Arsenal have lost their first match of the season losing 1-0 to the English Champions. Compared to the second match loss in the Champions League, there was a big improvement, and today, there was a clear building from the 0-0 at the end of last season. So where did the team go wrong?
1. Failure to manage the match. Arsenal went 1-0 up, and poured forward for a second without abandon. Arsenal were the team in command, and as a team in command, they should have forced Man Utd to work hard to come back into the contest and earn their goals. Instead, they gave Man Utd cheap chances, and as champions, they took them. Arsenal should have killed the game early, they never managed the game in their favour, and the balance swung the other way. Utd went 2-1 up, became more compact in midfield, forcing Arsenal to work and they played on the break, good managing of the match.
2. Response. Arsenal failed to find the resources to respond to going behind, and this meant they could not get back into the contest. Champions find a way to get back into a game, I don't think we gave every single ounce possible to get the result.
Ratings:
Almunia 4: Needless penalty to give away, could have reacted a bit better to the Diaby goal.
Sagna 4: Still needs to work on crossing, on accuracy and necessity of them, either way, it gives possession away.
Gallas 6: Proving again he is a defenders defender.
Vermaelen 6: A good acquisition thus far, good reading, good passing.
Clichy 4: Bad crossing like Sagna, needs to refine his game more.
Song-Billong 5: Did good defensive work, although he could have used his good passing to more use to create more openings.
Denilson 4: Moved around, never created or looked like leading a charge to make the difference. Steady though.
Diaby 4: He never played to his high potential, ignore the own goal, he looked a bit fatigued until that goal where he tried to make ammends. We are still waiting for him to arrive, he has the capacity, just not done it.
Eboue 4: Steady, but not ready to make the difference in a key position that should yield goals.
Arshavin 3: Good goal, but nothing more, way off form, he needs to put himself at the disposal of the collective. He is good, but not good enough to be a passenger which he is at the moment, especially since we know he can help the team make the difference.
Van Persie 5: No goals yet, lots of work, but needs to be a killer in front of goal, and to take more chances, you don't score if you don't shoot enough.
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3 comments:
I largely agree, but feel your ratings are quite harsh.
I guess everyone has a different criteria for what merits each rating.
I normally follow the French style of ratings, they hardly give over 7/8 unless the player is storming.
My default rating is a 3, then I build from that, some ratings go over the top for having 8/9, you will rarely see that from me, I am a hard task master as well!
To be honest, I guess your way of rating is better, because the more hyperbolic ratings give less scope to distinguish between a excellent performance, and a world class one.
Eights and nines are bandied about a bit too liberally for my liking.
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