By 1970’s Gooner
A difficult game against a strong and determined Newcastle side who played with tenacity and vigour. As feared in my preview of the game, Three reasons why Newcastle will be a tough nut to break, Arsenal lacked creativeness in midfield where Diarra and Gilberto although good at winning the ball couldn’t use it in a constructive manner.
These are my ratings of the Arsenal players.
Almunia: Was decisive and safe. Becoming more assured the more games he plays. Came out of his area with pace to clear well when needed and was commanding in the air. 7
Sagna: Had an average game but did not venture as much forward as he normally does. 6
Toure: His usual strong and commanding performance. 7
Gallas: Had his usual strong game and played as a captain.7
Clichy: Not his usual self. Made a few sloppy passes and did not feature as much as usual in the forward positions. 6
Rosicky: Had a quiet game on the wing and started influencing things when he was moved into the middle of the pitch. Faded out again when Bendtner came on and he had to move back to the wing again. 6
Diarra: Very tenacious and strong in his challenges. He tended to delay his passes though which slowed Arsenal’s attacks and gave the opponents the chance to challenge him again! 6
Gilberto: Was rather slower than usual and did not look match fit to me. Some of his passes went astray. 5
Eboue: getting better with more games and a sublime of an assist cross again for Adebayor’s goal. But faded in the second half. 6
Eduardo: Still has not come to terms with the Premiership and with the rest of his team mates I think. He doesn’t seem to be on the same wave length with them and was rather peripheral again. He was put in a difficult spot by Adebayor’s pass but he made the mistake in not clearing the ball away from goal or even out of play which led to the equalizer. 4
Adebayor: Was commanding in the air and scored a magnificent goal. His control and distribution again found wanting. Faded in the second half. 7
Bendtner: Tried his best under difficult circumstances. Won practically all the headers he went for. 6
Three reasons why Newcastle will be a tough nut to break
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11 comments:
When I saw Diarra and Gilberto on the team sheet, I knew we gonna have a difficult night. Gilberto gave away the ball far too cheaply, I have NEVER been convinced he is a good player, he is simply OVERRATED in his entitle football career.
Adebayor should play for the team, he is getting selfish and individual. In the first half he could have pass the ball to others to open up the gap on 2 occasions.
My ratings: Almunia-7 (Safe handling) Sagna-6(Handled Milner well) Toure-7(Commanding) Gallas-7(Solid) Clichy-6(Bit sloppy) Rosicky-6(Quieter than usual) Diarra-6(Battled) Gilberto-5(Rusty) Eboue-6(Improving) Eduardo-5(Needs time) Ade-7(Great goal).
I think overall a draw was a fair result. Newcastle harried and pressured all night and made the game scrappy. We played into their hands a bit and did'nt play our usual game, instead being drawn into a scrap. U have to give Newcastle credit for this. We're still unbeaten and have some excellent players to come back from injury. And still have a nice lead at the top! C'mon the Gunners!
I thought we looked better when Rosicky moved up just behind Adebayor rather than when he was out on the wing as he could run directly at the central defenders.
Didnt really notice Gilberto to be honest but I thought that Diarra had a good game. Alot of times I thought he was going to lose the ball surround by two Newcastle players yet he didnt.
Without wanting to seem bitter, I thought that although the ref had a very good game, he did miss two blatant fouls on Adebayor in injury time which were in and around the area.
Still a draw is a good result and keeps us four point clear.
Almunia was good & Bendtner was good when he came on but our standout player was Diarra. He consistently brought the ball out of 50/50s - sometimes from outrageous positions. The rest were well below par.
Adebayor? Quality goal but otherwise very poor. I would take that over a good game with no goal, but he is an absolute contradiction this guy. Should definitely have played the ball to Eduardo for our second goal soon after our first, rather than take on the defence.
Eduardo couldn't make a difference with the ball (& gave it away for their goal) but his defensive efforts were much better than against Seville. His pressure played a part in the turnover that resulted in our goal.
Clichy's worst game. His pass completion rate must have been about 30%.
Gilberto clearly couldn't get up to the tempo of the game.
Rosicky needs Hleb and/or Fabregas to shine.
Eboue was hardly seen apart from his hand in the goal. I think it is hard to criticise Sagna for not getting forward when there was no Arsenal possession in front of him for him to feed off.
ibid. in it's entirety to Anonymous' comment directly above--that hasn't happened before! What is your username, Anon?
We missed Flamini (who should be back for Boro) to deal with the physical players tonight. At Boro, it will be more of the same.
goons_with_guns - guess great minds think alike :)
Unfortunately I developed a habit at this site being so lazy as to post Anonymous. But I've now registered ...Adam...
anonymous
Diarra was not our stand-out player, you shouldn't be involved in a 50/50 when the ball is in your our possesion. In fact I believe our central midfielders where the 2 worst players we had out there.....all credit to newcastles pressing however the 2 CM's never got to grip with the game and they are supposed to dictate our play....their distribution was crap. I feel credit goes to our defense who spent the whole match under the cosh!
Agree with dubclub our midfield was not up to it. Only when Fab abd Flamini return will we dictate play again with authority
Eduardo was simply played out of position, so he couldnt really do much, I wonder why Arsene keeps playing him on the wing coz he really isnt on top of his game like when he plays up front, Wenger should really give him a game upfront, then we could evaluate him. Adebayor was selfish, apart from his superb goal he didnt really do anytthing. Clichy and Gilberto were below average. Diarra gave away the ball too much.
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