The following are the player ratings and reasoning behind the 2-1 defeat at Spurs earlier today.
Brace yourself…it’s not going to be pretty.
http://gty.im/462907370
David Ospina (6/10)
Ospina had a very shaky game, but was solid as a whole. He suffered a niggle to his thigh early on and it showed throughout the game. He pulled off some great saves, but overall he continuously made it harder for Arsenal. For the first goal, he palmed it to the feet of Kane. But then moments later, pulled off a brilliant save. A 50/50 game for Ospina, but the blame could fall to the defensive errors in front of him.
Nacho Monreal (6/10)
The defensive mindset we came out with was completely wrong. The first 10 minutes proved otherwise for Arsenal, but Monreal saw Walker run past him too many times. We were lucky this didn’t lead to a goal, although Kane’s first came from poor marking.
Per Mertesacker (5/10)
A very poor day for Mertesacker. Coquelin was stretched and left gaps in front of Mertesacker, leading to counterattacks. Per also headed back into the box during clearances a few times, we were lucky to not concede a Kane Hattrick. He was also arguabally to blame for not closing down Kane for the first goal.
Laurent Koscielny (5/10)
Following on from last season’s North London Derby, I expected Koscielny to play much better this season. He had a lone attacking shot, which fell to the arms of Lloris, in a similar position to the Stoke goal earlier this month. He really should have buried that, and arguable should of challenged Kane for the second goal.
Hector Bellerin (6/10)
Bellerin had a similar game to Stoke earlier this season. Due to his young age and nature, Hector was targeted by Eriksen and Rose and thereby was struggling to cope. You can’t blame him, as he had no covering players on the wing in front of him. The absence of Alexis was a serious issue, because Welbeck failed to fall back to help.
Francis Coquelin (7.5/10)
Coquelin played as best as he could, and he was quite confident (As Always) But he was controlled by Dembele and Mason, and although he played well to cover Bellerin and Monreal, the back four in general had little cover in both the goals.
Mesut Özil (6/10)
Similar to Cazorla, Mesut has had a great run of form in the past few games, obtaining assists and goals since his return from injury. His goal was well placed and it seemed to be the turning point for Arsenal. But unfortunately, Özil was quickly closed down by Walker and his pace seemed to give the whole left side of the team an issue. He played the entire game,but became missing in action from 30 minutes in.
Santi Cazorla (6/10)
Apart from Sanchez, Santi has been our best player for the past month. But today he was closed down quickly by Mason and wasn’t really given a chance, bar a few shots which were brilliant saved by Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal.
Aaron Ramsey (5/10)
Honestly I feel this is the second game in a row where Ramsey has become invisible. He made a few tackles and passes, but Rambo failed to really take a hold of the game, and could be questionable to whether he should be starting on Tuesday.
http://gty.im/462908502
Danny Welbeck (7/10)
His first game back from injury was always going to be testing, especially at a North London Derby. He played brilliantly to get past Danny Rose to set up the attack for the first goal, but he struggled to have a real impact in the game. He should have become defensive and take note in Alexis’ defensive rate, because it gave the team a real problem.
Olivier Giroud (6/10)
I expected more from Giroud coming into this game, because he seems to love scoring against Spurs in recent years. Assuming his assist was on purpose (Highly Much doubt that), it was a great ball and a great finish by Özil. His runs gave Mason a scare but he failed to really attack.
SUBS USED :
Tomas Rosicky (6/10)
(For Santi Cazorla – 68th Minute)
Tomas came on late on, and injected a little more drive into the midfield, but failed to really come into the game at this late stage.
Theo Walcott (6/10)
(For Danny Welbeck – 78th Minute)
He had a lone clear cut chance but Rose intercepted well enough to put Theo off the chance. Arsenal fans were calling for Theo from around the 60th minute, but the timing didn’t give the winger a chance to get in the game. I would rate him lower, but he genuinely did not receive the service he needed.
Chuba Akpom (5/10)
(For Francis Coquelin – 89th Minute)
Unfair to rate Chuba soo low, due to being on the pitch for only a few minutes. He created a chance in the box but overall wasn’t given the time to make an impact.