The mighty Arsenal kept their third clean sheet in a row against the supposedly unbeatable Bayern Munich last night, and there is no doubt that the victory was built on the defence. Arsenal only had a measly 27% possession and Petr Cech had to work a lot harder than usual. But he did his job with relish to provide the platform for us to take the points in the second half.
Player Ratings
Petr Cech 8.5 MOTM
Brilliant performance with some World Class saves from World Class strikers!
Bellerin 7
Was made to work hard indefence by Douglas Costa, but was very influential when he got forward.
Mertesacker 8
The partnership with Koscielny (and Cech) seems to be perfectly complementary. Solid defending.
Koscielny 8
Ditto!
Monreal 8
Does this man ever have a bad game? Always involved in defence and attack. Class.
Coquelin 7.5
The Bayern attack made his life difficult, but he stood firm most of the time.
Cazorla 7.5
The battery that makes Arsenal’s clock tick to a fast rhythm! Gets better as he ages…
Ramsey 6
Struggled in this game, maybe he was feeling his hamstring injury long before he finally went off.
Ozil 7
Didn’t get much possession from but made it count when he did. His goal sealed the points.
Alexis 7
Never stopped running an getting involved but defintelylooked like he needed a rest towards the end.
Walcott 7.5
Didn’t get many chances and was denied the opener by a brilliant Neuer save.
Subs
Giroud 7.5
Made an immediate impact. A scrappy goal but who cares!
The Ox n/a
Gibbs n/a
I like this “A scrappy goal but who cares!”
By the way : No rating for AW and his tactics..
The manager won’t get rated for getting his tactics spot-on! It’s the outstanding players that get the credit! But when the players mess up… out comes Jack, Jill, Dick, Harry, their cousins, their grandpa, their big belly uncle, and their family dog all on Wenger’s trail!
@gtruth can’t be said better I am still laughing .Rating can be better for bellerin at least 8 that last run was worth 2 points I have seen that video of bellerin 15 times , that run still can’t believe how he executed that he litteraly mobbed 3 Bayern players and in last u will se how boateng was scared to go into any challenge they also knew it will be a goal but how that neuer almost stopped that out of the world
#RESPECT
…and to think Bellerin travelled that quick in the 93rd minute after chasing that Costa (that name gives me the grrrrrrrr!!!) boy all day long & launching attacks is just amazing! We looked even better & more committed after the goal despite the scares we got from Lewandowski & Thiago! Shows what commitment & confidence can do to you! Pep took it well, but we all know Queen Mourin would’ve blamed ref for not spotting Giroud’s handball as reason for that loss!
And what would a GK do to get 10? Give Cech 10.
Saw interview where Santi said plan was for possession and attack Bayern, but Bayern controlled game instead so they (players) decided to fall back and counter. I’ll let people decide themselves about who gets credit for tactics; both initial and strategic adjustments.
HOWEVER, Wenger deserves credit when it’s due not just criticism. Spot On with his subs. Giroud came on early enough to change game and make a difference. Got Sanchez off also; probably had to take hostages cause Alexis won’t stop.
Wenger Subs 9.0
“When we were playing halfway they opened us up too much so I decided to drop Ozil a bit deeper and to make it tight around the box and catch them on the break because we have the pace to do it and to find some space with the game going on.” ~ Wenger
Credit where credit is due. Wenger’s tactics were on point.
Cech did everything required of him, and should get full marks. Ozil deserves an 8 and so does Bellerin while Walcott just drifted around with a few speedy runs and could have done better, so a 6.5 for him.
See this is what I don’t understand “Walcott just drifted around with a few speedy runs and could have done better” seriously that’s how you describe his performance? Walcott was a menace throughout, dragging defenders and creating big spaces for our players to break into. He got into dangerous positions NUMEROUS times and he would’ve scored against any other keeper in the world. his final product at times was just lacking but that should get better with more game time he doesn’t realize that he has more time than normal players cause of his pace. He also completely tired out and buttered up bayerns defense for Giroud to finish them off
Goonsquad, I agree with all you say, but my opinion on Walcott was also made on the lack of final product and a bit of indecisiveness when he has the ball. I am sure he will come good with this, so cheer up, it was not meant to criticise him.
I saw the real Walcott against Man Utd, and he was in the thick of things, and a little of that is what I may have expected to see from him last night.
Sorry didn’t mean to sound rude or anything I just thought the way you described his performance was a little “disrespectful” but trust me I’m still buzzing!!
No. Everybody gets a 10. Most importantly the fans for the standing ovation they gave the Bayern fans. Only one yellow card in a Champions league game. Amazing.
Listen Baby Please
Cech was fantastic, especially saves against Lewandowski and Thiago. He is WC through and through
– Cech fully deserves MOTM award. The old man has still got. World class stuff from both keepers last night, Morine must be having nightmares about this transfer. What a difference having a WC golie brings to a team.
– I think Bellarine deserves either a 7.5 or a 8, not only because of the assist towards the end, but he handled Costa a very tricky customer well most of the times and Lewi at one point where he was definite to score.
– Alexis deserves a 6.5, he put in a lot yesterday but Wenger should learn to scream at him not to play around with the ball in dangerous areas against high pressing teams with quality. He did the Ox most of the time but he was also well marshaled by Bayern players. Still happy he gave his usual 100 even though he struggled most of the game.
– Congrats to OG, super sub indeed which most of us already suspected he would be.
– Theo needs to add some venom in his shots and learn some hold up play from the Auguero, Suarez and to some extent Sanchez who have similar builds but can battle in the air when required.
– Sad we lost Ramsey, time for Ox to step up and show why he needs to be a starter. Not many can do a Bellarine but Ox is young and should be hungry too to take the moment.
Now lets smash Everton.
“When we were playing halfway they opened us up too much so I decided to drop Ozil a bit deeper and to make it tight around the box and catch them on the break because we have the pace to do it and to find some space with the game going on.” ~ Wenger
I liked what Ozil did in central midfield yesterday. He might have lost many balls, but he really eased pressure from the defence, with his runs from deep. This is one game where I felt he really stamped his authority on proceedings (and wasn’t simply a beneficiary of other players’ hard work to make the easy final pass!). Personally, I thought he played better than in the United game. 8/10.
Cech 8.5? LOL, we just beat probably the best team in the world right now, Cech saved blinders and gets 8.5?
Cech MOTM with a perfect 10 display, stop being such a tight arse with the ratings.
LoL. And what has that got anything to do with what I said? 😀
Cech easily a 9.5/10, at least 9 for all other defenders in my opinion. Excited about Everton, hope we keep this momentum going!
Definitely on or inside the nine mark, against utd also he performed as a world class act ..it was one save in particular but when they go in it is a different story.
Mesut Ozil ““We showed heart and the fans supported us superbly.”
Thats the difference the supports at the stadium made to the players confidence…Amazing stuff from the guys that where at the stadium.
Let me be magnanimous and praise 2 Bayern players. I missed the first half unfortunately and only got to saw the Walcott save on replay. It was unbelievable. How did he do that? Neuer was top class throughout and it had to take an “illegal” goal and a very marginal goal to beat him on the night.
Second and perhaps surprisingly it’s Lewandowski. He had a very quiet game, but I’m still at a loss how he spun that ball round Koscielny and go one on one with Cech. It shows how dangerous he can be even when he’s not having the best of games. Luckily for us, Koscielny has competently handled difficult customers before and was able to recover and clear the danger.
To get anything in Germany, we have to put in a similar diligent performance.
Illigal goal? If it was against Arsenal, you would have blamed our GK. We criticise our players and credit poor form of opponents for our wins. Getting irritated by some so called fans here.
What’s an Illigal goal?
The back 6 – including Le Coq – played really well as a unit. With all their possession, Bayern produced remarkably few clear-cut chances.
Cech is our new BCG – brilliantly calm giant – spreading confidence across the defence.
MOTM = AW with a 10. He gets so much crap when we lose that he deserves the cred when we win.
COYG – thanks for a fantastic evening of European football
i think only cech should get a rating above 8
the rest should get a maximum of 7 they did not play that well
I think ALL the players hould get a 9
Its a shame Arsenal dont play in the Bundesliga, we’d win it easy!
Even Koscielny and Monreal?
One thing that needs to be made clear is that there is more than one way to win a football match. Some fans simply want to see Arsenal dominating possession as they wrongly believe that it is an indicator that the team is playing well. The high calibre of opposition we faced last night meant that Arsene could not just send hius team out to play “the Arsenal way”. we have made this mistake before and have been duly exposed while being labeled naive by every pundit with a platform. trying to outplay Bayern would have played in to their hands. We had a specific game plan and it was executed very well. All the players more than deserve these ratings and i am especially proud of Bellerin as he recovered brilliantly from a difficult start. this experience will help him tremendously.
signs that you’re a top gooner…
Tuesday: Arsenal Smash Bayern and you can’t contain your joy
Wednesday: Spend the whole day singing na na na na GIROUD!!!
BHHIIIIIIM!!!!
wish to see prince poldi in the team and let see how neuer save his powerful left strike
,BHHIIIIIIIIM!!!!!
WILL RATE ALL THE PLAYERS 2.0 AND GIVE LORD BENTDNER 10.0
Just wanna say the fans were a 12th man, it really felt like we were playing home, we knew they were going to dominate position
i am thinking if Giroud had missed the header that Walcott did, he would have been slaughtered now in this site
lets support Giroud. at the price Arsenal paid for him and his wages, we wont even get a one legged striker 🙂
Totally agree
Gomez was free
Arsenal 10/10 team played hard. You don’t need to tip tap tip tap. Like the old Arsenal of 12 years ago. Stop talking about it now coz we need to win at the weekend but rest a few or play best team coz we need the 3 points and play 2nd team next week C1 cup
Well done Arsenal
Bellerin and Walcott deserve more than dat rating though walcott did not score but make Bayern defender half, he stop dem from mounting more presure on cos of his pace. Both deserve 8.5. I have a strong feelings that if Arsenal can qualify from d group stage, they will definitely get to the final.