FC Cologne 1-0 Arsenal: Player Ratings
The team that currently sit bottom of the Bundesliga were able to score a famous win over the mighty Arsenal. A 62nd-minute penalty from Sehrou Guirassy was enough to be the difference between the two teams.
Despite losing, Arsenal will finish top of Group H as Red Star Belgrade drew with BATE. FC Koln, however, are still in a battle for 2nd place with Red Star Belgrade, as the two teams meet in the final game week.
Here’s how the players fared:
FC Cologne
Timo Horn: 7/10
The 24-year-old wasn’t particularly bombarded with shots. But he did find himself under a lot of offensive pressure. Arsenal penned Cologne into their own defensive third for most of the game, forcing him to make 7 saves and claim 1 cross.
Dominic Maroh: N/A
The 30-year-old was completely in control of his defence until an injury put him on the shelf in the 38th minute.
Jorge Mere: 6.5/10
With Alex Iwobi dropping deep and Danny Welbeck clearly unfit, the 20-year-old CB didn’t have much to do in terms of 1v1 defending. In fact, he had a comfortable match where he just focused on his positioning in Cologne’s low-block.
Frederik Sorensen: 7/10
The 25-year-old maintained Cologne’s defensive solidity throughout the match, acting as a rock on the left of the German teams’ back three. Sorensen won 2 aerials, attempted 3 tackles, made 6 clearances and intercepted 6 passes.
Jannes Horn: 6/10
The wing-back found himself defending more than he did attack. The 20-year-old didn’t particularly do much, all he did was form a back five off the ball.
Milos Jojic: 6.5/10
The central midfielder didn’t do much in terms of getting forward but he tirelessly pressed Arsenal’s midfield pivot. Jojic successfully intercepted 4 passes, attempted 6 tackles, created 2 chances and completed 26 passes.
Salih Ozcan: 5.5/10
As Cologne’s holding midfielder, Ozcan was tasked with cutting off passing lanes to Arsenal’s front three. However, he struggled to cope with Arsenal’s constant pressure as he was dribbled past 11 times during the match.
Lukas Klunter: 6.5/10
The right wing-back was resolute in his positioning and relentless in his pressing of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Klunter was only dribbled past once as his positioning made him less susceptible to being beaten for pace.
Jhon Cordoba: 6/10
The 24-year-old’s electric pace proved to be a danger to Arsenal’s back three at all times. He made several runs in the final third, attempting to stretch Arsenal’s defensive line. However, when he did get into threatening attacking positions, he didn’t do much with the ball.
Yuya Osako: 4/10
The 27-year-old had little to no effect on the game whatsoever. On the ball, he only completed 12 passes and had 1 shot on goal. Off the ball, he didn’t disrupt Arsenal’s build-up play at all.
Sehrou Guirassy: 7/10
The 21-year-old portrayed nerves of steel as he stepped up to open the scoring for FC Koln. On top of that, Guirassy worked hard off the ball, winning 5 aerials and making 2 tackles. This is a night the youngster will never forget in his whole career. He scored the winning goal against Arsenal, let that sink in.
Substitutions
Konstantin Rausch: 6.5/10
Being in a constant aerial battle with Olivier Giroud is testing at the best of times but he literally bested the Frenchman for most of the game.
Pawel Olkowski: 6/10
The 27-year-old came on for Cordoba in the 56th minute to help sure up things for the German team.
Matthias Lehmann: N/A
The 34-year-old only mustered up 5 successful passes in his time on the pitch.