[Player Ratings] Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal: Gunners Were Simply Awful

Another horrific display by Arsenal blew our last chance of lifting a trophy this season as we crashed out the FA Cup following a 2-0 defeat to Sunderland on Saturday.

The black cats had a simple game plan and executed it well, and we had no answers. The home sides performance had everything Arsenal’s lacked; desire, tireless work ethic, organisation, confidence and unity.

The 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn is now a distant memory after two of the worst performances i’ve witnessed from Arsenal in a long time. There is so much wrong with this current squad, it’s scary.

Both of Sunderland’s goals had elements of fortune, but overall they deserved their victory. A response against Tottenham is vital next Sunday or this teams confidence could be shattered beyond repair. Here are my player ratings from the game, this isn’t going to be pretty:

Arsenal Player Ratings:

Fabianski – 6 – Could do nothing with the deflected opener but may have done better with the second. Lived up to his nickname ‘Flappyhandski’ on a few occasions, after coming for, and completely missing, a couple of crosses.

Sagna – 5.5 – Put in a couple of half decent crosses but i feel he could have closed down Richardson quicker for the first goal, went missing for the second and was lucky not to be sent off as well.

Djourou – 4.5 – With Djourou playing alongside Squillaci, it was never going to end well for Arsenal. Johan gave away a clumsy free kick that lead to the opener and always looked shaky in defence.

Vermaelen – 6 – Slightly better display than against Milan but still not up to his usual high standards. Shifted to left back when Coquelin went off.

Coquelin – 6 – Unlucky for the youngster as he was forced off with a hamstring injury early on.

Song – 5 – Very disappointing from Alex. He failed to stamp his authority on the game and put in a very ponderous performance.

Arteta – 4 – Probably his worst performance in a Gunners shirt. Constantly lost possession and lacked heart in the fight.

Ramsey – 4.5 – Made no impact on the game. Let Larsson breeze past him to shoot against the post, that lead to the second goal. Didn’t look like he knew what his role was, but it certainly shouldn’t be as an attacking midfielder. Rambo offers no creativity at all.

Gervinho – 4 – Went close with a decent effort early in the first half but faded badly and hardly saw the ball in the second half.

Chamberlain – 4 – Held on to the ball for too long when in possession, mostly trying to do too much. Lost possession that lead to the second, despite his efforts to chase back and make up for his error, he actually made it worse by bundling the ball into his own net. Slightly unlucky, he just got his feet in a muddle, at least he showed a bit of hunger out there and he looked devastated at the end.

Van Persie – 5 – Missed a couple of half chances but looked a frustrated figure. Once again the service to RVP was non-existent and he had no support from his fellow attackers.

SUBS:

Squillaci – 3 – Absolute disaster waiting to happen. Failed to read the flight of some long balls and always looked uncomfortable.

Rosicky – 5 – Got on the ball a fair bit but did very little with it. Failed to create anything of note and took too long to release the ball.

Walcott – 4 – Came on and played up front but barely saw the ball. Made a couple of decent runs but was offside on three occasions. Made no impact at all.

If you haven’t seen the goals yet, you can watch video highlights here.

Those are my ratings, they are just my opinions and you may have seen things differently. What would your ratings be?