A Bit More Like It..

Well first sorry for not reviewing the first match of the season but tbh I highly doubt anyone cared.

Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 2

Ward 28′             Giroud 16′, Delaney OG 55′

This game was perhaps far more like what gunners fans were expecting at the start of this season. We played some nice stuff and there were a couple of particularly impressive performances from both Ozil and Cazorla.

Arsenal started brightly and created a coupe of opportunities to score before the breakthrough came. most notably a quick break away involving Ozil and Sanchez. A nice through ball from Ozil set Sanchez clean through into the box but he cut back instead of shooting and his shot was blocked and his rebound attempt was blocked off the line. The much maligned Olivier Giroud did though get the breakthrough. A cross from the left by Ozil was good but just behind Giroud, the big Frenchman did excellently to reach back and scissor kick into the bottom left corner of the goal. A brilliant finish to open the scoring. Arsenal then dominated the game for 10 minutes after the goal and Sanchez again missed another good chance close in on goal.

But then the sucker punch came. Crystal Palace scored with their first shot on target. It was though an excellent strike. Hit firm and accurately by Joel Ward right into the bottom right corner of Cech’s goal. No real mistake made other then not clearing the ball earlier in the move. Arsenal we’re level when really the game should have been out of sight. There was brief period were Palace came forward but the Gunners soon took control again. Coquelin was booked a few minutes from half time and was lucky not to sent off when he committed another foul a few minutes later and appeared to be walking a tight rope at half time.

Wenger made no changes at the break though and left Coquelin on. Palace almost went ahead just after the break when Wickham hit the post from a cross from the right whilst left free in the box. It was Arsenal who grabbed the next goal though. Bellerin stood a nice cross up to the back post which Sanchez produced a massive leap to get on the end of. His powerful downward header hit Delaney and the ball went into the roof of the net.

The joy though was very nearly short lived as Coquelin makes a bit of a clumsy challenge on McCarthy and a foul is given. Even Coquelin thinks he off but luckily the ref decides a final warning is in order and Wenger finally takes him off.

Arsenal dominated for most of the rest of the game and apart from a nervy last few moments didn’t really look too much like conceding a 2nd. The Ox could have made it 3 with the last touch of the game but hit hos shot straight at the keeper.

Overall a much better performance from the Gunners if still a bit rusty. Definately some work needed on the finishing and perhaps our lack of DM cover exposed. Ozil was the undoubted highlight. With 98% pass accuracy, 5 chances created, 1 assist and couple of sublime bits of skill he was very impressive. Cech again looked a bit shaky on a few crosses but generally was solid. Nothing he could do to stop the goal.

A good warm up for next weeks game against Liverpool a definate improvement from last week. Still plenty to work on though, and perhaps a nudge to Wenger to push to get a couple more players in before the end of the transfer window.

Walcott’s Central Role

With only 12 months left on Walcott’s current contract Wenger is understandably anxious to tie him into a new one. On Sunday he said that Theo is close to signing, but no agreement has been reached yet. So is this uncertainty delaying Arsenals attempts to sign a new striker?

With Theo not yet having signed a new contract Wenger may be thinking that bringing in another big name striker may not help the situation. Walcott is desperate to show what he can do in a central role, and the arrival of someone like Benzema would surely see his chances in that role limited further. Wenger has said many time that he does not want to lose a player that he believes is entering the prime of his career. So he will probably wait till he gets his signature before doing anything to upset the apple cart.

Theo is a clever guy though and he knows another striker coming in is a strong possibility. He therefore may be waiting till after the window has shut to sign a new contract and see who or if anyone comes in.

I don’t think Wenger will wait that long though if he can bring in another world class striker ie Benzema. Llorente has been strongly linked but he will not improve the squad, and I get the feeling this is just an agent angling for a move rather than real interest. Wenger tends not to sign many players whom are already over 30.

Whatever happens I don’t think we’re likely to see much happening till closer till deadline day. If Benzema is to come Real need a replacement and that has not happened yet. If Walcott signs and Madrid get a new striker then maybe just maybe…

The Lyons Are Tamed

Not a bad little run out for the Gunners eh?

If you didn’t see it Arsenal ran out easy winners in this afternoon match against Lyon in the Emirates Cup winning 6-0. The goals came from:

1. Giroud 29′
2. Oxlade-Chamberlain 34′
3. Iwobi 35′
4. Ramsey 38′
5. Ozil 62′
6. Cazorla 84

There are clips of all 6 on my twitter page @theweaponscache, Ramsey’s and Iwobi’s goals are the pick of the bunch.

1. Arsenal: Martinez, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud
3.  Lyon: Lopes, Zeffane, Rose, Umtiti, Jenssen, Gonalons, Ferri, Tolisso, Grenier, Njie, Lacazette

Arsenal were in control for the entire match against a pretty lackluster Lyon side. We kept possession well and won the ball back quickly. I liked the way we seemed to be hunting for the ball in packs of 3. It’s a similar tactic to what Barca have used and worked well for them. This was also in evidence in the match against Everton last week. When the Lyon did make it past our high press Coquelin did an impressive job mopping up behind.

Lyon did have a few chances themselves though and perhaps should have scored at least once, but for some poor finishing. What little they did create came through rumoured Arsenal target Lacazette. He was certainly Lyon’s best player but that wasn’t hard. This is the first time I’ve watched him play so hard to make a full judgement, but on this display there was nothing there to suggest he would improve us much.

As bad as Lyon may have been a lot of credit still has to go to the arsenal players for making them look that bad. Ozil and Ramsey stood out in particular and seemed to have developed a good understanding. This was particullary evident in Ramsey’s goal which was assisted by a magnificent pass from Ozil. Iwobi was also a big positive from this match. Arsene has always looked to develop players from our youth system and Iwobi looks like another gem. His performances this preseason remind me of when Jack Wilshire broke through at the Emirates Cup. He looks a typical Arsenal player, quick, clever and technically gifted. Certainly far from the finished product, I think we’ll see him loaned out this season, but next season we may see him break into the team.

Overall this was a perfect preseason game, a good fitness boosting run out, confidence boosting scoreline and no injuries. If there was one small negative in the game Giroud missed a few chances and looked a bit rusty, but this is preseason so hopefully he can get back to form over the next couple of weeks.

Next up tomorrow is Wolfsburg at 4.20pm again. Lets hope for more of the same from the other half of the squad. Follow the twitter feed @theweaponscache for live updates during tomorrows game.

England

Today the draw for the qualifying groups of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was made. Here is Englands Group:

Group F

1. England
2. Slovakia
3. Scotland
4. Slovenia
5. Lithuania
6. Malta

The stand out games are obviously against the ‘Old Enemy’ Scotland. They and the Slovakians will probably provide the sternest test for us. Though in truth this is a very favourable draw for England and we should cruise though to the finals. But again this is England so never rule anything out.

In Off The First Post

So here is my first ever blog post. If you wanna know a bit more about me there’s a little bit in my about.me section. Let’s get straight into the football then shall we?

As you’ve probably noticed we’re still in preseason, so all anyone really cares about at the moment is who are we gonna sign next. I’m not going to pretend I have some secret sources, or a direct to Arsene Wenger like about half of twitter claims to have. All I can do is analyse what the club has said and whats in the media and try and tease out what might be likely and what’s just rubbish. So what do I think we’ll do then?

Well after yesterdays comments by Arsenal director Lord Hall it seems like we’re in the market for a striker. In my opinion Benzema seems like the most likely option. We know Wenger is a fan and has made attempts to sign him before. I think his already established relationship with Ozil would also be a big plus in signing him. Lacazette would seem to be a typical Wenger signing so is probably the second most likely option. The last couple of days have seen a lot of speculation about Fernando Llorente being signed for around 8 million. I’m not sure about this on at the moment but could be possible if Wenger doesn’t get his main target. At 30 he would bring experience and maybe cover enough time to allow Akpom to develop. I would suggest the rumours of Lewandowski and Higuian are just paper nonsense.

All this talk of signing a world class striker makes for good back page headlines and is always exciting for supporters, but is it what we really need? I’m not so sure this is our weakest area that needs strengthening first. For me we need another defensive midfielder. Coquelin had and excellent second half of the season last season but he can’t be expected to play every game. Also half a season does not ‘maketh the man’, many players have suddenly improved and impressed for short periods in the Premiership only to fall away again. Relying on him to perform consistently could be a gamble. Behind him we have Arteta and Flamini both well past the 30 mark and only Flamini a true defensive midfielder. Though for me he spend to much time shouting at others telling them what to do, than doing it himself. Prehaps why it seems he may be out the door soon to Galatasaray. I hope Arsene will address this before the window shuts. I would love to see William Carvalho be the man brought in, he was very impressive during the recent Euro U21 tournament.

All this said though it would not surprise me at all if our only major signing this summer turns out to be Cech. Wenger seems happy with the squad generally and has repeated this many times during press conferences. He has form for this as back in 2003 his only signing was a goal keeper, Jen Lehmann, and Arsenal went on to win the league and complete the Invincibles season. So maybe not such a bad thing then?

Later today we have the annual Emirates Cup tournament. Arsenal play Lyon at 4.20pm today and it’s on BT sport. I will be tweeting updates during the game from @theweaponscache so feel free to join me there. I post my thoughts on the game on here after the match too.

Thanks for reading my first post, hope you found it interesting. Comments are always welcome.