After that crazy game in midweek against Reading in the Capital One Cup, Arsenal returned to the league against Man Utd who had also featured in a high scoring game in midweek.
In what used to be the 1st v 2nd place match in the league, Arsenal were comprehensively beaten at Old Trafford today, as a dominant Man Utd easily overcame a poor Arsenal performance, winning 2-1, thankfully though it was nowhere near as embarrassing as last years match.
Vito Mannone – 7 – the Italian shot-stopper could do nothing about the two goals which he conceded, however, he did pull off some very good saves during the match to keep the score line down.
Bacary Sagna – 5– defensively found it hard to deal with Young, though was arguably the best defender, however, offensively he didn’t contribute enough.
Per Mertesacker – 5 – nowhere near the big German’s best performance for the club, as he wasn’t reliable enough today, though was still better than his centre half partner.
Thomas Vermaelen – 4– an off day from skipper, as he had a day to forget today. It started badly when he his poor clearance dropped straight to Van Persie for him to score inside the opening few minutes, and he was then left wanting a few times in the match. Needs to be better.
Andre Santos – 4 – again a poor performance from the Brazilian fullback. Defensively he was poor, offensively only slightly better. Not good enough for Arsenal, hopefully Gibbs is back soon, otherwise Wenger should start playing Jenkinson instead.
Mikel Arteta – 5 – a quiet, unspectacular performance today, as he didn’t really get into the game today, needs to be better from one of Arsenal’s most experienced players.
Jack Wilshere – 5 – was probably Arsenal’s best midfielder before he got sent off, which effectively ended any chance of an Arsenal comeback. Only going to get better as he gets back to match fitness.
Santi Cazorla – 6 – had perhaps his quietest game for Arsenal, from the man who usually runs the show for us. This could be why offensively we were so poor today. However, he did score a beauty of a consolation goal right at the death.
Lukas Podolski – 4 – a very subdued performance today, which reflected Arsenal’s performance in general really. After starting the season brightly, he has really faded recently, and he needs to seriously improve his performances.
Olivier Giroud – 5 – had little service all game, which lead to him having to drop deep again. Had a few chances which he perhaps should have done better with, though his general ball play was not as good as usual today.
Aaron Ramsey – 5 – not a natural winger, and likes to drift inside too often. Against a team like Man Utd he was never going to flourish, although he was our most offensive player in the first half, which sums up how poor we really were.
SUBS
Theo Walcott – 5 – following his goal scoring exploits in midweek, he may have liked to start today, but when he came on, he didn’t really offer much offensively, apart from firing a shot into row Z.
Andrei Arshavin – 4 – came on, got booked. Did very little, just like the man he replaced, Podolski.
The score line flattered Arsenal today as they were completely dominated by Man Utd. The overall performance of the team was subdued and poor. They looked short of ideas in attack, and looked short of confidence in defence. Arsenal will need to be significantly better if they are even to pose a threat to Schalke in midweek in the Champions League.
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