Beglaryan made the saves, Iwu won the ball back: Armenia’s best performers against Montenegro

Armenia drew 0-0 with Montenegro in the fourth round of the UEFA Nations League. The match in Podgorica produced few clear-cut chances, with Armenia’s solid defensive performance playing a major role in securing the result.

According to SofaScore, goalkeeper Arsen Beglaryan and defender Georgiy Harutyunyan were Armenia’s highest-rated players, both receiving a score of 7.5.

Beglaryan made amends for his costly mistake against Cyprus. The goalkeeper produced a confident performance, making five saves and keeping a clean sheet.

Central defender Georgiy Harutyunyan started for the fourth consecutive match and once again emerged as one of the leaders of Armenia’s defence. Over these four games, Harutyunyan has shown that he has made significant progress as a player. He was confident when building attacks from the back, frequently stepped out successfully to win the ball early, and also posed a threat from corner kicks.

Fellow centre-back Erik Simonyan also performed well in what was only his second start for the national team.

Highest SofaScore ratings

7.5 — Arsen Beglaryan, Georgiy Harutyunyan
7.2 — Erik Piloyan, Erik Simonyan, Narek Oganesyan, Ugochukwu Iwu
7.1 — Artur Serobyan

Armenia created very few dangerous chances

It was a tight match, something also reflected in the individual expected goals statistics.

Artur Serobyan had the highest xG figure among Armenia’s players at just 0.07, followed by Georgiy Harutyunyan with 0.05.

Armenia players’ xG:

0.07 — Artur Serobyan
0.05 — Georgiy Harutyunyan
0.02 — Nair Tiknizyan, Artur Miranyan, Ugochukwu Iwu
0.01 — Karlen Oganesyan, Narek Oganesyan

Harutyunyan led Armenia in passing

Georgiy Harutyunyan completed the most accurate passes among Armenia’s players — 42 at an 88% completion rate.

He was followed by:

34 passes — Karlen Oganesyan (85%)
33 passes — Nair Tiknizyan (83%)

Meanwhile, Artur Serobyan was Armenia’s main creative force, recording three key passes.

Key passes:

3 — Artur Serobyan
2 — Gor Manvelyan
1 — Narek Oganesyan, Nair Tiknizyan, Eduard Spertsyan

Serobyan also led Armenia in successful dribbles with three. Narek Oganesyan and Ugochukwu Iwu recorded one successful dribble each.

Iwu did a huge amount of work in midfield

Ugochukwu Iwu was one of Armenia’s most influential players in defensive phases.

The midfielder recorded five tackles and three interceptions, the best figures in the Armenian team. Although Iwu nominally played in central midfield, he frequently dropped deeper when Armenia defended, effectively becoming a third centre-back.

Tackles:

5 — Ugochukwu Iwu
3 — Narek Oganesyan
2 — Georgiy Harutyunyan

Interceptions:

3 — Ugochukwu Iwu
2 — Nair Tiknizyan
1 — Georgiy Harutyunyan, Narek Oganesyan, Eduard Spertsyan

Iwu also won 7 of his 8 duels.

Narek Oganesyan won 80% of his duels

Narek Oganesyan recorded the highest overall number of duels won, succeeding in 8 of 10.

Duels won:

8 of 10 — Narek Oganesyan
7 of 8 — Ugochukwu Iwu
5 of 9 — Artur Serobyan

Narek was also fouled four times, more than any other Armenian player. It was a foul on him that saw Stefan Lončar receive a red card in the 87th minute. Erik Piloyan, Artur Serobyan and Eduard Spertsyan were each fouled twice.

Piloyan and Simonyan led in clearances

Armenia’s central defenders had plenty of work to do around their own penalty area.

Erik Piloyan made seven clearances, while Erik Simonyan recorded six. Georgiy Harutyunyan and Nair Tiknizyan added four clearances each.

Melikyan after Montenegro draw: “I’m incredibly proud of my players — this team has a future”