Written by Filip Urbancík Thursday, 24 November 2011 03:07

GunnerTalk Blog

By Filip Urbancik

Szczesny (6,5) – Thank God he kept a cool head and save that dangerous shot. Really didn´t have much to do, how long we´ve been waiting to say this? It’s sign of a good defence we surely have got now. No wonder he wasn´t happy with that stupid last min. defending but a win is a win and a group win is even better. (AFC are the only English team who has already qualified to knock-out stages.)

Koscielny (6,5) – I like the way he plays there although it is not his preferred position but we all knew it´ll be hard to replace Sagna and Laurent is doing well so far. He was making useless runs but a good match for him at the RB. 

Mertesacker (6) – Series of little misunderstanding between our full backs. Am I the only one who sees basic mistakes he makes in every match? Don´t get me wrong, the whole defence had a very good match but he needs to work on his game. 

Vermaelen (7) – Not much to tell about his 1st half performance. He wasn´t tested that much because of a great performance of Song. That little flick for RvP from the corner kick was brilliant. We need him to manage whole defense together with Szczesny, if I see him in a starting XI I´m calm cause he is a player who would give everything for the team.

Andre Santos (6,5) – He tried to create chances for others and his forwards runs are getting better. He´s also become more solid at the back. (Don´t know what happened to Gibbs but he´ll have it hard to get in the team, that´s for sure.)

Song (7,5) – Propably one of the players whose passivity cost us an early Borussia pressure but he had it hard against well-organised midfield. He was slowly getting to his best throughout the 1st half. Lovely skill and run through the defence. The way he keeps the ball when we need it most is just perfect. Rock solid in front of our defence, he also interrupted quite high number of Borussia attacks and his offensive display was amazing. The 2nd best player of tonight.

Arteta (6,5) – Maybe I´m the only one who think so but in my opinion the lack of Champions League experience limits Mikel. He´s such a great player but he doesn´t create that match against stronger side like Marseille. Almost invisible throughout the match. We need him in matches like this when we need to keep the ball for longer periods and knock it around calmly. His great corner kick literally get us through to knock-out stages.

Ramsey (6,5) – A very good pass for Walcott at the beginning of the 1st half. He´s become a more confident player and it´s a pleasure to watch him. Where is the young shy lad who was scared of going forwards? A closed chapter of Aaron´s development, now we can only wait and see what will future bring. I just wonder how it´ll be after Wilshere´s comeback.

Walcott (7,5) – Probably the best player of the 1st half. Really tried hard to win balls and cross them upfront even though they were tightly marking him. Great run unfortunately stopped by the ref and another one which was almost converted by RvP. Don´t know if he knew there´s Thierry Henry in the stands but his passion was enormous. A very good match for Theo who´s started to put good performances regularly.

Gervinho (7) – Dortmund really pushed us and our players didn´t have much space and time to create and it reminded me the away match against Borussia when Gervinho couldn´t find his normal rhythm. Unfortunately he missed a golden opportunity, probably the clearest we had in this match, he´s not got that killer touch yet.

Van Persie *MOTM* (8) – He can do miracles but if he has no balls he can´t do anything. It was the biggest negative of the 1st half. No pace, rhythm and ideas how to break their defence. What a header which led to our first goal! He hasn´t scored many goals with his head but this one was very important. Nobody can stop him now, that´s the fact! 2 more goals for him (his 17th in the Champions League).

Substitutions:

Benayoun (X) – Great sub by Wenger. He surely brought something into the team and his skills are amazing. He should have scored rather than poking the ball around. His passes are brilliant and he played more minutes he´d surely got a good rating.

Diaby (X) – It was great to see Abou Diaby fit and ready to play after such a long time. He´s one of the players makes you say if he only stays fit... but I love his attitude and wish him the best in upcoming months. His mistake probably cost us the clean sheet but we don´t have to care now.