AS Roma 1 (1) – Arsenal FC 0 (1): Player ratings and a much needed rant

So we went, we saw, and played like shite. We were so bad tonight we really don’t deserve to be in the quarter-finals. With so many Roma players missing through injury and suspension, the onus was on us to take the game to Roma. Instead we saw a piss poor performance from EVERYONE on the pitch, not one player can put his hand up and say that he had even an average game. Our defending was all over the place, the midfield was run over, and the forwards didn’t do jackshit all night.

There I was sitting and wondering what the fuck was going on with this team. We couldn’t even string one decent attacking move. Everyone was poor; the entire technicality was out the window. We didn’t pass well, didn’t control the ball well, we didn’t defend well; we didn’t create any chances and basically didn’t execute our plan at all. I’m sure Arsene wanted us to go out there and play our game, try to impose ourselves early so that we could nick that important away goal and put the tie to bed.

Instead we were treated to a bore fest. We were very very lucky to go into the quarters. Roma should have had a penalty, I don’t care what the referee saw but it was a penalty plain and simple. Clichy was tormented all night, he had a torrid game. He has been a shadow of the player he was last season. His defending is going from bad to worse, he mad some rather comical mistakes. Baptista missed a sitter when Roma countered in the second half, again a mistake by Clichy, around the 80^th minute. He slid in too early to meet the ball and fluffed his chance.

We lacked any creativity going forward. Nasri sucked, Bendtner was woeful, his first touch was shambolic, infact all he did all night was give the ball away and didn’t win even one header for us. All of Almunia’s kicks were aimed at him, and though he is taller than Motta, he couldn’t win one fucking header. Eboue was Eboue, I still fail to understand how he has played more than 80 games for us, im getting mind-fucked just thinking of that.

The goal came in the 10^th minute after some awful defending from Arsenal. Totti’s low cross should never have found its way to Juan and Bendtner and Clichy should have been there to close him down. After that, intense whistling from the home fans put us off our passing game and one in three passes were going astray. I don’t understand why we are so reluctant to shoot? I don’t get it. We never shoot from outside the box; we are going back to trying to walk the ball into the net. That is a direct result of zero creativity that we have.

After the goal Roma grew in confidence and Almunia made two saves in a few seconds from Motta and Taddei. Arsenal looked vulnerable every time Roma attacked. We were completely outplayed in midfield. Nasri didn’t track back enough and nor did Bendtner and Eboue. We gave them far too much space and time.

Even the introduction of Theo Walcott and Eduardo didn’t do us any good. Both struggled to get into the game and were of no use. The end of the second half saw some frantic end to end stuff which was scary for Arsenal. Roma broke very well each and every time, whereas we looked so out of sorts it was as if 11 complete strangers were on the pitch playing together for the first time.

I was strangely scared going into the penalties. We have always been very good at penalty kicks but this young team didn’t give me one bit of confidence. Surprisingly Eduardo missed for us, and Vucinic made a complete fool of himself to balance the kicks. Almunia and Doni looked like local street side goalies trying to save the penalties. Almunia sucked and his performance would have given Arsene no confidence of going through if we go to penalties again. Then Tonetto kicked his penalty high and we won 7-6 on penalties.

Please don’t get me started on luck. We were lucky I know. But we shouldn’t have to rely on luck to go through the CL. We aren’t an ordinary team, are we? Or is it time to accept we are and start relying on luck a little more often? I dunno what to think right now. I’m just glad we got through.

Arsene Wenger got out his usual bullshit about holding our nerves and how proud he was of our mental strength. Really? Fucking really? That is a load of crap and Wenger knows it too. He isn’t fooling anyone with his latest positive take after another truly shit performance. If we play this way in the premier league we can start waving fourth good-bye and with that champions league for next season. It is very clear after this performance that we don’t have the steel and the strength to play well away in Europe.

Here are my player ratings-

Almunia (6.5) - Made some good saves and kept us in the game.

Sagna (5.5) - Was schooled by Vucinic on more than one occasion, great penalty

Gallas (6) - Bad defending, was at fault for the goal

Toure (5.5) - Had no control over his defensive line, bad night for the stand in captain

Clichy (4) - Worst performance ever, comic defending, all over the place, going from bad to worse

Eboue (3.5) - One Word, CUNT

Denilson (5) - Gave the ball away way too often, needs to improve drastically

Diaby (6) - Average performance, nothing compared to his night at the Emirates

Nasri (5) - no creativity, didn't track back, very very inconsistant performer

Bendtner  (3.5) - He was woeful. Nothing to say really as he had no contribution other than losing the ball

Van Perise (4.5) - Terrible corners, played badly, good penalty

SUBS:

Walcott (5.5) - Some good touches, but didnt get into the game enough to make an impact

Eduardo (5) - Didnt play well and shocking penalty.

If you notice most of the players had a terrible night. It's best we put this behind us, be thankful that we went through and concentrate on the league match this weekend against Blackburn at home.