[Archived] Man of the Match - Blackburn v Arsenal

[Andy]

He certainly did well.

I don't know what it is about him, though, but sometimes I wish he'd at least try to get to the ball even he doesn't think he will. I've never really seen a keeper at Ewood just stand there and watch just because he doesn't think he'll manage to make the save. Dive, man! That's what you're there for and you never know, you might get to it!

I understand what you're saying, but as a GK myself, sometimes your reaction is just to 'freeze' as one flies in.

It's frustrating and against all logic - ie you should at least make a token effort to five for it - but it just happens.

[USABlue]

Robbo but was undecided for a while. Yak ran him a close second. N'zonzi did well but was at fault I thought for Arteta's goal. Hoillett deserves an honourable mention too I thought.

[Veevs]

Gone for one not really mentioned here.. but felt the second he was on the pitch the whole dynamic of the team changed.. he might not seem the best player in the world at times, his crossing can be poor on top of his pace and play he has allot of understated attributes that are often overlooked.

So for me Olsson was the man of the match as on his own he fixed the left back position (stopping Arsenal in their tracks as they would of without a doubt scored from that outlet again), was involved in two goals, his pace attacking was a constant menace (pinning their right back in place) and interestingly the defensive midfielders also improved (both looked allot more assured with Olsson there) probably as they only had to cover the center and right of midfield.

Last season similar could have been said as most of our best games under Kean came with him there.

Robo and the Yak both are good shouts but for me he was the single player to save the game for us.

[only2garners]

I am amazed anyone voted for him - he just doesn't seem to have the awareness for defensive central midfield player. Still he is only young - technique etc on the whole is ok - may he will grow into the position.

Well he was man of the match in the Independent today.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Went for N'Zonzi purely because i'm so impressed how far he's come.

Without being picky - I thought he war poor for about 60mins.

As he was at Fulham, was ball watching and just labouring about the pitch letting players pass him and not tracking or marking, Responsible for the 2nd goal imo.

Certainly improved in the last 1/2 hour though.

[Clitherover]

Yakubu just edged it for scoring two goals on his debut, Robinson was fantastic and comes a very close second for me.

[Manc Rover]

Lowe for me. We might just have found another gem here and looked so assured at right back. He must keep his place over the hapless Salgado!

[texasrover]

People being a little slack on paul for that first miss, probably because we won the game. The deflection wasn't that bad, and it was obvious he was shooting across goal and if we'd have drawn or lost by one, i imagine people would have been giving him a harder time for it. He did make some top saves but not a perfect game. Dann had to clear off the line, kicking was dodgy, and that scary moment at the end with walcott... 3 goals shipped is never a great day at the office for any keeper, arsenal or not. The third one was really the only one he couldn't do anything about. The second one, even the first time i saw it live, never looked like arteta was gonna shoot across goal and he should have stayed and made himself big in the middle of the goal instead of diving out of the way as a guess.

Yak made the most of every time he touched the ball.

Lowe got my vote, though. Tough debut against arsenal but he handled himself admirably, playing out of position and making arshavin look silly a few times. Got high hopes for this kid. He looked confident on the ball and seemed to have some good vision. Would actually like to see him next to nzonzi as was planned.

[sijoco]

I went for Lowe too. Solid debut and how many times does a debutant get moved from his starting position to another position to then perform so well. I thought he read the game well and looked like he'd played in that position for years. It wasn't some average run of the mill left sided midfielder he was up against either (although some may argue). Yak came a close second.

[AllRoverAsia]

Dann - for blocking Gervinho's shot in the first half. I have watched it loads of times and Gervinho's shot would have gone in.

That would have put Arsenal up 3 - 1 which probably would have reflected the game at that time. This was before the comedy own goals which perhaps would never have happended.

[Veevs]

Also suprised by the Nzonzi crowd.. then again one of them was king troll himself, so no suprise there.

Nzonzi for me of late has started to wander out of position an awful lot, only looks half decent when he has a fellow defensive midfielder on the pitch and only starts to look decent when there is cover for the left side as well. Another thing that winds me up about him is for a big lad he does not put himself about much, seems half asleep to me at times.. as for him having any authority/leadership he has none whatsoever, expected to a degree but defensive midfielders seem to have that skill pretty early in their careers and it is kind of important to the role.

[JAL]

Also suprised by the Nzonzi crowd.. then again one of them was king troll himself, so no suprise there.

Nzonzi for me of late has started to wander out of position an awful lot, only looks half decent when he has a fellow defensive midfielder on the pitch and only starts to look decent when there is cover for the left side as well. Another thing that winds me up about him is for a big lad he does not put himself about much, seems half asleep to me at times.. as for him having any authority/leadership he has none whatsoever, expected to a degree but defensive midfielders seem to have that skill pretty early in their careers and it is kind of important to the role.

Yes, but is that because of the wet arsed, non defending players around him ?

[yeti-dog]

Just want to mention Petrovic. Although clearly not MOM, I thought he did reasonably well after he came on. I have high hopes for him once he's settled in and think he'll prove a far better player than Nzonzi. I'm amazed (or perhaps not) that some seem to have written him off already...

[CAPT KAYOS]

Yes, but is that because of the wet arsed, non defending players around him ?

So what is Nzonzi doing then if he is not doing what he should be doing and not doing what the others should be doing (iyo)?

Veevs post is exactly how I see Nzonzi at the moment.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

The poll is now closed. Thanks to all for voting.

The result is on the front page here.