Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Report: Urawa Red Diamonds 1-2 Arsenal

Arsenal completed their tour of Asia with a 2-1 win over Urawa Red Diamonds. Arsene Wenger started with the following team:

Fabianski, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Miquel, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Giroud, Gnabry

The home side had the first attempt on goal when a tame Wilshere tackle allowed a shot on goal but the striker saw his shot fizz wide.

Theo Walcott almost put Arsenal in front after a great run and break. He cut inside the Reds defence only for his left footed shot to bounce back off the post, and from a rebound saw another effort headed away from close to the goal line.

The game was a much sterner test that all the previous Asia tour games, and after Fabianski fumbled a low cross, Per Mertesacker’s toe ensured that the the home side didn’t have a tap-in to open the scoring.

Ugajin fired in a shot from distance which flew over Fabianski’s bar before clever play between Wilshere and Gnabry almost saw Walcott through but for good Reds defending. Theo Walcott then squandered a good chance after a 1-2 with Giroud, but he skewed his shot wider than Andrei Arshavin’s arse.

Immediately afterwards a brilliant, right-footed, Giroud lob landed just wide of the far post with the keeper off his line, and the Frenchman’s 30 yard free kick deflected off the wall and drifted past the post with the keeper stranded.

Arsenal piled on the pressure with Yamagishi twice making good saves as the ball scrambled around the Reds goalmouth and when it came out to Oxlade-Chamberlain his shot bounced off the top of the bar.

Walcott then fired a free kick which resulted in a corner, before Ugajin’s left foot again troubled Arsenal. Lukas Fabianski pulled off of a fantastic save to stop the curler nestling in the top corner. Neither side found the breakthrough in the first 45 and the teams went in level at half-time.

As usual, there were a number of changes in the second half, with Jenkinson, Ramsey, Podolski and Rosicky all amongst those introduced.

And it was the German who put Arsenal ahead in the 48th minute after good build up play from Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott, Podolski hammered home on the volley from close range. It was almost 2-0 moments later when Rosicky set up Walcott but again the England man’s finishing left a bit to be desired.

Fabianski had to remain alert, tipping a dangerous cross over the bar, before Walcott again squandered another fantastic chance. Clean through on goal he was outsmarted by Yamagishi who got down well to save.

Laurent Koscielny pulled off a fantastic block as Koroki looked like he was going to level the scores, but the home side got level when Arsenal failed to clear a corner and the centre-half, Abe, volleyed home into the top corner to make it 1-1.

Fabianski was called into action soon afterwards, coming out well and making himself big to prevent the Reds taking the lead after some slick build up play. How slick? If it was a person, its first named would have been Oil. And yes, there would have been dead seabirds everywhere.

There was a break in transmission from ESPN which allowed me to make a cup of tea and apparently Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the post during that time. He was then replaced by Gedion Zelalem who, I’m guessing, did lots of amazing stuff which I didn’t see. Then the pictures came back and everyone was friends again.

Beautiful play between Miyaichi and Podolski saw the Japanese winger pull the ball back but no Arsenal player could take advantage, and Arsene Wenger made a further change, bringing on Chuba Akpom for Theo Walcott.

Lukas Podolski should have put Arsenal back in front but spooned a fine Ignasi Miquel cross over the bar. To be fair to him, there was a bit of a bobble just as he took his shot.

Koscielny was again Arsenal’s hero making a brilliant tackle in the box after Zelalem was dispossessed in midfield, and it proved doubly crucial as the Gunners took the lead moments later. Yamagishi and Yamada made a pig’s bollix of a simply situation at the back, the ball fell to Akpom who rolled it home for 2-1.

Aaron Ramsey almost made it 3-1, firing a shot just wide, and as the Reds pressed for an equaliser, Bacary Sagna’s great tackle prevented a clear shot on Fabianski’s goal.

In the end, Arsenal saw the game out, and complete their Asia tour with a 100% win rate. The quality of today’s opposition was a step-up and just what was needed ahead of next weekend’s Emirates Cup.

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Norwad

Posted 60 minutes ago?

Now I’m scared.

AFCEdwards

Should also mention that this was the Saitama City Cup game and by winning it, we get a trophy. Suck it Daliy Mail.

Spacktard

The Doctor is not the last time-lord!

Bunburyist

Against similar opposition, United have only won one of their four pre-season fixtures. I know it’s pre-season, but for me, schadenfreude is a year-long event. In the absence of any transfer news, it’s the misfortunes of other clubs that help keep me going. I was buoyed by Spurms 3-1 loss to Sunderland, grinning when they missed out on David Villa, encouraged to see Alcantara snub United for Munich, and I’m heartened at the prospect of them missing out on Fabregas as well.

The joys of summer.

D

And Usain Blogs dips for line!!!

Koz

wow. that was fast.

JJJ09

Theo really needs to get his shooting boots on pronto

tytee

he was a bit too casual on his finishing today :/

hopefully it was just a one-off day

WengersNoseHair

All I read was:

“Walcott misses… Walcott squanders… Walcott blasts one up Arshavin’s arse…”

CountLeaf

anyone else feeling that, game after game, our opponents seem increasingly cuntish?

considering the game itself, Miguel is not an aware enough full back, Fabiański is still not confident enough and Theo is, as always, irritating as fuck.

though i could now envisage us not signing additional centre back, as Sagna seems to fit into that role when needed, not only against sunderland. give him two more years!

Crazyinsanegotnohiguain

We’re slowly building up the cuntishness of the opposition so we’ll be ready for all the cuntish teams in the PL.

CountLeaf

ah, yeah, i totally forgot we’re playing sp*ds early this year.

Matt

Can you use your time machine to tell us who scores the Arsenal winner in the CL final this season, please Blogs?

Arsenal4Life

EXCLUSIVE: Kenwynne Jones : How I went from shit to stars + Lehmann told me: don’t do anything stupid… before the 20th minute.

Los Polandos

Unless liverpool buy him first. For 30 million.

TeeCee

Don’t be daft, how could they afford tha………oh…….right…….damn!

lordvoldemort

Theo needs to sharpen up. Other than that a great pre season. Oh and Sagna can play CB 🙂

Manchester Gooner (RustyGun)

I prefer it as it is regarding Theo’s finishing. That’ll keep him focused when the season starts.

JJJ09

By the way guys, check out Bellerin’s performance for Spain U19 a few days ago

http://vimeo.com/70752178

nwgooner

bit of a disappointment that he ended up with a red

Nognir

Has Gibbs been injured? I think he Wasn’t used today.

footatability

Uh oh winning margins are getting smaller 7, 6, 2, 1. WENGER OUT!

footatability

Bendtner should play

footatability

And Gervinho should regain his spot at centre forward

footatability

Please note the sarcasm in all my posts. It’s been a rough month outside of football but great win lads!

jack jack jack

Yes, fine, I admit I read that as centre forehead. No idea what that would mean but I’d hazard a guess Gerv’s a shoe-in for the spot.

Nelwanda

And we should bring back Pascal Cygan

Arshaviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

i know its only a friendly but the ref was doing my head in

Tom

I actually love your blogs, they’re amazing haha.

Fed Up

that was winning ugly

stephen

I think we are improving steadily but 3 or 4 signings will help us lift trophies this season

Fed Up

and Theo oh Theo

Lifetime Gooner

To be fair, i do not believe we are in need of more than 2 signings if we can improve our injury record. I genuinely believe this team can compete. It is a more mature Arsenal than in recent years with most individual players stepping up their game and a good competition for places.
Arsene knows what he is doing!!!

gooner odst

Played out like a typical September-October Premier League match vs medium opposition (Stoke, Sunderland etc); plenty of chances to score and put it to bed early but the opposition score on their first attempt in anger.

Koscielny immense, Rosicky sparkled, well done. My Overall Player of the Tour probably has to be Ramsey, Best talent – Zelalem, Worried about – injuries at left back, Pleased by – the fact that Santi slots right in and our power level will be close to 9000 but not quite over.

and where the hell is Bear-nard/ burn-hard / burn-id?

kaycee

Good game lads….. Now to the biz of the season

Frog

Why isn’t it possible to reply to a comment on the mobile version? Switching to desktop always crashes Safari. Lame.

dev

I think you dont need a separate mobile theme when your website is already responsive to different screen sizes (which this site is). I know there’s separate mobile theme on wordpress (probably the cms used on this site?) but responsive design has many benefits over having a separate dedicated mobile theme. With responsive design, I believe, the commenting system on this website should work fine on any devices, like it works on PC.

Just my thoughts, as a web developer.

dev

Fair enough. I still think responsive design is better than separate mobile themes but to each their own. Not arguing here, just posted some of my thoughts regarding mobile issues.

I just thought a great arsenal fans site like this deserves to be perfect on every screen sizes, am a regular reader of your site and appreciate your great works.

So keep up on the good works, cheers

AFCEdwards

Get Chrome.

Frog

Done. Good idea. It’s still not as smooth as the mobile version though. A mobile fix would be ideal. And where in the bloody hell is the edit button????????

Terrys ballz to baloteli's booth

Uhm @blog, how large is ass-havin’s ass’, just wöndering?

Frog

iPhone 4 and 4s.

GreenGooner

Hahahahaha fucking moyes got snubbed again. Oi moyes, flamini is available… So is hleb…. Bendtner by any chance? Hahahaha

Pascal Cygan

If I saw the words ‘apologies for this break in transmission’ once more, I may kill everyone from ESPN.

Denilson's Frackleberries

Was at the game. Some Arsenal fans were singing the song about Adebayor’s bus and freaking out the cute Japanese chicks. Hmnnnn. So hot out here the station afterwards had people profusely pouring with sweat it was insane. Walcott looked horrendous today! Flashbacks!!!

We've got Santi Cazorla and you don't.

Good game if not a bit edgier that the ones we’ve played so far. Kos was massive today, got stuck in during some dodgy moments. Fabianski was class one minute and rather shaky the next, nerves perhaps? Theo and Jack were kind of disappointing tonight, and Zelalem was out muscled today. Glad he’s only 16, imagine how he’s going to be when he hits 20. Also I have to say Ramsey played yet another good game, he was involved in both our goals and almost made one for himself. Pressed all night long and his stamina is scary. He’s really… Read more »

Baz

God we look awesome in yellow. Looks amazing from afar, it’s a shame that it looks like a school polo close up. Still good to be back in proper Arsenal colours

jason

Theo is theo he will always be inconsistant but he will get us goals dw about that.

Tho must be said id prefer Suarez scoring all of our goals with Ox instead of Theo.

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