Niall McDonald hands out the marks
Fabianski: Looked a bit unsettled for the first time today, still came up with a superb save near the end 6
Zabaleta: No faulting his effort and commitment 5
Diop: One of the few who seemed to be trying to set the tone before the comeback began 7
Ogbonna: Pretty sketchy defending either side of a lovely downward header for the 2nd 6
Cresswell: Continually stopped and turned back or onto his right foot for 75 mins – then started whipping crosses in on his left foot, just like old times! 6
Rice: Found it tough going in the middle today – good experience gained 6
Noble: Competent penalty in an otherwise average display 5
Lanzini: Played in the middle and on both flanks at various stages. Most effective picking the ball up and running at the defence 7
Anderson: Covered an awful lot of ground; some nice neat passing 7
Antonio: Some very strong hold-up play, and some wild shots… pretty standard fare, harshly subbed 6
Arnautovic: Surprised to see him subbed, but that was more through doubt that Perez would do any better. Did look rusty 5
Subs
Hernandez: Pellegrinni’s attacking substitution paid off (after not looking likely to before the Mexican’s first). 2 excellent finishes 8
Perez: His introduction was not welcomed, its fair to say. Got involved in a few minor passages of play 4
Nasri: Did well , showing good touch in all areas of the midfield. Maybe worth a start ahead of Noble? 6
Perhaps play Ogbonna as striker!!! It worked for Arnie last year…
A really difficult game to give ratings – in the first half I thought Antonio was one of our best players – then he gets hooked at half time!
I thought that Chicarito did little and tehn he pops up with two goals
I thought that generally Andreson was poor – then he provides the cross for the winner
two general observations (and yes perhaps it is time for the General although initially there was no pun intended)
1. Maybe our vulnerability is due to a lack of shape – if we play 4-2-3-1 we need two holding midfielders – Noble was on the wing a number of times which means he was not able to defend a counter attack
2. All four of our goals (including the pen) came from corners – which is disappointing especially since we ended up with 3 creative players and 2 strikers
Like the others I thought Antonio was arguably our best player in the first half. The game changer was Nasri, Noble did as well as he could but the gulf in class between Nasri and all the other midfielders was laid bare yesterday, everyone’s performance increased the moment he single handedly increased the tempo of our play.
Not just in this game Zahama. Nearly all our recent goals have been from set pieces. It is good that we are finally making better use of set pieces, but the lack of goals from open play is covering up for the fact that our strikers have been poor.
How did Nasri only get a 6?
He completely changed the game when he came on. Controlled the pace, looked for the clever pass and not the simple ball. I was really really impressed with his play, especially linking up lanzini. Think noble may need to be dropped for a while, but would Nasri/Lanzini be too much for a centre midfield pairing? If we play Antonio and Anderson actually tackles (he is great when he can be actually bothered to tackle) then maybe it could work as a midfield.
Anderson constantly frustrates me. Reminds me of Alexis Sanchez, when he is in form, he can unlock any defence, but majority of the time he loses the ball in silly areas, putting pressure on the back 4. He needs to really change his mentality. Consistency has obviously what has kept so many big clubs away from him. I hope he finds it and stops the rolling around, its embarrassing.
I agree the strikers have been poor. I had hoped a big performance from Arnie, but it seems like his days may be over for us. It’s a shame as i really liked him as a player, but time to move on and pick whoever can do the best from now until the end of the season and then look at newer options.
Maybe I’m too conservative but think that we need to be solid in midfield – so what we are looking for is someone with energy and bite to play alongside Rice and then the challenge will be to include both Nasri and Lanzini – I seem to recall Nasri sometimes playing wide left for Arsenal? In any case what this season should have taught us is that we need more than just a best starting XI – we need a squad – and Noble and Zaba can still have a role to play in the squad