Daily Archives: September 23, 2014

Arsenal 1 Southampton 2: Player Ratings

In a classic case of one step forward, two steps back, the Gunners hosted Southampton in the Capital One Cup. As expected, the big Guns were rested and there was a mixture of some youngsters with the experienced folks to guide them. In the end, it turned out to be a disappointing affair as the Gunners lost out, much to the dismay of the manager, players and fans alike.

In the wake of the dismal outing against Southampton, Gooner Daily serves you with the player ratings.

DEFENSE

David Ospina must have waited for all eternity to make his Arsenal debut but he had a rocky start to life in North London, conceding a penalty and some may feel that he might have done better for Nathaniel Clyne’s thunderbolt. 6/10

Hector Bellerin had a good game by his fair standards, balancing his attacking and defensive play well. He also crossed a couple of good balls in the final third. 7/10

Francis Coquelin played in an unorthodox left back position but he showed his energy and commitment to the cause. 7/10

Calum Chambers looked assured in possession and did his thing on the pitch with minimal fuss. 7/10

I had my doubts when Isaac Hayden started in the middle of the park but he went on to have a great game. He even had a rare foray forward and blasted a shot wide. 7/10

MIDFIELD

Abou Diaby was surprisingly disciplined in his holding midfield role and looked very tidy in possession. 7/10

Jack Wilshere tried to make his lung-bursting runs to create things for the team but there were a lot of times he hit a brick wall. 6/10

Tomas Rosicky was shockingly disappointing. The fact that his passes were erratic weren’t enough, he also conceded the penalty that brought Southampton back into the game. 4/10

ATTACK

Lukas Podolski tends to give us reasons why he never gets to play on a regular basis. He was largely anonymous for the entirety of the game and managed just one shot that was saved by the goalie. 3/10

Alexis Sanchez showed his exemplary work rate all game long and his free kick gets better with each passing replay. 7/10

Joel Campbell struggled to make his mark on the game and his distribution was poor. 5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Santi Cazorla had a couple of neat touches but he didn’t provide any telling pass that would have led to an equalizer. 6/10

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hugged the line and tried to make a couple of crosses. 6/10

Chuba Akpom didn’t play long enough to get a rating. N/A

Do you agree with these ratings? Feel free to share yours with your comments.

Sayonara.

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Posted in Arsenal, Capital One Cup, Football, Player Ratings

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Tags: Arsenal, Football, Southampton

Southampton Preview: Team News, Injury Updates and Predicted Lineups

Sep 23

Posted by enigma106

Time for Joel Campbell to make his mark

After the win-less streak, the Gunners hit the ground running with a comfortable win against Aston Villa but they are going to come up against a Southampton side that has been in great form this season. The League Cup would offer Arsene Wenger a chance to rest some of his key players ahead of the North London Derby coming up in the weekend. The Gunners’ last domestic defeat at the Emirates was their 2-0 loss to Chelsea in the fourth round of last season’s League Cup.

Arsenal have won nine of their last 11 home League Cup ties, scoring 29 times, with their only defeats coming against Manchester City in the 2011/12 season and Chelsea last season. However, the Gunners have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last nine matches in this competition, a sequence that began with defeat to Birmingham three years ago. The last time Arsenal failed to advance to the fourth round of this competition was in the 2002/03 campaign, when they were eliminated by Sunderland.

Despite their garage sales this summer, Southampton has been a team on the ascendancy and their recent results have been nothing short of superb. Their new recruits have settled in well and they look like a decent unit that can book a place in Europe if they continue in this vein of form. Credit to Ronald Koeman for his great work with the Saints.

Team News

I expect a totally different squad from the team we have witnessed since the start of the season, and many Gunners would be on the lookout for new signing, David Ospina, that recently joined the club from OGC Nice. The Colombian shot stopper made 189 appearances in six seasons with the French outfit and he endeared himself to the hearts of the French fans. He has reached a time in his career where he’d want to feature consistently but in a formidable player like Wojciech Szczesny, Ospina will have his work cut out for him.

Fly David Fly

In defense, the Gunners have been very light with injuries to key players. According to Arsene Wenger, Mathieu Debuchy has had a surgery on his injured left ankle,

“He has had surgery and will be out for three months. A reasonable delay is three months.

“It all went well, but it can be a week or two earlier or a week or two later, but it will be around three months.

“It is a blow of course, how big it will be we will only know afterwards because it will be down to how well we replace him. We bought [Calum] Chambers for that.”

Even though Chambers would serve as Debuchy’s deputy, Hector Bellerin would be given another chance to strut his stuff with Chambers playing in the middle alongside Per Mertesacker with Laurent Koscielny getting some rest. The French defender has been in the fabled ‘red zone’ this season and he could do with some rest. With Nacho Monreal still having issues with his fitness, Kieran Gibbs would continue in his left back position. I also expect a tactical shake up in midfield, with Mathieu Flamini stepping in for Mikel Arteta while the Ox may be given another chance through the middle with Tomas Rosicky playing as the creative hub of the team. The attacking places would be occupied by Lukas Podolski on the left, Joel Campbell on the right and the red-hot Chuba Akpom playing through the middle.

Injuries

Arsenal: The Gunners would be without Serge Gnabry (knee), Yaya Sanogo (hamstring), Nacho Monreal (back), Theo Walcott (knee), Olivier Giroud (foot) and Debuchy (ankle).

Southampton: The Saints would definitely be without Sam Gallagher (knee) and Jay Rodriguez (knee) but there are doubts over the fitness of James Ward-Prowse (knock) and Maya Yoshida (knock).

Team Form

Arsenal