Wolves 0-1 Arsenal Player Rating and Match Reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

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”

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

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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.

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This scares me too and is one of the reasons it is difficult for me to understand the dithering this season on addressing the basic problem of a striker and seemingly allowing the team to achieve its potential.

As far as I am concerned, there is no way next season our midfield will look stronger when it's almost guaranteed we will be losing both Partey (who on his day is unplayable) and Jorghino (bags of experience and class). IMO both players possess an array of differing skills and abilities that the other 2 DMs haven't displayed.

To think we will be replacing this loss by only adding another midfielder ( cut from the same cloth as Merino ) who will be seeking to slow our build up play down even further, is quite worrying and why I don't think next season will be a better chance of clinching the title than this one.

Currently, the whole world seems to be in agreement that we've only got one gaping hole in our team. While I kind of agree with this, I strongly believe that the imminent loss of the 2 aforementioned players is going to create a crater that is going to take Arteta years to recover from seeing as till now his system has struggled to recover from the loss of someone as unheralded as Xhaka.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Zubimendi isn’t really like Merino at all, he’s far more like Rodri…I’d argue he has the potential to be better than Rodri. But you do need creative players in front of him and Rice isn’t that. Arteta doesn’t prize that, he wants to control games and I don’t think he will ever give up that philosophy. A competent striker would mean that we won’t miss so many of the chances we do create. But we are a) never going to have a player who tops the goal scoring charts or b) play consistently entertaining football.

[Mac76]

Zubimendi isn’t really like Merino at all, he’s far more like Rodri…I’d argue he has the potential to be better than Rodri. But you do need creative players in front of him and Rice isn’t that. Arteta doesn’t prize that, he wants to control games and I don’t think he will ever give up that philosophy. A competent striker would mean that we won’t miss so many of the chances we do create. But we are a) never going to have a player who tops the goal scoring charts or b) play consistently entertaining football.

You're right re Zubi, and also re Arteta and control v creativity, I think we can only ever get so far until he loosens his philosophical grip on the team

[Niall_Quinn]

Zubimendi isn’t really like Merino at all, he’s far more like Rodri…I’d argue he has the potential to be better than Rodri. But you do need creative players in front of him and Rice isn’t that. Arteta doesn’t prize that, he wants to control games and I don’t think he will ever give up that philosophy. A competent striker would mean that we won’t miss so many of the chances we do create. But we are a) never going to have a player who tops the goal scoring charts or b) play consistently entertaining football.

Yeah, it would be a great signing if we can pull it off. IF. Lots of water to flow under that bridge yet. Is it just a means to appease the fans who are waiting for some activity in January? Forgive me for being intelligently cynical about the way Arsenal does business and its attitude to the fans.

But say we do sign him. For 51mill - could that even be true? I suppose he'll cost 300k a week in wages, so the final bill we be much bigger. This means we'd have two genuine playmakers on the books. So our legendary injury dramas could at least be rendered less catastrophic. But I can see a way he would fit into a team that also contains Odegard and Nypan, but it would mean the abandonment of tippy-tappy pep-ball. Could Arteta go there? I actually think he did just this week when we went down to 10 thanks to our good friend Oliver. I don't know if that's a sign Arteta has broken free, maybe learned some lessons, or whether it was one-off desperation. Hopefully the former. I don't know but maybe Pep's struggles this season will have a massive, positive, knock-on effect for world football in general.

Of course if we bring Zubimendi and tell him, here's your tip-tap assignment, then nothing much changes.

[Niall_Quinn]

And Rice. Rice is the player who would allow the other three to play.

[Niall_Quinn]

And get rid of players like Partey and Merino FFS and do it quickly.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I could be wrong but I’m fairly sure Zubimendi is a fait accomplit at this point

[Niall_Quinn]

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.

[Niall_Quinn]

I could be wrong but I’m fairly sure Zubimendi is a fait accomplit at this point

You could be wrong.