Arsenal Player Ratings vs Schalke: The Truth!

Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to Schalke on Wednesday night in their Champions League Group B encounter. Here is player ratings from our resident Arsenal fan ‘Lloyd the Gooner’.

Mannone – 5. Not much wrong tonight but is not and won’t ever be good enough.

Jenkinson – 6. Did nothing wrong but uninspired going forward.

Mertesacker – 5. With that midfield in front of him I am loath to criticise. But he was at fault for the first goal. Would have been much worse without him.

Vermaelen – 5. Again far from faultless but more good than bad from him.

Santos – 1. A point for wearing the shirt. A joke really. And the fault is not his. Why would our board and manager actually have the cheek to try and pass him off to us as a professional footballer?

Arteta – 4. Not really his fault but needs legs alongside him. Wenger has allowed the situation to develop whereby he just hasn’t got those legs available to him.

Cazorla – 6. Tried. But was the ONLY creative force and just couldn’t deliver on his own. Another victim of the manager’s poor judgement in team selection and squad management.

Coquelin – 7. Our best player. The only athlete in midfield and carried others. We would have been overrun without him.

Ramsey – 2. As at Norwich couldn’t find a single telling pass. A liability to those around him. I said earlier in the season maybe Norwich was his level but now I suspect the championship beckons.

Podolski – 3. Tonight I started to doubt him. It may be that he is also a victim of the lack of balance in midfield. I hope so because that performance was nowhere hear good enough.

Gervinho – 4. Easy to pick on him. Very little service except the odd long chase. Has obvious flaws but kept going and several others deserve pelters before him.

Of the subs only Gnabry is worth a mention. He showed invention but is green and we should use him wisely at CL level. If other creative forces are still not available, I would play him this weekend.

Arsene Wenger. I value more than I can say here what he has done for the club but that cannot excuse poor judgement of players, team selection and failure to tell us the truth. Ramsey, for example, once again it is clear he isn’t good enough so why does he persist with him? Why does he not sell him and look elsewhere?

The Board. Should apologise for the thinness of the squad, the fact that the manager cannot afford to get a purchase wrong, etc, etc, etc.

On a positive note with a fit Diaby and Wilshere we would have won that tonight!!!

What are your ratings from the game? Get involved in the comments section.

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