Good solid win. Should have scored more, but never threatened by Hull
David Ospina Dominated early on. Set the scene with a great punch in amongst the crowd. From then on his control of his box was without incident, and a couple of comfortable saves. Good signs, should start v Stoke imo.
Hector Bellerin One wonderful run and cross, other good moments going forward. Defended well, cannot think of any time he was in trouble. Good game.
Per Mertesacker Got the vital goal, and solid at the back.
Calum Chambers Solid and good on the ball.
Nacho Monreal Had some early worries from Ince, but soon got the better of him. Tried to support the attack as well. Good game.
Francis Coquelin High energy, lots of good interceptions and winning of the ball. Let himself down by putting himself of danger a red. Some of his passing was wayward, and needs to learn when to keep it simple. One glorious ball to Walcott.
Tomas Rosicky One nearly special moment, when he beat a few before slipping in Alexis who saw his shot cleared off the line. High energy, started a fair few attacks. Good performance.
Santi Cazorla Fighting Alexis for our best player over the last few weeks. Some sublime passes, should have been rewarded with a couple more assists.
Joel Campbell Great burst early on set the scene for our start, unlucky not to score. Worked hard, a few things didn't quite come off but showed moments of quality throughout. A couple of very good tackles as well.
Theo Walcott A yard off the pace, otherwise he would have had a couple of goals through his intelligent running. Obviously rusty, but signs are there that it won't be long until he is back to his best.
Alexis Sanchez Another goal, another impressive all energy showing. Sometimes tried too much, and lost the ball cheaply when maybe he could have done the simple thing, but if you want genius you have to accept it won't always work.
Subs
Nice to see Chuba Akpom and Ainsley Maitland-Niles get on the pitch, but neither had any real touch. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain re-energised the team, but was reduced by a foul soon after coming on.
Over all a good performance, but with a bit more composure and killer instinct we could have won it by half time. Hull never got close to scoring, partly down to their abject performance but also we have to credit the back 4, and the hardwork of the midfield.
Hopefully we can carry it on to our game next week.
Players performance v Hull
posted on 4/1/15
Campbell would still have been training with the first team. Rustiness would be understandable, as would his trying hard to impress, however, the only thing that will gain him more chances to click on the pitch will be getting minutes at the end of matches where we're comfortably ahead.
The way we're playing so far this season makes it seem unlikely he'll get many opportunites there though, so apart from getting it together during training I don't see him playing much part this season.
Maybe a loan might suit him? Equally though, maybe he's just not all that.
posted on 4/1/15
Debuchy is a stop gap for Bellerin. Bellerin maybe very talented but there's no way in hell he should be our first choice. He should get games against sides like Hull at home however and minutes of the bench.
Sagna is being missed big time defensively, the beast never lost a header in his life. Debuchy just gets beaten in the air time and time again. I don't expect Bellerin to be any better in that area, but his overall game looks so much more promising than both the two mentioned.
posted on 4/1/15
"Sagna is being missed big time defensively, the beast never lost a header in his life. Debuchy just gets beaten in the air time and time again. I don't expect Bellerin to be any better in that area, but his overall game looks so much more promising than both the two mentioned."
Debuchy has an average aerial duel success rate of 75% this season in the Premiership, according to Squawka, whereas Sagna only has a 58% success rate. Debuchy also had a better success rate last season as well.
I appreciate he struggled against Carroll and co at Upton Park, but in general, Debuchy is very strong in the air.
posted on 5/1/15
Yeah, strange apathy towards Debuchy. Been very good for us so far this season (when fit)
posted on 5/1/15
50p merked with statistical proof
posted on 5/1/15
Anybody will get out-jumped by Carroll, guys a beast in the air. Got to stop the supply to him
posted on 5/1/15
we still got jenks
posted on 5/1/15
Coq wasn't bad with his tackles, the ref was. He won the ball fairly a couple of times but the ref....
posted on 5/1/15
We looked so much better with a Theo, Alexis combination. Alexis likes it to feet and Theo does all the off the ball movement.
They will be the key to our challenge next year.
posted on 5/1/15
comment by KenyanGoonersourous - The legend of the Ox (U5445)
posted 4 hours, 11 minutes ago
Coq wasn't bad with his tackles, the ref was. He won the ball fairly a couple of times but the ref....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The two footed lunge at the end was red all day long. The foul in the first 5 was a yellow, some even argued that was a straight red.
The late foul was idiotic.