By Boris Mellor & Merlion
November 24 2016
The game against PSG set a new record in the CL, it was the first match where goals scored exceeded shots on target. It was a tale of constant misses, even Cavani failed to punch Ramsey in the face, missing and hitting him in the chest.
There had been rumours of clowns in the area for months, but I hadn't seen one. However last night I saw a whole bunch at once. Two own goals, a penalty and one spectacular goal by Cavani who then proceeded to miss 4 or 5 more chances. The match would ahve been meaningless at 1-1, but 2-2 gives PSG top of the group and that doesnt mean that much this time around, well apart from fact Wenger can never win the group stage.
Anyhow enough of me, you want the ratings by Merlion (original article here) which follow below:
Arsene Wenger had being out-thought by other managers since the Boro game.
PSG was in total control during 1st half, dictating the pace and in complete possession such that Arsenal had one goal attempt - Giroud's penalty kick.
2nd half was better when Arsenal shown more urgency in their plays, commitment and closing down PSG. Ozil began to find space and started to play.
It shown the importance of Iwobi as that link-up man, an alternative playmaker when Ozil was marked out of the game.
And Ramsey is better when playing centrally, our only goal-scoring threat driving form deep into the box. His box-to-box running in breaking up plays, tackling and surging runs into the box was the difference in the 2nd half for Arsenal to have more possession.
Ospina is MOTM and saved us a point. Cavani again lost out to Ospina in 1-on-1 situation.
Arsenal was 2nd best throughout the game and lucky to collect a point.
We are the perennial bridesmaid in Group Stage and the saving grace is that we avoided Bayern Munich in the knock-out stage.
Drawn games against Spurs, ManU and PSG reinforces the view that Arsene Wenger is not succeeding with his predictable tactics, still persevering with mediocre players that can't deliver an accurate pass into final third.
7 - Ospina - MOTM for saving our bacon again.
6 - Jenkinson - A limited player but stood up to be counted.
7 - Mustafi - aggressive, protected right flank but out-muscled by Cavani.
7 - Kosicelny - 1 or 2 Bart Simpson moment but his quickness saved us.
6 - Gibbs - average player but seemed to lost that commitment and grit to drive forward.
6 - Coquelin - one dimensional player that forgot to fight in midfield during 1st half.
7 - Ramsey - aggressive tackling, box-to-box and a goal-threat coming in deep.
6 - Ozil - marked out of the game in 1st half and coming good in 2nd half.
6 - Iwobi - we missed his link-up plays for past few games.
6 - Alexis - all over the place and created nothing.
6 - Giroud - just a training cone on the pitch, too static in comparison to Cavani.
Substitutes:
N/A - Xhaka - remembered the dodgy 5 minutes when he replaced Coquelin?
N/A - OX - no presence.
N/A - Walcott - no presence.
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