Arsenal’s pre-season really got going this afternoon as Arsene Wenger took a mixture of first-team and Reserves and Youth players to Underhill – for the 10th consecutive time.
Wenger began the fixture with arguably his strongest possible line up, with first-team members Manuel Almunia, Johan Djourou, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen, Mikael Silvestre, Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin all starting. There was a scattering of youth with F.A Youth Cup winning duo Emmanuel Frimpong and Sanchez Watt also lining up.
Almunia
Djourou – Gallas – Vermaelen – Silvestre
Wilshere – Randall – Frimpong – Rosicky
Arshavin – Watt
Subs: Mannone, Eastmond, Ayling, Cruise, Thomas, Henderson, Coquelin, Simpson, Barazite Sunu.
Sanchez Watt rolled the ball to Andrey Arshavin and the 2009-2010 campaign preparations were underway. In a confident start to proceedings, it was Arsenal’s two forwards who had the best chances of the opening stages. First Arshavin after cutting inside and shooting, and then Watt following a saved Arshavin effort.
Rosickythenhad the next chance, but he showed he’s still a little rusty with a tame finish after a bright run. The game then showed it’s true colours as a pre-season encounter as the pace started to die down. Both sides were probing each other but there was no major action. That was until the final 5 minutes of the half when Arsenal clicked and found the opener.
Watt received the ball down the left hand side and after looking up, he planted a superb cross right onto the foot of Arshavin. The Russian forward clipped home from 3 yards.
Goal – Andrey Arshavin – (43)
Arsenal barely had time to celebrate their goal before Barnet thumped a surprise equaliser. Ismail Yakubu climbed above Gallas and Vermaelen to nod his side level. It was a poor goal to lose and it was the final action of the first half.
Goal – Ismail Yakubu – (45)
The second period saw Wengershuffle his pack – as expected. 10 changes were made with only Thomas Vermaelen remaining on the pitch. This meant the lineup looked as follows:
Mannone
Eastmond – Ayling – Vermaelen – Cruise
Simpson – Coquelin – Henderson – Barazite
Sunu – Thomas
The young Gunners exploded out of the blocks at Barnet and could have restored the advantage instantly. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas teed up Barazite who elegantly lashed a drive which was unfortunately blocked by the out stretched leg of Gary Breen.
Nacer was all over the park, chasing every ball and getting stuck in. He soon had some reward for his hard work after receiving Emmanuel-Thomas’ back heel he raced into the area. After first having a shot blocked, the Dutchman shuffled his feet and unleashed a stunning curling effort right into the far corner.
Goal – Nacer Barazite – (51)
Barnet dug in after going behind again and turned up the pressure on their visitors. Craig Eastmond’s slip nearly allowed Joe Tabiri the chance to level before a late rally saw the Bees snatch the equaliser. A defensive mix-up allowed Elliot Charles the opportunity to slip home from close range to make it 2-2.
Goal – Elliot Charlie (83)
Emmanuel-Thomas thundered forward to slide a shot inches wide as the Gunners looked to finish with a flurry. Luke Ayling had the final chance – bursting forward from the back to hit a shot, but the game fell away in the final minutes. It finished 2-2.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Really poor game defensively.
Looks like Wenger hasn’t really done much changes to his formation.
Let’s see what happens in the next few pre-season games.
that was superfast…J what about a player rating??
That was a poor result. Letting 2 goals in against Barnet???????
Kids can’t compete against any of the Premierleague clubs and we need the holding midfielder. When will Wenger ever play a full first team squad. NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Little rust was showing, but my opinion Watt & Barazite looked the best out there? We definitely need the highest/tallest rated center defender out there ASAP!!!
World Peace Please! Ade you are a chump!
YH its set pieces that woprry me but its our first game i am sure our defence will improve. I like the look of vermaelen but its his first game and lost a few headers.
Disappointing goals to concede, but it was certainly a young team and Im looking forward to the games against Hannover and Valencia to really see how the team gels. Great to see Tomas back though and I thought he was one of the best players on the field in the first half.
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Really quick. How was Vermeulen
poor game from us.barnet made us look like the division 2 team.why did they take off the pro players at half time.
Do you think Simpson is going to make it at Arsenal?
Impressions of vermaelen anybody?
Btw we shouldn look too much into preseason games…utd let in 2 howlers against malasiya so there..
A good work out for the boys, very happy to see Rosicky back in action, he’s been missed.
Couple of moans, 1. Conner Henderson not up to the level required.
2. Jay Simpson looks to be out of his depth, i’ve been a surporter of Jay’s for a long time now but today he realy did nothing to suggest he has a future at the club.
Barazite looks to be ready for the coming season and may just have pushed himself into the trip to Austria.
again! again!! and again!!! setpieces how would they scored with a corner
Guys. It’s. A. Friendly.
The whole point is about getting fitness and trying out young players.
If we’d played out full team, won 10 – 0 and lost Cesc and RVP to injuries would you be happier?
Vermaelen did the simple things very well but was exposed on the first Barnet goal. The issue seemed to be communication, nobody really knew who was going for the ball and Barnet scored.
It wasn’t the best of games, but come on, it’s only pre-season.
Just his first pre-season warm-up match, so he’ll certainly need time to adjust. But, he did not impress. Same could certainly be said for Djourou and Gallas, but was hoping to see more.
Hopefully, he’ll come into his own, but it’s hard to see why we broke our transfer record for a defender for a player that seems to lack height, speed and quickness.
f*ck this shit the boys looked shite, we’re get trounced by totenham if we carry on like this
pre season game against arnet and true fans knows that no one is giving 100% in this game, so what?
I thought Luke Ayling looked very impressive hes a certainty for the austri trip.
Vermaelen won some headers and lost some headers. Good left foot very muscular and strong but hes not as tall as i thought he was.
He is the same height as silvestre. But hes definitely got something about him. COuld be the white version of Kolo toure.
Djorou looks a beast by the way he looks like hes put on muscle. Our squad actually looks good just lacks height.
None of the players are Match Fit yet and it was the first game of pre-season. A lot of the players haven’t played together a lot and in the case of Rosicky, haven’t played at all period. Stop being moaners over our first pre-season friendly. We may need a taller centre-half but this was by no means as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
Mark Randall should give MLS a try Colorado Rapids?
was impressed with Ayling too. a shame wilshere spent most of the half on the left
thomas was not very comfortable upfront, he is better in midfield.
Coquelin showed glimpses of his talent, he will definitely make it.
yeah u buunch of what nots!!! come on friendly its all about taking a look at these guys its there first game this season give em a break u can’t rate people on one game hah .
will forgive varmelen & rosicky. one’s too new, the other needs to be cautious, it’s only natural. I also believe for most players injury in these only-friendly games is a big concern.
in defence of varm, how long did it take one holerio gomes to be first choice after a long period of comical errors last season?
People complaining about the quality of the first game of pre-season is fucking ridiculous.
SO, SO, SO happy that Rosicky is back. The last Arsenal shirt I bought had TR7 on the back and with a proper pre-season, there is no reason why he can’t be back at his best. What a mouth watering prospect – TR7, Cesc and Bumshavin in the same midfield. It’s nearly pornography.
Why E-Thomas up front?
Also have to say I am coming around to the away kit and Vermaelan at LCB, which is Gallas’s usual side seems like a hint towards the future.
Ha: last point, I promise. Gibbs and Clichy had extended breaks, right? Anyone know why Silvestre got the nod at LB over Traore then?
I don’t believe that Vermaelen was exposed for the first Barnet goal, as stated above by J Sanderson.
If anybody was at fault for that goal, then it was the two Arsenal players in front of him at the time (one was Gallas, the other possibly Djourou), neither of whom attacked the ball in the air, and seemed content to wait for it to land.
It was good to see Rosicky back in action again…we’ve missed him bigtime.
Yep the first goal was Gallas’ mistake … he dint even care to jump. Watt n Ayling stood out amongst the youngsters.
Oh let’s cry over two goals conceded in the most meaningless friendly. The only worrying thing is Randall’s performance, he isn’t improving at all but he keeps getting chances.
Progman07 – Did Randall play badly then?
Are there any highlights up yet? It would be nice to see Barazite’s goal especially.
To all those criticising can you not honestly say that this was the best Arsenal performance you have seen in recent weeks?
any news on goalscorers in U18s 6-0 win v Plymouth heard were in for their centre forwards !!!!
Hi Jamie, off topic i know, but when will you have the full squad list for Austria ? I presume Lansbury and Bartley will be going since they wasnt involved today ?
Randall did ok. He was defo better than coquelin henderson and thomas. He was good on ball and looked for some decent through balls which we didn’t seem to do second half.
Lansbury’s on U19 duty with hoyte and merida. Apparently bartley is on standby so that would explain his absence.
i am sorry but 2-2 agaisnt Barnet just isn’t good enough. We need to sort this out boys, we need to start putting in regular top-standard perfomances. Arsenal need to play their own football and not be so messy in the midfield.
Mather- think Freeeman got 1 @ Aneke got a hat trick in 6 nil win.
At least u18s won we were poor at Barnet
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Can you guys relax a little? They haven’t played in ages and it’s only natural that they don’t cope as well. When the time comes Wenger will release the old boys. Then we can see a real show.
Lansbury’s on U19 duty with hoyte and merida. Apparently bartley is on standby so that would explain his absence.
BTW I love your blog!
sorry but Randall was poor yesterday imo. Silly rash challenges look to be part of his game and we don’t need that at Arsenal, unless he can be moulded…
Crocker93 What about jay thomas’s clumsy lethargic fouls he seems to do so often that are just needless like barging people over which is only ever gonna lead to freekicks, that frustrates me far more than randalls rash challenges.
Jay thomas does not have pace hes very slow. Frimpong was poor so was henderson. Most of the youngsters didnt impress randall first 10mins looked brilliant than faded away. The only youngsters that impressed me were Luke Ayling, thomas cruise and Nacer Barazite
Off to a good start. It is better than a loss. Thanks Bobby gee
http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
JET could be the new Kanu
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It’s good to not win in pre season. Arsene Wenger can see what is wrong and make neccessary changes. If Bendtner has a rubbish pre season, then we will probably bring in another striker, but if he plays well then we might stick with him, which i am fine with if he plays like he did at the end of last season, and better.
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please i ll like to have the comentary of the next preseason friendlies match. thanks
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Look, Vermaelan is new, any player would be nervous playing his first match. Pre-season is what it is, a chance to shake off the cob webs and gives lesser teams a chance to have a go a the higher division teams. My concern for the season is getting a Central Def with height and aerial strength “Hangeland” is the man I think. Also a definate signing is a Def Midfielder and finally a striker to replace Ade. I am concerned at Wengers lack of conviction in the market, needs to show some force, even if it is a bluff the odd time, we are being portrayed as a small time club in this transfer window. Yes I am aware the money is tight but the signings our team needs are as obvious as the nose of Phil thompsons face :)
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