Goals: Arsenal: Giroud (86).
Man of the Match/Goat of the Game: Jack Wilshere largely made the winning goal with a wonderful turn and shimmy through the Belgrade defence. He was the most dangerous of all the Arsenal players, the one who looked like he could unlock the defence.
Referee Rating: Benoit Bastien 6. The referee generally had a decent match, although he was a little slow at first to punish Red Star’s fouling. Eventually he made the key decision to send off Rodic for his foul on Coquelin.
Manager Rating: Wenger 6. Wenger gambled on a makeshift defence which included Elneny and a recall for Debuchy. Other than one poor back pass from Elneny, they delivered. Willock again played well, but you still sense that Maitland-Niles and Nelson are not that comfortable playing in their positions.
Arsenal performance: Arsenal battled and fought and came away with a key victory on the road. Once again Jack Wilshere delivered an excellent performance, always driving forward and looking to create openings in the Belgrade defence. Walcott could’ve delivered earlier and Giroud for most of the night was inept, but late in the match the three combined to produce the match’s only goal.
Belgrade came close to scoring a couple of times in the first half, with a header hitting the bar and two shots at point blank range hitting Cech and Nelson.
Conclusion: Arsenal looked a little sloppy and their passing lacked pace, but they managed to conjure up a victory. The win largely gives Arsenal control of the group and the Gunners have all but qualified to the second round. Now they need to refocus for the Premier League this weekend.
Player Ratings:
Cech 7: Cech made a key save in the first half from Radonjic. For the rest of the night he looked solid on corners and helped to marshal this makeshift defence.
Debuchy 7: Mathieu delivered a solid performance for someone who has played so little for the past two years. However, this was a performance you would expect from someone who earns so much money!
Elneny 6: Arsenal had played Elneny at the back in pre-season, so this was not such a radical move. He played okay, but he made one sloppy back pass that almost led to disaster. He also tended to stray too far forward several times. His marking on one corner was poor, where one Belgrade player nearby almost scored unopposed.
Holding 7: A good outing from Rob. Only one time did he allow a cross which caused some problems.
Nelson 7: Was unadventurous most of the night, but several times he did burst forward and show some flair. Doesn’t combine well with Walcott though and the free-kick he surprisingly took was awful. He made a key block on a shot from Radonjic, although he had stumbled and allowed the first shot and then was in the way for the follow up shot, which I’m not sure he knew too much about.
Coquelin 6: First game back for Francis, who was decent, but tended to wander too far forward a little too often. He drew the red card and ended the game with a bruise on his face.
Willock 7: Another good game for Willock, who was generally good most of the match.
Maitland-Niles 6: Ainsley was decent, but he was cautious and didn’t get forward that often. Once, when he did, he delivered an awful cross. This is still not a position he should be playing.
Wilshere 8: On several occasions he opened up their defence and on a number of other occasions he came close to doing the same. He is positive, runs at the defence and has an eye on who is open.
Walcott 7: Theo should’ve scored in the first half, but his left footed drive was weak and at the keeper. On another occasion he opted not to chest the ball down and he ended up losing it. He squandered several chances in the second half, but he was involved and always looked dangerous. He ended up assisting on the only goal.
Giroud 7: Olivier’s wonder goal, a bicycle kick over the keeper and in, was his only meaningful contribution. For most of the night he squandered and mishit opportunities. I was ready to anoint him the goat of the game, but he delivered.
Substitutes:
Sheaf n/a: A short outing and he almost created a chance for himself in the Belgrade box in extra time.
McGuane n/a: He made a late challenge in the box, which Neil Swarbrick would’ve given a penalty to Belgrade. Luckily, we had a better referee tonight.