CandH’s Niall McDonald hands out the marks
Adrian: Flew to his left to keep Sanchez’s free kick out. Otherwise untroubled 7
Zabaleta: Seemed to get a second wind after 70 mins. Lapse of concentration in stoppage time put nerves on edge 6
Reid: Couple of physical challenges on Giroud let him know he was there. Cleared the lines when needed 7
SOME VERY CLASSY DEFENDING FROM OGGY
Ogbonna: Some very classy, assured defending tonight 8
Cresswell: Often left up against Giroud and coped very well 8
Masuaku: Very disciplined tonight, majoring on defence 7
Obiang: Forced opponents inside whenever possible. Playing at a good tempo 7
Noble: A few rushed, hacked clearances when in space. Beautiful through ball for Hernandez at the death 7
Arnautovic: Deft header was ruled out. Impressed again in a more advanced role 8
Antonio: Lasted 81 mins tonight. Combined really well with Arnautovic before moving wide right 7
Lanzini: A month ago I thought he was our only hope. A month on there is hope all over the pitch! 7
Subs
Hernandez: Pleased to see we got him involved immediately. Denied by the woodwork 7
Hard to disagree with those scores would give Zab a 7 also he had a tough night against a youthful and very skilful opponent but nevertheless he also made a lot of interceptions and tackles, well done boys 😄
Ogbonna, Arnautovic and noble were very good I thought..Overall a great team performance….great reverse pass and chest layoff to Arnautovic..passes of the game from noble..in fact 1 hacked clearance in 90 minutes not really worthy of a mention Niall but there you go..
Perhaps you can tell me what Lanzini done tonight as I thought his positioning was as a defensive midfielder just running around when he should be backing the attackers, when he does get forward he scores but lately he hasn’t got forward.
not good enough for someone of his class.
I thought Lanzini was awful, probably worst player on the squad. Regardless of his position and role on the pitch, he wasted many many balls with ugly passes unworthy of someone like him. He was also constantly second best v. Wheelchair. Outmuscled and outpaced. I thought he should have been subbed, but I also think that the Antonio substitution came ten minutes too late. Chicharito spread winds of panic in their defence from the first second. He would have scored with more mounts, and put the pressure off our own defence by mobilising two-three Arses.
Every player did his job as shown by the ratings, but my MoM was definitely Ogbonna. He has played well before but ruined it with fatal errors, but that was easily his best game for us. 3 games and still no errors. With Cresswell playing so well on the left of the 3, Ogbonna has worked more central, and dropped off more to be the last man. It seems to suite him more in a sweeper role, and his confidence is growing.
The whole team is now growing together, and confidence is beginning to bloom. Defending en masse in home games is not so pretty, but it doesn’t matter right now. The next games will be crucial, as we try to open up a little bit without giving up our resilience as a team.
I forgot to mention Masuaku. He didn’t excite so much as usual, but he had his best defensive performance so far, and showed more discipline than ever before. That game will do him good as wing-back..
+1 Ogbonna has had 3 really good games in a two shows what a difference a proper staff organisation make.
Oggy even said that in interview that is was down to the team working together & organisation.
Only thing I would of chnahed is brought on Chic earlier for Ant. We could of won that game but take a point…
No more loses in January COYI
Why are some people slagging off Lanzini. He was obviously asked to do a job, and did it perfectly.
Yes he was asked to play much deeper but I don’t see how you can say he did it perfectly. He looked slow, passing was way off, got caught in possession a number of times. He had a bad game. That said, everyone has a bad game once in a while, just great to see the other 10 on form for a change. COYI.
Everyone has the odd game where they are not at it, Lanzini was less effective than normal but its one game, next up we have stoke and another chance, he was also playing against Wilshere who was probably the best player on the pitch for either side fortunately for us we outplayed them in every other position so all his good work came to nothing.
I have to agree with the comments about lanzini. Compared to the other 10 on the field I think he gave away the ball too much and didn’t effect the game at all. I was screaming at the TV on 60 mins to take him off and put Hernandez on.
Prob now is I don’t see him fitting in midfield and I think he will struggle to get in ahead of Arnie, Antonio or chicarito. Could be a surprising casualty of the Moyes rein. Would love to see Antonio back on the right wing against Stoke, masuaka on the left and Arnie and chic up front.
Antonio is wasted up fop ! He’s not a centre forward , he needs to be on the right wing ! Sakho and the pea on the bench didn’t make sense to me ! They were there for the taking last night ! Last ten I would have put Carroll and sakho on as IMO they wouldn’t have coped with them ! Carroll in particular would have won the aerial battle with konshelney and sakho running the channel would have opened them up ! Antonio needed to come off 25 mins into the second half! Clearly not up to full fitness ! IMO we missed out on 3 points ! We didn’t really test them at the back at all. 😉