Before delving into the analysis of individual performances, I think it’s safe to say that Wigan were the better side – by far. They didn’t control the game, but they defended brilliantly and countered with great effectiveness. Niall Quinn’s awful commentary made sure we knew Wigan played well – mentioning it every minute or so, because his abilities as a pundit are severely limited.
Arsenal certainly suffered from a bit of complacency. For their first goal, we pushed too many men forward for a corner. Add to that the fact that Arteta was hobbling, and it left us chasing shadows as Wigan attacked with pace. Whether or not Szczesny had his hands on the ball for the second goal is a bit irrelevant, because at that point Wigan deserved their lead. Arsenal came back quickly thanks to a superb Vermaelen header, but chances were rare as the home side dominated possession for the second half of the match.
The result leaves us just five ahead of Spurs having played a match more. However, if we get a positive result against Chelsea on Saturday, it should cement a Champions League spot.
Player Ratings
Szczesny 7.5 He was so unlucky for the first goal. He sprinted off his line and almost stopped di Santo from lifting the ball over him. The Wigan forward got lucky as the ball deflected into his path after bouncing off our keeper. The second goal raises some controversy – it seems that Szczesny had his hands on the ball and it was kicked away from him. The rain seemed to have made the ball quite slippery, and I think that Wojciech wasn’t completely in control of the ball. His passing was decent, especially given Wigan’s high pressing.
Sagna 6.5 Not his greatest performance, but he had a very tough time against the pace and strength of Moses. Although Sagna made some great tackles and put in some dangerous crosses, he was often beaten on his wing. Moses’ skill for the second goal was sublime, but Sagna is good enough to make an early challenge to prevent skilful players from getting that kind of space.
Djourou 6 Despite a good game against Wolves, Djourou looked out of sorts against Wigan. His positioning wasn’t great and he was often outmuscled by the away side’s strong forwards.
Vermaelen 7.5 He scored an excellent header and roamed forwards plenty of times in the first half. In the second he almost had a superb opportunity from a van Persie cut-back, but Santos managed to intercept it! Individually he was strong defensively, but our defence was all over the place as a unit.
Santos 5 Not impressed at all. Occasionally he produced a moment of attacking quality, but he also slowed down and ruined plenty of moves with poor crossing or trying to go it alone. In defence, he was out of position every time Wigan created a good chance. That wasn’t a coincidence – he failed to mark the wide man, leaving Martinez’s side with a man over.
Song 6 He didn’t protect the defence too well. You’d expect Song – who isn’t a prolific goalscorer from set pieces – to stay back during a corner. He was quite far up the field and his header was poor. It led to Wigan’s first goal. If he is going to sit in front of the defence (which is a role he does share with the other midfielders now), he needs to do it properly. We can’t have all our midfielders going forward at the same time. He also tried a few ‘Songinho’ lifted through balls, which often didn’t come off. Is he believing his own hype?
Arteta n/a Injured before their first goal and didn’t come off until after the second – we were pretty much playing with ten men during that match-defining spell.
Rosicky 7.5 Lively and always looking to get passed his man. He put in plenty of dangerous crosses, including the one which gave us the lead.
Walcott 4 Poor performance from the winger who has been in decent form since the turn of the year. He was practically anonymous. With his pace, he has to take risks to try to get round his man. If he just continues to pass it back to Sagna, he won’t make any impact.
Benayoun 6 His close control and weaving runs were impressive in the first half, but never quite created a clear-cut chance. He faded in the second period.
van Persie 6 A poor game by our captain’s standards. He was tightly marked and only really managed to get possession when he dropped deep or went wide. He put in a couple of decent crosses when he moved to the flanks, but was generally quite ineffective. He occasionally managed to get a bit of space to receive a lofted pass behind the defence, but failed to make much of it.
Substitutes
Ramsey 6.5 His passing was tidy but he lacked creativity. When he did try something clever, it often failed to come off, such as his attempted flick to Gervinho late in the game.
Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 His direct play was a joy to watch, but sometimes he kept it for a bit too long.
Gervinho 6 He looked to take on the full backs, but often failed to provide the cross at the end of the run. He did put in one fantastic cross, but no one met it.
Ramsey 6.5?
you kidding
he was the worst player on the field
maximum 2
He wasn’t even on the pitch when their two goals were scored so please explain how it’s his fault that Arsenal lost ? Fortunately you’re not responsible for the ratings.
it aint ramsey foult we lost but….
he played most of the match
he did not even create a single chance for the attackers
his role was the free role in the middle.
about 90% of his passing was going back and side ways.
wigan played well
but ramsey was pooorr should of done much better
slowed the game down where he should run with the ball or play the ball foward.
just poor from him in the creative role.
Not sure Ramsey was in the creative role… he just tended to drift there time to time…and time again. I’m not saying he deserves a 0 or a 2 … but 6.5 is too high for someone that contributed very little offensively and defensively.
I thought he was no better than Song tonight, though better than Walcott (how wasn’t?!). So the ratings should reflect somewhere in the middle I imagine. I agree with the rest of The Don’s assessment. Let’s just hope we come back strong, quick, and smart against Chelsea. I’d prefer Ox to Ramsey but that is unlikely to happen. Oh how I wish Coquelin makes a miraculous recovery in time for this game!!!
Santos,Mertsacker, Djourou, Song, Walcott, Benayoun, Van Persie, Chamakh, Gervinho and Mr Wenger.
Time to go. So long, hope you all have a nice life.
Time for younger players to be given their chance. We have had 7 expensive transitional season let the next one cost us nothing.
Mr Martinez please come to Arsenal and sort out the lethargy.
eduman,
You have no clue about football!
Ramsy 6.5 ?
You are a blind ???
Ramsy is rubbish.
No need to rate him.
Weekly and always a zero !!!
Did you even watch the match ? The way some of you fans write a young player off after a few poor performances is disgusting.
RVP & Song have started far too many games this season & both are looking worn out. It’s the price you pay for having no decent cover for those positions.
Ramsey, or should I say Ramilson, was his usual slow unimaginitive worst. With Artetta injured & Benayoun unavailable for Saturday i can only hope & pray he turn in one of his one in 10 decent performances against Chelsea.
What a surprise, Djourou comes in and the club ships two goals at home to a relegation threatened team.
Tsk tsk…writing off a young Arsenal player after a few poor performances.
Charlie, granted ramsey is young BUT FOR GOODNESS SAKE, HE’S THE WELSH CAPTAIN.
Wow! Ramilson a 6.5. What did he do actually?
Please don fool us, Walcock did not play last night and you gave him a 3? You joker…
When djourou plays, the team loses.
Ramsey was the worst player on the pitch or wait santos was playing as well……all those defending poor performances by saying they are young players should remember ARSENAL is not a youth academy….its a premiership team and based on current form ramsey and djourou shouldn’t be anywhere near the 1st team
Charlie i guess u where the one that didnt see the game. Theo was poor but better than Ramsey on the night. People keep saying he just got back from injury and he is still young. eduardo was never given this much chance when he got back from injury and how old is Neymar, Harzard, M villa? The lad has no excuse, lets say the fact he is just not good enough
Charlie
“Did you even watch the match ? The way some of you fans write a young player off after a few poor performances is disgusting.”
Dude has Ramsey ever had a Man of the Match type performance?
Has he ever had a Stand out performance?
Has he ever been praised for anything brilliant he has done?
For a player who has had the 4th most appearances this season after Van Persie, Song and Szczesny These players have all been praised at least once and done something brilliant.
Even if he has scored a goal or done a pass his overall game has been terrible.
He scored against Tottenham when we lost to them this season and yet he was ranked the worst player on pitch.
Aaron Ramsey is young and OX and Jack Wilshere are younger.
@charlie…hahahaha…did u just say disgusting..after afew games…???? Ur crazy..afew games,really!!!!its coz of fans like urself that arsenal is a mediocre club now..ramsey is useless..end of discussion
First of all wenger and the board are asshole……!!!
djourou is bullshit and so santos????
we need to get rid of djourou, santos, squallaci, mertaseker and instead bring baines and vertonghen.
walcott, ramsey, danilson out hazard, cabaya in.
chamak, bendner, arshavin out padolski, robben in.
fabianski, almunia out hennasy in.
This is how we can challenge silverware
i agree with everyone about ramsey, he had a bad game, like almost all this season !!!!
but,our bigget problem now is that i think it´s almost sure that arteta will not play again this season, and i think we realy going to miss him, like we did yesteday…. his our most importent midfielder…