Arsenal visited the Welsh capital in a fine afternoon and went back to North London with three precious points. The manager played the game with a slightly changed team from the side that was victorious against Marseille with Mikel Arteta returning to the side to replace Mathieu Flamini while Kieran Gibbs was fit again to send Nacho Monreal back to the bench.
Listed below are Gooner Daily’s ratings for the triumphant heroes in the Battle of Wales;
Wojciech Szczesny: Since signing his new contract, the big Pole’s form has drastically improved and he has been getting better with each passing game, making save after save on a consistent basis. With the Gunners leading with a solitary goal, some random bloke named Taylor swings a cross inside the box, Frazier Campbell nods it and this happens…
With his fifth clean sheet in six games, Gooner Daily rates the Polish shot stopper at 8/10.
Per Mertesacker: The BFG got an awful whack to the head from a teammate and was the sole reason why there were four minutes injury time in the first half. With an able deputy like Thomas Vermaelen warming up and waiting for his chance, the BFG managed to recover without suffering any concussion and went on to have a good game. – 7/10
Laurent Koscielny – Kos the Boss was on the back pages for his poor showing for France in the first leg against Ukraine but since returning to the club, he has been on top form, keeping the captain out of the side. Yesterday, he made some vital interceptions for his team and read the game superbly. – 8/10
Kieran Gibbs – With Wily Ol’ Woy Hodgson on the stands, there were whispers that he was scouting the performance of his English lot, with a certain Kieran Gibbs on the radar. He recovered well from his illness and did well in defense. Was also booked in the game but he was sensible enough not to do anything rash afterwards. – 7/10
Bacary Sagna – In recent times, we have seen Sagna’s distribution improve drastically but those delicious crosses weren’t on show yesterday afternoon. However, he still had a good game making vital interceptions and offering an outlet on the right. – 7/10
Mikel Arteta – the captain of the day was a class act in midfield and his close control gave the fans a glimpse of his days as an attacking midfielder. Arteta has been a blessing to the club and his consistent is right up there with the very best. Yesterday, he was influential all game long and his stats were sickening as always. – 9/10
Aaron Ramsey – I’ve ran out of words to describe how awesome Rambo is. This season, the Welsh Dragon has been in red hot form, and his two goals – a header and a fiercely fired shot have shown how confident this lad is in front of goal. If you think his goals were classy enough, his muted celebrations were hugely appreciated by the home crowd as they cheered their homecoming hero that haunted them. – 10/10 #Shikenah
Jack Wilshere – The young lad scored his fastest goal in Arsenal colors in 29 seconds and he was close to scoring his second fastest goal for the club after just 75 seconds when he latched unto Ramsey’s pass, leaving his marker for dead before casually curling a sweet effort past the goalie but it slammed the cross bar. From then onwards, his influence reduced but he did okay till his substitution nine minutes from time. – 7/10
Santi Cazorla – In my honest opinion, Santi Cazorla’s performance can be explained with the tweet below,
Cazorla played like Tom Cleverley today
— èη!gmá (@enigma106) November 30, 2013
Yes, players get injuries and sometimes struggle to get back to their best but in recent times, Santi Cazorla has been hugely disappointing and we hope that he can come back to his best sooner rather than later. 5/10
Mesut Ozil – I’ve quoted this before but for the sake of those that haven’t seen it before…
“If you have any problems or challenges in life, contact Mesut Ozil, he will ASSIST you”
Ozil did have a “great game” by his extremely high standards but he still notched up two perfectly-timed assists for his teammates, taking his tally to 8 for the season. Gooner Daily sees it befitting to rate him with the number of assists he has created so far in his fledgling Arsenal career. – 8/10
Olivier Giroud – What I had in mind to say about Olivier Giroud’s performance is no where near what this article on Yahoo! Eurosport quoted about the French striker so there you have it…
...Giroud inexplicably stopped playing on 15 minutes after Jack Wilshere had picked him out with a lovely pass. Replays showed Mesut Ozil did not touch the ball when he was played in. Giroud was onside and only had Marshall to beat, but his hesitancy enabled Steven Caulker to clear. Moral to the story? Always play to the whistle. Or always play when there is no whistle…
Here’s a nice 6/10 from Gooner Daily OG. 🙂
Mathieu Flamini – The French enforcer arrived on the pitch when Cardiff were on the driving seat and alongside Arteta in the heart of the midfield, they calmed the storm. It looked as if it was written on the stars when Flamini made a rare surge forward and was picked up by Ozil. The rest they say was history… – 7/10
Nacho Monreal – After getting some full game time in midweek, the Spanish full back returned to his rightful place on the bench and as always, he was brought on to offer protection to Gibbs, a feat he achieved admirably. –7/10
Theo Walcott – It took this lad just 48 seconds to make his mark on the game and he was so close to even scoring himself. His injection of pace, albeit in his cameo appearance, was a thorn in Cardiff’s flesh and this was epitomized by an assist to Ramesy. – 7/10
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Sayonara.
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