Arsenal: Martinez, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud
Subs: Cech, Gabriel, Monreal, Chambers, Bellerin, Hayden, Arteta, Cazorla, Reine-Adelaide, Walcott, Akpom
—-
Arsenal hit Lyon for six in their first game of the Emirates Cup 2015.
The opening 10 minutes were fairly uneventful, brightened by some nice touches by youngster Alex Iwobi, but definitely not by Arsenal’s new away shirt which looks like somebody washed a real away kit in charcoal then turned the contrast down by 75% before rubbing it with engine oil and the blood squeezed from nits that live on a street urchin.
The first big shot of the game from the visitors after a Lacazette flick and an N’Jie shot which Martinez parried away. At the other end Ramsey fired over the bar. Then nothing much happened for a bit before some bloke called Lindsay Rose – whose name sounds like the title of a Nick Cave song – got booked for clobbering Coquelin.
Then Lyon had to make a sub when Grenier kicked the ball like a doleful mule and hurt his hip, he was replaced by Nabil Fekir (like most of their side linked with Arsenal in the not too distant past).
A Ramsey pass found Ozil who got behind the defence but he pre-seasoned it after a nice turn inside the defender, but after Debuchy was fouled out wide Ozil turned provider. He took a free kick into the box, Giroud did a Mertesacker in the FA Cup final impression by pretending to head but looping it into the top corner with his shoulder. 1-0.
The lead was doubled two minutes later when Arsenal broke from deep, Ramsey played it Giroud who held it and laid the ball off perfectly into the run of Oxlade-Chamberlain. He stormed into the box and lashed a low shot into the bottom corner. 2-0.
And a minute later the Gunners made it 3, with another fantastic break from midfield, Ramsey’s pass to Iwobi in the box allowed the youngster to hit the ball into the net from close range to make it 3-0.
The Arsenal juggernaut was going full steam so it was no surprise when we scored again. Ozil picked it up down the left hand side, waited, saw Ramsey’s run and played the ball with the perfect weight, allowing the Welshman to poke the ball home at the near post for 4-0.
There wre some moments from Lyon afterwards when Lacazette saw a shot palmed away, and some other fella had a follow-up but Martinez held onto it in the end. Coquelin got himself booked before the whistle bur the Gunners took the impressive lead into the break.
Arsenal began the second period on the front foot, Oxlade-Chamberlain denied a goal by a deflection in the opening minutes, while a good Lyon break saw N’Jie shoot wide when he really should have hit the target.
A good Gibbs crossed found Giroud at the near post but he volleyed just wide, Debuchy forced a save from Lopes, before some nice combination play saw Giroud tee up Ozil who drilled a shot across goal and into the bottom corner for 5-0.
That was the precursor for a trio of Arsenal subs with Ozil, Ramsey, Iwobi taken off, with Arteta, Cazorla and Akpom coming on. There followed more changes with Theo Walcott and Jeff Reine-Adelaide replacing Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 70th minute.
Nothing else happened until Isaac Hayden was introduced for Francis Coquelin with 12 minutes to go. Lacazette fired a volley wide, and a good run from Akpom won a free kick just outside the box. Santi Cazorla stepped up, drilled it cheekily under the wall with his left foot and into the bottom corner with the keeper grasping at fresh air. 6-0.
It was almost 7 when Akpom hit the post after some impressive work from Reine-Adelaide in midfield, before Lopes made a good close-range save from Walcott who had been set up beautifully by Cazorla.
In the end a comfortable win, some impressive individual performances, and that word cohesion springs to mind once again.
Tomorrow, Wolfsburg!
Get out while you can, Lacazette!
Who needs him?!!
Lacazette who?
I dare anyone recommending him before to make yourself known and tell your views.
and what about the other fekir?
It’s pretty silly to write a striker off based on one pre-season friendly where he received no service, especially after scoring 27 league goals last year.
Soooooo knee-jerk
I agree, though nothing much about him. Would love to hear a positive case from those in the know.
Players all look good on FIFA and YouTube Highlights The Mexican Wave was fun The goals were fabulous If Sterling is worth £49m, how much is The OX worth ? Özil wants this season …..Player of the Year methinks ( bookmark this) Jaja cousin Awobi looks great in this gold away kit ( girly talk) , potential is there And as for Debuchy….Woof The left over rubbish fans and supporters leave at the Emirates ( people take it home, especially if you bring it with you ) Last year Santi couldn’t score one goal ( penalties only), this preseason he’s… Read more »
Jumpers for goal posts, isn’t it? Hmm, marvelous.
Spiffing stuff!!!! Apart from the splodgy away shirt.
Good Job!
NIce one lads!
Cue people saying we don’t need Lacazette anymore after their previous judgement was based on a 4 minute video on youtube. :p
Seriously though, great game!
Please give me some credit, I also used Football Manager.
Why do people that mention “Football Manager” get so many “thumbs ups”???…just asking as a middle-aged Arsenal fan…
This was on the BBC today. I think it might gonsenway to answering your question.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/33657802
*go some way. Apologies.
Nope, none the wiser but thanks anyway…
Exiled is just having a laugh at those who actually do use games as a reference point for the real world.
At least I hope so.
I’ve always had difficulty with understanding the difference between fiction and reality. I was once arrested for throwing a tennis ball I’d painted red and white at a horse. Thanks to the love and support of my friends and a large amount of therapy, I now understand that Pokemon aren’t real, although I could have sworn I saw a Pikachu yesterday. (on closer inspection it turned out to be a hedgehog that had been run over)
You ran over Sonic?
Running joke…
Everyone knows the real indications are the EA/FIFA ratings
Well, Wenger said he wanted more goals from midfield- Santi, Ramsey, Ozil, Ox
At one point before the substitutions, out defence was on a clean sheet, Coquelin was on a yellow card, and everyone in front of Coquelin had scored a goal. If that isn’t the definition of people meeting their targets I don’t know what is.
Coquelin hadn’t been hammered in the nose by anybody though, so you can’t really call it a perfect game. Not quite anyway.
I know, …..what a performance by all the lads…..this is what i call playing with “all gunners blazing”
Ozil was brilliant in the first half and Ramsey’s run for his goal just jaw dropping. That was fucking excellent!
I still can’t get over the fact that he set up his own assist. From the edge of our box, long ball to play Özil in beyond the full back, then a 70 yard run to get into the box within seconds.
Definition of an engine right there.
Yeah you can tell the Lyon players had no idea wtf they had just seen.
I think watching that game again it becomes apparent how awesomely fucking brilliant Coquelin is at the job Arsen wants him to do. If he does that all year, watch out for the barca dna gaff.
Ooooh Santi Cazorlaaa! Sublime performance!
Obi Wan Iwobi. Jedi in training.
Yes!
Iwobi Wan Kenobi?
LyOFF.
Some great play by Ozil and Ramsey, just controlling the game.
All youngsters played well, although Akpom looked too greedy for goal. Can’t fault him with the team leading by such a big margin.
What was Mertesacker wearing inside his T-shirt? Looked like a sports bra
GPS/Heart rate monitors
The usual problem playing an out and out striker as a winger is that he keeps the strikers greediness for goals.
I think this just showed that there’s really only 1 position to play him in.
That Iwobi goal was sex, some tremendous link up play this early in Pre-Season is mouthwatering stuff for the start of the league. Roll on August.
Yeah, absolutely brilliant from him….i was also quite impressed with the new youngster, adelaide?, i believe his name?….the pace, competence and even trickyness on the ball, ……another talented “flash” player to watch out for in the future i think.
Impressed with the overall performance. Mesut looked like he’s enjoyed his summer off and is raring to go. Aaron made some great runs and his passing was on. Excellent hold up and link play by Olivier, Coq being Coq, Kos being boss, and two excellent performances by Iwobi and Reine-Adelaide, albeit his was a cameo. Let’s not get carried away but this was a very good pre-season outing. Bring on the Russian mob!
What did everyone think of the gold shirts? GIANT sweat patches, making it look brown rather than gold…. Think that is something Puma should have tested for….
It’s pretty horrible but if we keep playing like that in it we won’t complain
You’ll love it when we win the league in it
Yeah it looks awful,maybe it might be a good luck charm
Did anyone see Real Madrid vs Man City yesterday?
They looked like they were wearing grey sweatshirts! They changed shirts at half time.
I quite liked it. So, you know, there’s that.
Also, I like ice-cream.
I like turtles
yeah, i know, looks terrible dosent it, ….but like blogs commented, who will care how pretty the shirt is if we keep playing like this? ………hope it will turn out to be our talisman this season, and we will then all end up loving it to bits!
The shirt looked much, much better in the pictures.
On sweaty bodies, it just looks like the players are smudged brass lamps.
I don’t know, it makes them all look nice and dirty in an good, old-school way.
Not being funny, but your name is not the best…
We keep pulling these results in them they’ll be like the never washed,smelly,lucky socks back in High School.
It’s as bad a kit as you’ll ever see.
How they didn’t realize it was going to turn turd brown when people sweat I don’t know.
The home kit is pretty spiffy, though.
Ramsey’s hair cut not so convincing.
Welsh Jesus could wear socks and sandals for all i care – love watching him play
Great performance, great goals. Oh santi you little magician
Oh please, I was looking at him during his post-match interview and bemoaning the fact that life just isn’t fair to the rest of us.
Brilliant!
Well that was pleasant to watch, almost as pleasant as the FA cup was a few weeks back.
I guess all there is left to do this evening is a beer and a bbq 🙂
Woah. So, we have Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Arteta, Coquelin and Flamini to choose from for the two positions in mid-field. Let that sink in for a moment. This is some serious head-ache for Wenger. Let’s kick Mourinho’s ass next. 😀
A few of the others can play in the middle as well (OX, TR7, Hayden).
Ozil, Ramsey, Cazorla, Giroud, Oxlade Chamberlain and and WOW. These Guys can be the new Galacticos if they take their chances. Can’t wait for next.
Great performance from the lads,ozil was outstanding,I hope he will win player of the season this year and shut all the doubters up
……. the league would be nice too
I should of said,win player of the season while lifting the title
Should HAVE, not should OF.
I apologise, I really do…..it might be a typo, English might be your second language or just a bad habit.
Pedantic is what it is.
It should be ‘…’, not ‘…..’.
Also, the over extensive use of capitals is not only unpleasant to one’s eyes it is also a grammatical faux pas…
Phenomenal showing from the team today. The squad depth is very impressive and I am extremely excited for the upcoming season.
Here it upcomes.
The youngsters look very promising. Iwobi and Adelaide showed good dribbling skills.
Reine-Adelaide was a total livewire. Might be one of our recent signings and a junior one at that but something tells me we are going to see more of him, he looks very self-assured.
Özil will be unlocking premier league defences this season!High hopes for this team.
Someone should check if the ox’s studs are worn out, the boy was on fire!!!
WENGER OUT! Deluded prat. Media is completely right. Thinks he can get 10 more goals? He only got 6. He needs someone like a Lacazette. Giroud is RUBBISH. And Arteta is useless. We need a Carvalho (Ricardo), Melo, Mvilla player. We have a soft leaky centre. Metersecker is rubbish he is waaay too slow. And Ozil. Media was again right. What a waste of money. Other teams are spending money. Wenger has 200m quid to spend on Neymar, Suarez and Messi + Cronaldo. What’s he doing? We are in pre-season already, what’s all this rubbish about stability and continuity. Everyone… Read more »
Anyone see that cheeky skill from adelaide on his debut? Deft footwork.
The Last round of youngsters didn’t break through very well, but I feel theres some gems in this current crop.
Crowley, Zelalem, Iwobi, willock, Hayden, Martinez. Akpom judging by the u21 team photo is is a senior now and I rate he deserves to be. Good future people.
We cannot sign Benzema, it would kill Iwobi
It was good to see Welbeck look so sharp after his injury lay off.
Hope they will replicate similar performance nextweek against mourinho’s chelsea
Let it be noted we were abject against Everton too.
Clearly Wenger has lost the plot.
He should spend money like water like Liverpool and draw with understrength powerhouse MalaysiaXI.
Now Brendan Rodgerer, that’s someone clearly with a plan.
if it happens it happens
I’m now almost certainly convinced we don’t need any more forwards. We have so many options to put the ball in the back of the net it’s frightening. Even the defense looks well covered with Mert, Kos, Gabriel and Chambers. Right backs and Left backs covered too.
I’ve never felt so optimistic about our chances this coming season. I just hope we can stay, mostly injury free.
Perhaps not a popular view, but this is the Emirates Cup. We’re in great continuing form from last season but we started last year in similar circumstances, and wound up with 2 wins (villa and palace A/H) 5 draws and a loss after 8 games. I don’t think it’s the end of the world if we don’t get another striker but having an extra dimension is always better than not having one. It wasn’t so long ago that people here were joking about not needing ‘the mythical defensive midfielder’ but look at the difference Coquelin’s emergence has made. I used… Read more »
Mesut Ozil found Pluto.
Proud to be a Gooner, what a performance!
The three goal burst…wtf!
Be afraid, very afraid!…Chelski and the rest…
Really impressive performance, lots of power and pace, when the Ox gets running with a ball it’s quite the sight.
Mesut looks bang on form and physically stronger, preseason is doing wonders for him! I’m expecting him to absolutely tearing the league a new one this year. I’m all for bringing in a CF of real quality but I don’t think it’s necessary to win the league, for me it will come down to not losing key players for long periods through injury..
I’ve missed this team. I’ve missed football weekends. Can’t wait for the season to start!
Cohesion is LANS.
Did you realize that the goal of Ramsey was a “classic” one-two with Özil?… :))
Appalling performance. This team is disjoint and it’s confusing who’s job is what in the team! Midfielders scoring? We need a striker because before you know it goal keepers are scoring. Also i cannot see the need of humiliating a friendly team such as OL. Really shocking. WengerOut
Everyone raving about the attack today… What about Coquelin? The guy keeps on bossing the midfield while also showing his vision and passing range which are underrated.
Well, I am in the “raving mode” on all aspects of our performance, for example when we seem oblivious about the score, or importance of the game and just keep closing them down and winning the ball back and then turning it into extraordinary attacking football!!
This team is a brilliant professional unit imo.
COYG!
…at four nil up we looked like we were one nil down and chasing the game! Proper professionals.
If we don’t win the Premier League this season, I will eat Cech’s hat!
(Lord Harris told me to say that)…:-)
Yes we are looking very good…..preseason.
Bring on the cunty chavs.
I was extremely impressed with him….the defensive side of his game is no doubt one of the best in the league last season, but i noticed since the FA cup final, he is getting better and better offensively. if he can add that to his game, he can evolve into one of the best DMs in the world.
Yes agreed, Lord Harris had a good game…
6 goals from 6 different people 5 from midfield, league statistics if we carry that through the season we can win the league “come on you reds”
Wait a minute … You’re telling me that if we continue beating teams 6-0 that we will win the league?
Deluded mate.
I love Arsenal
Adelaide also showed me potential…Homegrown talent also in check..
Good game from Martinez too. Clean sheet to his name and a fine couple of saves. Hope we have a good run at the League Cup so that these youngsters get a break, even if it’d overload our schedule a little.
Oh my. So much pace in this arsenal team and Alexis wasn’t even on the pitch, I think we have the fastest team in the league. I just hope everybody stays fit this season becuase I have a feeling the title is Emirates bound.
Ramsey and Ozil outstanding and combined well. First time I’ve ever mistaken Ramsey for Ozil with some of those no look passes. Much as I love Alexis, we look more fluid without him out there… Akpom needs to learn he is not the only player on the team.
It may be too early to draw any conclusions but this kid Adelaide has something about him. I can certainly understand Wenger’s enthusiasm about his play.
Yeah he’s got the confidence and the skills, that’s for sure.
Why was Theo wearing a bra?
Mesut seems to be playing more as a 2nd striker from early showing this season and immediately he’s getting more goal scoring opportunities. So far he is involved in much better areas of the pitch for him and looks happier for it. Only issue is how to fit Cazorla and Ramsey in the middle at the same time as both are too good to play wide. Santi controls the game, but Ramsey runs non stop, is more combative and has a delightful 3rd man run into the box. A tough one. Debuchy must also have a fine pair of healthy… Read more »
I know its pre season but when the team clicks like this which is becoming increasingly frequent we are orgasmic to watch. My highlights today: Ozil and Ramsey ran the show while they were on..Ozil in particular has been on an upward curve since his return from injury. his guile and eye for a pass is exceptional and i am seeing opposition players actually bounce OFF HIM. Clearly he put alot of work into his physical strength and it seems to be augmenting his game. Ramsey despite all his tricks flicks and general hollywoodness at times still has the greatest… Read more »
In absolute awe with Ramsey’s run to the box and scoring from a near impossible angle. Just get the season started already.
In a couple of weeks’ time, teams who play us will have to deal with all of that, plus Alexis Sanchez. Ouch.
And Ozil is a genius.
Lets see what negative spin the media will put out. …they will try bless them. The talking heads on the American ESPN site are the most laughable. And BBC, keep reminding us about the 4 goal come back at Newcastle. We were missing both our regular Cbacks and Diaby were sent off. They celebrate that like they have won a cup , such is the limits of ambition up in those parts.:D No mention of course of our come back with old Andrei against media favs Liverpool.;) Yes, 6 goals but clearly Arsenal need a 30 goal a season striker… Read more »