Arsenal suffered a frustrating and rather embarrassing 1-0 defeat to BATE Borisov in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-32 clash on Thursday.
Though they still have the second leg to redeem themselves, Unai Emery’s side couldn’t have put themselves in a much worse position than the one they’ve ended up in.
The Gunners failed to score an away goal, which could be their downfall if Borisov score just one at the Emirates (leaving Arsenal needing three). They also got their second top scorer and top assist provider for the season suspended for the return fixture.
The problems were largely down to the system Emery chose to employ, rather than individual faults, but with that in mind, let’s have a look at our player ratings for the fixture.
4Substitutes
Lucas Torreira 5
Torreira wasn’t bad after coming on, but it did seem a bit of a pointless substitution. Presumably, Xhaka was taken off because of his recent injury, but the Uruguayan midfielder was no more incisive and didn’t improve Arsenal’s build-up play after coming on. There was no need for his defensive abilities either, given the circumstances.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 4
Aubameyang didn’t do enough. He needed to provide more of a physical presence in the box, and at least hold the ball up a bit after Lacazette’s red card. The game wasn’t easy for anyone at that point, but it’s your big money signings you look to for inspiration in times like that. He really needs to step up in the second leg now.
Denis Suarez 6
Suarez was lively and direct after coming on, even if he found it just as difficult to produce a final ball as everybody else. Again, it was too late in the game for him to have a real impact, and it would be nice to see him given a bit more of an opportunity in the second leg.