If they had a D in their name, instead of playing like Deadbeats I`d have added LLoris and Sissoko to that D minus list, actually you could have pretty much added the whole team, except Winks.
The truth is that Arsenal got two big game defining slices of luck when at key moments in the game they got the rub of the green and offside was not called for both goals. But the fact is they deserved to win this game for their attacking intent. In 15 mins, they looked sharp and we looked at best, Dull.
Dier gets a D minus for arguing with the ref when he should have been organising his backline, to give away a free header and of course a goal the way we did was perhaps indicative of how players who are grafted back into a position they have not played recently and just aren`t on it the way they are when they play that position week in week out, he was also another that looked like he had the energy level of a fizzled out firework.
Davies gets D-minus because he allowed Ozil to bully him more times than I can mention, Ozil played him off the pitch for most of the game, and he reverted to the player he was before Rose`s injury; hesitant, slow and indecisive.
Dele is lucky to get a D-minus, it flatters him, he`s been off the boil all season now, perhaps one good game in all. Change of agents, Real Madrid talking with his family members in what is the start of their courtship have affected him so badly, he has to be dropped. He wasn`t in the game, he tried for awhile, in patches, but he looked like he couldn`t care less. Ditch him.
Dembele is sadly finished, he`s more a wandering lost Wildebeste rather than a raging bull now, you know he had it, he even threatens to bring it, but he just can`t be doing anything at pace, he`s done for, he should have gone to China while he had a chance, and I wish he had.We need to find him a nice convalescent home, where he can recall his war stories, tell tale tales and not be put in the firing line again.
As for the rest, Lloris was rooted by indecision and when it mattered got it wrong (some might say, again), nothing he could really do for the first, but the second should have been closed down and perhaps saved, instead he was felled by an imaginary axe and went down like a lumbered tree.
Eriksen looked exhausted, three big games in a week looked like it did for him, rather than going into the game flying, he`d looked like he didn`t have enough to even make the runway let alone take-off. He gets a pass, he needs resting, but with our squad I just don’t know how that can happen.
Harry looked lethargic and wasn`t sharp, he tried hard, but the ball wouldn`t co-operate with his feet and he mangled the ball more than he managed to do anything with it. An unfit Harry isn’t an elegant sight.
Sissoko was a dark brown substance that I get rid of regularly. He had the passing range and finesse of an empty water gun, almost every pass he tried to make forward fizzled out before it got there. I`ve tried to see the good and the use in him, but there isn`t any, if we’re really lucky now that he has had a few games under his belt, there must some mug Turkish side that is desperate.
Trippier once again couldn`t get it up against a top side, which is a constant of his game in the Premier League. Constantly flatters to deceive, that said unless Aurier’s fitness gets sorted sooner rather than later, we will be forever crying about Losing Walker. His namesake would have shown more fire in his belly and Poch needs to make that call sooner rather than later. KPW would have put up a fight.
Two come out with Credit; Sanchez and Vert but when you`re playing three at the back and one of them (Dier) isn`t at the same game as you, that three looks dead easy to get past, and credit where credit is due, their front three made ours look dead ordinary.
Winks made a big difference as we regained a little self-respect in the second half, but by then Arsenal were content to put 10 men behind the ball and hit us on the counter and we couldn`t find the final ball or the creativity or the luck to open them up. Thankfully, they spunked their breakaway chances or they could have embarrassed us badly.
Dein, once again did for us, yes they were better, but on any other day they wouldn`t have been in a position to be handed two goals in 15 minutes and without them it could have been a totally different game.
It only reinforces my view that Dein is by far the worst Referee in the Premier League and he too needs to call it a day, he can`t keep up, is constantly out of position and he invariably gets the key decisions wrong.
Finally we come to Poch; I love want he`s done with us, we`re moving forward we weren`t (until Saturday) rolling over anymore, yes Toby was a big miss (please take note Mr.Chairman, without Toby we are missing a steadying rock), yes we looked lacklustre and the injuries clearly hadn`t all cleared up, of course now we know that Winks wasn`t fully fit and that`s why he didn`t start the game, but that is now one win in Seventeen away games against our top six rivals, plenty of draws, but no wins. That`s what loses top teams titles, let alone a top four spot.
Poch needs to rethink his tactics and his away team selections, it`s not just against Arsenal, but in these top 6 games we invariably start too slowly, lose momentum and then only realise we have a game on our hands when we`re already behind. That is an issue of preparation and mentality and that is what the coach gets paid to address and prepare them for, deal with it Poch and deal with it sooner rather than later.
The two big positives (yes, I did say positives) we can take from this game, is that once again it underlines for me two things that I`ve felt constantly ill-at-ease with; firstly I don`t like Llorente, he is utterly ineffective whether it`s in the air or on the ground, we`ve bought an absolute dud and we should have bought better when we had the whole of the summer to do just that, we also need a creative midfielder, I know we were trying in the summer, but when you don`t get your first target is it really acceptable to have no target at all?
Our squad is still too skinny, and if we do want to win things, we will have to address that because if we don`t a few carrying injuries, a couple off their game, one over the hill and two not good enough who should never be in our squad and we`re struggling, just as we are now.
Sort it Poch, get it sorted.
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