Liverpool v Arsenal – Player Ratings by AM
Mannone – 6
He wasn’t disturbed in the first half, but didn’t look quite confident handling crosses and aerial balls. Made one good save from Shelvey, but spilled another from the same player and must be thankful to Vermaelen for being first to the rebound. The saves weren’t anything you wouldn’t expect a goalkeeper at this level to not deal with.
Gibbs – 6
He contributed more offensively, than defensively. He must be thankful that Podolski tracked back a lot and helped him out, because at a lot of time he was found out of position. But he pushed back Johnson with his forward runs. Needs to improve defensively though.
Mertesacker – 7
Made few important tackles, looked solid and was a main reason why Arsenal looked solid defensively while defending set pieces. Great in the air and good on the ground. With performances like this – he can keep out Koscielny from the team.
Vermaelen – 7
A captain’s performance from the Belgium international. Made some adventurous runs forward in the first half, but settled back in the 2nd half as Arsenal looked to defend the lead. Was first onto a loose ball when Mannone spilled a shot from Shelvey, that turned out to be crucial. Kept a tight leash on Suarez and kept him quite throughout the match. But worryingly for the Gunners, he was taken off in the 90th minute after moving gingerly, one certainly hopes that was just a precautionary measure and not something serious.
Jenkinson – 5
Had a tough time against Sterling out wide. The Liverpool man skipped past him on quite a few occasion, didn’t contribute too much going forward. Had a pretty average game.
Arteta – 8
Arteta had an excellent outing. His defensive side of the game has improved enormously. He covered for the fullbacks out wide, worked hard in front of the defense and his passing was tidy. A wonderful performance from the Spaniard.
Diaby – 9
Diaby is back, and how!! This was almost a Yaya Toure like performance from the Arsenal midfield. He brought something that the Arsenal midfield have been lacking for quite a while now. He was strong in the air, good with his passing and made some powerful runs forward. He has improved defensively as well. Gooners will hope Diaby can stay fit this season, and if he stays so, he will be a regular starter. Absolutely brilliant performance from the Frenchman.
Cazorla – 8
One assist and one goal later Santi Cazorla has further established his credential as on the best piece of business that Arsene Wenger has done for quite a while now. He set up Podolski with a wonder run and pass for the first goal and then scored his first goal for the Gunners. He brings a cutting edge to the Arsenal team, which wasn’t seen since Fabregas left. This was another masterpiece from Cazorla.
Podolski – 8
The German international has finally arrived in the scene. He scored his first league goal from a first counter attack and a clinical finish. Podolski brings lot of pace and directness to Arsenal while counter attacking. But perhaps most importantly, Podolski was brilliant while tracking back, infact at times it looked like he was the left back for the team. Very few forwards in the Arsenal team brings that defensive steel to the team.
Chamberlain – 5
Chamberlain was perhaps a surprise starter today ahead of Walcott and Gervinho. The ‘OX’ wasn’t as effective as he normally is and was substituted in the second half by Aaron Ramsey.
Giroud – 6
The only disappointment from this match was perhaps Giroud’s performance. He missed another clear chance in this match and except that, he was mostly ineffective. But to be fair to him, he is a striker who excels with good crosses from the wings, and he didn’t have much service from the wide areas. The Frenchman would hope that he finds his scoring boots pretty soon.
Substitutes –
Ramsey – 5
Came on in place of Chamberlain and made some decent runs from the midfield. His pace seemed to have increased a lot, atleast from previous seasons. Looks to be slowly coming back to his best now.
Santos – NA
He came on in place of Podolski and looked more like a move to give Podolski some cheers from the cowd.
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