Arsenal player ratings from Benfica win – Walcott MOTM

Yes, I know that a lot of you Arsenal fans out there will have been very impressed with the performances from our new summer signing Sead Kolasinac and the young Gunner Reiss Nelson in the emphatic 5-2 win over the champions of Portugal yesterday, and so was I to be fair, but for me the stand out game from an Arsenal player came from the veteran forward Theo Walcott so he gets my pick as our Man of the Match.

Ospina 7 – Very unlucky with two big deflections on the goals. Good saves and commanding game.

Holding 6 – Pretty good but a few errors and looked slightly off the pace and ring rusty, understandably.

Mertesacker 7 – Apart from his part in the second goal our German was composed and calm at the back.

Maitland-Niles 5 – Error strewn. Not sure he is cut out for that role. Still young and learning though.

Nelson 8 – This kid looks the real deal. Dynamic, skillful and with a football brain to match.

Coquelin 7 – Had a great game until injury forced him off. Key role in 2nd goal and ran the midfield.

Xhaka 7 – Nothing too flashy but did his job and that through ball was a peach.

Kolasinac 8 – Fantastic show in defence and attack from the Bosnian. Let’s hope for much more of the same.

Walcott 9 Theo was on fire. Two great goals, involved in everything. A real menace. Keep it up!!

Iwobi 6 – A slight off day but still a decent game for the youngster.

Giroud 7 – Battled hard and finally got reward with a good goal and assist.

subs:
All did okay in little time. Nice flashes from Lacazette. Elneny covered well for Coquelin. Chambers looked solid.

Bob.

30 Comments

      1. @Indy757, you see his tap-ins and al-round play as him being “on fire” while i see walcott is prone to “mis-fire”, he played ok but ain’t my MOM

        1. ???Two tap in gives you MOTM Doesn’t mean because you scored two goals then you get it for free ?it is more than that, Kolasinac was involved in 3 of our goals and Nelson had one and was better. For me Kolasinac was MOTM or Nelson because of his all round play.

      2. That’s not what you call on fire, kolasnic was on fire yesterday and deserves the MOTM, in my opinion, wallcot played well no doubt, but those were easy goals, before the goals he missed two, even though one was off..

      3. Walcott missed a sitter yesterday, do you remember that or were you just overwhelmed by his 2 goals?

  1. I thought Walcott also missed two really easy shots on goal. Granted he scored but is not consistent.

        1. oh yes stats !!
          love stats!!

          whats those stats about crouch being one of the worlds best strikers england ever had

          hahahah simon enough

  2. I think alot of fans just don’t like Walcott for what ever reason. Give the guy a break he was quality and got the goals that in essence won us the game. Well played Theo keep it up let’s get another 20 plus goals from you this season.

    1. unbelievable are we running a charity here?!
      10 years an only got one decent year from
      but yeah for whatever reason we dont like him

      loser mentality, winning managers give players 2-3 years at a push

      no wonder we dont win titles , our fans are us soft as our manager has been

      1. I don’t understand bro, how many chances does he need to prove himself? And he’s on 140 a week, even Muller don’t earn that much, so forgive me if I don’t get too excited about him scoring two tap ins, even sanogo scored four against benfica..

  3. I don’t think Walcott has ever gotten 20 plus in goal return.. excellent game and a great win but there still needs to some work done at the center of the park.. I would like the see more of nelson this season and iwobi.. they need to up their game if the want to stand a chance.. hope we can get lemar and seri or William carvalho before the season kicks off. Theo needs to add some passion and seriousness to his game.. theo 6 years back was a better and more hungry player.. we need the epl this season .. then if sanchez wants to leave he should f**k off.. cheers all.. true gunner

    1. eh he did get 21 in 2012/13 plus 19 last season. granted he has numerous flaws in his game but 104 in 381 games is good for a above average winger, 1 every 4 match.
      stats from 2009 -2017 premier lge and champ lge only
      242 match 14554 min 71 goals 39 ass
      204 min per goal, 132 min per gaal/assist.

      not world class but an above average player who has his use.

  4. Walcott + Mahrez style haircut = Like a new signing ?.

    Kolasinac was Bossing the left wing like the beefy kid who went around the school playground taking everyone’s pocket money ?.

    Nelson? ?? if the kid keeps playing like that, they’ll end up replacing the statue on the column with his, in Trafalgar Square.

    And was Giroud kissing his goodbyes to the Arsenal faithful when he scored? ?

  5. walcott for me was never good enough for arsenal
    has all the tools but lacked the brain
    and once he gained a mouth an ego – less so

    hope hes sold , cos even if has a crazy season thats still what 2 good ones in 11?!

    f*** outta here with that bullsh**
    an we slate giroud??

    whatever. perez showed more in one year then theo did in how many

    1. Oh , we’ll give Theo some time to prove himself…hiw about 5-10 years?
      If not we will sell him.

  6. the one thing i like about this site?

    girouds dead, donkey sell him
    gets 20 likes

    scores a goal
    girouds a must keep
    gets 20 likes

    lol , fast food opinion served by kfc

    1. @ Muff
      I’m guessing that your Girl fancies Theo? ?? Chill out Bruv, you must have fantasies too? Anyways, Ramsey is more over hyped than Walcott, yet last season Mr inconsistent still managed to bang in19 goals in all competitions and Wenger went and dropped him after the Palace defeat for simply stating the truth that Palace were more up for it. Blame the
      Manager for the lack of fighting spirit, that’s his job to motivate the team.

      And it’s perfectly normal for Gooners to be schizophrenic, that’s the side effects from indulging in Arsenal.

      1. i mention kfc an u appear like the candyman lool

        my girl likes giroud and i still support him haha
        damn latinas

      2. You do make a good point about him speaking out and then getting dropped, many people say it is the formation change but he might do well in the AM role and acting as a 2nd CF.

        Theo does have some talent and his timing of his runs are usually one of is better things along with his pace, the goals he scored came from those things.

        I guess Theo will have a bad season as he didn’t do too bad last season but I hope I am wrong and Theo is better this year than last.

  7. I wouldn’t read too much into this game. Not only because it’s preseason and we were the home team, but mostly because Benfica are exactly who we’d order from the menu. They pour forward like ourselves, but we have the better quality overall quality so it’s advantageous.

    I wouldn’t mind Nelson having a go at taking Walcotts shirt, but I feel there is more chance of him persuading Arsene to try himself out rather than a brand new overly expensive winger. Walcott will have done himself no harm by saying all the right things a couple of days ago, and now being in the right place at the right time, he probably worked that out earlier with teammates in training. Things have become more difficult, this is both good and it’s bad.

    Kola$inac, that was a Kolasic assist, it had Kolas written all over it

  8. Walcott have good off ball movement and finishing is good and he scores against big team.but he lacks other aspects of the game.our left side of defence is covered.right side also with Berlin and ox, but don’t know why our back 3 sometimes look shaky.

  9. Naming Theo as MOTM ? Were u listening to a radio or your wife called u to give u updates. Give credit to whom ( Sead or Nelson) is due. Your rating sucks just like Wenger, u have no clue. Rating Giroud 7/10 proves you know nothing about football. Give me a break with your usual hype of players.

  10. I think Perez is allot slyer than people give him credit for, not in a good way. He wants his cake, he wants to eat it, and he wants to be in his home when doing so (Instantly). Thanks to the Arsenal coffers, and him speaking out at every opportunity ..Both he and Deportivo will get exactly what they want …$$$$$. Deportivo couldn’t afford to pay his salary hike last summer, but they can this summer if we bow to the 8m price tag.

    It meant Perez getting a nice once off signing bonus when he joined us, a loyalty one too unless he puts in an official transfer request (which he wont). After staying for one season before returning, with the Arsenal paying half his salary on his return to Depor. Perez was the only one they could make money off of, this all stinks if you ask me. He made noises much too early. Perez looks like a giant greasy rat if you ask me. He knew what was to be expected with a club of our standing. He was used to much worse than Depor, he’s been around ..all over Europe. He knows and knew exactly what he was doing.

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