Defenders
3. Bacary Sagna. "There is still lots of room for improvement, his crossing has been very bad all season, if there is no one in the box, don't cross." Again, he has fallen short from improving this side of his game, his crosses are still awful and he still puts up crosses when we have midgets in the box, he must vary his crosses and learn when not to cross. This has also seen him relegated to the bench when we need to attack more with Eboué coming in for him. Defensively, solid at times, although the GA column shows everyone can improve.
Grade C.
5.Thomas Vermaelen. "hopes are that he is here to put one of the central defenders on the bench, as that shows squad improvement." Well that was never really put to the test, Kolo Toure was sold so he could not compete with him, and Senderos was obviously not an option for the coach. Has been consistent, scored goals, and initially had hunger we really neeeded in the team. However in the crunch games, he hasn't proved to be the man we really need at the back, failed to contain Drogba twice, failed to contain Rooney, confused by Messi showed that he has a long long long way to go. Also some questionable positioning and choices by him for key goals we have let in. Our GA column is still to big, and he must take some responsibility of that as well.
Grade C.
6. Philippe Senderos. " Returning from an injury ravaged season at A.C. Milan, the Swiss defender is rumoured to be looking for a transfer." 2 league cup games is all he could muster, and we only let in 1 goal. What was the point of sending him out on loan in January when we knew that injuries, suspensions could kick in? Good luck to him in the future, and possibly our best player due to only playing 2 games, which we both won and looked solid at the back in.
Grade B.
10. William Gallas. "This season which may be his last, in a World Cup year where he will hope to lead the France defence, he should be inspired." Easily our best defender this season, and once he became injured, things began to look scary at the back. Again, in the crunch games, he hasn't performed to the high levels we needed, and lets be honest, our GA column stinks, so he must also shoulder responsibility. However his quality was shown we risked him vs Barca and he is now out for the count.
Grade B-.
18. Mikael Silvestre. "Consensus is that he had a disastrous début season at Arsenal." Make that 2 disastrous seasons at Arsenal. Again, look at the games where we have let in large numbers of goals and he is there, Barcelona 4, Spurs 2, Wigan 3, Stoke 3, he is always there. Remember our 4-4 draws with Spurs and Liverpool last season, guess who was there?
Grade D.
20. Johann Djourou. "he hasn't delivered killer performances that will consign one of the other senior defenders to the bench, and thus remains just another of the squad players." Injured before the season started, he hasn't had the chance to play any games.
Grade N/A.
22. Gael Clichy. "Despite his all energy performances, there are some serious defensive cracks in his game, still loses concentration, and his crossing doesn't lead to assists." Another under par season from one of our elder players. He was injured and when he returned mid season, he was a big liability. Still the same deficiencies, still the same improvements needed.
Grade D.
28. Kieran Gibbs. "at this rarefied level, mistakes are punished, and his ultimate mistake was to slip in the Champions League semi final for Man Utd to score and take the advantage." 7 games this term, and his campaign ended by injury in December. I'm still not sold on Gibbs. He looks steady, but against the big teams, he will be exposed, and he is not good enough yet to dislodge Clichy.
Grade C.
30. Armand Traore. "His defensive and offensive work needs a lot of refinement as does his dribbling stance that makes it easy for the ball to be taken away from him." 11 games this season, and he has to say it hasn't been a success. He had a big chance to stake his claim when both Clichy and Gibbs were out injured, poor vs Chelski where Drogba sent him into orbit with a shoulder barge, poor vs Everton in the 2-2 draw, he still needs a lot of work.
Grade D.
31. Sol Campbell. Came back in January, and has helped the team, adding experience and a vocal presence. However we have also let in many goals under his watch, 2 vs Porto, 3 vs Stoke, 2 vs Spurs, 3 vs Wigan, so he cannot be lauded as a messiah. For his age though, he has been good, and it is a shame most of our young squad don't follow his example, at 35, he still fights to win despite having won a lot already.
Grade B-.
Verdict.
Individually, we have some decent defenders, but we can now see that we went into the season with too few numbers, and we also have not learned a clear defending philosophy that works. We have let in 39 goals in the league, way too much if you want to win anything these days. The defence as a collective has failed.
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Saturday 17 April 2010
Arsenal 2009/2010 End Of Season Squad Assessment, Pt 1.
After my season previews, I will now do the reviews. I started with the goalkeepers as you can see here.
GoalKeepers.
1. Manuel Almunia. " unless Fabianski applies intense pressure, he may slip into a comfort mode." This has proved to be very true this season. Following his two horror displays against Man Utd (Rooney penalty) and then Man City (own goal) away both in consecutive matches, he was dropped for 7 matches when Mannone stepped in for him. He came back against Spurs at home in October, made another error vs Wolves in November, gifted Liverpool a goal away in December, was chipped by Pienaar against Everton in January. he then punched the ball into his own net vs Man Utd, and he repeated the trick two months later vs Birmingham. He made a critical error of judgement vs Barcelona for Ibrahimovic's first goal, then in the second, he was chipped twice and allowed one through his legs. Finally against Spurs, he punched when he should have caught that led to their opener.
As you can see, that is way too many errors for a team looking to win trophies. He has probably cost the team the league with his blunders, if he never made them, draws would be wins, losses would be draws, and in a season where the league is tight, these have been very expensive gaffs.
If he lines up as Arsenal Number 1 next season, Wenger will have shown lack of ambition. I think he would realistically be a better number 2, he has some experience and will learn when he is in for short stints, but we cannot rely on him for the long term.
Stats, played 36, conceded 39. Grade E.
21. Lukasz Fabianski. "He needs to really step up this term and aim to relegate Almunia to the bench and keep him there." Well he clearly failed to do that this season. He was injured at the start of the season, however he has not shown that he is ready to be the number 1 for Arsenal. He made brutal errors such as allowing Insua to score a screamer against him in the Carling Cup, got his angles all wrong in the 3-0 loss to Man City in the Carling Cup, allowed some soft goals vs Stoke in the FA Cup, before his horror show in Porto.
If he is not getting games, he needs to go on loan for a season or two as he clearly doesn't look confident or in form. He can only get worse by sitting on the bench.
Stats, played 7, conceded 14. Grade F.
24. Vitto Mannone. " The most he can hope for is Reserve team football and the Carling Cup." Due to the poor form of Almunia early in the season, he got his chance, and he had an inspired performance vs Fulham, before showing his immaturity against West Ham where he cost the team a win.
Another who needs a loan spell, especially if a new keeper is acquired as he will not improve sitting on the bench. However statistically, he has been the clubs best keeper.
Stats, played 8, conceded 8. Grade C.
Verdict
It is clear for all to see, the goal keeping issue is the biggest one that needs to be addressed at the club this season. The stats for them all as a collective has been very very bad. To let in 58 goals and to have a sizeable portion of them as blunders is not acceptable, Fabianski should leave on loan, same as Mannone, Almunia demoted to number 2 and a top experienced keeper acquired who knows how to keep goal and is mature. Serious surgery required here.
Friday 16 April 2010
Spurs 2 - Arsenal 1. Season Over.
Season over, I will start to do my seasons round up for players and their grades. As for the game, we had no heart, and no fight, and in a big game, if players refuse to do that, then expect defeat, simple.
Ratings:
Almunia 1: Punched the ball when he should have caught, and reacted to slow to Bale, he should sniff there is trouble.
Sagna 1: Still can't cross, and played Bale onside.
Campbell 6: What a shame we need a 35 year old man who has won lots to fire us up, he has nothing to prove.
Vermaelen 3: Injured early on.
Clichy 2: Can't defend properly.
Denilson 1: Forward passing?
Diaby 1: Forward passing or charging forward?
Nasri 2: No vision, no personality, this was a big chance to show he should stay centrally, on this form, will be back on the flanks.
Rosicky 2: Crap shooting.
Eboué 1: No end product. Not a RW, should just be a RB and that is all.
Bendtner 2: Scored, but as a striker, he needs to improve, crap first touch and movement.
Silvestre 1: Contract should expire soon, great news.
Van Persie 5: In 20mins, did more than we did for 70, and probably showed more creativity in all our games since November.
Walcott 1: Assist, but still has no IQ
Wenger 1: Don't blame injuries, you are the one playing players who are on the edge. Tactics stink again, and surely we can play a 3-5-2 to exclude Silvestre? That was a wasted sub in my opinion.
Ratings:
Almunia 1: Punched the ball when he should have caught, and reacted to slow to Bale, he should sniff there is trouble.
Sagna 1: Still can't cross, and played Bale onside.
Campbell 6: What a shame we need a 35 year old man who has won lots to fire us up, he has nothing to prove.
Vermaelen 3: Injured early on.
Clichy 2: Can't defend properly.
Denilson 1: Forward passing?
Diaby 1: Forward passing or charging forward?
Nasri 2: No vision, no personality, this was a big chance to show he should stay centrally, on this form, will be back on the flanks.
Rosicky 2: Crap shooting.
Eboué 1: No end product. Not a RW, should just be a RB and that is all.
Bendtner 2: Scored, but as a striker, he needs to improve, crap first touch and movement.
Silvestre 1: Contract should expire soon, great news.
Van Persie 5: In 20mins, did more than we did for 70, and probably showed more creativity in all our games since November.
Walcott 1: Assist, but still has no IQ
Wenger 1: Don't blame injuries, you are the one playing players who are on the edge. Tactics stink again, and surely we can play a 3-5-2 to exclude Silvestre? That was a wasted sub in my opinion.
Wednesday 7 April 2010
Barcelona 4 - Arsenal 1: Tactics tactics tactics......
"Finally, Wenger will get what he has always wanted, a team that plays all out football, to really judge his side? I can tell all fans what to expect, we will be brushed aside by Barcelona because Wenger will not be smart, he will not change his tactics, he will not want to do all required to win."
That is what I wrote on March 28, and over two legs, this is what happened. We got outplayed over the two matches, we were never ever really in a position to win the tie. The first leg, we sustained a siege not seen since Mordor declared war on Gondor, Almunia kept the team in the game, but by that time, Barcelona had laid the foundation for what they aimed to do. From then on, the result was never in doubt from that night in London.
In the Camp Nou, Barcelona took us to the cleaners. Despite capitalizing on their high line once that Walcott squared to Bendtner to score, after that, our lack of quality, cohesion and tactics was on view for everyone to see. We should have defended with quality, instead, our lack of pressing and tactical know how saw Messi break our lines and slam home to get back in business. The second, Abidal did something our fullbacks never do, crosses on the floor especially when we have midgets up front, the ball found its way to Pedrito who laid it off to Messi who chipped past Almunia. The third, our high line was exposed by Keita who headed to Messi who chipped past Almunia, 3-1 at half time.
In the second half, Barcelona played clever, passing and inviting Arsenal to show if they had anything more, and we never, we never pressed, when we did have the ball, we never had any quality as Barcelona fought to get it back like a mother jealously guards her children. The fourth was coming, earlier on, Messi had made Vermaelen and Sagna look like amateurs, even nutmegging Sagna in the box, and for he repeated the trick, dancing past Eboué, past Vermaelen twice before putting it through Almunia's legs.
Why we never ever change tactics is weird. We never man marked, and Messi or Xavi, and if you decide to do that, you need to apply equal pressure on the team, we never did that. I also do not get why a team that is full of champions fought so hard compared to us. We have won nothing, and have everything to gain, yet Barcelona looked like they were the ones who wanted to be champions.
Some say we were missing key players, 5 of our starters, but Barca missed 4. It also shows that the squad needs more quality. I'm certain had Barcelona had 1 more of their key players out, they would have found a way to make the difference, we never found a way. Wenger has to take responsibility for not moulding champions, these guys are getting older and not yet on the level of being a champion.
I'm also angry we are always knocked out at the business end of the season, and every year we never learn. Last year, after Utd beat us, I wrote "Arsenal is now a DEVELOPMENT team and not a WINNING team, the future lies on the edge of a knife, ONCE YOU LOSE THE WINNING MENTALITY, IT'S HARD TO GET IT BACK, just when will we start WINNING again?" Even Wenger intimated that he may have to change after that game, and guess what, he never. This time he says we have to add in the summer, but I don't think he will.
Player Ratings
Almunia 3: Got chipped twice and another through the legs. Intimidate the striker, don't allow him to score, even clatter into him. Poor display.
Sagna 3: Still can't cross, never made the difference at the back.
Silvestre 1: Flopped for the first, too slow for the second, the third never prevented Messi from being distracted, subbed off by the fourth. Please Leave Now.
Vermaelen 2: Made to look foolish by Messi. Talked a good game, but when examined by the best players, he hasn't made the difference. Rooney and Drogba have all destroyed him, now Messi has done it too.
Clichy 2: Lax defending, and what a game to decide you are Roberto Carlos by starting to shoot, with woeful consequences.
Denilson 2: By passed all evening, no pace, no pressing, no personality.
Diaby 2: Released Walcott once, decided against doing it which ensured we never scored a second. Again fails to deliver in the big games, chasing shadows all night.
Nasri 2: No creativity, no pressing, no personality.
Rosicky 1: Was rated 50:50 for the game, it showed, awful.
Walcott 1: All he has is speed, whilst many thought he was our weapon, Barca had Messi who has speed and technique and intelligence, something Walcott doesn't.
Bendtner 2: Not making the difference in the big matches, needs more than hard work at this level.
Eboué 2: Allowed Messi to dance past him for the fourth.
Eduardo 1: Not for this level anymore.
Coach Rating
Wenger 1: Selection errors, Silvestre is no good, so either put Sagna there or switch to a back 3. Eboué should have started as well.As for tactics, we had none apart from try release Walcott, we need more than that at this level. Also what happened to the pressing we saw in the 6-1 win against Everton? If we did 25% of that, we would not have allowed Barca over 60% of the ball.
That is what I wrote on March 28, and over two legs, this is what happened. We got outplayed over the two matches, we were never ever really in a position to win the tie. The first leg, we sustained a siege not seen since Mordor declared war on Gondor, Almunia kept the team in the game, but by that time, Barcelona had laid the foundation for what they aimed to do. From then on, the result was never in doubt from that night in London.
In the Camp Nou, Barcelona took us to the cleaners. Despite capitalizing on their high line once that Walcott squared to Bendtner to score, after that, our lack of quality, cohesion and tactics was on view for everyone to see. We should have defended with quality, instead, our lack of pressing and tactical know how saw Messi break our lines and slam home to get back in business. The second, Abidal did something our fullbacks never do, crosses on the floor especially when we have midgets up front, the ball found its way to Pedrito who laid it off to Messi who chipped past Almunia. The third, our high line was exposed by Keita who headed to Messi who chipped past Almunia, 3-1 at half time.
In the second half, Barcelona played clever, passing and inviting Arsenal to show if they had anything more, and we never, we never pressed, when we did have the ball, we never had any quality as Barcelona fought to get it back like a mother jealously guards her children. The fourth was coming, earlier on, Messi had made Vermaelen and Sagna look like amateurs, even nutmegging Sagna in the box, and for he repeated the trick, dancing past Eboué, past Vermaelen twice before putting it through Almunia's legs.
Why we never ever change tactics is weird. We never man marked, and Messi or Xavi, and if you decide to do that, you need to apply equal pressure on the team, we never did that. I also do not get why a team that is full of champions fought so hard compared to us. We have won nothing, and have everything to gain, yet Barcelona looked like they were the ones who wanted to be champions.
Some say we were missing key players, 5 of our starters, but Barca missed 4. It also shows that the squad needs more quality. I'm certain had Barcelona had 1 more of their key players out, they would have found a way to make the difference, we never found a way. Wenger has to take responsibility for not moulding champions, these guys are getting older and not yet on the level of being a champion.
I'm also angry we are always knocked out at the business end of the season, and every year we never learn. Last year, after Utd beat us, I wrote "Arsenal is now a DEVELOPMENT team and not a WINNING team, the future lies on the edge of a knife, ONCE YOU LOSE THE WINNING MENTALITY, IT'S HARD TO GET IT BACK, just when will we start WINNING again?" Even Wenger intimated that he may have to change after that game, and guess what, he never. This time he says we have to add in the summer, but I don't think he will.
Player Ratings
Almunia 3: Got chipped twice and another through the legs. Intimidate the striker, don't allow him to score, even clatter into him. Poor display.
Sagna 3: Still can't cross, never made the difference at the back.
Silvestre 1: Flopped for the first, too slow for the second, the third never prevented Messi from being distracted, subbed off by the fourth. Please Leave Now.
Vermaelen 2: Made to look foolish by Messi. Talked a good game, but when examined by the best players, he hasn't made the difference. Rooney and Drogba have all destroyed him, now Messi has done it too.
Clichy 2: Lax defending, and what a game to decide you are Roberto Carlos by starting to shoot, with woeful consequences.
Denilson 2: By passed all evening, no pace, no pressing, no personality.
Diaby 2: Released Walcott once, decided against doing it which ensured we never scored a second. Again fails to deliver in the big games, chasing shadows all night.
Nasri 2: No creativity, no pressing, no personality.
Rosicky 1: Was rated 50:50 for the game, it showed, awful.
Walcott 1: All he has is speed, whilst many thought he was our weapon, Barca had Messi who has speed and technique and intelligence, something Walcott doesn't.
Bendtner 2: Not making the difference in the big matches, needs more than hard work at this level.
Eboué 2: Allowed Messi to dance past him for the fourth.
Eduardo 1: Not for this level anymore.
Coach Rating
Wenger 1: Selection errors, Silvestre is no good, so either put Sagna there or switch to a back 3. Eboué should have started as well.As for tactics, we had none apart from try release Walcott, we need more than that at this level. Also what happened to the pressing we saw in the 6-1 win against Everton? If we did 25% of that, we would not have allowed Barca over 60% of the ball.
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