By Walter Broeckx
Arsenal to start this match against Viking: Ospina, Debuchy, Bielik, Gabriel, Gibbs, Coquelin, Elneny, Cazorla, Walcott, Campbell, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Subs: Cech, Martinez, Holding, Iwobi, Monreal, Bellerin, Adelaide, Akpom, Zelalem, Willock.
Despite Walcott saying he sees his future on the flank he starts in the centre of the attack in the first half. Gabriel with his first start and partnered with Bielik in the centre of the defence. With the second match just 48 hours away against Man City also no Alexis, Xhaka and Ramsey in the team or with the subs for this match.
Lots of Arsenal supporters in the stands judging on the many red shirts I can see. Our Sandinavian supporters loving this visit it seems.
A first fluent attack from Arsenal and Cazoral gives it to The Ox who flicks it on to Debuchy who is pulled back and the ref points to the spot. Cazorla behind the ball but the keeper saves his effort. Too close to the middle and the keeper guessed the right corner. We just aren’t used to get any penalties any more. From the follow up Cazorla gets kicked and is in pain. But he can carry on it seems.
Arsenal push Viking back against their own penalty area. A shot from Santi is blocked by a defender. Gabriel was fouled then but the ref ignored it and Viking with a first attack but Gibbs can clear for a corner. The corner is headed over. Viking with a few corners putting some pressure on Arsenal now.
Elneny with a nice pass to the Ox who goes to the goal line and pulls it back to Walcott but a defender can block his host. Corner from Campbell and free header from Elneny but a great save from the Norwegian keeper called Austbe again. Cazorla with a cross to Gibbs who heads it on to Walcott but again the keeper has a hand on the ball and takes the chance away. Cazorla with a cross but Campbeel heads wide.
Note to the Arsenal reporters: when an attacker puts himself in front of the keeper to stop a long kick he makes a foul. The fact that he put himself and steadied himself in front to Ospina looking at the keeper is the clue. The ref should give a free kick then and even a yellow card. Meanwhile putting the Ox on the left and Campbell mostly on the right didn’t work too well for me. But who am I. Arsenal well in control and pushing forward but not as many chances as in the first 15 minutes. Arsenal with another corner from Cazorla to Elneny who heads it on and Campbell makes sure and puts it over the line. GOAL 0-1 to The Arsenal after 34 minutes. Second time that Elneny got a free header after a corner.
Viking then gets a free kick after Santi overdid it a bit after bringing down a high ball but then spilled it and Elneny had to make a foul. But the free kick ends up as a throw in for Arsenal. Bielik with a little slip gives the ball away but he can recover and win the ball back. Ospina has to catch a diverted shot in a rather awkward way but gets away with it and without injury as he was falling down on his back over a Viking player. Arsenal with a long ball from Cazorla to Walcott but the keeper stopped his low shot. Arsenal counter but Walcott with a poor ball to The Ox and the chance is lost. Santi with some lovely balls changing the play from left to right. Arsenal go in with a 0-1 advantage and that should have been more but the Viking keeper was having a great evening so far.
Holding, Adelaide and Iwobi came on for Coquelin, The Ox and Gabriel and Adelaide was almost first on the ball from a backpass but the keeper could clear. Santi with a volley that went just wide. Santi with another great ball but Walcott under pressure and maybe fouled couldn’t get the ball under control. But it was only a matter of time as Theo played the ball to Santi who was in some space and from some 20 meters out he burried with a fierce shot from his left foot. GOAL! 0-2 to Arsenal after 50 minutes.
Arsenal continued to push forward and Campbell with a pass to Walcott in the middle and Theo put the ball in goal with a low shot. GOAL! 0-3 to The Arsenal after 53 minutes.
And it still wasn’t finished. Santi with a great ball to Campbell and a defender under pressure from Iwobi put the ball in his own goal. GOAL! 0-4 after 55 minutes.
Another fine combination from Arsenal started by Santi to Iwobi who gave it to Campbell who buried it with a thumping shot. GOAL! 0-5 to The Arsenal after 59 minutes.
Campbell to Debuchy but a defender could save his shot in a corner. Iwobi with a shot but over. Well they can’t all end up in goals….Santi with another great ball but the keeper can smother the effort from Theo who could only poke it. Walcott with a shot from distance but the ball curls just over.
Bellerin, Monreal, Akpom, Willock and Zelalem came on after 69 minutes. Gibbs, Theo, Campbell, Elneny and Debuchy went off.
Zelalem intercepts the ball and gives it to Santi who rolls it on in the path of Iwobi who makes no mistake. GOAL 0-6 to The Arsenal after 71 minutes.
Santi going in the book after a late challenge. What a match our little magician was having…. and one can only imagine what he have been missing last season. And then to think that Wenger thinks he will only hit top form at the end of the month…. Adelaide giving the ball to Iwobi who cuts inside and then shoots his second goal in from the goal post. GOAL! 0-7 to The Arsenal after 80 minutes.
Viking then with a shot that went over after a low cross. Adelaide again with a good interception to Iwobi who pulls it back to Akpom but he can’t beat the keeper with his two efforts. Excellent saves from the keeper. Bellerin with a fierce shot from distance and the keeper can’t hold on to the shot and Akpom on hand to put the ball over the line this time. GOAL! 0-8 to The Arsenal after 89 minutes.
And that was the final score. The Santi Cazorla show made Arsenal win this match with an amazing 0-8 scoreline. All the Viking players wanted his shirt it seemed…. OOOOHHHH Santi Cazorlaaa
You do realize that you’ve set the bar pretty high with your insta-commentaries,Walter!! Thank you!
First half we didn’t seem to have our spacing right. The front line seemed linear and static and there was bags of space between our back 2? and our midfield. This led to a lot of sideways passes around the perimeter. We rectified this in the second half. It was great to see the youngsters flying out there. With an old head like Cazorla pulling the strings we created at least a dozen chances.
But so what?
The ladies won their Continental Cup quarter final by 3-2 with a last minute penalty. Great results from both teams. Well done Gunners!
Simon, if you can’t take delight in an eight goal win over any opposition then you are a sad example of an Arsenal supporter. Be happy for heaven’s sake.
You certainly are fast on the reports Walter.
As noted in the other thread, I see in pictures that Wenger was presented with a sword before the game. Now let people harass him at the train station. 🙂
@Gord I like
gr8 play, gr8 win lukin 4wud 2 d upcumin wit optimism….COYG
It truly was wonderful to see Santi Cazorla back, and to see the way he can work with all sorts of combinations of players around him. I thought Elneny was quality and good to see the youngsters developing. Adelaide looks to have taken several steps forwards, Zelalem looked calm and composed, as did Willock.
I’m just starting to wonder how we are going to reduce this squad to 25, even allowing for the fact that the new stars are all under 21 and so don’t have to be counted.
Well done Walter. To us fans, this is a sign of things to come. But to those who hate to see the team do well against ANY team, especially under Wenger, this is… nothing. But then, who cares what their evil hearts conjure.
Bring on the Manchester Money Men and use them to a statement!
Gnabry scored for germany’s olympic team, so did asano for japan’s olympic team, arsenal ladies won their match 3-2, and arsenal hammered Viking FK 8-0 with my favourite arsenal player(Santiago) in top form, from a personal point of view I dont see any reason why I shouldn’t be a happy guy tonight!
Uhm… Wenger getting a sword? Does that mean I can no lonqer criticise him when I feel he’s wrong?
A good display against a rather defensive-minded side.
In the second half we managed to circumvent the ‘bus and then ran riot.
All the youngsters played well with great enthusiasm, but one wonders how much playing time they will see when the EPL really gets under way.
@Gord, well said! Let a certain ‘soon-to-be-sacked One’ mind how he runs his mouth at Wenger…
Great attacking display from the club! Looking forward to the upcoming season.
Also, I wanted to welcome the newest signing Kelechi Nwakali to club!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160805/kelechi-nwakali-joins-arsenal
Arsenal looks to have a very bright future with so many top prospects!
I read in the Arsenal.com transcript of Wenger’s post-game interview, that they medja asked what he was going to do with the sword. Maybe they thought he would use it on them, Lord knows they need and deserve nothing less. But, Wenger said he didn’t know what to do with the sword.
And I couldn’t find a single joke about Viking and sword. Maybe Brickfields will have some?
> I read in the Arsenal.com transcript of Wenger’s post-game interview,
In the other interview article, there is:
>> on the possibility of a new striker…
> The money is never a problem if you have to pay what is requested. The price of a player is down to four ingredients. One is the talent, two his age, three is how much you expect him to improve your team, and four his resale value. If he ticks all four boxes then the price is not that important. You have to find the player.
With all the wannabe managers demanding this, that and the other thing (including a new striker), nearly all just consider the first point. Once in a blue moon someone might tickle points 2 and 3. I have NEVER seen any of these wannabes mention resale value.
And they all think they know more than Wenger, and that managing a team is easy. Child’s play.
And then they go back to playing their child’s toy, Football Manager or whatever.
Something for Walter, OMG et al might want to comment on.
While Arsenal were in Norway playing the Vikings, the spuds were across the border in Sweden playing Inter Milan. The spuds were issued an unusual penalty by all accounts.
An Inter defender while in control of the ball in his own penalty area, was judged to have fouled a spud, and the referee gave the penalty.
I must say i enjoyed that.
Even in the first half when Vikings were a little determined and gave Arsenal some problems mainly of the thuggish sort.
But Arsenal has found a new way of avoiding the lunges. Sweet. This movement and awareness of each other waas missing a long time and i hope it’s here to stay.
Of course against their kids it was only going to bea feast, but hey, at least we’re on target. 🙂
Just saw the highlights, and I know they don’t tell the whole story, but the offensive game looked to have grown with every match. Compared to the American tour, Theo seems to have been much better at getting involved in the game, unlike the previous matches when he was relying on service. Also, Santi’s form is indeed in ascendance, in LA he was our playmaker, but with a bit of restrained effort. Here, looked to me like he was covering more ground. Hopefully my opinions here are not entirely out of touch with reality 🙂
I was happy for Akpom. If he can score in any match, the confidence will build, then he will be ready for the PL. If only he can score 8 this season, that would be a good building block. I also believe we will see the real Iwobi this season. Gabdriel looked rusty but it was understandable.
@Gord,
Re your 3.21 it sounds like Sweden has its own PGMOL problem. They seem to get everywhere.
Nobody seemed to recognise that Arsenal played witout the big guns- Cech, Koschielny, Bellerin, Ozil, Giroud, Sanchez… So let no one talk about ‘a weakened opposition.
@Gord, can’t stop thinking of the many good options open to Wenger to put his newest gift to. Where on earth is Brickfields when you need him to expand your imgination a little…?
Me and my dark thoughts…
Haven’t had so much fun since we beat Burgenland by a similar score a few years ago. The stars of that match were Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela!
My sudden obsession with this gift is worrying. Are we sure the Vikings presented the sword on the strength of historical considerations? Will it be prophetic as far as the next season is concerned?
Would Wenger put some fellows to the sword this season?
The prospect is already exciting. So much option especially in midfield. This should not only worry opponents during the match but also causes them some headaches before the match as to how Arsene sets up his team.
I hope AW himself doesn’t have too much headache selecting his team.
Bring on the season.
COYG
The sword is a prophetic symbol of slashing prices. The ‘spending one’ will not be happy considering his extravagant expenditure, while taking the red side of Manchester into bankruptcy.
Gord – I do like your initial idea but sadly there have been some nasty fatal blade incidents that have taken all fun out of simple humour.