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Ratings: Arsenal 1-3 Monaco: Same Old Problems For Gunners

By on February 25, 2015

Well that was painful. Familiar problems once again for Arsenal as we got cut open by two counter attacks to lose 3-1 to Monaco at the Emirates on Wednesday night and leave us on the brink of an embarrassing Champions League exit.

Here are my ratings:

Ospina  5  –  I personally feel he could have done better for all three goals. He’s NOT an upgrade on Szczesny.

Bellerin 6  –  Caught out of position a few times but he was probably the best of our defenders.

Mertesacker 4  –  An absolute shocker. Turned away from the ball for the opener allowing it to deflect off him, made a suicidal decision to go for the ball and not stick with his man for the second goal and was painfully slow at closing down for the third goal. Should be dropped for Sunday.

Koscielny  5 –  Exposed by his partner but Kos was also well below par tonight. Lost out on a crucial tackle which led to the third goal.

Gibbs 5   –  Caught up-field leaving Monaco with space to exploit for the second and third goals. We’ll never learn.

Coquelin 5.5  –  Perhaps lucky to avoid a sending off. Left his position as holding midfielder when we went a goal down and we paid for it.

Cazorla 5.5  –  Decent enough in the first half but poor after the break. Gave the ball away countless times.

Sanchez 6  –  Was showing some fight but had little to work with. Visibly frustrated with his team mates at times.

Ozil  5 –  Took a lot of flack from the commentators and some of it was justified. Passing was well below par and didn’t look interested after half time.

Welbeck 5.5  –  Missed a glorious chance to get it back to 2-1 when he fired over with the goal at his mercy. Worked hard but nothing came off for him.

Giroud 4  –  Oh dear. What can I say. Oli missed two half-chance in the first half, but wasted three golden opportunities after the break including missing practically an open goal from 6 yards. On another day he would have scored a hat trick but we just can not afford to have him miss these chances at the top level. Subbed off in the 60th minute. I fear his confidence will be rock bottom after this.

Subs:

Walcott  6 – Almost pulled one back within minutes of coming on. Should have started IMO.

The Ox 6 – Scored a lovely goal but was at fault for their third goal as he lost possession on the half way line.

Rosicky  5 – Not much impact in his 10 minutes.

This was one of the worst displays in recent memory, and that’s saying something. To make the same mistakes we’ve made time and time again against the likes of United, Chelsea, Barca and Bayern against a very average Monaco side is shameful.

We clearly have major issues in dealing with counter attacks at the back and it’s been the case for over five years. When will it ever change? We showed no maturity when we went two-down and even less when we pulled one back to 2-1. To concede a third in the manner we did was disgraceful.

We could turn a 2-1 defeat around in France, but 3-1? It’s asking a lot. We’re capable of a 3-0 or even 4-1, but we’ll have to play A LOT better than we did tonight….

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