As we go into the business end of the 21/22 season, Arteta and Edu have put all their chips on the current squad to carry us to the end. As much as I admire the sentiments, anyone with a brain knows that the only reason that happened was cause we ineptly couldn’t find any player for the right price, putting our eggs in baskets (strikers) we didn’t have any chance of getting. Regardless, I’ll rate out of 10 how all of our remaining rostered players performed in the first half of the season:
Aaron Ramsdale: 8/10 – solid shoutout for player of the season so far, the team totally changed when he was introduced as a starter and seems to have made the defense stronger with his leadership. Struggled a bit in the last month.
Kent: 8.5/10 – pretty solid for dealing with this team and knowing inevitably that they are going to let me down. Relentless consistency despite the team hurting him for years and years. Some could say he should stop and support another club.
Bernd Leno: 6.5/10 – Credit to Bernd for having the professionalism he does cause he has every right to be pissed off with how he got replaced. Absolute screw job cause he was not at fault at all for our disastrous start but seems to be just the victim of cirumstance.
Cédric Soares: 5/10 – performed adequately in his EFL cup appearances, but him replacing an injured Tomiyasu in the league just made it glaringly obvious we need a backup for Tomiyasu.
Takehiro Tomiyasu: 8.5/10 – just a sigh of relief for me he has turned out so well. Such an intelligent player never does anything that puts the team in harms way. He plays CB for Japan so curious at times what him and Gabriel looks like if we found a more adventurous RB or if White goes down to an injury.
Ben White: 7/10 – very shaky start but has come back quite well and he came into form the same time the team did. Surprised me with his confidence on the ball if we are being honest and has formed quite a partnership with Gabriel.
Rob Holding: 4/10 – when called upon in recent games, you can see his limitations on the ball. If he is our 3rd CB, makes you question Arteta and his decision to loan out Saliba who is having a stellar season with Marseille, but hey let’s keep giving Arteta the benefit of the doubt.
Gabriel Magalhães: 7/10 – might be my favorite player in the team now, fucking love the guy. Aggressive with a decent amount of quality about him on the ball. He could be a bit rash at times but that aggressiveness is what I love about him and is what the team needs.
Kieran Tierney: 6.5/10 – At his best, might be the best player on the team in my opinion. Struggled with injuries and some squad competition between him and Nuno at the start but he is our nailed-down starter when healthy. Reliable attacking outlet on the left.
Nuno Tavares: 6.5/10 – is the reason why I think our left-back position is our most secured behind our goalies. Provides athleticism and directness down the left flank when called upon. Had some tough stretches but provides nice backup for an injury prone Kieran Tierney.
Granit Xhaka: 5/10 – I’m sick of this guy. Not sure why we didn’t let Mourinho deal with him when he was trying to get him to go to Rome. It’s clear we need someone with more quality alongside Thomas. I don’t expect anything from him anymore.
Thomas Partey: 6.5/10 – Inconsistent start to his season but picked up form right before he left for AFCON. His performance against City is one of the best center midfield displays I have seen from an Arsenal player in years. Just need that week in and week out.
Albert Sambi Lokanga: 6/10 – shaky displays here and there but I think a promising talent in the center of our midfield.
Mo Elneny: 5/10 – is what he is at this point. Apparently played well in Egypt’s run to the finals in AFCON.
Emile Smith Rowe: – 8.5/10 – player of the season so far for me. Out of the squad recently due to form and injuries but 8/2 goals/assists so far is great output for a player of his position. Will definitely need him at his best.
Martin Ødegaard: – 7/10 – Had some games where his quality shone above everybody else but also found games where we needed more from him. Need him to be more ruthless in the business end of this season.
Bukayo Saka:- 6.5/10 – have not had him at his mercurial best but that could be brought on to the sheer amount of games with England and Arsenal.
Nicolas Pépé:- 5.5/10 – Played so well at the end of last season to get to 10 goals in the league but then promptly left out of the squad coming into this season. He hasn’t even played enough for me to get mad at him.
Gabriel Martinelli: 7.5/10 – might have saved our season with Auba getting exiled and stepping into the LW role. Kid doesn’t stop running and just a menace down the left.
Alexandre Lacazette: 6.5/10 – love the guy but just doesn’t do enough from what we need from our center forward. Which is why Arteta loves him so much.
Eddie Nketiah: 5.5/10 – he blatantly rejected all contracts we offered him and we refused to let him go to another club to get some sort of return value because we are too dumb to get in replacements and now we need him to stay with the club. Only this godforsaken club.
Who pissed me off the most: Mikel Arteta – want him gone if we don’t make top 4
Who pissed me off the least: Tomiyasu and ESR
Best goal of the season: Lacazette against Southampton