Cologne v Arsenal Player Ratings – Coquelin best of a bad bunch

It was most disappointing to win the Group with this performance but the team were unlucky not to come away with a point. After three wins this second string have gone downhill with little left to play for until the next round it must be hard to get motivated. We would hope that they would try a bit harder to impress Wenger and try to force a place in the first team.
It was not the most exciting game to watch, but there were a few good performances in there…

David Ospina, 7
Couldn’t do anything about the penalty, but otherwise looked as good as Petr Cech to me!

Mathieu Debuchy, 7
Still rusty but did his job well except for the clumsy foul that gave away the penalty

Per Mertesacker, 8
Didn’t do anything wrong to be honest. Looked a cut above his fellow defenders.

Rob Holding, 7
Gradually improving but anyone could look good at this level!

Calum Chambers, 5
Having not played for so long it seemed very strange to play him as wing-back. At least he had a run out to gain match fitness.

Francis Coquelin, 8
Definitely our best striker yesterday (lol), and deserved to finally break his duck. Had a very good game in my book.

Mohamed Elneny, 6
At least he was played in his correct position for a change, but still looked very rusty. I can’t see him staying at Arsenal to be honest

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, 7
A bright spark on the day and should soon be challenging for a First team place more often

Jack Wilshere, 7
Not one of his best performances but is still ring rusty. As he said it’s not easy when you play every three weeks.

Olivier Giroud, 6
We should be expecting him to score at least once at this level, but he rarely looked threatening. Didn’t look half as threatening as Welbeck.

Danny Welbeck, 7
Was very lively considering he had been out injured for so long. He will be returning to the Premier League squad very soon I imagine. 45 minutes was a good run out to set him on his way. Please stay fit this time!

Substitutes

Alex Iwobi (replaced Welbeck, 45), 6
As rusty as the rest of the forward line, but looked composed.

Reiss Nelson (replaced Chambers, 67), 7
Very impressive cameo. Great run to get a shot on goal but end product was a bit weak.

Nketiah N/A
Not long enough for a rating but definitely another bright spark. One for the future.

13 Comments

  1. Did you intentionally rate Coquelin high to lure more comments in? Coquelin was one of the bad performers, he produced a lot of bad touches in the first half, which lead to many loose balls.

    The most prominent players were Welbeck and Maitland-Niles. If Welbeck was not replaced, I think Arsenal could have bigger chance to score, but maybe he was kept for the Burnley game.

    A glimpse of very fine movements from Nelson showed that he could be more threatening than Wilshere in the front. Both Iwobi and Nelson should play more often with Sanchez, to gain more experience and learn.

  2. 7’s and 8’s in the game that we lost? Sorry, but no one deserves more than a 5. Poor performances all around. And to people who want Ozil sold and Jackie boy to take his place – LOL. Wilshere was, is, and will always be a failure.

    1. I posted after the game that nobody should get higher than a 4. We were appalling and Coquelin was terrible and should not be allowed to cross the halfway line if he ever plays again. I support Arsenal through thick and thin but lost 2 hours of my life I will never get back watching that rubbish last night! Agree with you Vlad.

  3. A game that showed many of the ones fielded are not sufficient quality. Maitland niles can be good depth at midfield, no need for el neny or Coq.
    Giroud reminded everyone why lacazette was necessary and needs to play 90 min.
    Nelson showing that we don’t need theo anymore, and chambers as RWB? Geez

    I’d rather see young players given a chance, so they don’t end up like theo, ox, etc… Instead of running out aged players past sell by date. Sentimentality killing us from top down

  4. I made this point the other day about how when we lose, and perform very badly there’s very generous ratings, and when we win brilliantly like against Spurs, the ratings are only slightly better, sometimes even the same. Mustafi was given an ‘8’ rating against Spurs for example, and now Coquelin, and Mertesacker are getting ‘8’ ratings in a defeat, and a poor performance, and against a shocking team that we should be spanking! Lots of ‘7’ ratings as well?

    1. Guessing possession percentage, sideways and constant back passing adds to player ratings. Taking these factors into account here are my ratings

      Ospina 7. Good job and not as if cech would have blocked that penalty, or any penalty

      Per 6. Decent performance

      Debuchy 5. Because he tackles like xhaka

      Holding 6 kid has leveled off, still waiting

      Maitland niles 7 looked dangerous on left all night, always causing them trouble

      Holding 5 RWB not his gig, guess he has to wait for CB game time

      Coq 4.5. Playing Ramsey role; mostly in front of ball, minimal defense, and absolute shadow of himself. 2yrs ago was midfield beast; now is unrecognizable to me in midfield

      El neny 5 doesn’t give ball away with careless passes, but his back and sideways passing bores everyone to brink of suicide

      Welbeck 5.5. Love love love his work rate, hate hate hate his lack of finishing. Same finishing issues as theo

      Giroud 4.5. Super sub if players can get crosses in, super dud when we don’t

  5. I don’t understand this average of 7 for a bad bunch.
    Which scale is used! 15?.
    Yesterday showed that that our team could have been relegated by now in the German Bundisliga.
    One can see why Xhaka, as bad as he is, is still our best there. No wonder why he’s always on team list. Arsene sees more during training than we see. But he bought them all.

  6. This was maybe about giving our second string some valuable time. They haven’t played together for a while and I think they just didn’t take enough risks in the end. Next round we probably wont be able to make so many changes to the line up, we must of gave out more minutes to different players than anyone this season. I hope we get a tough draw next round because underwhelmed is a very polite way of putting that last round of fixtures. I wouldn’t mind getting Dortmund and Atletico if it was possible.

  7. I notice the writer of this “article ” chose to hide his name. So would I if I were stupid enough to write this nonsense. Coquelin was drreadful and only worsted(if such a word exists) by the appalling Elneny. Either this article is a ludicrous attempt to get clicks or he must be in love with Coquelin! He probably thinks Walcott is our hardest working player too! The most ludicrous opinion I have read by an article writer on this site.

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