Second half goals from substitutes Jay Simpson and Nacer Barazite were enough to cancel out Kenny Gillet’s 15th minute free-kick as Arsenal beat Barnet 2-1 in their opening pre-season friendly of the new campaign.
Arséne Wenger handed a start to new signing Aaron Ramsey, with Henri Lansbury and Havard Nordtveit also beginning the game. The rest of the side was made up of first-team players including the likes of Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Manuel Almunia and Theo Walcott. 12 substitutes were also named on the bench, including new recruit Francis Coquelin, a late call-up to the squad after Carlos Vela was forced to withdraw with a slight injury. However, Vela was present in the stands to watch the match along with Pedro Botelho who is poised to join up with Salamanca for pre-season training on Monday.
So to the game and it was a cagey opening with a few pre-season nerves apparent. Nicklas Bendtner scuffed an early chance and was generally poor upfront, while their seemed to be some evidence of mis-communication in Arsenal’s back line.
New signing Ramsey displayed his credentials early on with some neat touches and good passes. He seemed as if he wanted to take control of the game and Wenger has hinted he could have a key role to play next season.
Nordtveit had made some good challenges early on, but he mis-timed one just outside the penalty area and it proved to be a costly mistake. Manuel Almunia spent quite some time organising his wall with the likes of Lansbury, Ramsey and Denilson all lined up to block the shot. However, they weren’t prepared for what was to come next as, with a swing of his left boot, Barnet’s Kenny Gillet put Barnet 1-0 up. Almunia looked flabbergasted and dejected as the Barnet fans went wild. But how long would it last?
Arsenal looked to respond quickly but some neat inter-changing between Traore and Clichy eventually led to the ball being given away. Arsenal just couldn’t seem to break Barnet down and it was becoming frustrating to watch. Nonetheless, the half-time whistle wasn’t best timed as it seemed that Arsenal were just getting into their groove.
At the break, Arsenal swapped their whole starting line-up for what was basically a reserve team. Coquelin slotted into midfield behind Randall, Nacer Barazite was out on the left with Wilshere on the right and Jay Simpson partnered Rui Fonte up front.
Maybe it’s because these players are more familiar with playing at Underhill, I don’t know, but they certainly put the starting line-up to shame. At times it was frustrating with the pass, pass, pass conundrums seemingly always occuring but with little end product. But in the end perserverance payed off and the Gunners were level.
A neat move found the ball at Jay Simpson’s feet and the striker fired it home from a difficult angle. It was just what he was looking for to impress the watching Arséne Wenger.
Arsenal then began to grow in confidence and eventually took the lead with Simpson setting up Barazite to finish. It was just what Arsenal needed to re-assure their fans that they weren’t going to suffer a humiliating defeat to the second biggest team in North London. James Dunne came on for Ogogo as Arsenal looked to secure the win and Wojciech Szczesny also came on to replace Mannone which meant that all the subs had got a run out.
It wasn’t the best of matches football-wise, but at least Arsenal are back and hopefully the result will be more convincing when they travel to face Szombathelyi Haladas on Tuesday.
As for stand-out performances, Ramsey did well and Wilshere and Simpson impressed too. Coquelin also looked solid and should be a great addition tothe reserves this season.
After the game, Wenger spoke about Ramsey saying
Ramsey did OK. He looked a bit tired because he works very hard, of course it’s a big change for him, but he did OK,” stated Wenger.
He also revealed that Ramsey is not the only youngster who could be stepping up into the first team shortly.
“He is in the plans like all the players today. It depends on the performances and their quality and you could see that some young players could be very close to the first team.
UPDATE: Arsenal.com have added pages for Coquelin and WIlshere but there’s no information displayed on them yet.
ALL PICTURES COPYRIGHT OF JEORGE BIRD’S ARSENAL YOUTH. DO NOT USE THEM WITHOUT PERMISSION.
