Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs were handed starting berths as Arsenal took on Juventus on Day One of the Emirates Cup. Earlier in the day, Real Madrid amassed five points after beating Hamburg 2-1 thanks to goals from Ruud Van Nistelrooy and QPR-bound Daniel Parejo. In addition to the standard three points for a win, each goal in the Emirates Cup also earns you a point, so German side Hamburg still got something for their efforts despite losing.
Onto the Arsenal game and Kieran Gibbs started at left-back in Armand Traore’s absence whilst Jack Wilshere occupied the left-midfield slot.
————————–21.Fabianski——————————
—31.J.Hoyte—–20.Djourou—————–6.Senderos(c)—40.Gibbs——
—27.Eboue——16.Ramsey—————–15.Denilson—-55.Wilshere—
—————-26.Bendtner—————–12.Vela——————-
subs: 2.Diaby (for Ramsey, 45), 10.Gallas (for Senderos, 45), 25.Adebayor (for Vela, 45), 14.Walcott (for Eboue,59), 3.Sagna (for J.Hoyte, 59), 8.Nasri (for Wilshere, 60). Not used: 1.Almunia, 22.Clichy, 41.G.Hoyte, 42.Lansbury, 47.Randall.
The two non first-teamers looked impressive early on, combining well down the left flank. Wilshere stood his own in some physical challenges and forced a save out of Buffon on 13 minutes after latching onto Eboue’s cross.
Jack was getting some rough treatment from one or two Juventus players, with ex-Liverpool man Sissoko the main culprit.
Gibbs was also impressing making some good passes and embarking on some forward runs but he knew when to track back as well.
Eight minutes before the break disaster struck for Arsenal when David Trezeguet slotted home from Iaquinta’s free-kick, although it was clear that the Frenchman was offside. Moments earlier, Trezeguet had the ball in the net but it was not given. This time, however, it was and Arsenal went into the break a goal down.
Wenger opted to bring on some more experienced players for the second half with Adebayor coming on for Vela and Gallas, thankfully, relieving Senderos of his captaincy duties.
The second half wasn’t the best game of football to watch as Arsenal struggled to break down the defence-minded Italian side.
Wilshere delivered a decent ball for Bendtner who came close to grabbing the equaliser.
But on the hour mark the Luton born youngster was withdrawn and replaced by summer signing Samir Nasri. Wilshere looked disappointed to have come off but he could be happy with his performance.
Kieran Gibbs played the entire game but was showing signs of tiredness towards the end and a lapse in concentration meant that he was out of position for one Juventus attack. He made several attempts to call for the ball but his team-mates often opted for another option.
Arsenal failed to score and in the end suffered only their second defeat at Emirates Stadium. Tomorrow, the Gunners face Real Madrid and although it seems unlikely that the trophy will be remaining at Emirates this season, a decent performance against the Spanish Champions would surely stand Wenger’s side in good stead for the new season.
In other news, on-loan Kerrea Gilbert completed 90 minutes as Leicester completed their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 away draw against Crystal Palace this afternoon. Kerrea was one of the Foxes star performers and whipped in several teasing crosses from right-back.
Meanwhile, four Arsenal youngsters were in action as England under-17s suffered a 6-1 thrashing by Denmark in the Nordic Tournament 3rd Place play-off, meaning the Three Lions will have to be content with fourth place this time around. Jacob Walcott scored England’s only goal on 19 minutes but Denmark took control of the game thereafter. Oliver Nicholas completed the whole game, whilst Jason Banton also started before being replaced by Conor Wickham on 65 minutes. Chuks Aneke and Luke Freeman both entered the field on 53 minutes replacing Jesse Lingard and Joe McCann respectively. Next up for the Three Lions is a friendly tournament to be staged at various venues in Anglia, where John Peacock’s side will take on Portugal, Israel and Italy in the competition which kicks off on August 27th.
Posted by DaStuDawg on August 2, 2008 at 7:56 pm
“Wenger opted to bring on some more experienced players for the second half with Adebayor coming on for Vela and Gallas, thankfully, relieving Senderos of his captaincy duties.”
I’m quite annoyed with this comment. Senderos had a very good game today, yet you, like many, talk as if Senderos has been inept in spite of good performances. From this I deduce that many, yourself included, seem to have come to a conclusion about how well he has played before a ball has been kicked. I wish the anti-Senderos brigade would just give him a chance.
Posted by Passenal on August 2, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I agree DaStuDawg – the bloggers comments about Senderos were totally uncalled for as he actually had a good game and was probably taken off because it was his first game of pre-season and he is being saved for tomorrow’s match against Real Madrid.
Posted by Sooth on August 3, 2008 at 4:11 am
I thought most of the players in the first half looked decent. Eboue’s final ball sucked but I thought he had good movement and went into some good positions. Too bad there wasn’t any end product.
Senderos and Djourou had an okay game. I doubt there’s any game where CBs don’t make mistakes but the most important thing is that the opposition doesn’t score from them.
I’ve always felt that Ade and Bendtner cannot play together and both failed to perform well after Ade’s introduction. I’d have preferred to see Ade + Vela but I think that Arsene’s thinking of testing out a RVP + Vela combo sometime today. He knows Bendtner can play well with Vela, Walcott, Eduardo, and RvP so I think he’ll test out some new combos today.
Overall, I’m not disappointed with the loss. I thought we weren’t as good in the 2nd half but that was expected as Diaby, Ade, & Nasri haven’t really had time to gel with the rest of the team. I don’t expect too much from RvP today, as well.
Posted by jeorge9 on August 3, 2008 at 8:47 am
senderos can be an excellent player one game, an appaling player the next. he has quality but is not consistent enough and he did make some mistakes yesterday whilst there were other things which he did well. maybe my comments were a little out of hand but at the moment he is not good enough to be first-choice.