Result: Hibernian 2-1 Arsenal
Competition: Friendly
Date: 13 July 2021
Venue: Easter Road
Arsenal lineup: Okonkwo (Hein, 46), Cédric (Bellerin), Clarke (Rekik, 46), Mari, Kolasinac (Hutchinson, 80), Nelson (Partey), Elneny (Henry-Francis, 75), Maitland-Niles (Smith Rowe, 46), Willian (Pepe, 46), Nketiah (Lacazette, 46), Aubameyang (Balogun, 46)
Arsenal’s first game of pre-season ended in a 2-1 defeat as Hibernian made Mikel Arteta’s side pay for 90 minutes of poor finishing.
First Half
The Gunners should have taken an early lead when Eddie Nketiah, following a defensive error, went through on goal one-on-one. He passed his effort wide of the post.
The hosts were more decisive. When Arthur Okonkwo, on his first team debut, made a hash of clearing a back pass, Martin Boyle couldn’t miss. He looked almost apologetic as he slotted into an empty net.
Steven Bradley might have doubled the lead but his low left-foot effort came back off the post.
A scrappy first half was pockmarked by a couple of late challenges that raised eyebrows. Cedric, who looked very rusty, went through the back of the man he was marking and Auba took a heavy challenge on the ankles from Ryan Porteous.
Second Half
Pepe, one of a raft of half time changes, almost made an immediate impact with a free-kick that forced a smart save. The Ivorian came close eight minutes later with another left-foot curler that just deflected wide.
The Gunners continued to up the pressure. In the space of five minutes, Balogun snatched at an effort, Partey cracked the post with a free-kick and Smith Rowe went through on goal only to be closed down.
In typical fashion, Hibs went up the other end and doubled their lead. The Gunners didn’t deal with a corner to the back post and a header across goal was met on the line by Daniel Mackay. Had VAR been on hand, it would have ruled offside.
Pepe had the chance to reduce the deficit when he won a penalty but his effort was saved; not a great week for Arsenal penalty takers.
A goal finally came with nine minutes remaining when Smith Rowe tucked home Bellerin’s cross but it wasn’t enough to avoid defeat.
While you’d usually expect Arsenal to win a game like this, there’s no point reading too much into the scoreline. Two days of star jumps and they go again against Rangers.
I just saw a replay of Hibs second goal – the guy that heads it in is way offside when it gets headed on to him, so how comes it’s allowed to stand?
Hein was also being obstructed by a Hibs player. One would say it was a hein-ous crime.
I knew it
Everyone knows that this is just a fitness exercise and the result is utterly meaningless. Nevertheless, this team is under such intense scrutiny right now that every twitch will be considered either positive or negative evidence. I just hope the pressure won’t be too much for the players.
Who cares
Jack does.
Ryan Porteous can’t be a real name, surely.
Porteous pirate?
It is and don’t call me surely
*Shirley
Despite the result, I quite enjoyed that.
Arteta out. I’m sorry but losing to Hibernian is unacceptable, he didn’t even use Saka!
Half the players that played are still on holiday waiting for a move but its not funny. This should be a serious season, even if its day 1.
Sarcasm, buddy. Look it up!
Yea I know what sarcasm is as a form of humor. Im saying this is not a season where we can afford to make jokes. Preseason day 1 or not. No excuses
Generally, when I step in it?
I try to miss it with the other boot.
Well your other boot is filled with rocks and sand mate
This counts as a joke and I will not have it. Not one bit. No. More. JOKES!!
I agree with you. Ruthlessness means you just want to win, even in training, pre-season, against your kids in the garden.
No more jokes this season! Don’t even want to see a smile on any of you! You know why Auba was shit last season? TOO MUCH LAUGHING!!
I am sorry but you can’t spend 50 M on White and you don’t start him. Also starting Xhaka would have won us this game, did you see his 240 yard pass against France?
The manager has lost the dressing room
Genius!!! Well played sir 🤣🤣🤣
This. Saliba would have prevented both their goals and Buendia would have scored a double hattrick easy. #wengerout
Why are all of you laughing? Bellerin probably makes more than the whole Hibernian team. How embarrassing is that?
Because it is literally meaningless outside of fitness and not getting injured.
Losing is a habit. You’re obviously used to it. Also – why wouldn’t you want to win a training game?
Look up the preseason records of teams who win trophies vs teams who get relegated. They’re all over the place, because they literally don’t matter.
Yes because fitness for players we don’t want (being paid 100k + ) is important…
If you don’t play those players then everyone knows we don’t want them and we get peanuts for them or have to pay them to go away…are you really being this dense or is it for effect?
It’s the first preseason friendly, it’s about building fitness, hence pretty much full team of subs at half time, try not to read anything more into it 😁
I get no one wants to overreact to the result. But our players are paid 100x more than their players. Get it together!
You think Hibernian was playing a CL final?
This might not be the kind of comment section for you.
Lighten up…please!
As in sakasm
You’re so funny!
The mighty hibees gave yous a lesson in football 😂😂.. Serious note,, as a hibby I was shocked we beat yous 2-1 🤣.. Arteta isn’t good enough to manage a club as big as the gunners period !! Good luck for 21/22 ✌️
I’m more disappointed that he didn’t start Bergkamp but at least he gave Henry a run out – Jack “Henry” Francis!
I’d say there was a few of them did not want to risk injury in case it jeopardised a move , hence little effort from many
You saw that too? Nelson, AMN and Eddie were passing the ball amongst themselves like it was a training match at times…I expect all to leave on loan or to leave permanenty.
Not too late to get a new manager.
Final casting has taken place for All or Nothing…I think you’ll find it’s way too late!
After a disheartening few minutes reading comments on the Arsenal FB page from people absolutely losing their shit over this – the FIRST pre-season friendly – I thought I’d come here for some sanity and calm reflection. What on earth was I thinking…? 🙂 Relax B’ys. First pre-season friendly. Squad mid-rebuild. Several senior players on holiday. Several who played today will never play competitively for us. Several (one hopes…) who are yet to join have not arrived. Training has just barely resumed. Etc., and so on. Can we please wait until at least August to lose our collective minds? FWIW,… Read more »
Absolutely spot on sir. one thing that I’d like to add regarding Arthur Okonkwo’s mistake. I agree thatCedric’s back pass wasn’t very good but also from the camera behind Arthur’s goal you could see that the sun played a part in it. As he followed the ball he lost sight of it as the stand cast a shadow at first before the ball went into the bright sunlight just as he tried to connect with it. He seemed to go with his head at first but then at that split second, had to try to adjust to use his foot… Read more »
Why wait until August? Get in now to avoid the queues I say.
Football supporters’ misery, frustration, and despondency is a marathon, not a sprint, and we have to be careful not to peak too early. If we get all ramped up now, will we have the energy to go ballistic later when Willian’s contract is extended/we forget to sign a keeper/we lose a promising youngster to some Midlands club…?
Patience friends. There is a long rocky road ahead. Preserve some bile for the later stages.
Fair point. I shall commence sharpening my pitchfork in anticipation for when we lose our opening game 3-0 after White gets sent off shortly after being directly responsible for us conceding 3 goals in the opening 15 minutes and Willian plays as a false 9 for 80 minutes only to be replaced by Rob Holding…also playing as a false 9. To paraphrase the Comic Boos Store Guy from the Simpsons – I will be on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Ben White off and Rob Holding as a false 9. I think I heard Arteta say he regrets not having Saliba available, AGAIN!
Better have a counter argument then for those who said Arteta won two trophies, including one that we usually dismiss, and had to battle Covid like all other clubs do.
Right. Waiting until August is lazy. Cangooner should engage in preseason training for losing his shit in the actual season.
My preseason training was affected by a serious lethargy injury.
Tavares, what a waste of money. We splash all that cash and he doesn’t even make the bench for a crucial pre-season clash of the titans like this. #Sacktheboard.
You keep making jokes when Arsenal are the joke
You keep commenting as if this was a qualifier for European football.
Mate, it’s just football, don’t take it seriously. Even more so a pre-season friendly.
Some people cannot function unless they take everything too seriously to the point of frothing at the mouth…the cemetry is full of them – gone too soon!
Relax mate. It’s preseason, not the 17th or 32nd game of the season.
If you feel like this then please go and support another team and failing that change your user name which reminds me of a very unpleasant sexually transmitted disease!
Do we really need to see Kolasinac in Arsenal colors ever again!!!!!
Liked the look of all of the kids, though Omari looked a little out of his depth. Pablo’s Cruyff turn in OUR box was a heart stopper.
COYG
Colours!!
My apologies, I’ve been in the US for too long
Too long…or not long enough!? 😁
The worrying thing was how off the pace the whole team looked in the first half. Nelson looked alright but Auba looked particularly slow. Hibs looked like the Jamaican sprint team in comparison.
Hibs have been in training for an early europa conference league qualifier, our players were back for two days. It’s what pre season is for, getting fit and looking at youngsters, people need to calm down.
Some nice passes by AMN. Would love to keep him and see him develop with us.
Also, I’m so encouraged by Pepe’s attitude. Even in this first, non-competitive match, he was always having a go at it attacking-wise and covering a lot of ground defensively. He’s come a long way from that dubitative version of a player he was on his first Arsenal season.
££££”££££ per week ,a bit leggy (Arteta), against £ per week footballers.
It’s working then Arteta. Bet they had a pint and pork pies at half time.
On this showing regulation is more likely than top four.
The other premier teams are not standing still in the market place ,with their current strong team ,plus new additions ,not sure what we have signed to date is going to cut it.
It’s pre season. Calm down.
Man, you might want to seek a bit of therapy.
I’m not too fussed reading a post by someone who doesn’t know the difference between “relegation” and “regulation.”
If you actually think preseason results have any causation with regular season results, such are archived at arseblog. Our preseason results have had no bearing on our season.
Rangers and Gerrard next ,better wear the tin knickers for this game.
Excuse my ignorance ,but you train to be fit,hone your skills and team build.
Not much of that showing to date.
Would love to be positive and say “great effort guys”. Really done us proud.
Alas, same old, starting where we left off.
Missing and misfiring.
Same shit, different day.
I needed a pick me up after the euros and arsenal didn’t disappoint. I actually laughed out loud when the 1st goal went in, absolutely shocking from our keeper, hilarious! Their 2nd goal was fortuitous but hey, rubbish defending, they had 2 men free on the back post. Rubbish penalty by Pepe but he looked lively otherwise. From what I saw from our play, it did look more forward thinking, rather than the usual sideways and backward passing.
Yes, a gentle fitness excercise, little more, but…
Eddie picks up where he left off! PLEASE can we take whatever Pat offers and flog him to Palace? He just doesn’t deliver… even against Hibs!
Strong line up for a first pre-season game.
As a Hibs fan I have decided that I don’t care that our second goal was clearly offside. I can use this to wind up my Arsenal supporting neighbours. 🤭
Being serious for a moment, I think it’s fair to say that we were lucky to get away with a win and that a draw would have been the fair result.
Mayor McCheese, if you don’t believe Ryan’s name you absolutely won’t believe that there was a player called Willie Watters in Scotland a few years ago!
All the best for the new season.