Niall McDonald hands out the marks
Fabianski: One brilliant reaction save early on. No nonsense punches from corners and looked confident 7
Zabaleta: Standard fare from the Argentina 5
Ogbonna: Mediocre.. Booked for a clumsy challenge and left standing from the resultant corner for the winner 4
Balbuena: Sketchy distribution at times but looked far more comfortable defending today than at Anfield 6
Masuaku: An afternoon to show off his attacking skills yet seemed reluctant to get too far forward 5
Noble: Saw an awful lot of the ball in the first half; subbed on 75 mins 4
Wilshere: One-touch passes were a joy to behold early on. Seemed pretty weary by the time he was moved forward chasing the game 5
Snodgrass: Got an appreciative welcome and put in the sort of competent display on the right I’d hoped for 6
Anderson: Struggled, being given his first taste of the pace and physicality of the Premier League 4
Hernandez: A rare start! Wasn’t given many opportunities to affect the game 5
Arnautovic: Our new penalty-taker? Thankfully he buried it. By a distance our most powerful and direct attacker 7
Subs
Yarmolenko: Watched the winner go in as he waited to come on. Looked very neat and skillful coming in off the right-wing. Worth a starting place on this evidence 6
Perez: Couple of runs in the inside-left channel 3
Sanchez: Mobile. Had a few chances to move the ball on. Maybe worth a starting place as well 4
Hernandez not given a chance to affect the game? Without him we’d have lost 2-0. Zaba was our player of the match and deserves a 7 at least, and Fabianski looks like he’ll keep his position ahead of Adrian. COYI ⚒⚒
Yes 580 I agree with Zabaleta he was excellent also unsure how Arthur could be seen as not getting forward often he was far in advance of Anderson leaving Anderson to defend, Arnie was ok he and Hernandez showed some nice interplay at times, Balbuena was pretty good, most of the problems stemmed from central midfield where Wilson and more so Fraser in the second half were able to run through unchallenged until Sanchez came on. Hopefully MP can sort Obiang’s head out before next weekend we miss him and if he and Sanchez can form a partnership with Wilshere we might be better COYI !!!
I fully understand that the new players to the PL will take time to adjust – this is only natural. However the players we did sign like Fredericks and Wilshere who have experience of the English league are just terrible signings. We will never be successful with Wilshere in the team, I hate to say it but he is totally ineffective. I can only assume that both he and Fredericks were the owners signings. They are both terrible and championship standard at best – if it was the owners then I believe they have put the club at risk of being relegated. Pelle seemingly has been the manager in waiting for some time and I just cannot believe he has not identified our weaknesses in CM and we have no link to our CF no natural number 10. To me it is difficult to understand from a manager of his experience. The sooner Pelle sorts out his midfield two the quicker we will start to pick up results. He also needs to find a way to get Antonio into the team. Incredible how both he and Rice were left out at the expense of players like Wilshere.
In respect to the ratings, in defence of the defence it is very difficult for them to score well when they have both Wilshere and Noble in midfield. I thought Zaba was a huge improvement on Fredericks. I think Rice is also a real option at RB. Noble and Wilshere both need to be dropped. I would possibly bring both Obiang and Sanchez into the midfield for the Arsenal game with Anderson as the 10. Antonio back in on the left with Yarmo starting on the right with Arnie up top. Or switch to a back 3 bringing in Diop at the back with Rice and Masauka wing backs, Sanchez and Obiang in midfield, Anderson at 10, Arnie and Antonio up top will frighten the lives out of them. Pelle needs to drop both Noble and Wilshere. if I had to choose one it would be Wilshere.