Ramsey Turns The Match As Ox and Campbell Star. Ratings
By Matty Sadler
January 9 2016
As seems to be the case when we make a number of changes these days, we took a while to get going and started very slow and sloppily. Sunderland scored first when Koscielny was caught trying to dribble instead of just booting it clear, but we equalised shortly after, after great play between Iwobi, Walcott and, the goalscorer, Campbell, who finished excellently.
We improved in the first half after that and counter attacked well but struggled to make any clear cut chances. Sunderland came out strongly in the second half and it took us a while to find our feet, but we eventually did and when Ramsey came on and changed the game, with Ramsey and Giroud winning it for us. Not a classic but we're in the hat for the fourth round.
A lot of positive food for thought though. Bellerin seemed to suddenly remember he is faster than everyone else on the pitch, so hopefully two great assists will help him back to form. Gabriel, Gibbs and Chambers all did well again, showing we have more depth than we might think. Iwobi looks a great young prospect. Giroud and Ramsey both scored, and we know when they score they tend to go on scoring runs. We managed to do it all without Mertesacker and Ozil as well.
I can't decide who was my man of the match out of Campbell and Oxlade-Chamberlain, but I thought both were superb. Campbell is just getting better and better, isn't he? It was so important that Ox bounced back after an awful 2015 and an awful showing against Newcastle, but today he was a great driving force in out midfield.
Cech - 6. Didn't have a great deal to do but will be disappointed not to have kept a clean sheet.
Bellerin - 8. Solid defensively. I was just thinking that he hasn't been the same attacking force irecently that he was last season, then all of a sudden he came alive midway through the second half. He started using his blistering pace and getting forward to good effect, and got two excellent assists. Big improvement on recent weeks. Gabriel - 7. Solid throughout. Koscielny - 7. Very poor for Sunderland's opener, but otherwise I thought he played well. Gibbs - 7. Defended well and got forward to good effect.
Chambers - 7. Aside from one incident in the first half where he was caught in possession by Lens, I thought he did well again. Defended well, passed well and was generally good on the ball. Oxlade-Chamberlain - 8. Today was massive for him after an awful 2015, and he impressed me. He grew into the game after a sloppy start, and did very well in the end. He drove a lot from deep, committed defenders and started attacks. Also set Bellerin away with an excellent outside of the boot through ball for Giroud's goal. He needs to cut out these occasional sloppy/ dopey moments, but overall very good day.
Campbell - 8. Great movement and finish for our equaliser and played Bellerin in with a great through ball for Ramsey's goal. Should've scored another after Iwobi's great through ball though. As I said a while ago, this season's Coquelin. Iwobi - 7. Very impressive first start for the young Nigerian. He looks quick, good on the ball and strong. Lots of good passing and moving. Played a big part in our equaliser and also played a great through ball to Campbell, who should've scored. Walcott - 7. He worked hard and got a great assist for Campbell's equaliser. Should've scored a couple but poor finishing let him down.
Giroud - 6. Awful for about 70 minutes then, like Bellerin offensively, he suddenly came alive midway through the second half. Good movement for his first goal since Man City and should've had a penalty.
Subs:
Ramsey - 7. He changed the game when he came on and added another dimension to our attack. Excellent goalscoring cameo. Arteta - 6. Kept things ticking over. Reine-Adelaide - N/A. Not on long, but still came close to scoring. Happy he has made his competitive debut.
PS Also, really nice to see Walcott bringing a fan onto the pitch to do his trademark "Mertesacker bump" at the end, and then giving him his shirt. Great stuff.
Campbell had a cracking game. Him and Iwobi really took it to Dunderland. Pleased to see Ox grow into the game. HE was rubbish for the first half an hour.
Thought Chamberlain was hit and miss, but Campbell was excellent. I'm really pleased with him. We give Wenger a lot of stick but he continues to be a superb judge of talent.
He kept things simple but Iwobi was effective. He played a big part in the equaliser in the first half and played Campbell in with an excellent through ball in the second half, which he should've done better with.
He showed good pace, good feet and dribbling skills. He also passed well and showed good movement. He was also a lot bigger and stronger than I was expecting. All of this, combined with the fact he can also play upfront, on either wing, in central midfield or, as we saw today, as a "#10", means we could have a very complete footballer on our hands.
He could go out on loan somewhere for the rest of the season, but given our injury problems and what we saw today, I think he could have a positive impact on our squad for the rest of the season.
I liked iwobi. As the commentators said, he has very quick feet.
The ox was great at times and frustrating at times. He ran into trouble and lost possession, making me want to scream... Then sends bellerin away with an inch perfect bball moments later.
Yeah Ox was definitely a bit hit and miss, but generally I thought today was a massive improvement from him. He worked very hard and some of his driving runs from deep were phenomenal. That outside of the boot pass to Bellerin was world class. He just really needs to show more care in possession and tighten up these occasional loose passes.
MattySadler I remember him smashing the crossbar with a dipping long range half volley last year. I think it was against Dortmund. He needs a break.
We havent had a woodwork specialist since Kaba Diwara
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
I always had faith in Campbell because i saw the kid for his national side and olympiacos . He's very talented and he should be above welbeck in the pecking order. He has a great shot on him as well which will come back to him with confidence. The kid is a very very good passer of the ball as well.
The mark of a great central midfielder is ability to play with his head, scan the field and spotting multi-passing options split second before his opponent saw them a la Fabregas.
OX dribbles too much with his passes a hit-and-miss and lacking accuracy and weight.
The pass that Ox picked out Bellerin for Giroud's goal was excellent.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Padre Pio The pass that Ox picked out Bellerin for Giroud's goal was excellent.
Well, it is like Flippo Inizaghi got caught off-side 99 out of 100 times.
But the one-time he got on-side, he scored the winner.
We need OX to take control and dominate midfield if he wants to play centrally.
But he does not possess the technical skills of Fabregas or Ozil, or even ALex Song, to deliver a properly weighted pass or lob let alone in term of accuracy.
At best, he is just another blind alley runner at the flanks who can dribble, beat defenders and cut into centre to deliver a telling pass ... like what Bellerin did against Sunderland.
Why can't OX plays like Bellerin, cutting into centre from flanks, more productive in creating goal-scoring chances with accurate passes and crosses, and more assists?
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