Arsenal’s pre-season continued today with penalty shoot out win over Bayern Munich in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Shanghai, after the 90 minutes finished 1-1.
The Gunners fielded a pretty strong starting XI of: Cech, Bielik, Elneny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Coquelin, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ozil, Welbeck, Lacazette.
Per Mertesacker was originally in the starting line-up but dropped out before kick-off because of illness. Perhaps it had something to do with the conditions.
Bayern took the lead from the penalty spot in the 9th minute after Juan Bernat dived over a Maitland-Niles challenge in the area. Robert Lewandowski powered home the spot kick to make it 1-0.
The foul that led to the penalty pic.twitter.com/OlKTilKpsI
— Terje (@ArsenalTerje) July 19, 2017
Mesut Ozil nearly equalised straight away but after a fine pass from Welbeck his volley hit the keeper, and Bayern thought they’d doubled the lead but had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside.
Alexandre Lacazette was denied an equaliser just after the half hour mark, forcing a good save from not Manuel Neuer after being sent through on goal by Ozil.
Petr Cech made a good save after a Thomas Mueller shot was deflected on the way towards goal, and had to be alert from another deflected effort after Ribery tied Maitland-Niles in knots.
The Czech keeper kept the scoreline respectable with another great save before half-time, before a half-time change was made with Kolasinac going off because of illness to be replaced by Reiss Nelson.
Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott, Joe Willock and Cohen Bramall came on at half-time for Ozil, Coquelin, Bielik and Lacazette, but again it was the Germans who looked most like scoring, once more Cech was there to deny Rodriguez at his near post.
The heat meant it was a game played at a fairly low pace, and Bayern were on top for the most part. Maitland-Niles provided a fine moment when he absolutely creamed Ribery out of it, and the local referee showed he was au fait with the workings of his European colleagues by booking Elneny after the Egyptian was fouled by Tolisso.
Aaron Ramsey came on to replace Granit Xhaka, while Iwobi showed some nice touches as the Gunners sought an equaliser. Emi Martinez replaced Cech with about 20 minutes to go, and Eddie Nketiah was given a run out in place of Danny Welbeck.
Not much else happened, until right at the death Arsenal got forward well through Iwobi, and Aaron Ramsey crossed for the Nigerian who planted a firm header on the run into the bottom corner. 1-1.
Iwobi equalises against Bayern in added time. Lovely goal pic.twitter.com/7yTYKmyDjG
— Terje (@ArsenalTerje) July 19, 2017
That meant a penalty shoot-out with Arsenal running out winners thanks to strikes from Ramsey, Monreal and Iwobi, and two saves from Martinez – one from Bernat particularly pleasing after his first half dive.
The Bayern Munich v Arsenal penalty shootout pic.twitter.com/KijytYrqnj
— Terje (@ArsenalTerje) July 19, 2017
In the end though, there’s little to be read into a pre-season friendly, and hopefully the players won’t have been too drained by the conditions in Shanghai today.
we saved some penalties! Woohoo. Some of the kids looked great out there today.
We won, who predicted that looking back a few posts to the preview…
COYR!
Anyone else weirdly relishing the fact that we don’t have to play Bayern or Barca ALL season? Unless something unthinkable happens in the champions league group stages…
Nice jinx man…
It will… 😉
The immutable laws of science cannot be changed.
I am sure some technicality will allow Bayern into the EFL cup now and it’s all your fault.
but we just did and we beat them mohaha.
Nice play!! Good for the confidence. Iwobi Fan-Tas-Tic! COYG
Bit disappointed with some of the first team performances today. When it was 1st team vs 1st team, Bayern looked in a different universe. That said, our youth I thought was a bit better than theirs. Decent result in trying conditions.
wenger said this game was about defensive preparation . if that indeed was the case then i’m worried
Actually, to correct you, he said prior to the match that the Sydney games were all about ‘offense’ – then he went on to say that the Chinese games would be about balancing between ‘defensive and offensive” duties because of the caliber of the opposition.
I have no idea why anyone would thumb you down when you are speaking the honest truth….
My comment probably doesn’t fit with the current mood. Don’t get me wrong, Bayern’s efficiency annoys me so it was kind of nice to see them be a little more…erm…inefficient. BUT, what worries me is the ease with which they trotted through our midfield unchallenged in the first half. Xhaka and Coq offered our inexperienced back five little protection, and Maitland Niles was getting rinsed by the gargoyle.
Elneny, Bielik and Monreal against Lewandowski James Rodriguez and Frank Ribery. I think that it went rather well thank you. But yes they looked a whee stronger but not alarmingly so.
Positivity…. tut tut Runzac. Tut tut
That’s because their 1st team was actually all senior players in and around the 1st team at any point in the season while our “1st team” on the day included the illustrious Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Krystian Bielik, and El Neny as a CB. Xhaquelin midfield is also far from our best combination. I’m honestly glad we didn’t get wrecked in the first half, and I was mostly shocked at the fact that Bayern could afford to play a summer friendly with such a star-packed starting XI. In the end, though, it turns out that they actually couldn’t afford it, since we… Read more »
It wasn’t our 1st team unless you expect Bielik and AM-N to be our 1st choice….
Nice from Iwobi. Have high hopes for him this season.
Cech was immense today, took off where he left off last season. May that form continue
Hope so as we’ve let our best keepe leave
@Andy Warren – Daily Mail’s host commentator. Cannot count how many digs at Arsenal. Commentary has gone to pot.
Most games since February i watch with muted audio.. BTW… I also stopped reading the blog, Blogs.. As our host, you weren’t supposed to take sides during the wenger in/out debacle.. You should have been moderator and pulled a Switzerland (stay neutral).. This blog is part of my morning ritual for >10 years, i was really disgusted.. Not because i was wenger in, but for a long time you seemed to not want to be in the band wagon, but you caved, and it hurt blogs.. In future stay neutral that way you get to keep all your readers.. I… Read more »
If he doesn’t have an opinion what’s the point in it being a blog? Might as well just keep Arseblog News and shutdown the main site.
Just because the man has an opinion doesn’t mean he’s jumping on any band wagon. Get a grip mate and stop throwing your toys out of the pram.
Thumbs up for the name/handle/watchacallit
That’s the longest jump onto a bandwagon in history, somewhere around four years?
Really like the look of Kolosinac and Nacho on that left flank – really solid. Nacho was quality throughout.
Bayern are well beyond us at the moment though I fear.
Still, a decent run-out for the likes of Willock…
Imho we played a more experimental team than them so it is hard to compare. The positive is that even when we play bad we don’t seem to concede many with the back 3
Good win, no injuries
Just puke and diarrhoea
wtf!!! i thought it was a draw and switched off the tv ?
hahaha! same here! I was like ”Penalty shoot out? What penalty shoot out?”
same here
I was watching it live on my phone and switched off as soon the ref blew the final whistle to save data thinking the match had ended. Imagine my surprise when I went to read the match report.
You’re not the only one!
Haha yep. I checked FotMob afterwards and it said “3-4” or something. I was so confused. Surely it ended 1-1? What’s going on? No, it did not..
Absolutely cracking goal from Iwobi. Love his power on the ball. Will watch the highlights later, always nice to win and perform well with so many changes..onto Chelsea!
He could become really really good with a bit of luck …
Kolasinac play good, hope it’s not an injury. Lacazette, wtf, that’s Walcott-esque finishing touch, should do better next time. Ozil do so much work in 1st half, need Sanchez to divide the work, or maybe Iwobi can do because he can and like to dribble, but no Welbs and Walcott please, they just can’t do it. Iwobi/Cech are very good, but i give MOTM to Cech, single handedly keep us in the game. Hmm, feels like we need to sign a CM asap, Lemar maybe can transform into DM as Xhaka/Coq’s pair so we have someone that can connect the… Read more »
You were doing ok until you tried to convert Lemar into a DM
Bird’s Nest stadium’s in Beijing and that’s not it’s real name either.
Thanks for the report, otherwise!
What a run from Iwobi. We need more players like that who drive at the opposition’s defence. I look forward to seeing him in action this season.
Theo came on with all the kids and didn’t look as good as most of them. People can repeat that he scored 19 goals last season all they like, as a player his limitations are becoming more apparent with every appearance.
We won! How about being a bit up-beat!
Downbeat towards Theo because I don’t think he’s worth a spot in our squad, let alone our team. Very happy for Iwobi as he scored a great goal which will hopefully boost his confidence. Impressed by Willock and Nelson. Largely indifferent to the score as it’s a pre season friendly but of course it’s nice to win. Wanted to write a short post so I left out all that stuff first time around
I hope we sell him this summer and replace him with Mahrez.
No thank you. At least Walcott scores goals and Mahrez a one season wonder
So did welbeck. Also lacazette can’t even score against a retired goalkeeper. However I don’t see you picking on them.
Because they are far superior players to Theo. Could Theo have played the ball that Welbeck laid into Ozil in the first half? Lacazette is still getting to know his team mates so I think it’s pretty early to assess him (although it would have been better if he had scored with the 1 chance he got)
Most of which came in the FA cup against weak teams. Like a hat trick against the Southampton reserve who were used cause their first team had an EFL cup final, then soton and co
Yeah chelsea, bayern, city, and liverpool are weak teams that we would walk over anytimes anydays.
When a 17 year old kid is huffing and puffing because you chose to shoot instead of pass the ball to him allowing him to just sidefoot it in the net, you know you’re not up to scratch.
To be honest, two players were converging on him to not allow that pass. Just look at that clip again, you’ll notice that other than sanchez, ozil, possibly ramsey or ox, no one would have attempted that pass.
He took the right option and if the GK had spilt the ball then Ed would have had a tap in.
He had every right to shoot from that position…and he hit the target as he invariably does.
Great win, not that it matters much. One thing that has been glaringly obvious over the past couple of seasons and was evident today, was watching how several Bayern players sometimes carried the ball all the way from deep in their half to the edge of our box without a single arsenal player pressing. We need to better marshal the middle of the pack and have a system (drilled into all our players) for preventing these kind of surges from opposition players. We also need to learn to press with more urgency and in packs (as there is no point… Read more »
Iwobi maturing well! The force is strong in this one…
Iwobi wan
What wizardry is this?? No one should be allowed such power over puns.
Our Obi Wan Iwobi?
Can we sub Emi Martinez on everytime we concede a penalty?
Rush Goalie?
Just put a helmet on him, sneak him on from behind the goal and maybe no one will notice.
Iwobi’s making my Arsenal fpl picks even more difficult.
Reiss Nelson…..nuff said
penalty shootout? Seriously?
No, not too seriously. (Though the Bundesliga-oriented commentary I heard did find it remarkable that Bayern could ever lose on penalties.)
Kolasinac looks good, Cech superb, Ozil make a hard damn work in the 1st half (need Sanchez to divide the work), Iwobi looks promising(rather than Welbs we should choose him as starter on the wing from now), the linesmen are a joke, LOL.
We need a cazorla replacement though as Xhaka’s pair, in the 1st half our team too reliant on Ozil to do something but it also shows that we need to keep Sanchez so we have 2 people that can make something happens, if Lemar sign we have 3 and Lacazette can focus to make a run/space.
Iwobi, take a bow son! Nice performance, never gave up
Apologies if I’m just being thick, but is there a link to watch the penalty shootout? Can’t see one at the moment…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdK2NA5FjQg
Maitland Niles is a very good prospect. Started slowly but grew in confidence.Very versatile too. Looking forward to see him more.
Felt sorry for him actually, continually getting burned by Ribery
And then he redeemed himself with that beauty of a tackle
yeah loved that – really well timed
I like how the 3-5-2 seems to overload the middle
You cheating fucking Bayern cunts. Even in a friendly you can’t win fair and square.
Can’t win at all!
Practicing their primary tactics in preseason.
I am going to be that person who reads everything from this. Great game, we beat Bayern Munich. Clearly this means we will win the Premier League and do not need any more signings. Finally we have a proper world class center back in Mohd ElNeny!
So Arsene’s focus on defense means we get outshot 21-7. Understandable.
But shouldn’t focus on defense mean defend better? How hard is it to get your players focused in one game. Some of the defending was disgraceful for a professional football club. It’s more of the same and we continue.
Uh.. did you look at the team sheet just once?
Uh…yes I did. Sead and monreal will probably be first teamers, and it was mostly them that werr at fault. Watch the game before you post comments.
Suppose that Bayern have to practice their diving in prep for another CL run…
well done Emi Martinez. Those penalty saves were, dare I say it, Almuniaesque.
Fuck that, we beat the twats, I’ll take it any day of the week, regardless of the fact that it was a friendly because it’ll give the young’uns a world of confidence! Hope this is Iwobi’s season to breakthrough and shine!!
Great individual effort by Iwobi on the goal from stealing the ball, carrying it upfield and continuing his run then burying the header. I hope he gets more time this year as I think he can be a strong player for us. If we don’t have Sanchez for a game or Sanchez plays up to he can be very good paired along with Ozil as one of the two supporting the striker. I think too many have forgotten about what he can do with his drop in form last Spring. Cech certainly looked on his game (and thank goodness for… Read more »
Monreal should be promoted to #1 penalty taker! 2 goalies wouldn’t have stopped that!
Welbeck, good forward, but can’t score a goal to save his life. That worries me.
Monreal’s penalty though.