After two games and two victories in a little over 24hrs Arsenal lift the Emirates Cup for the first time since 2010. Not a major trophy to start bragging about, but a continuation of what has been an impressive preseason so far.
Yesterdays 1-0 victory over Bundesliga runners up Wolfsburg may have been as impressive a spectacle as Saturday’s destruction of Lyon, but it did demonstrate the squad depth Arsenal have. With only Ozil the only player to start both games Arsenal fielded two pretty strong teams. Especially when you consider that Ospina, Rosicky, Welbeck and Sanchez are yet to return to the squad.
Arsenal Line up V Wolfsburg: Cech, Chambers, Bellerin, Monreal, Gabriel, Ozil (Akpom, 46), Cazorla, Wilshere (Hayden, 76), Reine-Adelaide (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 64), Arteta (Ramsey, 63), Walcott (Giroud, 75).
The team that played Wolfsburg was probably the team many would see as our reserve players in general. Though they certainly had a much sterner test than Lyon presented on Saturday. The first half was a fairly even affair played at a relatively slow pace. a pretty typical friendly match. Arsenal had the better chances though and perhaps should have been leading before the break. Theo had a couple of opportunities, playing as a central striker, with the best seeing him clear through but the ball got caught under his feet and he was tackled before he could shoot. He made up for it after the break with a neat finish poking past Benaglio for what was the winning goal. A good finish from Walcott but it was the man with assist who really caught the eye yesterday, Jeff Rene-Adelaide.
A 17 year old attacking midfielder who Wenger has already described as a ‘special talent’ certainly looked at home on the Emirates pitch. A debut for the young lad that was reminiscent of the way a young Patrick Vieira made his debut. A player who took complete control of the game and ran it. I’m not saying he’s as good as Vieira only time will tell us that, but his wirery frame and powerful style will soon draw comparisons if he continues to perform like this. He also has more of a trick and a turn than Vieira and less destructive. Though he was playing in a wide position on the right and he may do more if played centrally as Wenger has suggested he might. He certainly won the ball back well a few times yesterday. What he seems brilliant at though is carrying the ball forward. He beat Wolfsburg players several times during the match with flicks,drag backs, turns and just shear power moving the ball forward from midfield into the final third. This is what he did for the goal, picking the ball up 10 yards into Wolfsburgs half and driving forward and then playing a lovely through ball straight into Theo’s path. Arsene says he’s staying with us this year and not being loaned out. I doubt he’ll feature much for the first team but i’m sure all Gunners can’t wait to see him play again.
Reine-Adelaide grabbed the headlines but he wasn’t the only player with a good performance yesterday. Theo missed a few but got in good positions, a couple of better touches and he may have scored a couple more. Cech made his home debut and made a couple of good saves in the second half. Every touch he made was cheered by the Emirates crowd, a signal of the level of quality the Arsenal faithful know we have signed. Jack was excellent, he showed great feet and carried the ball well, as is his forte. He played several cracking passes too and looked fit and sharp for the new season. I was also impressed by Gabriel and Chambers at the back. One of these two will need to step up and take over from Mertesacker this season who is starting to look a little bit of a liability with his lack of pace. I would think that Gabriel would be the one to do this with his added experience but Chambers looked much more at home in the centre of defence than he did last season. The Ox came on for half an hour at the end and impressed again with some great direct and powerful running.
With no injuries, unearthing 2 more young gems and a morale boosting victory, I think this years Emirates Cup can be regarded a very successful one for the Gunners. I wouldn’t get too carried away yet Chelsea will be a much tougher test on Sunday and will be a better barometer for the season ahead.
If we do beat Chelsea next Sunday it may be more than one more Community Shield in the bag. Arsene has never managed to beat a team managed by Mourinho and breaking this hoodoo could be a real psychological boost at the start of the season.
This morning Szczesny announced that he would be joining Roma on loan this season. Good luck to you Wojciech hopefully you can come back to us a better player. i think this is a great move for Arsenal. Szczesny has a lot of promise and has performed well for us in the past but too often he has dipped and made silly mistakes. A year or two in Serie A could help iron out these issues and give Arsenal a replacement for Cech when he retires. If not he’s been in the shop window helping us get a better price.
Lots of reports that Walcott is close to signing a new 4 year deal. If this is true then I think this will be great for him and the club. i firmly believe that he has all the attributes to be an excellent player for Arsenal if he can stay fit. I he can get a whole season under his belt he will be a great player.
Still no firm news on any signings for Arsenal. Hopefully we can do something before the window closes. I think we still need a world class striker and holding midfielder to finish out our squad. There is no point though buying unless they are world class or they won’t improve our squad.
The Weapons Cache 