Chelsea vs Arsenal: Player Ratings and Match Reaction

Raya: 2 - What does this guy have to do to be dropped?. Literally start throwing the ball into our own goal


White: 5 - Didn’t really have much opportunity to get forward as he normally does


Saliba: 6 - As I say I think the penalty was massively harsh but not a good performance, could not cope with the conditions or with players like Cole Palmer


Gabriel: 6 - Same as Saliba, largely static


Zinchenko: 3 - Can’t defend, doesn’t contribute to attack so even Arteta pulled him


Jorginho: 4 - Intimidated by Chelsea midfield into a lot of back passes


Rice: 8 - As a footballer doesn’t impress me, as a leader and someone who rolls their sleeves up he is unquestionably top of his game. That said finding the net from that that far out is no mean feat


Odegaard: 6 - Not going to harp on this goes missing in big games, because a) in reality this isn’t a big game anymore and b) he played some good passes into Jesus but if Jesus won’t make the runs what can you do


Saka: 5 - Doesn’t look match fit, and was bossed by Cucurella


Martinelli: 5 - Largely anonymous


Jesus: 3 - Utter joke, yes we know he’s not a goalscorer but he’s not even trying at the moment. Not making the runs…just not doing much of anything



Subs:

Tomiyasu - 6

Nketiah - 6

Smith Rowe - 6

Trossard - 7.5

Havertz - 6


Looking at this in the context of a single one off result, I’m satisfied…I think especially to come back from two nil down. But the performance was garbage, you can argue Arteta set us up the wrong way and I wouldn’t disagree with that, but even the players we normally depend on to be solid were flagging (the exception being Rice who I think despite his limited ability has almost never had a poor game in an Arsenal shirt). Yes it was raining but so what? There are too many games like this the season where the result has been far better than the performance, but I think this arguably was the worst we’ve played this season. I hope it’s not indicative of where we go from here.

The fact that we’ve lost only once in thirteen games (including the community shield) is for me nothing short of miraculous, maybe it speaks to a character the team has. And I don’t think character can denied coming back from 2-0 down away from home (which is something we haven’t done since August 2014) but for 75 minutes no-one here could have complained that the scoreline was harsh on us.

The lack of firepower is a huge concern right now. I’m not sure how much longer this can go on for before we’re found out.

We’ve got Newcastle away in 2 weeks and I suspect that could be a brutal lesson if the forwards haven’t sharpened up by then.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Raya: 2 - What does this guy have to do to be dropped?. Literally start throwing the ball into our own goal


White: 5 - Didn’t really have much opportunity to get forward as he normally does


Saliba: 6 - As I say I think the penalty was massively harsh but not a good performance, could not cope with the conditions or with players like Cole Palmer


Gabriel: 6 - Same as Saliba, largely static


Zinchenko: 3 - Can’t defend, doesn’t contribute to attack so even Arteta pulled him


Jorginho: 4 - Intimidated by Chelsea midfield into a lot of back passes


Rice: 8 - As a footballer doesn’t impress me, as a leader and someone who rolls their sleeves up he is unquestionably top of his game. That said finding the net from that that far out is no mean feat


Odegaard: 6 - Not going to harp on this goes missing in big games, because a) in reality this isn’t a big game anymore and b) he played some good passes into Jesus but if Jesus won’t make the runs what can you do


Saka: 5 - Doesn’t look match fit, and was bossed by Cucurella


Martinelli: 5 - Largely anonymous


Jesus: 3 - Utter joke, yes we know he’s not a goalscorer but he’s not even trying at the moment. Not making the runs…just not doing much of anything



Subs:

Tomiyasu - 6

Nketiah - 6

Smith Rowe - 6

Trossard - 7.5

Havertz - 6


Looking at this in the context of a single one off result, I’m satisfied…I think especially to come back from two nil down. But the performance was garbage, you can argue Arteta set us up the wrong way and I wouldn’t disagree with that, but even the players we normally depend on to be solid were flagging (the exception being Rice who I think despite his limited ability has almost never had a poor game in an Arsenal shirt). Yes it was raining but so what? There are too many games like this the season where the result has been far better than the performance, but I think this arguably was the worst we’ve played this season. I hope it’s not indicative of where we go from here.

The fact that we’ve lost only once in thirteen games (including the community shield) is for me nothing short of miraculous, maybe it speaks to a character the team has. And I don’t think character can denied coming back from 2-0 down away from home (which is something we haven’t done since August 2014) but for 75 minutes no-one here could have complained that the scoreline was harsh on us.

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Pretty good summary of the crap we witnessed yesterday.

The parts in bold adequately reflect my worries...how many more times are we going to keep fluking results over performances?! Obviously its going to catchup to us and we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Its so annoying, that now that we finally have a team that displays a bit off character (something we've not seen since the early day of AW), they are just not performing or syncing and its obviously something the manager is getting wrong with the setup and his selections seeing as this is pretty much the same team we had last season with supposed improvements.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Zinchenko: 3 - Can’t defend, doesn’t contribute to attack so even Arteta pulled him

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If that was indeed the reason for his being subbed, then this has to be the biggest plus from the game, if it means he goes with another option at LB and we actually start a match with 11 men for once

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Originally Posted by Mac76

If that was indeed the reason for his being subbed, then this has to be the biggest plus from the game, if it means he goes with another option at LB and we actually start a match with 11 men for once

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Possibly but I don’t particularly see Tomiyasu as a better option…he’s right footed and whilst he has better defensive instincts than Zinchenko isn’t really a footballer in any technical sense. Not saying I’d prefer Zinchenko, I just don’t think either are great options

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Possibly but I don’t particularly see Tomiyasu as a better option…he’s right footed and whilst he has better defensive instincts than Zinchenko isn’t really a footballer in any technical sense. Not saying I’d prefer Zinchenko, I just don’t think either are great options

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Which of course demonstrates the folly of letting go of Tierney, it would be funny if we had to get another LB on loan in January, unless we could get Tierney back at that point, I think that's sometimes possible depending on the deal - I get he doesn't like Tierney though, so it's not likely

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Originally Posted by Mac76

Which of course demonstrates the folly of letting go of Tierney, it would be funny if we had to get another LB on loan in January, unless we could get Tierney back at that point, I think that's sometimes possible depending on the deal - I get he doesn't like Tierney though, so it's not likely

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It seems to be the position more than the player. I don’t think he necessarily has much time for the traditional full back and whilst I think that’s folly…it is what it is. Whether we went into the market for a left back (which no I certainly couldn’t rule out) would I guess depend on the likelihood of Jurrien Timber being back say around March time

In comparison to last season with the same fixtures

Fulham at home we won last season, drew this

Everton away we lost last season, won this

Spurs at home we won last season, drew this

City at home we lost last season, won this

Chelsea away we won last season, drew this


That puts us on exactly the same points total from the same fixtures. Forest, Palace, United and Bournemouth the results in terms of points were the same as last season


Overall the difference is that we have scored two fewer goals 18 to 20 (but that also belongs with the context that five of the goals we’ve scored have been penalties, where as only one of those goals from the same fixtures last season were penalties)

So as always it comes down to not creating enough chances and not putting the ball in the net as much, but at the same time at least, this isn’t having a material impact on our overall fortunes. We are basically getting away with it to a degree, but that’s not going to hold out forever

While we’re here, I call bullshit on Mudryk meaning that.
Shanked cross IMO

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Originally Posted by Letters

While we’re here, I call bullshit on Mudryk meaning that.
Shanked cross IMO

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I kind of assumed that went without saying :lol:

Obviously doesn’t excuse Raya as his positioning was terrible but the intent of that mishit cross was to reach Sterling I think it was at the far post.

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I kind of assumed that went without saying :lol:

Obviously doesn’t excuse Raya as his positioning was terrible but the intent of that mishit cross was to reach Sterling I think it was at the far post.

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I mention it because some of the pundits on MoTD were claiming otherwise.
But as Lineker correctly noted, he wasn’t even looking at the goal.
I don’t actually blame Raya for that one, it was a freak goal.
I do blame him for passing the ball out to the Chelsea players and us having to scramble around trying to stop them scoring :doh:
Oh the plus side there was a good one where he dove* at the attackers feet to claim the ball well like they did in the 70s. That was a good bit of goalkeeping.
But overall he’s getting more wrong than right and while I’m not sure it’s actually cost us any points yet it’s surely only a matter of time.

The Chelsea ‘keeper was culpable for the Rice goal of course.

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Originally Posted by Letters

I mention it because some of the pundits on MoTD were claiming otherwise.
But as Lineker correctly noted, he wasn’t even looking at the goal.
I don’t actually blame Raya for that one, it was a freak goal.
I do blame him for passing the ball out to the Chelsea players and us having to scramble around trying to stop them scoring :doh:
Oh the plus side there was a good one where he dove* at the attackers feet to claim the ball well like they did in the 70s. That was a good bit of goalkeeping.
But overall he’s getting more wrong than right and while I’m not sure it’s actually cost us any points yet it’s surely only a matter of time.

The Chelsea ‘keeper was culpable for the Rice goal of course.

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His positioning was awful. If Mudryk hadn’t have mishit the cross it would have been there to be headed or tapped in by Sterling at the far post. As a goalkeeper you need to be able to read the direction of travel of the ball and adjust yourself accordingly….had he been positioned in the middle of the goal it wouldn’t have gone in it’s as simple as that

My best guess is he was positioning himself for the low cross so he could dive out and claim it. Did that a few times against City.

There is something to be said about being careful about signing goalkeepers who have never played at the top level of football. You can argue that when we signed Ramsdale he was 23, young and on a learning curve.

Yet with Robert Sánchez and David Raya we see examples of two keepers who frankly look completely out of their depth, they panic and flap because they are playing for sides where in many games they aren’t going to have a lot to do but need to stay switched on.

Arteta as he’s prone to do will persist with Raya because he thinks long term he will be proved right as to his superiority. He’s tracked Raya for at least three years, so in essence he was the goalkeeper he wanted. But like with other players he persists with. Zinchenko, Willian, Havertz etc I think it’s about putting hubris above team considerations

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

His positioning was awful. If Mudryk hadn’t have mishit the cross it would have been there to be headed or tapped in by Sterling at the far post. As a goalkeeper you need to be able to read the direction of travel of the ball and adjust yourself accordingly….had he been positioned in the middle of the goal it wouldn’t have gone in it’s as simple as that

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I was going to argue against this but I had a look again and…yeah, his positioning wasn’t great.
It was still a bit unlucky but he didn’t help himself

I think he was standing where he was because he was preparing to come and claim the cross, which he’s usually confident enough to do effectively. The way it flew in was clearly fluke though so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with that.

It’s what happened after that concerns me more. He’s obviously been instructed to play with his feet and that’s all well and good but I haven’t seen anything so far that suggests he’s capable of doing that to a high level like Ederson and Alisson.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I think he was standing where he was because he was preparing to come and claim the cross, which he’s usually confident enough to do effectively. The way it flew in was clearly fluke though so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with that.

It’s what happened after that concerns me more. He’s obviously been instructed to play with his feet and that’s all well and good but I haven’t seen anything so far that suggests he’s capable of doing that to a high level like Ederson and Alisson.

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Ramsdale can be a bit suspect playing it out but I’ve no doubt he’s less of a liability than Raya

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Ramsdale can be a bit suspect playing it out but I’ve no doubt he’s less of a liability than Raya

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Is any goalie 100% perfect? no they're not

Arteta is placing almost impossible standards on that position or at least Ram's contribution to it

I think Ram is one of the reasons why the club has got closer to the fans again, OK that doesn't give him a free pas to cock up regularly but the point is he wasn't - i think there was a period last season when he dropped off a bit but was still the measure of most PL goalies

I think I'd only prefer Edison over him in terms of PL keepers atm ( btw I suspect we will end up buying Edison at the point Pep thiinks he's past it and it will be another Cech situation where he doesn't give a sh*t and just picks up the money)

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Originally Posted by Mac76

Is any goalie 100% perfect? no they're not

Arteta is placing almost impossible standards on that position or at least Ram's contribution to it

I think Ram is one of the reasons why the club has got closer to the fans again, OK that doesn't give him a free pas to cock up regularly but the point is he wasn't - i think there was a period last season when he dropped off a bit but was still the measure of most PL goalies

I think I'd only prefer Edison over him in terms of PL keepers atm ( btw I suspect we will end up buying Edison at the point Pep thiinks he's past it and it will be another Cech situation where he doesn't give a sh*t and just picks up the money)

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Yeah I think Ederson is probably pound for pound the best keeper in the league.

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Originally Posted by Letters

dove*

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I don't know what you're footnote was going to say but this is ofc an Americanism and therefore IMO should not be used on this board :sulk:

(even though I quite like it :))

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Originally Posted by Mac76

I don't know what you're footnote was going to say but this is ofc an Americanism and therefore IMO should not be used on this board :sulk:

(even though I quite like it :))

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:lol:

Tbh I wasn’t sure if it was “dove” or “dived”.
I’m still not sure which is right. That’s what the footnote was going to say and then I forgot about it :lol: :doh:

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Originally Posted by Letters

:lol:

Tbh I wasn’t sure if it was “dove” or “dived”.
I’m still not sure which is right. That’s what the footnote was going to say and then I forgot about it :lol: :doh:

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I wasn't sure either so had to check it myself :lol: - this article says it's fallen into common use in the States but not so much here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/gram...ich-is-correct