UEFA Europa League 2017/18: Red Star Belgrade 0-1 Arsenal, Player Ratings
In a game of little quality and few chances, it was Arsenal who came out victors in the Group H clash. An exquisite overhead kick from Olivier Giroud was enough to give Arsenal all 3 points in the Rajko Miti? Stadium.
A 1-0 win for the Gunners sees them firmly establish themselves as the top team in Group H, as they’ve won three out of three games. The win also allows Arsène Wenger to appreciate the depth of his squad as it was a completely weakened XI he put out.
Here’s how the players on either rated:
Red Star Belgrade
Milan Borjan: 6/10
The Canadian was probably expecting a hard night’s graft, instead, he only had to make 4 saves all game. His goal was rather untested throughout the 90 minutes and the only effort to beat him was a wonder strike from Olivier Giroud.
Filip Stojkovi?: 5/10
The 24-year-old did his best to venture forward all game but the lack of support from his teammates made his job impossible. In the end, Stojkovi? was overrun by the powerful Maitland-Niles.
Vujadin Savi?: 6.5/10
Savi? was a solid rock at the back all game. The 27-year-old physically bullied Olivier Giroud during the 90 minutes, winning 2 aerial duels. On top of that, he had to watch out for the exploits of Jack Wilshere who constantly tried running at him.
Damien Le Tallec: 5/10
Unlike his Centre-back partner, Tallec struggled to deal with the movement of Arsenal. At times he found himself completely overrun by Arsenal’s midfield runners as his positioning was easy to take advantage of.
Milan Rodi?: 3/10
Not only did Rodi? get annihilated by Reiss Nelson all game, he got himself sent off in the last 10 minutes. Even though Arsenal had more quality than Red Star Belgrade, that sending off firmly tipped the odds in the Gunners’ favour.
Slavoljub Srni?: 4/10
Ineffective, toothless and passive, Srni? did not contribute at all to Belgrade’s attacking play. Throughout the game, he only made 18 passes in total and didn’t attempt one shot on goal.
Guélor Kanga: 5/10
The 27-year-old spent most of the game cutting off passing lanes and chasing Josh Willock. Clearly the CM was not instructed to get forward at all, instead, his role was to help his team off the ball.
Mitchell Donald: 5/10
The central defensive midfielder tried his best to mark Jack Wilshere all game but failed woefully in tracking the Englishman. He found himself chasing shadows all game and looked totally out of place.
Nenad Krsti?i?: 7/10
Krsti?i? was the main driver of Belgrade’s build-up play, constantly driving through the middle. The 27-year-old maintained an 89% pass accuracy and created 2 chances for his teammates.
Nemanja Radonji?: 4/10
The youngster tried his best to affect the game from the left wing but instead found himself isolated out wide. The winger created no chances neither did he attempt any shots on goal.
Richmond Boakye: 6/10
The isolated forward was everywhere all game, because of his isolation, he kept dropping deep to connect with his teammates. He was daring in his movement and bold with his attempted passes. If the others were on his wavelength, Belgrade could have certainly rescued a point.
Substitutions:
Srdjan Babic: 6/10
Babic did his best to change the game after coming on in the 66th minute. The 21-year-old maintained a 92% pass accuracy, trying to force things to happen against Arsenal.
Aleksander Pesic: N/A
The striker did his best to offer something different in the last 10 minutes but to no avail.
Marko Gobeljic – N/A
It’s no surprise that Gobeljic maintained a 100% pass accuracy as he only played for 10 minutes.