Match Reaction v Man Utd

[Joker]

Player ratings (via Arseblog)

Wojciech Szczesny: 7/10 - No chance with the penalty even though he went the right way, made a great save in the first half with his face, looks more solid since his return.
Bacary Sagna: 3/10 - Ghastly for the goal, the pass was bad enough but chopping down the Dutch Skunk was brainless. Could have been sent off in the 2nd half for a reckless lunge on Evra. Above all else it’s sad to see a player who was so consistent play so poorly in what’s likely to be his final season at the club.
Per Mertesacker: 7/10 - Solid and the partnership with Koscielny continues to impress. Obviously did something to annoy van Persie because he was chopped down by the former captain – in a very similar manner to the way van Persie nailed him at Old Trafford too.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10 - Arsenal’s best player on the day, his aggressive defending complements Mertesacker’s good reading of the game, and bar the penalty van Persie offered little all game.
Kieran Gibbs: 6/10 - A 6 performance if ever there was one. Not sure what else to say.
Mikel Arteta: 6/10 - See above.
Aaron Ramsey: 7/10 - Ran himself into the ground for the team. Some of his passing was a bit wayward but tried to make things happen.
Tomas Rosicky: 7/10 - Faded and replaced on the hour mark, but got the assist for Walcott’s goal and could have scored in the second with a trademark outside of the footer. Like Ramsey, worked his arse off, particularly in the first half.
Santi Cazorla: 7/10 - Stung de Gea’s palms twice with rasping shots from distance, which looked our best chance of scoring another goal. Ostensibly picked on the left side but has a very free role which isn’t always to the benefit of the team’s balance.
Theo Walcott: 6/10 - Scored. That was it.
Lukas Podolski: 5/10 - We can see why he’s not picked as a centre-forward often. Involved well in the goal but really struggled and it’s hard to know how much of it is form, and how much of it is his lack of fitness.
Subs:
Jack Wilshere: 6/10 – Replaced Rosicky.
Gervinho: 6/10 – Came on for Podolski.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6/10 – He took the place of Ramsey. None of the subs did very much.

[Niall_Quinn]

There is two differences between the two sides that played yesterday.

One is RVP. Someone world class who can turn games like yesterday into three points.

The second is purely down to management. Organisation, dicipline and desire.

Aside from RVP, they aren't a great deal better than us.

We were in 9th gear for the first half yesterday, Utd were in drunk and in neutral coasting on the hard shoulder. Let's not kid ourselves. There's a gulf between the teams, 21 points or something like that. Same last season, same the season before, it's no fluke.

[Letters]

It's not a fluke but that a lot of that gulf could be made up by one or two top signings. We don't need a complete restructure or to go nuts in the transfer market to compete.

[Niall_Quinn]

Player ratings (via Arseblog)

I don't know why they judge it on a 1-10 scale because you have to be really awful to get less than 5. So do a 1-5 scale. And how he marks Podolski lower than Walcott is a mystery. Podolski may have been largely anonymous but at least that meant he didn't destroy everything we tried to do, which was Walcott's whole game yesterday. And 3 for Sagna? Why so generous. He single-handedly threw the game. What does a player have to do to get zero? Cazorla 7/10? Really? For what? Giving the ball away? He's right about the two centre backs though. They are doing okay with so much shite going on around them.

[Niall_Quinn]

It's not a fluke but that a lot of that gulf could be made up by one or two top signings. We don't need a complete restructure or to go nuts in the transfer market to compete.

Neither is it a fluke that this has been a consistent requirement for season after season. Just a couple of quality players to replace the quality that has been lost. Yes you are correct, our demise has been deliberately engineered.

[Letters]

Neither is it a fluke that this has been a consistent requirement for season after season. Just a couple of quality players to replace the quality that has been lost. Yes you are correct, our demise has been deliberately engineered.

I'm not sure what you mean by demise, since 2007/8 when we finished with 83 points we've been pretty consistent in terms of points per season. 72, 75, 68, 70. We currently have 64 with 3 games left so we're likely to be in the same range again. For all the flak Wenger gets, while the club has asset stripped continually he's kept us remarkably consistent.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm not sure what you mean by demise, since 2007/8 when we finished with 83 points we've been pretty consistent in terms of points per season. 72, 75, 68, 70. We currently have 64 with 3 games left so we're likely to be in the same range again. For all the flak Wenger gets, while the club has asset stripped continually he's kept us remarkably consistent.

By demise I mean no longer winning titles, cups, no longer player hugely entertaining football, no longer having a winning mentality but instead playing dreadful football and failing every significant challenge that gets put in front of us - except of course the financially rewarding and much coveted 4th place me too CL spot which is a nice little earner until the obligatory defeat to the first significant opponent.

At least I view it as a demise. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's a strange sort of progress that hasn't been fully explained to the fans.

[Cripps_orig]

Player ratings (via Arseblog)

Wouldn't disagree with much of that bar Cazorla. He was a bit shit. 5/10 at least

[selassie]

They are just better than us and we lack quality in key areas, not the squad, the first XI...sigh...

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a bad result yesterday, we draw against a far superior side. Is it enough for top 4? I dunno...does it matter really?...I mean if we finish top 4 or not?...things aren't going to change are they?

[Niall_Quinn]

They are just better than us and we lack quality in key areas, not the squad, the first XI...sigh...

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a bad result yesterday, we draw against a far superior side. Is it enough for top 4? I dunno...does it matter really?...I mean if we finish top 4 or not?...things aren't going to change are they?

It matters from a competitive viewpoint that we finish as high as possible, preferably 3rd. We should be striving for that not because it brings CL qualification but because we are in a competitive sport and want to finish above our rivals. But the club has twisted it so 4th is as good as 3rd because there's a cash bonus involved in the form of CL qualification, our virtual trophy. If the money generated from participation in the CL was put back into the club in some constructive manner then it would be fine, but it's not. It's used to boost the balance sheet, retain second rate players and heighten the prestige of the club. All of these things work in favour of the shareholders. That's what this CL shite is all about, keeping things rolling along for the shareholders. They won't invest in the players that would give us even an outside chance of winning it so no, really there's zero point being in this CL thing.