Two of Reserves League South’s most out of form sides went head-to-head this evening, as Neil Banfield’s second string made the trip to Brentford’s Griffin Park to take on Chelsea.
The encounter was expected to be a big one, as Czech skipper Tomas Rosicky was penciled in to feature, but after he broke down in training two weeks ago, the Gunners were forced into a re-think. Nonetheless, the first-team was represented with Mikaël Silvestre making his first start in 11 weeks.
Szczęsny
Eastmond – Bartley – Silvestre – Cruise
Randall – Frimpong – Mérida – Thomas
Bischoff
Watt
Subs – Shea – Ayling – Evina – Dunne – Deacon
Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea – Match Report
Arsenal kicked things off in their red and white shirts, white shorts and red socks, against Chelsea in blue shirts, blue shorts and white socks.
Neil Banfield spoke about turning their possession into goals in his pre-match interview, and it was apparent that his young charges were going to follow that mandate.
Randall’s cross from the left picked out arriving Sanchez Watt in the box, but the quick-silver forward glanced over. Franco Di Santo then did the same as Chelsea tried to hit back instantly.
Emmanuel-Thomas started wide on the left, but found himself in the box with 2 minutes on the clock, but he failed to make contact with Eastmond’s drilled cross from the right.
The blustery and cold conditions meant it was a tough evening for both sides. Kyle Bartley’s night was made worse when Stoch danced beyond Frimpong and smashed the ball straight into the defender’s face – flooring the former Bolton man.
The Gunners stepped things up on the 15 minute mark. Emmanuel-Thomas’ cross to Eastmond on the touchline was perfect, as was the delivery, yet Amaury Bischoff’s first and second finishes were not.
Mikaël Silvestre was then bulldozed by his fellow countryman Malouda, and only a reaction save from Szczęsny denied the opener.
After a large period of attacks from the hosts, Arsenal put together some superb passing and should have gone ahead. Bischoff fed Watt who released the on running Mérida behind enemy lines, but Fran panicked and saw his chipped shot snuffed out.
Bartley and Emmanuel-Thomas worked the next chance, but the former was left disappointed after a selfish early shot from the latter saw the move end prematurely.
Frimpong had the final chance of the half when he lashed a 25 yarder at the home goalkeeper, but on the half time whistle, it was 0-0.
Half Time – Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea
Within two minutes of the restart Arsenal’s first half advantage was forgotten. Szczęsny pulled off a stunning double save from first Stoch and then Minero from range, both were top class saves.
Sanchez Watt has two quick fire chances, the second being the best after Emmanuel-Thomas released the willing lone striker behind the back four, but his finish was tame.
The majority of the second half was end-to-end, but with little goal mouth action. Emmanuel-Thomas and Stoch both rasped long range efforts well over the bar.
James Dunne was then introduced after an unsuccessful loan spell at Nottingham Forest and a failed trial at Charlton, and the former Wimbledon man made an instant impact. James set up Randall down the right, and the Arsenal captain won a corner.
After Frimpong volleyed the resulting delivery over, Watt headed Emmanuel-Thomas’ left wing cross wide from 5 yards.
The game changed in the 77th minute, when Eastmond’s late tackle on Stoch brought the right back a yellow card. However, Miroslav was then handed a straight red for kicking out at the Gunners number 2 after the incident.
Tempers were beginning to boil over. Tenacious Dunne added to his reputation with a high scissor tackle on Bruma shortly after the red card, but Banfield’s boys then got themselves together and went for the win.
Dunne went down in the box with 5 minutes left on the clock, yet despite appeals from his team mates, the player himself didn’t seem too certain whether it was or not a spot kick.
The 3 minutes of stoppage time passed by uneventfully, and there was some relief among the spectators on the final whistle. Arsenal are still without a win in 2009 and now stretch their run to 4 games without a goal.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Good old Arsenal.
Very impressed with how quickly this match report was available, keep up the good work.
Rediculously quick posting of the report!!
Fantstic report as always Sanderz.
How good is Dunne?
can u do a ranking say like out of ten so we can judge how well the players played compared to other players…..
Thought we played well tonight especially without a recognised striker on the field. Sanchezz Watt was a handful for Chelsea and our defence are getting better and better with every game. Randell was quiet tonight again. When is the 2nd leg against Man City?
U predicted a 3nil victory to Chelsea. You should hang ur head in shame
So Bischoff was officially a failure then? Shame. If he ends up looking a star in Portugal we might end up w/ egg on our face – but then considering we have Nasri, Theo, Bumshavin, Traore and Wilshere I’m sure we’ll live :)
Can’t till-
a) we sell Randall
b) We see definite action towards Merida’s future, can’t wait until he finally hits the first team.
c) Afobe makes the reserves so they have some firepower and he gets closer.
Just got back and will offer a Chelsea PoV if anyone really cares. Arsenal didn’t play a striker, it was Watt on the right, Thomas on the left, and Bischoff trying up the middle. It resulted, perhaps disappointingly for a club that prides themselves on good football, on a lot of long ball up to Thomas, who failed to do much with it. Chelsea shephereded him inside and onto his right foot, where he’s ineffective.
Because of the long ball, Chelsea were able to play the nicer stuff in the middle of the park where Merida was quiet and Randall invisible all game. The defenders were rarely worried and Bartley looked the more composed alongside his international centre-back partner.
Arsenal definitely had the better chances but seemed to be indecisive when presented with them, maybe a lack of confidence, or indeed, the lack of a Sunu/Murphy to be more clinical. From my own PoV I wasn’t impressed with anyone except Bartley, but then I’ve seen quite a bit of your lads over the last few seasons and I’ve seen better from them all, so it’s more of a below par than simply dismissing them.
Quite accurate there Philip. Disagree about us not having a striker, that was only true on paper. Watt plowed the lone furrow up front, and whilst he isn’t actually a striker, he occupied the same position.
how highly does anyone rate watt and cruise i didn’t see the game tonight but in the past when i have seen these two i haven’t been impressed although i haven’t seen to much of them. And where was sunu tonight.
The lack of striker was so apparent tonight, Watt wasn’t strong enough, Bischoff isn’t good enough, and Merida was the only bright spark.
Was at the game and didn’t see what Stoch did, I thought Eastmond was lucky to be on the pitch myself.
I watched the second half. Emmanuel Thomas although didn’t have a spectacular game looked a class above most. Bischoff has talent but as an attacking midfielder won’t make it. As a central midfielder or deep lying playmaker is/should be his position. Watt did ok, tried hard.
Merida was nothing special but nor was Arsenal’s play in general as they seemed to lack the players who could keep the ball, not just in passing but the balance and shielding also.
I like Randall’s confidence to try things but looks to try too hard at times and needs to relax if he wants to break in. A late developer he looks but at 20 time is running out at Arsenal.
Thought Kyle Bartley was outstanding tonight and have been extremely impressed with his last few performances, showed outstanding maturity, great aggression in the air, he literally won every header and made there highly rated centre-forward look distinctly average, when he had the ball at his feet he showed great composure/awareness and possesses a great passing range, I think this kid at only 17 looks like he could be “THE MONSTER CENTRE BACK” we have been waiting for, just a shame being a centre back he will probably have to be patient before he gets a first team chance, personally I think he could play there now….Thought Frimpong had a decent game again, Eastmond also deserves a mention, up against the tricky Stoch he aquitted himself well, thought we lacked a goal threat upfront again and on nights like this you need your defence to come to the fore, Bartley gave a masterclass on how to play centre half and that was quite thrilling to see from one so young.
i thought eastmond did well today against a tricky winger, and bartley was outstanding. the best i have seen him play, he looks to have grown in confidence since nordveits departure, who do you think has more of a chance?
the pace of this game was extraordinary. Also the fact that Sylvestre and Randall aside this is youth team! Surprised no one mentioned Frimpong. He is an absolute natural beast as DM. He has bulked up since Sept and is looking more like a Makelele every game, and he is English. The pairing with Merida did not work at all and was far short of what Coquelin gets up to when the two are together. As above, Randall was dead weight, and he is the captain. He looked like he needed a holiday in the sun.
Stoch looked the only true first team player on the pitch and considering that Chelsea had Malouda and di Santo on, I thought the boys done good. Bischoff does look like he fancies himself and with Randall another constant contender, I fear that these two will block the progress of real future stars like Frimpong and Coquelin. Bartley looks like a Tony Adams and with Jay T and the lethal and devastaingly quick Rhys Murphy around, there is every reason to feel as confident about the future as Arsene says he is. We don’t need to buy anyone!
J, can you tell us what happened to Wilshere? I don’t see him around anymore not even in the reserves.
On a different note, just how bad is Florent Malouda…
Thought we were the better team in the first half and had a few decent chances that were not converted. Think it was especially nice to see the youngsters passing and moving very well against a Chelsea team with not only Malouda but also Mineiro, who has 25 Brazil caps. Looking at the team sheet, I had expected us to be beaten fairly easily as we had no striker out there.
Second half was a different story as Chelsea played better and dominated until near the 75-minute mark but could not create (m)any clear cut chances. Still, we had some half-chances to nick a goal as well. Thought that we would go on and win the game after Stoch’s dismissal but we were out of ideas and couldn’t create much.
Are we so devoid of strikers at the club? Why didn’t they send Deacon on at some point? If he is too young then why have him on the bench at all? No wonder the resreves find it hard to hit the net with so few reconised strikers in the entire squad.
Talking of strikers…Any news of Murphy and if he will be fit for the 2nd leg of the semi?
Can anyone give me an insight into what the story with Randall – he has had a very quiet season. Would have thought he would have benefitted from a loan spell. Has his carrer stalled?
Pingback: Top Posts « WordPress.com
Bartley is class! Come on the gooners!