Result: Arsenal 2-0 Lazio
Competition: Pre-season friendly
Date: 4th August 2018, Saturday
Venue: Friends Arena, Stockholm
Arsenal head into the final stretch of pre-season with a win as they end the match 2-0. The Gunners went ahead through a Reiss Nelson goal on the 17th minute while Aubameyang ended it off with a goal in the second half.
Arsenal Squad
Starting XI: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Chambers, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Torreira, Nelson, Iwobi, Lacazette, Nketiah
Subs: Bellerin, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavrapanos, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang
1′ – WORLD CUP CONTINGENT STARTS
We have a start for our players returning from the World Cup including Torreira, Lichtsteiner and Xhaka. Xhaka captains the side but no Nacho though – not even on the bench. We could use a little bit of Nacho today with Kolasinac out but it’ll be nice to see Maitland-Niles get a start.
2′ – OLD SCHOOL 4-4-2
Seems like it’s a throwback to a classic 2 man forward line with Nketiah and Lacazette leading from the front.
5′ – HIGH PRESSING
Arsenal players press high up from the front with the defenders situated across the half way line.
8′ – NKETIAH SHOOTS JUST WIDE
Nketiah spins past the Lazio defence and strikes just wide from the inside left area. Good attempt by the lively youngster.
11′ – SPLITTING DEFENCE
Full backs seem to be moving quite high up with Chambers and Holding splitting and Torreira dropping back to make up a back 3. The 2 English defenders look to connect very well with each other.
13′ – OOOHHH SO CLOSE
Lichtsteiner chips the ball for Lacazette who darts into the box and has his volley saved. Good vision from the Swiss defender and even better movement from the Frenchman.
15′ – LAZIO COMES CLOSE TO A GOAL
Lazio hit Arsenal on the counter attack with a cut back for Caicedo who should have done better. That came out of nowhere and we could have gone 1 goal down against the run of play.
17′ – ⚽ GOAL ARSENAL 1 – 0!
Nelson lays off the ball to Iwobi who shoots from the left but the ball hits the post. Nelson showed great movement to ghost into the box and wait for the rebound on the far post for a tap in.
21′ – LAZIO HEADER IN THE BOX
Lazio lofts in a teasing cross from the right hand side but the Arsenal defenders do just enough to put off the striker who managed to get a head on the ball.
25′ – LAZIO CHANCE
Xhaka loses the ball close to the penalty box with a Lazio player bearing on goal. Good cover by Holding to win the ball back before it was too late.
29′ – XHAKA BOOM! ALMOST.
Great layoff for Xhaka to strike from outside the box. Ball goes just over the cross bar. Decent attempt on goal from today’s captain.
30′ – OFF THE BAR!
Holding loses the ball outside the box. Lazio almost punish the Gunners with a cheeky chip over Leno who was off his line but it hits the bar. Lively match so far.
32′ – NARROW FULL BACKS
Without the ball, we’re seeing the full backs tuck in. Wingers have been asked to drop back and cover space on the flank.
33′ – LAZIO SCUFFS A HALF CHANCE
Murgia, with his back to goal, swivels to volley a shot but his attempt was tame and saved.
34′ – LAZIO CHANCE
Lazio’s header whistles just past the post. Maitland-Niles doesn’t track his runner and Holding was caught almost flat footed as the Lazio man charges in for a header.
36′ – GOTTA STOP THOSE CROSSES, GUYS
Lazio are getting a lot of crosses from deep with our full backs going narrow when defending. Lazio’s forward gets onto one of these crosses and should have scored but flashes it across for his teammate instead of going for goal.
44′ – IWOBI SCRAPPY SHOT
The Nigerian should have done better with a shot from outside the box after he hassled the Lazio defence to win it back.
HALF-TIME: ARSENAL 1 – 0 LAZIO
It’s been a lively first half for Arsenal who have adopted a 4-4-2 formation and went in front through a Reiss Nelson tap in. The front 2 have not been as involved in the game as much as they’d like but we see some good partnerships on field. Maitland-Niles and Iwobi seem to have a good connection with overlaps on the left and the midfield 2 of Xhaka and Torreira look solid.
46′ – SUBSTITUTIONS
Off: Nelson, Nketiah
On: Aubameyang, Guendouzi
We play a 4-3-3 formation with Aubameyang on the left and Iwobi far right.
47′ – LAZIO HITS THE SIDE NETTING
Lazio crosses low from the left and shoots just wide from player ghosting into the box. Still haven’t closed out those flanks.
52′ – NO PENALTY?
Lacazette tangles with the defender and the Lazio man had his hands on the striker who fell in the box. Ref doesn’t think it’s a foul.
56′ – DON’T MESS WITH THE LICH
There’s been a bit of tasty battle between Lazio’s left winger, Lulic, with the Arsenal defenders. Lichtsteiner has none of that and makes sure he knows of it with his tackles. It’ll be fascinating to see his no nonsense approach next season.
57′ – ARSENAL COUNTER
The Gunners go on the break with Auba, Lacazette and Iwobi charging in. Lacazette’s finish was blocked but the team looks to be asserting themselves well.
61′ – SUBSTITUTIONS
Off: Iwobi, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Xhaka
On: Ozil, Bellerin, Mhkitaryan, Elneny
It’s back to the 4-2-3-1, Ozil takes the armband and we get a shaggy haired double pivot in midfield.
63′ – ⚽ GOAL AUBAMEYANG! 2-0
Elneny bundles his way through into the penalty box before losing it to Lacazette. Laca lays it off to Aubameyang who finished it calmly into the bottom corner.
64′ – GUENDOUZI SHOT SAVED
The youngster dances in from the right and has his shot saved by the keeper from a tight angle.
67′ – LENO MAKES FIRST GENUINE SAVE
Luis Alberto shoots from the inside left and tries to curl it around Leno to the far post. Leno saves it comfortably.
69′ – MAITLAND-NILES DOWN
Arsenal fans were left gasping in fear as Maitland-Niles stayed down after a tackle. He looks to be fine after a short break. And… breathe.
73′ – PLAYING OUT FROM THE BACK
The Arsenal defence have been insistent on playing out from the back even under pressure. The DMs have been working hard to make sure there are passing angles for the backline to pass out from. Expect a lot of heart-in-mouth moments in the upcoming season while the team fine tunes their approach to this.
76′ – YELLOW CARD HOLDING
Holding gets a yellow for a late tackle.
76′ – SUBSTITUTION
Off: Holding, Chambers, Lacazette
On: Mavropanos, Sokratis, Smith Rowe
A new defensive pairing and Aubameyang goes up top.
79′ – AUBA ROCKET SAVED
Aubameyang’s shot from distance is saved by the Lazio keeper and Mhkitaryan’s follow up was saved from a tight angle. More of the same please, Pierre!
81′ – WHERE WAS SOKRATIS?
The backline was breached but Mavropanos covers well. Where was our big new CB signing? Hopefully we won’t be asking that question often during the season.
83′ – LONG SHOT BY ELNENY
Good attempt by the Egyptian but it goes straight to the keeper.
86′ – LAZIO CHANCE
Lovely ball down the exposed left flank as Lazio pull the ball back only for the striker to be inches away from contact. Another let off this evening.
FULL-TIME: ARSENAL 2 – 0 LAZIO
A decent win for Arsenal as they tried a series of formations, surprising us with a 4-4-2 in the first half. We looked solid but unspectacular and there will still be nagging feelings about that defence as we were breached often by the Lazio forwards. The Manchester City attackers may not be so generous with the chances allowed so let’s hope Emery figure out how best to defend and settle on a preferred pairing.
Not the most excited pre season game but that Mkhi nutmeg made it all worth it
I agree…it certainly wasn’t the most thrilling match. As Arseblog says, still some serious question marks with our defending as Lazio repeatedly breached our defence so easily especially in the first half. “Iceman” Niles was solid as usual, a strong cameo from Guendouzi who surely has earned a right to be ahead of Elneny in the midfield pecking order. Leno decent, Nelson put in a good shift, and good to see the man Torreira do his thing. All in all, a solid preseason with far more positives to take than negatives. A promising season beckons!
I don’t think Torreira did his thing yet but all was good!
Where is Nacho?
Injured, a small knock apparently
Or Welbeck? Is he leaving this week? Still short of a decent centre back & left back backup
Good game. Everyone looked decent against a good lazio side. Thought their captain should have been sent off and Holding getting a yellow is ridicules
would start Genduzi with Torriera in the middle against city
I like the way we play from back.But lets not do this against liverpool or city till we perfec tit.
Maybe not as great as City’s, but I think our tits are just as nice if not perfecter than liverpool’s
I am warming to Elneny.
I think we’ve got some good options and cover in the middle of the park this season. Liked how solid we looked there tonight, I think Guendouzi got caught out once but made up for it. Does anyone know what Xhaka was saying to Nelson after he scored, seemed a bit unhappy about something? First thought it was Nelson didn’t celebrate by the fans but watching the replay i think it was tactical?
“Well done. Do that a couple more times and we’ll be OK.” would seem like the right sort of thing.
Good run out for the lads. We’re getting better at playing out from the back under pressure.
My favorite moment though was Liechtenstein showing his edginess. Like the commentator observed, the Lazio man chose the wrong player to mess with
I remember when commentators would just commentate on the game letting you know which player did what rather than chatting as they do now. I miss those days…
I see we now have Liechtenstein in our team as well as Montreal
City will tear us a new one if we play around in our own half like that again next week….. This is turning into a typical Arsenal summer soap opera…. We’ve got a cloud hanging over one of our best players, who we may have to sell to a rival? Our CEO who’s waited 10 years to take control, now looks to have decided after 3 months…l its not what he really wanted… And if Rambo leaves? There doesn’t seem to be any type of plan in place to replace him, so we’ll likely re-sign Kim Kallstrom… our efficient and… Read more »
Real ray of sunshine aren’t you
It’s Rich the eternal pessimist
You say pessimistic… I call it an accurate observation ??
its no good burying your head in the sand
Troll
like it or not ben, that’s the way it is
It’s not typical Arsenal. It’s typical football. City have drama with Sane. United with Pogba/Maureen. Chelsea with Hazard/Courtois. There’s not a season goes by where there’s zero drama with the “employees” of the club. It’s just the nature of contracts to be negotiated through brinksmanship.
Ramsey can go if he wants to. He’ll be replaced.
you are so right
Ramsey has lived off the rep of one excellent season and hasnt delivered one full good season (as opposed to an excellent one) ever since. In an ideal world we sell him to barca or some european club, but at the same time I would rather take £40m from a domestic rival than to give him a massive wage that he hasnt merited. In my opinion we have enough centre midfielders (maitland niles hasnt even got a chance yet), but we have holes elsewhere that should be a bigger priority and we could address them with the money from a… Read more »
This is kind of what ManU fans were saying about Pogba, a lot of times a player is only as good as his team and teammates around him. Our problem is defense and we’re blaming everyone in the team for it. We blame Ozil, Ramsey and everyone else possible. We need a box to box midfielder and Ramsey offers a genuine goal scoring option apart from the striker in our team. More often, we are struck in a game with a lot of ball with the goal scorers marooned and having a Ramsey does help in pulling defenders out of… Read more »
Far from ideal, yet I like there are clear ideas behind the way we play. Really interested in how our first XI looks like in a week.
My guess is that it’ll be the players that finished this match
Where is Nacho?
Minor knock
Is some knobhead trolling this and just downvoting every comment?
Attack looks like formidable,defense still a concern but that should improve gradually.hopeful for the next season,whatever is the result against city,preseason had enough glimpses of change to be optimistic.Up the arse!
P.s-Pressure merchants getting spanked by last seasons newcomer of La liga.straight into the veins ?
I don’t think this game is part of the International Champions Cup is it? I’ve just checked the official ICC website and there is no mention of this game. Think each team only plays 3 games in it, which we’ve done. Unless Juventus beat real Madrid later today, it looks like we’ll win the competition.
If we if ignore spurs it’s currently Dortmund who top the table
How strange. The table that comes up first on my Google search has us top with 7pts (above Dortmund on goal difference and above Sp#rs because that’s where we belong, but another table has us 3rd with 6pts. Not that it matters really. Bring on next Sunday! COYG!
Still do not understand how we got 7pts. From my calculation is it not 6pts? 1 win 2 draws with us getting an extra for winning 1 penalty shoot out.
Bois, you are correct. I just looked at what the internet was telling me and believed it. That will teach me! Maybe the table I saw that’s got us top with 7 points was done by a Gooner, haha!
No as we are joint winners with Spurs. We both have 7 points with same goal difference of 7.
That lot from down the road are top with Dortmund second and we third with 6 pts.
What message was Captain Xhaka desperately trying to pass across to Nelson immediately after the goal? He almost didn’t allow him celebrate
Im really interested in this. Initially i thought it was because Nelson didn’t celebrate by the fans but watching the replay i think it was tactical? Perhaps that Nelson continued forward and we could have been exposed or that he didn’t need to as Nketia was there (minus the offside!) ? Seems a bit harsh as he scored though?
Seemed like positioning stuff to me.movement of hands,telling him to cut inside more or outside for or something..frankly no clue but could be something like that.
I thought it was because there was big Lazio chance just prior to our first goal and it was Reiss who failed to spot the run from the guy who eventually put the cross into our box.
No way to check it as this chance wasn’t included in the extended highlights though.
Anyone able to tell what xhaka said to Nelson?
I assume it was something to do with acknowledging the fans
He pointed…..and after a while there was some sort of funny hand movement… The timing of that act right after the goal, coupled with the armband on Xhaka is what’s making me very interested in the specifics
Heh, that would be rich after the World Cup dust up! His gesturing looked to me about tactics. Looked like it was about positioning, movement, or marking up, probably from before the attacking movement. Nelson’s celebration was short, harmless, and about done anyway.
I think he was pointing out that he was offside, and that he should be more careful. It was careless to not be onside and can be costly.
He wasn’t offside, nketiah was
Nketiah was definitely offside; Nelson was probably a little offside. It’s a friendly.
Some musings on the positives… 1. I refuse not to get totally excited by Guendouzi. The guy is INSANE ?. Seriously though, he is one exciting prospect and can’t wait to see if he carries that through this season and beyond. 2. My Arsenal passing out from the back?! ? So nice to see the ball being played inventively rather than pass back to the keeper for him to blam upfield. Expect a few BIG errors while the defence/keeper get used to each other though… 3. Some really neat triangles being set up all across the park to provide multiple… Read more »
Good win. Lots of final experimentation : 1) We don’t play a 4-4-2. We play a 4-1-2-1-2 which is a diamond 4 in midfield (Torreira sitting deep) We did this with Wenger on helm as well this is nothing new. As mentioned last season set up is flexible and is tailored to morph fuidly into 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 depending on where you emphasis Aubameyang or if you drop one of the mids to cover closer to Torreira. Nothing new but that’s nothing wrong either. Emery is wise not to tinker as he does not have the assets to… Read more »
Obviously meaningful football is great but I’m equally excited that player ratings are back next game!
We are definitely looking like a nastier team than I’ve seen for quite a while, Lichtsteiner set the tone in under 2 mins laying out that dude with a solid jumping elbow. Welcome to the Lerchtsteiner, just niggly there on with Lilic was it? Holding was at it too, laid out Correa, but generally we just look a bit more of an aggressive outfit all of a sudden, Lazio did not like it, I doubt many teams will, interesting… Torreira looked a little unsure in a midfield 2, fair enough I guess but hopefully he starts catching up on the… Read more »
We look flawed and not so great. But this season upcoming is a learning curve. i am just so happy with game and so excited for the citeh game. Logic says we will lose but its the emotion that has me excited. we are building again at last.
Hope: That my Arsenal FC win play scintillating football and win ALL trophies this season!
Faith: Arsenal FC WILL play scintillating football (mostly do in my rose tinted, lasik operated eyes) and win atleast ONE trophy.
Hope+Faith: What Arsenal FC will eventually do this season. Also called pragmatism or some such nonsense by Englibish speaking gents. 😛
whats happened to nelson, he looks a shadow of his former self
what former self?
City to start is certainly a tough match especially in a World Cup Summer when so many of our players (three starters in Monreal, Xhaka and Lucas) are just returning along with a Ramsey injury making it hard for the squad under a new manager to get any kind of rhythm or consistency going. There will surely be ups and downs at the beginning of the season as everyone adjusts to each other, to the new manager and for the new players to a new league. I have liked what I’ve seen so far for the most part out of… Read more »