Wolves 0-1 Arsenal Player Rating and Match Reaction

[KSE Comedy Club]

Haven’t done one of these in a while because frankly most of our results and performances have just depressed me


Raya 7 - Strong presence in goal


Timber 7 - Strong and solid as per usual, could have won a penalty for us if Oliver wasn’t the referee


Saliba 7 - Wasn’t expecting him back today, massive relief that he was…lost Sarabia in first half but settled after that


Gabriel 7 - Untroubled and helped us get forward



Lewis-Skelly 6 - Recipient of one of the harshest red cards in football history



Partey 6 - Playing at 6 the match passed him by



Rice 6 - He did work hard and play well, but I can’t award him any higher because playing him at 8 is why our build up play is so slow


Nwaneri 6 - Being asked to be the main creative output was too much for him. His future is out wide rather than in the middle


Martinelli 6 - Plenty of running but won’t gamble to get onto the end of things


Trossard 6 - Is trying to create assists for Havertz, but this was extent of his influence on the game



Havertz 6 - Don’t want to mark him down because he’s getting into the position to score but clearly lacks the composure to take the chances. He’s not a striker never has been (anymore than he is a central midfielder) but I also think he’s the lightning rod for fan abuse when he’s working his bollocks off



Subs


Calafiori 7 - Good controlled finish for the goal


Tierney 7 - Injuries aside, he’s a good player and I think he’s been harshly treated by Arteta




Same old story encapsulated in one game, not creating enough chances, fluffing the good chances we do make and being targeted by referees (to the point now where even the media getting involved….the joke is as ridiculous as that card was, it’s not the most ridiculous decision against us this season…that for me is the Rice sending off). Fortunately for us, Gomes decided to help us out by being such a thug that even Michael Oliver couldn’t ignore it.

Declan Rice, I don’t think anyone can question his work rate, how involved he gets in our play and how he tries to make things happen. But I’m sorry that for me is the problem, in such an advanced position on the pitch you need someone who has better passing range and does things half a second quicker. He’s not a central midfielder, he’s a defensive midfielder…he’s not technically proficient enough to be the former.

I don’t really get how he and Zubimendi playing together will help us going forward when it comes to breaking down teams that play the deep block.

I could say more about Havertz but what more needs to be said, we need a striker to finish off chances. 65 million is a lot for someone who at best is a squad player and not a first team player.

I could also say more about the sending off, but what’s the point? No one who doesn’t use braille to read thinks it’s anything more than a yellow. I think the club should appeal and also someone at the club needs to put an arm round the lad and say “you did nothing wrong, a defenders job sometimes is to take a card for the team to stop a break from happening. Not your fault Oliver is a cunt”

Oh please, not you as well.

This 'deep block' / 'low block' just doesn't exist as a 'thing'. It's something Arsenal fans have made up this season to deflect from the fact our own attacking build up play is too slow and completely laboured.
It's just called 'defending'.

It's also not a 'tactic' - teams just sit back & defend against us because WE make it easy for them to do so.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I find this myopia a very online phenomenon. This belief that something has to be one thing or the other, you’ve picked how I’ve used the term deep block but quoted the whole post which talks about our slow build up play (which you’ve curiously ignored)

Not every team plays a deep block against us, but most do….especially at the Emirates. And yes of course they do it effectively because of our slow build up play.

[KSE Comedy Club]

And then we need somebody on the end of all that to actually stick the ball in the net. Gyokeres, ideal, Vladhovic, sounds like that's dead, Iaask, not as good but good enough, Sesko - NO, NO, NO, but of we sign him in addition then no complaints. That bum at Wolves or the other cut-price shit they have been mooting this week - yeah right.

I agree with on this, my top choice is Gyokeres.

But for some reason Arteta wants another attacking winger type in Sesko - and so we will be in the same position as we were when everyone was fit.
No real change to our attack in that we still won't have a striker.

[KSE Comedy Club]

I find this myopia a very online phenomenon. This belief that something has to be one thing or the other, you’ve picked how I’ve used the term deep block but quoted the whole post which talks about our slow build up play (which you’ve curiously ignored)

Not every team plays a deep block against us, but most do….especially at the Emirates. And yes of course they do it effectively because of our slow build up play.

Because it's not a 'deep block' - teams just 'defend'.

That's it, plain and simple.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Because it's not a 'deep block' - teams just 'defend'.

That's it, plain and simple.

No it’s not that plain and simple, not all defending means you bring every single player back to camp out in your own box

The fact that our build up play is slow gives teams the time to get back and do this. But they still do it.


Everton, Ipswich and Newcastle all have played like this at the Emirates in the last month or so.

[Letters]

Because it's not a 'deep block' - teams just 'defend'.

That's it, plain and simple.

Are you saying that all teams just defend?
There are obviously some teams who are more attack minded and some who are more defence minded. And lower teams will generally do the latter against the top teams - because why would you be too bold in attack against them? You'd get ripped to shreds. The only thing I will say is the term "deep block" seems to be a new invention to describe what has been going on for decades.

[HCZ_Reborn]

It’s not a new thing at all. I’m not even criticising teams that do it. But it is above and beyond normal defending

[KSE Comedy Club]

Are you saying that all teams just defend?
There are obviously some teams who are more attack minded and some who are more defence minded. And lower teams will generally do the latter against the top teams - because why would you be too bold in attack against them? You'd get ripped to shreds. The only thing I will say is the term "deep block" seems to be a new invention to describe what has been going on for decades.

Well it used to be called 'parking the bus' and we all knew that meant 11 men behind the ball.

This season it's now deep block / low block which seems like it has been thought up like it's some awful tactic a team will use to stop us from scoring.
Instead is always a situation entirely of our own making.

I just find it really irritating - I don't know why

[KSE Comedy Club]

It’s not a new thing at all. I’m not even criticising teams that do it. But it is above and beyond normal defending

Is it though?

So is normal defending just having your line of 4 and GK trying to stop the other team from scoring exclusively, whilst the rest of the team just sit in midfield watching and waiting?

[Mac76]

Well it used to be called 'parking the bus' and we all knew that meant 11 men behind the ball.

Correct

This season it's now deep block / low block which seems like it has been thought up like it's some awful tactic a team will use to stop us from scoring.

not just this season, it's a term which has crept in over the last few years - it's basically people tryig to make football sound more intellectual

Instead is always a situation entirely of our own making.

well then 'our own making' would partly be that we are capable of scoring lots of goals if people don't park the bus - see Crystal Palace away recently, where they went for it and it played into our hands.

but we do make it worse because our attack is so slow in transition that it allows the oppostion to get neatly into shape and then we're in that familiar horseshoe routine until Odegaard tries to put one over the top or Trossard, the most enterprising Arsenal player by some distance, tries to break through