By Merlion
October 17 2022

Well this this was nearly a banana skin, but a match Arsenal would have lost last year, resilience with a large dollop of luck. But you need a bit of luck to win anything in football.

Ratings Follow:

Ramsdale 8 - MOTM and finally we saw him comes good in a 1-on-1 situation to stop a goal. He single-handedly rescued the game for us. He upped his game another notch by being a commanding presence in the box and not tentatively comes out for crosses.

Ben White 6 - He was out of pace and couldn't cope with Leeds players relentless pressing and did not give him any time and space to settle down pick his passes. Back to the drawing board and training pitch to make White quicker and faster decision making.

Saliba 6 - minus one point for that daft handball. He is at his imperious best and got rattled easily when being pressed continuously by Leeds player. Not a finished article but a good eye-opener on what he needed to improve further.

Gabriel 6 - minus one point for that daft lash out. He was defensively solid until he got a mindless flash in the head. He is becoming more a liability than an asset if he still cannot get his head screwed on right and continued to commit reckless tackle in the box and reacted emotional under provocation. ALL EPL managers noted that, and he will be under provocation throughout the season now. Can we try Tomi as LCB for remining games before WC2022 break?

Tomi 6 - did not cover himself with glory and not at his best to react quickly to threats. Perhaps fatigue after playing two intense games within 3 days. Leeds players easily bypassed him with their one-two passing and he has no protection from a slow Xhaka high up on the pitch. He is virtually alone, with Gabriel behind him, in dealing with Leeds players' fast passing game on the left flank.

Xhaka 5 - was he ever in the game? He had no answer to the speed of Leeds' players which were cleverly coached to bypassed him and go for out throat immediately. Our left flank was wide open like an autobahn with Leeds player speeding down it at will and if not for a quick Tomi, we will be really in trouble. Arteta will need to think fast as other EPL managers will now knew how to nullify Xhaka into impotency.

Partey 6 - oh boy, he was really rattled when under relentless counter-press by Leeds players and his passing went to pieces. We need him to calm the midfield, get a resemble of order to play our passing game. But Partey-Xhaka failed miserably to do that and hence why we were under the cosh throughout the 2nd half. We do not have a midfield at all, or Leeds players bypassed them easily.

Odgaard 5 - extra point for that slide-rule pass to Saka. Other than that, anonymous and little boy lost wandering all over the pitch and clueless to what to do to change the shape of the game. s a no. 10, it is a shame that he is brainless to dictate play and to take control of the game by slowing down Leeds United relentless pressing with clever one-two passes and move-and-pass to get out of the press.

Martinelli 5 - was he ever in the game? He reverted to his huff and puff best and not even constitute an attacking threat with Leeds defenders having him in their pocket. Highly inconsistent and doubt whether he can develop into a worldclass player when games like against Leeds United is the making of him to seize the game by the neck and became a real potent attacking threat down the left flank. Instead, he is anonymously like many Arsenal players today.

Jesus 5 - not really in the game. Perhaps that elbow to his head took something out of him. There is no link-up play, no relentless pressing from him simply due to Leeds United players passing themselves out of trouble quickly and do not dwell on the ball to invite pressing. Arteta needs thinking time how to counter this tactic when teams do not dwell on the ball and pass quickly to avoid the press.

Saka 7 - one extra point for the winner. Other than that, he was in-and-out of the game, and I guess fatigue is catching with him after the rigors in the Bodo away game. He is our only attacking threat when all his partners-in-crime were having an off-day and went wanderlust around the pitch.

Nketiah 5 - all huff and puff, not convincing. There is no linkup play in him and he has poor technical skills in ball control and passing. What the heck he is doing for 100,000pw?

Vieira 6 - another body replacing Odegaard today will always look better. Anyway, he brought a bit of a resemble of order in the middle.

Tierney 5 - what an awful player when needing two touches in clearing the ball - to Leeds United players who launched another attack. Like he is short of confidence nowadays. No wonder Arteta prefers Tomi in the absence of Zinchenko. Like Cedric, I think it is the end of the line for Tierney.

Holding n/a - just that we transformed to a defensive 3-5-2 which, in the most part worked.

Arteta 6 - he was caught with his pants down by Marsch tactics. I think he got carried away by his superior passing game and expected all teams to rollover due to the superiority of his possession-based fast passing game.
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