Fulham vs Arsenal, 0-1: Full time thoughts, analysis and player ratings
With Chelsea losing away at Wigan, we simply HAD to win this afternoon and so we did. It could have easily ended in a draw or worse if it wasn’t for Vito Mannone, the Italian goalkeeper who many – including myself – thought he was there just to make numbers. Instead, he played full of confidence, excellent in leaving his goal and incredible in denying the home side.
The negative comes again from the usual suspects. Abou Diaby, horrible in midfield and Gael Clichy, no idea what is wrong with the Frenchman this season, but he’s turning into a liability.
Player Ratings
Mannone: 10 – Ever saw one of those masks BBC have on their websites? The tennis ones include Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, you name it. If they put Mannone’s mask up there tonight, I’ll print it and spend this Sunday wearing it. He won us the game.
Gallas and Vermaelen: 8,5 – Granted, if the keeper had to make so many saves, maybe the backline was shaky, but not really. Billy and Thomas saved our ass a number of times, were dominant in the air and again, I ask what will happen to us if one of them, or both, suffers an injury.
Clichy: 5 – Way too many balls given away cheaply and today we were lucky not to concede in the second half after he gifted the ball to Fulham.
Sagna: 8 – The opposite of Clichy. Incredibly solid at the back and his tackling was perfect.
Diaby: 2 – I stole this from the chat as it fits to perfection: His number matches the rating he deserves. I honestly thought we were toast when he first gave away the ball and then fouled close to the penalty area around the 80th minute.
Song: 8 – Phenomenal. What to expect from someone who has to do his work and Diaby’s as well? Well done, Alex.
Fabregas: 6,5 – An anonymous first half, VERY anonymous, only to remember how good he can be in the second and provide the assist to Robin’s goal. More of that please, Cesc.
Arshavin: 6,5 – Not bad, considering he’s back from injury. You could see the midfield almost always searching for him as they know he’s one who can create magic, any time, any day.
Van Persie: 7 – Like Cesc, very disappointing in the first half but like Cesc, he remembered how good he is and slotted home another right-footed special.
Bendtner: 7 – I wanted him to start and delighted he did so. We needed a strong figure up front against Fulham’s back four and he provided just what I wanted.
(Subs)
Rosicky: 6 – Was not involved much, but glad to see the Czech back in the squad.
Eboue: 6,5 – So close to score, did nothing wrong in the few minutes he spent on the pitch.
![[Video] Chelsea vs Arsenal: Match Video Highlights](http://www.thegunninghawk.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia-premium/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/video.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1)
talk about bandwagon.
diaby made some mistakes and was far from brilliant but he was better than arshavin. 2/10 are you serious? i can’t even believe what nonsense that is.
i don’t even rate diaby and i don’t think he was great today. on balance he was decent. seriously just watch the game and stop forming your opinions of the match on your predecided opinion of the player, because 2/10 for diaby today is so unfair it’s not even funny. he gave the ball away too many times, but so did song. song did more on the ball and was notably better, but not 6 better jesus christ. diaby has to have been worth a 5 even if you are cynical about this. he couldn’t possibly get better than 7 or lower than 5. personally having actually taken a reasoned approach i would give him a 6.
i just can’t even be bothered with this bandwagon nonsense. you slated clichy heavily and he got a 5. you think diaby was less than half as good? grow up….
wow, another in arsene we trust sad individual
i would have given diaby a 0, 2 is flattering
Nigel, no need insult.
Ryan, if you “can’t even be bothered”, then why did you comment in the first place?
Diaby was better than arshavin? And you ask me to “watch the game”? I respect what our readers post, but I’m afraid you need to look at the mirror before saying “grow up”.
Oh by the way, it’ll be a long night for you mate going around blogs and websites who gave Diaby a low rating. Good luck with that.
No, 2 out of 10 is overly harsh. I didn’t think diaby was particularly bad. Made quite a few interceptions, but I don’t like his “lazy style”. He seems to be trying to lull the opponents into a false sense of security, and sometimes it seems to work!
He made a few mistakes and not everything he tried came off, but he wasn’t so bad. 5.5 out of 10 is probably fair. I think you’re giving 2 because of past performances, or perceived attitude, not entirely on what he did in the game. Seriously, if everybody starts with a clean slate each game, you have to play extremely badly to be worth a 2/10, surely. Like, tackling you own players, giving away penalties and getting sent off sort of bad. And while you might not be convinced by diaby – and based on his performances I could understand that pov – He wasn’t a 2/10 in this match. No way.
Arshavin wasn’t great either, but he seemed to put in more effort than diaby. 6 imo.
When arshavin isn’t scoring, he’s not a amazingly good imo. I wouldn’t take him out the team though, because he IS always liable to score. Was shocked when he missed his one real chance, although that did jump up in front of him.
Glad someone is capable of disagreeing with a rating in a mature way. And yes, past performances by Diaby may make me not appreciate the few good things he does out there.
But I don’t blame him, I blame Wenger for not trying to shuffle the cards a little bit, especially when we face “easy” opponents. Tuesday is another opportunity. Olympiakos produced a fine win away at AEK but I believe Wenger can experiment a little bit when we face them.
ryan u speak sense man its like hes rated from a spud (no offense to the blogger). yes he did lose the ball but had some good runs and blocks too stop cursing him for that own goal thats history.i cant understand why no one points out bendtner who is clearly the weaker link not even 1 goal in the league and only 1 in champs league. he misses alot of chances and not at all creative clearly the weaker link along with diaby and almunia
Did you use your brain to watch the game yesterday?
Did you see Arshavin traced back to our defense area, making tackles to help defense. Where was Diaby at that time, he was on his holiday. Fuck him!
Did you see how Arshvin connected to Ces and Persie to create chances?
Did you see that when Arshavin had the ball on the left, hes just can’t find where is Diaby to pass the ball?
He got exhausted because he had to traced back too many times. It should be Diaby job instead. And you say he was lazy.
I’m so sorry for Arshavin when this clever guy has to play with some stupiddumper footballer like Diaby.
Fully agree with Ryan about Diaby, A load of people seem to dislike him, which then makes others follow the same view.
There is no way on earth he was 2/10 yesterday. In the first half he was no better or worse than anyone on the pitch, in the second he came a bit annonymous but I would give him 6/10 at least.
Give him a chance
Having seen the highlights minutes ago, a 6/10 would be too much for him, friend.
The last incredible save by Mannone, the free header started with Diaby FIRST giving the ball away, then fouling and FINALLY, failing to close down his marker which as said, went on to head freely. Watch the highlights to see what I mean.
Had Mannone not made that save …
Maybe harsh on Diaby but 0 … 2 … 4 … in doesn’t make much difference, he’s as poor as it can get although i agree saying he was better than arshavin is a joke.
i could care less what diaby gets. he has never been my favourite. i think gallas deserves a 9
Yes Rukky, but the problem is that every now and then we get someone who never posted on our website and as an introduction comment he opts to blast us left and right thinking he knows all about our rating history.
Sad, I know.
totally pissed off with ryan aint u?
anyway i agree with him mate,,,2 out of 10 was pretty harsh .maybe u can blame wenger for allowing him to start every game.
anyway we won,not one of our best performances, but there have been games where we have played really well and lost.
all cheers to mannone and RVP
what about Eboue he is bad as Diaby almost cost us a goal in those daring tricky 5 minues injury time.He shot wide on a scoring chance plus losing balls and bad passes
I didn’t really focus on Eboue’s performance as I usually do, I was way too tense during the final minutes of the game, but I think he did well.
Eboue was good when he came on. Wenger put him up front to occupy their defenders and he did that. Messed up his chance, but we all know finishing isnt his strong point.
Despite being on for such a short period of time, made several excellent runs and made chances.
I dont know wat some people are watching…
Eboue was great when he came on..he run to the fulham defence and gave them problems..he nearly scored( i could have given him a 7)
I really do not understand why Wenger insist on putting Diaby in every game. Is he blind?
A lot of people complain about Sagna inability of scoring goals but he really shines defensively he deserves a lot of credit for that, but Clichy is perfoming so poorly that I’m really worried.
Nasri, come back, please!
as long as people like the first poster here keep on defending him wenger will play him.
Yeah. The worst thing is see Diaby playing the whole game when 15 minutes should be more than enough.
I also wonder why Wenger leaves a sloppy Diaby on for 90mins.He loses the ball too easily and gets us on a backfoot .2 is a huge score for him. I sincerely wish Ramsey will get to play ahead of him . Kudos to Mannone
so perez tell me how will diaby improve if arsene doesnt give him more chances this guy will improve he just needs to wake up, sow 100% all the time and be leaded to what to do that is why arsene wanted to bring in vieira to manage some of the youngsters like song, denilson, ramsey, he will only get better you just watch remember the games against villa away, chelsea away, fenerbache away and man utd at home all last season this guy was incredible not to forget the incredible game he had at the emirates last season aswell against roma, please chris your wrong on giving him a 2, A DISGRACE AND UNACCEPTABLE
I understand your point of view. I’d like to see Ramsey and Wilshere play more ‘cos I know that is the only way to improve their skills. I sincerely hope Diaby improve his game but you cannot say that Wenger isn’t giving him chances. The problem is that Diaby is clearly getting worse. I always expect him to perform better but he seems to have a big lack of confidence.
I think Clichy misses Nasri, him and Arshavin don’t quite click
You guys donno what Diaby can do. His surging runs with the ball can create chances ANYTIME. Liability when asked to keep the ball steadily yes, but definitely an attacking THREAT for any opposition. Support the team 100%, thank you.
Since when giving ratings means not supporting the team? Ultimately, a quick roundup of what blogs and websites have been saying for the last eight months will make everyone understand Diaby is not good enough to play for Arsenal.
He wasn’t just attacking your rating, everyone is attacking diaby.
There is a culture among arsenal fans to just want everybody out.
Everyone wanted eboue out last season and he’s proven them all wrong.
Diaby is frustrating, but he is ridiculously talented. I’ve said it before, he’s like zidane. Trouble is I think his attitude ruins him. Hes not a “winner”. He’s unwilling to “get stuck in” consistently. That’s all that is missing from his game.
I don’t understand why you care so much about what other sites are saying Chris. It’s irrelevant.
I never wanted Eboue out to be honest, maybe against Spurs when he got sent off with that uninterested look.
Likewise on Bendtner.
I talk about other websites as in a way they are a measuring tool. If I give Diaby a 2, but the average of other websites is 8, than I ask questions on my ratings. Likewise if I give Mannone a 10 and others give him an average of 5.
What I don’t agree with is that if someone gives a poor rating, he’s not supporting the club, players or manager. Since when? As I always say, I could easily always write optimistic stuff to please those who believe criticising = not supporting, but it wouldn’t make any sense.
Ok, maybe I took your comment the wrong way
But in general its common among arsenal fans to be always calling for players’ heads. With most it was eboue before, with you it is almunia and now diaby (I think), and with me it’s probably walcott if anyone. In truth I’d rather he improved himself and got back into the team later though, he’s just too inconsistent to play atm imo
That’s not true. The fact is that we are Arsenal, not Portsmouth, Everton, Wigan and not Fullham. We are one of the biggest and best teams in the world and we want to see players coming in to replace the likes of Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Pires, etc. Some players simply are not good enough to be in any Arsenal squad much less the first team and Diaby is one of them. He is poor every time he gets the ball and one good movement a game doesn’t cut it. If that’s all he’s got the gaffer needs to keep his ass on the bench and bring him on if we need a goal. At the moment it’s like playing with 10 and it’s simply not good enough. Some of the young players have taken their chance in the first team very well (Song is a great example) and some have not. Diaby is simply not good enough and I am sick of hearing about his potential. It’s been 4 years so it’s high time to cut our losses and move on.
Your ratings are not always constructive and therefore may be viewed as not being supportive to the team.
You can criticise a player without helping build some sort of witch hunt against him (sometimes, with the vile way some of our supporters support the squad, who needs the spuds).
Diaby (though frustrating a lot of the time) is useful for his surging runs (keeps opposing midfielders/defenders honest) and his height (defending against crosses).
This is a player that needs to be out there playing to bed in better with the team.
He’s a player, who by the year’s end, could turn into a huge asset for the club (He’s certainly got power and we need power in this side).
Please guys: “crticise, but don’t rip him a new @r$eH*le”.
He is good for defending set plays? What games are you watching? He is dreadful and loses his man almost every time. You can’t just keep playing someone in hopes that they get better to the detriment of the team. There are players who fully deserve to be ahead of him and they need to be on the field. Putting him in the lineup causes us to play with 1 less man all over the pitch. This in turn causes our defenders and other positions to be pulled all over out of position and then we get exploited. The reason we have been giving up goals is not the defense, it’s the midfield. You can’t have song doing the work of 3 people and then be surprised when we give up goals.
Also, I see no reason to sugar coat it. If I am at work and I do a piss poor job then that’s that. My boss or my clients will call it like they see it. This is the same situation. He has played like crap and that’s just a fact. There’s no way around it. Simply not good enough.
Well,we were sloppy in defence… I am more and more worry about Clichy and Sagna performances… I only hope it is because we are at the beginning of the season and they still need to find their feet…
Diaby is playing because Nasri is injured… As soon as the sis is back he will back on the bench where he belongs…
Alumnia watch out…!! Mannone was man of the match by a mile…
Consistent and present… He has more “balls” then Alumnia.
Sometime you have to win scrappy and scruffy and we did it… We need to win at every cost and by any means necessary… That’s how you become champion.
Sagna did well today mate.
Well a few kicks to clear the box and the usual bad crossing…
The defence was not top as before…
I don’t know if any of Arsenal player are working on crosses in training… They’re just bad…!!!
the reason the defense was not as good is because they are under constant pressure since the midfield is so bad. They did very well covering all over with no real help.
diaby almunia and especially bendtner out please
what about eduardo and walcott any news on these to oh and today our performance was horrible rubbish nerve recking but if there is something this team doesn’t lack is quality cesc and rvp qiet all matchh then boom brilliant assist and finish those 2 are winners arshavin had that look which said omg what a horrible team and to be fair either song or diaby play these 2 together won’t win us titles
clichy had a lot to cope with in this match…he defended well sometimes…but fulham insisted very much on that side and he made mistakes…there was huge pressure on him…anyway i know how clichy can play…hope to recover to his best form…it’s very important…he’s the weakest on the defence right now and the oponents will notice and will insist more and more on his side…that’s what i think fulham coach told his players today…sagna was very solid and vermaelen and gallas as usual…
diaby has talent (u can see that in his dribbling sometimes and his runs) but right now he can’t help arsenal…he’s horrible..so many mistakes…and lazy..15 minutes or cup matches is enough for him…rosicky must take his place…wenger must force him…
and bendner…i like him because he fights a lot for the ball,he’s a fighter.he doesn’t have the magic and technique others have but it’s good to have a player like that sometimes…though if i were the coach i would play him just in particular matches….with physical and easy teams…or as a sub in the last 20 minutes…
You feel you`re treading on egg shells if you offer any criticism of Arsenal, even if it`s true.
Having followed Arsenal for over sixty years and being associated briefly with Fulham in the 1950`s I suggested that they don`t take their riverside neighbours lightly and most certainly don`t under rate them. Just because they don`t have a flashy stadium doesn`t mean they can`t bite as the Gunners have found in the past. From what I read Arsenal were not at all impressive and I`ve suggested there are still problems at the back, these problems seem to be extending somewhat into mid field where Fabregas and Arshavin don`t seem to be on their game. I had this game down for a shock result and I was nearly right. Further I have been bold enough to suggest that based on this display “it`s just not good enough”. I hope that my comments are not seen as anti Arsenal or negative but the truth will out and Arsene Wenger will be the first to agree (in private).
Thank you god for the win what a nerve racking game we were lucky thank god i didn’t think that vito was that good as he only blocked the ball he didn’t catch it but as the match ended i was thankful and very happy and praised his performance
But our performance wasn’t great at all their concentration was else were or perhaps they were worried or tired but we should have gave archavin a rest and had vila on
All in all we defended well but short in excellence it was an away win thank god for that a relief
The real test is Liverpool at the carling cup i think the team needs more games with top performers to gel as i believe in our stars and there capabilities and the wisdom of Mr vagner as practise makes perfect
Ruby Tuesday let us all join in for a top performance to cheer our team to victory
diaby was bad and i mean real bad. he was outplayed and out muscled by some old man named murphy n the way he was giving away the posesion it really disapointed me. overall a very good and satisfying victory to beat a team like fulham 1-0 away from home shows we have enough fighters 2 chalenge for the title
Wat wenger sees now we always get 2 see later.i stil remember d 2ru pass viera gave 2 giggs(fa cup semi’s99).diaby might nt ve d footbal brains of denilson,d strenght n stamina of song,d vision of cesc,bt he is clearly d most gifted of ur young midfielders.dat u can’t take away 4rm him!
See gunners4life for a more balanced view critical but fair. Chris you write very well but you seem to come in with preconcieved positions which stay the same irrespective of what happens on the pitch.that rating on Diaby really makes nonsense of what was a good analysis.
On the club website Van Persie speaks of the great team spirit which now exists and I do not doubt it, he specifically says how he and three named others (Clichy, Cesc and Song) who have been at the club for some time have the experience now and there cannot be any excuses of inexperience from them. Along with the old head Gallas, these ’senior’ players need to be leading collectively on the field as Cesc is not a Vieira in that respect. Perhaps there are signs that they are beginning to do so but new boy Vermaelen seems sometimes to do a better job of that than the four Van Persie mentions, it hasn’t helped that Clichy seems to be in a mini slump of form just now.
On the Diaby debate I would have rated his performance as a 4 but if he does any more of that I’m going to dribble out from the edge of my own box, lose possession and commit a stupid foul which give a free kick in a dangerous position, then I won’t be scoring him as high again.
To be honest I cannot understand why one rating, out of thirteen created all this chaos. Was it harsh that 2? It was, although if I have to provide an average rating of his last eight months I would indeed give him that.
Having said that, if I have to go back and re-rate him for yesterday’s game, it would be a “4″ just as Jim said.
My ratings at http://delhigunner.blogspot.com.
I agree with you. Except van Persie who I think had a shocker except the goal. Eboue was better than 6.5. 7.5 maybe?
To be honest, I rarely go above 6.5 for someone who played less than 30 minutes
to me it looked like diaby just drifted with a broken rudder day in day out….
even if his combating is somewhat intelligent he just lacks heart alltogether.
in my opinion it is understandable why cesc and andrey didnt have a very good game AND why alex looked vulnerable defencively. it is mostly because of wengers favourite #2
song is unable to sit back because diaby cannot create space to the middle for cesc with his too slow movement without the ball and poor passing game. and whenever he pushes forward from the center to make the game more flowing diaby never tracks back to cover for him.. we saw it in manc and some other games when song pushed forward to create flow and once the ball was lost on the left side he was never there to bail out our defenders. if you look at cesc he moves a lot more without the ball to help his teammates AND if things look back he springs down the pitch with literally everything he has got to help out.
also because diaby is a box to box player arshavin is left completely stranded on the left side against 2 or 3 defenders.. how do you expect anyone can shine like that?
I can only wonder how demoralizing it feels for cesc, andrey &co to play with a guy like him.
i can se why diaby excites the controversy he does. the stats show he completed 27 passes and failed with only one. plus he won 8 tackles. but then he lost 6 tackles. supposedly that’s what happened but watching the match on TV he seemed to lose possession every time he got the ball! he did some good stuff though and i think people easily miss the clearances and ball-winning tackles he puts in. he is a curate’s egg of a footballer and i personally think he should not be playing for us until he’s cut out a lot more of the bad bits.
Hey ,
Chris I completely agree .I would have given Diaby around 2 as well .
yeah u can argue 0 , 2 or 4 but anything more than that is an insult to higher numbers .
Seriously , he’s just an average player but no way near arenal class .
Btw , wat r ur thoughts about Denilson …. he’d much much better than Diaby but i dont think he’s first team stuff .
In around 60 matches he has played for us in last year and this one . I cant remember i brilliant bit of skill or tackling from him .
he’s simply average too I think .
I think I’ve figured why Arshavin performed below-par. One of the Gunners (cough Diaby cough) passed the ball more often to the Fulham players than to him.
You have really made my day with that comment
To be honest, I wouldn’t grade any player in this game except Manone, Gallas and Vermaelen, because the rest were far below par. How sad it is to say.
What Silvanna Perez and Hunter said in their last comment sums up what I also think. Wenger has given Diaby way too many chances and he never took advantage of that. I’m not saying he didn’t try, not saying he didn’t care, just saying as it is – at this moment in his career – he’s simply not good enough.
And yes, as Hunter said, if you don’t perform in your daily job, your boss will gently ask you to find another company to work for. That’s how life works, it’s a logical thing.
Does Arsenal really need Diaby, The only comparison he has to Patrick Vieira is his long legs and it ends there. He may be either bright or lucky sometimes but with the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Carlos Vela and Emmanuel Eboue out, We really don’t need to try his luck. I know all the players i have suggested are attacking players and Diaby is “Defensive Midfielder” who does nothing to defend so he isn’t a defensive midfielder and he never manages to carry the ball far enough to attack so he is not an attacking midfielder, he doesn’t hold the ball long enough as he always looses possession so he isn’t a central holding midfielder, He doesn’t give those defense splitting passes frequently enough so he is not a support striker, he doesn’t score enough goals so he is not a striker. SO WHAT DOES DIABY EVER DO FOR ARSENAL?. Actually Arsenal needs a defender to defend against Diaby because he gives away too many balls in very suspicious areas of the pitch.