Arsenal: Cech, Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette
Subs: Ospina, Kolasinac, Willock, Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Walcott, Giroud
—
Arsenal came from behind thanks to a goal from new boy Sead Kolasinac, and won the the Community Shield after a penalty shoot-out at Wembley today.
There were key men absent for Arsene Wenger as he went into the game without Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin and Laurent Koscielny, while new boy Alexandre Lacazette started up front.
The first real moment of danger came after 6 minutes from a driving run and cut back from Alex Iwobi, but the ball deflected wide off Lacazette. Moments later a superb Granit Xhaka pass over the top saw Danny Welbeck head straight at Courtois.
A dangerous break saw Welbeck storm through the Chelsea lines but when he was cynically hauled back by Azpilicueta the referee had no option but book the Spaniard. He was followed into the book by Hector Bellerin who slid in on Marcos Alonso, clearly the Arsenal man just wanted it more.
A beautiful flowing move from deep in our own half ended with Lacazette curling a shot which crashed back off the post, before Per Mertesacker was laid low by a Gary Cahill elbow. The Arsenal skipper sustained a nasty looking cut to his eye and was replaced by Sead Kolasinac in the 30th minute.
Petr Cech had to be alert to make a stop from Pedro, Alonso picked up a yellow card for a cynical block on Bellerin, and Willian was booked for a dive in the box although it did look as if contact from Hector made him clip his own heels. Still, Chelsea diving at Wembley is not that unusual.
Iwobi showed his quality again with a driving run and some neat footwork in the box to get a shot on target, Welbeck whacked a shot well over the bar, and as the teams went in level at the break Lacazette’s effort remained the closest either side came to a goal.
That changed inside the first minute of the second half when Chelsea took the lead. A Xhaka clearance went high rather than far, Cahill headed it back into the box and Victor Moses was alert to slam the ball home from close range. 0-1.
There was further danger moments later, a short corner routine saw Arsenal exposed and only for Nacho Monreal heading off the line the lead might have been extended.
At the other end Elneny had a pop from outside the box but sliced wide with his left foot, and the Egyptian almost equalised with a shot from a very tight angle when it looked as if he was going to cross. The swerve on the ball almost caught out the Chelsea keeper who palmed the ball away.
Rob Holding was alert to stop a low Willian cross, Welbeck was denied by a David Luiz block, before Arsene Wenger made two changes – bringing on Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott for Lacazette and Iwobi.
Arsenal pressed for the equaliser, and almost got it via a long-range cracker from Xhaka, only to see Courtois make a brilliant fingertip save to prevent the goal. There was further drama when Pedro was sent off for a nasty raking challenge down the Achilles of Elneny.
From the resulting free kick the Gunners got the goal they were looking for, Xhaka floated the ball in and Kolasinac rose highest to nod the ball home and to level the scores. 1-1.
Danny Welbeck was replaced by 17 year old Reiss Nelson with a couple of minutes to go, Walcott miscued an attempt from the edge of the box, and as the game entered injury Morata headed just wide but the linesman’s flag was up for offside.
As the game finished level, we went straight to a penalty shoot-out, trialling the ABBA system we told you about in midweek.
Chelsea went first, Gary Cahill scored. Arsenal took the next two penalties. Theo Walcott buried his in the top corner, while Nacho Monreal calmly slotted home to the keeper’s left.
That meant two for Chelsea and Thibaut Courtois took his and blasted it way over the bar, followed by Alvaro Morata who put his wide. That gave Oxlade-Chamberlain a chance to put Arsenal in real control, which he did, and then Olivier Giroud stepped up knowing that he could win it.
The Frenchman did just that, slamming the ball home, and Arsenal completed the pre-season treble with the Community Shield.
Watch the full shoot-out here.
Now for Leicester.
We gonna win the league !!!!!!
ABBA The Winner Takes It All.
I thought the new system is advantageous to the team that goes second.
If the team doesn’t slot in the first penalty, they have a second to draw level. BUT if they slot both in, the first team is under immediate pressure.
Chelski…Moses again. Must have thought he’d redeem himself with the goal then trust another of the scum to get sent off for another cynical foul.
And then to have Courtois take the penalty, priceless. Followed by their expensive signing Morata. Madrid must be laughing.
Well that was easy.:D
As usual, Welbeck cannot find the back of the net. He should be sent packing. He is not doing what he was bought to do.
He was very important today well played Welbeck. imo.
put Messi on the left and let see how well he does. Not his position, he needs to be upfront to bully he defenders. Pace, Power, Strenght, what more do you want?? Goals will come for him as he has scored before and will do so again. That guy Wellbz !!!
I don’t want to make a big deal of it (because it’s really not and I don’t even like penalty shoot-outs), but this new ABBA system is a dopey waste of time. I’m sure the intentions were good, but ABABABAB was fine and just makes more overall sense.
The chelsh*ts standing small
We have won the English Supercup!
Was it just me or did Chelsea look unusually down after the match? I don’t think they’re a very happy team at the moment.
More importantly, congratulations to Arsenal’s Daniëlle van de Donk, Sari van Veenendaal and Dominique Janssen for their World Cup win!
European champions, not World Cup 🙂
And Miedema (2 goals this afternoon) is joining as well.
Sorry – for some reason this post wasn’t visible when I posted (feel like a right tit now).
You forgot the new girl, Vivianne Miedema, who also scored yesterday.
Also, small correction: European Championships.
Mertesacker is such a gunner. he fucking bleeds red!
I say he bleeds red and white!! (Red And white blood cells….lol)
trying a wee bit too hard mate.
Who the fark voted it down?
Seri and Lemar
Elneny and Iwobi, gunners.
Iwobi was just brilliant . the best player on the pitch for arsenal . don’t know why he was substituted but really hoping this be the season where he comes of age
It seems Iwobi is almost always taken off; I wonder if experience in training is that he tires in the last minutes.
Elneny was the best …
Xhaka for me – and a special mention for ‘never lets you down’ Monreal. On another matter, if he’s on the pitch, can we please make HFB our first choice penalty taker? Never seen him take a bad one.
Not the right avenue and timing, but based on this evidence the addition of those two can really make us genuine favorites. While we’re at it, the fucking look on Courtois’ face though, bloody idiot thinking he can do one on Cech!
Key and Peele
fish and cushion
Mulligan and O’Hare
Laverne and Shirley
Cagney and Lacey
Laurel and Hardy
McLintock and Simpson
Socrates and Plato
Smith & Wesson
Henry & Bergkamp
Rick and Morty
Mornington Crescent!
Thierry and Dennis
Chip and Pin
Me and… oh
Troy and Abed.
Sead.
Just when we needed someone to step up he scored for us. We need characters like him in the team .really looking forward to seeing him more.
Not sure if the thumbs up is for the name or the comment. Or both.
Lacazette looks a good fit for us
Very excited to see Sanchez and Ozil lining up either side of him. One of the most formidable attacks in the league surely.
Certainly looking that way. Good depth as well.
Lacazette hit the post which was unlucky.
Certainly for now at least looks better than Morata.
Giroud of course sealed it for us. World class. All our penalty takers look sharp today.
way better i think he will be a contender for golden boot. i think today he was unlucky so he scores for the oppening game as we wilk play friday all eyes will be on him and it is written un the sarts tha he will scorre ir doubke the score, can’t wait fir friday.
Bit of a typing fail there
Haven’t got the strength in depth of city though, that’s really scary.
De Brune, Bernardo, Jesus, Aguero, Sterling, Silva, Sane, Gundogen.
And they still want Sanchez, cunts.
Yes, but their defence is their weakness…
Got a migraine just trying to read that!
That was a cracking start to the season.
Very entertaining game.
Arsenal played well throughout the 90 minutes despite missing our key players and having a makehshift defence.
Just wanna big up Monreal. He’s versatile and consistent. Plays well wherever deployed.
And Kolasinac. What a way to start he career in a new club.
Can’t wait for the new season. COYG
Kolasinac is a beast. Can’t believe we got him for free
Dick Law.
Criticised for por buys but never gets credit for good ones.
Like say Rob Holding. He’s unflappable.
AND Kolasinac. You won’t hear the press trumpeting either as top buys.
The Bosniak is a complete animal. Great close control for such a big man and I’m sure he absolutely terrifies opponents. Eats them for breakfast plus the ball.
Jens will train him further and he will eat the ball no doubt!
Future looks bright for those players.
Dick Law or Wenger?
Kolasinac was brilliant. Played like one made of steel not the gentlemen they all thought Arsenal had. Someone to instill fear in the opposition strikers
Courtois thinking he’s taking a goalkick haha
Kolasinac is a beast! Chelsea looking short of players and confidence. Fuck em!!
Up the Arsenal
COYG!!
Mega lol for Morata. I know that this match doesn’t mean much for the season ahead but the ability to come from behind and get the result bodes well. Love the look of Kolasinac, right in my fantasy team…
Careful with that! I think in a month or two he will be established as first choice LWB. However, for now I think we will go with the Ox on the left. Kolasinac came in at CB for injured BFG. He will be back on Friday and then we have Kos and Mustafi to come back.
My tip would be to wait to transfer him in. I think he will then become a staple of many a FF team, including mine!
Bigger than the Champions League.
Motm M.Elneny
I’m glad to see this. I thought he really provided vision, consistency, and an open pass in the final third. And tenacious in defense! I think the few games at CB really helped him.
Big up the team especially Kolasinac. We defended as a team. Welbeck needs to be quicker when shooting and needs to work on his left foot. He cud have assisted Lacazette on 2 occasions.
What an engine he has! I like him.
He definitely had a good game but Kolasinac deserves a shout too got MOTM.
Have to agree, engine, kept the midfield ticking, closed down brilliantly.
Definitely would start him in the middle alongside Xhaka on Friday.
totally agree, could he be the def midfielder we need? no he couldn’t, but I still liked him today. dont sell him, hes a great squad player. and he never stops running
Squad player. Did good today but we need something more.
We need a player who can penetrate from the middle and replicate Granit’s passing range.
I thought the Swiss was excellent today. MOTM.
And kudos to Kolasinac for being a monster out left.
FFS he had an awesome match.Jeez santori! Did Elneny screw around with you or something?
He could score a hattrick, assist Sanchez, do a goal line clearance and we’d still have you here ranting the next day about how he is ineffective and not good enough for the squad
Why do we need someone to replicate Xhaka when we have, you know, Xhaka?! We need someone to compliment him and offer other qualities. I think in games against lower teams sitting back to defend, his perfect partner is Cazorla or equivalent. Against the better teams we need someone box to box who can do the defensive work – closing down, tackles, space awareness and game situation awareness. Elneny showed today he can be that player – he was tremendous. He may not steal the limelight in games and he may not be that creative but, like Park Ji Sung… Read more »
Oh I don’t know…injury maybe…possibly an errant red card.
They’ve been known to happen on occasion.
Commiserations Courtois
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cwKCU8Z5c
Good start for Morata too
Great big chuckle.
he did have the save of the game against Xhaka though. Man, I thought that was heading right for the corner!
Great win for Arsenal, now let’s smash Leicester on Friday!
Can’t wait to hear an ole “Goodly morning” on the podcast tomorrow.
Very glad Pedro was sent off too, that was a nasty late challenge.
after this game, kolasinac is going for his MMA and UFC fight…
and pedro’s defenders, pls, no tackle from behind..that was one of the first major rule change of the EPL era…
Studs up too, absolute filth.
Pundits can’t work out why it’s a red, imagine if that was on the front of someone’s shin.
He is just upset cos Ospina smashed his face
Well done lads. Hope this bodes well for the season ahead!
Morcombe and Wise.
….are >Hale and Pace
Yeaaahhhh!
COYG!!!
I’m getting increasingly excited about our attack. kolasinac is looking great and so is chamberlain. add ozil, sanchez with the casette/giroud and we’re good to go. also, f*ck pedro the diving cheating dirty scum.
i personally though chambo was poor today
Looks better on the right.
Mixed bag. But really energetic. Great pen and good in stretches.
HIs passing range was a bit off. But it was no accident Chelsea looked impotent going down the right.
Still waiting for that Cech penalty save.
He made two Chelski players miss, no doubt about it.
Well played Pete!
Join the still waiting for that Courtois penalty save discussion
Still waiting for the ball to come back down to earth!
We looked good today! Defensively a little suspect but add Kos and Mustafi plus Rambo, Alexis and Ozil and this team looks dangerous. Elneney looked good today, very underrated in my opinion.
He has the same type of engine that Ramsey does. He’s not as skilled overall, but his strength covers Xhaka’s weakness in the same way. A good like-for-like backup if Ramsey isn’t available.
I really hated to see him in the middle of the defence, but the fighting spirit (and lack of room for mistakes) that is indispensable there can have a very positive impact on him in his natural position.
Plus – this kind of performance from the Egyptian can help to keep concentrated our welsh jesus either…
Chelsea are such cunts. Cahill elbowing BFG in the head and then again on Xhaka when they scored. Pedro with an awful tackle on Elneny. What a fucking warrior he was that he kept running until after he got hit. Fucking divers, cheats and cunts!!!
Can’t wait for next week. COYG!!!!
Same old Chelsea, always cheating
It’s good that they keep getting players sent off against us, makes a change
Cahill did not do that deliberately. Let’s be fair in our magnificent win!:-)
He went on to give David Luiz a big knock as well, he’s just clumsy AF
How do you know he didn’t do that deliberately? Are you in his head? He has been playing football since he was a child and is aware of where his body parts are. He chooses to be indifferent to the safety of his fellow footballers.
Except if you watch Chelsea, Cahill pretty regularly manages to get his elbow into someone’s face. I don’t think he is swinging it deliberately to break someone’s nose, but he’s mastered the technique of using his elbow to force his opponent away from the ball, not just for balance. In my opinion, deserves a booking every time to make him stop.
He’s got the art of accidentally elbowing people in the head down to a fine art, he does it all the time, the dirty cheat.
Lacazette’s link up play looked good. Unlucky not to score. Kolasinac made a hell of an impression. A lot of positives from today but the real work starts on Friday. My favourite thing is that we fought our way back from 1 down which should give us more belief to keep fighting. Well done for today boys and let’s build on this. COYG!
I was more concerned more about the performance and am glad to read some positive comments. Let’s not get carried away. Complacency and Arsenal know each other very well. COYG!
Macklin you sonofabitch.
Xhaka was excellent. Big season for him.
Big up to…the team actually. COYG!
I know he’s gone to Aston Villa and all, but if u concentrated you could hear the sound of John Terry putting on the full kit the minute it went to penalties.
Didn’t hear anything but the stench still lingers.
Good game, good watch. Not happy that the Ox was started on the left. I think he should have started on the right ahead of Bellerin. Everytime he got the ball and ran down that left wing, I would get this uneasy feeling just before he crosses that ball with his left foot. Oh it felt so horrible to watch his left foot crosses. I think had he started on the right, we would have beaten them even before that Red card or penalties. Other than that, it’s understandable for teams not to put out their best performance in a… Read more »
I wonder what your comment would be if Arsenal had lost? I’m not sure you will think it’s the comm shield and teams don’t take it serious or what not… we won and Chelsea wanted to win it!
You can’t criticize the club when they win, LOL, even if it’s a fair one, LOL.
Yeah i like Ox on the right more, but Bellerin play really well today, so maybe need to give Ox more variation in the same position, such as cut inside the box like Sanchez. He seems to only have one job, make a crosses no matter how hard it is, and i think it’s too predictable that’s why his impact probably only in the first 20 minutes.
We are still missing a bit of the “unpredictablility” factor Alexis gives us, should he leave, we will need to find someone who can add that element.
Yeah, Ox is better right side but if he plays left, he needs to essentially learn to cut in on the diagonal.
Should have retained Sanogo if we wanted unpredictability.
bellerin was relly really rusty he is far from his best form, hope he gets there quickly ox is ahead of him for rwb at the moment
Nothing friendly about that game. In retrospect, great team selection. We won and sent a message about the squad and putting team first. We also bedded in some players … and we WON.
Good hunger, good clutch play and Chelsea LOST.
Meaningless trophy but feels so good to win!
PS. Courtois’s penalty was dodgy.
Meaningless comment
Courtois’s penalty was lovely! John Terry’s mob got a hamstring, a red card and a defeat.
Shh it’s only meaningless if you lose
I’ll take it!
That’s what Courtois said
90 000 souls joined in unison by the simple chant “Stand up if you hate Tottenham.” Brings a tear to the eye
and everybody did
That one downvote
Spurs fan detected
Xhaka was unbelievable today. 98 passes, 100 percent completed, 5 dribbles completed and 7 interceptions. Big season for him. Iwobi was also great today. He looks sharper and stronger. Big season for him as well Kolasinac is a bloody tank. I wanted Mendy instead, but if we get Lemar, it doesn’t really matter. Kolasinac is a physical specimen. He’s been getting better and better. Lacazette was decent. Great movement. He’s looking sharper than the last time he played. Still looks a bit short of full fitness. Good game. I’m a bit surprised by how well we played considering the players… Read more »
impressive stats for xhaka, you can also add 1 assist to those numbers
mendy is great attacking back and he is mire like hector attack is his strong game defending not so much, if anythibg we needed defenseve rock and also good going forward we lacked player like him
Fuck off all the ‘it was just a friendly’ comments! We beat these wankers, we won the cup!
Fuck yeah Adam cant agree more mate. We beat them when the FA Cup was on the line and just for good measure when Comm shield up for grabs too!
Credit to Elneny, even after Pedro tackled him,kept running till the pain kicked in. Real underrated. Highly effective squad player. Good performance. Give it up for Sead!!
Courtois’s face after the penalties were done..Made me chuckle multiple times.Hope people make memes of that face
I know it’s only the Shield and no real barometer for things to come, but it’s always a pleasure to beat that lot. COYG
Bet the spuds arn’t looking forward to us visiting next season.
They’re probably more worried about facing us in their home game. Their last 9 at Wembley: W1 D2 L6. Our’s W9 D0 L0. BRING IT ON!!!!!
that we won without Ozil and Sanchez will hopefully make them see that, although they’re exceptional footballers, the team is bigger than them. hopefully they play and give their all for the team this season and sign the damn contracts.
Yes but they were without Hazard and Costa too.
That said, its the second defeat for them for a trophy.
Must hurt.;)
London is red and white.
Class is permanent.
Looks like they will soon be without Costa permanently
No Hazard but still Pedro and Willian, not shit by any means
We looked sharp today. Still IMO lacking a bit of craft wide right with Theo. He gets into good positions and we know he can finish but at times he just isn’t nuanced enough. Still feel we will benefit from a Mahrez type technical player. Great to see Kolasinac our VERY expensive signing by Dick Law put in his first goal. The Bosniak is a beast out left. Also thought Iwobi did well again. Welbeck needs to sharpen up a bit, he’s full of power but somehow he seems to rush things. Elneny I thought did pretty well today. Good… Read more »
Beating the champions without Alexis and Ozil. Food for thought…do we need them?? We keep the ball better without Alexis and we have no luxury passenger to carry without Ozil? Just putting that out there for debate…
Don’t think it would be the end of the world if we lost one or both of them. We might actually end up stronger without Ozil. Depends who we replace him with.
Would rather keep them though. Not easy to replace.
damn oezil is so undervalued by some arsenal fans…oezil is absolutely vital for us
Don’t get me wrong he is a really good player but as the first comment said we can play pretty well without him.
I’d value him more if he signed a new contract
Well at least spell his name right then mate! 🙂
Sorry!
Özil = Oezil. Same way ä is written as ae. Respect the umlaut.
Debate it in your head…. in the corner….. on the naughty step…..
I think in single matches we can easily cope without them but during a long season we definitely are better off with them. Alexis makes us play worse as a team as he usually misses 4 out of 5 key passing attempts but usually that fifth pass leads to a goal and he can create goals by himself so we are probably stronger with him than without. Ozil in form is an asset but he can disappear at times and struggle against physical sides and needs to be used well. I think adding Lacazette will help him. Just my humble… Read more »
Sounds reasonable to me. Thanks
Well, that was a laugh. Courtois, I mean.
What the hell was Conte thinking there! I could take it seriously if it was Neuer stepping up for a penalty, but Courtois isn’t anything special with his feet. If it was tennis I would say Conte tanked the penalties. Just hilariously awful.
Iwobi, Elneny and Kolasinac were absolutely beastly.
Amazing game…Amazing victory…Amazing Arsenal!!
I mean, you have to love the alla ction style of that genius tactician Conte.
Look at the passion the man has shouting and gesticulating from the sidelines, issuing instructions, properly micromanaging.
He reminds me of the other football genius Klopp.
Unlike Wenger who doesn’t do a thing. Just sits there and complains to the fourth official.
Wenger can learn a thing or two from Conte.
Lets have more shouting and hand gestures, clearly it makes a great manager.
😉
Wenger will be 68 in october and you want him to jump around like conte, klopp? Have you seen Mourinho lately? Ferguson?
Relax mate, think he’s having a laugh. Micromanaging a team doesn’t guarantee success
When Courtois skied the second penalty I was overcome with a fit of irrepressible laughter so severe and long-lasting that by the time I recovered, Giroud was taking his run-up for the winning penalty.
My oh my, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.
My laughter came out all together like a sneeze.
It was weird as hell….. but enjoyable nonetheless…..
Lacazette said he wanted to win a trophy this year.
There you go mate 1 game and your dream is complete.
COYG
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/06/arsenal-chelsea-community-shield-match-report#img-1 Giroud and Lacazette really seem to hate each other. Because Giroud hasn’t celebrated a pre season goal from Lacazette like a champions league winning goal. Scandalous!
pls open the link before downvoting this comment.
enough SEAD……….
Didn’t need any SEAD for that goal. What a beast.
The BT Sport backpedal on this was hilarious. Listening them tout the game as competitive for practically the entire match, then we level, and they have to retract the whole thing. I’m going to call them the Fox News of sport this season- their narrative unraveled, and it was quite amusing.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Danny Wellbecks game time is going to be limited this season and we will see youngsters like Reece Nelson getting ahead of him… I just dont see him giving what we need.
Bitter Chelsea fan next to me: Well Arsenal need all the help they can get to win.
Me: You shouldn’t give it to them by studding the opposition then should you?
Cue a room full of supporters of various teams united in hate for Chelsea roaring with laughter.
Another game against Chelsea, another nasty elbow from them and another red card.
Dirty Chav c*nts.
Good performance overall but we do “lack a little bit sharpness” at the back. Looked very good going forward though, especially Iwobi and Xhaka today. Lacazette looks really promising, unlucky with his effort and a good performance for Welbeck. Seeing Giroud and Walcott come one while Ramsey, Sanchez and Ozil didn’t even appear shows the strength in depth we have in the forward areas but can’t help but feel we’re maybe light in centre midfield. Also Kolasinic. Phwoar, what a tank, will be very exciting to watch this season