Match ratings: Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool

Seems a bit pointless to do a match report for such a half hearted match, so i will instead just post match ratings.

Manuel Almunia - 5 - Did well enough, maybe could have done more with the goal though.
Justin Hoyte - 4 - Just not at it for mst of the match, needs games to improve and while he’s not getting games he won’t improve, so at the very least a loan spell is a must.
Kolo Touré - 4 - Keeps making little mistakes we’re not used to seeing from him.
William Gallas - 6 - Did alright, our most solid defnder easily.
Armand Traore - 5.5 - Terrible first half, much better in the second half. As I write this he is battering Tottenham’s Reserves on the left wing - he needs playing time but has massive potential. 

Gilberto Silva - 6 - Did a tidy job in the second half, far better than he has done in other games he has featured in.
Mathieu Flamini - 6.5 - Tried very hard as ever, didn’t look half as tired as Fabregas did, but didn’t quite cut it going forward.
Cesc Fabregas - 5.5 - Drifted in and out of the game, glimpses of the real Fabregas but generally poor. Must do better on Tuesday.
Emmanuel Eboue - 3 - Terrible yet again - doesn’t protect the defence enough, hasn’t got the quality at the other end either.
Theo Walcott - 6 - Poor first half, but did well in the second half once again.

Nicklas Bendtner - 6.5 - Should have scored two, but held the ball well and a good header for the equaliser.

Subs
Emmanuel Adebayor - 6.5 - Ran and ran, but didn’t really offer that much of an attacking threat.
Gael Clichy - 6 - Not much to say, wasn’t spectacular but wasn’t bad either.
Alexander Hleb - 5 - Vital moment to win the game and is control let him down for once. Typical.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool

 

Manuel Almunia - 6 - Didn’t have very much to do really, couldn’t have done much about the goal and was comfortable enough with the few crosses he had to deal with.

Kolo Toure - 5 - Doesn’t look at home at right back, but Senderos is looking better and better at Senderos and gives us a better combination in the centre, so Wenger has a dilemma on his hands when Sagna comes back. I really like Toure but Wenger isn’t going to drop our captain, and Senderos doesn’t deserve to be taken out of the side and that seems to leave him with no choice.

Phillippe Senderos - 7.5 - Couldn’t have done anything about the goal, was solid throughout the game and had one slightly edgy moment in the first half but other than that did well once again.

William Gallas - 8 - Played really well I thought, Torres was in his pocket to be honest.

Gael Clichy - 6.5 - Off and on he had a good game, possibly could have got the other side of Kuyt for the goal and showed more urgency in the opposition’s half at times.

Emmanuel Eboue - 4 - Poor once again. When is Wenger going to drop him from the team for the big matches at the very least he doesn’t offer enough. Walcott’s time has come.

Cesc Fabregas - 6.5 - Much better in the second half after a very disappointing first period. Went close a number of times when he came forward from a far deeper position compared to normal.

Mathieu Flamini - 7.5 - Worked very hard for the team as usual, was every where it seemed on the pitch. Lacking something in the final third to complete his performance though.

Alex Hleb - 7 - Very good in the second half, poor in the first. That dribble to get him the penalty appeal was brilliance, it really was. Just a shame the ref didn’t notice the blatant foul on him.

Robin van Persie - 7 - One of our best players in the first half, but he’s got another niggle just as he was looking sharper and had to be replaced. Shame and hopefully he’ll be back by the weekend as it didn’t seem serious.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 7 - Works very, very hard indeed and got the reward with his 24th goal of the season. When are Arsenal fans going to finally admit that he is an excellent player?

Substitutes:

Theo Walcott - 7.5 - Added urgency and direction to the attack. Had a brilliant strike go narrowly wide and worried defences. A bit less of a threat on the right.

Nicklas Bendtner - 5 - He must be unbelievably embarassed about his goal line clearance from Fabregas, he really must, but it was almost unavoidable as from the position he was in whichever way he chose to run he would have been given offside for interfering with play.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 1 - 1 Middlesbrough

 

Manuel Almunia - 6 -  Had one save to make, which as it happened, he had no chance with. Played as a sweeper all game.

Bacary Sagna - 6 - Disappointing, he had nothing to do defensively yet wasn’t very impressive going forward despite the time and opportunities that he had to roam forward.

Kolo Toure - 7 - I didn’t think that Wenger needed to drop Senderos who has been pretty much faultless recently, but Toure got the goal that saved the match and committed defenders when going forward late on.

William Gallas - 6 - Didn’t do much except pass sideways and into midfield. Defensively untroubled.

Gael Clichy - 6 - Also pretty disappointing. He and Hleb lacked the understanding they normally seem to have and so a lot of the attacks on the left when backwards .

Emmanuel Eboue - 7 - He was decent gong forward although decision making wasn’t always great, generally he at least had some urgency. Faded in the second half though.

Cesc Fabregas - 6 - Played some fantastic through balls at times, but was too slow most of the time for my liking.

Mathieu Flamini - 5 - Wasn’t needed defensively, and his energy going forwards wasn’t great to be honest.

Alexander Hleb - 5 - Nothing came off for him, except one truly brilliant reverse pass which on another day Fabregas would have buried and we’d all be praising his genius.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - Bad first touch, lacked pace and didn’t ask enough questions of the Boro defence. I sincerely hope he finds his form again soon.

Robin van Persie - 6 - Clearly not match fit in my opinion. Created the odd moment of danger but still a while before he’s back to his best.

Substitutes:

Nicklas Bendtner - 6 - Added a presence late on.

Theo Walcott - 6 - Didn’t get the ball enough, because when he did have it he made a difference.

Philippe Senderos - n/a - Wasn’t on for long enough.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 2-0 AC Milan

 

I am so tempted to just give the whole team 10’s, but I will (try to) be sensible about it:

Manuel Almunia - 7 - He had a faultless display, although wasn’t called upon very often and didn’t actually need to work for any of the Milan shots in reality. 

Bacary Sagna - 7 - Strangely enough I would say it was not one of his best games for us, as he did not get forward as much as he has done in some games. Solid defensively as ever though. 

Phillippe Senderos - 7.5 - Did well in defence and made only one slight mistake which Clichy dug him out of. Kept Inzaghi quite enough. Should have scored though…. 

William Gallas – 8: A much better performance from Arsenal’s (cough) inspirational leader. Marshalled defence well when he needed to, and showed real emotion at the end. If he could perhaps keep his passion in check while out on the field when we lose matches it would save him from the media limelight quite a bit.  

Gael Clichy - 8 - Back to his usual self. Tireless running and never got caught out in defence. Vital defending against Pato after Senderos’ mistake.

Emmanuel Eboue – 6 - The only poor player in the white shirts of Arsenal last night. Didn’t offer too much intelligence going forward, and didn’t stretch Milan’s left side. I’m sure he could have exploited Maldini’s lack of pace if he’d ran down the line a bit more. 

Mathieu Flamini - 9.5 - Fantastic. As simple as that. Probably the most improved player in World football this season. Kept Kaka in check, and Gattuso and Pirlo were also victims of the battling midfielder who is fast becoming a fans’ favourite, at least in my opinion. If every player had as much commitment as he does, we’d never lose a game again.

Cesc Fabregas - 9.5: Had all the skill to go with Flamini’s agression and determination, in a simply brilliant midfield partnership. Got the decisive goal as well to round off one of the best individual performances I have seen for quite a while, although this comment is aimed at Flamini as well - they were both immense.

Abou Diaby – 7 - His inclusion was my only concern in the starting line up when I saw it, but he coped well, making a couple of good challenges tracking back and kept the ball far better than he has done normally this season. 

Alex Hleb – 8.5 - Toys with defenders for fun. His movement was second to none, and but for two superlative performances from certain other players, he would get the Man of the Match award without a doubt.   

Emmanuel Adebayor - 8 - Will be giving Milan’s defenders nightmares for a while yet. Work rate was brilliant, attitude spot on, and grabbed a goal which will be of great personal worth to him.

Substitutes:

Theo Walcott - 7 - Did excellently when he came on, almost setting up Gallas for a goal, tackling Kaka superbly, and then running past a Milan defender to give Adebayor Arsenal’s second goal, all in twenty minutes.

Gilberto Silva - N/A -Wasn’t on for long enough to warrant a rating.

Match ratings: Arsenal Vs Aston Villa

 

Manuel Almunia - 7 - I thought he did pretty well. Not at fault for the goal, and produced a couple of good saves to keep us in it at 1-0.

Bacary Sagna - 7 - Didn’t do too much wrong, positionally he was very good, although perhaps didn’t get forward as much as he could have in the first half.

William Gallas - 5 - He had a pretty bad game, along with Senderos. At fault for the goal and although he made a couple of good tackles positionally he wasn’t anywhere near his best.

Phillippe Senderos - 5 - Pretty much the same as Gallas, although more consistent and din’t make too many crucial tackles as Gallas did. Still, like Gallas, was a long way off his best.

Gael Clichy - 6 - Hasn’t been too great for a little while now. You kind of forget how much we rely on his consistency of performance until he goes through a bad patch of form.

Alex Hleb - 5 - Dallied on the ball too much, and generally seemed like the Hleb of last season. Needs to play at a higher tempo. 

Cesc Fabregas - 5 - Like Hleb, we rely on him to dictate a tempo to our play, and unfortunately he chose slow when we should have been sharp and quick.

Mathieu Flamini - 6 - Worked hard but lacked quality in possession and the driving runs weren’t there as much as normal.

Abou Diaby - 3 - Shocking. Had all the skills at the start of game, but by 20 minutes in he was giving the ball away left right and centre, offering little or nothing to our attack and not defending as he should do either.

Theo Walcott - 7 - Our best player for two weeks in a row arguably? Certainly our sharpest player out there on Saturday.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - Pretty poor. Should definitely have been making the Villa defence work more than he did.

Substitutes:

Nicklas Bendtner - 6.5 - Added presence and scored a goal. You can’t really argue with his contribution too much as he got us out of a whole when we needed just that to happen.

Denilson - 6 - Wasn’t on for very long, did alright with the few touches he got.

Gilberto - 6 - Same as Denilson

Match Ratings - Birmingham City Vs Arsenal

Almunia - 5 - Didn’t have that much to do. Can’t be blamed for either goal really. An average performance.
Gallas - 6 - Huge desire to win shown towards the end in a controversial manner. Other than that, a quiet game.
Senderos - 7 - Solid. Handled McFadden pretty well.
Clichy - 5 - Stupid mistake at the end, got the ball in my opinion but should never have got into that situation. Crossing was poor throughout the match.
Sagna - 7 - Supported Walcott reasonably well, crossing was slightly better than Clichy but that isn’t saying much….
Flamini - 6.5 - Fights for everything, but did not show too much quality yesterday.
Fabregas - 7 - This game and the Milan game show promise of Fabregas coming into a bit of form. Should have scored.
Hleb - 6.5 - Great trickery and creativity in the second half, but really needs to shoot more.
Walcott - 7.5 - Great to see him score even if it was overshadowed by other events. Second goal was taken brilliantly, and hopefully this will take a lot of pressure off him.
Adebayor - 5 - Why didn’t he score?! If he had taken just one of the chances he got we would have been home and dry. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that.

Eduardo - N/A - So, so disappointing. Eduardo has really looked part of the first team since the Christmas period, and now he is out for no one even knows how long. Hopefully he’ll recover well and won’t have been affected too much, although that is a big ask.

Substitutes: 

Bendtner - 5.5 - Struggled a bit, but overall wasn’t too bad. If only Adebayor had seen him running through on goal….  

Denilson - N/A
Gilberto - N/A