Arsenal’s second string wrapped up their domestic pre-season preparations with a 2-1 defeat against non-league AFC Wimbledon. Second half goals from Sammy Moore and Andre Blackman did the damage, Benik Afobe pulled one back in stoppage time.
Neil Banfied handed a start to Wellington Silva up front while Japanese trialist Ryo Miyaichi continued on the left. Goalkeeper Emilio Damián Martínez was also included for the first-team, but on a strong looking bench. Nacer Barazite was due to play but he was pulled out at the last minute.
Shea
Hoyte – Bartley – Miquel (c) – Cruise
Ozyakup – Randall – Aneke
Silva – Afobe – Miyaichi
Subs: Martinez (GK), Boateng, Evina, Yennaris, Deacon, Murphy.
Arsenal arrived late to the Kingsmeadow stadium in Surrey after delays on the M25. The Gunners requested the kick off was delayed to give themselves time to warm up, and 30 minutes later, the fixture finally began.
The Gunners snapped out of the traps and in Wellington Silva on the right, Arsenal were dangerous. The Brazilian should have opened his account with two similar chances in the opening minutes, both darting in from the right and having low shots well saved.
Wimbledon eventually got their passing game going but in Bartley and Miquel at the back, Arsenal were incredibly well organised. As the half wore on Arsenal struggled to create anything of merritt. Silva’s chipped cross was headed just over by Afobe late in the half, but at the break it was 0-0.
Ryo Miyaichi came off at half time after a very poor 45 minutes. The Japanese youngster showed some great steps overs, but he failed to get involved in the way he did at Boreham Wood earlier in the week. Roarie Deacon replaced him, with Silva moving to the left.
Banfield rotated shortly after the restart, bringing Kyle Bartley and Mark Randall off. Nico Yennaris and Danny Boateng came on, but almost instantly Arsenal were made to regret taking Bartley off. Poor defensive organisation allowed Sammy Moore to muscle his way in and slam Wimbledon into the lead.
Miquel looked shell shocked at the defensive woe, and moments after going behind, AFC got themselves a second through former young Gun Andre Blackman. 2-0 and it was really game over.
Gavin Hoyte had a chance late on but he stabbed Wellington’s corner at the goalkeeper, before Afobe flicked Murphy through on goal but Rhys was muscled off the ball. Emilio Damián Martínez replaced the injured James Shea for his Arsenal debut and he was involved from the off, making a smart save before Murphy stabbed off the line.
There was just time for Arsenal to pull one back, as Nico Yennaris’ shot was parried out as far as Benik Afobe who thrashed home from close range. It finished 2-1.
Banfield’s boys struggled to impose themselves against a physical and well organised Wimbledon. The team will now prepare themselves for a tournament in Ireland later this month.
how did the japanese dude fair on his overall trial then mate?
mate you missed a brilliant match
fabianski craped out but szczesny showed why we rate him so highly
if we dont sign a keeper then szczesny should get it i dont care about experience anymore if I have a choice between almunia, szczesny and flapianski then I take szczesny hands down
Agreed!
Not sure how Sczcesney showed us how we rate him so highly? one double save it just shows how biased we are. The fact is we need a new no.1, Almunia No.2 and Tech no.3 loan out both Fabianski if anyone will have him and Mannone.
The most worrying thing is how poor we were in the DM area and CH – shocking!!
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6-4 wow
So,Ryo had a poor game?That probably means we will not buy him….
Our former trialist Veljko Batrovic is now joined FK Partizan reserves – Teleoptik.
http://www.sportske.net/vest/domaci-fudbal/dinastija-batrovic-ponovo-u-partizanu-26349.html
Oh boy! we need a CB ( an exceptional.. experienced.. top-flight.. international ).. I am ready to clean the Emirates Stadium all alone if we get one.. And 1 name that suddenly crops up to my mind is “Mathijsen”.. He will be available for less than 7m.. he was extremely superb at the World Cup.. And Fabianski : Please leave as soon as possible.. I feel very soorry to say this as an ARSENAL devotee….
PLEASE CAN I JOIN THE DOOM AND GLOOM MONGERS ?
our match wid warsaw ended 6-5.Vermae had his worst game ever in Arsenal colors.
WTF!!! terrible day for the gunners. we have just shown why we WONT win the title. how can we conceed 5goals against legia with our 1st team defence!! Asshole Wenger needs to wake up now, we Need to sign a quality defender an keeper.. Wenger is not a manager, hes a economist
yes and Tottenham ,MU,City,and pool have a great pre season….not.They have a lot crap result too that make Bolton the favorite to win the league heeee
.Not a surprise most of the time the emirate is quiet .Fan like you try to find the worst and overlooked the good so they don’t have time to sing and push the team to give the best because you need to find the next error by a player…moan.moan.moan.moan
Fabianski is the WORST KEEPER EVER!!! Why?? what did we do to deserve this?? He has come and plagued our team. i wish he would jst go bak to what ever hole he came from and never return!
fabianski wasn’t solely culpable, but really i do think his position is untenable now…whenevr he plays the opposition will know that he is a bag of nerves who will crumble under the slightest pressure. sorry to him but i hope he’s nowhere near our first team. maybe best if he goes and proves himself is a less pressured environment.
i’m terrified about how we’re defending as a team though…casilas and cech would look like clowns playing behind a team defending like us right now.
and barazite was pulled?
why?
has he got a loan lined up? i hope so.
VELA HAVE TO PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Laurent Koscielny 2/10 – What the hell have we signed?? lol
PASCAL CYGAN RECOMMENDED HIM
HES BETTER VTHAN GUS CEASER
yes judge on on bad game as usual with the idiot of fan we ve got and vermalaen was as bad
@ stoke gunner
Haha! Nice one mate!
Its a pre-season game FFS people! The chavs are relegation fodder then if we are taking pre-season as a gauge. They’ve lost all their games.
The games are about match sharpness and fitness as much as anything although I think we are looking to bring in a new keeper and a CB, obviously
In fairness Fab shouldn’t be crucified for that first half.. The 1st goal was a 20 yd screamer and yer man had all the time in the world to take the ball centrally from 40 yds and line up the shot, 2nd goal he unluckily tripped over TV5’s leg, otherwise he would’ve got something on the ball, 3rd goal was indicative of the shoddy unorganised schoolboy defending that characterised the half..
Well if we loose in this PL campaign is Fabianskis fault. If we play poor its fabianskis fault. If we look boring its Fabianskis fault. if cesc gets injured its fabianskis fault and so on and so on.
Just face it Fabianski is this seasons Denilson just as Denilson was last seasons Eboue. Put simple he is this seasons scapegoat.
What ever happends it will be Fabianskis fault. Thats just how it is.
True dat!
s…… youre a legend.
Well, I got my wish – i.e. that Fabianski was his normal self and that Szczesny must now be in contention for number 1 or 2. Hope Wenger sticks to his word on this and sends the weakest of the four out on loan – that’s assuming there’s a club who’ll take Fabianski, which seems unlikely to me.
Were Wilshere and Frimpong tired or out of their depth or a bit of both?
I thought Nasri was man of the match, and Gibbs, Eboue, Vela and JET all did well. But, holy shit, we’d better sign Mexes, plus someone else double quick, because Mexes, though I like him, is horribly injury-prone.
What a game! As physical as Blackburn away. I lost track of who was in what position – was Gibbs left midfield and Clichy at full back? I couldn’t see much as I was watching on a crap stream which kept going down, but maybe ATV wasn’t much better?
Why would Frimpong and Wilshire be out of their depth when they more than held there own against Milan and Celtic?
As for Mexes? I hope that is pure tabloid nonsense, he is average. I’d prefer a CB with premier league experience.
They were out of their depth because they faced an aggressive, close marking tactically astute and packed midfield with the defense playing a high line, compacting space, then pouring forward with pace once they won the ball. Only for the first half, however. It was similar to Barca at the Emirates, but not quite as good. Five in the midfield hunting in packs. The saving grace is that no team can play an entire game compressing space in the midfield with such energy and aggression. Seedorf and Gattusso can’t do it for 15 minutes on their old legs. Panathaniakos ran them ragged last night in Detroit and Seedorf was subbed off. Basically, Jack and Frimpommel made forward and sideways passes to players that were tightly marked and who didn’t have a one-touch passing option. The opposition disrupted our rhythm and forced errors. Even Rosicky had a hard time with it and he’s mustard in such situations (if a bit slow these days). Only Nasri could cope as he’s quickest of mind and so sharp with the ball at his feet. Top player right now. What Jack and Frimpommel will learn, hopefully, is that just b/c you are Arsenal doesn’t mean you have to go forward all the time. Knock it back and let the defenders knock it into space for Chamak or Walcott and stretch the play. But it’s got to be toward the corner flags as their keeper was Mad Jens reincarnate – flying out of his area to sweep the long balls. That’s how they could play such a high line to compress the midfield.
Slick,
Well said!
Nice to see some brains and common sense in a game analysis! Much appreciated!
s – with Fabianski it’s not one game; it’s every game apart from a couple of pre-season friendlies two years ago, when he was brilliant – probably because no one was watching. Yes, he’s an exceptionally talented keeper, but nerves get to him every time he plays in a game that matters. What’s more the problem – predictably – is getting worse rather than better. Unless he has a head transplant, the problem isn’t going to get better. Yes, he may be being scapegoated – and I don’t like it either – but that doesn’t mean we should have him as our number 1 or number 2. He inspires panic in the defence as well as the fans, and that situation isn’t ideal for a keeper who is already falling apart from fear. This happens to some keepers; they’re just not cut out for it mentally. It’s sad but I think we should cut our losses and sell him to a lower league Polish club, where hopefully he’ll get some confidence back.
To have him as no 1 was not my point neither. And yes critic when critic is due is not a bad thing. I can see that he has lacks and that he should not yet be put in a situation where he has to be NO1 in a big club like arsenal. However posting things like “crappyandiski, flappyandski and all that, or to go “crappyandski is shit” its not exactly a high levler of debate is it?
he is there and if he stays there he needs our backing to atlest have half a chance to do a good game. The boy is alrady a nervous wreck, i doubt he becomes more confident with us telling him hes shit!
And lets face it, wheter they are good enough or not, wheter we like em or not, we got to live with these keepers alteat until the January window! Thats the reality. thats how it is!
Let us altest do our job as supporters, and be that 12th player that our team needs.
Fabianski may not be the Keeper we want, he may not be good enough to start for Arsenal, he may be a nervous wreck prone to do mistakes. But if he starts(and i am sure that is a big IF) it is in our interest that he playes as good as he can and he can only do that if he has the fans backing(atleast it is alot easier with the fans backing).
That was my pont.
And a good point it was too. Kudos.
I think we should loan out Fabianski and Chesney, keep Almunia as number 2 and sign an experienced quality keeper.
apparently wellington silva played in goal when he was 9
Who in the name of God is going to take Fabianski on loan ? and anyway I think Wenger wants to stick with him at least as a back up….terrible situation for the club to be in.
Schechesny as no2 MA as no1 best situation fans can realistically hope for if club don’t sign anyone imo.
Apparently the club have looked at Germanys injured no1 Adler at some stage on the reccomendation of Lehmann, whether he is still an option I don’t know
Get Fabianski some anxiety reducing drugs.
hed drop them
heh!
Frimpong is clearly out of his depth.
I know Wenger has stated that he wants to keep Jack and Frimpong at the club, but I think they should also be loaned out, hopefully to premier league teams.
And course a club would take Fabianski on loan, just coz he aint cutting it for us doesnt mean we couldnt hood wink another team to take him on loan!
Probably ‘double dropping’ them mightn’t be sufficient
JET was good today, showed good strength and took his goal really well….
What the heli is wrng with u guys? When we play a good match then evrythng is perfct and when we play a moderate one then ‘f_ck wenger’.. U people do not have a sense of football. In Wenger i trust!! Dnt let anyone knw u r an Arsenal fan, he wil laugh at u. GROW UP!
Anyone who says that about Wenger is obviously a clown, but that performance highlighted some significant problems that need to be addressed pretty urgently if the club are going to meet the standards we set for ourselves on the pitch.
As Pat Rice has said to new players in the past…Any year that you don’t win a trophy at Arsenal you have underachieved
george graham is out of work
Terry Neill and Don Howe are available too.
good organisers
Bob Wilson is still pretty agile for an old geezer. He could a job in goal for us too.
I`v been reding this website the last few months, and its all about the keepers in Arsenal.
You aint got a FUCKING clue ! Arsenal dont think defencily as a team !
You send up your left back and right back up at the same time, what does that leave you !
You have a forward called Arshavin, when he loses the ball ! He stands there looking around him tying hes FUCKING laces or what fucking ever ! Instead of working his we fucking ass off !to get the ball back for his team ! Example: WAYNE ROONEY ! And hes one of many that dont do their work defencily ! Arsenal will NEVER win the Premier League if they dont work together defencily as a team ! It has nothing to do with your keepers !
A keeper and his defence job is not do let in a goal ! This will never happen when you play “Arsenal way” I think Arsenal have a good enough team to win the Premier League, if they can play more defencily as a team ! Your keeper will play with more confidence, if the players in front of him do their job ! Good luck for the new season :)
random question here Del Boy but who do you support? is it liverpool? theres a football show in my country and a regular caller in is a chap named Del Boy who supports liverpool.
As for arsenal, the comments made by everyone are true in a way and whilst i agree moaning on sites and calling players crappy names isnt goin to help, we supporters cant honestly be happy with our situation. i have been keeping the faith for a long time but it really pains me to see other clubs fighting to challenge for the title whilst we seem contempt on fighting for a champions league spot. Our goalkeepers simply arent good enough and i would prefer to buy a top keeper, keep almunia as no 2 and mahonne as 3, loan out fabianski and chezza to premiership clubs. A top class defender, especially with some height, is needed to defend set pieces as well as a defensive midfielder. but overall the whole team need to learn to defend better as a unit. Maybe wenger needs to bring in a retired defender (maybe adams) to help organise a bit better.
we still have around 3 weeks till the transfer window closes so lets wait and see what developements happen. gunners for life
Well said DEL BOY ! ;)
‘SOFTIES’ COME WITH THE TERRITORY
All the softies who have their panties in a twist because of today’s defensive performance are irrelevant. They will get their pom-poms out when things are going well, and, right on cue, twist their panties right back up and start whining for AW’s departure like a bunch of litle girls when things go badly.
THE SEASON IS ABOUT DEFENSE
The story of our season will be told on the defensive side just as it was last season. a TV/Koscielny or TV/Djourou partnership doesn’t inspire enough confidence for in central defense. A payment in the range 20 mil pounds for a top-class defender would represent a truly bold statement about AW’s title intentions this season.
Additionallly, Clichy and Sagna, though top-notch in their respective strong suits (intercepting passes, man-marking, and getting forward for Clichy; tenacious defending, getting forward, and positional defending for Sagna), are both still prone to devastating lapses of concentration, and also both still cross the ball at a level that is sub-par.
WILSHERE AND FRIMPONG
Read Slick’s comment above. Couldn’t say it any better than that.
FABIANSKI
Someone also said it well above, his ‘competitive’ brain is fried like an egg on a skillet. He nuts up in the face of competition and becomes a shadow of the keeper he could be. It’s a shame really and it’s getting to the point where it’s a bit sadisitc for AW to keep sending him out there for further humiliation. He should go on loan in the Championship or maybe even a League 1 side.
SZCZESNY
Polar (…nu pun…) opposite of Fabianski. Just seems ready for all challenges. I would like to see us bring in a 33-36 year old keeper and let him keep the number 1 shirt warm for Szczesny for most of this season while Szcz minds the net for CC and FA Cup matches. Next season he should be number 1 and the utility buy should firght it out with Vito for the number 2 shirt.
NORDTVEIT, LANSBURY, AND JET
Good to see Nordtveit and Lansbury back in action, but, understandably, they did nothing remarkable in the 10 min or so they had to play. Kudos to JET for making an impact in that same short period of time. I think Nordtveit and JET will be kept around the first team as cover for injuries (ie. Bendtner). Lansbury, despite the hype and the hope by so many AFC fans, just doesn’t look to be much more than an above-average midfielder, which just isn’t good enough at Arsenal. At his current rate of development and considering the youthful talent in front of him (Cesc, Nasri, Ramsey, and Wilshere) and behind him (Aneke, Ozyakup, Galindo, and Ebecilio), I don’t see him having much of a future at the club. He looks to be headed toward the same sort of dead-end future at the club as Mark Randall.
KC WILL YOU BE PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK ?
stoke gunner,
Love to except I know nobody would read it… LoL!