Player ratings of starting eleven plus early subs (Elneny and Chambers)
Ospina: 6 – plays a lot on instinct and character but lacks calm and focus at times. Couple of good saves
BFG: 7 – good positional play and a bit unlucky with rebounds of the ball after making blocks and tackles. Calming influence to team mates
Holding: 5 – a bit too slow in anticipating the game and supporting the BFG at the crucial moments, and a bad give away that led to a goal
Kola: 8 – effective on the wing and a fine assist. Good aggression and focus. Better defensively in second half
Xhaka: 8 – controlled the contribution from midfield and kept game going constantly. Some fantastic passes
Coq: 6 – good aggression and energy and worked well with Xhaka. Shame he had to come off
Maitland Niles: 7 Much better second half, with good positioning and interceptions. Gave the ball away cheaply which led to a goal but that was a promising performance
Nelson: 7 – great wing play and very good crosses into the box. Good support in defence.
Theo: 8 – took his chances well after positioning well in the box. Good energy and aggression.
Iwobi: 7 – fabulous goal. Got better in second half but struggled to dominate our attacking play for large parts. But what a finish!
Giroud: 8 – the Hub played selflessly for the team and bagged a goal himself. Pivotal up front.
Elneny: 7 – started rusty but grew into the game. Provided calm in midfield and great support for the three CBs
Chambers: 7 – solid and confident.
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
Reiss Nelson has no fear, he plays as if he expects to play, completely confident in his own ability and boy can he tackle, he reminds me of Rocky Rocastle, same qualities of technical proficiency allied to a fierce combative streak.
If Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain thinks he’s irreplaceable then he better think again.
Sead, love him already, I said to my son that he has that same will to win that made Nigel Winterburn such a fine footballer and defender.
Good to see Calum Chambers playing again and looking so comfortable.
Yes all agreed Kevski. Good to see Chambers playing with such confidence. that is what a spell away from the team can do..
A shame it is so quiet on the blog. Football has been played but is it really more interesting to talk about transfer speculation?
great game I hear.. Nelson making our academy proud. sad I missed the match and could only get clips of the goals. Walcott doing what he does best, confuse us.. just hoping Willock and Nelson get go in the team this season.
We had a decent outing today. We conceded two unlucky deflections but got one of our own as well. TA gave ratings that I would have given as well so no changes from me then.
My first impression is that we focused our attacking game down the flanks. Nelson and Kolašinac were constantly overlapping to give us the numbers in the final third. In that kind of attacking game, Xhaka’s distribution is essential. His diagonal passes speed up our attacking game as we cut out second third of the pitch in the build up of the attack.
Giroud did a great job as a target man as he was destroying Luisao all day long and should have had one more assist to his name hadn’t Theo missed a sitter.
Seo was excellent as his physical power gave him the edge over the Benfica defender before our first goal.
Nelson was the flavour of the day. His decisions in the final third were impressive and the fact he can cross with either foot excites me a lot.
Our defending could have been better but it’s important that our defenders click together once Mustafi and Monreal take their place in the starting line-up. Chambers was a positive one today while Holding was a bit careless with passing and in possession.
Let’s see what we have for the Chelsea game.
just take note, Holding is still rusty after just joining the squad
your taught, will #AFC get to sign new players? tho if not I just hope Wenger puts faith in Nelson and Joe, they will fit in like new signings but with occasional lapses of cause
Arsenal may have beaten Benfica 5-2. I still have doubs about the German defender.
He could be the vulnerable link in the defence.
Wenger shd not start him .
Couldn’t find the match on tv or youtube, so thanks for the comments next to the ratings. I did see some extended clips and liked kolasinacs perseverance and really impressed with Nelson’s moves..
Really looks like a talent. I hope the full game is on arsenal.com in the next day or two.
Great to know we had a good outing; I couldn’t see the game. It was on Arsenal.com and I was on it until (other) duty called. Happy to know Kolasinac did well and I shall be rooting for him to prove his worth all season long. Fingers crossed.
Will have to see the highlights now.
Kolasinac looks a better threat than Nacho in the final third. So I guess it might be more of Kola at wing back and Nacho at CD.
Nelson is my thrill. He is an intuitive player. He is full of confidence. Apart from the wing back role, he is the kind of player that would fit anywhere in the attack. Without doubt he is now a first team player. He only needs to bulk up a little bit more (body strength) but he gets round that with his quickness.
Our impressive display hinged so much on our two excellent wingbacks going forward.
Mainland Niles has been used in all sorts of positions. That’s gives an indication of his potentials. But his game still lacks confidence. He needs to be loaned out where he would be playing regularly so he can grow there.
A very good step up in performance by Coq in his play with the ball. Was central in the build up and assist for the 2nd goal. Remains important to the team as the best, by far, defender outside our back line. Elneny looked like he is growing also. Giroud was masterful in the box with his active hold up play. Only our defense stuttered.
Thanks for comments and all agreed with PE’s summary.
Wenger’s preferred three at the back most likely are: Nacho Koz Must and we didn’t start with any of them. If you take one out and then add one of our ‘back up CBs’ I am sure we would cope well. Chambers, Holding and Gabby and BFG of course all have plenty to offer. Take out two and it may be a bit more tricky.
Admir, good to see you back here. As Kola is a fellow countryman, please could you tell us a little bit more about him?
New Post 🙂