Arsenal were beaten 2-1 this afternoon by Galatasaray in the Emirates Cup, as Didier Drogba returned to haunt us once more.
Arsene Wenger named a first XI of: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Walcott, Sanogo
Former Gunner, and witless buffoon, Emmanuel Eboue captained the visiting side, while there there was an Arsenal debut for Yaya Sanogo. The young Frenchman showed early promise with a great turn and shot inside the first minute.
He then played a great pass for Theo Walcott who could have taken it on and gone for goal, but tried a delicate headed pass towards Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. And Arsenal’s top scorer should have opened the scoring in the 18th minute after latching on to a beautiful long pass from Aaron Ramsey, but with just the keeper to beat he poked his shot wide.
Wojciech Szczesny was then forced to clear with his head as Galatasaray threatened, but Bacary Sagna at centre-half twice snuffed out danger from the speedy Amrabat.
It wasn’t much of a game, so I tidied away some papers on my desk and in my eagerness ripped up an invoice I really needed but these things happen and there’s no point living in the past. It’s just a piece of paper.
But in the 39th minute Arsenal took the lead. After a corner routine, the ball came back to Theo Walcott who curled in a fairly tame cross which missed everyone, bounced across the area and in at the far post for 1-0.
Sanogo then got on the end of some nice Kieran Gibbs play but a good save from Muslera (oh, and the offside flag) denied him a goal, before he fired a left footed effort well over the bar, and the Gunners took their one goal lead into the break.
Galatastary brought on Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba at the break, and even after some time away from English football, the mere sight of Drogba’s hideous face made me angrier than a wasp who catches his mickey in his zip.
The visitors had the first chance of the second period when Eboue set Amrabat free down the left hand side, but he saw his near post shot saved by Szczesny.
Bacary Sagna then found Oxlade-Chamberlain but the keeper got a hand to the pass he was pulling back for Sanogo, while at the other end Drogba lashed a shot wide from a tight angle to great applause from the Arsenal fans. Not long after he got an effort on target having turned inside a tired looking Mertesacker but Szczesny was equal to the task.
Arsene Wenger then made his first changes, bringing on Olivier Giroud and young star Gedion Zelalem for Santi Cazorla and Yaya Sanogo. Giroud got a good shot away after a turn on the edge of the box but the keeper was positioned well and made a routine stop.
Ignasi Miquel then replaced Kieran Gibbs at left back and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should have had a penalty when he was clearly caught in the box but the referee waved play on. Giroud had a good header on target before Sneijder’s long rage effort tested Szczesny at his near post.
Drogba’s return to the Emirates wouldn’t have been complete without him being a gigantic minging cheat, and when Ignasi Miquel brushed off him in the area, the Ivorian went down as if he’d been shot and the referee bizarrely pointed to the spot. Drogba took the penalty himself and fired it home to make it 1-1.
In the 81st minute Lukas Podolski replaced Theo Walcott while Chuba Akpom came on for Aaron Ramsey but Amrabat had the chance to put the Turks ahead but he fired a shot over the bar from inside the box.
Drogba threatened again, driving into the box before being stopped by a top Mertetackle, but the horrendous ex-Chelsea striker put Galatasaray ahead in the 88th minute, turning back inside Mertesacker and firing home with his left foot to make it 2-1.
Arsenal pressed for an equaliser, none was forthcoming, and the Turkish side won the match and the Emirates Cup but then nobody really cares about that.
Let’s have a sandwich.
fuck off drogba you diving cunt.
that’s one shitty sunday.
Think suarez was watching, taking notes on his next scuba diving class. Ironically though, it might be in an Arsenal shirt at the emirates.
How on earth are people giving that a thumbs down?
its ok the darklord will deal with them
He is decent because he can score.
i second boilk. the guy’s a shitbag, but he’s got skills.
Diving skills
Probably because Arsene had multiple opportunities to bring him to help us and never did.
How does that alter the fact that he’s a diving cunt? And when did we ever have the chance to sign him (apart from when he was really young which would have brought about the hilarious African of French descent youngster japes)?
Silly arseblogger.
any time a side led by the present day cretin that is cuntene cuntger gets beaten, it’s a day to enjoy, no matter whether there was diving or cuntishness involved or not. nor whether it was a friendly or not.
cuntene cuntger’s cuntishness far surpasses dogbreath’s cuntishness by a factor of a googolplex.
actually cuntene’s cuntishness is up there in the range of graham’s number, that’s how big it is.
Sir Blogs, it’s – at least for me – also about perspectives. we lose to a team with scum of a player, and the most thumbed up comment is about how big a diver that scum is. and that’s the first thought, as well. already looking for excuses. in reality, that fucker was not really responsible for the ref’s idiotic pen giving (and not giving, vide the Ox), while his second goal was quite simply brilliant. a pisspot as he is, that’s simply an instance of clouding one’s perception, as it diverges attention from the real news, i.e. our shitty… Read more »
What I learned from this match
1)Chambo should play in the wings
2)Arteta should take the set-pieces(Walcott was shit in taking set-pieces except that instace of lucky goal. His set-piece lacks any power)
3)We need a quality striker
4)Ramsey is improving each game
5)The squad lacks any depth
Chambo on the right wing. Cazorla/Gnabry on the left wing.
Arteta, Ramsey and Rosicky/Wilshere as CAM. Walcott/Poldi/Giroud as strikers.
play them in the right fucking positions !
Pretty sure all of that was the definition of last season.
Now that the experimentation is over, can we now get some top top top quality players in?
Evidence: http://arsenalist.com/f/galatasaray-v-arsenal/drogba-dive.html
Holy Jaysus, he’s such an accomplished diver he doesn’t even have to look to see where Miquel is, he just goes down by intuition. The work of a master, or a colossal fucking cunt.
Still, you cant deny that he’s a brilliant player.
At least Arsene will go into panic buy mode early…
What do you mean? That was a title-challenging squad out there today…
Yeah if you are challenging for the uzbeki second division title.
yup, like what arsene says, 4th is like a trophy.
Heh…
Dirty diving cunt!
Chelski fan on here thumbing down then?
And what was that Gala defender(cunt) on when he made that lunge clearance on Walcott….?
So glad the cup is over. Now we can go back to complaining about signings.
What is it with drogba againts arsenal??!!
On another note:
Our goal margin for previous matches went from 2 goals,1 goal, 0 goal to -1 goals
Drogba blatantly cheated, so Galatasaray probably deserved a draw rather than a win, but I was a little discouraged to see how little we created going forward. We lost possession far too easily, and created virtually nothing in terms of goalscoring opportunities.
It was telling that my first thought when we needed a goal was to bring on Koscielny. I realize this is pre-season, but the signs don’t look great for our attack. Massive reinforcements needed.
Ramsey was my man of the match.
Not really! We actually should have had a penalty.
Why are ref’s such cunts to us?
you guys should stop whining about the emirates cup. We need players thats all. Wenger should wake up things are changing. Top 4 might no longer be sure.
when dog bite scored that second i was also like ‘oh shit bring Koscielny in CF’ too… says it all really
Ramseys cross for Walcott was fucking excellent.
Agreed. On another note, I don’t really think that you do a player like Miquel a favour when you bring him on against someone like Drogba. Whereas Gala reinforced their squad at Half time, we brought in youngsters. (which is basically a good thing given it’s PRE-SEASON). However, then don’t expect the team to win or turn around a game. I really liked Zelalem, now he didn’t a massive impact on the game, but every time he touched the ball, something meaningful came out. Great expectations here. I’ve noticed it already in previous games, but today it was more obvious;… Read more »
to be fair, we were missing rosciky and wilshere, but good run out for the young lads. I feel bad for miquel, his confidence shattered after the penalty but better learn it on pre-season than on a league game. All in all other team took their chances well and we didn’t, so if that says anything to wenger, well i’m sure he knows whats missing in this squad.
We definitely missed Rosicky, yes. Jack not so much. I really wasn’t impressed with him against Napoli nor has he done anything of real note during this pre-season. Its pre-season, so I’m not really fretting it yet.
drogba is such a bellend, and yeah Arsene knows we need bodies so now we wait and see who comes.
*Vents frustration in a forceful yet gentlemanly manner*
That’s 15 in 15 against Arsenal for Drogba.
Even when he’s no longer in the Premier league he still finds a way to screw us over!
I can’t tell if I’m supposed to thumb that comment up or down. . . but yeah that incredibly gifted twat drogba has done it again. Better him than higuain scoring a brace at the emirates (if only for the sanity of the crowd)
That was a dire watch.
So have we signed anyone yet? For more than a quid I mean….
You’re overestimating how much we’ve spent by assuming we’ve spent any money
Technically, we spent around £400,000 for Sanogo.
Technically, we’ve spent nil on anyone else.
Why did we get rid of Djourou and not Miquel?
Agreed… Have not been overly impressed with Miquel
Arsene didn’t need Djourou anymore, and he wanted regular football. That part’s pretty obvious.
As for Miquel, I think Monreal and Vermaelen’s injuries meant Arsene badly needed that left-footed defender who could provide back-up at both CB and LB, so any plans for sending Miquel off were scrapped, atleast before the Emirates Cup. But then, I could be wrong. Who knows?
Hate to say it, but if there was any truth in the rumors, Jan Vertonghen would have been a good buy for this last year.
Why did we ever sell eboue?!
for the same reasons that we sold Santos.
Sagna is not a centre half and Miquel is not good enough. Defence is shit even if Drogba is a diving cunt.
I would rephrase that slightly.
“Sagna is not a centre half and Miquel is not a left-back.”
I think Miquel has promise but he needs to play as a CB to become better.
I actually thought Sagna was good in the centre. And easily one of our better players again.
Yep. Agree re: Miquel though. He’s not ready yet (and I doubt he ever will be).
Miquel and Yennaris may be loaned to Leicester by the end of the week.
Wenger Out anyone????
Yeah why not, i’ll have one of those.
No thanks. I only like mine all in upper case.
Cheers.
I was only joking!!
Couldn’t give a fuck about friendlies……at……all……!!
A game with Drogba in it wouldn’t be complete without a murderous tackle, wouldn’t it? Freakin’ Miquel, you disgrace the Arsenal crest with those kind of tackles. I mean, you could of punched a damn hole in his back! Wenger, make sure this kid never plays again!!
holy crap, did people actually think I was serious? 23 thumbs-down?
I think it’s a shame that some people think irony is what you make ploughs out of…
Meaningless or not. This presentation might be a little embarrassing. So what’s next ?
Well one thing is certain..sort of. There are known known’s; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.
Why is this getting thumbed down? I say comment of the day
It’s getting thumbed down because it sounds like something that Brendan Rogers would say.
Actually its what Don Rumsfeld said during the Iraq war when things started to get out of hand.
Aah, the good old days, when the most powerful people on the planet came up with classics like:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee…I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee…that says, fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me…you can’t get fooled again.”
“They misunderestimated me.”
“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”
If you’re not Donald Rumsfeld then you really should have this in quotes.
If you are Donald Rumsfeld then you really should be in the dock at the ICC in the Hague along with Blair, Jack Straw, and Alastair effing Campbell (for starters).
Comment of the day, my arse.
If Rumsfeld is a Gooner, then he’ll go into that Piers Morgan/Osama Bin Laden/Ronnie Biggs/Kevin Costner category of undesirables.
Apologies for my ignorance. To be honest I stopped listening to Rumsfeld after he said “it’s not about the oil”.
Three things learned: 1) Chamberlain’s not ready to play in the middle, in fact not ready to become a regular in the first eleven, gave the ball away far too much. 2) Zelalem is a class act, eerily comfortable in this team. 3) WE NEED A FUCKING STRIKER!
Even if we had Falcao we still wouldn’t have won. No creativity means no goal scoring chances means no goals. Simples.
We’re so far from where we need to be. The difference between our forwards and Drogba is miles apart. We seriously lacked creativity, ideas, anything threatening. Apart from a lucky goal we didn’t really do much to kill the game off. Oh well, still a few week left to go.
Even though the result counts for zero, I agree. 1-0 up and all we did was sit back and even though the goal came from cheating, it probably would have come anyway. We didn’t do anything in virtually the whole of the second half.
I’d take Drogba at 35 over every single attacker we have (or all together) ANYTIME.
Not even close.
And that is telling.
We have good strikers but we need someone who could connect midfield and the front three and sometimes suck a tight defence out of their formation.
The bitey angel would fill that position nicely.
Listen,as long as Wenger is here these defeats will be the norm.It is ages since we turned over a decent side and forget about us impeoving on that without a host of new signings.
March 2013 wasn’t that long ago, especially considering that the season finished in May.
Obviously Wenger won’t spend and in stead try and dupe everyone by getting the players to take up new names. Or summat.
You’re stupid!
What! Still no “that was your one chance to win a cup” and “you can’t even win your own trophy” comment from some sad Chelski fan.
Wait for it …
Haha that was your one chance to win a trophy and you can’t even win it.
Blue is the colour.
David Luiz is the greatest centre-back of all time.
*Insert generic Chelski quote*
Miquel looked way out of his depth when he came on. Sanogo? Well it was his first match at the top sort of level, so we can forgive him.
Such a flash. Do you use some kind magic? I just watched it finish on my tv couples seconds ago.
Btw, we lost it because a diving c***. Positive: players got enough minutes against tough opponents. Next week must a win against mancit.
Negative: Still no improvement in final third.
Boy google translate sure has left something to be desired here
Its time to sign a new striker, we cant always rely on theo to get us the goals. He needs world class help ASAP.
This comment is very funny.
Well…
Keep it shut, syrup thief. Bog off and count your money.
Meh.
I can see the knives coming out now, run Wenger run!!!
Didn’t like the way we played today. Lost the ball and gave it away alot. I Sagna was great at CB. Strong and comanding. Mertersacker wasnot. Doesnt mean he is a bad player. Just didnt play well today.
This leaves the Man City match next week to really asses how strong we are by playing a first eleven (minus maybe Cazorla because he still short of fitness).
I thought metersacker was great for most of the match. I loved how he faked by standing still for walcotts goal (watch it again) that was classy!
Arsenal are the one of the most sloppy sides when in possession,it is so infuriating when we constantly looses the ball where it would be easier to hold on to it.
False. Arsenal are one of the best at keeping the ball, and that’s part of the problem – we need to shoot more often.
I’m personally really looking forward to seeing how Poldi, Giroud and Cazorla fare this season. They have the first adjustment season behind them, and all three of them are very willing shooters.
What’s really pleasing about Giroud in the pre-season is that he is scoring every type of goal: long range, headers, chips, bicycle kicks. We need that kind of confidence.
Effing Drogba cunt. Thanks for ruining a warm Sunday evening.
It really was literally the only way i’d have cared about this game, him doing that leaves that horrible feeling in my stomach even in an irrelevant match. It almost feels like we actually just lost a competitive match
I realy hate Drogba.
Drogba = Terry = Gigantic Cunt
Whether it was a dive or not. You see the influence of a world class striker. Came on scored two goals..
Ignasi and Jenkinson not ready. Chamberlain poor. Actually enjoyed Ramsey’s performance as he was the only one driving the team forward. Arteta solid. Walcott invinsible. Sanogo, meh, but it’s his first game.
Recruits needed ASAP! Get on it Wenger..
You mean like Higuain’s stunning display yesterday? I don’t deny that we need signings, but don’t draw that conclusion from a single game in which our main striker only came on midway through the second half.
Wenger: ‘we can win the league even without adding to the squad.’
No. We can’t.
Win the league? Ha! We’ll be crapping our trousers for the 4th place trophy if we don’t add something else to the squad this summer, especially forwards/creative midfield. The only thing more baffling than the lack of inventiveness and penetration in the final third today is Arsene apparently happy to sit there and refuse to do anything about it.
its hard to argue that (player x) and/or (player y) would have added a bit more had they been bought. added to the depth offered by the junior lads.
We can win the league with this lot (we finished last season in title-winning form), but the odds are stacked against it. It would only take a few injuries to leave us threadbare.
Everyone is agreed that we need signings in order to increase those odds. Wenger knows it – he’s just trying to boost the confidence of his players, which is fair enough.
Wenger knows he can’t win the league with what he has. But we don’t really expect him to say that at a press conference, do we?
I really don’t think Miq(g)uel has it…
Watching the game, I have smaller and smaller wonder that Jenkinson and Miquel are ready to be a starter for the full back postions this season. We do need to be straight at front.
If Gibbs gets injured, we are in deep trouble, though you can’t really blame Wenger for that one. We have Gibbs and Monreal for LB, and I can’t think of too many clubs that have more than 2 fantastic specialists for the LB position. We should have been covered there, so it’s just bad luck, really (furthermore because Vermaelen, who would start ahead of Miquel for LB, is also out).
Oh please guys. Lets bot get on tgeir back already. Its not the teams fault the club are doing their buisness slowly. Lets support them so when we start the season theyre confident. No wonder were shit at home when theres negativity eveywhere. By all rights when upset with the club but channel it the right way. Booing the team off aint the right way.
I think the boos are more directed at the management and board rather than the players. The players did their best, not their fault if they’re not good enough…
I wonder whether the players get that distinction? Do you think there are a few fans shouting at them as they enter the tunnel, “DON’T WORRY, THAT WAS FOR WENGER, NOT YOU! OKAY? WE COOL?”
I agree, it doesn’t help the players at all. But the expectation that the club have built up throughout the last 10-15 years means the fans want and expect more. And the only way most fans know how to vent their frustration is sadly through booing.
we can’t even win a pre-season trophy played on our own turf. bollocks
And if Arsenal did win, you’d be part of the lot that’d be ridiculing the Emirates Cup “for the joke that it is” and that it doesn’t mean shit that we won it. These games are all friendlies. They do not mean anything. They are meant to get our team match fitness. Understand that.
The problem is we looked rubbish whatever the result, whatever the competition. We used to be a class above these teams in Europe.
Look at us now.
Can’t wait for the season to start. A hunt for the top four this season will be intense…..Don’t fuckin sit there thinking about a title challenge
That’s the more reason we should buy suarez, he dives better than Drogba
Why does Wenger continue to allow Walcott to be our dead ball taker, he is terrible.
Arteta & Cazorla are miles better
It must stop. Arteta put a beauty in yesterday for our first goal
Actually it was the second but he may have delivered the first too come to think of it
Actually, Theo whipped in the corner Giroud scored. How Awkward…
But yeah, totally agree, the madness needs to stop
One of the mysteries of the world… Remember someone jokes it was part of his contract
Joked*
soo disapointed with ox and jenko…hope we can sort it out for mancity game.
I fucking hate Drogba, now sign some fucking players
Can we sign Drogba up please. At least he will cost a fraction of the Suarez bid and we can still have Wenger sign his new contract and still make everyone happy.
Goal.com are just putting the finishing touches to their “Wenger targets new Drog after striker breaks Arsenal hearts again” article…
Drogba’s son is an Arsenal fan. I’m glad this is his last season, he will be 36 this summer and will retire after the World Cup. I never want to see him again.
Let the rant begin
Ahhh not good not good at all.Come on dont just keep on dropping weights from the parachute you gotta add some too to get down.
That was a preview of how our season will be if we don’t spend some fucking money.
its not even the start of the season, same old sh..t, no new players (one on a free) ,COME ON AW! ,we need players, every fan knows it but u, sack AW
Drogba wins (and scores) a penalty: *Throws up in mouth*.
Drogba scores the winner: *Projectile-vomits all over screen*.
Going to have nightmares tonight.
We are so used to 4th place… now at the Emirates Cup too?
Does 4th place get a trophy? 😀 Even a microscopic one will do