Result: Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea | Arsenal win 6-5 on penalties
Competition: International Champions Cup
Date: 1st August 2018
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Alex Iwobi kept his cool from 12-yards to seal a 6-5 shootout victory for the Gunners against Chelsea to round off an entertaining friendly in Dublin.
Both sides had converted all their efforts from the spot until Ruben Loftus-Cheek was denied by Petr Cech. The veteran keeper had also saved a penalty from Alvaro Morata in a first half that was dominated by the Blues.
Antonio Rudiger opened the scoring for the Stamford Bridge outfit early, before teenager Callum Hudson-Odoi squandered a number of gilt-edged chances that should have put the game to bed. Those misses proved costly as Alex Lacazette came off the bench to net an equaliser with the last kick of the game.
Arsenal squad
Starting XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Elneny, Smith Rowe, Guendouzi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Ozil
Subs: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Mavropanos, Maitland-Niles, Nelson, Iwobi, Nketiah and Lacazette
1′ – Ramsey missing
Aaron Ramsey was due to start the game but was replaced very late by Emile Smith Rowe. He’s picked up a minor calf problem in the warm-up.
2′ – Our new home shirt ?
We were hoping we might grow to like it. But that’s just not going to happen.
2′ – We’re very hairy
Combine the Elneny and Guendouzi curls with Bellerin’s mane and Ozil’s floppy fringe and it’s probably the most hirsute side we’ve fielded since the 70s.
4′ – Cech tips over
The first effort on goal comes from ex-Gunner Fabregas who forces a smart save from Cech. Looks like it may have had a slight deflection.
5′ – ⚽ Goal Chelsea 0-1
Hmm, that’s not good. From the resulting corner, an unmarked Antonio Rudiger powers home a header low to Cech’s left. There’s nothing the keeper could do about that one. The defence on the other hand…
7′ – Sweeper keeper
A Mustafi header is claimed easily by Willy Cabellero and distributed in the blink of an eye. Cech races from goal to clear his lines.
14′ – Penalty Chelsea
Fucking hell…we’re not at the races at all. Hudson-Odoi cuts inside Bellerin who hangs out a leg and takes out the 17-year-old. No argument, it’s a definite foul. The ref points to the spot.
15′ – Saved!!!!
Petr Cech throws himself down to his right to push Morata’s penalty around the post. Blimey, his second spot-kick save of pre-season! We’re lucky from the corner as Morata heads over at close range again.
20′ – We’re really struggling
Chelsea look sharper all over the pitch. Keeping possession is a problem for the Gunners and we’re not coping well with the way the Blues press high up the pitch.
23′ – Another big save
Hudson-Odoi’s trickery bamboozles our defence again. He frees Morata on goal and Cech comes out quickly to block with his left leg. If it weren’t for our keeper this game would be over already.
25′ – *Andy Townsend voice* Better
Guendouzi sprays a cross-field pass for Bellerin to chase. He nearly gets past Alonso but then, frustratingly, fouls his compatriot in the Chelsea box.
27′ – Chance Gunners
Smith Rowe curls over from the edge of the box after David Luiz’s attempted clearance falls to him. A half chance, but our clearest opening yet.
30′ – Ooooh!
Brilliant skill from Ozil followed by a nifty pass out to the right sees us flow forward, but there’s no end product as Elneny’s cross is cleared by Rudiger.
31′ – How did Auba miss???
Ozil in full flow frees Mkhitaryan on the right. The Armenian crosses for Aubameyang who just needs to roll the ball home at the back post. Somehow he fluffs his lines, missing the ball completely. Better from the Gunners who get a clap from Unai Emery on the touchline.
35′ – Just wide
Guendouzi has a pop from 25-yards but the ball sweeps past Cabellero’s right post. Nice idea from the French teenager, who has been a bright spark. His willingness to get on the ball and move us forward is a positive.
38′ – Ouch
Kolasinac is down holding one of his considerable buttock cheeks following a clash with Cabellero. The Bosnian had combined well with Smith Rowe but couldn’t quite get a shot off and was subsequently taken out.
41′ – Cech to rescue once more
Again Hudson-Odoi springs the Arsenal offside trap. He’s one-on-one with Cech but the veteran spreads himself well to take enough off the ball before the trundling Mustafi gets back to head clear off the line. Another big let off.
43′ – Chance Arsenal
Cabellero flaps at a cross, it falls to Kolasinac at the back post but he dawdles instead of shooting is closed down.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea
You can’t argue with the scoreline. Arsenal may have wasted a couple of half chances but the Blues have repeatedly exposed us on the break. Were it not for Cech, they could easily have four goals to their name. We’re just too open in midfield and the centre-back pairing of Sokratis and Mustafi look very slow. Ozil and Guendouzi have shown flashes of inspiration but that’s about it.
51′ – Neat interplay
Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Ozil and Smith Rowe exchange quick one-touch passes around the edge of the Chelsea box, but a final ball to Aubameyang is cut out.
53′ – Pot shots
Kolasinac skies over after a drilled cross from Smith Rowe. Then Elneny has an effort blocked on the edge of the box. We look like we’re growing in confidence. The Dublin Gunners grow in voice inside the Aviva.
57′ – It should be 2-0
Another Chelsea corner. Another Rudiger header. This time the ball goes wide. There’s a real lack of concentration when defending set pieces. Yes, it’s pre-season, but we need to get on top of that ASAP.
59′ – Ooooh!
Aubameyang chooses not to shoot and instead picks out Smith Rowe who takes a touch and then sees his shot deflected over by Azpilicueta.
62′ – Substitutions
Chelsea make five changes (one has more hair than Guendouzi!). Alex Iwobi comes on for Smith Rowe.
64′ – Kick it harder!
An energetic burst forward by Iwobi frees Ozil who in turn finds Mkhitaryan in space. The Armenian shoots from 20-yards but there’s not enough pace on the ball to trouble Cabellero. Not long after, Iwobi has a go of his own with his left foot. Why does it look like our players are kicking a medicine ball when they shoot?
68′ – Kolasinac off
The left-back seems to twist his knee challenging for the ball and immediately calls to go off. He doesn’t look in too much pain but he does head straight down the tunnel. Ainsley Maitland-Niles comes on in his place.
72′ – More Arsenal changes
Mkhitrayan and Aubameyang are replaced by Reiss Nelson and Alex Lacazette. The TV cameras pick out David O’Leary and Ivan Gazidis in the stands.
75′ – Surely 1-1? No!
Alex Lacazette picks up a pass by Ozil, cuts inside Andreas Christenson and looks sure to score. He opens up his body but there’s no curl on his right foot effort and it goes inches wide.
77′ – Bowie would be proud
Ozil whips a free-kick wide and it signals more ch-ch-changes. Cabellero scuttles to the bench then Maurizio Sarri sends on a couple more new faces. I’d list them, but I’m watching a Dutch stream and the Blues players don’t have names on their shirts…so actually, I won’t. Just for good measure, Calum Chambers comes on for Bellerin.
84′ – What a save!
I don’t know who the Chelsea keeper is, but he’s just stopped Iwobi from equalising. The Nigeria international side foots a low effort that looks destined to nestle in the back of the net, but it’s parried away. Turns out the keeper is Marcin Bulka, an 18-year-old Pole.
90′ – Pinball
More Arsenal intricacy in the final third, but Chelsea’s deep defence is able to suck up the pressure without the Gunners getting off a shot. There are three minutes of injury time.
92′ – Last throw of the dice?
Ozil lofts a free-kick into the box, it’s cleared but falls to Lacazette who lashes a left-foot effort that is saved by Bulcin. It’s an unbelievable stop by the teenager.
93′ – ⚽ GOOOOOOAL Arsenal 1-1
Would you believe it? With the last kick of the game, Lacazette taps home a Nelson cross from three yards out. The Dublin crowd love that. We’re going to penalties.
Penalties
Chelsea: Drinkwater scores (1-0)
Arsenal: Lacazette scores (1-1)
Chelsea: Abraham scores (2-1)
Arsenal: Nelson scores (2-2)
Chelsea: Moses scores (3-2)
Arsenal: Guendouzi scores (3-3)
Chelsea: Emerson scores (4-3)
Arsenal: Maitland-Niles scores (4-4)
Chelsea: Piazon scores (5-4)
Arsenal: Ozil scores (5-5)
Chelsea: Loftus-Cheek misses! Cech saves down low to his right! (5-5)
Arsenal: Iwobi scores (6-5)
Full time. Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea
Well, that was fun! For the second pre-season in a row, we’ve come from behind to beat Chelsea on penalties. The Blues will be disappointed they didn’t convert more of their first half chances but Arsenal had by far the better of the second half. In that respect, Alex Lacazette’s stoppage-time equaliser was deserved. That said, over the 90 minutes, the manner in which we were exposed on the break was pretty worrying. We’ll definitely need to do some more work coordinating our defence at set-pieces and we’re crying out for a ball winner in the middle. Just as well we’ve signed Lucas Torreira. Perhaps he’ll get a few minutes when we play Lazio in Stockholm on Saturday?
Until then…have a good evening.
Poor first 20 minutes. Lots better second half. Had some good chances, Laca and Iwobi should have scored. Not too bad in the end, great move with Ozil and Nelso providing Laca. Cech saves two penalties!
And a win on penalties!
Fuck you Chelsea
Hahahahahahahaha Dennis Wise, let me sip on your tears of frustration.
Dennis Wise has to be the most ironic name in history
Was he that tit pundit in the grey suit with Winterburn post game? Was kind of getting ready for work so wasn’t watching the screen much but I could hear someone whinging with big Chelsea bias, only just caught a glimpse of him as my stream cut out .. he sounded devastated hah.
Chambers replacing Bellerin was the best decision of the game. The guy owned that right hand side when he came on.
Also, genius pass by Ozil to send Iwobi through to set up Laca
Was at the game. Bellerin looked quite bad – not sure he has improved in 3 seasons. Got beaten basically every time by his man. Left back a big concern for me too. On the bright side, Guendouzi looks very very good.
I suggested we should give Bellerin to Barcelona and get Yeri Mina and lot of people here disagreed. They found ridiculous to give our best right back to get yet another CB. Man U is going to get Yeri Mina and he is going to hurt us pretty bad on corners.
Probably because:
A) he’s our best right back
B) that would leave us with only 1 right back again
C) it’s a stupid idea
Even Niles is better than him on the right, he crosses better, dribbles better, far more unpredictable and more calm
thank God we have tutu coming up the ranks or even Ben shaef would do better if given an opportunity
Overrated player that we can scan Barça with
People disagreed because he’s no better than any of our current cbs- arguably worse than most. He plays like Mangala (if you remember him)- big, strong, intimidating but utterly, utterly clueless when it comes to actual defending. He had a decent world cup, but watch some of his games for Barca last year and see what you think.
5 things we learned-
1.Morata is poor man’s chamakh with better hair products
2.Bellerin needs to cut his hairs asap bad ju-ju
3.Messi keeps Ozils photo under his pillow.
4.Kolasinac really is a tank.100 offense ,-100 defense.
5.Guendouzi is the GOAT.
I’m really bad at this sarcasm thing aren’t I? ?
I learned this should not be our first-choice defence. No coincidence they scored off a corner, there is zero height back there, and two almost identical, rash centre backs both looking to intercept with a high line. A better team would have been 4-0 by half time.
Why we didn’t go after someone in the Merteseacker mould I will never know, Mustafi and Sokratis look way, way off a premiership partnership.
Well, everyone who has complained for years about zonal marking should now understand that there can be serious problems with man-marking as well. Smith-Rowe twice completely lost Rudiger on corners–a goal the first time, a clear chance wasted by the German the second. (On another corner, between these two, Rudiger was marked by Kolasinac and he didn’t have a sniff.) I have no idea why anyone would blame Mustafi or Sokratis, whatever their other faults, for this result.
I don’t think any9ne cares about the result. That doesn’t mean you can’t be concerned by their performance.
I meant blaming Mustafi or Sokratis for the goal, not the result of the match. Should have worded that better.
Though why the heck was Smith -Rowe marking Rudiger? Total physical mismatch. Coaching team should have spotted this and changed it.
Maybe for the experience? as said the result didn’t matter. But may prove valuable experience for the Smith Rowe
Time to unleash mavropanos then!!
Where has the younger Greek gone? Haven’t seen him much these days.
Even holding would win more aerial balls, still wish for us to try out Campbell at left back might turn out good like cherychev, Alba or Marcelo who are offensive and good at recovery
I’d received quite a few thumbs down a couple of weeks ago for suggesting that if we have the dough to buy another player, a decent central defender should be our #1 priority. 😡
I gave you another for being a Maureen about it.
It’s okay man, I was feeling a bit of the old masochistic streak after watching Bellerin play…that comment was FOR the thumbs downs…you guys are just the best. 🙂
It really did hurt to see Bellerin today…
Yeah he is a complete trash. Should be given out for free
Millennial alert.
At least then will have to go out there and look for a decent RB.
Nothing worse than a bad player disguised as a talented. You will wait for him to produce and he ofcourse won’t. You’ll never sell him in fear of losing his claimed potential. And you won’t bench him because you think playing him week-in week-out is the way to develop him to reach his best.
And the end product is a “Theo Walcott” type of player with 10 or so years of very little contribution.
I get the impression he already thinks he’s the real deal. But he’s actually a 23 year old kid with a hell of a lot of work up to do. Have to say the crucifix earrings, hair and tattoos don’t do him any favours either. A lot of this has to go back to Arsene, who completely indulged him as first choice RB from day 1, without any pressure of cover from the absent Debuchy, he was bound to stagnate.
Jesus, stop with the Bellerin hate. Criticize his football, sure. But stop moaning about his clothes, earrings, hair and all that. Just makes you look stupid.
You even see people claiming he “lost it” when he started eating vegan.
He’s a young man, and a great role model too imo. Eats healthy, wears whatever he likes and seems to be loving life at Arsenal.
How about we get behind the guy and see if he can reach his extremely high potential, instead of bashing him for stuff not related to football.
Seriously. Who the hell CARES about his eartings, hair and tattoos? The idea that these somehow detract from his footballing ability is getting beyond a joke
Something the grumpy old lad in the corner of a pub would complain about over his pint of Guinness… Or in football punditry, Roy Keane!
Or, unfortunately, Martin Keown.
And it did hurt to see the wengerball of recent years is still how we play. The amount of backward passes was cringe worthy. We were easily contained most of the match. press the defenders and they will turn and run back towards Cech. Press Elneny and he would produce a backward pass. The only players that seemed to play a positive football were Ozil, Guendouzi and to a lesser extent ESR. Around the edge of the box we still have no idea how to proceed, pass pass pass and that’s it, safe passes all around. And I’m not gonna… Read more »
Very happy with things at Arsenal at present! COYG…
https://www.specsavers.co.uk
Haha but we are looking good so far. It’s a work in progress don’t you know?
No apparently most of these “fans” think this was the fa cup final, and we won too. Game of two halves for me, which is good, especially because we got better rather than worse, exactly the way a pre season top tier match should go if you’re the new coach who is still missing Monreal, Torreira, Xhaka and Lichsteiner, very likely all big players for us this season. I can see Emery dropping a Mhki for a Nelson without a blink, same goes with Bellerin for Lichy, and so on, basically it is kinda pointless whinging about stuff that is… Read more »
I thought this was the best Kolasinac played in a long time, hope his injury is not serious. Ozil was very good and, I thought, would have been even better with Ramsey making runs.
Iwobi looked good when he came on, unlucky not to score. I hope fans can get behind him this season.
Not too worried about our performance today. It’s pre-season and none of our 1st choice centre mids were playing. Love Maitland Niles and for all the hope around Smith-Rowe and Nelson I still think he has the best chance of cementing a place in the team over the coming season. Two ice cold penalties from the big man this pre-season.
Love AMN. I think him and Eddie are looking the best of the young bunch.
Yes, we obviously haven’t seen enough of what ESR is made of mentally. But AMN really is the friggin Ice Man out there. Nketiah seems to have his head screwed on right too.
Nelson still has a lot to prove imo.
I felt the same but after the last few games Nelson has really impressed me, and we are crying out for a natural RW, we lacked pace and width with Ozil and Mhki on the wings, so in terms of places up for grabs I think Nelson has a better chance of nicking Mhki’s spot than AMN does with getting in the midfield or ESR or N’ketia getting in the front 3. His technical ability has shone more this preseason than it did last season, good to see.
I would love to see AMN in the first team though, so far this pre season we’ve basically looked a better team when Nelson, AMN, Holding, Chambers (who was brilliant at RB for the last 20), Iwobi, Smith-Rowe and or N’ketia have been on the pitch together, this has been clear to me, I wonder how ruthless Emery will be? I sense heavy ruthlessness if they keep impressing.
Don’t know what to make of that game in the grand scheme of things.
The worst and the best of Arsenal on show tonight!
Few things to consider
1.Bellerin is still dog shit
2.Guendozi is already better than all the Cms we have(elneny,xhaka,Ramsey)
3.ozil and mkhi shouldn’t be playing at same time
4.we need a new pacy winger
5.Defence still looks shaky on the counter
Guendouzi’s ready to do a job for the first team. The way he’s not afraid to play the more incisive pass, you’d think it was him who was the CM with more experience and not Elneny.
The thing I love and am concerned about him is basically the same thing.. My concern with him is that because he often turns as he is receiving possession, opposition players are going to learn sooner than later to anticipate that and will move to tackle him. Pedro for example read it in the first half, granted he bought the free kick but EPL games aren’t always forgiving in that regard. If he tries to turn and gets tackled in our half we will be punished once the season is in full swing. At the same time, I love his… Read more »
Communication from the players around him should let him know when to turn and when not to turn.
Three penalties saved in preseason- is this the improvement emery promised?
auba has lost his confidence
Still a troll.
A few thoughts on way home from game…
Cech looks sharp. Real competition for first time at Arsenal making him raise his game ?
Mustafi is frightening. And not in a good way. Surely got to gamble on one of Chambers etc before season starts. He’s just quite poor.
Guenduozi? Very impressive. Naive but so much more to offer than Elneny.
Ozil & Micki…are they enough as a 2 behind a lone striker? Not for me. We need more pace.
Bodies to come back still so we will strengthen but centre half is the big worry.
I have my doubts on ozil and mickey together as well, we dont have the backbone to afford 2 playmakers.
On Ozil and Micki I think what we need is more power not necessarily pace.
Nah man. Mhiki is going to be a boss this year and score loads of goals. Go down as another one of ‘ the special cunt’s’ monstrous fuck ups. Like Salah and De bruyne, innit
No it aint.
A bad bargain he was. More “bad” games than good since he arrived.
No wonder he was a bench warmer.
u r just a maf
all these random comments and almost nobody is talking about how cool Laca’s goal was and how amazing his penalty was. That guy is just so bloody calm in front of the net, I’m proper jealous. I’m a defender so if I’m anywhere near the net I just try to smash it as hard as possible without aiming 😉 Laca was really hot at the end of the season after his surgery and now he’s used to living in London/playing in the EPL. I think we’re going to see a big season from him. 25 goals all competitions at least!… Read more »
Pre season or not, its always nice to get one over the chavs. But Emery has a real job in his hands to sort out our defensive frailties and stop us from leaking avoidable goals. If he succeeds in doing so, I am confident we’ll have a fairly successful season. COYG !
John terry is a cunt
I pretty much hate it when people state the obvious
Yeh but we need to repeat it so the younger generation can have it burnt to thier memory as well.
I like it. Never forget.
Absolutely disgusted that Hudson-Odoi plays for Chelsea. Poor guy. Get out while you can kid!
Don’t worry you won’t see him again
Thumbs down peps didnt get the point at all
As much as Guendouzi is good going forward he is liability on the other side. He is careless on the ball, weak in duels and sometimes he forgets to track his player so I don’t think it would be wise to start him against Man City next week. But overall his perfomances are encouraging. He is not a defensive midfielder. Rowe is ready. He should be involved in the first team this season. He is special and it seems that he is not afraid of the chances he gets. I liked him today again. Not a goalscorer like Ramsey but… Read more »
Sorry, totally disagree. Not sure about other pre season games but Smith Rowe looked like a talented kid who is still quite a bit off first team level tonight. He really struggled.
He struggled at defending corners. It is true it was more or less his goal. But what did he struggle otherwise?
Mostly at knowing what to do & what positions to take up, and in attacking positions as well as defending. Probably not as easy to see on tv but from where I was sitting the game mostly passed him by. It’s stuff he will learn but he has quite a bit to go yet. We won’t see him much outside of the league cup imo. (this season)
No need to hype kids up early. His time will hopefully come.
He will only learn that with training and playing with the first team. Do you think Fabregas and Wilshere knew everything when they started? Do you remember how Niles played his first games in the CM? Bad but he is getting better every game. I didn’t mean he should play in the first eleven but to have a fair shot in the Premier League next season.
If we want to give chances to Nelson, then we might as well play Joel Campbell who is an international experienced winger who is effective in the final third as we have all gotten to witness in the league. The other players had to basically point out to Nelson where to go next. HE has time to learn his trade but first team is coming a bit to fast for him
I would be very suprised if Emery didnt share your thoughts, to ve confirmed vs Lazio
Wow, let’s not buy a world class winger and give the chance to mediocre nelson and Welbeck and then let’s hope for a great season!
yay!
Was like a home game – 70% gooners. Nice! The crowd even managed to get frustrated like at the Emirates!
Shout out to the Gooners in Dublin. Great atmosphere in the stadium !
If we don’t get another CB, we are finished. Sokratis – Mustafi will be the undoing of this team. If Ramsey wants to leave – Sell and get a CB and a winger.
Sokratis WILL struggle in the league. Sven must have been out of his mind when he chose this guy over Benatia.
He’s cheaper, but I don’t want to conclude yet
Don’t disagree about Sokratis, but is Benatia actually that good? I don’t have any other suggestions, mind. At least if we’d gone for Pavard or Soyuncu they have time on their side, so even if they didn’t do brilliantly they’d have some sell-on value.
Unai has a job on his hands to bring out better offense from this team. There is a lot to be desired. If our wing backs were to remain back defending I really cannot see how our attack can manage. Chelsea had one attacking player killing us.
And it really sucks to see 9/10 players pressing. We cannot afford to carry anyone this season. Maximum Effort!!! (A la Deadpool). COYG
As far as defending goes, it sounds like nothing’s changed then.
Well sadly it has changed a bit, in the sense that amidst the occasional tactical chaos, we don’t have a peak Koscielny or Mertesacker to fall back on anymore :/ No doubt the defensive issue’s a worry, but it was always going to be a rocky period for the new man practically starting with a blank slate as far as our defence goes. Let’s see how we knit things together after a few weeks of the new season.
The day we’d move on from Mustafi, our defending would have gone up several notches
It was just a friendly but the rivalry was obvious. I am a bit worried on this high pressing style that leaves the midfield wide open and the lines too far away. Hopefully we will improve with time. I don’t want to be pessimistic but it feels like we lost.
We hardly pressed.
It was the same ol’ wengerball all over again.
Just look at the start of the play that led to their penalty. 5 or 6 of our players were strolling around the Chelsea man with o pressure at all.
I know it’s a nothing game but fair play to all those kids stepping up to take penalties ahead of more experienced players. Good form.
How broad is Ainsley Maitland-Niles? Looks like he should be in NFL!
Those letters won’t support themselves..
Our faults were clear to see in the first half, but on a positive note, in the second half we played some good football and kept the ball well. Emery still has plenty of work to do but I felt the team didn’t give up or fold when struggling in the first half and slowly improved. To score with seconds left and win the shootout against that lot…brilliant.
Interesting that Loftus-Cheek is back playing and Welbz is still on holidays, despite the former playing more at the world cup
Liking the lingerie adverts btw
First time I’ve seen this match report layout. Love it!
Sanogo’s 4 goals
Ox winning us the Charity Shield
Beating Chelsea again today
The ARSENAL never disappoint me on my Birthday !
Ramsey – minor calf problem in the warm-up.
Being prepared to be sold?
Our goal was really cool. I wish you showed the entire play from that short corner because we destroyed them on a 3 on 2 before we put that one in.
Definitely good to see us against an English side that we’ll be competing with, though both sides were short key players (our whole central midfield and left back out). Definitely a worry with lack of pace in the back (even when Monreal returns) other than Bellerin (who can be outrun) and how high we were playing without enough pressure on the ball. If we are going to play so high then we need better pressure on the ball when pressing and it’s going to be tough to do that in a coordinated fashion with our three central midfielders not having… Read more »
Mustafi and sokratis are slow. We will struggle when teams counter attack.
Chambers at right back? Already learned that won’t work.
Our two best goal threats aren’t on the field at the dame time
And why is ozil starting on the wing.
Wow, Morata is bad. If Morata’d had nine shots at Tupac, Tupac would still be alive.
Worries AMN isn’t getting time in midfield. Not sure Emery sees him as a real prospect as he hasn’t got minutes yet. Maybe he trusts him and wants to get a very good look at Guendouzi. Guendouzi looks good but so did Zelalem and Reine-Adelaide. AMN performed well against good sides at a faster pace than I think Guendouzi could cope with yet (not strong enough or quick enough to not get robbed a fair bit in the PL, see Xhaka for details). It took Granit – an experienced CM – a season and a half to get to grips… Read more »
What’s with the team’s crazy new celebrations? I’m loving it.
This is going to be another unbeaten run. Lucas is going to eat them up in the midfield thus giving the defenders good cover, Though we conceded 2 identical headers but knowing how much the coach is keen on the finer details,thats something that is being worked on. See you after the 38th unbeaten game.
As I mentioned before, I think certain people tend to want to imagine improvements that are not (yet) there just bc it isn’t Wenger in charge… Plenty of work still to do. 1) High Line. Very dodgy at times at the back. We were lucky we did not get a marginal call against us (in one instance the Chelsea player was actually on side). Again HIgh press is nothing new and may in itself create dangers for us behind the fullbacks pushing forward (as it did last season BOTH with Monreal and Bellerin) We had less problems with CHelsea but… Read more »
As for the players performance against Chelsea, lots of work to be done by most of the players but it is good we have rough edges exposed in pre-season so we don’t believe we are suddenly ready to compete (like unfortunately some people all too easily fall into) Performance – 1) Cech – As I mentioned, he is the stalwart. It is on the onus of BOTH Leno and Martinez to prove they can unseat him. Good penalty save (even if it was poor from Morata) and seems to have been working on this part of his game 2) Kolasinac-… Read more »