Arsene Wenger returned to his old stomping ground today and saw his Arsenal team run out 3-1 winners over Nagoya Grampus.
The boss started with: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Rosicky, Arteta, Ramsey, Ryo, Giroud, Walcott and a bench of: Martinez, Miquel, Wilshere, Olsson, Aneke, Gnabry, Eisfeld, Zelalem, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Akpom.
Arsenal got off to a great start, and Olivier Giroud continued his fine pre-season form, thumping home a header from a Rosicky cross to put Arsenal 1-0 up in the 3rd minute. That was the Frenchman’s 6th goal of the Asia tour.
Ryo Miyaichi, staring on his return to his home country, almost made it 2-0 when his left footed shot fizzed just wide of the far post.
The Gunners looked fluid and sharp after some intensive training and caused the home side problems with their movement and the pace of their passing, but Bacary Sagna had to be alert to sweep away a pass for 玉田 圭司 or it might have been ケネディ. We’re just not sure.
It was 2-0 in the 26th minute after Arsenal were awarded a penalty. To big cheers Ryo Miyaichi was given the responsibility, and the young man blasted it home to double the lead.
Rosicky then played Walcott through on goal but saw his shot saved leaving an unmarked Olivier Giroud frustrated as a simple 2 yard pass would have given him a tap-in.
Nagoya should have scored late in the half when Ogowa had two glorious chances. He fluffed a back post header then, when clean through on goal, pulled his shot like a one fingered man trying to knock one out to a picture of Bo Derek.
Arsenal made changes at the start of the second half, bringing on Wilshere, Zelalem, Gnabry, and Podolski for Arteta, Rosicky, Miyaichi and Giroud.
And it should have been 3-0 early on when Theo Walcott got behind the defence, had three Arsenal men to pick out but didn’t look up and found the one defender instead. Walcott was then played in beautifully by Jack Wilshere but he saw his shot well saved by the keeper.
Serge Gnabry showed his potential with a great run from out wide before curling a shot just past the far corner, but then Walcott finally got his goal after another eye-catching pass from Gedion Zelalem. The England man lifted the ball over the keeper to make it 3-0.
Then a man called to my door but the joke was on him because I don’t have a door at the moment so he tried to come around the side of the house only to be met by a large German Shepherd in full ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS’ mode. The man went away. I hope it wasn’t anything important.
Arsenal made more changes with Akpom and Aneke replacing Walcott and the impressive Ramsey, but it was Nagoya who took advantage when Yano headed home a fine cross from the right hand side. Although Fabianski got a hand to it, he couldn’t keep it out.
Zelalem then set up Akpom with another delicious pass but the striker dinked his shot wide of the post. The game fizzled to a conclusion, as legs got tired on both sides.
It was a much more competitive run-out than the wins against Indonesia and Vietnam, and another good bit of pre-season preparation.
Arsenal play Urawa Red Diamonds on Friday before returning to the UK.
Seriously blogs, your the Usain Bolt of match reports.
only 3-1?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? WENGER OUT
lol even I can admit your comment is ridiculous! and I’m not Wenger fanboy
You sir, are an idiot.
You are not the brightest one here, man.
dat pass
Proud of you son.
Thanks Dad.
well played pops
Absolutely brilliant. Hard work and perseverance and we have the future of Arsenal.
Zelalem could be the next cesc… There I said it.
And… he doesn’t have Barca DNA.
eestlane või?
Or he could be himself, the first Zelalem.
Thanks a lot Danny Karbassiyoon for Zelalem
Pleasure. wait until Joel Campbell gets some games at Arsenal, another one of my scoutees.
it would be a great deal. however, would that mean we are not looking at Fabregas even next summer orare we plannng to loose Cazorla to Athletico Madrid???. what happens to our DM position which needs urgent attention? it is getting glaringly obvous that we need another versatile defender as Koscielny is knocked now. finally, I hope wenger is not dubbing fans over a new striker as Giroud seems to find his mojo. the season is a marathon Mr Wenger!!!!!.
What the hell are you talking about?
Something he doesn’t know very much about?
Elementary, my dear Watson. He had multiple tabs open and was reading the Bernard article. He thought he was commenting there but instead commented here.
testicular willikers Batman, you solved it!
Is it really necessary to turn every news item into an excuse for a rant? There was some nice stuff played yesterday. Try to enjoy the good bits occasionally or you will miss out on 99% of the point of supporting Arsenal.
“Then a man called to my door but the joke was on him because I don’t have a door at the moment”
– Blogs, 2013
this stood out for me too. so funny
These games distract me from transfer rumours. I therefore like these games and suggest we play one every day of the summer transfer window so that i get some peace of mind.
Hopefully we scored 3 goals because the competition is getting tougher, which is all good for our preparation. Either that or Wenger told the boys not to put to many past his old club…
If Walcott focussed, he could have had a hat trick of goals and assists.
Anyone know anything on the Luis Gustavo rumors? Would love for that to happen. Was brilliant against us in the CL and I’ve always liked what I see everytime I watch him. Composed, but can be ruthless in the tackle, good passing range and a great shot on his left foot. He may seem slight in build but he’s near 6’1″ if I’m not wrong so really no problem there. And above all I really do think he’s better than the two DM’s from those lot down the road.
Are you kidding, the away leg he was awful against us. Was completely outplayed by Artete & Ramsey.
It’s Urawa (not Uruwa) Red Diamonds, just in case readers weren’t sure which Red Diamonds you meant and were unduly concerned or confused. There. I like to feel I’m making a difference.
Thanks, will fix.
You wouldn’t want to get those two mixed up while walking the streets of…Japan, let me tell you. You’d end up with a karate chop to the balls. Fierce rivalry. Mainly due to their lexical similarity I grant you, but fierce nonetheless.
Zelalem: NNFNS (no need for new signings)
Zelelem: MBTTGSTEL (Much Better Than…. )
I was so pleased, messaged my mate who was also watching the game on setanta and told him to keep an eye on number 35.
Within 5 minutes of my message he split then in half with a beautiful pass.
All I got back was “wow”
I thought Ramsey was great tonight, full of energy.
Podolski mystifies me, he can be brilliant and he can be brilliantly anonymous
To be honest I think Ramsey has been pretty damn great in every single game so far…I’m excited. Poldi, as you said, can be yin or yang. (which one is good which is bad I don’t know but you get my drift) Wilshere, he’s been good but I want to see better, I know he has it in him. Theo, Giroud both have been on fire of late, I want to see more of that from the both of them. If we aren’t going to sign a proven striker (oh wtf, I wish we were, really), these two are going… Read more »
He has that same eye for a pass that Cesc has around the edge of the penalty area. He’s very calm on the ball but I noticed a couple of times he wasn’t physically able to hold defenders off when he couldn’t wiggle away from them. He also turned into trouble a couple of times, against some of the brutes he would find in the PL he could get himself injured. A couple more years of development and he’s going to be incredible I think though. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in the cup comps this year or to come… Read more »
this zelalam looks good, curious about how he develops
Wilshire=Brady Zalalem=Paul Davis I’ll take that anytime.
Good win, good game and some excellent performances. I thought Ramsey and Sagna were great and what can you say about that lad Zelalem? Wow, he’s got such potential. I was actually lucky enough to meet Arsene Wenger at the team’s hotel in Japan the night before the game and he was such a great guy. Really open to chatting about football although he wouldn’t be drawn on transfer targets, the wily old dog! I was bombarding him with this player and that player and he kept a poker face all the way through. We spoke for about 15 minutes… Read more »
You sir have made my day expect a letter of congrats in the post from le papa
If I could, I would give you two thumbs up for that comment.
I’ll take your word on Sagna being great but from what I only saw in the highlights, it looked like the Nagoya goal was poor marking on our part. Podolski didn’t seem to do much to get in front of the cross and Sagna looked to have been beaten to the header by Yano. I guess it’s good to see Poldi tracking back, but should do better and Sagna should always win that ball in our box. Ok, done being overly critical during preseason based on a 3min highlight reel. Zelalem makes me soooo happy! It may be my only… Read more »
“pulled his shot like one a fingered man trying to knock one out to a picture of Bo Derek.”
This was my favourite line. It works in a slightly more disturbing way with the typo (a fingered man!), granted, but would have been my favourite anyway.
I wish Bolton were still playing in the PL, they were a decent option for Zelalem and Ryo to go out on loan. Maybe Wigan, but we definitely need to get them PL ready ASAP!
He’s the man! (boy)
Anyone else think Ramsey could be in with a pfa player of the year shout this year?
Carrick wasn’t a mile off. If Ramsey can break double figures for goals, he’d be putting his hand up.
Goals are the key for Ramsey.
What’s the score with Ryo this year? Is he getting loaned out again?
Feyenord is interested once again, so he might be. I like Ryo so I think he should be loaned out to regain match fitness and sharpness, and come back to us ready to make a killing in the 2014/2015 season. He’s young, he’s got great potential.
Zelalem is pure class, if he develops a good shot he has the potential to become one of the best complete midfielders in the world. The vision and technique are already there. The first youngster I’ve been truly excited about since Wilshere!
I was trying really hard to think of am hilaaaarious comment involving you being excited about youngsters, but all of them sounded incredibly insulting… Sorry ’bout that!
We know about his passing game, but we still need to learn about his defensive capability.
The only good thing about this summer so far has been Zelalem…that kid has got mad potential. Its mind boggling to think this kid’s only 16. The way Giroud’s been playing, dont be surprised if Wenger decides not to buy a striker and promote akpom. Yes Wenger is that cheap…
Your logic doesn’t follow through. By your logic, maybe the emergence of the “new Cesc” would mean we don’t sign Cesc either. The fact that Giroud is scoring freely, and fantastic goals of all types too, is an absolute plus.
I think Zelalem is German nationality.. Got confused by the “England man lifted .. “
Wow, you still hate Walcott huh?
Blogs is like the parent who wants his child to succeed so much that he just criticizes him all the time, tough love.
Or he just does not like him.
Walcott is a great player, but he could learn a bit more composure and guile to become world class.
I don’t think he is amazing by any means, but he gets quite a lot of goals, assists etc and most match reports have many comments about all the things he fucks up and then a line further down that says “and then Walcott scored to make it…”. Seems unfair. And then you have Ramsey, a player I quite like and hope makes it, but is far from perfect and also fucks a few things up and misses absolute sitters and the reports always say how marvellous he is. Just think the relentless Walcott bashing has gone on for long… Read more »
imagine the midfield of zelalem, cesc, and santi. works be zesty… or if I may coin the term zescti
I don’t want to overhype Zelalem but we need to send him out on loan to Barcelona for some first team experience
What?!
You Sir are what we call in Japanese a ‘Baka’ Thanks
No way, they won’t give him back. Those Catalonian tricksters are masters at stealing other people’s toys.
While the dearth of activity in the transfer market worries me, our pre-season so far makes me really happy. Of course I still want, hope and pray for activity on the transfer front, but I am happy with our performances so far in Asia, especially when you see how its gone for United and City on their respective campaigns. Of course there’s a pound of salt to be taken with many of these results, but given the choice of winning resoundingly or loosing rather embarrassingly, I’ll always take the former. I also will say we’ve had some standout performers amongst… Read more »
Blogs, you have away with words, that I can only dream of emulating.
Nos somos muy contenta to take Zelalem on loan. Muchas gracias. Mama Mia qu’elle talentios grandio
Hopefully having a really positive pre-season will help us get going nice and early this season. Last year the pre-season was a bit disjointed with cancelled games and I think this showed in the first few games (A couple of 0-0s), so hopefully with a strong pre-season and some very winnable opening matches we can get a really strong start for the first time in a few seasons! COYG
To the tune of inner circle’s – sweat (la la la long)
Ze la la la la lem
Ze la la la la lem lem le lem lem lem
Come on!
Anyone thinks Gnabry could be our answer to Dortmund’s Reus?
Needs to brush up on his finishing other than that looks a great prospect.
Is TW back to his nasty, selfish habits again?
Seems like we have a knack for unraveling 16 year old prodigies every five years. Cesc in 2003, Wilshire in 2008, now Zelalem! Somewhere out there there’s an 11 year old waiting to be cooed over!
Zelalem… speechless, plus we got Dan Crowley ripping it up for the u21’s. Our midfield looks bright.
Add Ox to that mix.
Those defense splitting passes are truly a joy to watch. He makes it look so easy. It will be interesting to see if he can do it in a competitive match with little time and space.
Can’t help it. Booked my ticket. Joined the Zelalem bandwagon. Given the right guidance and enough opportunities, this boy might just rid me ( us? ) of the Cesc demons. Yeah, still haven’t made my peace with that departure.
By the way, glad to see how HFB was so fired up about scoring that goal. Hopefully he will maintain this form and carry it on to the PL, CL, FA etc etc
It’s been said over and over but wow Zelalem is fucking quality.
I enjoyed yesterday’s game, but feel the need to raise one small criticism. I loved the way we had four players score 11 or more goals in the PL last season, and was impressed by Walcott’s haul. But, as we saw last night, he makes a few poor decisions in almost every game when getting into the box. If we could coach him to lift his head a little more often when steaming in on goal from the flanks I am pretty sure we could have Giroud hitting 30+ goals next season, and likely see more goals from Podolski too,… Read more »
I agree with you, there was a moment in the Nagoya game where Ramsey had positioned himself perfectly for a Walcott pass to get in front of goal but Theo didn’t see and attempted a shot instead. Believe Giroud was also in a good position at that moment as well, and maybe even a third player. That said Theo’s confidence in finishing will be lethal for us I think.