Smith Rowe wins the day MotM Player Ratings
By Matty Sadler
January 9 2021
Not a great game regardless of whether you were a fan of the home or away side, or even a neutral, but we won it with two excellent team goals scored in the second half of extra time.
I expected changes today because you can't expect these players to play every game in such a short pace of time. I had hoped the players currently out of favour might have wanted to stake a claim, but I don't think that's in their mentality to be honest.
Nelson and Willock need games - get them out on loan. Willian just needs to go.
RATINGS
Leno - 7. I was going to give him a 6 because he had so little to do but he kept us in the tie with a fantastic treble save late on.
Cedric - 5. Alright defensively but was booked and didn't really contribute going forward, which Arteta once said was his best quality.
Luiz - 7. Did well in his battle against Carroll and thought he was good on the ball.
Mari - 7. Luiz dealt with Carroll mostly but I thought he did well again. Looks good on the ball.
Tierney - 8. Superb again. The energy, the desire and the drive to get forward. Good assist for the second goal late on. Would like us to look at getting some cover for him.
Willock - 4. Not good I'm afraid. Passing was sloppy and he didn't get forward as much as we'd have liked. Should've done better with his header. Needs a loan.
Elneny - 6. High energy and kept it tidy but we needed more invention.
Pepe - 5. Thought he looked like he had a bit of purpose about himself early on but that didn't last long in truth. Same old after that.
Willian - 2. He's either been sent in to actively try to harm our progress or he is just here for one last payout and doesn't give a toss. I don't know which is worse, but both scream a complete lack of any professional pride. Embarrassing. At one point he seemed to give up on a fine Tierney pass before he'd even played it. Didn't want to press guys stood a couple of yards away from him. The sooner Arteta completely stops using him, the better.
Nelson - 4. Decision making, where ESR and Saka excel. Possibly could have scored had he taken his chance first time. Needs a loan.
Aubameyang - 6. Worked hard and had a couple of chances. Needed that goal late on and I hope that is a boost to his confidence.
Subs:
Smith Rowe - 8. Came on, passed and moved, linked things up, added speed and energy to our play and took his goal well. Never a red card so glad VAR overturned that. What a talent.
Saka - 7. Another who immediately improved us when we came on.
Xhaka - 7. We looked much, much better when he came on. Arguably the best he's played in a long time, I thought. Tried to drive us on and even played some penetrative passes. Almost scored a worldie.
Lacazette - 6. Lively. Good flick for Smith Rowe's goal.
Maitland-Niles - N/A. Not on long.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:01:14:09:40:12 by Padre Pio.
Willian is a disgrace. I don't want to see him play for us again.
It's baffling how little end product comes from Pepe given his decent pace and technique. Try him on the left please Arteta.
I feel a bit for Cedric because he was getting a fair few misplaced passes fired at him.
Willian. Only 30 months left on his contract.
MA defended Willian at the post-match, saying he has been ill for a couple of weeks and that he (MA), thought he (Willian)was actually improving.
Not to my eyes.
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
Quote:weedz
Good rating Matty.
MA defended Willian at the post-match, saying he has been ill for a couple of weeks and that he (MA), thought he (Willian)was actually improving.
Not to my eyes.
Jeez. We got another snake-oil salesman.
What next?
Willian can't play because he thought taking Viagra will protect him from COVID-19, hence his listlessness on the pitch?
"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas
I know I have a youth bias but I'm bothered by the fact Maitland-Niles can't seem to get a start. Cedric just looks like such a weird signing, but I guess at the time he was signed Maitland-Niles was well out of favour. Still though...
Saka looks like the £72 million signing and Pepe looks like the 19 year old. I'm told Pepe actually started out as a goalkeeper, so maybe we should hang on to him for if Leno gets injured? I've read worrying things about Runarsson on Twitter...
Willian was useless at #10 and on the LW. He's been completely shown up by Smith Rowe the last few weeks. Unfortunately we're paying him a lot so we probably won't... but he really needs to be dumped and got rid of. They claimed Ozil was dropped for "footballing reasons" but even he put in more effort than Willian, and that is saying something.
I've been impressed by Mari recently but also the last three games he hasn't exactly played against potent attackers.
I doubt he’ll ever score a goal for us unless someone gives him a peno to take in which case you wouldn’t even strongly fancy him.
Can see him leaving at some stage.
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
On another day, that is 1goal and two assists. So i think people are being extremely unfair on Pepe for this game, he was much better than Auba in this game.
''No one saw me coming - No problem. I always believed.
Kept working, found my killer instinct. Relentless? Yes. Patient? Always. Quick? You'll see.
I am Nico and I am here''
N. Pepe, Arsenal FC.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:01:10:12:50:14 by Gooner Sod.
Basically, he's trying too hard to do complicated things every time he gets possession. I don't think I've ever seen him control the ball with his first touch, and play a simple pass with his second touch, when he should be doing that 90% of the time. Maybe its because he doesn't have the awareness of what's around him, maybe he's just too slow at deciding what to do so he gets forced into dribbling, but I feel it's because he thinks he needs to prove himself by doing something special every time.
He needs to forget his price tag, stop trying to be the star of the show, make his default decision to play the simple pass, which would mean he could pick his moments to try something special. That way, even if he doesn't score or assist, his performances will start to have a consistency about them that the manager can reward with more playing time. Right now, you feel it's a risk to play him because if he doesn't do something special, then the rest of the time he's a liability.
Quote:Gooner Sod
People are complaining about Pepe's performance and i agree he wasn't great. But lets be fair, he laid 2 easy chances of a plate for Reiss Nelson & Joe Willock which they both missed. Plus he had two shots from outside the box and he was right behind Reiss Nelson for the chance he fluffed from Tierney cutback.
On another day, that is 1goal and two assists. So i think people are being extremely unfair on Pepe for this game, he was much better than Auba in this game.
Aubameyang scored.
I'll keep saying it Pepe isn't a good player.
If he was one of our youngster's he wouldn't be in the team at all except for lesser games.
We have been totally ripped off paying that amount for him.
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
But here’s the rub. He still looks to have that X factor about him, that we all crave to see in our setup.
That left foot.
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
No way was Pepe as bad as one would think from the comments on the match threads.
Its not his fault if Nelson cannot control simple balls and Aubameyang /Willock do not know how to score goals from their heads.
Name matters a lot in the game. Pepe still gets far more attention than Saka from defenders because opposition still consider Pepe as the number 1 threat one v one in the arsenal team.
Saka was even left alone one v one vs John O shea and he made the most of it.
This was the best i have seen Pepe play in terms of combination play, direct running and purpose. Some of the return passes to Pepe from Willock, Aubameyang and Cedric were shocking to say the least.