Arsenal secured their first Emirates Cup success in five years as Theo Walcott’s second half strike helped the home side to a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg. The result took the Gunners points tally for the weekend to 13, three ahead of Villarreal who had earlier beaten Lyon 2-0.
Wolfsburg certainly started the better of the two teams dominating the opening stages with neat interplay and making great use of the pace at their disposal on the flanks. Petr Cech, making his debut at the Emirates, got down well to deal with a couple of low crosses and Gabriel and Arteta were called upon to make brave blocks from Sebastian Jung and Christian Trasch respectively.
Nicklas Bendtner, leading the line for the visitors, probably should have broken the deadlock on 16 minutes but couldn’t connect properly with Kevin de Bruyne’s fine cross. The home fans instinctively groaned before realising he doesn’t play for us anymore.
As the half wore on Arsenal started to express themselves in the final third with Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil – the only player to retain a starting position from yesterday’s 6-0 win over Lyon – pulling the strings. The German played a beautiful through ball to Walcott on 20 minutes but the striker couldn’t squeeze his effort past keeper Diego Benaglio. The England international’s movement proved a real problem for Wolfsburg as he twice more burst between the defensive lines. He did put the ball in the net on 33 minutes only for his effort to be ruled offside.
Ozil’s last contribution of the game nearly resulted in a fine goal as he latched on to a Monreal pull back and shuffled a left foot effort goalwards. The visitors were relieved to see it dribble just wide. The German was replaced at the break by Chuba Akpom.
Having been bigged up overnight by Arsene Wenger, 17-year-old Jeff Reine-Adelaide came into the match looking to impress an expectant Emirates crowd. Eager to run with the ball, happy to showboat and tidy in his passing, the lanky French midfielder started on the left and showed plenty to suggest he has a bright future.
The French teenager came to the fore in the early stages of the second half pouncing on the ball in the centre of the park, bounding forward like a Vieira-Diaby hybrid and playing a cultured pass to the onrushing Walcott who calmly slotted past Benaglio to open the scoring. [1-0]
Reine-Adelaide nearly repeated the trick eight minutes later only to put a little too much on a pass he’d attempted with the outside of his right foot. Subbed on 63 minutes he was quite rightly given a standing ovation by the crowd who also applauded Mikel Arteta’s contribution. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey came on and the new boys immediately combined before the Welshman dinked an effort over.
Arsenal didn’t have it all their own way. Petr Cech showed why Arsene paid the big bucks for his signature with a fine stop at full stretch to deny Josuha Guilavogui’s powerful drive from 25 yards. For the most part though the centre-back pairing of Gabriel and Calum Chambers didn’t need to break sweat.
Walcott and Wilshere went off with 15 minutes left as Olivier Giroud and Isaac Hayden took to the field. The latter immediately unleashed a dipping shot that Benaglio was forced to parry for a corner.
There was still time for a few handbags between Cazorla and some bloke who’d been so royally served his name doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned. Santi gave him the ol’ horns as he mouthed ‘fuck off’ in his best Spanglish. The crowd seemed to enjoy the moment. We did too.
So another win and another piece of silverware, you can’t ask for much more than that. Let’s hope we can keep it up against Chelsea next weekend as we return to Wembley for the Community Shield.
Adelaide in particular impressed me today. Showing excellent promise for a 17 year old kid. Hayden looking good also. Now to beat those cunts next week….
Can see Adelaide being the new Gnabry. Maybe Gnabs goes out on loan and the bench and occasional appearance is now Adelaides?
Agree, le Jeff looked outstandingly composed and able for a 17 year-old. Bellerin, Hayden, Pleguezuelo, Crowley, Bielik, Zelalem, Reine-Adelaide, Gnabry, Iwobi, Akpom (though I hope he gets his shooting boots on again!) and the Ox – our youth setup is stuffed with potential. If even half of that number on their promise, we will be in serious business!
COYG.
Here’s to the treble
look at the 1958 world cup final.
this kid is the new PELE.
Cech with a clean sheet to win us a trophy. I could get used to that.
Next weekend…
Good Emirates Cup win, some promising new players.
http://www.espnfc.us/blog/espn-fc-united-blog/68/post/2527982/footballs-50-most-influential-people for a list containing Arsene and lots of the biggest tools in football.
It happened!
That’s 2 games played and 2 cup wins for Cech! Make it 3 in 3 next week!
Two trophies already – we’ll have a treble by the end of next weekend. 2 or 3 more by the end of the season, please.
Expecting a fantastic season!
Akpom was trying way too hard to score. He needs to stop being so greedy.
He’s still young but I see your point. That 3 on 1 and he decides to take on his man, Wenger will have a word with him and I think he’ll easily learn.
he’s young and the crowd were roaring; I can forgive him. I’m surprised that Wenger said he isn’t going out on loan. He has too much competition ahead of him to get the time he needs to kick on.
oh, off topic, but what’s with the little red flair between the legs on the shorts? It’s distracting and just dumb looking. Puma might be fined for yesterday’s awful away jersey; Arsenal should tell them it’s a breach of contract and get more money from them, haha.
The pre-season treble is well and truly on. Now we get to watch Cech shutout Chelski next week!!! COYG.
show me a striker who aint greedy for goals an i’ll show you a shit striker.
Heskey?
Chamakh?
Yeah the goal will come, he needs to stop forcing it.
Agreed. It’s been going on through much of pre-season. Hopefully, once he’s scored against big opposition, the jinx will break.
Agreed, same thing yesterday. A quick slap round the chops will probably sort him out.
Yeah Akpom, sort yourself out and stop being so keen and eager! Akpom out!
Yeah came here to post that. Shockingly greedy player. Someone needs to take him aside and force him to assist Cristiano Ronaldo 10 times before he gets to take another shot.
Hayden looked good. He can play a role similar to Kurt zouma for us this season.
Yeah, whoever he is!…:-)
Walcott on contract: “…still in the process”
Thanks for the update!…:-)
Who’s the next signing Eddy? 😉
Ouch, you guys.
🙂
Cazorla showing his dark side.
I hope all is ok at home Santi? That was not like you…xxx
It feels like he’s taken on a bit of a bulldog attitude really since that game against City and I can’t say I don’t like the confidence
It’s not “confidence” it could be other stuff like moving away..I don’t like any of it…(and your double negative post is confusing at the moment! 🙂 Love you Santi!!
Can’t blame Santi’s rage there, to be honest. That Wolfsburg cunt pulled him by the collar.
Abou Diaby to be coached by Tony pooless…..
Shocking.
Should have started the Ox, he is flying at the moment. Arteta sadly looks past it, that lofted pass in the second half was absolutely terrible. That Reine-Adelaide has incredible skills. I hope he gets some game time this season.
Definitely a sensible conclusion to come to based on one solitary misplaced pass… Ox did look great though, looks like he’s really up for this season
Arteta doesn’t close the ball down quickly enough or get around the pitch quick enough, that’s why Wolfsburg were allowed to play through us in the first half. Coquelin squeezes opponents and hunts them down before they’re even on the ball. The pass in the second half was the tip of an iceberg.
Agree that Coquelin is the feistier of the two but Arteta was good in the tackle I thought. Remember as well that it’s a friendly and it’s also possible that Arteta’s not fully back up to speed post-injury. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still start Coquelin, just not sure this is the kind of game or performance to say he’s past it.
I can see your point about him not being up to speed and all, but if we are really going to push on this season we simply need a better player than Arteta now. We were nowhere near winning anything with him in the team when he was in his prime. Granted we didn’t have Ozil or Sanchez, but there was a reason he was brought in, as we didn’t have the money to spend on anything superior. Now that we have funds and Coquelin has reinvented himself admirably, it’s time for us to push on and move forwards.
Your not allowed to say anything resembling criticism in regards to Arteta. Why this has 13 down votes i don’t know…
How many times have you seen Coquelin give the ball like that? Never, Arteta lacks agility and pace (not to mention height, strength and even half decent left foot), if he doesn’t release it quickly he gets harried into mistakes or going backwards, he’s been like that for a while now. Not good enough cover if Coq were to get injured… Hopefully that won’t happen. Hayden though, looks like a beast now, he may well do. Adelaide reminds me of a young Diaby, Wenger played him on the left when first arrived too, man we have a ridiculous amount of… Read more »
Completely ignorant of the amount of football Arteta has missed.
Nice.
David James is a complete knob!
Over the past 2 days, David James has referred to things as “ironic” about 5 times. The only irony being that he keeps using it where nothing is ironic.
Reine Adelaide’s assist was juicy! Congrats to Arsenal on winning the Emirates Cup!
I’m convinced the ox has the potential to be the best player in the team, i’ve felt this for a while now. He skins every full back he plays against and now he looks like he’s making the right decisions as well. Hoping he carries his pre-season form into the season.
He’s been around, playing exciting football for so long that it’s really easy to forget he’s 21.
21! Younger than Sanogo! It would be perfectly reasonable to expect to wait 3 or 4 more seasons to see his full potential – but at the rate he’s improving combined with the raw physical gifts and talent he obviously has, I think we’re justified in waiting for something really special to come from this kid.
not surprised when Mourinho was after him. I really love the OX, but not sure about this Kid N’ Play 90’s haircut that’s storming back in the UK.
His haircut rocks.
Pretty funny booing the ex-Chel$ki players in the Wolfburg team when you have a steaming great Pet-a-Cheque in goal, who spent much longer there, sitting on the oligarch’s lap getting stroked like a kitty.
Adelaide is the real deal. This guy will take the prem by storm by the time he is 20
Hope so. Very rarely do you hear wenger speak so highly of a player, let alone a teenager.
Wenger tended to play in-form players last season. I can see Adelaide getting a few games if he plays like he did today.
Agreed, I think he is going to feature in more than just the various cups!
Adelaide reminds me of a new young Diaby or dare I say a baby Vieira.
Diaby more than Vieira.
His glue isnt as strong yet.
Reine-Adelaide tickles me. something tells me he could even start the season in Alexis’ absence, but logic me tells me to be patient
Reine-Adelaide looking exceptional
4 pre-season matches, 14 goals scored, 1 conceded, no injuries. I’d say this was a successful pre-season. Now on to win the Shield against Chelsea.
Impressed how we played over the 2 days against 2 respectable euro teams. Honestly didnt feel like freindlies. Alot of players impressed me but more importantly no one felt out their depth. I have to agree that Arteta jus seemed a bit offish, but he was out for a while. Hayden showing he could do a job in DM. Very positive wkend. Oh and Adelaide looks like diaby reborn. Very good footwork. Arsene knows ; )
Agreed, love to see the determination and how serious the teams in the friendly cup.
Adelaide is destined for great things.., yesterday he reminded me of anelka, today he had that bit of diaby stride.
Ox looks like he can’t wait for the season to start. Pumped as hell!!
Wilshere had some nice touches.
Akpom needs to calm down and stop trying so hard. Then again, strikers are meant to be greedy.
Arteta HAS LOST HIS LEGS…sad to say, but its the truth. If we don’t get a dm, we’re screwed when coq gets injured
Theo needs to stay out wide. Wasn’t impressive when he was playing in the middle.
Thanks for letting us know Trez…:-)
You welcome….now go wait outside emirates and beg Arteta for a chunk of his Lego hair…:)
I’d rather not if you don’t mind…
Wash, rinse, repeat …
You could you know…PISS OFF?? Like go reply someone else’s comment. Knobhead.
this isn’t what we usually do here guys…
Well that escalated quickly!
Well since he keeps attacking me, I’ll attack him back. Calling me a troll because we have different opinions.
I’ve told him to back off if my opinion is too bitter for him…I don’t reply his comments, so let him do the same.
I don’t really know what the “washing/rinse/repeat” stuff means 🙂 (I accept it must have struck a negative chord with you ..maybe a washing machine accident in the past?)…..anyway, let’s all work towards “blog peace”?? With a smile on our faces?
COYG!
Massive respect to Keown for restraining himself from nutting that miserable old git David James in the face. A display of willpower I’m not sure I could ever match.
Unfortunately Ramsey will start on the right wing against Chelsea. Wenger has a real problem of how to accommodate Ramsey and Wilshere in the team with Coq, Cazorla and Ozil pretty much guaranteed to start in midfield. Ramsey is not as good on the wing as he is in the middle, plus, that drops Ox to the bench since i don’t see Wenger dropping Ramsey in such an important game. If only Ozil could play well on the wing then Ramsey would play in a trio with Coq and Cazorla in a 4-3-3.
Saying that playing Ramsey on the right wing drops the Ox on the bench; are you forgetting we have the left wing as well?
if Giroud starts up front then i think Walcott will play on the left. Anyway, that’s not the point… when everyone’s fit and back there will be no place for Ramsey and Wilshere in the starting 11 which is worrying. If you ask me who i prefer on the wing Ramsey/Wilshere or the Ox it’s the Ox for me. There are 3 players (Ramsey, Wilshere and Cazorla) fighting for 1 spot next to Coquelin. And since Cazorla has been brilliant and simply cannot and won’t be dropped, and Ramsey is Wenger’s favourite he will start Rambo on the wing. Sometimes… Read more »
It’s a difficult decision even without Sanchez in the mix. The back six pretty much pick themselves:
Debuchy-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Monreal
Coquelin-Cazorla
but it’s a real selection headache who plays in front of them. How about Walcott on the right and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left, with Ozil in behind Giroud? I realize that leaves out both Ramsey and Wilshere, but I’m not sure who I’d drop to get them in.
Also, is Arsene going to treat this as a competitive match or another pre-season friendly?
The last time we won this tournament, as generous of a name as tournament may be, we had yet to bring in: Chambers, Ox, Ospina, Gervinho, Andre Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta, Monreal, Podolski, Giroud, Debuchy, Welbeck, Alexis, & Ozil. Oh, and we had just brought in Koscielny and were to ship off Cesc and Na$ri along with the last invincible Clichy the following summer. How things have changed.
I am really impressed by the teams overall quality in depth, we have a few positions to sort out with respect to who plays where/when during the season. For me Walcott, Giroud and Welbeck are enough as Striking options and with the form of Ox, Ozil, Ramsey, Santi, Wilshire, Iwobi, Reine Adelaide & Coquelin with Alexis yet to return we are well stocked in midfield and defense is clearly loaded with our wing backs; Gibbs, Monreal, Debuchy and Bellerin not to mention four decent CB options in Per, Kos, Calum and Gabriel. We are stocked to the rafters as I… Read more »
Plenty of strength developing in youth ranks now. Not sure where RenneAdelaide will end up but he has attribute to be a complete striker and Sanogo will have competition (He’d better do well at Ajax). But there is also Akpom and Iwobi. And there’s still Gnabry likely off on loan who has to take care and start to compete quickly. Campbell looks to be crowded out and too late in development now with these younger players brewing. So we’ve had 7 goals this Emirates cup and a clean sheet. Giroud, Ox and Walcott have scored and will weigh in as… Read more »
Dear Yellowbootson We have our seven (Fight Club) Never expected one of the seven to be Santi But he got angry today Hidden Depth our little maestro All the Family went to the Emirates today ( 11 of us) The weather was unkind We were very cold, but it’s great when you win I thought everyone in the team played well Nacho Gaba Mikel Jack Özil Theo scored a goal from the wing!! AKPOM need tuition but he’ll be fine Cečh. A ..huge MotherF**ker Jeff has potential and Viera/ Diaby like but he needs to build bulk Did Hayden play… Read more »
Deburcy? You mean Debuchy? He didn’t play today, but I guess he was on the bench…
All the players were on the bench
And yes I said and meant Deburchy ( Debuchy)
Even your spelling was incorrect …but hayho …armchair critic
Lol
Erm, it is actually Debuchy, there’s no ‘r’ in it. It’s frustrating being pulled over by the Spelling & Grammar Police, but if you’re going to correct them, make sure your trousers aren’t round your ankles.
COHESION was left on the bench in the first half.. Actually took more from this game then yesterdays…Wolfsburg are a fast emerging team who beat both Bayern and Dortmund soundly last season. Even in the period of the game when we were very poor, we still looked fairly comfortable, with 10 changes i expected this..Wolfsburg had a plan to exploit our apparent weakness of balls into the box, i thought Chambers and Gabriel dealt with the pressure very well. Monreal had a lot to do on his own as Jeff was not the greatest tracking back. However going the other… Read more »
OHHH Santi cazorla…Found great pleasure in him kicking out at the cunt who was absolutely all over him for ages before the ref called a foul.
If you look at it again Santi was pulling the bloke’s shirt first! I just hope our little magician is ok within himself.
Santi did no wrong…He Outmaneuvered the guy who then resorted to Orc tactics, climbing all over Santi, kicking at his ankles and holding him back.
Walcott – I really don’t see us signing another striker. We have Welbeck, Giroud and Walcott able to play up top. Likely Walcott will play from the wing more but is a good option through the middle too as a variation. Calum – Gabriel. Decent showing from the second pair and plenty of space for development. RenneAdelaide. Easy to get too carried away with the younger players. He is very promising but is still rough around the edges and will benefit from exposure next to the first team in coming season. Cech. Easy to underestimate a critical signing because most… Read more »
Only negative i take from this game is ARTETA.. Nice guy, club captain and seems to have everyones respect at the club. I personally like having him at the club and feel he has added nothing but positivity overall and he was pretty good in his first season. But now he is very detrimental to the team. The first half wasn’t his fault but you can see how his presence inadvertently effects other players and the entire team dynamic.. As a team we couldn’t press with ferocity, Bellerin and Monreal where restricted because Arteta is so slow on the cover..Its… Read more »
I think you were watching a different match to the one I saw.
Arteta made one poor pass, admittedly, that I can remember; he made some good tackles and at least one excellent interception; I agree he’s not quite at full fitness yet, but I thought he was a perfectly adequate replacement for Coquelin without quite the same presence at the moment.
I never said he had a bad game….He had a very good one actually.. However i don’t know what games YOU have been watching if you think Arteta is that guy to be our DM…What if Coquelin gets injured? See you are not even looking at the big picture either. Despite all the tackles and intercepts he made (today in a friendly) i still noticed a very stark contrast between when he plays and when Coquelin does…We got countered on more today than i have seen since the last time Arteta was in the side. Also his lack of mobility… Read more »
Bang on. Arteta’s a good guy, but is part of our recent history of being 4th place scrappers. Now we have the financial clout and players to be aiming for the league title.
I AM ARSENAL
July 26, 2015 at 7:32 pm
Were you at game and if you were, was it the one at the Emirates today.
Arteta made one wrong pass unlike Chambers who left his personal GPS at home( but it soon returned)
Mikel saved our arse on two or three occasions ( we applauded him)
When your prejudice is already set..it’s difficult to change face.
Another who did not read my post and put me in the same camp as Arteta bashers.. I suggest you read my post again and then go and look at actual game footage and see if you can see my points your self. Please don’t accuse me of prejudice. i don’t scapegoat our players unlike some did with people like Ramsey, Woj and Mertesacker for example. Where in my post did i criticize Arteta’s performance TODAY. He did his job to the best of his ability. One bad pass does not make a bad performance..Anyone who picks one mistake to… Read more »
Had you ever considered that the play might had been influenced by the fact that GK + back four + Arteta played like zero games ever together? Not to mention that Arteta is coming back after missing the whole season?
He. Was. Injured?
Unfortunately, well said “I am Arsenal’. We are either challenging seriously or not, truly ambitious or not. Everything you note about Arteta is true…and its not ‘true’ just because of yesterdays game – its been self evident over a couple of season that Arteta has lost any pace he still had. The knock on effect then spreads to defense (nerves) and attack (slower to break out). The only way to play Arteta is to partner him with another player lying deep, period, Again, this then limits movement forward. We need cover and a partner for Coquelin. We do not bring… Read more »
Agreed. The way people are responding here you would think i and others have said Arteta is a disgrace and he is shit or something…The guy is a good player but how you cannot see the differences between when he and Coquelin play astounds me..His legs are gone, thats a fact. He is no longer the player he once was..Infact he was basically done, before he even came to us..He has been able to survive this long on his footballing intelligence..Which i pointed out…Its not that he does not know how to play the position he just physically cannot do… Read more »
I loved Arteta when he played for Everton and was thrilled he came to play for Arsenal. However, nothing underlined a specific squad weakness like the return of Coquelin to the team. It was not simply he provided cover, but that within a couple of games he improved and strengthened the position in a manner no one could argue with (most importantly Wenger himself). To play half a season with Coquelin as DM transformed the team and put to bed the long-held and erroneous idea a strong DM was unnecessary. I have no problem with Arteta staying at the club.… Read more »
Once again, since Arseblog doesn’t appear to do pre-season player ratings, I thought I’d have a go. You may disagree this time with some of my ratings. Cech – 7; super-cool, only seriously tested once and made an excellent save Bellerin – 7; his defending continues to grow more secure, made some excellent runs Gabriel – 7; reliable, safe, good positioning Chambers – 7; went about his job calmly and efficiently, he’ll be very good Monreal – 7; a bit conservative today, but did well enough Wilshere – 6; a couple of good runs, but little came of them Arteta… Read more »
I think you’re slightly conservative with your ratings, but that’s probably better than going total rah-rah and giving everybody a 9 or a 10. I’d give a half point higher to Bellerin, Wilshere, Reine-Adelaide, Walcott, and Oxlade-Chamberlain – maybe a full point higher for the Ox. Also, I’d be tempted to give the overall team rating another half point. For the team rating, I’m taking into account that we started with zero of our five regular defenders, and despite that, we held the second best team in Germany to only long range efforts. I thought Oxlade-Chamberlain was superb. As someone… Read more »
Has the Ox gained another yard of pace since last season. He was leaving defenders in his dust this weekend! Looks sharper overall as well. I hope he really embraces the right winger role and makes it his own. I realize what conundrums this will cause Wenger.
I dont see how Walcott and Bellerin are both quicker than the Ox..He just looks so beast mode when he starts. I think he has added POWER along with speed which gives him an adavntage over Walcott and Bellerin in match conditions.
On the whole, a good couple of games of football, with many positives and a great chance to see the team whilst they get their fitness levels up. I still fear injuries to Coquelin and Koscielny, and whilst Per, Chambers and Gabriel are all great options at CB, and Arteta is still reliable at DM, I don’t understand why a team with our financial muscle (and ticket prices…) can’t have two excellent options in both positions. To assume we can finally have a season without key injuries is naivety to the core. Though we do have a superb squad, with… Read more »
Why we cannot have two excellent options for every position? Because there would be a huge turnover caused by the excellent player wanting to leave after playing 10-15 games per season.
You say that, but we have several excellent options in other positions who co-exist, even it requires occasionally playing out of position:
RB – Debuchy/Bellerin.
AM – Özil/Cazorla/Rosicky.
CM – Wilshere/Ramsey.
GK – Ospina/Szczesny, now Ospina/Cech.
LW+RW – Sanchez/Ox/Walcott, and though he’s not proved himself at ST Welbeck has proven a fantastic option on the wing.
Surely down the spine of the team it’s crucial to have top class options?
It’s either a young player just breaking through, or a player that can play in multiple positions. (I’m talking about outfields players, GK’s are different.) It’s clear that if a CF comes, one will have to go, right? So if you want a second dedicated DM, then one of them will be unhappy, no matter how crucial you or I consider the matter to be.
Question- does anyone know what happened to Rosicky? Was he injured or ‘injured’?
I believe Rosicky and Welbeck are injured, Sanchez and Ospina are on extended leave from the Copa, Szczesny is finalising his Roma loan, whilst rumour has it Flamini is Galatasaray bound, and Gnabry is on the verge of a WBA loan. The only first-team omission I’m unsure of is Joel Campbell, but he has a few interested clubs so something must be happening there, though Real Sociedad are ‘tired of waiting’. I was also unsure why Zelalem, W Silva, and Bielik weren’t about, though they may still be training with reserves/U21s/resting after youth tournaments etc. I know you only asked… Read more »
Isn’t Campbell on holidays after the Gold Cup?
Ah yes, thanks!
Zelalem had a tournament with the US U17s this off season, maybe he is on an extended leave as well. I’d like to see him loaned out and get some good game time, the boy has an eye for a pass similar to Cesc’s standard at that age.
Silva may be going over a loan offer and I am not sure that Wenger thinks Bielik is ready just yet. He’s still very raw and young, maybe next year we’ll see him.
There’s certainly a lot of promise in the aforementioned, I’d like to see Zelalem at a PL club (mind you I could say that about a lot of our future stars), he’s got a lot of attention on him though I think he takes it in his stride. You can tell by the way he plays football he’s wise beyond his years.
Wow thanks, wasn’t expecting such a detailed reply but that’s very helpful. I can’t help but wonder if Rosicky is going to even be involved in the team this season. Think he’s a great player, certainly could play the Santi role given his experience, vision and tenacity… Just that he hasn’t been around all preseason. It’s all very odd.
Alot of conclusions drawn here based on friendly’s, and I dont think friendly games designed to build fitness will tell us much of anything in regards to our title chances this season. Not only is it friendlies But all of the friendlies we’re vs teams financially peanuts compared to us. Our first 11 is worth like 10 times that of Wolfsburg which was our strongest opponent so far in the preseason. Which only make conclusions even more difficult since we are at a different level than all of our preseason opponents. Chelsea next weekend however is someone our own size,… Read more »