Arsenal vs Hull City, 3-0: Full time thoughts, analysis and player ratings
The Game
THIS is what I meant whenever I said Abou Diaby is good and has to show it. Man of the match, brilliant game, helping the midfield but most importantly, turning provider and scoring goals in attack.
Hull City tried hard, but they simply are not good enough and this win will make sure we’ll enjoy the Christmas days with a big smile on our faces, as we wait for Aston Villa to pay us a visit, at the Emirates, on Sunday.
Match Video Highlights
Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.
Player Ratings
Almunia: 7,5 – Apart from the first half crazy decision to leave his goal even if Gallas had it covered, a very good game for Manuel and this will give him a big boost in confidence.
Silvestre: 6 – Did really well to push forward but failed to provide what was really needed when the final pass had to be delivered. The penalty? A soft one, but was there need to hug Craig Fagan like that?
Gallas and Vermaelen: 8 – Rock solid, no wonder Hull City had almost no attempts at goal.
Eboue: 6,5 – Clearly, a much better crosser than Sagna so in a game like today’s where we went so much in the attacking zone, he was very useful. Should however take it easy on silly decisions such as kicking Hunt the way he did.
Diaby: 8 – Brilliant in midfield, phenomenal in attack, turning provider for Eduardo’s goal and scoring one of his own, just like he knows how to do. Keep it up Abou, I know you can.
Song: 7 – As always, used all his physical presence in midfield to provide that extra security the back four needs.
Denilson: 7,5 – Made sure all Hull City’s attack were stopped in their tracks and scored the very important first goal of the game. Just like Diaby, he needs to keep it up.
Nasri: 6,5 – Worked very hard in the first half when we were not finding any gaps in the Hull City defense.
Arshavin: 6 – Not the best of games for the Russian who however still managed to turn provider and give the needed support up front.
Eduardo: 6,5 – So different from last week. I thought he was weeks away from being the player we once knew but apparently I was wrong, and very glad of that.
(Subs)
Vela: 6 – Only ten minutes for the Mexican who took full advantage of them, showing some nice runs and tricks.
Walcott: 5,5 – Some nice runs, but still slow in delivering that final ball.
Ramsey: 6,5 – Did incredibly well after replacing Samir Nasri, glad to know we have such a talented backup on the bench.
![[Video] Blackburn vs Arsenal highlights: Big win as we go second in the table!](http://www.thegunninghawk.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia-premium/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/video.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1)
I ma still not sure about denilson..
great free kick ….
But is he enough value in an arsenal midfield ?
btw super game for diby…
Denilson had a very good game defensively, made a couple of really good tackles. As you say, the question is being able to keep that up over a number of games. Diaby really was a beast out there.
I think the ratings are pretty much spot on, and the confidence Eduardo will get from his performance and goal should not be underestimated. His finishing today was poor (he almost missed from one yard out, and missed a few decent openings) but this will improve. His movement and involvement were top-notch.
The one thing you didn’t mention was Nasri’s sneaky stamp/kick on Garcia, which was really dumb and petulant. He was lucky not to be sent off there, and that kind of thing has no place on the field. Nasri isn’t ‘hard’ for sneakily kicking someone off the ball, he was just being a tool.
yeah , he ( Denilson ) was pretty good today but when hes good hes just pretty good but not great or excellent .
but when hes bad he’s shocking like first half against liverpool .
He played most for us last year and dont remember any piece of magic or super tackle from him , this year maybe everton goal and todays goal , thats all .
I mean hes good player , good squad player but no way first team stuff .
And yeah , I agree bout Eduardo …..he also missed a one-v-one vs burnley tamely , when he could have won the game for us , I know RVP would have .
Hopefully he will gain confidence from this goal , and return to bieng the eduardo we knew of past .
Cheers mate
You cannot have 11 excellent players, to have players like arshavin in team who would do a magic and disappear for rest of the time you will need Denilson’s who will have above average games consistently.
Denilson, You might have to modify your stats a bit now Ben.., in the ‘attack’ column.. I think Arsenal finally found their set pieces taker, he seems to know exactly what he is doing ,without venom just sheer technique and accuracy, totally Ronaldinho-esque in style and quality. with two other Dm’s in the lineup Denilson was more free to express himself, he is clearly not a natural DM and this freedom today made him show how decent a player he really is ,and what a commitment he has IMO. a lot of encouraging signs from those who usually get thumbs down: Almunia, Diaby Eduardo, and Denilson, all played well today. With Dudu you see quality of his movement and runs, if he just will regain his assasin’s edge , and he will, he will be great again. Poor Theo, but even he almost had a moment of glory. Only Hull but the boys gave us some joy today
totally agree about denilson, i’ve always thought him more of deep lying play-maker, a fourteen-year-old-looking pirlo.
indeed ! a fabulous pass, from deep , to Theo for the (almost) goal!
i’m so sad i couldn’t see the game…it’s the first one missed until now…could anyone provide some links where i could download the full game pleaze?
Edit by Chris: Glad you found it, links deleted as I doubt they are legal
http://footyroom.com/arsenal-3-0-hull-city-2009-12/
this is a full highlights video
I have never been much of a diaby fan but i’ve got to give credit where its due and the guy was just sensational today.The only one thing i like about him is that he is clinical.He was unlucky not to have scored two after Zayatte handled his sidefooted shot in the penalty box.However i have to say all Denilson doubters were served up today,brilliant performance also from the young Brazilian.its sad tht he was given a 4 rating by another site.Chris,i think today your ratings are spot on.By the way the same site that gave Denilson a 4 gave almunia a 3!!Can you believe these people after the guy saved a penalty??And as usual Song was awesome.Silvestre still remains the weak link and i dont think i have ever seen a player that plays that many backpasses in one game.Its almost like his brain is configured to just place a backpass before he can think of any other option.
Thanks mate.
I rate players on how they perform on the day, even if some think I have something personal against the likes of Denilson and Diaby.
I’m not saying one game will change my opinion on these two, but if they can keep this level up, I’ll be glad to do it. Although having said that, I always said Abou is lethal in front of goal. Think about it, how many chances he gets in front of goal, and how many does he converts? I’d say more than 80%, impressive.
Diaby was a monster today . I feel without cesc we get to see really how good these players are . Song was great yesterday not only defensively but in attack also, he got forward more than Denilson. And Denilson’s long passes were real good , I do not why he does not do it more often when Cesc is there too. And by the way Diaby is not a DM .
The report I read suggested that there was a fair amount of`needle` in the game and it would appear Hull came with the intention of roughing up the `city slickers`. Not that I`m a fan of rough house tactics but I think they met their match, Arsenal don`t get pushed around like they used to. Oh! yes, I promised you a result forecast Chris. Three nil to Arsenal, how`s that?
You’re a prophet
arsy – the begining of last season saw denilson actually come up with several clever assists, including a back heel in box to give bendtner an open goal – i believe. i agree he plays well in matches like today, but, as said earlier, he needs to play that way each week.
diaby – brilliant.
chris, i agree eboue is a great passer of the ball, but what’s the point of him swinging in gorgeous crosses to the midgets? i’m glad eduardo got on the sheet to today as well. walcott really needed to take his chance to get some confidence back, and vela looked a little sharper. we looked much better today, but is that the beginning of better form, or is it a step down in opposition? – mind you, burnley has proven to be a more combatant team than hull, note their manure result.
Nice observation Steve, very nice.
Even if they didn’t play a lot, both Theo Walcott and Carlos Vela looked much better than they did in previous matches. Ditto Aaron Ramsey.
Eduardo, who of course played more than these three, also showed big improvement when compared to last week. Not to mention Denilson and Diaby. I don’t know, I repeat it’s a very interesting observation, I don’t think it’s down to our opponents, it could be that finally the squad has found harmony or it could just be the magic of the Emirates.
Maybe next week will tell us more
great performance from the boys, however everyone knows if we dont win next week it wont count for nothing
or maybe cos cesc wasn’t on the pitch ha ha ha.
I actually thought for a couple of times during the match that perhaps it is just so simple that cecs is not compatible with them rather than some individual players with him..
how strange would that be?
I want to pose a question to all the readers here.And to Chris i think you should put this up for debate.’Is Denilson’s improvement/contribution hindered by Cesc’s presence?’ Is it by Coincidence that whenever Cesc is absent Denilson improves,coz honestly him together with song and diaby took us through a 13 game unbeaten spree.
Play Diaby as a striker?
Diaby is an attacking midfielder and he tends to pla best in the hole behind the strikers or as a second attacker in a 4-5-1. That’s where he has played his best games.
My only concern, is that the players that stepped up today, often find it difficult to replicate performances back to back. If they can find this vein of form against Aston Villa, then I will agree. That’s the difference between a denilson/diaby/almunia vs an arshavin or fabregas…when denilson/diaby/almunia have a bad game its REALLY BAD and it costs us games…when arshavin/fabregas has a bad game, they still have the ability to make the KILLER play to win us games.
great performance,thats what i was looking for from my Arsenal.i wanted some determination some spirit on the game some fight on the pitch (even the nasri moment was good to see,and arshavin in the end of the fist h.going to take kare of his friend nasri was good too) and they just gave me all of these together. Almunia did very well,after some bad games i though he will get worst but he didn’t and good 4 us.i knew he will save that penalty,i just felt it. Our difence was solid,as for penalty given for the challeng of silvestre i think it wasn’t penalty never,there will be always some touches in the box this is football not balet. Diaby, well he was exellent but he has to keep it up,today he just wanted to win the game and did everything to make it sure. Denilson, exept the goal that was brilliant, he didn’t do anything better then he usualy do.he still is a very good sub.for me.song stronge enough,eduardo, when i sow the goal during replay i thought,oh my God he nearly missed it.still far from his best and far from what we need up front,hope wenger will not say now that we don’t need striker.arshavin, i dont expect to much from him,one or too things(like the goal against liver and the assist for diaby’s goal) and the job is donne.nasri did well,so did ramsey,as for vela and walcott, well still…
For me today it was the match of shine they all shined and showed us proud Danilson goal was such a cool goal was so happy delighted when edwardo scored i was kissing the screen my little hero Diaby song silvester nazri alumunia all really did very very well wish this form is on every week we .
A magical performance bravo baravoooo
Gooner B.
When Cesc is on the pitch, he is mr. arsenal himself. The others are only players around him. When he is not there the others have to step up and take the responsibility he usually has. It is almost like they forget they can play when he is there, he controls so much of the game and he is so vital to the game when he is there.
Do you think that maybe some of the problem? I mean non of the other guys(except from arsharvin) are of his calibre, they are more like support for cesc when he is playing. Cesc is formidable.
That maybe makes them take less responsibility when he is on and kinda leave it to him to pull stuff together if things do not go as intended, and leave it to him to sort out problems That means if he has an off day or is not playing max good the team wont neither. While today everyone stepped up and solved problems, everyone were small leaders trying to put their mark on the match.
What you think?
thats the real ane the only reasen mate,u are totally right.
Sure this is what i felt too . I believe Song, Denilson, Diaby, are better players and just restrict themselves when Fabregas is there . I have not seen Song trying to get involved in the attack so much and he was very good at it too. Denilson made some really good passes especially long cross field passes and it was almost perfect. The problem is that these people do not believe they are at his level. I have seen Denilson simply giving the ball to Fabregas and run back when he is actually in better position and never even attempts a decent pass. May be Arsene is the reason behind this , or Arsene needs to make them believe .
Are u serious you give Eboue a 6.5.For starters he is head and shoulders above Sagna and together with diaby and song was one of the coolest customers on the pitch.
Consistently his proven to be far more inteligent never panicking and never adopting Sagna english diseas of clear the ball o row z as opposed to building up play from the back.
The victory today is HUGE. Yes it’s only Hull…. however…. the Hull match last year marked the beginning of disaster…. but I have a feeling that this season it will mark the beginning of a more mature and comfortable-in-its-own-skin Arsenal.
Much confidence was restored today….
1- Denilson was more than merely good LEADING the way to score.. morale is very different being 0-0 at half time… and unlike others that have written I have no problem stating he was GREAT tonight. Asides from the goal… he was sharp… and the player keeps proving commitment and HARD WORK.
2- Abou Diaby….. Another player that was creating concern for many fans proved that he is one multi-talented son of a gunner…. what caught my attention more than anything in today’s match is the beautiful chemistry that Abou has with Song… the two demonstrated a very fluid and dynamic understanding and harmonious rhythm.
All three Denilson, A-Diaby, and Song had more freedom to get creative today (given the absence of Fabregas) and it really WORKS!
3- Almunia makes a BIG SAVE ! Many fans forget how good a goal-keeper Almunia is.. … I don’t know what happened to him this season but he hasn’t been himself… I wonder if Capello turning him down for the England national team has anything to do with it…. but he seems to be getting sharper and I have a feeling he will gain the faith of Arsenal fans once again.
Anyhow…
I really hope this performance will bring more light for future games… confidence and determination are paying off… maturity will show through consistency.. I hope the fans will develop even more confidence in their players and start evaluating the TEAM as a whole instead of picking on individuals.
one last things…. as much as Silvestre makes me nervous when he is the last player with the ball, I was kind of impressed by the two times he moved up on the wing… very well positioned and sneaky..
we showed some great spirit today.. for me some of the tackles made by branded “lightweights” like denilson were wonderful to watch.. Arsenal is slowly bringing an aggressive persona on the field which is great.. Bennet had a nightmare of a game today.. I think he awarded the penalty to cancel out the poor decision that led to our free kick.. Denilson is good.. defensively.. a very intelligent footballer.. but his only problem is that he spends more time reading the game than actually getting into it.. I think Le boss needs to rotate Ramsey and denilson in that position and sort out the right fit.. Eduardos finishing capabilities have diminished next to nothing but you still have to admire his movement and his touches.. He is the quintessential Arsenal material.. Diaby.. I have never been a “hater” but his usual onfield mistakes do irk me a bit.. even today he had his moments but he eclipsed it with a great performance.. For me he is the guy who can “turn”.. i think this attacking role suits him better than the holding role.. we have a master to hold the midfield now.. Overall it was a good game and the battering of the Mancs at the hands of the cottagers made it an even better saturday.. Hoping for an hammers upset tomorrow.. I dont think that is overoptimistic these days..
Song improves with each game and is proving he can play any backfield or midfield position. What a player! Song and Diaby play well together, interchanging positions, defending and pushing forward, playing box-to-box and dominating midfield. That interplay and rotation will provide solid cover for Cesc’s advanced play-making once he returns. That kind of midfield play was responsible for the early season’s flood of goals with RvP in the line up. Early this season goals where coming from everywhere.In fact, there was discussion why the offense wasn’t scoring more goals with RvP and Bendtner both on the field. The way they move the ball can open space anywhere on the filed for any player. Particularly for a player like Eduardo, who isn’t a target man but who is best when receiving the ball in motion in open space, passing the ball and off-the-ball movement.
Considering how long he’s been in the first team it’s easy to forget how young Denilson still is. Denilson had a strong game. Very disruptive with good dispossession plays. He’s more than solid and will continue to get meaningful playing time backing up Song and Diaby.
Diaby’s return to full form is a welcomed sight. Moments and shades reminiscent of Vieria, in terms of stature and style. Good at winning possession with good technique and difficult to separate from the ball, Diaby’s play is promising. This is the first time since the beginning of this season that the midfield trio of Diaby-Song-Fabregas have been health together. A formidable midfield, expect more scoring opportunities and goals to flow again.
Two huge things went our way though, 1. Diaby was given the free kick Denilson put in & 2. Almunia saved the penalty. This could have been a very different game and our first half display was again very poor. How ever Eduardo, Diaby, Denilson, Almunia, Silvestre, Nasri huge improvement from Burnley. Eduardo looked like a different man and Diaby well what we can say other he showed what Wenger sees in him. We now have a weeks rest before our next home fixture a win against Astonvilla would be huge since after Villa we vs Portsmouth, Westham, Bolton, Everton, Bolton again. Which is followed By Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Easy to say the next 2 months will decide our season.
Dont **** talk about if s dude , if Arshavin can come up with a moment of magic you would accept it as skill but if Denilson scores it could have gone other way .
I’m not saying if Denilson does it isn’t magic just that there is a good chance we would not have been given the free kick when Diaby went down. I’m just stateing that the free kick changed the game for us.
This article is rubbish. You change your mind weekly about our players and i think you are one of many who will put our players down as not good enough, then go on to say i knew they were good enough!! Pathetic. I think you need to learn more about the game
Clearly you don’t read me every week my friend.
Dear me.. One decent game and now, suddenly, everyone’s brilliant, eh?
I must admit it surprises me to see all the jolly comments on and assessments of the game mere days after the virtual hauling of every one of the players (and their relatives!) following the sub-par performance at Burnely. I guess the positives do appear more salient when the end result is so contrastingly juxtaposed to former.
Nonetheless, today’s game was, in my opinion, not all too rosy, albeit we earned the three points needed to stay in shape with the rest of the top. I believe there were some aspects of today’s game worth discussing before locking horns with Villa:
- Diaby: giving credit where it’s due – the lad produced a fine display for his standards. But I’m still quite buggered that he, nine times out of ten, prefers to attack through the middle rather than spread out the game wide. I guess it won’t be his task as much when Cesc is in the team, but if he wants to continue his development as a quasi-playmaker, he must expand his vision to encompass the wide areas as well. He succeeded on two very significant occasions today (the second and third goal) and that’s great and all. The thirds goal was, however, as much a result of Andrei’s immaculate through pass as Abou’s own penetrative run, and I’m fairly sure he’ll find it harder to skip past defenders to set up a shaky Eduardo goal against better opposition and more alert defenders than was the case today. But all in all he did well.
- Andrei as centre forward: if we are to presume that Andrei will be deputising for van Persie as lone striker until some time during Spring, we really ought to adapt the attack-minded midfielders more to his style of movement so as to optimize the potential outcome of our attacks. If you study today’s game (and the last couple of games as well; especially the one against Stoke) you’ll see that Andrei tends to wander away from his markers in order to meet or otherwise anticipate the ball, thus creating vast spaces behind the marker(s), who – in most cases – set off to follow him. If our midfielders were a bit more aware of this feature, we could find acres of space behind opposition defense, which would naturally lead to open opportunities on goal. Here I’m particularly thinking of speedsters like Walcott and Vela, whom I believe would absolutely thrive under such circumstances.
Just a thought (!)
- Sadly Subdued Samir: It aches my heart to say this but, for whatever underlying reasons, Samir has shown signs of becoming more and more of a secure passing-player and crosser rather than the adventurous and cheeky penetrator he was when he arrived from Marseille. Don’t get me wrong; if that’s what suits the team (at least according to Wenger), he should do just fine. But I feel (and I do believe some of you out there might agree since it’s ‘The Arsenal Way’, really) it would be a massive loss for any team to cut a rough gem with such immense potential of trickery and skill into ‘just another’ midfield distributor.
I sure do hope I’m misconceiving matters here!
- CMOTM, Billong: I must admit I’m hugely impressed by Alex’s form this season. He seems to have found his perfect habitat, just in advance of the back four, whence he’s able to practice his devastating skills as a tenacious, indefatigable bulldozer. I will therefore – once again – declare him ‘Consistent Man Of The Match’ for maintaining his high standards (and announce Tommy as MOTM for his spirited and rallying display. Mark my words: this chap is our (near) future captain!)
Anyways, it’s great to be back on winning terms. I’m sure a warm-hearted Christmas week will grant the spirits a joyous increase so everybody’s at their fully best when we welcome our Birmingham-based contenders come Sunday.
Best of holiday-wishes from Copenhagen to everyone.
Samir is the future Ballon ”D OR
kinda know what he means. #8 is a boss and my favourite player but i want him to drive shots. but the reason he’s not getting involved is because he likes to roam and have really short passes. alot of the time the team doesn’t recognize it in time, which is ridiculous, he goes to the short spaces most often because he is skilled and they need to feed him the ball more often
when you watch a game where the ball is moving consistently and he is in the middle, he dictates the game. in a different way than cesc. but i would say he’s just as skilled and can play the wing role to.
the way i figure it. arsenal play great when everything flows through cesc with confidence, everyone feeds him. especially with fabregas off, everything should flow through nasri. i think the team would find more confidence.
that’s the truly sad thing about arsenal. when you think about what we could have this year
samir RVP fab arshavin. other class players that fill the holes. exceptional players like gallas and vermaelen.
with the injuries and inconsistent inexperienced wingers. i really want wenger to bring in arda turan and adriano. turans just a pipe dream, most definately wont happen. but adriano is possible if he actually is on a free
either way he needs to bring in some experienced players. definately a striker the play can flow through like RVP. either a strong creative winger or a defensive midfielder. wenger doesn’t need to spend huge, but he has to get strong players whatever the price may be. i think he knows even if that means spending 15-20. hopefully he knows, he is infinite in wisdom. this season will unfold alot of his skill i believe.
u see..
There is juz something abt Samir’s play
u can see greatness in him
And there was a reason why arsene chose him over Ben Arfa and Gourcuff
It wasn’t all “too rosy”, no, but compared to Burnley we’ve seen improvements. I understand this is Arsenal and on Sunday we could go back to square one but I repeat, we saw big improvements from certain players which will be hopefully replicated against Villa.
Nasri8: I sure do hope so, son.
bitches be crazy: I agree with you. Samir’s more of a 10′er (i.e. creating playmaker) than, say, Ramsey, and this is a perfect opportunity for he team to explore his (Samir’s) trade as the ‘middle man’ of the team.
As for reinforcements I really don’t think we need more defensive midfielders. we already have Denilson, for whom I still have high hopes, and probably the best and most consistent defensive midfielder in Europe right now, Alex. Some might argue that other DM’s (such as Essien or Mascherano) are more complete players in that their attacking attributions are more of a contribution to their respective teams. But this is where experience is crucial: Masch is 25 and Essien 27; both have had at least three or four years of experience just in PL – and both were established stars upon their arrival to PL. Alex is playing the role possibly made famous by Conceicao/Makalele during the Zidane Era of Real Madrid (ca 2000-2004): he’s the debt collector of our team who wins and protects the balls until his closest players are within proximity of a safe pass. Furthermore, he’s adds to our otherwise humble air-force and has highly useful dribbling skills. He’s a keeper!
I believe we should splash out the cash and buy an ESTABLISHED goal machine. My dream signing, as always, is Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who, in spite of his average height, scores a significant share of his total tallies through headers and is a true master at creating space for himself in congested areas.
Chris: Certainly. But of what use are these improvements if they only ever appear and apply when playing home against mediocre opposition? The players that improved the most last night was also the players who disappointed against Chelsea and Sunderland. If it’s the case of one-good-one-bad, then I really think we should be expecting more quality of our players – even with a tight schedule and disrupting injuries.
Cheers.
Aidin, it’s no secret that we have massive problems when playing away from the Emirates but this should take nothing away from yesterday’s performance.
In my ratings article, I analyse the game, the specific game, not the present, past or future, as that is why I do in the day-after thoughts. Now when I analyse yesterday’s performance, I witnessed a brilliant game. That’s when I will really be crticised for being pessimistic, the day I will start giving low ratings even when players do well
But yes, you’re right, our away-from-home problems are still there and will still be there until we produce back-to-back convincing performances on the road.
But the Hull game could help in that.
Dm is important
Song and Denilson are up to it
We have dudu to finish finally
Diaby has always been good what really showcases his talent is when he has combined with the right personnel in midfield.
Denilson, Song and Diaby is currently the best midfield we have and all three are seemingly in perfect balance with one another on the shares of defensive and offensive duties.
With Fabregas in the team we are creating fewer chances per game and getting hustled in midfield.
What is really pleasing to see however is the elegency and creativity of Song who was magnificent today.
Ironic, that this morning I was reading articles and blogs criticising Denilson, Diaby and even Song.
are u trying to say let fabregas be the sub of denilson? Are u kiding! One good game and here we are,we dont need cesc, what a jock is it. Didnt u see the burnlay game and gow was it changed after fabregas left the pitch? That must haue told u something,he is a master class one of the best in the world,someone here has writen somethig very intresting, the differenc between cesc and arshavin with the likes of denilson and diaby is that, cesc and arshavi can produce one magic moment even in their bad game and still decide the game,in the other way when diaby and denilson play bad they are nowhere in the pitch.
I don’t think anyone is saying that Denilson is a better player than Cesc, or should start ahead of him. I think it’s probably true that Denilson can play better in the Fabregas role than as a holding midfielder, but he certainly isn’t as good as Fabregas is in that poosition.
What impressed me most wasn’t his goal, but rather his tackling. He was really strong on the ball for once, a real improvement on his usual play.
There are a lot of positives to take out of this game, so it’s natural that everyone feels optimistic about it. I would still say a bigger player upfront is being missed, whether it be Bendtner returning or a new signing. And I need at least 10 more good performances to be convinced that Almunia still has any role to play!
All are players are good.
Support them through thick & thin and they’ll prove to be even better.
Eduardo is the most clinical striker i know but he juz deproved a little after injury
Juz giv him time and i believe he will return to the Eduardo we know.
1 on1 goal
I must say that I wasn’t sure about Arsenal in the first half, not even with the “golazo” of Mr.Denilson. But when they started to push and push in the second half until the second goal came I was like :
“This is the Arsenal we like, the Arsenal that creates and creates and creates chances until the goal comes, that never gets tired of passing the ball, and that when our rivals pass midfield, we are sure that we have two big boulders to pass like Gallas or Verm”
Really happy! And not just for the result, but for the way they played in the second half! Though, I would put another formation! But anyway, nice! We can steal be Winter Champions! =)
My ratings:
Almunia : 7 – I ddin’t see the Burnley game, but he put in his best performance so far, catching crosses in a most un-Almunia like confidence. Did well to save the penalty, but the defence still clearly has no confidence in him. No one ran up as Geovanni took the penalty, and 3 Hull players got the ball and really should have scored.
Eboue: 6 – Provided some good crosses, but defensive position, especially in the first half was horrible. Maybe no one’s noticed it, but Sagna was in pretty good form, and his crossing was becoming much better. And he and Eboue are incomparable defensively.
Silvestre : 6.5 – Even today, when he put in a very good performance, he is still criticized for the penalty, which was a completely bizarre decision. He was not hugging Fagan, watch the replays, Fagan dived, and Bennet, maybe to make-up for his earlier dubious FK’s to us gave the penalty.
Besides that, he was good in defence, and got down the left flank a lot. Almost scored too.
Gallas : 6.5 – Solid
Vermaelen : 7.5 – I love this guy. He was everywhere in defence, and made a few very good runs forward. This line of commentary really does justice to his defensive capabilities:
“And Mendy, Hull on a dangerous attack, but Vermaelen’s there”
Future captain, Balloon D’Or, World player of the year. xD xD
Song : 7 – Wasn’t as good defensively as he has been in most other games this season, but contributed to the attack more.
Denilson : 7 – Besides the FK, was good without being outstanding. FK was very good, first time we’ve scored direct from one in a long, long time.
Diaby : 7.5 – Really showed the Diaby-haters how good he can be. Was good in attack, scored a goal, got an assist.
Nasri : 6 – Worked hard, but there was no real product. Stupidly pushed Garcia, who despicably went down like he was shot.
Eduardo : 6.5 – Put in an amazing performance, almost got a hat-trick, but his finishing was awful. He did an amazing turn in the second half before the penalty, but failed to finish the 1 on 1. Made an amazing run in the first half with a 1-2 with Nasri after dribbling past 2-3 Hull players.
Arshavin : 6.5 – He get’s pretty anonymous when he plays in the RvP role, but like the L’pool game, shows up with moments of magic. Didn’t have one today, but a decent performance.
SUBS:
Walcott: 5 – Extremely disappointing. Dribbled into corners and missed a pretty easy 1 on 1.
Vela : 7 – Only got 10 minutes or so, but was very good.
Ramset : 7 – See above.
I have never been a Diaby’s fan, but I have to give him credits for an excellent game.
Hope he can keep this form for a long time.
Denilson is not good enough, not consistent during the game. He made several good interception but also he lost the ball at situations which can lead to very dangerous counter-attack. I wonder if it was Aston Villa that we played yesterday then what was the damage.
Ramsey have a good game, the boy play very direct. he dare to run at the opponent defense to create space for his teammate. He really shows his quality.
Arsenal are a team of stars are a team of skill today we had diaby and ebue danilson nasri edwardo archivan and nasri 7 possibilities of strikers and the defence stayed at their place and defended well silvester did his job and so did aluminia and that is team play cover for each there was strength nasri i love him the celebration of diaby there are all good signs of a powerful team i was so happy to see mr wanger happy
On a cautious word i believe martin O’Neil is an excellent tactician and a clean one in that they will pack in the defence and attack on the rebound we need that match result i hope danilson and nasri could practice long shots in i truly believe both can do it can’t wait for both to shine we truly haven’t seen what they can do as administrated by danilson today i belive that danilson and nasri are world class look at our team archivan faber gas /rvp song/ danilson nasri diaby the day is soon coming were we will dominate but istill believe in enforcements to secure our passage
Thank you all and happy joyful Christmas to all of Arsenal and from victory to victory
tough defend from arsenal,nice safe from Almunia
Chris, when I called on you to campaign for either Arshavin, Denilson or Nasri to be taking free kicks last week, you refused and only complained about my use of capital letters, Thank God Denilson has started to campaign for himself, I know that Arsene Wenger said that he wasn’t a free kick specialist after the game and since he knows him better i have to agree but, he is better than Fabregas and Arsene Wenger loves to use players where they are weaker, he takes fullbacks for centerbacks, wingers for strikers and central attacking midfielders for wingers, but what he has to do about free kicks is free Fabregas of the responsibility and give it to either of Denilson, Arshavin, Eduardo or Nasri. Unlike Fabregas, those other know that a free kick is a chance to shoot direct into the goal. and you, Don’t say Denilson scored, say it was from a free kick——— Abou Diaby, excellent again, but for only the fourth time since he joined Arsenal, 1. Against Fernebahce in Champions League 2. Against Aston Villa last December (except that he watched Zat Knight score as if he didn’t have a right to stop him) 3. Against Portsmouth this season. 4. Against Hull City last night. — Do you notice the pattern, he has been excellent for only those games he has been used as a striker, weird as it may sound, no.10 is his most suited position. and there, even if he looses the ball, which he always does, we won’t suffer much as it will be in the opposition’s box and not ours. Like you said, he needs to keep it up, but Denilson is not as poor as most of you imply, he rarely misplaces his “short” passes, doesn’t easily loose the ball and he tackles even physically when he have to, it’s only that his role model is Gilberto Silva who taught him to be effective is more important than to shine!
Don’t agree with you about Denilson.
His first touch is very poor and he lost the ball cheaply at times that lead to counter-attacking.
I agree with you though, he did loose a few balls but my question is who didn’t? or to be precise about all players from all teams, Who doesn’t?.
Denilson and Diaby are both good. Just not sure they are of the calibre we need to dominate the chelski’s and Man U’s. In these type of games they are fine. Not sure if they’d keep speed with Barca
I think Denilson needs some work for passing so does song. I agree that arshavin didn’t play at his best, but did assist Diaby in his brilliant goal. I also disagree with Nasri, he made some runs and got some crosses, and Ramsey, Vela, and Walcott had only a few minutes so its not fair to rate them.
Almunia – 7.5
Gallas – 7.5
Vermaelen – 7.5
Eboue – 7
Denilson – 7.5
Song – 7
Diaby – 8.5
Nasri – 7
Arshavin – 6.5
Eduardo – 7
I have always read about gunner fans thinking that without fabregas that we cant progress and i quite disagree with that notion.I still believe that Fabgregas is part of Arsenals problem.
Song is a good defensive midfielder but he has the problem of the hanging on to the ball rather too long and ends up most times being adventurous in playing long passes when he should just give the ball to the nearest man and continue with his marking.The trio of Arsenal midfielders are actually THE CLUB’S PROBLEMS.
In my opinion,Fabregas is simply an average player despite his highly over rated status by Wenger and some other gunner fans.A good midfielder needs to have the following attributes:good shot power,good marking technique,a bit of dribbling skill,good passes,quick,physical presence.
Of all these qualities,Fabregas has only but one:passes.
Often times this has been Arsenal’s problems against the other big four teams as we rarely see fabregas perform in such matches as all they do is simply put a man near him and Arsenal is finished because he needs time on the ball to throw passes.The only way he can perform is when you play two good defensive midfielders that will make up for his lapses and give him time to stay isolated and have the ball for longer times.We have a bit of that in only Song,the rest are all but converted defensive midfielders.Arsenal needs a defensive midfielder in the mould of Toure,Mammadou Diarra and likes with sheer physical presence.A midfield of Toure,song and Fabgregas will be good as this will give the little spaniard the spine to play.Arsenal is equally the only team in the premiership that plays the highest defence line,our defenders are almost like the midfielders staying almost close to the half line and we do not have mobile midfielders to chase the ball whenever we lose it creating space as the defenders tend to retrieve to their areas once there is a counter.We have very slow midfielders and this closes the space that the technical players we have upfront need to function effectively.
The way forward is that Wenger should buy a central defender as if Gallas or Vermallen should get injured,it could mar the season as we are sitting on the keg of gunpowder which can explode anytime.Wenger also needs to buy a striker.The job of marking is entirely a teamwork thing but the midfielders if they fail to cut off attack,it becomes more risky for the defenders because any mistake can result in nasty decisions.Wenger’s philosophy of you must always get behind the defenders to score equally is not in tandem with modern football,you can score without getting behind defenders and the boys should taught how to shoot and contest for every ball lost immediately.The Arsenal players are also too lightweighted and often get pushed off the ball without referees looking their way and so Wenger has to work on this by having the build their stamina levels.The mark of a good team is when you cross your own half and lose the ball, it has to be lost either as a throw in,corner,foul but often times this is not the case with us.
The way forward for Arsenal is not to buy, the best players play for Arsenal, all they need to do is observe consistency. Fabregas is not overrated, he is underrated, look at his goals against Tottenham Hotspurs, Everton, Blackburn Rovers & AC Milan in the Champion’s League & you will see what a good shot & dribbler he is, look at his tackles won statistics and you will see what a physical (albeit hidden) player he is, he is a complete midfielder with everything but like all of them, he need good company in midfield to perform and he doesn’t always get it, he just can’t be trusted as 1st choice free kick or penalty taker, the roles are too simple for his calibre and he prefers harder roles like splitting defences wide in open play. Yes Arsenal need new players, but not to replace the ones we have but just to back them up, what we have is the top cream, ask Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, Harry Redknapp, Martin O’neill & now Roberto Mancini and they will tell you how they don’t fancy meeting Arsenal’s current players.
This rating is good and i’m very satisfied, instead of another blog (ALL WORDS CAPS). Thank you because u made a proper analysis
A player that plays well when his team doesnt is a good player
Samir vs Chelsea 0-3
Arshavin vs liverpool 2-1
V.persie vs Chelsea 2-1
But when Cesc plays well the team plays well
Adebayor, Adebayor
Giv him the ball and he will fall
Happy for the win.Diaby was very good,he always is in games against weaker opponents,let’s hope this change….Don’t want to ruin the enthusiasm ,but let’s silent and try to win the villanz at the emirates for once and then maybe we have something there,that will really give us a push….
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If Wenger is going to go with Denilson, Diaby and Song in the midfield in Cesc’s absence I would like to see how we might fare if Arshavin is dropped to the wing, Nasri to Cesc’s role and put Diaby up as the lead striker. It may not be his natural position, but he is such a versatile player, has the best frame of anyone on the team now (that is fit) to play up there, obviously is confident and creative with the ball and has scored some great goals on runs through the defense and collects the ball well. It doesn’t have to be the whole game, but for stretches that could be interesting to see.
I thought although Silvestre wasn’t a total disaster as he has been recently he still seems so far below the other players in his comfort on the ball and the ability to do anything other than play it back to Alumni slowly putting him under great pressure. I pray Traore is back for the Villa game or if not then Eboue goes to left back vs Villa as Silvestre will kill us there.
I agree with you Xavier, Eboue had a great game…Diaby played at his rightful position that is why he had a great game (the problem is that position belongs to Fabregas)…
Thanks Walcott was not playing he looks short and lost…
Edouardo (6,5: I don’t think so),He almost missed the goal (that is why he was not overjoyed and he had one chance with the turn).
Nasri was (6,5: well I don’t think so again) amazing and showed us why he was captain of Marseilles (smart, creative and able to get away from a red card and also experienced).
I think this game was a game of Diaby & Song. The attacking line – still very weak. Defensive line – I started to miss Clichy (even Traore & Gibbs), Silvestre is not good for Arsenal. That’s it. Eboe did comparably good.
Denilson – still not sure about him, but the goal was magnificent. I think Wenger does not play him at right place. I cant see him in midfield. May be he should play a bit forward, he is the only one in Arsenal who shoots out of the box.
Nasri, Eduardo, Walcott – without Fabregas, these have no idea of creating goals.
Great result for West Ham vs. Chelsea, good news for the chasing pack as well.
You know what looking at today’s performance i would not be too dissapointed to see Cesc Fabregas leave this summer.
Without Cesc we have a really good balance without Cescf today somtime’s we needed his creativity in the 1st half but i think we could cope easily without him.
We fabregas we become to reliable towards him and give him the ball to create to unlock the defence’s but i think we have a good chemisty without.
Proving my point was the old traford game when we lost (Somehow ) 2-1 we played very well as a team.I am very interested to see our team play without him for a few more games if he does not play against Villa it will be interesting.
when Denilson maturing with diaby and song is a very good midfield