Villa 2-4 Arsenal Match Reaction and Player Ratings

Ramsdale - 7 - After a few dodgy games, made some top saves today


White - 6 - Did ok getting forward, certainly better than Tomoyasu was on Wednesday


Saliba - 6 - Just feels to me like he’s played too many games and could do with dropping to the bench for a bit


Gabriel - 7 - Much better than on Wednesday still a little bit suspect at times but makes crucial interceptions


Zinchenko - 4 - Couldn’t give a fuck that he scored, gives the ball away needs far too many touches and is completely fucking us up at the moment


Jorginho - 8- Clearly not a replacement for Partey but he brings his own game to the table, I think his passing is better than Partey’s but Partey’s ability to play through the press makes him superior. However was probably our best player today


Xhaka - 5 - Nothing more to say been shite since the World Cup


Odegaard - 6 - I think the spark is still there but not the confidence, no doubt had this been a month ago he would have buried that chance at 2-2


Trossard - 6 - Getting isolated like Martinelli too often to really have the impact on the game that we’d like to see from him


Saka - 7 - Thunderbolt of a goal but overall being asked to do too much (carry attack single handedly)


Nketiah - 6 - Cannot fault his effort, he keeps going and makes himself available for goalscoring opportunities but it’s not just going for him. Lack of confidence for sure, and arguably lack of quality (squad player really isn’t he)



Martinelli - 6 - Didn't see enough of him before he was found by Vieira to put the game to bed


Vieira - 6 - Feels like he could have something but needs to play more and work on his possession football


Holding/Tomoyasu - Who gives a shit



The result was great, the performance was patchy. We certainly looked more fluid going forward but too many missed gilt edged chances, defending was a bit suspect to say the least. But after the three games we’ve had, you can forgive that to an extent.

I'd give Odegaard a 7, thought he was much better today, other than that think I agree

Really thought they battled their way to the win today, if we can improve further and Arteta is prepared to rotate more then we could still be in a good place for second at least

Only saw the highlights. My neighbour - a fellow Gooner - was clearly watching. I heard the late goals through the wall, or rather his reaction to them :lol:
Seemed like we were struggling in the first half, much better in the second. The thing of concern is we really lack a clinical striker. Jesus isn't it, although he certainly adds a lot going forward which we miss.
We don't have a Haaland or a Rashford or, dare I say it, a Son or Kane :sick:.
The positive thing I guess is we kept going and although the Martinez og was lucky, you could argue we earned our luck.

It shows what fine lines there are in football. On another day we'd have dropped another two points and City would have thrashed Forest. They absolutely hammered them, had "one of those days" in front of goal and got caught with a sucker punch to drop two points. We smacked the bar and it goes in off the 'keeper. And that's the difference between us being 2 points ahead and them being 2 points ahead. Fine lines.

We are still wobbling but hopefully this win will fire them up and we'll get going again. We have to if we're going to maintain a title challenge, City and Utd are both looking menacing.

I’m not thinking about a title challenge anymore, we’ve just won our first game in 5 via a slice of luck and can’t defend for shit at the moment, we’re conceding too many goals. If we find some momentum again then I’ll start dreaming but that’s now on pause. I saw a team that wilted against City and were quite obviously phased by the occasion. It didn’t look like a team that was ready to win the title to me. We’ve got away trips at Liverpool, City and Newcastle in the run-in, I don’t really see us escaping those games unscathed.

Honestly, that little pasty runt who kept taking his shirt off is annoying as...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgRx6e059Y

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I’m not thinking about a title challenge anymore, we’ve just won our first game in 5 via a slice of luck and can’t defend for shit at the moment, we’re conceding too many goals. If we find some momentum again then I’ll start dreaming but that’s now on pause. I saw a team that wilted against City and were quite obviously phased by the occasion. It didn’t look like a team that was ready to win the title to me. We’ve got away trips at Liverpool, City and Newcastle in the run-in, I don’t really see us escaping those games unscathed.

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Don't disagree with any of this, but hopefully that result will get them going and stop it from all completely falling apart.
I've scoffed at people who said Top 4 was in doubt, but if we'd lost on Saturday - or even drawn really - then we'd have continued the freefall, hopefully this will get a bit of belief back.

Yes for me it's about finishing in the top three and competing with the Manchester clubs.

Next season will be tougher but if we look like a club that can actually win stuff then that will help with new signings in the summer

Loved the end of this game and I thought we saw real character from the team in the second half. I'm still concerned that we are not the well oiled machine that we were a month ago though, and we still lack the mythical 'verticality' going forwards. By playing such a high line, we invite the direct ball counter attack when we lose possession and this is for me the main reason why we seem to be gifting stupid goals to the opposition. Let's see whether we can build some momentum again with this jump start.

We defended like idiots against Villa at times. As good as he was at the start of the season, Saliba has been really poor since the World Cup.

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Originally Posted by GP

We defended like idiots against Villa at times. As good as he was at the start of the season, Saliba has been really poor since the World Cup.

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I think he is showing us all that he is still only 21. He will have ups and downs in form - the amazing thing was just how good his level is. I thought that he was caught out a bit by how deep Ollie Watkins started from. He should have got closer to him, but I don;t think his error was too egregious. I worry about how much we put our defence under pressure by leaving wide open spaces for the opposition to run into...

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Originally Posted by IBK

I worry about how much we put our defence under pressure by leaving wide open spaces for the opposition to run into...

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It's definitely that, we haven't worked out how to cover and when you have Xhaka and Zinchenko regularly giving the ball away, plus of course no left back and an RB who likes to get forward (about which i have no problelm per se), it's asking for trouble

all of it really comes down to Arteta's obsession with certain players and only playing one way - very few teams can always play the same way and still succeed in imposing themselves on any team, regardless of its tactics - we aren't there yet and may never be - I'd like to see a bit more variation and adaptaion, both in our starting lineups and in-game approach