Arsenal losing to League Two opposition will go down as the worst result in Arsene Wenger’s reign as manager, with his captain missing the crucial penalty.
When Thomas Vermaelen missed that decisive penalty to hand Bradford City a passage to the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup, there was some inevitability around it.
The Belgian simply has not looked like the player he did in previous seasons for the Gunners. Has he been affected by the captaincy?
A confident Vermaelen would have stepped up and buried that penalty, but he didn’t even hit the target, sending the ball back off the post and Arsenal out of the cup with it.
Overall it was a mixed performance for the centre-back, playing again in his preferred position after a stint at left-back last month.
He was given a bit of a run around by Bradford City striker Nakhi Wells, but the defender stepped up and headed home a vital equaliser late in the second half, his first goal of the season.
Every player received, and rightfully so, an amount of criticism for their showings last night – Perhaps Wilshere was the only player to emerge with any real credit, with Gervinho getting plenty of flak for his shocking miss and general poor play. Singling out Vermaelen is not our intention, but it is interesting to take a look at Arsenal fans’ attitudes towards their captain.
Obviously thoughts of Vermaelen will bring to mind his decisive penalty miss, but what did fans think of his performance. Good or bad?
Here’s a look at what fans were saying on Twitter…
@maloneyafc: Thomas Vermaelen, our captain, has been outplayed by a *League Two*striker tonight. Having a horrid time so far. Not good enough.
@lotamaster: Vermaelen is so terrible against a 2 striker partnership. There’s no reason a defender his quality should be exposed like this
@notnoaveragejoe: Vermaelen is a better striker than Gervinho, be ashamed, be very ashamed.
@rajanjohal12: Wilshere played like a lion & Vermaelen did well until he missed the pen, but there’s no excuses most other teams would have done it in 90.
@talk__arsenal: I can’t slate Vermaelen though, I think he played alright in comparison to the rest of the ‘team’.
@ephy63: Vermaelen is no leader…our reserves could of played better than that
@mr_rossi_gooner: Vermaelen is getting ripped a new one by some 4th rate players, I thought he was getting back to his normal self
@locdgooner: Vermaelen is possibly the most overrated player that’s ever played for arsenal and there’s been plenty
@njacha: Vermaelen’s captaincy role is putting too much pressure on him & affecting his performance negatively. It’d suit Arteta; Jack 2 be his vice.
@thearsenal_: Mertersacker and Vermaelen are good players, and yet 4th Divison Bradford made them look like a pair of Stepanovs in the first place.
@jamesmoore_93: Vermaelen, Podolski and Gervinho are not good enough for Arsenal Football Club.
@gb1886: Tonight summed up why I don’t think Vermaelen is as good as some make him out to be. He’s too complacent, irresponsible and mistake-prone.
@meryljag: Vermaelen was a beast and a natural leader last season. He seemed to be perfect captain material. He’s struggling now.
@sabah_chotuafc: Did we question vermaelen being captain before this season started? No. Because we saw him as a natural leader. So is he a bad captain?
@jcourier1: Vermaelen needs to be stripped of the captaincy. Feel for the guy tbh, isn’t a leader and doesn’t deserve to play at the moment.
The views are pretty mixed, and some very critical – What did you think of Vermaelen’s performance? And what needs to happen for him to improve?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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