Arsenal followed up their disappointing weekend defeat to Norwich with another to Schalke in the Champions League, taking them out of the driving seat in Group B.
Vito Mannone – 4 – another unconvincing performance from Vito, highlighting the need for a top class goalkeeper. Brought down Afellay early on and could have conceded a penalty.
Carl Jenkinson – 5 – didn’t do anything wrong but also didn’t get forward as much as usual. Perhaps a bit jaded.
Per Mertesacker – 5 – solid performance from the reliable BFG, however he didn’t really have much to do.
Thomas Vermaelen – 5 – certainly won’t be thanking a certain Mr Santos. Again, he didn’t really do much wrong himself as it was more of a poor team performance that lacked any real confidence in the final third.
Andre Santos – 2 – I don’t like giving stick to any player however this man surely deserves a bit. Player more as a left winger and was left exposed on numerous occasions. Absolutely shocking positioning which left TV5 playing two positions.
Francis Coquelin – 6 – Arsenal’s best player tonight. He was both sharp in the pass and crunching in the tackle. May have made the odd error but improves game by game.
Mikel Arteta – 5 – uncharacteristic performance from the Spaniard. Misplaced a few too many passes and was dispossessed several times. Gave it his all though.
Santi Cazorla – 5 – looks very jaded. He had a couple moments of brilliance but not as many as usual. Perhaps needs a rest to get his cutting edge back.
Aaron Ramsey – 4 – lacked that bit of quality today. He worked very hard both offensively and defensively. Always get the impression he tries a bit too hard.
Gervinho – 3 – Woeful performance. His decision making was poor and seems out of sync with the rest of the team. Don’t understand why he started in all honesty. The false number nine role can work, as we have seen with Barcelona. However, you need the player to be of high quality and I really don’t think Gervinho is.
Lukas Podolski – 5 – put in a good shift but didn’t really offer much. Put in a great cross but as has been the case so often recently, there was no striker to convert.
SUBS
Olivier Giroud – n/a – can’t really remember him touching the ball. I would have started him for the simple fact he is our striker. His type of player can’t be brought on as a super sub for the last 15 minutes.
Serge Gnabry – 6 – made a brief appearance as a sub and offered more in those 5 minutes than the team did in the rest of the match. The fact an 85th minute sub had our only shot on target leaves a lot to be desired. He looks an exceptional talent who I think everyone would like to see get more game time.
Andrey Arshavin – n/a – made a 5 minute appearance as a sub. I don’t think he touched the ball which is why I can’t give him a rating.
So another disappointing performance brings another disappointing result. Still don’t understand the whole, not playing with a striker idea but, oh well. Only thing we can do is to look ahead to the home game against QPR on Saturday. With the imminent return of Jack Wilshere, things will be certain to change.
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