It was not a fun night at the Emirates on Wednesday evening as Arsenal drew 2-2 with PSG. The Gunners continued their November slump with yet another draw and poor performance.
PSG were certainly the better team and should have scored a few more. Our goals came from a penalty and an own goal, with no shots on target.
That says it all, but here are some individual ratings.
David Ospina 6.5
Tempted to give him a 7 but I am often criticized for giving high ratings when we don’t play well. Dave did okay, as he saved some shots and had some decent trips out of his area. I am under the impression he could have done *something* (like, moved) for that Lucas Moura free kick. He couldn’t do much with goals they scored.
Carl Jenkinson 6
Carl once again showed why he’s usually not a starter, even from the bench. His crosses are just bad. Defensively, he’s okay, but I can’t stop thinking about who we usually have in that position. Sorry, Carl. I love you, but we need Hector.
Shkodran Mustafi 6
Not a very good performance by the German in defence. Matuidi ran past him for the first goal and he wasn’t too reliable during the rest of the match either. Still unbeaten as an Arsenal player, though.
Laurent Koscielny 7
Oh my god, this man. Yes, he had a close call on the penalty shout with Cavani and he also picked up a yellow card, but he did so well otherwise. Some really great, typical Koscielny tackles that saved our behind more than once. I love him and am so happy we’re extending his contract.
Kieran Gibbs 7
Yet another good performance by Gibbs and I bet Monreal is seriously worried for his spot in starting 11, as he should be. Gibbs looked stable, calm and confident, although I wish he did more going forward.
Franics Coquelin 6.5
Can you be “meh” about Coquelin? People seem to either like him or hate him, but you have to admit that he’s the one constant face in an under-performing midfield over the last few matches. Wenger drops Ramsey, Elneny, and Xhaka, but leaves Coq – and it never gets better. Against PSG, he was okay, got booked, and will miss Basel – hopefully a chance for my first-choice midfield of Ramsey-Xhaka to get a run out.
Aaron Ramsey 7.5
I was tempted to give Aaron an 8. Aaron was statistically our best player, with most passes, most take-ons, most tackles and most recoveries. He looked good, was trying hard to make things happen (failing mostly but still). He looked better than the rest of the team, at least he got people talking, if nothing else.
Mesut Özil 6.5
Another low-ish rating for Mesut because he had another underwhelming match. Does he miss Santi as much as I do? I’m not sure. He looked off, although a bit better than against United. He was involved in the attack that got us the penalty and that’s the best I can remember. Some cool back-heel passes as well. I am really happy he didn’t take the penalty.
Alexis Sanchez 7.5
Tonight we witnessed the impossible – Alexis asking Arsenal players to slow down. It wasn’t a joke either, it was actually very smart – make it dull, slow them down, they needed to chase the result not us. Alexis was, once again all over the place, running like mad, chasing lost balls, trying to create something although he wasn’t too successful.
Alex Iwobi 6
Poor Alexi headed the ball into his own net, although it was noted as a Lucas goal rather than an own goal. He wasn’t having a good match before that either, looked lost for most of the time and our weakest player.
Olivier Giroud 7
Our bearded striker scored our first goal, from a penalty, but still, that’s not an easy task for an Arsenal player! He looked really good and I was happy to see him start. Once again, he didn’t get many balls or crosses in to him but did his best with what he was getting.
SUBS:
Granit Xhaka, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 0
Did they even touch a ball? Granit maybe, but without any influence. The other two? Hmmm.
