Arsenal vs Bolton, 4-2: Full time thoughts, analysis and player ratings
The Game
Just like last Sunday, there were some scary moments tonight and our dream was almost shattered when Bolton took a 0-2 lead. But, the determination, tenacity and will of the Arsenal players made sure of victory.
Yes, William Gallas did commit a foul but that second goal has justice written all over it as it’s not the first time OUR players get kicked and the referee waves play on and it’s not the first time our players fail to show this sort of determination. All of them fought from the first to the last minute and you can clearly see they want to win the title. Badly.
Another clear penalty not given on Cesc, two in four days with today’s being a photo copy of Rooney’s given penalty against us away at Manchester.
But anyway, we go top.
And there, to stay.
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: 6,5 – Not at fault in the two goals and very solid when having to catch it in the air.
Gallas: 7 – He may make mistakes at the back, but the determination William shows out there is simply amazing. Was almost an added midfielder/striker on the night, great game.
Vermaelen: 8 – A legend. Conceded nothing to Bolton and showed all his experience when we were 0-2 down and the side exposed forward, by committing those fouls which break the opponent’s game. And also scored, of course.
Clichy: 6 – If I have to rate his determination, it’s a 10/10, just look at those 10 seconds which ended in a yellow to understand what I mean. But, unfortunately, he still has the defect of failing to clear the ball properly when he has to, as the first goal clearly showed.
Sagna: 7 – He may not be the best crosser in the world, but screw that, he’s such a force at the back, a rock!
Denilson: 5 – Poor game, very poor. There was absolutely no need to commit such a foul inside the penalty area and was again guilty of giving balls away cheaply.
Diaby: 6,5 – Moments of brilliance, moments of sloppiness. He did work very hard but like Denilson, was guilty of giving the ball away in a number of occasions.
Fabregas: 9 – I’ve never seen him so determined, wanting to win so badly. He’s our leader and words cannot describe how vital he is for us.
Rosicky: 7,5 – Sunday was just the “appetizer” of what was coming next. Brilliant in starting our moves from our half, so good on the ball, turning provider when required and produced a thunderbolt to re-open the game.
Eduardo: 7 – He may not be THAT sharp in front of goal but his commitment is top class. Involved in Arshavin’s fourth goal and hey, it’s only January, he’ll be 100% starting February.
Arshavin: 7 – Disappointing first half. Not in terms of commitment as contrary to other games he was up for it, but failed in almost anything he tried. The second half was much better. When we were 0-2 down I kept on telling myself, “He and Cesc can turn this around”. Cesc did immediately, the Russian, kept it late.
(Subs)
Eastmond: 6 – I must say he looks more and more a candidate for a regular place. Cool, calm, collected and looks strong for his role.
Vela: No Vote – Very little again for Carlos, who will hopefully feature in the F.A. Cup.
Walcott: No Vote – Poor Theo was furious with Andrey for not giving him the opportunity to make it 5. Glad to see him back, of course.
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Cue media ruckus regarding Gallas’ tackle. Now if that had been the other way round, they’d all be protecting Davis and patronising Wenger.
Agreed. I was watching on Fox Soccer Channel (I’m in the US) and the commentators were railing on Gallas for his tackle, and how Arsene would have flipped out if the situation was reversed.
Personally I feel conflicted about the goal, but those kind of flukes or breaks happen all the time to Manchester United or Chelsea and it’s usually hailed as grit or determination. I think we’ll see a pretty clear double standard.
True, but all said and done? Bolton should have defended that better. God knows how 3 men let Gallas, Arshavin, and Fabregas all get away with bad control, and not that I’m doubting Captain Fabs, but Jaskelaanen just watched that ball go through his legs. Foul from Gallas or not, they gave away that goal all the same and didn’t deserve it to be called off.
I too watched in the USA and I am not conflicted at all. Bolton kicked lumps in us all throughout the first game and we were not going to let them do it again. They may have a new manager but until the players are replaced that mentality is going to remain. Unfortunately the ability to kick lumps out of better teams seems to be valued greatly by the English commentary teams. At one point I though the second commentary announcer was going ot run onto the field and kiss Davies and tell him how much he loves him. If it had been Rooney or Lampard winning that ball instead of William the story would have been all about his determination.
Statistics don’t like. Kevin Davies is the top fouler in the league. There is no arguing he is a dirty player based on simple OPTA statistics.
This hatred of Arsenal will just make the title that much sweeter.
Yep..you got that right brother
Agree with mos of your ratings. Fabregas is a Monster. Arshavin needs to get more involved.(loved the turn). Hope Diaby isn’t out for too long. Gallas hhad a very poor game imo. We need a new striker. Eddy just isn’t cutting it. He’s slow & isn’t the clinical guy we all though he was.
I actually loved Gallas’ performance, the way he was helping the midfield and the forward line. You could see that in two-three occasions he caught Bolton by surprise with his presence up front.
He may be lacking a little defensively, but you can’t question the commitment of the man.
I thought gallas was awesome today..He was good in the air, going forward, intercepting, basically the guy was a monster….Verminator is a legend…
Fab, is from another planet..(he was hunted down by muanba, but he escaped and scored a brilliant goal, also the first goal he made for rosicky , muamba could find him…great perfomance!! you cannot stop a great player from doing what they wana do
On the gallas tackle., i hate the double standards by the british media, i mean if it had been davies who had fouled gallas, he would have been praised for is hardness as a brit..i hate hypocrisy
I couldn’t help but notice that you said in the article that it was Clichy’s poor clearence that led to the first goal. I would like to point out, that move was started from a throw in. Gallas had an oppurtunity to hoove the ball down the field, but a *poor clearence* led to him concedeing a throw in deep in our half. Pow, 10 seconds later Clichy tries to knock it out of the D, fails, Bolton score. So not entirely his fault you see, it could have been prevented from the start if Gallas cleared properly.
Eddie is outstanding his touches are great in the past 3 games sure he is missing some chance but they will come good. For sure he is playing 2 times better than arshavin (though there can be reasons like he is injured and not in his favorite position etc.) . This “we need a new striker” is surely a myth. The only way whoever comes from other team could help is knocking down those crosses, but they are not going to give what RVP or Eduardo has been adding to the team. Probably Bendtner could be better not any other striker.
let’s just hope cesc and rosicky stay healthy…. rosicky just adds that little magic when he is on the pitch
so true..and also we are all chanting fabregas’ name…indeed, this guy’s alegend…but the likes of rosicky, eduardo, gallas and verm were also instrumental to winning that game.!
denilson is pure crap.
rosicky was by far MY motm, orchestrated many fine moves, always willing to glide past players and balls going forward were always precise and just great to see the little mozart working his magic again, been a long time since his been in this kinda form and must commend him for playing almost the full 90mins and scoring THAT vital first goal before half time to get us back in to the game. cracker goal at that. fine display by our czech captain! what a miss he has been.
and clichy imo deserves a higher score, we looked so much more assured on the left flank than when traore was there on the weekend. a bit off match sharpness but he got there steadily as the game grew and thats why we need experienced players, they wont let us down in these kinda situations when were 0-2 down. him and rosicky impressed today. cesc too but who really has to state the obvious these days huh?
2 words… Birmingham City.
first of all i don’t see where gallas did wrong today in the defense. he and vermaelen both where going up, it gave us a extra man in the attack. gallas didnt lack nothin today. and about the tackle, its not the players fault that they kept playing. it is the referee because he didnt stop the game. we cant expect that every time a player goes to the ground to wait and see if he is allright. for example what if he was acting because he lost the ball? then we had to start to attack all over again.
second i think diaby deserve a 7. he helped out the defense very well. there was a period in the second half when it was 3-2 that bolton start to come at us to make the 3-3. that was the moment when diaby went off. don’t underrestimate people, diaby is very very important!!
denilson did some dirty work too but he gives the ball away cheaply and why did he challence that bolton player like that in the box? i think he lack brains really.
rosicky had a great game too. i think it’s very important to have rosicky or nasri on the pitch in the starting XI. they are very important in the build up. denilson and diaby don’t have a good build up quality and Cesc can’t always do the build up and then run the show in the attack. it’s important that we have another playmaker like rosicky or nasri to keep things thicking, so please rosicky stay fit. wenger needs to rest him against stoke.
then clichy, i would say a 6.5. i think we forgot about sunday how bolton was attacking on our left side with traore. today we didn’t see lee alot and boltons attack wasn’t raining from our left side. clichy is better in de passing and on the ball then traore. So much more commitment. but the problem with clichy is many times he makes 1 mistake that cost us a goal like today he fault to clear the ball. but i like his comeback from injury
FABREGAS what a player. i really hope he stays fit. wenger please rest him at stoke
arshavin it don’t matter if you 4-2 up, you need to pass the ball or MAKE that goal.
i don’t think eduardo lacks pace. i think he lacks some kind of reaction sense . and sometimes he is scared. he avoids challence. thats why i think he isnt sharp in front of goal because he got things in his mind. but he had a good game against psychical side.
LETS GRAB THIS TROPHY GOONERS
SAme old arsenal doing it hard way.
However this young team finally maturing
with never say die spirit.At 2-0 I thought we would
be lucky with a draw.Loved Gallas attitude tonight and
yes we got Lucky with cesc goal but there was loads of
comittment about that goal and aren’t we always told that
all champs need a bit of luck- we’ve seen very little of it
with injuries over the last few seasons.I’d imagine
that Bolton are well ahead of us on x rated tackles over the years
(Todd on Van persie anyone?)
we’ve had an easy run since Chelsea including Liverpool
caving in and a serious amount of title clashes comng up
soon- that will be the test but nevertheless it’s good to be
a gooner !(and Spurs losing)i
Eduardo is improving in my opinion. He is still lacking the finishing touch, but there were a few nice movements today. The first touch when he received the long ball from Diaby and charged it was excellent. On some other day, it could have very well ended up in the net, and what a fantastic goal that would have been. The magical turn by Arshavin was the reason why we call him a magician, but it could have been much more pleasing if that ended up in a goal.
To sum up, it was the exhibition of great character and quality … and we are there now. Now, they should just maintain this for a few more months and I can smell the silverware.
Diaby had a very good game. We always seem to point out the passes he misplaced, but so does Arshavin and Cesc. I’d give Diaby a 7.5 for his all round power-packed display.
Almunia also made a good save from a freekick and almost saved the penalty (yep almost, but that would get some good points). I’d give him a 7
fantastic game, the players just knew they can not lose this game. Arsenal is top of the league and its a fantastic feeling. I agree with your ratings.Our captain looks better and better, he is unbelivable and for me there is no midfild in the EPL, even in the world that is playing better than him,and it does not look to be changed in the future. Denilson can not play in the Song’s position and (i think)in the starting 11. Diaby, i pray to God he will not miss against A.Villa. Gallas is a fantastic player, he was not at his best in defence but he did very well everytime he went forward. Vermalen, what a great player he is, Wenger you have found a class class defender. Rosicky had a good game and his goal was just to show us that he is still the old Rosicky that can produce some magic moments. Eduardo, well i don’t know what to say about him, he is not playing well, he just has to, simply has to take his chances and shout with power. Clichy had a very good game, his riturn is right in time, and his presence on the pitch is a need in our left side. Sagna is a great defender but please please please someone there at the training ground give him some advice how to cross the ball. Arshavin played very well and he deserved that breliant goal. He should have at least pass the ball to Walcott in that late chance. And for that foul from Gallas i say f…k off media, where the hell were u at sunday when a bolton donkey was trieing to cut off Fabregas head? Can u please,just for a moment, be fair with Arsenal?!
Oh what a match what a fight a true entertaining match but the score line really gives it all away
Rocisky i was so glad to see that beautiful goal Gas goal brilliant vision missed varmaleen goal still didn’t see it but then came Archivan goal what a cracker
There was a great spell in defence it is shocking to know we conceded 2 goals
I got to give more points to danilson he fought his way to redeem himself and did it i would give 8 to all 10 to Gas 10 rocisky 9.5 edwardow 9 archivan 9 varmaleen
It was a good sign for the days to come but with caution to let 2 goals in early isn’t good philosophy to win a match Bolton were a great team a hard team and iam sorry for their troubles but had we played a different team could we have pulled a win i would say yes as they defended brilliantly with cheer determination got us the goals could this team become champions very much so can they play the same way again i don’t know will they be consistent i hope so what i know they are capable and their capability was evident to win from a 0 2 to 4 2 that is amazing
Thank you Arsenal for giving me a memorable beautiful happy evening
My thoughts overall were the team showed great determination in coming back and a great calmness and confidence once we got down 2-0 and the crowd was growing restless.
The top performers to me were:
Cesc – continues to be a top POY candidate, very close to three goals today. Hard to believe he is just 22 years old. What a difference in him since being name captain last year. I have not seen him lose his composure and showing great leadership both by his play and also his actions.
Rosicky – how great it is it to see him getting better and better and playing two matches in a row even. Class really showed today, wonderful goal and very inventive and probing all day. Really adds something to our squad and as he gains more fitness he will be even better for us.
Vermaelen – yet another great goal and determination throughout, continually pushed forward and solid in the back.
Sagna – game after game he is so consistent on defense and so consistent on the attack (though in a negative way with his poor crossing). I really do think he is one of the top right backs in the world on the defensive side.
Those that struggled to me could really be said to be Eduardo and Denilson. As you said Denilson was just dreadful most of the match and horrible penalty to give up. Can’t win anything above 2 feet off of the ground and continues to turn the ball over and over again. Eduardo does try hard and is active, but is just killing us with his inability to finish and score (like Bendtner last year). His pace is obviously lacking and just can’t get separation like Arshavin to get shots off and when he does shoot they are just dreadful. I would like to see Vela get a game or two in and move Eduardo to the bench to see if he brings anything more.
Extremely good spirit and maturity…
Gallas was just imperial as well as Vermaelen (the only difference is that the second scored a goal)…
Denilson was inexistant and lost to many possession. I was at the Emirates and we felt (at one point) that we were playing 10 against 11 (the back 4 had no cover)… !!! he needs to wake up as he is supposed to be Song’s back up…!!!
Edouardo a 7… I don’t think so…!! He is slow, out of position ( I saw Arshavin and Rosicky having a go at him) and he got 2 clear chances…!!!
In general we have, finally, sized the opportunity to go top and did not waist the chance.
We also showed Bolton and our future opponents that we can be hard and strong on the man and less naive (Gallas fault!! so what ? if the situation was reversed they will be talking about AW moaning)…
Now we need to maintain our drive and focus and not allow another slip up, because with 2 goals down against Chelsea or Man U it would be almost game over.
whatever,,,, WE ARE IN THE TOP after babysitting them for four years. Hope they will keep it up
cesc is our pure leader…i hope he stay with gunnerz..if gunner play like this be sure we the champ….arshavin also the who can help to successed….
Bolton should’ve Bolton could’ve. Bolton schmolton. They are not good enough to defend against us. That’s the bottom line. To me Gallas didn’t go for the ankle. If he did then good for him. This was Bolton. We get so beaten up against them and every non-Arsenal fan is OK with it. I’m still 100% sure Arshavin is hiding an injury for as long as he can. We are playing with a skeleton shift and so far so good. Lucky is when Man. U. get to play teams with no manager like Burnley and Newcastle (2 years ago). We faced a very determined team and won. There are no negatives and loads of positives unless you are an Arsenal hater or stupid. When we lose they call us guttless. We can enjouy this feeling while we have it.
Thank you our Gunners for this performance. I’m so happy I can go on but I have to go. Cheers to all Gunners fans.
Edu is getting there slowly. Lots of good movement and great touches. But Vela should start against villa- try something new. he definitely has the pace and the finishing, just needs to play more.
Riveting game today, But can we beat Chelsea? Im not sure.
Great performance…but if we continue play like this…we’ll be 3rd in the league and not champions. How can we allow bolton to score 2 goals in our home. Ridiculous. When chelsea did that, they went to score a 3rd. What i mean here is that playing against such team like bolton, we should never allow them to score. Our problem is that we were overconfident.
Regarding the performance.. it was a TRUE PLEASURE to see the team responding. They were plying for the win let alone a draw. Great performance not only from cesc but from all the players. Well, denilson and diaby have had bad times in the match, but who cares now..WE WON!
HOURRER!
Just like Manchester United allowed Aston Villa to score 2 goals and they then won 3-2 in the game that decided the title.
Man U did win, didn’t they?.
Have you not realised until now that Arsenal would rather be playing Man U’s & Liverpools rather than Boltons & Blackburns.
Top Blog Keep It Up
Craig Eastmond for Denilson – That is no longer debatable.
William Gallas won 100% of nothing in the air despite having a good but rather exposed game, I guess he is getting worn out and i really think that we should be using Phillippe Senderos in some of this games – Gallas is somebody we need to keep fit always and he is being overworked and Arsenal might pay for that.
Eduardo is amazing & disgusting at the same time, Amazing as he always finds himself in perfect scoring positions and he actually shoots a lot on target but, where is that power men?,
he is so disgusting in not getting on the score sheet despite being a fraction away a million times – I really wish he gets his power back as he is the most dangerous striker we have – when he has his power.
Fabregas 10 – Perfect positions, perfect dribbles, perfect shots, perfect tackles & perfect goals – i am among the 2% of fans who think we can survive without him but we are far much better with him.
Bolton wanted a dangerous game, they got one, that’s what Arsenal are nowadays, I don’t condone dangerous tackles but, THEY DO!!!!!.
THEY DO!!!!! – That is Bolton
Eduardo was dangerous. he was always involved in all the build up. nice touches. great one two’s. does not usually give the ball away in a match. though he not the finisher he was once know. he can bounce back and show all critiques that he is class!
Congrats with the fantastic game!!
Don’t know mates. The way the team responded was outstanding, but I am worried that we conceded 2 goals just like that. I really think Arsenal has to show its quality (motivation, desire to win, physical strength) against Chel$ki and Manures, and only then I will be convinced. We always have a “good go” against average PL teams and start praising our players, and then Chel$ki comes and scores 3 goals at Emirates.
As to players, I think problems that our defence had yesterday was due to Denilson as a DM, and Clichy who is having rehab at the moment.
Regarding our offensive force, I think we don’t have one at the moment. Eduardo is very weak, and Arshavin is not comfortable playing on the left. Yes, we nominally have lots of strikers, but when it comes to playing against Big 4, our strike force cannot create any chances.
Cecs and Rociscky were very good, really. But we need a tall, strong CF – hope Bendtner fits well!!
Again, congrats to all !!
Brilliant, Chris, an excellent analysis
So proud of the team, what spirit they showed coming back from that dismal start, Cesc is so fired up it has to be infectious for the rest of the players. Eduardo continues to miss what for him should be easy chances but is finding a way to contribute, impressed with Diaby again and the amount of tracking back he has done of late, his ropey moments tend to come when he dwells on the ball deep, would benefit from having a strong presence behind him pushing him forward. I suspect that the win lets Denilson of the hook somewhat but we should keep in mind the fact that he is being played out of position, anyway after his recent dreadful efforts in the defensive midfield role the law of averages probably means that we are now due a good one.
Good morning friends.
Glad we agree on Gallas, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo. I repeat they had a very, very good game.
Nuff sed about that magical second half – loved it. Let’s hear it for Wenger because for me he got so many things, including the timing of subs, spot on. I watched him, head in hands, wondering nervously whether to change Arshavin but he hung on – kept looking at him – and then finally Arsh scored. Wenger smiled and looked vindicated and I realise why he’s a footie manager and I’m not! So, 9 out of 10 for him (I’d love to see you rate him after games on team choice and positions + tactics + (timing of) subs, etc. If he can get forward players to shoot asap we’d sweep past the Chavs. And I doubt if Wilshere would dream of a loan to Bolton after all those fouls!
Ok that was a nice victory and i hope out team keep going like that..But come on gooners..Lets see the things clear..Bolton yesterday played very foolish..They were winning 0-2 and they kept playing offensive,rather than keep the score.I mean they didn’t manage their score so well and we took advantage from this..But it’s not gonna be always like that..If Bolton scored twice in Emirates,we should do something,because there are several better teams than Bolton out there..
I’d like to mention the diaby header from vermaelen goal.he fought with 2 3 guys to win that and he made the assist for the goal…a very important one..and a few tackles were outstanding when tracking back…I hope he’s injury is not bad…we can’t afford losing him for villa game…
cesc and vermy were monsters out there…these 2 and with arshavin hope to carry the team in the next crucial matches..
And Song! come on back..Does anyone know who is playing cameroon in the quarters if they qualify 2 nite? if they play with egypt i think song will return..
Go Gunners!
OH my, it was a cracking game..with davies causing all sorts of problem at the arsenal end..but once again our technique prevailed, captain Cesc continuing his good form, just hope Diaby’s not very injured, we ll just have to wait for an injury update…great game for rosicky..who really took the game by he neck..we have shown great concentration and determination and i feel we deserve to be where we are right now; top of the league…but we all hope that will be the case after the next 4 crucial games…all together a very fine display of fighting spirit and incisive attacking football…Next Stoke…Go for more Gooners
If Davies had been half a yard quicker, he would have been committing a terrible foul on Gallas. I believe the referee called it correctly in that it was two opposing players both sliding in towards each other. It was Davies’s misfortune that he did not inflict damage on Gallas before receiving the incoming
Comeback.
Why did you give Denilson a 5? There’s no way he was worth a 5 any day. He was absolutely awful, and even you’ve admitted in the comment.
For a slightly better second half, else it would have been a 4.