Yesterday saw the first game of pre-season as we visited Underhill for the traditional match against Barnet. We got our first view of new boys Koscielny and Chamakh, and it was an altogether comfortable run out against the league 2 side.
For those of you that didn’t fork out the whole £3 to watch the game on arsenal.com, or did but had problems with the stream, or were otherwise engaged, it was a fairly bog-standard fare for this early in pre-season, and while it’d be foolish to draw too many conclusions from it for the forthcoming campaign, there were some interesting performances.
In the first half, Arshavin got the scoring off to a great early start, playing a one-two with Rosicky on the edge of their box, carrying on through while the defender just stood there. He sent the keeper one way and I thought he was on for a cheeky little chip, but he stepped the other way and the camera angle seemed to suggest he’d taken it too far, but fortunately he hadn’t and it was one nil to The Arsenal in the second minute. I’m not sure Barnet had touched the ball.
The first half was a bit of a procession, and it might’ve been five or six. Jay Simpson added two more, one after some wonderful play on the right side by Jack Wilshire, and it was 3-0 at half time.
Young Jack impressed again, and while I know they’re not quite the same type of player, if we do somehow end up buying Joe Cole and Jack goes out on loan again this season, I’ll be disappointed. The lad’s ready. While he’s obviously still only young, he’s got Premiership experience and him and Frimpong formed a really good centre-midfield partnership. Frimpong was constantly breaking up play, winning the ball, and immediately getting it to the more creative players. He reminded me of a young Kolo Toure (and not just because he is black…).
I know it was a pre-season game against a side a long way below where we should be aiming for, but it was good to see, and I’d like to see more of it. That could be the future of the Arsenal midfield.
Of the regular first teamers in the starting line up, we got to have a look at Rosicky, Arshavin, Traore (well, he was last season!), and Vermaelen. All looked well enough, with Tomas looking particularly lean and Andrey sharp, in particularly with a classic shot hammered off the bar with virtually no back lift. It was nice to see Andrey applauding Frimpong’s chasing down of the Barnet players while in possession, and also his appreciation to other players when something they tried didn’t quite come off. Not sure I would’ve expected that from him last season, but it was great to see.
Perhaps the most terrifyinginteresting selection came in goal with Fabianski starting, despite Almunia being named in the squad as well, and Mannone, and Szczesny (who I shall just be referring to as “Chesney” from now on, I’m afraid) on the bench. Almunia, in particular, was nowhere to be seen, and I don’t know what happened to him. Anyone with better information than me, please post on the arses.
Although I know it’s a position many of us think it’s critical that we strengthen, it sounds, I’m afraid to say, that we’re not getting a new goalie. Depending on how you read the manager’s post-match comments (“there is no number one at Arsenal”), you can either take it to mean that he’s happy to play it by ear and pick one of the four he has on a game-by-game basis, or if you’re a glass-half-full kind of person, that he’s just not bought a new keeper yet. For me, I’m afraid my glass is distinctly not half-full. It’s looking very empty, and I’d be most grateful if Arsene would open his chequebook, go to the bar, and get me a very full looking glass. This metaphor is getting sillier by the word, but it would be nice if I thought the manager was going to go out and buy a new keeper, but I don’t think he is.
The second half of the game wasn’t nearly as fluid and open as the first, and the only goal came when their centre back made an error of Stepanovs proportion and trod on the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box, gifting it to Samir Nasri – who also looked sharp – who slotted it home for 4-0. Barnet did a much better job of disrupting our play, with one or two fouls that I’m sure Alan Hansen would’ve approved of, seeing how Arsenal were the opposition not Spain, but the full-team substitution didn’t really work out the way we might’ve hoped either.
We got to see Kieran Gibbs back from injury, which was good, and Johan Djourou too, and I know some people thought Djourou looked decidedly unfit, but from what I saw he looked pretty good indeed. He was never flustered, read the game well, and looked to have a fair turn of pace. I really hope he can find some long term fitness this season, because I think he has a great deal of what we need in a position in which we have a problem.
Unfortunately Chamakh (“Chamakh! Chamakh! Chamakh Chamakh Chamakh!”) didn’t get a goal, but he’s a big bloke! I thought he was more Eduardo than Adebayor (Adebayor’s size, not his cuntitude), but having someone up front like that could be just what we need. He showed some nice touches, and as the manager said, he could well be very effective in bringing our midfielders into scoring positions.
In his post-match comments, aside from the whole number 1 thing, the manager said he was pleased with the display, noted that we still have eight players to come back from World Cup duty, that he thought both Koscielny and Chamakh did well, but that they still had some adapting to do. He also said that he expects Gallas and Sylvester to be gone next season, which is hardly surprising, and I can’t say I’ll shed too many tears (unless we don’t replace them!), but that Sol Campbell’s situation was still unclear.
He talked about the Cesc Fabregas situation, saying that there’d been too much talk (somewhat ironically), and that we never had any intention of selling the captain. Good stuff. There’s been some reports that Barcelona are going to come back with a 40m bid, but really, fuck off. The position is clearer than really clear crystal that’s been cleaned by Cleany McClean, the Crystal Cleaner Extraodinaire. I don’t think Cesc is going anywhere unless Barcelona come back with a truly massive offer – and even then, I hope the board take a principled stand and tell them to fuck off. Incidentally, massive respect to the Gooners with the Barcelona banner yesterday. It’s certainly been picked up by a few of the sunday dailies and your most excellent work did not go unnoticed. For those of you that didn’t see it, I think it said “Barca – fuck you”. Good job, ladies and gents.
Final random thought – where was Denilson yesterday? Anyone know? Answers on an arsecard please.
And that’s it for today. Great to see The Arsenal again, in whatever game – and how good did that strip look?
Until next time, Arselovers.
