Player Ratings: Arsenal 4 – 2 Leicester City-hermansen-justin-cooper

Leicester City suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the Emirates on Saturday. Two injury-time goals doomed City to a 4-2 defeat when it looked like they might escape with a draw. There were some fantastic performances, so good ones, and some very forgettable ones as well. Let’s run the rule over the players and separate the wheat from the chaff and…wait, why would anybody want to be wheat? I don’t know. I guess wheat is just. that. good. Anyway, let’s do this:

Mads Hermansen – 9

Did everything a keeper can do to keep his side in the match. Not at fault for any of the 4 goals and the majority of his 13 (THIRTEEN) saves were top-drawer efforts. Whether or not the team deserved a point, he certainly did.

James Justin – 8

His first goal had some good fortune to it, but the second was an absolute worldie. He was left isolated far to much on the flank and coped as well as could be hoped. He probably should have been marking Trossard when the Gunners got the winner, but it was overall a strong performance.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

Wout Faes – 6

Calm performance and probably the better of the two centre-halfs on the day. Had to spend way too much time just a yard or two from the goal line as the Foxes defended very, very deep.

Caleb Okoli – 6

Very creditable outing for Okoli who held his own against one of the top teams in the league. He (and the rest of the Leicester defence) was far too slow to react to the cross that led to the first Arsenal goal.

Victor Kristiansen – 7

Like his counterpart on the right, he was asked to defend solo against his winger and any other players flooding his zone. He’s getting better with each outing.

Oliver Skipp – 5

I like Skipp, but this wasn’t his day. Didn’t provide enough cover for the back line and especially for Justin. Arsenal exploited the gaps between him and the centre-halfs to devastating effect.

Harry Winks – 5

The match was just a little too fast for him. While he might not be expected to provide the same defensive coverage as his former Spurs teammate, he’s the man who needs to be the outlet to maintain possession and take pressure off the defence. Just a 79% pass completion rate, which is not up to his standard.

Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Facundo Buonanotte – 7

His free kick was turned into the net bet Justin (with a little help from the Arsenal defence) and he was otherwise very positive on the ball. Doesn’t defend with the same aplomb as Fatawu, but it was overall a solid outing.

Wilfred Ndidi – 7

I have to ding him a point for the own goal even if there was nothing he could do about it. Added to his assist tally with a looping cross to Justin and won a game-high 8 tackles. He’s not a traditional #10 and that might not be the best place for him, but he remains one of our indispensable assets.

Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Stephy Mavididi – 6

It would have been sweet for him to put in a top performance against his former club, but Timber kept him very quiet for most of the afternoon. After a torrid start for Kristiansen, got back well to help out in defence.

Jamie Vardy – 6

He did a fine job holding the ball when he got it and could have had an assist when he picked out Justin in the early going, but he didn’t see enough of the ball to have much impact. No shots on target, which makes sense as he attempted no shots for the entire 90 minutes.

Substitutes

Jordan Ayew – 5

Came on late to see out the game and had a chance to cause some trouble but his first touch wasn’t up to it. No impact.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid – NR

Came on just in time to see Arsenal score the winner. Not enough minutes to change the game.

Bilal El Khannouss – NR

Came on just in time to see Arsenal score the winner. Not enough minutes to change the game.

Odsonne Edouard – NR

Introduced in the dying seconds. Arsenal were probably happy to see the time tick off the clock for the substitution.

Abdul Fatawu – NR

Introduced in the dying seconds. Arsenal were probably happy to see the time tick off the clock for the substitution.

Manager – 5

Look, if you squint, you can say “Keeping this side in the match for 93 minutes means his plan was working and it was a fluke own goal that undid us.” That’s true, but it’s misleading. We were never really in the game; we were extremely fortunate to be level and the goal that beat us was probably going in without the deflection and it came on Arsenal’s 17th corner. Only a heroic effort by the keeper kept us in it.

Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images

For all my writing close to 500 articles for this site and following the Foxes for close to 30 years, I would still admit to not having a great intellectual understanding of football tactics. Thus, I really like it when I can watch a team and instantly get what they’re about. The Martin O’Neill Leicester sides weren’t sophisticated from a tactical standpoint, but everyone could see the game plan and if the supporters understood it, you knew the players did as well.

Arsenal were set up to attack in wide spaces, isolate the fullbacks, and then try to cut the ball back between the two banks of defenders. It was obvious. They did it over and over and over. I ask you: What was Leicester’s plan? How were the Foxes going about nullifying the Arsenal attack? Where were the goals going to come from? Maybe some of you understand the ins and outs better than I do and can answer this question. I have no clue. It looked like “defend deep, hope to get some lucky breaks, and hoof it every time you see the ball.” That’s not a plan; that’s just hoping you’ll figure something out.

So…I’m concerned. I think this squad may just have enough talent to stay up. I’m not convinced the gaffer has worked out how to use them to do so.

Man of the Match: Mads Hermansen

When Leicester equalised, the Gunners turned up the pressure and created chance after chance after chance. Hermansen was equal to all of them until his own man turned the ball into the net. It was a heroic performance and I do not use that term lightly. He nearly earned us a point on his own.