Brentford 1-3 Arsenal Player Rating and Match Reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Raya 5.5 - One of my bug bears is to see a keeper beaten at his near post, additionally he let a shot slip through his grasp (albeit he did very well to recover)


Timber 6 - Doesn't help us getting himself booked, meaning that he’s out of the Brighton game


Saliba 7 - Struggled with the Route one football a bit, but largely kept Wissa under control


Gabriel 7 - Did well given he got little protection from Partey


Calafiori 6 - Still not fully at the races


Partey 7.5 - Neglects defensive duties, but is so important to us in getting the ball forward. It’s almost like he should be playing at 8


Merino 6 - stodgy and pointless player


Odegaard 6 - Serves up some utter shit at times since coming back from injury, still we are unbeaten with him in the side so should count for something


Nwaneri 8 - Probably the best player on the pitch


Martinelli 7 - As I’ve said, plays better when he has Calafiori behind him


Jesus 7 - Good reaction follow up to get the equaliser, still far too hesitant to take shots on



Subs

All were brought on to just be fresh legs and close the game out. No one stood out for good or for Ill



What impressed me tonight was how all three goals came from us being quickest to respond to loose balls in their box. That for me shows desire and determination.

Both Jesus and Martinelli seem to do better when they don’t give themselves too much time to think (or in their case hesitate) and just act instinctively

Last away game in London this season in the league, don’t know if that’s a good thing (probably not given our excellent record in London derbies recently). But now moving on to the South Coast where we’ve already lost once this season to play a Brighton side that we tend to struggle with. This was a tough game, that will be tougher

[Letters]

Tell you what, I just noticed how good Brentford's home record is. Before last night they were
P9 W1 D1 L1

If you do a league table of home games they're second only to Liverpool. So that was a very good win last night, especially having gone a goal down.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Tell you what, I just noticed how good Brentford's home record is. Before last night they were
P9 W1 D1 L1

If you do a league table of home games they're second only to Liverpool. So that was a very good win last night, especially having gone a goal down.

That also has to be put in perspective, they hadn’t won in their last three games prior to playing us

They had lost their first home game in their most recent home game to Forest, and with the exception of Bournemouth and Newcastle…all their home wins had been against the teams battling relegation


Where as away from home they’ve played harder teams and managed over two points from nine games


Fortunately for us Brighton are also in indifferent form (they haven’t won a single game from the last seven)

[IBK]

While personally I think that the league title is not going to happen for us, this game saw a performance that you would want from potential champions. A tough away game after a congested fixture period, with key players missing, and we stepped up. It was so disappointing to see yet another team score first on their first attack against us (after a dominant opening period), but full marks for our response. Delighted to see Nwaneri deputising so well for Saka, and it was so important for Jesus and Martinelli to score given how much we now depend on them in attack.

I thought Jesus had an excellent game, and (slightly contrary to HCZ) I thought that he was on his toes and played bravely.

Whoever you play in this league, and whatever their form, it is tough to come back after going a goal down, particularly against a team that is so good at pressing, but then transitioning quickly into a deep block. Our performance against the deep block was much better than it has been at times this season.

We showed personality yesterday, and we will need to continue to do so while Arteta finds ways to win games without our talisman.

[Mac76]

@IBK

Generally agree with all that and don't worry about HCZ, his player ratings are reknowned for their absurdity, e.g. he describes Merino as 'pointless' - I mean, the guy only scored a goal

[HCZ_Reborn]

@IBK

Generally agree with all that and don't worry about HCZ, his player ratings are reknowned for their absurdity, e.g. he describes Merino as 'pointless' - I mean, the guy only scored a goal

Are you still going with the idea that 6 is a harsh score? Even though it’s routinely used as an average score in almost every online or print player rating. You’re as likely to let go of things as a barnacle.


That’s a bit like saying because Zinchenko has scored two goals that he isn’t a pointless player. He doesn’t add anything to the team, he’s now not even tracking back…that he scored a goal because Flekken made a hash of a corner where he could and should have claimed the ball doesn’t change that.

And there were at least two occasions where Jesus held onto the ball for too long when he could have taken a shot, it’s odd given some of his finishing of late has been very good

It’s always the dimmest people that are the most condescending I find