Arsenal vs Burnley, 3-1: Full time analysis and player ratings
The Game
Some of you will look back at Nicklas Bendtner’s missed chances and smile after we registered a second 3-1 win after the Stoke one, but to be suffering the way we did with five minutes to go was not nice to see. To find myself asking players to keep it near the corner flag or for Almunia to keep it in the box when playing 19th in the table Burnley, well, it’s sad stuff.
But, it happens when you have 10 clear goal opportunities and only score three times. Luckily, we get all three points and go level on points with Chelsea. To be fair on Nicklas, I appreciated and was impressed with his fighting spirit and ball shielding but for someone who wants to be “Arsenal’s number one striker”, his words not mine, you expect him to bury those.
Let’s just say we took what we wanted from this game, the three points, the pressure back on Chelsea and seeing Abou Diaby and Andrey Arshavin back after a well-deserved rest. We will be provide news on Cesc Fabregas’ injury – which is hopefully nothing serious – as soon as we get them.
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 – Again not fully convinced with how he dealt with some high balls, especially the last one where he clashed with Abou in his attempt to catch the ball.
Silvestre: 6 – Had a shocking start, gifting Burnley the ball with his first three touches. Recovered, but still slow to recover when caught on the wrong foot.
Vermaelen: 7 – Cool, calm and collected. With both William Gallas and Sol Campbell ruled out, Thomas is always a rock solid presence at the back.
Clichy: 6,5 – Very good game from Gael. Very quick to anticipate his marker and cleared the ball in old-style fashion when required.
Eboue: 7 – Another very good game from Emmanuel, who could easily be seen as an added midfielder in these types of games.
Denilson: 6 – A better second half from the Brasilian who however still fails to make his physical presence felt in midfield.
Fabregas: 7 – Apparently, Cesc didn’t train on Friday because of a knee injury, reason why he was substituted today. We’ll know more tomorrow, but in the meantime, he scored that first, vital goal.
Nasri: 9 – Phenomenal. No other words to describe such a magnificent performance. His assist to Cesc was delicious.
Rosicky: 6,5 – His impact on the game was not as clear as Samir’s but I still believe Tomas had a very good game, though he will probably be the one to go on the bench now that Andrey is back.
Walcott: 9 – If there was someone else in the box, Theo would have scored and had four assists under his name. Unfortunately, he only has the goal to show for but if he can replicate this performance over and over again, he will prove many – including myself – wrong.
Bendtner: 4 – Well, as I said in the introduction, I loved his fighting spirit and the way he shielded the ball for his team-mates, but missing four clear goal opportunities is no joke. I would have understood had he missed all of them except the easy header, but he missed that one as well.
(Subs)
Diaby: 7 – Brilliant. Watching him back means that on Tuesday, Alex Song and himself will surely start in midfield and that will not be a nice vision for the Porto players.
Eduardo: No Vote – So, so slow. Dudu is clearly still a long way off from being the fast, clinical striker we once knew, but hopefully he’ll get there.
Arshavin: 6 – Started slowly after coming in but still managed to score the third goal which completely killed off Burnley’s hopes.
![[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 see Walcott scoring against Porto. Don’t worry about Bendtner, he was a lil bit unlucky, but I still think he can make an impact on tuesday.
You can look at Bendtner’s performance a couple of ways: the good – he continually gets himself where the lead striker should be on the end of crosses and short passes in front of the goal and works hard to get there, has the frame to hold off contact and is a great target; the bad – he cannot continue to miss such gifted chances without even putting the ball on frame if we hope to contend for the two titles. I would clearly rather have him in there than Eduardo as Eduardo is in the same boat as Bendtner, just can’t finish this year, but at least Bendtner provides so much else (target players, holds up the ball well, wins headers on offense and defense, etc.).
Overall though I am glad we got the extra goal, but how many times with a one goal lead do we continue to do stupid things instead of take the ball to the corner and keep it away from the goalie that can punt it 75 yards? We did get a great goal by Arshavin, but with 30 seconds left (or less) just hold the ball (especially with the wonder pair of Denilson and Silvestre defending for us.
Overall I think your ratings are good. The three stars in my book were clearly Nasri, Eboue and Walcott (and Cesc too – fabulous goal). The goats were (as could have been predicted before the game) to me were Denilson and Silvestre. A one goal lead is never safe with those two on the field and neither seems to have a clue about marking (esp Silvestre in the middle) or taking care of the ball in the defensive half. I just hope Diaby can stay healthy these next two matches so he can cover Song at Hull next weekend and that Campbell and/or Gallas is back for Porto.
Finally, one thing we finally started to do (and I know this is because Burnley was giving it to us all day) is get the crosses in behind the defense on the ground so we could run onto them, something we really have not done all year.
Bendtner had a shocker today but we got away with it against a very poor Burnley side.
Hopefully he’s got his misses out of the way and we can look forward to putting some in the net during the run in.
I think he appreciated the ‘Super Nick’ chants and i’m glad the crowd didn’t get on his back. He kept trying and got into good postions. Two thirds of the way there;)
He was a bot unlucky? Are you serious? That for me is embracing mediocrity. It’s like finishing last in a race and saying you were the 6th winner. What he did is unacceptable, the reason I am so harsh about it is because Bendtner talks and talks and delivers nothing! He chews his gum like he doesn’t have a care in the world and when he comes off he has a little laugh. That attitude diffuses the fact that he has a tremendous amount of growing up to do. His first touch is crap, he’s as slow as drunken legless dwarf and I don’t see in him the fire to change. I’ve had enough of Nicholas Bedtner unless someone here can show me something else I missed that makes him Arsenal FC material.
Stonroy…… very harsh, mate.
…..and name the drunken legless dwarf if you dare
Yes, let’s not forget he was pivotal to our success against Stoke by scoring the so-important equaliser.
thank god there is someone realistic and not just sympathetic about that low class bendtner…
I’m writing about “stonroy” ofcourse……
Too Harsh. He has scored in the last 2 games when we needed him to. He covers the ground well and does get into excellent positions. I remember when arsh and edu where playing striker, our crosses had no one at the end of them. He will get better and we should stand behind him. Be happy we won. His goal last week helped us draw back from the crap goal we conceded, and this week the defence held out to deny Bentdners blushes. We are a team we have to stand united.
I love the fans not doing an “eboue” on him and getting behind him. 9 more to go
Come on you Gunners!
3 more points in the bag, that’s all I care about, cant wait for us to play a game where every team member gives a performance, but until than I’m well happy with a win. Only 9 games to go before we’re crowned Pl champion’s. C’mon you Gunners!
Dont agree with you about Bentner…. of course he should have put a goal or two… but he got himself in good positions all game… fighted well. I think he deserved a 7 on the rating:)
He scored in his 3 last games… and I think he will be useful for us in the end of this season… with the support of arshavin, nasri and rosicky – he will be adding several goals this season:)
Agree about Nasri!! He was fantastic in 2nd half!
im not gonna say much … the win ment the most to me… as bedtner missed lods off chances … but i think he tried ….
n chewing a gum is just his style n he just enjois playin with it i suppose n he is part of arsenal he has helped us previosli n so i just wish him good luck next time….
Can someone tell me if denilson was our defensive midfielder in the second half????
Cos if he was he didn´t know….
I`m one of those who has slated Walcott most of the season so I`m happy to be wipeing the egg off my face. I sent him a personal message yesterday and I like to think it helped.
To be honest, you can’t really say we were wrong in the “past”, I mean surely he wasn’t performing the way he did today. Actually, today he showed how good he can be, but of course it’s all about consistency.
Greetings from Kenya Chris and other gunner fans. Bendtner had a terrible game but I think we need to keep things in context. Firstly, Bendtner played a pivotal role in last week’s away victory in the cauldron that is the Brittania stadium. Secondly the game came after a mid week international fixture. This season and even previous seasons Arsenal as a team have looked somewhat flat coming off International breaks. What matters is the victory. I just think that Arsenal today playing at home againist a club with such a terrible away record showed less hunger than they did away to Stoke.
As far as ratings go MOTM is close between Nasri and Walcott. Silvestre had a number of shaky moments the most worrying was when he was under pressure at the wing and decided to give the ball to Almunia.
In conclusion Arsenal needs to treat all remaining games like cup finals. Their were moments today when the team showed lack of urgency.
Yes, we got the 3 points, but we needed a goal difference of 4 to go top and would have got it if Bender didn’t ruin it. He got in good positions bla bla bla, is that supposed to be good enough? I striker is supposed to finish! I bet if we lost the game, everyone would be crucifying him. Just because we won, eevryone is giviing him a pat on the back for trying. From the start you could see how slow he looks, alomst lathargic on the ball. Here’s the funniest thing, when AW didn’t buy a striker in Jan, one of his reasons was that Bender will be back from injury so we will have a striker, please….. So he scored 3 goals in 3 games, apart from the header, the rest were tap ins, and when you’ve got the quality of Nasri and Cesc feading you the ball, of course you’re gonna score some tap ins. I think some people are blinded by the victory, if he misses like this against Porto, we’re out of the CL, then I’d like to hear what everyone has to say.
I guess you have not played any kind of sport in your life. If you had played you know what “a bad day” means. Surely he cannot be player of the year for his country , if he does not know how to put those balls into goal. It is just a bad day which cannot be explained in football terms ,it just happens and generally happens to every body. It is just that he should not have these kind of games often.
I would rate Bendtner 6,5, he maybe missed way to many goal opportunities but important is that he get into this chances. He will score a lot of goals someday. I am wondering why he score so many goals when he plays international games and why he so miss when he play club games. But to the point of high rating, we all saw, what influence he has in the game. After he was subtitute, Arsenal was much less dangerous and all balls forward was lost. By the way, he got an goal assist.
But otherwise very good ratings.
I an remember a similar performance from Robin van Persie at the very beginning of the season, can’t remember the opponent though, (was it Wigan?). He missed many chances, one I clearly remember is one Cesc sent similar lofted ball over the defence and Robin had to chest and put in the net, instead he turned in some way and missed it, even left flanked Dudu couldn’t reach the ball and it went inches wide. After that match everybody was saying (mainly the Pundits on TV and football websites) he is not the striker that can play there, or he won’t provide you 20 goals a season, blah blah….in next 3 weeks everybody was counting him amongst Torres, Drogba, Rooney…..I think same is happening with Nik, he is very close now. I remember him scoring in Stoke, Sunderland and then for Denmark in three consecutive matches…he came as a relief for us….Don’t worry, I think he will show what he is made up of this season, in world cup too, even more next season.
I also think a “4″ is harsh on Bendtner. Strikers sometimes have those days. He did everything well except finish. He come looking for the ball, got into great positions and on another day could have bagged a hat-trick. Would you prefer some of the performances from strikers earlier in the season when we did not see them for 90 mins they were so quiet.
I also like the fact he was able to smile about it in a tongue in cheek way. The fans were great. The alternative would see him getting the “Eboue” treatment and leaving the pitch with his confidence shot and the team with one less option up front.
I reckon he will score in the week vs Porto.
Come on you Reds!
Bendtner has those games every week,mate.He’s not professional standard.
I’ve seen Rooney, Ronaldo, Drogba & Torres all miss a hatfull of chances in a game or three…it happens. Bendtner has scored some important goals for AFC & he’s still not long back after a long lay-off with injury.
It’s true, there were several Arsenal players who took time to find their form and their finishing touch, but while they were struglling for form / the goal scoring touch, they still had one thing, quickness / pace. Bendtner is looking too slow, can’t seem to outrun defenders. When RVP was struggling for form, he still had pace, just needed to find the touch. When Walcott was struggling for form, he still had the pace. Another player who lacks pace now is Eduardo. Him and Nick seem to be in the same boat, missing chances and too slow. They both contribute alot to the game, but not as strikers, and strikers is what they’re supposed to be
Once again Bendtner has shown his idiotic performance, but yet again, it’s Wenger’s fault, he should give a chance to C.Vela to prove himself, I don’t know why he believes so much in Bendtner, that moron is maybe THE ONLY miscalculated “talent” of Wenger…. I wonder if porto will be so forgiving on tuesday, like burnley was today… Please Mr. Wenger think twice before you put Bendtner in the starting 11 on tuesday, Fabianski should make a better striker than him!
Vlatko Gooner, two things.
1. Carlos was not available for the game.
2. Please avoid calling players idiots, morons or whatever. You believe Nick had an awful game, ok, so do I in the finishing department, but no need to be so aggressive for one bad game.
well excuse me for beeing realistic, I love arsenal fc like you and all of these people writing here on this site, and all of you know that bendtner is not good enough to be an arsenal first team striker, he should play in the reserves in the FA CUP or the CARLING CUP, but not the Premier League. As for Vela I know he wasn’t available for today, but still he should get his chance (when he’s available) instead of bendtner.
no you don’t…if you loved this club you would be supported this club you need to support the players…all of them. If arsene sends them out then we have to support them…unless you know more than the boss??? we need bendtner for all the other things he does (hard working, positioning, holding up play. i’m not saying he had a good game. he was bad in front of goal…he knows it, but he also scored some crucial goals for us lately. He’s only 21/22 and is improving…he had a set back today.
Making scape-goats out of players is the worst thing you could do…look what happened with eboue, diaby, song…
You will be eating a big slice of humble pie my friend…let me know how it tastes!!!
this is why i hate some arsenal fans (vlatko).
why doesn’t everybody say anything about walcott, or eboue??? they had some bad games, but you could see them fighting desperately to improve their play! couldn’t say the same about the “talent” bendtner…
The Vlatko fella reminds me of my ex……too whinny and emotional….and a Chelsea fan!
Nik had a bad game, we all saw it…..get over it mate. Am sure his performance in the coming weeks will have u questioning your emotional outburst…..
Porto, here we come….:)
Chris,
Excellent comment. The ratings are very good.
Keep the good ‘tone” for this website. We should be more “civilized”, because we are ARSENAL fans. It is good season so far (despite the injuries) and let’s hope we win the title. Greetings Kansas City, USA
i just have one question. what exactly has vela done to automaticaly deserve this place in the starting side? i mean, sum people are talkin about this dude like hes the new ronaldo. maybe, i just dont get it. bendtner will be ok, he just seems like hes trying way to hard to hide the fact that hes nervous. no thanks to people like this nob(vlat) . if you truly love the arsenal then support dont condemn. we are going to win the league this year so mind yer mouth in slammin arsene and co.
chris, i think bentner was abit unlucky. his positioning ws rooney like, made good runs and he shielded the ball well for others to move forwad. Nobody comented on their keeper, he ws definately their best. If he improves on his finish, he will be the best striker in the epl. Overall, it ws a good perfomance.
i posted a coment yesterday about the line up i prefered, and i wrote there that Walcott should play and will play a full game 90 min. He did that and he performed in a way that we all wanted to see. He was fantastic, i agree with u if just Bendner would have scored at least one goal from the croses that Theo gave to him then we and the media would have been speaking with more superlatives about him. Thankyou Theo, u gave us a fantastic day today and we realy want to see you doing it week in week out.
Almunia- he was nearly to give me a hart atack in that last corner.
Eboue-again a realy good game from him.
Vermalen-a good game but where were he when they scored!
Silvestre-well he had a bad game as usualy but not a very bad one.
Clichy-i think this is the real Clichy we used to see before.
Denilson-i prefered not to speack about him, sory but i dont like this player.
Cesc-what a fantastic player we have. If he will decide to leave us, i will cry like a mad man. The way he scored the goal was simply perfect.
Rosicky- a good game he had.
Nasri- fantastic, we need him doing it more often.
Bendner- hahahahahahahaha
Walcott- today i definitly belive he will be a star, he will be a great player for us, i dont care about England i am a fun of France so i just wanna see him playing for Arsenal like he did tonight.
The game against Hull will be a much much difficult game then this that we won today. I dont care for Porto, we will win thats for sure.
If Sol cannot make it for Tuesday, wouldnt it be better to put Song in defence, as Silvestre may struggle against Hulk and Falcao. Anyway great win for us with Theo and Samir who were both excellent.
I know it doesnt concern us, but with regards to ManUre, I hear that Rooney is doubtful for the match against AC Milan, and with Carrick suspended, Milan have a decent chance of winning. I’m only saying this after watching them against Wolves, and they looked mediocre at times without Rooney and had Wolves’ finishing been better, they could have got a point.
Anyway, lets continue in our pursuit for both league and CL. Come on Arsenal!!
i agree 100% about the song in central defense comment. lets just hope willy or sol will be fit.
I said time and again that Bendtner shouldnt be in an arsenal shirt;today he showed why.Bendtner isnt good enough,not even for Burnely.He cant even control the ball properly.He’s so slow and phathetic.All he does is chat.Shameful,Shameful,Shameful.
Stanroy, that was really harsh. What i can just say is that u’re a myopic and unappreciative *****. If u hav a problem wt bendtner, take ur father to wenger n beg him 2 use him as a top striker n lets see hw he’d perform. I bet u watched d highlight of d match…i dont wanna insult u bt i dont know ur reason to insult Bendtner. Ther’s a line btw criticizing and insulting. WHAT would Bendtner’s silence do 2 ur life or add 2 his game. Or hw does d chewing gum dat he chews affect ur life.maybe u’v 4gotten dat Arshavin also lost chances in ds match thou nt as much as Bendtner. Maybe u need 2 watch d match again.
Bendtner isnt good enough,period.Shouldnt be paid to play.
4 is too harsh .. id accept bendtner on the pitch even if he misses 1000 goal opp. as his presence alone is enuf in terms of physical additions, height, as well as skills …. any1 can have his unlucky day, even CR7 once missed a ball when the goal was empty!! so it aint a big deal as long as we win .. if u play football (even if just for fun and u lack all the striker’s skills) u can sometimes score tough goals blindly and at other times miss 99% rated goals .. i was so happy that he was laughin while bein sub and that the crowd applauded him.. i knw he’ll be reviewin his mistakes and he’ll only get better .. finally hope cescy’s injury wont be serious … btw, its arshavin who scored the 3rd goal not dudu .. GUNNERS 4 LIFE … gdluck liverpool next week
Bendtner,skills?youre having a laugh.He tries to control the ball and it goes 4,5 yards away from him.every game.
what kind of fans judge players for a couple of badly controlled balls in one unlucky game!!! bendtner when playin as a winger shows his quality in controllin the ball and tryin to cut in the pent box … now that he is playin in the central role he is doin fine by keepin the ball and shielding his teammates and, except for this game, he has been adapting quite well in this new position … without bendtner’s header as well as the pent he got us against stoke, a win today wud have been useless (if it happened) cz we wud have been lost the stoke game and got demoralized! UNITE!
ok asshole we get , u dislike bendtner. move on and support the arsenal or just go be a chelsea fan shayne.
he has long legs…he only lost possession once and got credited with an assist…you aren’t good enough to be an arsenal supporter…go hate somewhere else..
I agree with u, after bendtner was replaced we lost much presence in the burnley area, rather they had space to come at us…the boy offers more than just goals. Still needs to put some of those chances away though.
A rating of 4 is too kind on Nick. Don’t give me that bollocks about him ‘doing everything right except finish it off’ – that’s his only objective. His concerns as a centre forward lay solely in putting the ball in the net and he failed to do just that tragically today. There’s no excuse for fluffing that many sitters and the mere fact that he was laughing it up on his way out of the pitch just shows his self-contention. He oughta have hung his head and be ashamed of his pathetic showing rather than giving us the ol’ ‘hey, win some lose some’ face. You would never jugde a defender on his excellent positioning and tackling if he scored four own goals in a game.
I’m coming around to hope we’ll land Chamakh come the summer transfer window. At the very least his (Chamakh’s) goal-to-chance rate appears substantially less abominable than that of Bendtner.
Nick’s performance against Burnely almost marked the one year anniversary for his hair-risingly abysmal game against Blackburn on home turf last season to the date (the game in which Andrej bagged his first and excellent goal for us).
id rather put u infront of goal and let walcott sned u crosses .. i just wana check if ull ever manage to get a touch on the ball and not even score it!!! …. he’s 22, so he will be one of the best as he nears the 25 yrs mark … besides one goal against the spuds after 10 sec from gettin on the pitch is enuf to make any true arsenal fan adore this guy forever! … many ppl criticized le prof for dependin on song 2 yrs ago ..and today no1 can imagine our midfield without him .. no1 understands this club better than wenger so stop pretendin to be a football manager and save ur efforts in supportin this team (all the players, even sylvestre who is avg. but tries his best everytime for the sake of the team … a poor-faithful player is always rated more than a skillfull-unfaithful adebayor!) ,,, go gunners
I’d sooner give up my interest in club football completely than become a selectively blind ‘follow-the-leader’ lemming such as certain fractions of the so-called supporters. If you cannot accept others having a different opinion than that of the manager you really don’t have much business on fan review and comment pages such as this.
And by all means go ahead and put me in front of goal. I’m only 6′2″ but I’m way faster than he’ll ever be. And I was quite the goal snatcher in my glory days.
no your just a snatch. now and probably in your glory days
Great.
yup. total snatch. hes probably a chelsea supporter at heart
Bendner will be a good striker for us but not one of the best strikers the world has thats for sure. He missed many clear chances today, when he missed the second one i knew
he will miss any chance that he will have till the end, Wenger described this situation very well when he was asked about Bendner.
It’s a worry with Bendtner he realy should have had a hat trick. His finishing needs much improvement. He holds the ball up well, can dribble and bring others into play. He provides a great outlet but if he wants to be world class he needs to score some of those chances in his sleep. I feel we dominated the game and made so many chances but misses like that make a big difference. Luckily we were against a Burnley side in poor form I doubt Porto would be so forgiving.
I am a big fan of Bendtner but he shocks me with his ability to score the hard ones and miss the easy ones
.
Oh and poor Theo who showed a much improved performance with a great goal missing out on 2 – 3 assists but I still would have no hesitation playing Bendtner.
got the all important three points and thats fine with me …i won’t bother myself with B52′ bad day…i believe in him….and lets just hope cesc would be fit for porto, and B52 scores and hopefully sivestre doesn’t make the line up(PLS)….i always believed in our team this season even when other fans were whining and calling for le prof’s head and saying bluntly that we were out of title race(i believe CHRIS would bear me withness on this)….well here we re and we re gonna be champions….now unto the next game chris…COUNTDOWN!
Based on this performance,Arsenal have as much chance of winning the title as I playing goalie for England. This profligacy is nothing new.It has been on since the time of Henry. something is definitely wrong.Compared to other top teams ,Arsenal seem to take an eternity to score.AW could no wrong by asking Sheare for advice. His ego would see that as a non option.
On the subject of refs,the defender who charged at Walcott with studs showing was given a talking to. Why wasnt he shown a yellow/red?It was a dangerous tackle and could have the same consequences as Ramsey.Enough has been said about this subject unless the FA launches a crackdown on refs who show leniency.
I think you were hard on Nik. He was an impact player. He never stopped trying. He didn’t second-guess his role. He got into position for all those shots. And he know, as the fans do not, that all strikers have such games.
Its been a very tough year for him. Out for three months in the middle of the season. Far fewer games or playing time than in previous years. 2008-9 was a huge jump for him over 2007-8, and this year has almost been lost. Yes, he’s been in more than 20 games in all competitions for Arsenal, but its really only been the last 4 or 5 that he is playing the #1 striker role, and in that time he has taken half the shots he has taken all season.
Its not surprising that a run of games for Theo and Nik is starting to pay dividends.
And to those who cannot support Arsenal without crapping on players, remember what was happening when Nik was out, along with RVP. Bentdner is too good to continually miss like that.
you guys are clearly delusional if you think you can just give someone like walcott a 9 he deseves an 8, first half he was poor be honest so many passes he was not delivering but he did recover very well at the end of im happy for him and just want him to improve more. bendtner doesnt deserve a 4 come on be real, he got himself into good chances, positions, held up the ball well, made some good passes too and is always back to defend so he has to get a 5, come on even the greatest players miss chances, but ofcourse not like that and as many as that, but a 4 is just shocking anyone under a 5 is shocking. anyways good thing is that we got the 3 points but seriously had bendtner scored like 3 or 4 of at least those chances then our goal difference would’ve been so much nearer to man united, but lets solve this at hull, anyways great performance from our boys nasri, cesc, eboue, clichy, rosicky, walcott were all great, how good would it of been to seen the likes of ramsey, vela or merida playing in this game with their quality and rest key players hopefully cesc recovers for tuesday although i think if his lacking a little fitness i think he will still play as his crucial but a midfield of song, cesc and diaby wil be just superb!!!
thank you for not dogging on bendtner and appreciating all the things he does that we need more than his scoring…which will come.
Hahaha….. This so typical Arsenal fans (?) reaction. The other days you bashing Theo like hell, and today it’s Bendtner. Never learn and probably never will. Me, i am just happy we got the 3 points and only dissaponted cesc was injured and united got the 1 goal.
agreed…haven’t people learned after eboue, diaby, song and so on.
benthner made my day
he is funny and i like the way he went off and 4 is bit harsh on such fuuny player and loveable player
ROSICKY DESERVES MORE THAN 6.5, HE PLAYED VERY WELL 7.5.
NEVER STOPPED, BACK TRACKED IN DEFENSE (WHICH IS SO OFTEN HIS ONLY CRITICISM). TO ME HE IS ONE OF THE UNLUCKIEST PLAYERS I’VE SEEN. COULD HAVE HAD A GOAL TODAY WHICH WOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM AN 8.5. LOVED SEEING HIM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK. I FEEL THAT HE AND ARSHARVIN ARE SLIGHTLY UNDER UTILISED ON THE WINGS. THEY BOTH PROVIDE AMAZING LAST BALLS…….JUST NEED A STRIKER TO PUT SOME IN THE NET.
I’M SO HAPPY THOMAS HAS SIGNED AN EXTENSION.. MY FAV GOONER
agreed!
walcott. sure it’s easy to say we couldn’t have seen it coming, i wasn’t sure about his brain for awhile either, but if he can produce performances like this consistently then he has no worries.
what bothers me is nobody owning up to slating nasri, i know a lot of fans did, so you, the ones that did slate him, you better never do something so foolish again.
nasri can dictate the pace as well as cesc one only has to look at both halves where he played a role further back and then further forward
i’m not saying to anyone i told you so, but everyone who has said a bad word about samir should step up and apologize.
i and many other fans wear his shirt for a reason. the reason being we aren’t blinded by godlike skill
I wonder why so many Arsenal “fans” want to have Nick.Bendtner hung,drawn and quartered because he had a bad day. Whose turn will it be after the Porto game?Just be happy that we won the game and stop being so sour,looking for someone to vent your spleen on.I shudder to read these columns if we should lose.
Bendtner really has to work on his finishing if he is opting to be a regular starter for Arsenal.
Yes, he did some great job upfront, but for a striker, he shouldn’t have let go those clear chances.
With his height and the way he holding ball upfront, he can make something out.
But unfortunately, he didn’t deliver with those chances. Not even one.
Its a disappointing one…..
Eduardo, another player who has be a letdown.
He is no longer like how he used to be before injury.
I am not putting the blame on him but to feel sorry about it.
As a fan, I really hope that he can recover to how he used to be.
The pacy and clinical striker… =)
Walcott, well.. Well done!!
Its a good performance from him and we are looking forward for more of that.
Hope that he will score again against Porto and Hull..
Continue his form until the end of the season will do something good for Arsenal…
Hahaha,*am i too greedy* hahahaha…
Eboue – always sharp and pragmatic
Walcot – Yesterday he had brilliant, he know when to run or stop, give or selfish, kick or assist!
Nasri – master dribble, almost have tricky, nice chop, have vision
Rosicky – same nasri, but yesterday not his day, drop by opponent
Fabregaz – always tune in
Bendtner – great position, very low anticipation need skill up
Chichy – nice and better
Alumunia – need calm and better reflection
Anybody can have a bad day. The best have been missing clear chances in front of goal.
I am not concerned about Bentner missing those chances, I am concerned about the way he did.
He missed them because of poor technical skills and that is something you cannot correct in a few games.
I do not understand praising of his positioning skill – it is very poor. Most of the time he is behind the defenders and not in front of them to meet the ball instead of waiting for it. Most of his runs are away from the ball and his timing is wrong. As a result he is always out of position.
Look at Drogba and Rooney – if the ball is coming from the right they will run to gall moving to the right as well to be in front of a defender, Bentner goes to the left and never gets the ball.
It is warring, I am talking about abc of what a striker should do.
Sorry, correction: “run to goal”
Big Nick has realy come of age,just look how he got himself in scoring positions something he never was in the last couple of seasons. But he need not put us under presure the way he did,his main reason of failing to score today is because of the CHEWING GUM!! DROP IT MATE! It denies you concentration and gives you that casual feeling and approach to work.
Well chris i like your views and ratings but on niklas b, they are just as cliched as they can get. We play him up front as we have no other option. Just look how prolific we were before RVP was injured and how difficult scoring has become now. At the start of the season goals were coming from every where and any where thanks to the link up play of cesc rvp and arshavin. I hope that fabulous fab stays fit for porto, but just in case i would like to see the little mozart link up with andrei, nasri and theo. Its high time nicklas gets over the callous attitude of a teenage guy, stop procrastinating and weigh the stakes that lie ahead. I feel we have never been so close to the title in the recent years with 9 hands to go and we cant afford to slack up now. Go gunners
It is a pitty we have a long list of Bentner apologist, but lets not compare Bendtner to eduardo, at all levels Eduardo has more superior statistics than Bendtner inpsite even in Arsenal inspite of the fact that Bendtner has played longer and more games for arsenal than Edurdo. If Bendtner suffered what Eduardo suffered you certainly would write him off. I don see Eduardo missing many such chances if he only played atleast four games on a run. Even this season alone he may have missed a couple of Chances, but has already provided many assists, farm more the Bndtner has, remeber RVP missed so many such sitters at the start of the season but got his scoring boots back after a long run. Eduardo Euardo brings more to the team, he can control the ball, he fights for it and easily drops deep, he is definately faster and sharper than Bendtner in his movements on and off the ball. So where the hell except probably in the air can anyone claim Bendtner is better than Eduardo and should be preferred, honestly speaking Bendtner has a huge frame for a physical fight but in the box he is too slow to use it to any effect, he can not shield the ball the way strong players do am sorry i love the lad, i just want him to prove us wrong but match after match he just frustrates. I have all respect for him in an arsenal shirt but giving him false praises and tributes will never help his game.
imo, eboue deserved at least an 8.5
dats why i love arshavin…….grrrreeeeeeaaaaattTT finish!!!
and 4 some reasons….i never thought walcott would return to this form…
the only negative of the day was that man utd won against wolves(which i think they dint deserve at all)…
anyway good ratings chris..as always..keep up the good work
go gooooonnnerss
I was amazed that our team, after all furore resulting from our last game could pull off a fight like that, they were like Lions kudus to everyone the manager, players, physios and most especially we the ever loving fans of Arsenal Fc. Go Gunners .
Bendtner should send us above Chelsea though Man Utd climb to the top. It’s such headache and pains to heart and guts, to see him missing lots of clear chances, notably when the scoreline is 1-1, also 2-1 after Walcott scores. We won the match. Yes. But we don’t even know that soon we may need goal advantage to decide the premiership champion. We should win by at least 5 goals. Wake up and improves the finishing, this is not a pre-season. I choose to critics Nasri several times after strings of up and down performances. Today he is a real master class whether for offensive or defensive job. Keep it. For Walcott, i would love to see it again and again, the performance of second half. Outstanding, big improvement and totally different from what u have shown in the first half. The key is fit for the remaining games and keep that performance. Make Waddle shut his big mouth and open his clueless eyes and brain. Also hopefully Cesc injury will not be a long stand. He is our captain and he is vital for the trophy hunt this season. Good luck for the next match against Porto. We will win. For Aaron.
For Bendtner, I am not going to be extremely critical … he got very vital goals in recent weeks, and although the one against Sunderland was a simple tap-in, the one against Stoke city was very critical. and a very good one which any striker would be proud of. I think it was just one of those days, and good that happened against an easy match. I am sure he’s going to produce more soon.
For Nasri, it was an excellent game. And, this is why I always believed that he is a much better at the center of the park than on the wing. Today he was moved to a more central role, and he got his chance to dribble and move around and it was simply a stunning performance. Hope to see the same from you Samir.
Dear Fickle Arsenal Fans,
First off, I would like to pose a question to everyone who is hating Bendtner saying he isn’t good enough for the 1st team. Have you learned nothing from the past? How did booing Eboue off the pitch last year help anything? Now everyone loves him. At the beginning of the year, I can recall a great many of you insulting and belittling the play of Diaby and here is a few months later winning the game against Liverpool. Last year Song was subject of such abuse and now he is quite possibly the best holding midfielder in the league. And now Nick had himself a poor outing in front goal and we are ready to ostracize him to the reserves, but not more than a week ago he scored a crucial equalizer against stoke. All these players are immense for us, but a lot of you would have them sold for pricier replacements. I stand before you (or rather my text does) ashamed and frustrated.
Regardless of his poor finishing today, Nick adds so very much to our team in a way no one else can. He holds the play up well and keeps possession on the goal kicks. He works hard and defends from the front. His touch and play in general has improved greatly. He is the best player for his national side. This is the first time since the beginning of the year that he has got a run of starts. Give him a chance…He has the belief that he will be the best striker in the world, and I do as well. He wants to be the best. Why not support him? What does it hurt? He deserves our support. If Arsene believes he can do the job, who am I or you to say we know better?
I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t be critical, but do it in a constructive or at the very least non-insulting or derogatory way. Arsenal FC is about class more than anything…it’s time we start showing some as fans.
I read some of the comments to which I wanted to give a quick reply.
When I wrote about Theo after the Sunderland game I clearly said I’m a personal fan of the kid so it’s fantastic to see him put such a majestic performance but this cannot cancel all the wasted crosses and final deliveries he wasted in previous games. Point is that before yesterday’s game, Theo has been disappointing, that’s a fact. If he can keep yesterday’s form up we’ll all be delighted by that but let’s wait and put no pressure on him.
As for Bendtner, I seriously cannot understand how even this is dividing some of us. He had a shocking game, missed 4-5 clear goal opportunities which could have cost us the game. We all know that to win the title we have to win ALL our remaining games, so how you would have reacted had Burnley scored that 85th-minute free-kick and took a draw from the Emirates? Nicklas may only be 22 and be the best striker in the world when 25, but this is today, and today is what I care about.
This “you need to support the players no matter what” record is being very old. In no way I’m asking for Eboue-like treatment or for Nicklas to be insulted, of course I’m not, but to not be disappointed or frustrated after seeing a professional striker missing not one but four clear goal opportunities which even William Gallas would have scored, well, it’s ridiculous.
Chris
I’m not denying Nick had an absolutely terrible game today. He missed a couple chances and then it became mental. He should have scored at least 3, but he didn’t. I would’ve been absolutely devastated and angry had we drawn. At the same time though, our defense should be good enough to maintain a lead. I’m not defending his shockingly poor finishing, but to insult and say he should be relegated to the reserve squad when his other positive attribute are just important to our team is asinine. Once Nick was substituted we had no shots on goal until the 88th minute. He is an important part of our team and had 1 bad game. Let’s not be so hasty to crucify him is all I am saying.
I just find it disheartening that so many alleged fans are so ready to throw a player under the bus after a poor performance.
Look Craig, I think we’ve been here for enough time to understand that there will always be people who will express their opinion in a different way than you and I. It could be that English is not their first language or it could be that they express frustration in a different way.
I’m not necessarily saying it’s right, but it’s always been like that and always be.
PS: If you see what I found in the moderation queue this morning, you’ll be amazed
Oh I know. It just got to me today. And I’m sure glad I’m not responsible for moderating
No envy here!
the reason people will always hate on bendtner ,walcott and eduardo is because they are still used to the consistency of henry upfront scoring hatricks for fun and now they have to watch bendtner struggle to even tap a 6 yard goal in
Chris…
I just watched Arsene’s post match interview on Arsenal TV and he summed up Nick’s day pretty well.
Arsene in response to a query about NIck’s game
“Nicklas missed his chances today, but as a striker it is like that…you miss the first one and think, ‘ok i’ll make the second one.’ but if you miss the second one you are in trouble because you think to hard about it. I would feel differently if the player wasn’t committed but that’s clearly not the case. He did have a good game outside of finishing and worked hard”
Arsene will never say things the way they are, especially in public
Oh I am well aware of that. I can understand though how after a couple of misses it becomes more of a mental block than anything. As a striker, when you miss a sitter or especially one right after the other, you begin questioning your technique and you over think every shot. That’s what theo was doing before yesterday…trying to overdo it…yesterday he kept it simple and put it in the net and/or dangerous areas.
samir nasri-9?? cmon!
theo was a clear 9 or even a 10 bt nasri????
Thanks Chris. I always appreciate your ratings, but i don’t agree with you on Almunia, Silvestre,Denilson and Rosicky.
1. Almunia: Had a good game apart from a poor clearance and the collision you said. Apart from that, he was solid when dealing with shots from long or shrt ranges….7
2. Silvestre: Played well, is to blame for the goal as he cancelled the offside trap, slow to come out. However, i saw Vermalen having a poor clearane that nearly cost us. Silvestre is truly slow but considering his interceptions and aggresivity just like Vermalen, he deserve……7
3.Denilson: He reads the game well that is why people say he is not a running horse like Song. He pushed forward at time but i was really desappointed with the way he didn’t try things like beat one player and pass the ball. He takes the ball and pass it to the one next to him, but suprisingly doesn’t even do his defensive duty well. However, i will prefer him to pass the ball rather than lose it……………………………………..5
4. Rosicky: Very good game. Created some spaces with his direct run. Always dragged 2 or 3 burnley players with and still managed to beat them or create free kicks………………..8
Good job Chris, we will be champion!!
Cheers mate.
We will
The sooner AW will get a descent striker (The Chamakh deal is apparently done) the better…
I know a lot of fans are believing in Bendtner and asking to give him time… But I am sorry, he is 22, and there are, out there, players around that age who are accurate, hard working and lethal as strikers…
As soon as Chamakh or another more pointy forward will be in, Bendtner and Edouardo can warm the bench or make their marks in the meaningless Cups…
I think these are the fans Craig86 was referring to…..and I absolutely agree, they aren’t very useful to the team. I think Nik is a fantastic player in the making, and when not scoring (i.e. squandering easy ones when having a stinking game), he’s at least doing a lot for the team. I’d play him evn after such a performance anyday…..because with 4-3-3 play, we can have the attcking edge, extra creativity and goals from just about anywhere in the final third. Nik is a vital pivot, great shield, and can bring into play geniuses like Arsha, Fab, Nasri, Tomas, Theo and my recent favorite..Eboue. Let him play five-six games and i guarantee, the negativities will vaporize…..
I agree with you Bif80. I think that we are more dangerous up front when Nik is playing. Eduardo is to small to play the striker position in this system and I´m sorry to say it but he has lost the pace since his injury. It will still take time before he´s back to his former level.
Spot on mate!!!
Hi Chris, first time here, and I think the rating is really good. I am really glad to see Diaby and Shava back on the team. Theo’s game got better, and I hope this could be maintained by himself. Bendtner was not good in finishing, but he did gave us two goals the last two games. He also changed the dimension of our attacks. We would easily get countered during a freekick or a corner, because no one cared enough to defend us (too short and week), but now they have to put 1 or 2 marking Bendtner. He is winning long balls, and holding up possessions even if the opponents are being physical. He also added heights in defending free kick and corner kick.
That’s why I love having Nicky and Diaby on a the same time, though RVP would be much better than Nick. But RVP is injured so there is no point to bring him into the conversation.
This is what we have, and I believe that we can win with this line up.
Thanks mate
Congrats on the win fellas…. lets look forward to Porto and then away at Hull… both tricky games…. I’m really pleased with yesterday regardless of the many misses but also considering the long lasting injury list… If anything it was great to see Walcott on fire again…. if you recall from my participation I had no doubts he would be back to form and loved before the end of the season… I still think he’s not near his best….
On Bendtner…. I can’t disagree with most that he should have scored yesterday…. but let me mention something that might not be so visible to many football spectators…. hence the reason I am so amazed by this KID…
The ONLY problem with him is his confidence with the FINAL touch…. he does everything else RIGHT in fact BETTER than most strikers…. for example:
1- No need to mention the way he shields the ball and creates impeccable passes..
2- for me more important…. POSITIONING…. the guy just has a natural instinct for being at the right place at the right time to the point it infuriates when he misses because its almost like he loses the few seconds he wins from GREAT positioning…
3- He brings so much presence to the bow creating gaps for his fellow wingers and midfielders…
4- His touch and control on the ball is really super.
I did not write this to be a contrarian to those tht feel Bendtner is sub-Arsenal standard…. I honestly really thing this guy is going to be a SUPER STAR. I just hope other supporters can notice the ADDED VALUE that Bendtner brings to the attack…. In my opinion he has come a long way since last season even though the injury has hindered his progress…. he is making good progress but he’s not at his peak…. I am EXTREMELY optimistic about Bendtner… as much as I was about Abou Diaby at the time when people were still booing him after his goal FOR man United…
Thank you for seeing more than just goals, or lack there of. In our formation we need Nick to be the fulcrum.
I am a big fan of Bendtner, but I’m not sure why!!! But one thing I do know is that, like Theo, he needs games, benching either won’t help their development or rhythm one bit.
If Cesc is missing v Porto, and I expect that he will be, then selecting from Diaby, Song, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Denilson and Arshavin should still be enough.
Come on you Mighty Reds!!
yes
favorite line up
……………………..Almunia…………………
eboue campbell vermaelen clichy
…………………..Song……………………….
………Nasri……………..Diaby…………….
Rosicky……………………………Arshavin
…………….Bendtner………………………..
Sub: Fabianski, Sagna, Sylvestre, traore, denilson, walcott, Eduardo
Like this i think we have a back up plan with walcott. We can bring him in the second half to run over portos tired legs. I also think Nasri can do fabregas job.
Also i like to add people need to get off bendtner’s back. because we suffered so much without bendtner. Eduardo and arshavin got bullied everytime when they played upfront.
bendtner looks slow but he isn’t that slow and he should have scored. maybe if we played eduardo or vela they would have scored but were they able to get in those positions? thats what people need to ask theirself. I think the first match he started since his injury was at liverpool. And guess what, we didnt loose in the BPL since then. he played before that but that was as a sub. adebayor had those days 2 but he still manage to score many goals. other strikers sometimes have this problem 2, but we don’t see the other full games that often.
I think Craig86 is right.keep it up
Bendtner = O rating. How he even gets a 1 is beyond me. He’s paid good money to score and he flubbed balls that my 11 year old nephew could’ve tapped in. Absolute garbage and not fit to wear the jersey. No joking matter indeed, even though he smirked on his way out. Put a red nose on him and he’s the best paid clown in the world.