Thursday, February 01, 2007

Carling Cup semi-final second leg, player ratings.

Almunia, 6.5. Played well, but I’m not convinced he’s Jens’s long-term successor. He panics, rushes out of his goal, and doesn’t communicate with his defenders well enough. Whilst he’s improved since his arrival, if Jens is to leave we need to enter the market this summer.


Traore, 6. Clearly very raw, even allowing for some encouraging forward play. I don’t think he’ll be bursting into the first team anytime soon.

Kolo, 6. Should have scored in the first half, but otherwise decent enough performance.

Senderos, 7. Re-gaining the composure that makes him such a great defensive talent. Powerful in the air, but needs to improve his distribution.

Hoyte, 6.5. Massively improved from the start of the season and is finally looking like an Arsenal player. Whether he’ll ever really be a top-class defender is yet to be seen.

Denilson, 8. Excellent. Won tackles, took shots, passed the ball well: looked very much like the combination of Rosicky and Gilberto Arsene promised. A younger Fabregas?

Gilberto, 8. Oh, how we’ve missed Gilbs. Did an incredible amount of tidying up and ball-winning in the midfield which helped the team settle and dominate.

Diaby, 6.5. Some lovely touches and good distribution. It’s great to see him back and he needs a run in the team before we’ll really see the best of him.

Theo, 6. Caused problems with his pace down the right, but his final ball was lacking. His corners were pretty dire also. However, if you were the person sitting near me who shouted ‘go back to Southampton’, or were one of the countless others hurling abuse at him 1) you are a moron 2) please desist. He’s 17, he’s going to get better, and you’ll look mighty stupid when he does if you continue to abuse him. He needs confidence so support him.

Aliadiere, 7. Good performance, one that’s suggests he can contribute to the club in the second half of the season. He should start in the final. Whether he has a long-term future at the club remains to be seen.

Adey, 7. Excellent finish; huge-work rate. Those who boo Theo are undoubtedly those who also jeered Adey at the beginning of the season.

Rosicky, 7.5, Great performance: lots of energy, verve and imagination. I’d give him that goal.

Clichy, 7, did very well after coming on. Excellent coming forward and defensively. Hopefully now establishing himself as Cashley's successor.

Fabregas, 6.5, A little subdued, but helped keep the midfield glued together in extra-time.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice to see you noticed denilson this time

Goonerboy said...

'As for the rest, Denilson was excellent and looks a real prospect'

Quote from my match report from last week's game...

Anonymous said...

Nothing for Traore? I agree with you on Theo, I am hoping he will gain his confidence back because he can be so devastating.

A little harsh on Almunia I thought, ok so his communication does need work but I think he only comes racing out because he knows what he is doing, thought he played well last night.

Anonymous said...

Almunia's problem is the way he deals with crosses and corners and general balls into the box. He doesn't command the space and because our back four are not the best in the air (apart from Phillipe), this is a problem.

The question for me now is will arsene start Denilson in the premiership? With Hleb out and Theo off form, surely the best side is now a 4-1-3-2. Flamini may have something to say about this though.

Matej said...

ll take the point for the pure fact of the red card!!! But for me putting Flamini on the right was a mistake has it limits our outlet!! I believe this will give the team more confidence tho, knowing with 10 men they can turn teams over!!
1-1, we missed the chance to close the gap on Liverpool, 2nd place is also gone now.....
today i was ooo optimistic

goals are online including senderos incident http://arsenalgoalsclips.blogspot.com/

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