Result: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool (Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties)
Competition: Community Shield
Date: 29 August 2020
Venue: Wembley
Starting lineup: Martinez, Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Elneny, Saka, Aubameyang, Nketiah
Subs: Leno, Cedric, Saliba, Kolasinac, Olayinka, Willock, Nelson, Smith Rowe, John-Jules
Arsenal won the Community Shield 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Wembley.
The Gunners looked sharp in the first half and took the lead thanks to a terrific effort by captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but the Reds, who had an extra week to prepare, tightened the screw after the break and equalised through Takumi Minamino.
The game went straight to a shootout and the only miss came from young Rhian Brewster whose effort crashed off the bar. The sides traded a couple more successful efforts before Aubameyang hit the winner.
First half
Given the majority of the players had only just returned from three weeks holiday, you’d have forgiven Arsenal for looking a bit rusty. We were anything but.
Yes, Liverpool had more of the ball. Yes, they forced us onto the back foot for long periods. And yes, they put the ball in the net first – a Van Dijk effort correctly ruled out for offside. But we looked organised in defence, calm in midfield and sprightly up top.
It doesn’t hurt having Aubameyang in your attack. With 13 minutes on the clock, he cut onto his right foot from the edge of the box and forced Alisson to pick the ball out of the net. It was low-key genius from a man who really does love a trip to Wembley.
Did I mention that we played it out from the back in the build up? Lovely stuff. Auba celebrated with a crossed-armed tribute to Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther who passed away overnight at the age of 43.
This is how we do ?#CommunityShield | #ARSLIVpic.twitter.com/9anm5bned0
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 29, 2020
We continued to look dangerous going forward throughout the half. Elneny did a very tidy impression of Dani Ceballos alongside Granit Xhaka and Saka pulled the strings behind Nketiah who twice went close.
At the other end, Andy Robertson looked a constant threat, catapulting balls into the box from the left but we coped. Holding, linked this morning with a loan move to Newcastle, marshalled Mane admirably and Tierney was his usual all-action self.
By the break, we’d outshot the Premier League champions 7-4. Given we only mustered three shots in the entirety of our 2-1 win over them in July, it was a real positive.
Second half
With the same 22 players taking to the field, the game continued to ebb and flow for 15 minutes. Maitland-Niles and Fimino traded benders that flashed wide and Martinez denied Mane who’d stolen behind Holding to go one-on-one with the Argentine.
The changes started to come just before the hour mark. Klopp made a couple and Arteta sent on Cedric for Bellerin.
Tired legs and Liverpool’s quality saw us forced further and further back. For a solid 20 minutes, we struggled to assert ourselves on the game. That said, chances for both sides, were few and far between. A Minamino effort was plucked out of the air by Martinez and Wijnaldum blocked a Saka effort for a corner.
Eventually, Liverpool were rewarded for their pressure as Minamino pounced on a loose ball in the box to side foot past Martinez. (1-1) Mane had a great chance to put the Reds in front with nine minutes remaining but again he was foiled by our keeper.
With fresh legs on the pitch we came back into things and Willock really should have scored from Cedric’s brilliant cross. His effort skipped just wide.
With no extra-time, the game went to a penalty shootout.
Salah scored. Nelson scored. Fabinho scored. Maitland-Niles scored. Brewster hit the bar. Cedric scored. Minamino scored. Luiz scored. Jones scored. Aubameyang scored.
5-4. Thank you. And good night.
The goalkeeper question is settled for me now. Martinez must start. Also, keep Ainsley!
In Arteta I trust. I know it’s more or less a glorified friendly but man that first half was tasty.
#Let’sMakeArsenalGreatAgain
Making Arsenal great again.
It feels good to be winning again
#Let’sMakeArsenalGreatAgain is what I dream for every single day but can’t you formulate this using a different motto?
Fantastic motto
Guys, we need to raise funds for new signings, a creative midfielder being a high priority. It’s been well documented that AMN wants to play central midfield, so it doesn’t matter if he is outstanding at wing back as he has been recently, if he is not happy and wants to leave then we are best cashing in. I guess only Arteta and the coaching staff know how good he is in CM, but we appear to need a Ceballos/ Santi type for our midfield, so if the player is not happy and can raise the funds to buy one,… Read more »
there’s 30 mil social media followers, we could just all give £10 we would have a complete mega budget every pre season. if we could get that trending once a year it could be something special
Go fund me for the transfer market. I know it sounds silly but I think you could actually generate a lot of money. Might cause issues bc people disagree over which players to buy. I would kick in at least $10 though.
Dear lord can we please think of a better hashtag. This makes me feel grosd
It’s going to be tricky choosing which keeper starts and I suspect whoever doesn’t will want to leave. On AMN, yes he had a good game but we must sell players to fund Arteta’s plans so if he isn’t sold, who do we sell (from those who are “saleable” – and we know we only have a few of those)?
AMN is too good to sell.
Holding, Mustafi, Sokratis, Elneny (he was excellent today to be fair), Kolasinac and maybe Lacazette should be sold.
I don’t necessarily disagree about AMN, but let’s look at the others. Holding is likely to go out on loan to Newcastle. Mustafi doesn’t really have much market value does he, and will he leave to take a pay cut on his reported six figure weekly salary? Sokratis also has little value due to his age and he’s in the last year of contract – why not just wait? Elneny is a possible – not sure who’s interested though. Kolasinac, a possible again, but to whom? Lacazette is certainly “saleable” – very probably the best option. Excepting him though, we’re… Read more »
Torreira and Guendouzi, Papa, maybe Chambers and Holding. Selling Emi and Ainsley is insane, it would cost more to just replace them with equal quality, let alone improve on them, and they’re Arsenal men.
Ainsley is quality and hes ours
We need to keep Ainsley no matter what. We would be loosing a quality player if we do move him on. Thought Elneny was good. Is he our midfield solution? Time will tell.
Sign de ting Auba please. Loved your celebration. #WakandaForever.
Seriously mate, enough with the ‘sell AMN’ pitch. It doesn’t wash.
Stop being a Kroenke Apologist.
Could really get used to this! ?
Great win! Two more for Auba at Wembley!!
The quadruple is ON.
Come on you Gunners.
Arsenal have more trophies in August 2020 than sp*rs have won in 20+ years.
Saliba has won more trophy without playing than Sp*rs
So has Matt Smith.
Can you imagine how much they must hate us now….?! ?
AHHHHHHHHAHHHHHAHHAHHAHHAHAHA ad infinitum!
Give the man his medal too damnit!! Also get him to sign da ting ASAP
Something weird is happing. The PTSD of the last five or so years is dissipating. When we concede a goal I don’t immediately assume an epic capitulation. I don’t envision a red card and shipping three further goals. I don’t foresee Xhaka going through someone in the box or David Luiz ball watching as Salah gets his hattrick. I know it’s pre season but this Liverpool team is so strong and they put out the best they could. They are arguably the best team in the world right now. But I felt pretty comfortable. This must be what other fans… Read more »
Speaking of Salah he was utterly anonymous. Maitland-Niles and Tierney had him in their respective pockets all game.
Speaking of which, Bellerin tamed Mane with class too, right from that block in the opening minutes.
Not to mention how nutmegged him too!
Man, that nutmeg! Whoosh!
Tierney was CLASS. My MOTM, right there with AMN
I forgot Firminho was playing until around the 75th minute when I heard his name.
Well he did have a handball assist that led to the Liverpool goal….
don’t forget Firmino as well..I literally heard the commentators say there was no substitutions by either managers at half time and then 10min into the 2nd half I see firming and I thought when and how did firming get on the pitch?and then I realized oh he actually started and was on the pitch the while time he was just marked out of it completely he had almost no effect in the game at all it was so shocking to see how good Arteta tactics have worked against clop
I read more!
Totally agree with you, J4H.
Had Mustafi and co been on the pitch, I would have necked my pint and left the pub – but with today’s defence, I knew it would take something special for Liverpool to pick our lock twice.
Great performance from the defence – and it will only get better once Saliba and Gabriel have settled in.
For those who say it doesn’t matter much, seeing Salah and Van Dijk tearing up a little after the penalties shows this game DOES matter to the players.
With so many players to join the squad up from quarantine, plus some fresh blood coming in, there is lots to be happy about and to build on. Bring on the new season!
Agree with everything you said. I’d add a kudos to the Pool team for sticking around and being pretty respectful, and it’s a testament to the determination of Salah and Dijk that even a glorified friendly matters that much. Curtis Jones looks a bit of a twat, but who cares WE WON!
Maitland-Niles leaving before Soares would be criminal
good way to knock Soares. Could have just stopped at leaving
It’s harsh, but the reality is Soares doesn’t have the ceiling AMN does. He lacks the same pace, his delivery today was poor. Good backup but nothing more than that. AMN has really influenced games and should be for the next 10 years.
Nobody says he does. I only pointed out fans picking on an arsenal player. Soares hasn’t even played 5 games but the negative energy towards a squad player is all I was against.
People must think that AMN wants out because he knows and we know he wants and needs to start games regularly.
Cedric is staying because he knows and we know he’s a backup. I just think it would be ok to point out that one player shouldn’t leave without necessarily starting a player X out campaign especially on a squad player
Cedric is here for 1. money; 2. so finally he can say he played for a big club (winning trophies in the process). We can potentially sell him for a few million quid after this season or next. Until then he’s here to stay and we ought to support him. Hopefully AMN will stay and Cedric will be brought in for emergencies.
His delivery for the chance that Joe Willock should’ve scored to win the game wasn’t bad.
He’s 30+, what ceiling are you talking about
Soares being an Arsenal player by the next transfer window would be criminal.
Early days, but potentially the worst RB since I started watching Arsenal seriously (2001-ish). He doesn’t add anything offensively or defensively.
More like 2011-ish then.
Have you heard of Hoyte, son?
While I don’t believe Soares should have been made a permanent signing, it’s too early to be calling him the worst RB in the two decades. Has he even started 10 games for Arsenal?
Excellent nick mate!
His delivery was fine today, he teed up willock for an easy header within 5 minutes.
Actually he put in a perfect cross in the 89th minute that Willock really should have scored. Made no issue with his penalty either. If Arteta thinks he should be in the squad who are we to question.
I was going to comment this but wanted to read on to see if anybody made the point. Well spotted.
Exactly good cross and scored penelty
He never should’ve been signed but having done that it’ll be at least a full season before we can even think of selling him. Since he signed for “free” I’d expect his wages will mean that we’re stuck with him for 3-4 years as there won’t be any takers for him.
Y’all crazy! Cedric has been a steady premiership player for a while and yes he played for a Big club called InterMilan! We got a steady RB that would push Bellerin I don’t get the complaints! BTW pls AMN must stay!
Pete’s sake. Without doing much thinking there’s Jenkinson (bless his soul though a really likeable lad), and Justin Hoyte.
I’ve never been more sure about maitland niles and Emiliano!!! Gotta keep them
Elneny was a refreshing breath of air today, I feel like he has to stay in the squad
It was ridiculous how un- Elneny like he was!
L.A.N.S.
Simple ?
Thanks, was looking for this on the thread. A few articles back, a big portion of our over-the-top fan base were calling for his head, urging to keep Guendouzi instead. I’ve said many times there’s not much difference to their game, in fact Elneny comes off as having more urgency and moving the ball faster. Reality is Guendouzi was Unai’s favorite and Elneny really never got a sniff, and suddenly everyone forgets how reliable he is before Unai came. Again, I still think we can use an upgrade for our starting 11 but as a squad player Elneny is definitely… Read more »
Elneny has always been a decent player. Nothing spectacular, but he keeps possession ticking over, doesn’t give the ball away, defends well and works hard. He can also shoot. Why Emery was desperate to get rid of him was beyond me. I have no real problem if he stays with us this season or gets sold for a good fee. But no more daft loans pls.
I know it’s only a preseason friendly but a win over Liverpool feels good anytime. RIP Chadwick Boseman.
Europa is the Champions league when we’re in it!!! Get in line Messi.
Well done The Gunners. I thought it was slipping away in the latter stages of the game but we’ve proved (again) that in a one-off like this, we’re getting very hard to beat. I hope Martinez stays but I’m sure I read recently that Arteta had agreed he could leave now Leno is fit. I guess, if true, Martinez wants to be the Number One or wants to go. Difficult choice for Arteta to make now as I doubt he’ll be able to satisfy both keepers.
Hilarious that Klopp brought Brewster on just for a penalty and he missed! ?
reminded me a lot of Zaza with the silly little steps and skied shot
Put the lad under a bit of pressure
Fair enough. Though I don’t think Brewster was under any more pressure than Nelson ?
Being brought on specifically for penalties. Probably makes the pressure even worse.
Our young players handled it well.
Great game, good concentration and lovely teamwork
Why are we selling Maitland-Niles?
Because we need to raise money to fund the re-structuring plans Arteta has. If AMN isn’t sold, who can be (bearing in mind a lot of those we hope to offload, nobody appears to want)?
Xhaka. He’s improved to the point where we’d get like £15m for him. It’s time to cash in.
He is really a limited player…may be some balls over the top but struggles so much to get his feet sorted. Could have cost us the game late on when his lazy jogging exposed him on left. Elneny played better than Xhaka.
Whole team was tired with very little pre-season, I believe he gave his best. Have some sympathy for him for playing whole 90 and then going to Swiss team for some stupid UEFA shite. The way fixtures are piling up isn’t healthy for players.
Are you crazy? Xhaka is pivotal to this team.
Give it a rest mate. Now is the time for Arsenal fans to take a stand against Kroenke.
Not meekly give in to what he wants you to accept.
Guendouzi, Lacazette and Torreira should all bring in decent returns. The reported Wolves bid for AMN was 15 million. That isn’t funding much of anything.
Because Stan Kroenke is a tightwad, that’s why.
We shouldn’t be even thinking about selling AMN to finance other signings. It’s fucking ridiculous.
I
Sweet fucking Caroline. COYG.
She’s bringing back the good times. COYG.
we’re gonna win the league!
Whats not to like 🙂
Hope Arteta has or gets the squad he wants this season it will be some fun !!!
We shouldn’t sell AMN
He was brilliant this afternoon.
Shame on this board if we have to sell him – shame in them.
Can we just move to Wembly and keep Maitland Niles in the process. That performance, that penalty ?
David Dein, is that you…?
When you watch them beat the best team in Europe.
Who wouldn’t want to sign for this team?!
Missit Ozil? We just won another trophy while was on vacation. Guendouzi too.
Can we drop the Ozil bashing now? FFS, it’s getting boring.
Yes it is. But it is also a valid point. Ozil did not make the bench! That wage and he can’t make the squad, same as with the Cup Final.
Interesting that Laca, Guen, Papa and Torreira also missed out. Are there moves in the offing??
Quarantine, and Papa just became a papa.
That performance looks promising for the season ahead. I’m excited (as always) but optimistic for once.
What a nice goal too, from the start to the final pass and finish. They’ve come along way from those nervous, chaotic times trying to play out from the back, under Emery
Elneny woof!!!
Man he played so well… Tierney shows what a good defender he is not just a great left back.
Sell Soares not Niles.
If we sold Cedric it’d be all profit and good business.
Pretty sure he would have received a hefty signing bonus so I would doubt it would be all
Profit. Also He would generate nowhere near the same cash as AMN would.
When was the last time we all felt this optimistic? Loving what Mikel is doing.
Well done lads, proud of you.
Maitland-Niles and Bellerin both showing exactly why they SHOULDN’T be sold.
Stan Kroenke, stop fucking about, you penny pinching cunt and give Mikel Arteta the money he needs to get in the players he wants.
Or sell up and fuck off.
The Arsenal should hire me as the “penalty coach specialist”, I guessed right all but one of the mugsmarshers penalty kicks.
What a great performance today! More of this for the coming season please. Don’t care what anyone says, a trophy is a trophy! COYG!!
We haven’t panicked when playing the big teams. It’s early days and obviously can’t read too much into this game. But we looked solid and organized against a top team. We didn’t go to pieces. That seems to be the Arteta effect. It’s nice to see.
Brilliant.. we are beginning to see our team having a pair.. upwards & onwards marshalled by our Miki .
If ceballos isn’t coming back then surely AMN can take his squad place.
Different type of player – but that’s not to say we shouldn’t keep AMN. It’s imperative that he stays. He has matured beyond belief under Arteta.
I think Elneny may be the like for like replacement. AMN should be kept since he is AMN
Is Elneny the solution to Ceballos? Not the same age profile but doesnt cost us another loan/transfer fee, he wouldn’t be worth much if sold and bar his first touch (which wasn’t “bad” per se), I didn’t see much difference between the job he performed today and the one Dani did in the final.
Elneny is a good squad player, and if no one makes a decent offer for him we should keep him. He’ll give you a great effort every time and can be helpful in the right system. Playing well in a win over Liverpool isn’t something to be scoffed at.
Elneny is usually a safe player but the great thing about him is that he is quite intelligent and passes and moves into good space. We shud check his highlight of the game coz there are a few things he did that are quite important.
Well done, boys! I pray and hope that all of you stay fit for the whole season!
You can clearly see Arteta’s stamp on the team. A lot of times today, we were able to calmly play out from the back. And every single player looked like they were ready to run through walls for Arteta today. All the youngsters were great too. Tierney might just be one of the most significant transfers we’ve made in recent times.
Looking at the cost of the likes of Chilwell I can’t believe we got him for 27 mil or whatever it was. Quite happy we didn’t miss out on him over a few mil.
Good point. His spirit alone is worth 27m.
Missed the game, can someone tell me what formation we lined up in please?
3-4-3.
A winning formation
Weird that these players have all been rumored to be on the way out but still started this match: Martinez, Holding, Bellerin, AMN, and Elneny.
4 of them played the entire match.
We’d better hang on to the majority of them, clearly we needed them all today to beat Liverpool.
This Match Really Showed Cedric Soares Quality…He Struggled In Both Attacking & Defending…Hector Is Way Better Than He Is…Once Cedric Came On, We Handed Liverpool The Right Side Of The Pitch.
Lmao so easy and straight to the point
Only saw the 2nd half, more of the right stuff from mikel and the boys, Ainsley was great, really hope he stays, but just wanted to pick out Willock playing upfront when he came on, he looks great there, I wonder if mikel is converting him… If he’d buried that header… I mean I was just surprised how he went up for it and suddenly realised he could be a great modern CF. That is all.
Good thought. It’s possible. I believe his role lately is to come on to do the defensive duty of a tiring Nketiah. If he starts to be an offensive threat as well, all the better! Willock hasn’t gotten much game time recently, but I like his style. Hope to see him succeed.
I quite like the white kit and it featured in another Wembley win. I liked Bellerin´s performance, Elneny showed up and grabbed a trophy 🙂 I´ve almost forgotten him but he really is generally likable character, I wish him the best wherever he plays in the future and his presence reminded me of his goal against Barcelona a while ago, which was fun at the time. Martinez kept Mane from scoring. AMN – what a honest, good performance, granted not everything came off for him in attack, but so much to like from him and he is improving. The guy… Read more »
Arsenal just look calmer now with a confidence that I haven’t seen in years. Can’t wait to see this team at full strength !
So we finished 43 points behind Liverpool last season. Quite right, no complaints. But man, they were 2 players off their first team today and had nothing on the bench. We have a number of first teamers injured plus Saliba and Gabriel to come in. Given the strength of what we saw today, which was largely organisational improvement, do we really need to spend big this year in the midfield? I think we can get top four,and then buy next summer.
We need top mid-fielders to unlock team which would wall against us like we did against lpool.
In England, the Community Shield is an inconsequential friendly. In other leagues it’s the Super Cup and has more than a bit of cachet. Can anyone tell me why this is?
Think Alex Ferguson and Rupert Murdoch said not important trophy for there own benefits.
And people took notice – stupidly, rather than saying piss off , also see F.a. cup
While Martinez is the better keeper with the ball at his feet, the thing for me which really sets him apart is dealing with crosses. It’s so refreshing to see our keeper take a catch-first approach – punching the ball is essentially the equivalent of just booting the ball up the pitch, it’s a lottery and more often than not returns the ball to the oppo.
How much more confidence do we get from a keeper really owning the area and claiming the ball??
Kept telling myself not to care about this game, that its just a glorified friendly. I did however really want to win that penalty shootout, and boy am I glad we did! A fine time to be an Arsenal supporter this, its been a while!
Bring on the premier league! COYG!!
Player ratings?♂️
#publicanslivesmatter
There’s a better hashing for ya