Football Special Report: Arsenal vs. Newcastle United- Best and Worst of Gunners (Part 2)
Continued from part 1
Alex Song
The Cameroon international ventured forward with a lot of energy, but his energy could not provide the Gunners the impetus they required. Song was also good with his tackles, but could not do anything about the opener. The 22-year-old defensive midfielder
has improved a lot but could not continue his form from the last few weeks.
Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere started for Arsenal after his three matches’ ban which was handed over to him for his rigorous tackle on Birmingham City’s attacker, Nikola Zigic. The young English prodigy was good with his passing and tackling, but Wilshere was outmuscled
at times and lost the ball uncharacteristically. Wilshere tried to drive the Gunners forward, and his wonderful through ball to find Chamakh could not be finished, as Chamakh only managed to find the bar of the goal. Later, in the dying minutes of the match,
Arsene Wenger substituted him in order to bring an attacker.
Verdict for Best Player
As it was not the inspiring performance from Arsenal, so there were few players who performed well against Newcastle United. It was Samir Nasri who played outstandingly for the Gunners on a day when everything was going against them.
Worst Players:
Without a doubt, whenever Arsenal is defeated by under dogs, there are a lot of Arsenal players who are responsible for such loss. It is no different story this time, as there were too many average players and it is hard to choose one player as the worst
for Arsenal.
Cesc Fabregas
Quite surprisingly, Arsenal’s talismanic skipper was one of the worst players against Newcastle United, which was hard to believe. This was one of the few games in which Cesc Fabregas performed below his standard.
Arsenal skipper lost possession on many occasions and hardly got into the game. Cesc was tightly marked by Tiote, which made Arsenal skipper to drop deeper. The Spaniard failed to create many visible chances and even after the arrival of Arshavin, Fabregas
struggled to find his rhythm. It is one of those extremely rare days that Fabregas finds his way onto this list.
Lukasz Fabianski
The second choice keeper of Arsenal, who had been slowly winning the confidence of Arsenal faithful, shattered the hopes of the Gunners when he badly misjudged the set piece from Joey Barton to allow the towering forward of Newcastle United, Andy Carroll,
to head the ball into an empty goal. Thus, the goalkeeping hollowness for Arsenal continued.
Fabianski should hold his hand up for his mistake in the goal. The Polish shot stopper was hesitant and could not get a fist to the ball. Otherwise, Fabianski looked calm and composed in rest of the match but that one mistake cost Arsenal three crucial points.
Laurent Koscielny
The new signing of Arsene Wenger was outmuscled at times by the very physical Newcastle United’s attack. Nonetheless, he showed his aerial ability at the back for Arsenal, but failed to win many balls. He made some useful interceptions at the back but unfortunately,
he was shown a red card in an injury time.
Theo Walcott
The English winger was given a deserved start after his recent impressive form but was disappointing in the game. Walcott did not add any width to them in the first half and look to cut inside at any opportunity. He was outgunned by the left back of Newcastle
United on many occasions.
Verdict for Worst Player
After such devastating loss, it is difficult to decide who the worst was, but it should be Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Fabianski who must be blamed for not being in their best form and giving such horrible performance.