Arsenal have published their squad numbers list:
- 1: Szczesny *
- 2: Debuchy
- 3: Gibbs
- 4: Mertersacker
- 5: Vermaelen
- 6: Koscielny
- 7: Rosicky *
- 8: Arteta *
- 9: Podolski
- 10: Wilshere
- 11: Ozil
- 12: Giroud
- 13:
- 14: Walcott
- 15: Oxlade Chamberlain
- 16: Ramsey *
- 17: Sanchez
- 18: Monreal
- 19: Santi Cazorla
- 20. Flamini *
- 22: Sanogo *
- 23
- 24: Diaby *
- 25: Jenkinson *
- 26
- 27: Gnabry *
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31: Ryo *
- 32
- 33
- 34: Coquelin *
- 35: Zelalem *
* = presumably available to play today.
Also we have listed as first team but not numbered
- Johan Djourou
- Joel Campbell
So what do we make of this? Coquelin is back and with a number which is interesting, after what seemed a fairly awful year out. Ryo is still there trying to get to the form that he had before. Gnabry and Zelalem have been given proper squad numbers. And Gibbs has finally given up 28 for a number reflecting his position in the team. Hayden, Eisfeld, Bellerin etc are not numbered – not sure if that means anything or not.
Now we just await the teams. The game isn’t on any UK TV station that I can see but is on the Arsenal.com site. I haven’t seen anything about who is televising the Emirates Cup, and that leaves me with a nasty feeling that it is likely to be BT Sprout, who spent much of the tournament sniggering at Arsenal and the whole concept of Cup. If they have been given the contract again I think that is a very poor show, although of course one can always turn the sound down and refuse to buy the products of any of the advertisers the BT Sprout line up.
Meanwhile on the Arsenal player I must say that the music they are using is utterly ghastly.
And so here we are at 2.46pm and the web site is showing a notice saying that the show started a minute ago, but it didn’t. At least the music stopped. For a bit. But now it is back again and it is just the sound of mud.
Team in full: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Hayden, Ajayi, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Toral, Zelalem, Willock, Sanogo
Substitutes: Martinez, Gibbs, Bellerin, Miquel, Pleguezuelo, Afobe, Akpom, Olsson, Flamini, Diaby
Ajayi is an Egyptian central defender. Ramsey is captain.
0-0 at half time. Torel hit the post.
yeah!
We are starting with : Szczesny, Jenkinson, Ajayi, Hayden, Monreal, Ramsey, Coquelin, Zelalem, Willock, Toral, Sanogo
a few unknown to me
Gnabry getting number 27 speak volume to me, he’s here to stay and fight for places..
. off to watch the game.
Ajayi isnt an egyptian , he is a nigerian
Great to have the Arsenal back and can’t wait for the season to start properly. I think if(i don’t understand his situation) Johan Djourou is still ours with like a year on his current deal. Maybe we should hold on to him. If Arsene has a proper view of our Coq and give him another chance too. I think Sanogo is going to have a great season and surprise lots of people. Ajayi is not an Egyptian but a Nigerian. I think the club should not have anything to do with BT sprout again after that shit they call advert. Bring on the gooners Thanks
Nice to know,and about ajayi,he is a nigerian.from the yoruba tribe in south west nigeria.i know this because i am a nigerian.you can find the yorubas in west africa,benin republic also but most are from nigeria and ajayi is a nigerian.
1-0 to Arsenal. Chris Ollson.
It ended 2-0.
Good second half performance, didn’t see the first half.
Chuba Akpom deserves to be given some time in the first team this season. The young man looks very hungry to succeed and I hope that he gets the opportunity with Arsenal.
A nice slow start to the season, (helping Boreham Stiff along the way) and giving the youngsters who are stepping up a chance to play with the older players. I enjoyed watching them play, how they think, how they assert themselves.
I hope they all make it, as they all seem to have a thinking style of play, trying out (new and different) things, which makes Arsenal become more dynamic and able to counter any situation.
Interesting the team news on the home page. We will see at season start how it looks then.
Agree with the comments about the younger players. It would be nice to see them make progress with Arsenal.
Chuba Akpom in particular seemed to be very confident and skilful. Also it is good to see Abou Diaby playing again. I would be happy for Djourou to stay, as he was always good when given a decent run at centre-back (where we are short of experienced cover) and he did have a decent World Cup with Switzerland.
In case yiou didn’t noticed that gives squad numbers to 25 players, which is all we’re allowed
It was good to see an Arsenal team back in action and a nice match to start off the season.
Seeing Diaby back was great & quite a few of the youngsters looked good. I agree with the comments about Akpom, he looked quite a threat.
Interesting post match comments from AW: –
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140719/wenger-on-a-workout-transfers-wilshere
@ blacksheep,
u21 players dont have to be registered. so i believe that leaves us with one or two spaces still….most likely a GK and a DM.
i really hope campbell gets a chance, giroud starting, with sanogo and campbell giving us plenty upfront.
I note that unlike the press boys Wenger is not willing to give an opinion on the Wilshere smoking incident until he has the facts from young Jack himself. He is unwilling to rely on what can be seen in the photos and wants to hear Jack’s story before making a judgement. It’s a pity the media don’t take a leaf out of Arsene’s book.
chuba akpom and kriss olsson both looked very sharp today. along with zalalem, gnabry and campbell we have some great young cover in the attacking areas. bellerin is another very intriguing prospect. will be interesting to see which of these players really makes it in the next couple of years.
i think campbell is possibly a little ahead of sanogo. similarly mobile, but a little better technique, finishing and i think those years on loan have helped him learn to shield the ball a little better than yaya. im looking forward to seeing campbell play for arsenal…
For some stupid stupid reason I forgot there was a match today. Watched the 12 minute highlights though – in addition to what the guys have said up top, I was very interested in Coquelin. He seemed to be sitting deep and was spraying passes around like Pirlo over the top .. haha. If he stays, it’ll be interesting – and should shut down the calls for a “genuine DM” whatever that means. I don’t think he will though, I honestly doubt Joel Campbell will..either…but am happy to be proved wrong – better them both than spending 150000 a week on Khedira who isn’t even a “DM”.
For everyone deep into transfers and believing the press:
– Remy, Khedira, Schniederlin are all big big vapour/phantom transfers. Please help out here Tony : )
If Tommy V goes which will be sad – coz I genuinely like him, we’ll get a CB, if not, we won’t.
We’ll get 1 backup keeper from somewhere. Who I have no clue. Maybe Ospina..but Martinez isn’t our number 2 – 100%.
Maybe I will watch the game in detail and send out a post : ) – and try and be regular this year.
Arvind
The BBC is reporting that Remy has signed with Liverpool. So, we can stroke that one out.
Excellent news Gord. I was hoping fervently that he never came here and that if at all we need cover – Campbell or Ryo (doubtful) should be given a go there.
Coquelin is interesting. We could sell him, or keep him as 3rd choice DM and back-up CB, which would solve quite a few problems. I can’t see a place for Campbell. If he was good enough he’d have a new contract. Having only one year left is awkward. My opinion is that Gnabry is ahead of him as a winger, and Sanogo has more potential as a CF. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if he stays as a squad player.
Injuries (thanks to shit head Miralas) have halted Ryos progress. I hope he makes it here. Hez got pace and skill. Application is what needed improvement.
Quincy
Your 3:18 am post is sort of interesting. But, I wonder if you could rewrite it from the point of view of say Coquelin’s father?
Ok firstly, djourou is at hamburg and back in training with them. Campbell is on holiday and has been a little bit busy before that to take part in a photo shoot. I am certain he will get either #21 or #23 and be given a chance to impress. At the moment he is one of 11 forwards competing for one of the 3 spots up front. Walcott sanchez giroud chamberlain Campbell podolski gnabry sanogo ryo akpom and afobe.
As for places, at the moment we have 25 players born 1992 or before. However, people also need to consider the champions league quotas. These are different to the premier league squad rules and we are in fact already over our A list quota.
Gord, am I missing some sort of inside joke? Was I too harsh on Coquelin?