually Ramsdale. I wonder why everyone else was so quiet on it here. His habit of losing concentration in the first few minutes is a firmly a thing now.

Anyway he did make an unbelievable save from Traore later on in the game, but of our last few keepers in the EPL (Leno and Martinez), Ramsdale is getting shown up more and more and its clear why Southgate doesn't rate him.

You also have to factor in that Southgate is a moron, and when you look at players he does rate like Harry Maguire (cough and Declan Rice) we’ve got someone who exceeds Arteta in squandering the opportunities that a promising young England side might otherwise have

Ramsdale came out to close down the space, being lobbed from there felt like a fluke to me. And I’m sorry but it was Saka responsible, these casual passes that attacking players and midfielders are constantly making…do our back five no favours


It’s also incidental, the problem yesterday was struggling to score against a rubbish Fulham side. Half because Havertz playing in central midfield means Martinelli is isolated (though granted he’s not playing well anyway) and leaving Saka as our only attacking outlet.

[Letters]

Mind when I came back here I said the team was improving despite Arteta and would've progressed further with a proper manager???

No.
But I’m interested what events lead you to declare yourself very very right.

[Mac76]

https://www.metro.co.uk/2023/08/26/m...-19400754/amp/

I missed their goal, but when I did see the replay the main person I blamed was actually Ramsdale. I wonder why everyone else was so quiet on it here. His habit of losing concentration in the first few minutes is a firmly a thing now.

Anyway he did make an unbelievable save from Traore later on in the game, but of our last few keepers in the EPL (Leno and Martinez), Ramsdale is getting shown up more and more and its clear why Southgate doesn't rate him.

The original mistake was obviously Saka's but I do think Ramsdale was in a bad position and allowed himself to be wrong-footed

[HCZ_Reborn]

No.
But I’m interested what events lead you to declare yourself very very right.

First three games of this season?

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

The original mistake was obviously Saka's but I do think Ramsdale was in a bad position and allowed himself to be wrong-footed

Obviously Saka's misplaced pass was the cause, but with the way we play those passes happen often. We had Havertz, Saliba and even Trossard who made those same silly passes later on in the game, luckily he was on his line at those moments. The point is, like you have already said, he had no business being that far off his line at that point and made it so easy for the goal. I'm not saying they shouldn't have scored I'm just saying they shouldn't have scored that way.

Just think of how many times we robbed Fulham defenders of the ball, did we even get a chance to see Leno doing unnatural backwards runs? It was ridiculous that happening so early on and his game is replete with errors like that.

[Letters]

First three games of this season?

So 3 games out of a 50 game season?
After the first one or two he was saying that early season it’s all about the result and we needed to give it a bit of time. The first dropped points of the season and it’s this?