By Walter Broeckx
A rather interesting team that started the finale of the Barclays Asian Trophy against Everton.
Cech making his first start for Arsenal and for the rest as expected lots of changes from the team that started against Singapore XI. The only player to start again was Jack Wilshere.
A complete new back four with Bellerin, Chambers, Koscielny and Gibbs. And in midfield no Coquelin or Flamini but we did have Aaron, Santi and Özil and Jack. Up front Giroud and Walcott.
The team that started was Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Chambers, Gibbs, Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, Walcott, Giroud.
On the bench we had : Szczesny, Debuchy, Gabriel, Arteta, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Monreal, Flamini, Coquelin, Akpom, Iwobi.
So we played without a defensive midfielder one could say and it was down to Santi, Aaron and Jack to use their head and be alert and be able to defend and attack.
Arsenal had most of the ball in the opening minutes if the match but because of some stream issues I couldn’t make much of it. The stream got better gradually and so did Arsenal and they had the match in control. Not much openings for either team. So a 0-0 after 15 minutes was the just result.
Jack, Santi en Aaron die afwisselend aanvallen en verdedigen.
Spijtig dat ik niet kan kijken
But in minute 21 Santi got the ball in the centre circle and saw the gap as did Theo. A lovely ball over the top and and Theo put it past the Everton goal keeper. GOAL!!!! 1-0 to the Arsenal after 21 minutes.
Arsenal kept the control of the match and only a long leg from Stone prevented Theo from having another chance. Arsenal kept on dominating and Everton didn’t really get near Cech. And when they tried to give a cross ball to the left back position it was… Theo who was covering for Gibbs and cut out the attempted pass.
Everton trying to do a bit more attacking then but the Arsenal team was well positioned most of the time and working hard on their defensive duties. Everton with a free kick on our left flank but Naismith headed the ball from an offside position against the crossbar so putting the ball in the net from the rebound didn’t count. The first time Everton really made an attacking contribution.
Özil trying to set up Ramsey for a spectacular volley but the attempt was wild and went wide off the target. The game opening up in the final minutes with some fatigue creeping in maybe in the difficult climate but Clevery his shot also well of the target. Theo with a great run to Özil who tried to set up Giroud but a defender just could cut out the ball. The score at half time stayed at 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Chamberlain came in at the start of the second half in the place of Wilshere. Theo with a first shot from the left but a defender diverted the ball in to a corner. Ramsey with a nice flick to Theo but nobody in the right place to put his low cross over the line and a defender could clear resulting in another chance but the header from Özil just went wide.
Everton with a long distance shot but Cech punched it away and Arsenal with the reaction and the Everton keeper had to stop a low shot from Cazorla. Oxlade-Chamberlain with cross that ended up with Giroud who mishit it but it came to Walcott who curled it just wide of the far post. Meanwhile Santi more and more played as the defensive midfielder. Giroud just not on the end of a cross and Theo couldn’t reach to the ball at the far post. Bellerin then with a shot but the keeper tipped it over.
The corner was short taken between Özil and Cazorla and the little Spaniard twisted and turned on the edge of the penalty area and suddenly unleashed a low shot with his left foot! GOAL!!!! 2-0 to The Arsenal after 58 minutes. Arsenal really was the better team.
On the hour mark Kone with a heading possibility but he was completely off balance to produce any danger and headed the ball wide over. A great attack starting Giroud heading it further, the Ox to Ramsey who could have taken a shot himself but opted to give it to Theo who shot over. But it was only a matter of seconds or Arsenal again with an attack this time Santi to Özil and he was one on one with the keeper and coolly finished it off. GOAL!!!! 3-0 to the Arsenal after 62 minutes.
Arsenal completely in control and only the keeper going wide out of his goal prevents another goal from Theo. Arsenal at times toying with Everton and dancing around their players like Muhammed Ali in his best days. Meanwhile the central defenders also did their part and sniffed out any possible danger. Lukaku had come on in the place of Kone for Everton.
Ramsey with a lovely ball to Oxlade-Chamberlain but his lob went just wide. Wonderful football at times. After 70 minutes the according to the media injured Arteta came in the place of Walcott. Time for a drink. Cech with a good punch after a rare Everton corner showing he also was on the field.
The Ox losing the ball in midfield resulted in Barkley having a shooting chance and he scored a goal for Everton after 72 minutes. 3-1 and no clean sheet for Cech in his first match.
Time for more changes in the Arsenal team. But Debuchy, Coquelin and Akpom coming on for Bellerin, Giroud and Santi. The cohesion had gone a bit now but still Akpom just came late to a loose ball and the Everton keeper could intercept it.
Arsenal now leaning back a bit in the closing minutes of the match. Everton pressing a bit more now but not really creating much real danger. The Ox with a lot of dribbles in the box but the shot from Ramsey as a result is blocked by a defender. Akpom could escape after a mistake from an Everton defender but his shot was too weak to beat the keeper and he got no warning from his teammates when he got the rebound. Arsenal ending the match on the front foot and again controlling the match and attacking in numbers.
The final score stayed at 3-1 to The Arsenal and as a result Arsenal win the Barclays Asia Cup. A well deserved win with Arsenal being the better team for almost the whole match.
I use an android application simply called ‘live football’ (old school football, predominantly green) the stream was decent, better than most Walter.
Santi Cazorla is becoming Arsenal’s Pirlo 🙂
Excellent result and some magnificent play – well done the team and manager!
During the game, I was reading the Daily Mail commentary. And hardly anything is mentioned. One gets the opinion it is a boring game where both teams have parked the bus. But, some comment by a muppet around half time about how wonderful the game is. Then you read Walter’s report above, nothing but action.
What does the Daily Mail (or whoever) hope to gain, by providing misleading commentary? And then there were errors as well.
Baffling.
Thanks for the write up Walter!
After about a dozen articles, attendance was 52,107. Not quite a sellout.
What a great performance today. A nice way to get warmed up for the season ahead. Still very early days obviously, but I’m really happy about how we linked up. Good team play, some good goals. We’re getting towards the ideal Wengerball play 🙂
@ gord
Out of the 52k people, All is see is red only a tiny section of Everton fans
Gord…… That’s what you get for giving the daily mail the time of day. I’d rather luck shot off a nettle than read anything they write.
I hope you enjoyed the game Blackfoox.
One of the news articles I ran across took pictures from the section of Everton supporters. News Channel Asia?
Arsenal played well and could have scored more with the chances created ,but never really fully put the foot to the pedal.
We conceded a goal which would normally be a contender for goal of the season .No complaints though.
Glad all the players came off unscathed .
Congratulations Gunners!
Apparently Arsenal had a youth team playing a team from Bristol today, and won 0-1. Mavididi scoring the goal.
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/PRE-SEASON-MATCH-REPORT-Bristol-Rovers-0-Arsenal/story-27440267-detail/story.html
Arsenal: Macey (Iliev, 61); Eyoma (Pileas, 77), Bola, Kamara, Da Gracia, Pleguezuelo, Reine-Adelaide (Drogmir, 82) Sheaf (Donovan, 69), Mavididi, Hinds (Mourgos, 61) Robinson (Chatzitheodoris, 77).
Not quite the Singapore attendance, but 2093 isn’t too bad.
Good result. It was clearly a pre-season with all the players a yard off the pace and lots of passes going astray but the movement really was excellent (although it broke down a bit after the 70mins substitutions). Everton were… well everton, with occasional moments of pressure and lots of tough challenging, but not especially entertaining to watch. However they are PL level rather than a 3rd div Austrian league team, so a really good result!
I thought for this stage of the season our performance was superb. And the range of players that we currently have available is extraordinary. Normally on a tour like this we see lots of youngsters, but although we took them along we were not reliant on them making up the numbers.
A most enjoyable game, and certainly when Sky showed the support in the ground it was mostly red and white. Indeed you could even hear some of the songs- the Giroud song came out very loud and clear
Great game but our players especially Wilshere seemed to get caught a couple of times and he was involved in some off-the-ball incidents. I’m sure everyone will have a theory about that but mine is that he as really trying to impress. For a pre-season they were really pumped up. Wilshere did what Mertesacker did a couple of days ago and stay long after everyone had left the pitch to sign autographs and take pics. The Ox is going to have a great year if he stays fit. His running is quite spectacular but there was no one there in the box to support his mazy runs and less so after Giroud went off. Everton are going to struggle because they made Arsenal look like the Harlem Globe-trotters. Their goal conceded was avoidable but I think the Bellerin was all out of gas. Not surprising given the heat and humidity. The Singapore Gunners Chapter were out in full force and led the very partizan crowd with cheers. Ashburton gooners would have felt at home. 52 thousand in red and white… something for my kids and I to remember.
Makes me feel the fitness levels are up for the team, we do seem fitter than most other PL teams. A good win. The team is on a different level now.
Much has been said and written of late, about the arrival of goal stopper Cech.
In today’s game, I was impressed by his accurate distribution, via goal kicks, something often lacking with both Szczesny and Ospina. 😉
The performance was superb, each player showed skills and some of the tricks and flicks were more in tune with a team playing with the togetherness of a sustained number of games and not the first time these particular individuals had played in tandom pre-season. If we could just add a couple of strikers to this team and a back up mystro we could be world beaters. Oh hang on Alexis,Danny and TR7 are at home waiting to add even more punch to the dynamic and I cant wait.
Considering the fact that this is the 1st pre season match for this Arsenal team (save Wilshere & few subs), their performance was outstanding. Though AW would say not at PL level yet but the signs are mouth watering.
I heard the chants/songs too thanks to a no commentary broadcast.
And yes, congratulations to Arsenal for winning the BAT2015, Imagine the narratives had we not won? Arsenal passed on the chance of winning their first silverware of the season…according to ‘experts & pundits’, the need for 4 world class players to truly challenge for real silverware is now evidently inevitable…
And Cech, didn’t he look too serious for a pre-season match?
Well done boys
although it is just a pre – season game, one gets the feeling that the boys are determined and up to something this time around. up up gunners and cheers for the match report.
Even though it was just preseason, it was a joy to watch Arsenal play today. It makes u really understand (if u want to) what Arsene is talking about when he says cohesion and togetherness is more important than new signings. As I see it, there is only ONE thing that can stop us from challenging for the Premiership this year, and that is injuries. I wouldnt cry if we sign up Lacazette but for other signings i dont care, I only want us to be without 4-5 injuries to key players at the same time. But maybe that’s too much to ask…
From arsenal.com I quote: “Wenger described the whole trip to Singapore as “perfect” and the boss was applauded out of the press conference room by the local journalists.”
As we have said many times before : the way Wenger is looked upon outside England is completely different. Outside England Wenger is admired, inside Engeland he is ridiculed by the media
Walter (or others)
How many different languages was Wenger asked questions in at interviews, while in Singapore? Did he need questions translated for him? How many languages did he respond in?
For people interested in languages, Ars Technica has been sending its writers (called editors for some reason?) all over the world. One of the articles to come out of this, was about getting around Brazil as an English speaking person who knew a little Spanish (and Brazil is Portuguese).
I suspect that might be part of any reason he would be applauded by a group of journalists.
I had found the attendance (52107) earlier, and knew it was less than a sellout (which is about 55000). Sellout or not, it was a record attendance for the almost new facility.
I guess I was being too greedy.
Total attendance for the cup was 81974.
A blurb about a neutral at the game from the Straits Times:
> Fund manager Chia Yew Nguan, 53, who does not have a favourite team, said: “I’ve never been to the National Stadium, so I thought it would be nice to soak up the atmosphere.
> “It was electrifying, especially the Kallang Wave and the cheering.”
Can someone expand on the Kallang Wave?
Wow, you seems smart gord…. Kudos then…
See.. This is why wenger have to go…
Wenger out!!!
He makes arsenal winning again…
WENGER OUT!!!!
Arsenal Ladies play tomorrow. The link below shows Sunderland beating Chelsea by 4-0, a hat trick to a Sunderland player who was in a car accident a couple of days ago. Wonderful way to respond to being in an accident, but don’t do this every week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33491193
In any event, that win pushed Sunderland up into second place, and if Arsenal can win tomorrow we would be tied with Sunderland on points. As we are currently tied with Sunderland on goal difference, a win of any kind would improve our goal difference, pushing us into second.
1004 people were out to see that game at Sunderland.
The player from Sunderland was trying to avoid a deer. I have a suspicion that a deer in England is a smaller animal than a deer in western Canada. Can anyone comment on that?
The BBC appears to be regressing to its inner Mancunian self.
Manchester United have played friendlies this summer, and new players just bought have scored in those games
Liverpool hasbeen Gerrard has assisted and scored on his debut in the MLS.
Arsenal has not played any friendlies, or won any cups this summer. Everton has not played any friendlies. The loan of Sanogo to Ajax is not an Arsenal related article, it is a European Football related article.
BBC whoreanlists have recently been seen digging through the garbage at Old Toilet. Which might explain the above.
@gord
There you go
The Kallang Wave has become synonymous with the old National Stadium, located in Kallang, of course. So when the old National Stadium was torn down, a Kallang Wave installation was created to commemorate the good old times. Created to capture the experience of a Kallang Wave, the 9-metre bench forms a sinuous wave pattern, made up of salvaged timber plank from the stadium benches.
http://youtu.be/fWaeGlbkFrU
Gord,
How many different languages was Wenger asked questions in at interviews, while in Singapore? Did he need questions translated for him? How many languages did he respond in?
It is English .. Only English . By the way , English is one of the most. Common language used in Singapore.
@Gord
July 19, 2015 at 1:35 am
You took the words right out of my mouth (or fingers from keyboard)!!
I have been looking with interest at the bbc page, and not a word about Asia Cup!! Not a mention about any of our games. Yet Gerrard gets his full article for scoring :/ and we can’t have ManUre not mentioned – could we now!!
These Media outlets are a SCAM!
This is what I posted (under the picture of Gerard scoring in the MLS (FFS)) on the facebook page of BBC sports:
“Its Great to see BBC Sports to be in line with their normal agenda and Predictable as ever covering Liverpool and ManU…there was much more football outside these two sides around the world. Get your act together BBC, your BIAS is becoming a Scandal!!!”
I know we should not get over excited over Arsenal’s display yesterday, but when I watched the silky fast passing and the almost magical understanding between players….I can well understand Arsene’s reluctance to recruit new blood solely because he has the finance to do so. 😉
How it must feel to be a ManUre – they spent a tone load last season on transfers, have spent in access of 80 million already (how many days into the transfer window?? 🙂 ) and Van Gaaa comes with: We must spend MORE ( to be in top 3)!!
Then people complain about AW!! IDIOTS!!!
Ohhhh and Van Perse strings is still MOANING that he wasn’t given a chance at ManURE…Payback is a bitch isn’t it??!!
Walter @ 10:02PM
“As we have said many times before : the way Wenger is looked upon outside England is completely different. Outside England Wenger is admired, inside Engeland he is ridiculed by the media”
Exactly.
Our media hate Wenger, yet he is admired throughout the rest of the World.
Our media love Mourinho, yet he is despised throughout the rest of the World.
Says all you need to know about our media.
As ignorant, disingenuous and spiteful as the odious one himself. A match made in heaven it would seem.
” Being told you are appreciated is one of the simplest and incredible things you can ever hear .”
From- Spirit Science.
@ apo Armani July 19, 2015 at 8:48 am – RVP deserves whatever ‘riches’ he gets , but he is poor because he is not loyal .
“You’re not rich until you have something money can’t buy.”
Then again is this little gem from the Grumpy Old Gits –
” Some people are like slinkys..,they are practically useless , …but great fun to push down the stairs !”
“The only people I owe my loyalty to are the ones who never made me question theirs.”
― Joe Mehl .
Thought the performance was exceptional and great to watch.
If you could somehow make every team try play some football against us next year, or supply excellent referees (who used the rules properly to try prevent injuries and stop teams using foul play to gain an advantage), I’d have us as favourites. With both, very strong favourites.
We won’t get either of course. There’ll be plenty of bus-parking- a fair bit more than last year, I expect- and even more of a sure thing is that teams will use a lot more foul play and aggression to try stop us than Everton did yesterday.
That’s the big challenge. You think of how the team played yesterday and, as well as the effectiveness, I’d say it’s joyous football- skill full players delighting in using those skills to great effect.
Not for the first time, I got the sense of how massively our team benefits when the threat of bad challenges is down to what should be the normal level. I think that’s all it takes in a game- one bad challenge- and a lot of the joy goes from the team.
The spectre of injury is introduced and everyone on the pitch is aware after that it could be them next. Therefore it’s an exceptionally good tactic for moral-free opposition managers to use, a no-brainer for them. It’s where good refereeing is meant to step in and where, of course, it hasn’t for us in the last decade.
It might seem strange to moan after such a positive and enjoyable day yesterday, but in a strange way it’s those matches which make our situation with regards to fouling and referees stand out clearest to me : we benefit immensely from relatively clean football; other teams benefit, on the day and in the longer term, when foul play is allowed by a referred to gain advantages it should never be allowed.
I thought Monaco away was our best football last year, and one of the keys to it for me was that the team played in the knowledge that, though they’d be fouled a lot, none of those fouls would be particularly dangerous.
Still, you have to take your happiness and hope where you can in life, and we looked so good yesterday. I’m fairly convinced that only injury can stop any of Wilshere, Ozil, Ramsay, Walcott, the Ox and Coquelin hitting new heights as footballers, and that is an awesome prospect and one which will at the least take us close to the title.
Give us good refereeing which would, in time, reduce the threat of injury from poor challenges down to the normal level, and I’d be feeling total optimism at this point. As is, you have to keep everything crossed, always, that none of them are done by a terrible challenge, and hope that a lot of the joy and effectiveness of the play can remain once the fouls start flying in and the refs aren’t dealing with it adequately.
rich
I too am in no doubt the assaults will continue as normal. In fact, I think it could get worse.
Anyone with half an eye can see just how good, how deep our squad is. People saw how we performed in the second half of the season. They saw how we improved and improved as gradually our injured players returned to the fold.
But here’s the rub. At work yesterday one of my colleagues, a United fan, was saying just that. But of course there was a caveat.
“The problem with your lot is you just cant keep your players fit. You just have too many players who are injury prone”
I didn’t argue. It’s just not worth it.
They just don’t see the assaults. They believe what they read. They believe it’s all our own fault. But that’s what propaganda does. It creates the alternative truth.
I have no doubt that with Manchester United’s, Manchester Cities, and Liverpool’s enormous spending we will have the Media fawning over there every move even more, as indeed we already have. (see Gord @ 1:35am and apo Armani @ 4:57am and 5:14am for proof of that already and the season hasn’t even started !).
But my biggest fear is there will be a concerted effort by the media to restore United to what they see as there rightful place at the top of the PL.
And if that’s what the Media want the referees will surely oblige and give there every assistance in achieving there wish.
A refereeing performance such as we experienced last season at Old Trafford will be a dim and distant memory. Confined to history. A small flicker of hope so predictably extinguished in the wake of a United renaissance.
Add to that the seemingly never ending Mourinho love in, we are going to have our work well truly cut out.
I too am sorry to be so negative after such a beautiful and heartening performance but I just have a worrying feeling about how we are going to be targeted this season.
I really hope I am wrong. It wont be the first time 🙂
@Brickfields Gunners
July 19, 2015 at 9:11 am
I go along with that 🙂
@Jambug
July 19, 2015 at 11:27 am
So true!!!
And be sure with the outlays ManUre are making/have made in these last and current transfer windows; they will make sure their investment makes good even if it means CHEATING!
Hope I am wrong – very much doubt it!
Jambug
Totally agree with all that.
I see some potential hope on the Utd front in that they have let so much of their Britishness go in terms of players and, of course, manager.
You don’t have to be British to buy into those tactics, especially utilising the threat of serious injury, but it surely helps.
I had hopes that Van Gaal might even be a completely honest and clean (all it takes to be clean…is not to be dirty; i.e you don’t have to be telling your players not to injure people, you just have to not emphasise things which will inevitably lead into Dan Smith territory) manager; I’m not so sure of that now (did he totally dismiss Mcnair’s challenge, for instance?) but I remain confident he’s no Ferguson or mourinho, nor any of their sycophantic British followers.
So, if Van Gaal is as I imagine him to be, it has to come from the players (or the rest of the coaching staff), and signing mostly foreigners, while reducing the opportunities for British players, especially those raised from infancy, in football terms, under the Ferguson code, seems like it should produce a less dirty team, and one referees are unlikely to form a kind of sympathetic emotional bond with.
I think Ferguson knew that both club-developed players and the best of British talent offered a lot extra on top of footballing ability. They allowed him to keep a very distinct mentality, which went up to and over acceptable limits of aggression and foul play, alive, and they are wonderful tools for keeping high levels of media and refereeing friendliness topped up.
We’re not out of the woods yet- Rooney remains, Fellaini’s there and, worse, they’ve a number of young british centre backs to carry on the traditions- but they’ve a large number of players who won’t buy into all that.
A good test of what Van Gaal’s all about is if he strains to get every one of the dirtier players in the team when we play them. That would mean leaving out the likes of Herrera, Carrick , Mata, Blind and Di Maria in order to accommodate Fellaini. Not quite win-win for us, but something like it (we’ve a fair chance of overcoming them at their dirtiest, and a better chance if they decide to play a clean-ish game and beat us with footballing ability)
Utd have very obviously increased the strength in their squad and starting eleven- how can you not with 300 million spent?-
but I have hopes that they are also accelerating the erosion of some of the unique values Ferguson instilled, and are losing the benefits of those values.
It’s why Mourinho would have been the nightmare appointment when Ferguson left. He’d have followed the template to a tee.
Time will tell. I expect it to be a close run thing. Utd either get back to winning titles and doing well in the Cl in the next year or two, or they risk losing some (a small percentage- but small percentages determine outcomes) of the huge advantages Ferguson’s incredible reign established.
Next year we’ll be at risk again of losing to a shitty Rooney dive, or getting hit late by the likes of Smalling, or Fellaini being allowed 3 or 4 yellows worth of fouls, or being smashed by some Jones recklessness…but if we have a great year or two and they don’t, I feel this just might result in us approaching normal refereeing standards for us and them, and some slight but significant changes in media coverage (chicken and egg stuff tho, as you always make clear)
The stakes are so high in this period, so I suppose the big fear is that Riley and like-minded individuals are extraordinarily aware of this. Hence, I expect, his remarkable determination to push Anthony Taylor (he even turned up while I was watching a game from the u19 euros- amusingly, he couldn’t avoid controversy then- blowing his whistle a few seconds early while a player was clean through on goal) to the top of the pile. He is Riley’s chosen one. Let’s see how he starts the season in the Charity Shield.
‘They just don’t see the assaults. They believe what they read. They believe it’s all our own fault. But that’s what propaganda does. It creates the alternative truth.’
Brilliantly put, by the way. There was a nice hint of this yesterday in martin Tyler’s commentary. They, like me, were probably a little shocked by the amazing level of support for the team from the locals. Comically, they made no real mention of it- no mention of about 50 thousand people on the other side of the world showing incredible support for us!- until Tyler, almost accidentally got on the subject : he addressed it by saying we’ve obviously been doing some good marketing work while over there.
Yep, that’s it, our marketers have managed in a week to trick, almost, 50,000 people into delirious support for the club. No wonder Villa are so keen on some of our behind-the-scenes staff!
There’s no way in hell they would have presented that situation in the same way if it had been another team. It would have been presented as a powerful football triumph. Not the normal propaganda, but very much related to it.
He really is a sly, sly old dog is Tyler. He also slipped in that Arteta has just signed a two-year deal, and went on a long discourse about Wenger’s apparent belief that it’s dangerous to try improve the heading of players who can’t do it naturally.
Is it a two-year deal? I’d be very surprised, given it was touch-and-go on Arteta’s part to sign at all- because he needed to convince himself he could be fit. Does Wenger really give up instantly on heading once he has deemed a player has no natural ability at it? Unlikely.
Coquelin for one looks like a man who has worked extensively on his heading, but I guess that could be another happy accident, like all the rest of his development.
Lion City
Since Wenger is accomplished in many languages, I thought it possible he might get asked questions in languages other than English. France and Holland have history in the Far East for example.