After a few days at Adidas HQ, Arsenal rounded off their training camp in Germany with a 1-1 draw with FC Nurnberg at the Max-Morlock Stadium.
The Gunners named a strong starting lineup, including William Saliba for the first time since March, but then lost Martin Odegaard to a knock in the warmup. Fabio Vieira deputised for the Norwegian in midfield while Gabriel Magalhaes took the captain’s armband.
Despite the home side having more pre-season minutes under their belts, the Gunners were quick to wrestle control of proceedings with Jakub Kiwior impressing (à la Zinchenko) as an inverted left full-back.
After Eddie Nketiah and Vieira both had half chances, Arsenal took the lead in ruthless fashion via the left foot of Bukayo Saka. Collecting a lofted ball by Ben White in the right-hand channel, he eased onto his left foot before drilling into the far corner. He was almost apologetic in his celebration having made the goal look so easy. (GOAL 1-0)
The Gunners continued to dominate possession, working neat triangles all over the pace and slowing the pace whenever necessary. Partey fired over from range and Saka had two further efforts blocked at close quarters before the game started a slow drift towards the break.
Mikel Arteta made a host of changes at the break. Most significantly, Kai Havertz was introduced for his Arsenal debut and promptly took an arm in the face as he drifted into a wide position.
Slowly but surely, the Gunners began creating chances. Jesus should have hit the target when through on goal but scuffed an effort wide, Cedric tried a curler and substitute Balogun hit the post with the goal gaping, albeit from a tight angle.
We were made to pay for the profligacy when Nurnberg, without even having a shot on target, were handed an equaliser. Hein, on for Ramsdale, tried to find Jorginho with a pass out from the back and Jorginho, under pressure, stuck out a leg and diverted the ball back past his own keeper into an empty net. It was all a bit of a mess. (GOAL 1-1)
The home team then made a raft of changes and came within inches of completing an unlikely comeback when Hein spilt a fierce long-range freekick and the rebound was flicked onto the bar.
At the other end, Walters headed over a Cedric corner. The youngster then had to be alert at the back, cleaning up a shot after Cedric, not for the first time, gave the ball away in a dangerous area.
Both sides had late chances to take the spoils. Balogun showed great pace to collect a fine Lewis-Skelly through ball and was decisive in the way he rounded the keeper, but his shot didn’t have any bend and he could only find the side netting. Then Walters made a last-ditch block as a Nurnberg player swivelled on a loose ball and fired low.
The Gunners return to London tomorrow and will then have a couple of days at London Colney before flying to the United States.
Starting lineup: Ramsdale (45), White (77), Saliba (45), Gabriel Magalhaes (60), Kiwior (45), Partey (45), Trossard (55), Vieira (60), Saka (45), Nelson (45), Nketiah (77)
Subs: Hein (45), Cedric (45), Tierney (45), Trusty (60), Walters (77), Jorginho (45), Havertz (45), Nwaneri (60), Lewis-Skelly (77), Jesus (45), Balogun (55)
Not in the squad: Holding, Runarsson, Tomiyasu, Elneny, Marquinhos, Martinelli, Zinchenko, Odegaard
Havertz looked slow. Balogun looked good. Cedric ouch!
Got to say, Balogun missed 2 open nets. Have to do better if he wants to be first choice! Though good he gets them out of his system in preseason 🙂
Yes but he won’t do that again. He looked assured imo.
He got to the chances. That’s the best sign. Surely he’ll put them in the net sooner rather than later
Which is exactly what he did for th usmnt. His runs were perfect
Plus you get to see the games at a comparatively cheap price.
Cheapest ticket at SoFi is $106, parking $50, then 9% state tax, total $170.
Preseason games on Arsenal club site $21
Love to see them live, but a friendly against Barca for 170, nope.
Hope Arseblog, and ArseVision will be doing something in LA away from the stadium
LA Gooners are putting on a party Sunday July 23. I don’t know of anything the day before the match, which is a shame, because I don’t arrive LA until then.
$50 parking??
balogun looks the real deal despite his finishing being off today
trossard was decent at 8 as well
Is there any of you guys that paid the 5£ to watch the game live on arsenal.com? No judgement, I’m just curious to know why you did that. Please let me know
I was just about to post that I’m glad I didn’t pay for that. Talk about a bore-fest!
First friendlies of the pre season are rarely anything else. It’s really just about getting minutes.
Well, yeah.
Doesn’t mean we should be interested enough to pay to watch them, in that case.
I sort of did. Because I can’t attend any of the pre-season matches (work), so I just paid £11 to see 4 matches.
Was on free tv in Germany. But no, I wouldn’t have paid 5£ regardless.
I did
Explain your motives
WTF?? Lols
£105M fee paid for Rice.
I’m gonna take a stab at this one. John likes football and Arsenal. It just so happens that those two things fortuitously aligned, so he plunked down a few bucks to watch.
Eternal optimism!!!!!
I did as well. You can call it just missed title excitement. The first half was really good and the second was blah!
I paid £15.99 to watch the four pre-season games. I did that because I wanted to watch those games. Hope that helps…
How dare you want to do something someone else doesn’t want to do, let alone be willing to pay for something some other people wouldn’t pay for. We should all want exactly the same things.
Yeah my bad! 🙂
Having had to endure month and a half w/o Arsenal game I thought paying 15 £ for 4 games (this one plus barca, manu and monaco) was cheap enough for me to soot my craving for some Arsenal football games.
Less than the price of a pint per game in the UK.
I would’ve but by the time I found my login I didn’t have the patience to do payment, it was nearly half time anyway. I know it’s a waste but it’s slow at work and nice to get a look at the youth players.
Yup 100% did. I got to watch Arsenal while working so seemed 100% worth it. I made more money watching Arsenal sitting at my desk than it cost me
I was a bit put off by the price given I’ve already shelled out for Club Level. Would have thought that would have been a perk of my season ticket but it’s not so found it via other means
Why is tge pound sign after the number? 🤔
Watched for free on Facebook. Kiwior always hiding, never looked like he wanted the ball, Tierney much better in the inverted role when he came on. Miles-Skelly’s ball through to Balogun was beautiful, poor finish. Nwaneri was levels above Vieira when he replaced him. Nelson was sharp Walters looks like he’s knocking on the first team door.
I was just listening to the new player Arsecast from midseason about Kiwior and Costa was raving how the dude always wants the ball and has incredible distribution, so I find your assessment there hard to believe
Viera was poor, Nelson was passing backwards instead of running and beating his man 1v1 he never went forward 1v1 not even once. Martinelli doesn’t play like this he always goes forward. Nelson was playing like Pepe passing it backwards all the time. 2nd half Havertz was not good sluggish and weak lost almost every duel, Cedric made two mistakes, Trusty looked good but seemed over eager to impress, Balogun looked good but he missed a sitter and thats not good for a forward. Ethan Nwaneri was fantastic, Saka brilliant Saliba looked good. I’m most disappointed in Viera he didn’t… Read more »
First preseason match was Viera’s last opportunity to impress? Bit harsh, no?
Anybody have an objection to never seeing Cedric in a Gunner’s shirt ever again???
Nope
No not me.
But he’s determined to “fight for his place” in the team. I don’t think Arsenal have ever paid out so much for such an annoying and poor player.
I don’t know, we’ve had a few. At least Cedric gives out a vague impression of professionalism
One of the Only player in the squad to have won an international trophy Euro’s with Portugal, !? ( Turner win one the other day also I suppose) and jorghino) with Xhaka gone experienced heads. Cedric still very good at crossing the ball
Paid out so much?! We paid about 5 mil for Cedric…!
A loan fee fee for an injured player, a transfer fee and his salary is too much for a journeyman player.
“Jesus should have hit the target when through on goal but scuffed an effort wide“
Sounds familiar hehe
Any updates on how serious Odegard’s injury is?
These pre-season games can be hard work for the seniors when the kids try too hard to impress and attempt to dribble too often. I remember watching Akpom do this, while Iwobi was trying to play for the team … one of them had a better career.
Watched every of Ethan Nwaneri’ touch today to see what the fuss about him is… and I can say he is going to be one hell of a player! He just has that aura that screams “special”. It was the same with Fabregas.
Hoping our young gun lives to fulfill his potential and do it with the Arsenal!
Boy, was I happy to see him come on instead of Viera and not only display his enourmous talent but also to put in genuine effort in tracking back. He worked hard and was very good given his age. What he needs is to be playing senior football more constantly. On couple of ocasions he tried things that come of regularely at U21 level but not that often on a senior level. I guess we can not loan him out until he has signed professional contract but as soon as that happens loaning him out where he gets regilar playing… Read more »
I’d be weary of loaning out a player before he turns 17.5-18 unless he at least has some familiarity with the place and/or actual family there, that’s very young to go into a strange environment and a strange club who isn’t as invested in your success as your home club and a lot of talented youngsters haven’t done so well in those circumstances. I’m sure he’ll get some starts in the Carabo Cup this season and if he impresses there he’s much more likely to get some good loan offers and managers who would take a risk to play him.
Arteta has good plans and belief in Viera. He started the game ahead of Jorginho
I thought he had a bit of extra ‘spring’ to his movements today. But that could be me trying to think something into existence.
No.
He started the game ahead of Odegaard as our captain got a knock in the warm up.
Partey started ahead of Jorginho.
Different positions.
Wasn’t on the official pre game team sheet actually. Only started cause Ødegaard had a knock during the warm up.
I rather believe Arteta is desperate to get somethin in return for 35 mil we paid for the player that seem to be exactly in a same form like we’ve seen from him so far. I am afraid he’ll turn out to be a miss. Player of imense technical abilities and a potential but too lazy and to careless. Shades of Pepe. What strikes me is that he still seem to have not grasp the way we play under Arteta. His movement on and of the ball was really bad. At one point when we were on the counter from… Read more »
He is one of many transfer duds over the last 3 seasons…edu’s strike rate is about 50/50 i reckon.
Not sure this is a fair reflection. I think it’s only possible to judge Edu since August 2020 when he took over the TD role (later Sporting Director) from the corrupt Raul. This is when he assumed complete responsibility for the role. Here is his track record. Kai Havertz – €70.00m – too early to say Ben White – €58.50m – Awesome signing Gabriel Jesus – €52.20m – Awesome signing Thomas Partey – €50.00m – Good signing which would have been awesome if he had less injuries. Martin Ødegaard – €35.00m – Awesome signing Fábio Vieira – €35.00m – Jury’s… Read more »
Your “too early to says” are actually “bad / shit signing”.
This tracks.
If Edu were a baseball player with those stats he would be drug tested daily, if we had legit drug testing. As a manager/TD, those stats are beyond world class.
I think you are still underestimating the success of Edu and Arteta. First Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, and Odegaard all became starters immediately, completely transforming the club. Then Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko. Now Rice and Timber. I’m purposely ignoring the others, both good (Trossard, Jorginho etc.) and bad (probably Sambi etc.) because that doesn’t matter if you don’t get the important ones right. I’m not giving them credit for Saliba staying, which they actually deserve. I don’t think any club in world football have done better.
Why are we thinking about letting Tierney go?
He is just entering his prime…
I rate Tierney so highly but in possession he looks lost in the inverted role. Zinchenko, Tomiyasu (if he stays) and even Kiwior probably ahead of him. If we switched it and the right back (Timber) is the one to invert, then I think he’d be great in the left-sided centre back role, but Arteta seems set on the current pattern
Zinnie is poor in defence, Tomi is a natural right footer and kiwior is at least 2 levels below KT in terms of quality / ability. None of them should be ahead of KT at left back – but if Arteta wants rid of him then ffs put him out of his misery and let him move on because it’s not fair letting him rot on the bench.
I agree. The ‘inverted role’ is not his cup of tea, but I think whether Zinchenko took the central role or not – the White, Saka + Odegaard trio and their more traditional overlapping runs proved quite effective.
If Timber would play a similar role on the right (than the ukranian played this year on the left) – on the other side of the pitch: Tierney, Martinelli + Havertz (or ESR) could be similarly effective… Maybe… I suppose.
KT is very good football why can’t he play short passing in the thirds, like Zinny , just run the coaching drills , KT is an intelligent player
Cedric up to his old tricks.
FFS Arsenal offload this clown before he causes any more real damage in a game that actually matters.
Ditto Tavares.
Deadwood. Get rid.
‘Jesus should have hit the target’ should be his tagline at this stage