Arsenal 5-0 Palace player ratings and match reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Raya 6 - A lot of Hollywood saves where he could have held on rather than parried behind, nice long kick for our third goal but the guy throws the ball out to Lerma then grins about it…moron.


White 7 - Didn’t have much to do but did what he had to do well enough


Saliba 7.5 - Closed down the space well


Gabriel 9 - Actually think he had a goal harshly taken off him


Zinchenko 7 - Was given licence to get forward and he was probably one of more instrumental creative players


Rice 7.5 - Not been great last few games but more direct and quicker on the ball today


Havertz 7 - Tidy and contributed to attack


Trossard 8 - Nice composed finish and one of our dangermen coming forward


Saka 7 - More interested in beating his full back than cutting inside…that helps


Jesus 6.5 - Fairly anonymous, but didn’t look fully fit




Subs:


Martinelli 9 - Two identical finishes, proves what an explosive player he can be on the counter


Smith Rowe 8 - After three nil and before Martinelli’s brace, seemed to be the one player determined to get forward. Guy desperately needs (and deserves) more game time


Jorginho 7 - Solid enough


Nketiah 7 - Some decent link up play


Kiwior 6.5 - Untroubled



This felt like a team that had something to prove. Seems like we’ve got something approaching an attacking game plan, grab the opener from a set piece and then soak up pressure and break. We clearly don’t have an out and out striker in the squad and that will hurt us….but we’ve shown today that we can employ a bit of directness and variety

[fakeyank]

Havertz to me was a 5. Barring may be that pass on the right to set up a chance that Trossard fluffed, I dont know what he brings to the team other than some aerial presence. Huge waste of money IMO.

Jesus is another who huffs and puffs but brings 0 to the table as a striker. You can see why Man City let him go.

If we are serious about the title, then we need a striker other than Nketiah and Jesus. Only readily available acceptable option I'd use instead would be Trossard down the middle.

[Letters]

Jesus is another who huffs and puffs but brings 0 to the table as a striker. You can see why Man City let him go.

I think that's overstating things a bit. He's a good player who adds quite a lot to our forward play.
He's not a clinical striker though and I can't see us winning a title without one.

[Mac76]

@hcz agree with most of the scores and particularly with the assessment of Raya, Ram would i agree would have held on to one or two of those

But however much it will prompt more childishness from you, I will say that while yes Zin played one or two useful balls, he also was up to plenty of his usual dangerous dawdling on the ball and careless no-look passes which once again highlighted him as one of the major weaknesses in the team - 5/10 at most

Rice was fairly ineffectual and for the most part I forgot Havertz was playing although tbf he did manage one or two good things

[HCZ_Reborn]

@hcz agree with most of the scores and particularly with the assessment of Raya, Ram would i agree would have held on to one or two of those

But however much it will prompt more childishness from you, I will say that while yes Zin played one or two useful balls, he also was up to plenty of his usual dangerous dawdling on the ball and careless no-look passes which once again highlighted him as one of the major weaknesses in the team - 5/10 at most

Rice was fairly ineffectual and for the most part I forgot Havertz was playing although tbf he did manage one or two good things

Three (I don’t think you’re in a position to lecture anyone on childishness chief)!

[Mac76]

Three

so as we're talking numbers, here's a few things:

1. this is classic trolling and yet in the past you've denied you're a troll

2. more to the point, what you have set up here is a self-fulfilling prophecy where you can claim to be right whatever the outcome: either A) i keep mentioning Zin (that's four), in which case you can claim I'm unreasonably obssessed with him or; B) I stop mentioning him, in which case you can claim you've affected my behaviour (which i recall you claimed you would do if you drew attention to my mentioning him). So you now have a situation where you no doubt feel very self-satisfied that you can't lose.

3. Counting my mentions of Zin (five) is meaningless unless you also count how many times i mention other players - e.g. i mention Havertz quite a lot, also quite a few other players - basically you have nothing to compare it to unless you count all those too - i think you'll need a spreadsheet

4. and ofc let's remember this all came from your wanting to draw attention away from my pointing out your own unhealthy (and, unlike Zinchenko [six] completely non-Arsenal related) obsession with harmful sexual deviance btw... i think i know what most people would find most concerning

5. Zinchenko (seven)

6. Zinchenko (eight)

[IBK]

I think that's overstating things a bit. He's a good player who adds quite a lot to our forward play.
He's not a clinical striker though and I can't see us winning a title without one.

Yes. Jesus is a conundrum. He is very much the oil in our machine, and we simply flow/click better when he is on the pitch. My concern has always been that if you replace him with a 'traditional' striker (a dying breed in the EPL TBH), then the chances that we lament being able to finish may be fewer and father between.

Arteta (much like Guardiola in previous incarnations) seems happy to eschew a 'proper' striker in favour of the collective, and in fairness, this has mostly worked over the past couple of seasons. But as Pep has also shown, what works to get a team from 8th to 2nd is unlikely to be enough to get from 2nd to 1st - which given our competition is harder.

Havertz is similar in a way. I think that Arteta favours him because the main strength he has shown since arriving is his tracking back/defensive duties. But he is also good at progressing the ball. This accords with the manager's desire for control. What he seems to lack is confidence to get into the box to make assists and goals. I agree with those who say that for £65M we should be getting more from him, but I would bet that Arteta doesn't regard him as a flop.

[fakeyank]

I think that's overstating things a bit. He's a good player who adds quite a lot to our forward play.
He's not a clinical striker though and I can't see us winning a title without one.

I mean.. I did state he didnt bring much to the table "as a striker". Does he bring other things to the team? Yes, he does.. works his socks off and gets the wide players and midfields more chances at goal by dragging defenders. But like you, without a clinical striker, we aint winning a title.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Havertz was an absolute waste of money, I don't know what drugs Arteta was on when he decided we should get him.

Jesus is hugely frustrating. He has great hold up play at times and gets himself in the thick of it - but he has virtually zero end product and in this game at least, was offside about 70 times!

I cannot see us winning the league unless we sign a decent striker, no point creating 20 chances a game only to have no-one remotely professional enough to put the ball in the back of the net.

[Niall_Quinn]

Havertz was an absolute waste of money, I don't know what drugs Arteta was on when he decided we should get him.

Jesus is hugely frustrating. He has great hold up play at times and gets himself in the thick of it - but he has virtually zero end product and in this game at least, was offside about 70 times!

I cannot see us winning the league unless we sign a decent striker, no point creating 20 chances a game only to have no-one remotely professional enough to put the ball in the back of the net.

They're both pointless. They remind me of the money laundering scam going on in American casinos. The only reason a hobbit striker and non-entity might be brought in for big cash (as players like Auba and Xhaka go the other direction) is because some agent somewhere has done a good job piling up the bullshit. Jesus is a fairly accomplished footballer - by modern standards - but leading the line for Arsenal, obviously that's money laundering. And the other bloke, well I wish he didn't make it so obvious.