Well that was a bit better, right?
Arsenal drew their final pre-season game last night against Como 1907, in what was a much improved performance, even it it was still lacking that cutting edge in attack. We did win the penalty shoot-out though, which is the second one in a row, so hopefully that stands us in good stead, should we find ourselves in the same situation as the one we found ourselves in when visiting Budapest a few months ago!
The line-up
To say I got this slightly wrong, would be being extremely kind. I didn’t take into account the upcoming Community Shield game that is only a few days away and as a result I got very few players correct. Mikel Arteta basically played what you would view as, the current second team (aside from Gabriel), from the start and then brought on the players that are more likely to start against Manchester City at half time. This led to starts for five Hale End graduates (six if you count Eberechi Eze) as Theo Julienne, Marli Salmon, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman were all given a run out from the start, which was great to see. There were also surprise starts for Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, both of who seem to be edging closer to the exit door, with Piero Hincapie, Kepa Arrizabalga and Gabriel completing the lineup.
The game itself
We started the game really well, I thought. The press was particularly strong and Como had real problems getting out as they admirably persisted with their, playing out from the back approach, and we should have got at least a couple of goals from either turnovers or from our dear old friend set pieces, which ultimately cost us the win, in my opinion. I really enjoyed the one touch link up play that was been orchestrated by the returning Eze and the new and improved aggressive Nwaneri, was playing like a man with a point to prove.
We did manage to break the deadlock with Lewis-Skelly winning the ball high and then picking up the pieces to slot home from the edge of the area with the Como keeper stranded following his loose pass. Lewis-Skelly’s celebration seemed to be very pointed as he put the rumours about his future to bed in the best way possible.
There was a few other turnovers that should have led to goals, especially one where Eze found himself one on one with the keeper, only to pass to an offise Jesus, who missed anyway and Como made us pay just before half time. The largely impressive Theo Julienne, along with Max Dowman, didn’t do enough to stop Martin Baturina from dancing into the box, before finsihing emphatically and just like that, it was one a piece.
The second half passed without much note to be honest. The main highlight was undoubtedly the introduction of new signing Bruno Guimaraes who was introduced to rapturous applause and was his usual combative self in midfield, showing moments of quality while also taking no prisoners in defence.
There was a lot of changes throughout the half, as expected, with only Marli Salmon playing close to the full game and aside from a few flashes here and there, Arsenal didn’t do enough to turn their dominance on the ball into attacking threat and shots on goal.
The game then went to a penalty shootout, with Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Bruno Guimaraes slotting away their penalties without issue, as David Raya saved one of the three Como penalties to get us the edge. Noni Madueke’s Arsenal penalty record then got even worse, as his staggered run-up sent the keeper the wrong way, but pointlessly in the end, as he struck the opposite post with his shot. The returning David Raya then saved another penalty, this time from Alvaro Morata (remember him?!) to give Christos Tzolis the chance to be the hero, which he accepted with open arms, slamming his penalty into the top corner (ish) to give The Emirates faithful something to cheer on their way out of the door.
Reasons to be cheerful
I think you would have to go a long way to find an Arsenal fan who watched this game and didn’t come away from it talking about Marli Salmon. What a performance from the young man. The composure, the skill, the aggression, pace, timing, passing…I could go on. I always knew he must be special, given the faith that had been bestowed upon him by Mikel Arteta, (as a 16 year old!!) but I must admit I’d never seen him really turn it on like he did against Como. He’s usually just looked steady, not out of place, but not really setting the world alight. Which I think is probably a fair target for a 16 year old, to play amongst men and look like he belongs. This was something else though. Salmon really is so young, that I don’t think you can quite think about cancelling the plans for a right sided defender purchase, it really wouldn’t be fair to put that on him. What we can say though, is that Salmon’s place in Arsenal’s future looks really secure and I’m sure he’ll get minutes this season.
I thought Ethan Nwaneri looked lively again. Whether he is still here come the end of the window or not is another issue, but he looks a different player right now. Very aggressive, forward thinking and starting to show his quality.
During his brief cameo, I think Eze also looked really good. Really took responsibility, starting attacks and really dictating our attacking play, which I’ve not really seen him do in an Arsenal shirt. Last season he was very much a moments player – and some of those moments were worth £67m on their own – but there is more there and we need to see it this year.
We got a first glimpse of Bruno Guimaraes in an Arsenal shirt as well and the proposed ‘plug-and-play’ signing, did exactly that. He just slotted into midfield, played like he’d been there all his life, took a lump out of someone for fouling him and generally looked like the player that we all use to hate playing against!
Was also great to see David Raya back. After a summer of Kepa and Illan Meslier, you can really see the difference in quality when Raya takes his place between the sticks. An unreal save in normal time to keep the game level and then two penalty saves in the shootout. Can’t ask for much more than that really.
Also, nice to see Myles Lewis-Skelly have his moment after what must have been a confusing week for the young man. This guy loves Arsenal, the fans love him and he clearly has the quality to play for this club. I really don’t see where the confusion comes from, just keep him!!!
Thinks to be a bit troubled about
I really don’t understand why Fabio Vieira is still playing minutes for this football club. There’s been some moments of quality from the Portuguese during his time at Arsenal, but his time has been up for a while now. Everyone needs to move on, so I was quite disappointed to see Vieira step off the bench as one of the first substitutes in the game and even more disappointed when he missed that gilt-edged chance to put us ahead.
Other than the result, I think that’s all I saw that really concerned me. They were a bit wasteful and probably still lack that real cutting edge up front and I suppose that is a concern, but we still have so many players to return, so I’m not going to get too carried away with that.
One final thing I wanted to mention – the booing. Trevor Chalobah, once of Chelsea, was booed on entering the pitch, pretty standard stuff, I get it, but then he was roundly booed for every touch after that. Now I hate Chelsea as much as the next sane person, but that is treatment that we usually reserve for players that played for those lot down the lane. I am worried about the Arsenal fans in the coming season, if they’re going to commit to booing every player who used to play for Chelsea. I think that covers pretty much every player in the league, such is Chelsea’s transfer policy, so if The Emirates faithful carry on in this vain, they may run out of steam by Christmas!! Pace yourselves Arsenal fans, it’s a long season!
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