By Walter Broeckx
The line up fort his first match in the International Champions cup against Atletico Madrid is:
Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Ramsey, Guendouzi, Nelson, Smit Rowe, Aubameyang, Lacazette. So one could say some experience at the back and up front and Ramsey with the kids in the middle.
A really troublesome start for my stream. Up and down it went and then some ads popping up and not being removable…. But after some 22 minutes I finally find the right stream and could watch the match.
But what I could see was not that bad. Arsenal mostly with the ball having a few chances to score. Aubameyan twice attempting a volley but both times going wide. And I also saw Lacazette having a shot but the keeper somehow saved it.
Atletico with a good attack on their right wing but the shot was topped by the head of Mustafi.
The match going up and down a bit around the half hour with Atletico now also getting more in front of Leno. At the other end Lacazette away on the right but the angle favoured the goalkeeper who could block his shot. Bot teams now playing some open pre season football. And the youngster showing some nice passing when building up an attack from the back. Alas the backheel from Ramsey ended nowhere. Smith Rowe went down at the edge of the penalty area but correctly nothing given and the small contact was outside the penalty area anyway.
Guendouzi almost losing the ball in front of his own penalty area but a good recovery from him was the start of a great Arsenal attack. Lacazette with a low shot that was pushed away by the goalkeeper and Nelson misssed the rebound as the defender did just enough to distract the youngster. We really should have been in front by now. And just when I typed this Atletico put in a cross from the right that was headed in by Vietto. 1-0 to Atletico after 41 minutes. A bit cruel given what I have seen so far. That was the score at half time.
Cech then only change at the start of the second half. What a good way to start the second half. Emile Smith Rowe opens his Arsenal account as the youngster scores his first senior goal for Arsenal. GOAL 1-1 after 47 minutes. A great right footed shot in the top corner form the young Gunner.
A ball is played in dangerously from the right but a defender can just clear in front of Aubameyang and Lacazette. Aubameyang takes a shot from distance but is deflected wide by a defender. Then we had a revisite of last years Arsenal. Losing the ball deep in our own half, then winning it back deep in our own penalty area only to give it away again and then somehow we managed to clear the ball for a corner. Cech with a great save and then Holding with the block for a corner. Mr. Emery please tell to whack it high and wide when needed. As a result Atletico got us on the ropes for some 5 minutes with desperate defending. AStill 1-1 after 60 minutes.
A complete shift of the team then. Well that was what we wanted but the ref didn’t let it happen first time so we have to play the ball out again. And Atletico sportingly give it back to us. I think Guendouzi and Kolasinac were the only players to stay on the pitch apart from Cech. On came Chambers, Sokratis, Mavrapanos, Maitland Niles, Lucas Perez, Mkhitaryan, Osei Tutu, Nketiah,… and sorry if I have forgotten one…. Özil sitting on the bench and not coming on today it seems. Just when Atletico changed over half of their team Willock came on for Guendouzi.
Arsenal still trying to play it out too much from the back when under pressure and then losing the ball and getting under pressure. I sure hope this will stop in the next weeks as it is living dangerously. Not that much cohesion in the Arsenal team in the second half. But the youngster with a good combination finding Nketiah on the right but he scuffed his shot a bit and the keeper could save his low effort. Mavropanos at then end of a corner but he was too surprised to put his foot around the ball and the ball went out.
Both teams now clearly feeling the impact of pre season and the humid conditions and the passing fo the ball was not as it should be. So not much good football to see in the final 10 minutes or so. Kolasinac still on the pitch being the only player to play the full 90 minutes and extra time.
The final score was 1-1. A bit more difficult than against Boreham Wood of course and that is the meaning of pre season matches: to raise the bar.
Blimey, I didn’t pay attention to Tony his article and so I almost missed that we would get a penalty shoot out.
A penalty shoot out that is lost 3-1. Not that this matters a lot of course. The Atletico keeper stopping 3 penalties from Arsenal.
Dortmund has now finished there ICC journey. They have 2 wins and a a loss in penalties. WRT Arsenal, if they don’t win their next 2 games, they have no chance of winning this “tournament”. Man$sity has 2 losses so far, so they have no chance now.
A good run out for the boys. The forwards looked lively and what a goal from our 17 year debutant. Was watching on a rather slow stream , but the highlights on Youtube was good.
Nice one, hopefully a very useful game for them
That was an excellent goal from Emile, only 17 years old, keep up the good work.
Good to see Cech made some penalty saves ?
Good run out
LeJeff just transfered out, permanent! Angers. following loan there! £££
Hmm, Le Jeff is La gone (to Angers). Good luck over there young man.
While Emlie’s goal will remain a positive for him in particular and in general for Arsenal, however, let’s not brush aside the facts that Arsenal have now lost 2 preseason friendly games under the watch of Unai Emery, the new Arsenal manager. One to Brentford in a close door training session match at the Ems last week and another one to Atletico Madrid today in Singapore.
I think Unai Emery should sit up properly to start evaluating his training programs, strategies and games tactics for Arsenal. For, after whitewashing Boreham Wood 8-0 and Crawley 9-0, Arsenal looked to have suddenly ran on to stumbling block with consecutive 2 defeats in their next 2 games.
By the way, has the Arsenal head coach forgot to train the Gunners in penalty shoot outs? Unai should not ignore this very important training aspect of the game and not leave things to chance to happen for Arsenal. But make the Gunners to perfect their shoot outs to win matches. If it were to be a competitive match decider shoot outs today between ATM and AFC, that’s how Arsenal would have lost the match scoring just once out of 4 kicks. But Cech saving some kicks is encouraging. Let’s hope he’ll carry that over to the PL games for Arsenal next season.
SAA
Are you really Dangote? Everything that happens, you have a problem with it. And you think you know more than the manager, whoever the manager is.
Arsenal have sadly sold Jeff Reine-Adelaide to Angers today. I was looking forward to seeing him develop as an Arsenal player, but unfortunately it was not meant to be. Best of luck in the future The Jeff.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/jeff-reine-adelaide-joins-angers
I watched the game seated at the ‘Arsenal End’ and enjoyed being with the biggest gathering of Gooners since the Gunners were last here under Wenger (Oooh to, oooh to be, oooh to be a Gooner). Maybe what you may not have seen on camera was the intensity of all the players. Don’t know if this was what the live-stream viewers saw. At warm-up there was a level of concentration especially among the younger team members like Reiss and Maitland-Niles.
If you saw the missed or incomplete pass what you may not have seen is the seriousness with which the team took this game, there was encouragement, a lot of chatter and even a dose of scolding for Guendouzi by Mustafi when he was slow to clear the ball. However, Guendouzi movement and energy is amazing always shaping to be available for a pass.
I think Perez is trying hard but the same problem as last season is there which his poor positioning and decision-making. It’s also really obvious that as talented Kolasinac is he tends charge forward only pause and to pass backward (no big thing) except that it slows down the fast moving Auba and Laca. More than once you could see Laca turn away in disappointment.
You could see the tentative nature of the penalty takers and sorry, I love Mikhi, but you could see his head wasn’t in it. That said their keeper was a monster who obviously has a talent for spot kicks, saving and taking them with ice-cold nerves. Cech is still world class both in his preparation and his focus. I hope he stays he shows his value in always talking to his backline and especially the younger players.
Ozil got a huge cheer from the crowd when he appeared on the big screen, hope he feels the love from the Singapore crowd. The only downside was Ramsey who to me seemed not his usual self. Or maybe I just reading too much. Some players showed touches of sheer brilliance especially in the first half but most seemed a foot or so off pace and with the final ball. I think the next game against PSG will close some of the gaps (rubbing hands with glee).
Thanks for that report from someone who was there, cheers