Painful Post Match - Stoke Verdict and Ratings........
 G4L_Harry (24 January 2010)
Urakanine's Painful Verdict on the exit from the FA Cup....
How painful. To be so close to scoring, only to be denied late on.
It was a game of two halves. The first distinctively Stoke's and the second quite certainly Arsenal's.
Fabianski, standing in for Almunia, looked as poor as his counterpart when he let the ball off from his hands, a misjudgement, and a certain disgraceful Ricardo Fuller heading in at the near post.
Denilson replied just 4 minutes before the break, firing in a deflected shot.
Then, with the goal so close for Arsenal, Stoke broke away and Ricardo Fuller, a battering ram, headed in. Shortly after we were killed off.
Pele must be reeling. He claimed Football was the Beautiful Game, but... it never will be.
In a game strewn with risky, rash and some downright silly challenges along with time-delaying long throws, the late Ferenc Puskas must have looked at the game, shake his head and surely know that the Premier League is going down.
Arsenal looked deflated. A team beleaguered with injuries. Practically unknown names such as Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Francis Coquelin popping up on the teamsheet. Some would have pointed out to the physical strength of the pair, but how could Arsene expect to outmuscle Stoke?
It paid off for Stoke, and that is certain. They were confident on the ball and off the ball, and just like when Adebayor nodded in the third against us for Man City, a feeling of disbelief, of anger and certainly of exasperation flowed through us as Ricardo Fuller put another one past Fabianski, like a well-oiled machine. Now Arsenal only have 2 fronts to fight for. The league and the UCL. How good can that be?
Ratings
Fabianski 5.5
It's nearly incredible he didn't concede more. Such a disgrace for the first goal too.
Traore 6.5
Not much more he could do. Did his job, defending and attacking-wise.
Campbell 6.0
Good debut for him. It's a shame he had to concede three.
Silvestre 6.0
Far too easily beaten time and time again. However, he made a wonderful recovery tackle on Delap in the second half.
Coquelin 6.0
So hard-working, and yet he was at fault for the third goal. Played very well, winning headers and keeping the ball going.
Fabregas 6.5
One of the only good players on the pitch. Did well to pick out Denilson for the goal.
Denilson 6.0
Invisible in the game except for when he lost out to Sidibe for the second goal. That and his fortunate deflected goal.
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas 7.0
Man of the match by a mile. Worked harder than Kuyt and fought for the ball at every moment. Quite incredible for a young kid. Good passing too.
Craig Eastmond 6.5
Good game for him. Did really well with a tackle to keep it in, and was hardly beaten in the game.
Theo Walcott : 5.5
More disappointment. He couldn't find any sort of end product. Did well to run and hold defenders off though.
Carlos Vela : 6.0
Almost scored when he tried to flick the ball onto his other foot in the penalty area. Was lively and didn't miss much.
Subs:
Aaron Ramsey: 5.5
To be honest, I didn't see much of him. Missed a decent chance and made one glaring mistake.
Andrey Arshavin: 6.0
Made the maximal impact, but had far too little time with the ball.
Eduardo 5.5
Didn't make any sort of impact whatsoever.
Do you agree with Urakanine's ratings? Did Wenger get it wrong today or did Stoke deserve the win? What do you think will happen now, will we challenge for the title?
Comments: | | | G4L_Harry | 24 January 2010 16:42:11 | | | | | | | | | Cheers for the verdict Urakanine, I will watch a rerun before I comment............I was at my teams game and have just flicked through the goals..........At least my team won 4-0 today.......... | | | | | | | | | | clichy22 | 24 January 2010 18:19:05 | | | | | | | | | its a 23game season now. with our first team we wouldnt have lost. song vermaelen gallas bendtner sagna diaby that would counter stokes physical strength and those long throws. surprised how bad fabianski was v.shaky 4 most of the match.
how poor were theo and vela? | | | | | | | | | | wilts63 | 24 January 2010 18:46:58 | | | | | | | | | Coquelin was'nt on the pitch for 3rd goal,but Denny was. | | | | | | | | | | Dial Sq | 24 January 2010 23:56:01 | | | | | | | | | dont mistake any of this for being happy, I've seen us drop this gooley before...so its up to them now...breeng on tha villlllla | | | | | | | | | | G4L_Harry | 25 January 2010 13:38:17 | | | | | | | | | Yeah if we beat villa and united, stoke will be a distant memory............... | | | | | | | | | | Dial Sq | 30 January 2010 11:17:45 | | | | | | | | | or we dont lose... | | | | | | |
You must be registered to leave comments
-> Comments
Quick Register
Create a FREE G4L account, just by choosing a Username and Password, and gain access to all site features including forum posting, play the Predictions League, submit match ratings, select your favourite Arsenal XI and more!
-> All articles
Player of the Month
The G4L Best Arsenal XI
Select your favourite Arsenal XI
If any content on Gunners4Life.com is found to be copyright or otherwise inappropriate it will be removed upon the owner's request.
Site created by Absolute Designs for Gunners4Life.com © 2006
|
