Arsenal Christmas Ratings
Posted by Young'un in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Arshavin, Premiership, Theo Walcott | 22 December 2011
For those who pay close to attention to what I say and produce about football, you will know that after every game (barring the odd one or two I missed) I rate each member of the Arsenal XI, judging by their performance. As it’s Christmas; a time for giving and all that, I thought I’d do some calculations and create an average score based on my ratings and show you all how it seems the players have done halfway into the season.
Manuel Almunia n/a, Abou Diaby n/a, Bacary Sagna 5.5, Per Mertesacker 6, Thomas Vermaelen 7, Laurent Koscielny 7, Tomas Rosicky 6.5, Mikel Arteta 7, Park Chu-Young 5.5, Robin van Persie 8, Andre Santos 6.5, Wojciech Szczesny 6.5, Theo Walcott 6.5, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 6, Aaron Ramsey 6.5, Alex Song 7, Sebastien Squillaci 6.5, Jack Wilshere n/a, Johan Djourou 6, Lukasz Fabianski 4.5, Andrey Arshavin 5.5, Vito Mannone 4, Carl Jenkinson 6, Emmanuel Frimpong 6, Gervinho 6, Kieran Gibbs 6.5, Marouane Chamakh 6, Yossi Benayoun 7, Francis Coquelin 6, Nico Yennaris 6, Ignasi Miquel 6
Apologies that it’s all a bit squashed, the publishing platform won’t allow tables, sadly, so we’ll have to make do with this!
Despite getting my vote for a player of the month award, and solidarity throughout the season so far, Szczesny’s average rating is a decent if unspectacular 6.5. However this is no reflection on his ability, mainly an indictment of how much Arsenal have improved defensively, which subsequently has resulted in less to do for the Polish keeper. You can only be rated on your involvement and without doubt since the first few games, Szczesny has been far from the busiest player on the pitch.
Bacary Sagna’s low rating is most unlike the consistent full-back. This is simply because I started doing the ratings in September and therefore only caught a couple of his performances before his nasty injury. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if by the time I produce the final averages in May, Sagna’s rating has shot up to a far more respectable figure.
The sound ratings of the likes of Tomas Rosicky, Yossi Benayoun and even the much maligned Sebastien Squillaci shows that there is some depth to Arsenal’s squad; that players can come in and perform when the regulars are unavailable or in need of a breather.
At the other end of the scale, a rating of a mere 5.5 shows that Andrey Arshavin is not performing consistently enough as his competitors for starting berths, Theo Walcott and Gervinho, which fully justifies his role as a bit-part figure at the moment. It will be interesting to see if he can up his game in the second half of the season.
Finally it must be noted that the majority of the new signings have performed admirably; Mikel Arteta has been consistent in the middle of the park, Per Mertesacker is beginning to find his feet, as was Andre Santos before his injury and the youngsters like Carl Jenkinson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have done well when called upon. Park Chu-Young’s rating is perhaps a little disappointing but he hasn’t been given many opportunities and the manager warned that he would need an extended period for adaptation. He’ll be another one to keep an eye on at the business end of the season.
Stand-out performers: van Persie, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Song, Arteta
Disappointments: Park, Djourou, Fabianski, Arshavin
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