Man City vs Arsenal 26.04.2023 Match reaction and player ratings

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ramsdale 8 - You wonder what it could have been if he hadn’t made so many saves


White 5 - Decent goal line clearance at 1-0 otherwise ineffective


Holding 4. Not his fault but when you play him in a system like ours against Man City he will be badly exposed. Given him a 4 because he scored


Gabriel 5 - Couldn’t do much but has suffered without a decent centre back partner


Zinchenko 3 - Embarassing



Partey 5 - Badly shown up last night, dispossessed constantly and isolated



Xhaka 4 - His usual dawdling



Odegaard 3 - For all the good performances he’s put in, doesn’t turn up in important away games


Martinelli 4 - Isolated as per usual


Jesus 4- Did he play because don’t remember seeing him


Saka 4 - As much penetration as a marshmallow phallus



Jorginho 6
Trossard 6
Nelson 6

Nketiah 4
Smith Rowe 4


Well this was largely what we expected wasn’t it?. We know we were up against it because of how Rampant city were, but what rankles is how easy it was for them. Arteta like last season blames the players saying they have to look at themselves in the mirror when he has set them up to fail. This was a team that never believed it wasn’t going to get a pasting.
The parallels between last season and now are astonishing, when adversity hits we hit the wall because the coach trusts certain players too much and certain players not enough.
If we recruit well in central midfield in the summer I believe we will have a very good squad, but it’s one that the coach needs to utilise more.
Saka has played too many games this season, at times he has been brilliant but recently not so good and I don’t believe it would harm him to sit out a few games, he’s a decent lad with strong self belief but without being arrogant with it
We shouldn’t need to sweat on the fitness of William Saliba or Thomas Partey the way we have. We don’t need to play an inverted left back, it made no difference for us in midfield last night.

Arteta for me is a slow learner because of his total self belief, he’s built a team that has excelled this season but if it crumbles when the obstacles emerge it will have been for nothing.

As I said last night, he has earned the right to another season but it does not erase the doubts I have about him especially as the same mistakes have been present and seemingly not addressed.

Next season will be even harder than this one, city are going no where and on top of that United and Newcastle will be much stronger. That plus champions league….if Arteta cannot adapt and continue our progress then it will be time to part ways

[Marc Overmars]

Partey was really, really bad. Feel like he’s downed tools and one of the biggest culprits over the past 4 games.

Signings I would be looking to make are:

2 CM’s, 1 CB and probably a LB if Tierney wants to go.

Also need to make a call on Balogun or buy a striker. Jesus is a great footballer but generally shite in front of goal. You also don’t get that hold up play with him like Haaland was providing De Bruyne with. Not being able to mix it up has made us one dimensional and I think we’ve been figured out because of it.

If changes aren’t made for the Chelsea game I would really begin to question Arteta’s logic.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Partey was really, really bad. Feel like he’s downed tools and one of the biggest culprits over the past 4 games.

Signings I would be looking to make are:

2 CM’s, 1 CB and probably a LB if Tierney wants to go.

Also need to make a call on Balogun or buy a striker. Jesus is a great footballer but generally shite in front of goal. You also don’t get that hold up play with him like Haaland was providing De Bruyne with. Not being able to mix it up has made us one dimensional and I think we’ve been figured out because of it.

I think we should keep Tierney and sell Zinchenko quite frankly

[selassie]

I expected us to get a beating last night, it was a non-contest, we were defeated before a ball was even kicked. Our form and general confidence has pretty much gone and the team we are seeing now is performing like the Arsenal of last season. Arteta certainly has a part to play in this, he is just repeating the same things now with the line up of the team and the tactics, he is expecting to see different results which clearly isn't happening. This team even with everybody fully fit is not good enough to go to City and win, especially a City who are now in top form.

City are great and all that but we have made it very easy for them with our recent form, we have dropped points in unexpected places and have performed way below the level we maintained earlier this season, our form nosedived from the Liverpool game onwards.

Despite the above, it has been a successful season in terms of my personal expectations of the team / squad. To maintain this standard going into next season with the added bonus or headache of CL! We need to invest in real quality, as others have said, 2 CM's, a CB that is good enough to properly challenge for a starting place and possibly a LB if Tierney goes. The squad as it stands is clearly not strong enough to mount a challenge next season in PL and CL, we have to buy ready made players like Rice, Caicedo if we want to maintain this standard going forward.

P.S. Agree with what others have said about Arteta use of the squad, it's become a bit of an issue now, changes most certainly should be made for Chelsea, especially offensively where you could argue 2 of the 3 starting players (Saka and Jesus /or Martinelli) could and should be rotated with the likes of Trossard and Nelson. I would also rotate Jorginho with Partey, Partey has been really bad in this run-in.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I expected us to get a beating last night, it was a non-contest, we were defeated before a ball was even kicked. Our form and general confidence has pretty much gone and the team we are seeing now is performing like the Arsenal of last season. Arteta certainly has a part to play in this, he is just repeating the same things now with the line up of the team and the tactics, he is expecting to see different results which clearly isn't happening. This team even with everybody fully fit is not good enough to go to City and win, especially a City who are now in top form.

City are great and all that but we have made it very easy for them with our recent form, we have dropped points in unexpected places and have performed way below the level we maintained earlier this season, our form nosedived from the Liverpool game onwards.

Despite the above, it has been a successful season in terms of my personal expectations of the team / squad. To maintain this standard going into next season with the added bonus or headache of CL! We need to invest in real quality, as others have said, 2 CM's, a CB that is good enough to properly challenge for a starting place and possibly a LB if Tierney goes. The squad as it stands is clearly not strong enough to mount a challenge next season in PL and CL, we have to buy ready made players like Rice, Caicedo if we want to maintain this standard going forward.

P.S. Agree with what others have said about Arteta use of the squad, it's become a bit of an issue now, changes most certainly should be made for Chelsea, especially offensively where you could argue 2 of the 3 starting players (Saka and Jesus /or Martinelli) could and should be rotated with the likes of Trossard and Nelson. I would also rotate Jorginho with Partey, Partey has been really bad in this run-in.

A sensible take, because it’s largely the same as mine

[selassie]

A sensible take, because it’s largely the same as mine

[IBK]

I expected us to get a beating last night, it was a non-contest, we were defeated before a ball was even kicked. Our form and general confidence has pretty much gone and the team we are seeing now is performing like the Arsenal of last season. Arteta certainly has a part to play in this, he is just repeating the same things now with the line up of the team and the tactics, he is expecting to see different results which clearly isn't happening. This team even with everybody fully fit is not good enough to go to City and win, especially a City who are now in top form.

City are great and all that but we have made it very easy for them with our recent form, we have dropped points in unexpected places and have performed way below the level we maintained earlier this season, our form nosedived from the Liverpool game onwards.

Despite the above, it has been a successful season in terms of my personal expectations of the team / squad. To maintain this standard going into next season with the added bonus or headache of CL! We need to invest in real quality, as others have said, 2 CM's, a CB that is good enough to properly challenge for a starting place and possibly a LB if Tierney goes. The squad as it stands is clearly not strong enough to mount a challenge next season in PL and CL, we have to buy ready made players like Rice, Caicedo if we want to maintain this standard going forward.

P.S. Agree with what others have said about Arteta use of the squad, it's become a bit of an issue now, changes most certainly should be made for Chelsea, especially offensively where you could argue 2 of the 3 starting players (Saka and Jesus /or Martinelli) could and should be rotated with the likes of Trossard and Nelson. I would also rotate Jorginho with Partey, Partey has been really bad in this run-in.

Again - an excellent post. And the analysis of Arteta's big weak spot in this thread is spot on. It's so disppointing that we 'armchair' analysts can see that the manager's bullish perseverence with a system that the players have lost some confidence in; is not suited to every single game and has been worked out by other teams over the course of the season - not to mention unsuited for second choice players - but the manager refuses to accept this and change things up. It's also self-defeating that he insists on playing his 'favourites' while potentially able back ups who might at least add a little variety are discounted as starters.


What I would say is that last nigtht was not a time to suddenly change things. West Ham away and Southampton at home should have been used to tweak the system to see whether more protection could have been given for Holding - alternatively leave him out (eg Zinchenko at RB; White at CB and Tierney at LB, and Jorginho alongside Partey) but this opportunity went begging.


We saw this 2 seasons ago - when we started to look so rigid and ineffective and ball progression to our forwards dried up. And we are seeing it again now - albeit with a system that has served us well until it really counted. The players last night need to have a look at themselves, but our collective loss of confidence is not just down to 3 disappointing draws - its the players realising that our set up is flawed and lookign a bit tired. Arteta's refusal to change things up looks passive and fearful, and if our players look scared - which they did last night - this has to a degree been transmitted by Arteta.


One final point. If ever we wanted evidence last night as to why Citeh sold us Jesus and Zinchenko - it was there last night in neon lights. Its lamentable that these so-called 'winners' that were bought to take our team to the next level went hiding last night. The real question is not their talent (albeit that Jesus is showing that he is not a reliable goal scorer), but their mentality. And that is a worry for sure.

[selassie]

Again - an excellent post. And the analysis of Arteta's big weak spot in this thread is spot on. It's so disppointing that we 'armchair' analysts can see that the manager's bullish perseverence with a system that the players have lost some confidence in; is not suited to every single game and has been worked out by other teams over the course of the season - not to mention unsuited for second choice players - but the manager refuses to accept this and change things up. It's also self-defeating that he insists on playing his 'favourites' while potentially able back ups who might at least add a little variety are discounted as starters.


What I would say is that last nigtht was not a time to suddenly change things. West Ham away and Southampton at home should have been used to tweak the system to see whether more protection could have been given for Holding - alternatively leave him out (eg Zinchenko at RB; White at CB and Tierney at LB, and Jorginho alongside Partey) but this opportunity went begging.


We saw this 2 seasons ago - when we started to look so rigid and ineffective and ball progression to our forwards dried up. And we are seeing it again now - albeit with a system that has served us well until it really counted. The players last night need to have a look at themselves, but our collective loss of confidence is not just down to 3 disappointing draws - its the players realising that our set up is flawed and lookign a bit tired. Arteta's refusal to change things up looks passive and fearful, and if our players look scared - which they did last night - this has to a degree been transmitted by Arteta.


One final point. If ever we wanted evidence last night as to why Citeh sold us Jesus and Zinchenko - it was there last night in neon lights. Its lamentable that these so-called 'winners' that were bought to take our team to the next level went hiding last night. The real question is not their talent (albeit that Jesus is showing that he is not a reliable goal scorer), but their mentality. And that is a worry for sure.

Especially the bit about Jesus and Zinchenko.

[Mac76]

One final point. If ever we wanted evidence last night as to why Citeh sold us Jesus and Zinchenko - it was there last night in neon lights. Its lamentable that these so-called 'winners' that were bought to take our team to the next level went hiding last night. The real question is not their talent (albeit that Jesus is showing that he is not a reliable goal scorer), but their mentality. And that is a worry for sure.

I said that during the game about Pep, he sold us a couple of players he knew were flawed.

That said, I think Jesus was the single biggest reason we made such a good start to the season, he played with a lot of energy and positivity and the team reacted to it.

But he's starting to wear a bit thin now, partly of course because Arteta doesn't rotate him or anyone else if they're fit.

As for Zinchenko, I've tried to buy into this inverted LB stuff but:

a) it shouldn't be a tactic for every game againat every different side

b) Zinchenko is a little idiot who often gives the ball away, very rarely wins the ball and often slows our play down

C) Tierney shouldn't be made to play in that role, he should be allowed to play to his strengths

Overall I'd say that, because Zinchenko's presence has both encouraged Arteta to endlessly play that same dumb system and because he's not good enough, he's possibly our worst signing since Mustafi

[KSE Comedy Club]

Ramsdale 8 - You wonder what it could have been if he hadn’t made so many saves


White 5 - Decent goal line clearance at 1-0 otherwise ineffective


Holding 4. Not his fault but when you play him in a system like ours against Man City he will be badly exposed. Given him a 4 because he scored


Gabriel 5 - Couldn’t do much but has suffered without a decent centre back partner


Zinchenko 3 - Embarassing



Partey 5 - Badly shown up last night, dispossessed constantly and isolated



Xhaka 4 - His usual dawdling



Odegaard 3 - For all the good performances he’s put in, doesn’t turn up in important away games


Martinelli 4 - Isolated as per usual


Jesus 4- Did he play because don’t remember seeing him


Saka 4 - As much penetration as a marshmallow phallus



Jorginho 6
Trossard 6
Nelson 6

Nketiah 4
Smith Rowe 4


Well this was largely what we expected wasn’t it?. We know we were up against it because of how Rampant city were, but what rankles is how easy it was for them. Arteta like last season blames the players saying they have to look at themselves in the mirror when he has set them up to fail. This was a team that never believed it wasn’t going to get a pasting.
The parallels between last season and now are astonishing, when adversity hits we hit the wall because the coach trusts certain players too much and certain players not enough.
If we recruit well in central midfield in the summer I believe we will have a very good squad, but it’s one that the coach needs to utilise more.
Saka has played too many games this season, at times he has been brilliant but recently not so good and I don’t believe it would harm him to sit out a few games, he’s a decent lad with strong self belief but without being arrogant with it
We shouldn’t need to sweat on the fitness of William Saliba or Thomas Partey the way we have. We don’t need to play an inverted left back, it made no difference for us in midfield last night.

Arteta for me is a slow learner because of his total self belief, he’s built a team that has excelled this season but if it crumbles when the obstacles emerge it will have been for nothing.

As I said last night, he has earned the right to another season but it does not erase the doubts I have about him especially as the same mistakes have been present and seemingly not addressed.

Next season will be even harder than this one, city are going no where and on top of that United and Newcastle will be much stronger. That plus champions league….if Arteta cannot adapt and continue our progress then it will be time to part ways

Very generous.

Ramsdale gets a 7 and the rest get 1 imo.

Didn't even turn up until the 70th mintue.

What a total fucking shit show.

But it's ok, Arteta is 'over achieving' and the players think 2nd + CL is alright.

Get in the bin.