Player Ratings: RC Lens 1-1 Arsenal
|Arsenal began their pre-season schedule with a trip to France to take on RC Lens and drew one all in what was a mixed performance.
The Gunners went a goal down in the first half after some poor defending from Calum Chambers but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s lovely chipped late in the game was a consolation in a game that was more about providing youngsters with a chance as well as letting the first-team stars get some minutes under their respective belts.
How did the lads get on in the game?
Emiliano Martinez: 5/10
Was pretty untroubled during his 45 minutes, caught a decent effort but conceded.
Mathieu Debuchy: 4/10
Nothing impressive from Debuchy, who is becoming a bit of a ‘meh’ player. Played 45 minutes and didn’t do much during his time on the pitch.
Per Mertesacker: 4/10
Exposed for his lack of pace on a couple of occasions, nothing we’re not used to seeing from Mertesacker. Will need a couple of games to get back at it.
Calum Chambers: 2/10
Not the best game from Chambers, who was largely at fault for the Lens goal.
Nacho Monreal: 5/10
Nacho played a half and provided some decent width.
Francis Coquelin: 6/10
Put in a couple of strong tackles and did his usual, tidy job.
Mohamed Elneny: 5/10
Moved the ball forward quickly.
Theo Walcott: 3/10
What is the point of Walcott? Same as always, lots of pace and no end product.
Alex Iwobi: 6/10
Looked good in parts, stretched the Lens defence and was good in possession.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide: 6.5/10
Looked very good during his time on the pitch, should’ve scored after creating space for himself but was impressive.
Chuba Akpom: 5/10
Quite an absent performance from Chubs. Had an early shot on target but that was about it. Subbed off at half-time.
Substitutes –
Matt Macey: 7/10
Made a very good save as pretty much his only calling in the game.
Krystian Bielik: 6/10
Looked solid in defence, didn’t have a lot to do but was good in possession.
Kieran Gibbs: 6/10
Offered pace going forward. A good alternative.
Joel Campbell: 6.5/10
He creates a lot more than the likes of Walcott at times and is much more comfortable on the ball, seems to have some idea of what he wants to do.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 7/10
Lots of pace going forward and terrorised his opponents with his skill, scored the equaliser with a nice chipped effort.
Serge Gnabry: 6/10
Had a decent bit of involvement in the goal and looked good going forward.
Gedion Zelalem: N/A
Didn’t do too much due to not having much time to play.
Chris Willock: N/A
Again, not much time on the pitch but showed his skill by taking the right back on.
I thought both Martinez and Macey impressed in goal. I thought Debuchy looked very solid at right back and some of his challenges were old school defending. Apart of his wayward header I thought Chambers was good at centreback and both Mertesacker and Beilik looked very shaky. In the battle of Arsenal’s left backs I though Gibbs was more effective than Monreal in attack and defence. Central midfield was a bit of a shambles though some of Coquelin’s tackling was nice and aggressive. Creatively, I thought Iwobi was impressive when operating in the No 10 role. On the wings, Campbell… Read more »