Arsenal won in trademark style at the Emirates in their first European game under Unai Emery, but how did the players fare?
Arsenal took on Vorskla in matchday 1 of this year’s Europa League campaign. I expect big things of the Gunners in the competition this year, and they didn’t let me down last night.
In fairness, the game took quite some time to pick up a tempo. The Vorskla defence was resilient and didn’t allow the Arsenal attackers any respect, which came as a surprise. However, one quick counter attack involving Mkhitaryan, Iwobi and Aubameyang was enough to break the deadlock for the home side. Their first shot on target of the night.
That’s enough of the recap, let’s get into some real analysis. How did the Arsenal players get on?
GK: Bernd Leno – 7.5/10
Meh… That was disappointing for the German. He played well, but the fact that he conceded two on his debut doesn’t look good.
In all honesty, it was just a relief to see someone other than Cech between the sticks. Arsenal could finally play out from the back, a style which Emery has been looking to move towards for quite some time now. We shouldn’t judge him too much for Vorskla’s two consolation goals, as his positioning was good and there was nothing else he could have done.
He looked extremely comfortable in possession, and that’s all that matters to Emery.