A draw at Old Trafford is better than a loss.

Especially when the performance is like we saw on Saturday – not very good, to say it politely.

Our players don’t like early kick offs nor games at Old Trafford, so Saturday a bad mix.

Thank goodness United players weren’t too “up” for it either.

Peter Cech 7

Cech did really well, saved some good chances from United in first half. Personally, I thought he went too far to the left before conceding the goal but that’s (perhaps) just me. If he hadn’t conceded, he would be the only goal keeper to keep a clean sheet at Old Trafford three times in the league. But, he is at Arsenal after all.

Maybe next season.

Carl Jenkinson 6.5

Corporal Jenks got a chance to start due to Bellerin’s injury and you could tell that’s the only way he could get a start. We all admire his passion and love for the club, but he wasn’t as reliable on the right as Bellerin is.

Shkodran Mustafi 7

He did well, and I didn’t expect anything less from him. A good match, with a moment or two where he was off but nothing too dangerous or threatening for our goal. Looked much better than in last few matches.

Laurent Koscielny 7

Same as Mustafi, a very good match for our captain Koscielny (who is close to a contract extension, thank goodness). He was even close to scoring in first half but was denied by Jones.

Nacho Monreal 6.5

I really hope Gibbs starts the next match.

Nacho was, once again, not his usual self that we all love. United were definitely prepared and targeted his side with Martial and Rashford changing flanks and Valencia going forward as well. He needs to work on his performances or we need to start Gibbs next time.

Francis Coquelin 6.5

The classic Coquelin match when he gets whole of Twitter moaning about him. He didn’t do much at all, and there was more bad than good. Got us all wondering what has he got on Wenger that he gets to start and Xhaka doesn’t. One poor shot in first half and one great tackle in the second and that’s all.

Mohamed Elneny 6.5

I spent most of the match wondering why are we trying short corners on the right, and then Elneny made a cross from corner to show me why. He didn’t do much, neither in defence nor up front. He was just there, most of the time.

Mesut Özil 6.5

It hurts me to give Mesut a rating as low as Coquelin’s but damn, he was nowhere to be seen. Yes, he had some Özilesque passes and dribbles, but that’s all. No chances, no good crosses, no attempts – nothing. I’m sorry, Mesut, you need to be a lot better when it’s needed.

Aaron Ramsey 6.5

Before I say anything about Ramsey and his performance, I have to mention that playing left wing is definitely not his position and I’d much rather see us try Xhaka-Ramsey in midfield. With that said, Ramsey was, much like Mesut, really not good. No creativity, no will to create something, a really uninspired performance.

Is he still getting into form? I sure hope so, means he’ll get better soon.

Theo Walcott 6.5

You could have seen a lot of “Theo is playing?”  comments when Darmian got that yellow for a tackle on him. And yes, Theo was not really much in it, just like the rest of the team. He had that great chance to cross in 2nd half and bottled it as well.

Alexis Sanchez 7

Can I give him 6.75? I mean, he *was* trying hard, as he always does. Alexis is always running for the ball and trying to make things happen but Saturday was just not his best performance. I am giving him 7 because he was playing half injured and after, like, 10 minutes of rest during this international break.


Granit Xhaka 5

Didn’t do much after he came on. Wish he started, surely deserved it.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 7

Got an assist for our only goal, and not much else, but hey, that’s more than the rest of the team.

Olivier Giroud 8

He came on and he scored and you can’t say anything bad about him, I’m sorry.

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