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.