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Stoke vs Arsenal, 3-1: Full time thoughts, analysis and player ratings

Submitted by Chris on January 24, 2010 – 19:00 76 Comments

The Game

With what is coming up next in the Premiership, I completely agree with Arsene Wenger’s starting line-up. Sol Campbell needed a game to test his fitness out, ditto for Theo Walcott and sooner or later, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas had to enjoy a regular start in an important game.

Unfortunately, the players who were supposed to help the young ones didn’t turn up for the game, with Lukasz Fabianski, Mikael Silvestre and Denilson all showing why they should never be used as regulars.

The ratings of many players, including the young ones, are very low today but this doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them or that I’m rating them as a player. Many will blame them, they will be quick to blame players who are used once every two months with the expectations that they will play the game of their life.

Believe me, it’s not that easy. Judge them when they play 10 games in a row, maybe more, and I’m including Theo Walcott here.

We crash out, but it’s not the end of the world. As I said, it’s seeing the “experienced” players failing that really disappointed me today, not really the scoreline, which doesn’t come as a surprise to me, just like the heavy defeat against Manchester City in the Carling Cup. There are more important objectives to fight for.

Starting this Wednesday.

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

Fabianski: 4,5 – Let me tell you, we’re in deep trouble when it comes to goalkeepers. If Almunia offers no protection whatsoever to the back four, you can’t say Fabianski does. Not to mention his dangerous distribution when he has the ball.

Campbell: 6,5 – He looked rusty and slow, but it was his first game after all. Having said that, he had a very, very good game, good in the air and showed all his experience at the back.

Silvestre: 3 – The tackle on Rory Delap was his only positive thing of the game. The rest, a disaster.

Coquelin: 4 – One of the young guns who really can’t be blamed for defeat. Not the best of games, some good tackles but panicked when in possession. He will surely learn from this.

Traore: 5 – Clichy had to play. I can’t understand why an experienced player returning from injury was not used. Armand may be very good when going forward but defensively, he’s still a long way off.

Eastmond: 6 – Keeps on performing well and one of the few who did well today.

Denilson: 4 – I still can’t believe many consider him a regular. The second and third goal exploited all his weaknesses: no strength and even more worse than that, no pace. For the record, it was Mamady Sidibe he was chasing, not Cristiano Ronaldo.

Fabregas: 6 – I knew he had to play if we were to stand a chance of winning. It seems Arsene thought the same, but you can’t expect one man to do it all alone, can you?

Vela: 4,5 – Some nice runs, some nice passes but except the final pass to Ramsey, created nothing worth noting with the ball.

Walcott: 3 – Just like Carlos, Theo also failed to make an impact on the game but I’ll wait to see him with the regular eleven to judge him.

Emmanuel-Thomas: 4 – Unimpressed by him. I thought he could be an option for the regular team in terms of physical presence, which he possesses, but he’s terrible on the ball.

(Subs)
Eduardo, Arshavin, Ramsey: No Vote – These three came on to help Arsenal’s cause but I can’t really say they were involved as much as Wenger hoped. Eduardo and Arshavin barely touched the ball. Aaron was more involved but I still can’t understand why he didn’t go for the easy pass to the right to Vela and that started Stoke’s second goal move which killed us off.

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76 Comments »

  • hassan says:

    senderos is a much better player than silvestre i dont know why wenger chooses to give more games to him rather than a young talented defender in senderos

    • jtop says:

      Senderos !!!! , sorry mate , i know its your opinion , but SENDEROS. He is absolutely terrifying to watch , and more to the point i think hes terrified when he plays too . Although he is the smash (slice) the ball out in a panic king haha .

      p.s , he can head the ball , and hes lightning too lol

  • jtop says:

    I have to say , i dont think arsene wenger really wanted to win this one . Sol campbell made a very important point afterwards saying that you have to EARN THE RIGHT to win things . Arsenal have not earned that right for a while now and i feel we need to win the fa cup or carling cup to prove a point . It proves we are good enough to field a young team and try players out . But until we win something i feel we need to play AS MANY big players as we can ( i fully understand resting a few ). I never fealt confident and its a shame because its a big trophy . Now we once again are relying on two very tough trophys for any success this season . What happens if we dont win again this year , i know i for one would be saying i wish we played a full team to try and win a domestic trophy. So again its a real shame to be out , but i hope that this time Arsene gets it right by resting players , although if he doesnt i am prepeared for that sudden sinking feeling again going from two three trophys to nothing in a short space of time. sorry if ive depressed anyone , lol , it just really winds me up,
    Nasri , Arshavin , Eduardo , Fabregas, Rosicky ,Vermaelen , Gallas you boys will win us something , especially if Eduardo will start banging them in again , lets pray bendtner does a good job too , because i for one cant see a new face coming in this month , but what do i know ? lol

    • FREDDY KOIGI says:

      Yes man, i really hope we earn that right soon. At least now we have a few world class players in Fabregas, Arshavin, Gallas, Vermaelen, Rosicky & Compbell.

      Injuries aside, there is no more excuses as our squad as as good as any at the top.

  • summer breez says:

    any one with the statstics of the game ???

    personaly if we keep the squad together for next year i am sure we will be in a stroger position as these outings provids us with great traning and insight after all this seson is marked heavily with enjury and we havent produced any new force we got some young ones in that will spice up our reserve and from the reserve we got estmond and marieda ramsy and wilsher how bad really vanpersie will be back dojorou and the rest so all in all we are not doing that bad to win this seson we need to signe in but the next they will be seating on the bench and some will get disatisfied and will break ranks the most important objective is keeping our team united and strong we are building Arsenal to be strong for many years to come here is to you Mr wenger

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