2-2, Pre-Season Friendly, Hong Kong Stadium, 2012-07-29
Walcott 24,
Eisfeld 77
This was the last game of the Asia Tour of 2012, and it proved to be a difficult one as well.
We had a rather poor first half, and found ourselves 2-1 down, even though Theo Walcott equalized when his shot rolled in by the near post. However, a lot of credit for the goal must go to Abou Diaby. The midfielder won the ball and provided a brilliant pass to the young English winger.
Our defending improved much in the second half, where it had been poor in the first. We enjoyed most of the possession as well, but it took quite a long time before we managed to equalize again. And yet again, most of the credit must go to the provider. Gervinho made an amazing run to the left, and made it rather easy for Thomas Eisfeld to finish the move.
As mentioned above, this was the last game of the Asia Tour, and the team will now be heading back to London to continue the pre-season preparations.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Arsenal vs. Manchester City
0-2, Pre-season Friendly, Beijing National Stadium, 2012-07-27
Even though the result, obviously, is really disappointing, there are plenty of positives to take from this game. Kyle Bartley said in a post-game interview that pre-season is for making mistakes, and he is really onto something there, you make mistakes and experiment a bit in pre-season and then you just make sure that the mistakes aren't repeated once the season begins.
What I really liked about our display in this game was the amount of shooting. The players took many shots and many of them were good ones! In the first half Theo Walcott had a wonderful shot that unfortunately went just over the far post. And the hands down best strike of the game was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's screamer that hit both the posts! You don't see that very often!
There were plenty of substitutions in the game, so that pretty much every player got to play a part in the game. That, of course, means that the performance will be a bit more unstable, as new players come in with new parts to play.
Overall it was a very enjoyable game with plenty of creativity going forward.
Even though the result, obviously, is really disappointing, there are plenty of positives to take from this game. Kyle Bartley said in a post-game interview that pre-season is for making mistakes, and he is really onto something there, you make mistakes and experiment a bit in pre-season and then you just make sure that the mistakes aren't repeated once the season begins.
What I really liked about our display in this game was the amount of shooting. The players took many shots and many of them were good ones! In the first half Theo Walcott had a wonderful shot that unfortunately went just over the far post. And the hands down best strike of the game was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's screamer that hit both the posts! You don't see that very often!
There were plenty of substitutions in the game, so that pretty much every player got to play a part in the game. That, of course, means that the performance will be a bit more unstable, as new players come in with new parts to play.
Overall it was a very enjoyable game with plenty of creativity going forward.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Malaysia XI vs. Arsenal
2-1, Pre-Season Friendly, National Stadium Bukit Jalil, 2012-07-24
Eisfeld 87,
Aneke 90
This was the first friendly of the Asia Tour this year, and what a game it proved to be!
Malaysia scored just before half-time, and at half-time the entire Arsenal team was changed! Well, all except for the 'keeper that is, Mannone was the only player to last the entire 90 minutes for us.
It took pretty much the entire second half for us to find the equalizer, young Tomas Eisfeld scored that one. Then, just at the end of the game another youngster, this time Chuks Aneke, found the back of the net to win us the game through a deflected shot.
As the boss said after the game, the result doesn't really matter this early in the pre-season, some of the lads have only had three days of pre-season training! But it's always sweet with victory, and a turn-around none the less!
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup
The Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup was a cup consisting of matches played for 45 minutes during the 14th of July. Arsenal started off with a clash against Anderlecht and finished the cup with a game against the hosts (who just got promoted to the Premier League), Southampton. Both games were held at the St Mary's Stadium.
2012-07-14
Anderlecht vs. Arsenal
0-1
Henri Lansbury marked his return from loan with a winning goal against Anderlecht in the first game of the cup. However, Anderlecht began the game best, they scored a goal within five minutes.Yet the goal was, as the scoreline implies, deemed offside (correctly).
Chamakh had a shot blocked by the Anderlecht 'keeper before Henri Lansbury could win the game for us. Carl Jenkinson made a great run forward and provided an excellent cross for the young Englishman to finish at close-range.
Southampton vs. Arsenal
1-1 (Southampton won 5-4 on penalties)
In the final game of the tournament Arsenal faced the hosts, Southampton. The game went all the way to penalties, as Gervinho equalised the scoreline in the first half.
Southampton began the shoot-out, and scored. Then Andre Santos stepped up, and scored as well. Southampton converted the next penalty, as did Francis Coquelin for us. Once again Southampton scored, and once again we equalised, this time through the young Swedish talent Kristoffer Olsson. Southampton proved spotless in this penalty shoot-out, as their next two penalties went in, and in between those two Craig Eastmond got to score as well. However, the shoot-out came to an end when young Kyle Ebecilio missed his penalty.
Even though we lost our last game, we won the cup! So we got to lift the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup, hopefully we'll get to lift far grander trophies as the season develops! (no offence intended!)
2012-07-14
Anderlecht vs. Arsenal
0-1
Henri Lansbury marked his return from loan with a winning goal against Anderlecht in the first game of the cup. However, Anderlecht began the game best, they scored a goal within five minutes.Yet the goal was, as the scoreline implies, deemed offside (correctly).
Chamakh had a shot blocked by the Anderlecht 'keeper before Henri Lansbury could win the game for us. Carl Jenkinson made a great run forward and provided an excellent cross for the young Englishman to finish at close-range.
Southampton vs. Arsenal
1-1 (Southampton won 5-4 on penalties)
In the final game of the tournament Arsenal faced the hosts, Southampton. The game went all the way to penalties, as Gervinho equalised the scoreline in the first half.
Southampton began the shoot-out, and scored. Then Andre Santos stepped up, and scored as well. Southampton converted the next penalty, as did Francis Coquelin for us. Once again Southampton scored, and once again we equalised, this time through the young Swedish talent Kristoffer Olsson. Southampton proved spotless in this penalty shoot-out, as their next two penalties went in, and in between those two Craig Eastmond got to score as well. However, the shoot-out came to an end when young Kyle Ebecilio missed his penalty.
Even though we lost our last game, we won the cup! So we got to lift the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup, hopefully we'll get to lift far grander trophies as the season develops! (no offence intended!)
Monday, July 2, 2012
UEFA European Championship - The Final
Spain vs. Italy
4-0
Even though no Arsenal players were involved in the final of the tournament I'd like to write a short piece of it, if for no other reason than to wrap this European Cup up.
The scoreline of this game is rather shocking. I mean, a final that ends 4-0. When was the last time that happened...?
Spain were in control of this game from beginning to start. Within fifteen minutes they scored their first. Cesc Fabregas made an excellent run into the box, rounded the defender and delivered a stunning pass for Silva to head in. The second came at the end of the first half through yet another excellent run, this time by Alba, who managed to score when he found himself one-on-one with Buffon. Spain sealed their victory with two strikes late on in the second half. This time it was Chelsea players Torres and Mata who scored for the European as well as World Champions.
This result means that Spain now has won the European Championship of 2008, The World Cup of 2010 and, finally, the European Championship of 2012. An astonishing achievement!
4-0
Even though no Arsenal players were involved in the final of the tournament I'd like to write a short piece of it, if for no other reason than to wrap this European Cup up.
The scoreline of this game is rather shocking. I mean, a final that ends 4-0. When was the last time that happened...?
Spain were in control of this game from beginning to start. Within fifteen minutes they scored their first. Cesc Fabregas made an excellent run into the box, rounded the defender and delivered a stunning pass for Silva to head in. The second came at the end of the first half through yet another excellent run, this time by Alba, who managed to score when he found himself one-on-one with Buffon. Spain sealed their victory with two strikes late on in the second half. This time it was Chelsea players Torres and Mata who scored for the European as well as World Champions.
This result means that Spain now has won the European Championship of 2008, The World Cup of 2010 and, finally, the European Championship of 2012. An astonishing achievement!
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