Arsenal chew up Toffees to win Asia Trophy final

It may have only been the second game of pre-season for Arsenal and although there was a piece of silverware on offer, you would say that this final against Everton was more about preparation for the serious business to come, it was very good to see the Gunners put on a very good performance.

Arsene Wenger started with a strong Arsenal line up and we looked sharp right from the start, dominating possession and creating some good chances both before and after the opening goal. That came after 22 minutes, with the excellent Theo Walcott making a great run and latching onto a long raking ball from deep in our own half by Santi Cazorla.

The hot and humid conditions were never going to make life easy but we handled them better by making the ball doing the wortk by using some real class on the ball and with our movement and decision making. Another very impressive thing about the game is the way Arsenal operated as a team, with players filling in and covering for each other when needed and there always being an option for the man on the ball.

Very good goals from Cazorla and Ozil in the second half secured the result and the only negative was not keeping a clean sheet, as Oxlade-Chamberlain was caught on the ball and Barkley gave Cech no chance. But all the Gunners played well and there is plenty of reason for us fans to look forward to a great season.

Tags Cazorla Cech Ozil Walcott

44 Comments

  1. Impressed with Bellerin and Santi in particular, but everyone played fairly well. Still lacking a bit of that killer instinct up top but it is pre-season so not expecting too much.

    1. great save by cech on his debut…am 99% sure if scez would not have done that plus if they had scored they would have maybe comeback..walcott..great Finnish…ozil..fantastic…carzola…super
      giroud…eeehm–still giroud….
      great game lads and for those who will surely slate chambo, rmba hez been injured and am sure hel be great..this will be his breakout season i have a feeling at the expense of either giroud or walcott

      1. how at the expense of Giroud? Giroud has no real competition still. He’s been getting an easy ride for 3 seasons now.

      2. What is wrong with you.Szczesny has the potential to be better than cech to be honest.arsenal will regret selling him instead of Ospina.You should rather hope he learns from Cech.Szcz has had too some very average centre backs infront of him to
        be honest.remember 2011 2012 there was poor defending.it made him error prone.even 2013 the defense was not that good but he won Golden Glove.we will regret selling him.

    2. The bottom line is that we need a striker, we desperately need a world class striker.DM we might be able to get away with but upfront we lack a top striker

  2. All our midfielders played great these friendly’s. It’ll be interesting to see what happens during the season. Ozil very impressive today, and as usual Cazorla too. I liked that Ramsey focused more on working hard than scoring, it suits his game better. Chambers was also pretty decent as CB. AW has also said he sees Chambers there instead of RB which is good to hear. Still have to rub my eyes when I see Cech in goal, lol. But good energy from the boys today. Competition for places all over the pitch. Maybe some more for ST though, not satisfied with just Giroud still, and still think Theo is way more effective as a winger like today.

    1. Yes, not sure why Theo seems so hell-bent on playing CF when he can play narrow and come in off the LW like he did today. Don’t often see OG out wide but maybe he has been told to clear the way for TW in certain situations. TW may not be the most talented footballer, decent but not brilliant technically, but if he stays fit I can’t see any reason why he can’t be the top scoring wide forward/winger in the PL. If they stay fit can anyone conjure up any convincing reason why Giroud, Walcott and Alexis can get 15+ PL goals each?

      1. Theo should be used on the wings and we should be looking for a new striker. Giroud and welbeck are not enough. We need one more forward

    2. I was there at the game. Would like to add that despite the error and still lack of end product, Ox put in a very good performance today. He is a nightmare for that lad Luke Garbutt on the left hand side – He create chance after chance when cutting in from the right. Hopefully with more games under his belt he can improve much further

  3. Walcott’s goal was beautiful. Keep knocking em in like that and we won’t need a Benzema haha

    1. Only idiots on here would thumb down a hope for Theo to score a bunch of goals from the center

  4. Ozil was fantastic. I think (if injury free) Ozil will get the most assists next season. He will beat Fabregas (perhaps not with goals), but assists.

  5. Ox needs to work on His end product…He also needs to know how to keep the ball in the middle of the park. Remember in the champions league against Monaco? He gave away the ball in the middle after scoring the only goal in that game… Then he gifted Everton today. That’s why He is better on the flank. He is a good player and He’ll have a good season if fit. I love how He is not scared of any defender. He just wants to take on You.

    The players did so well today. Walcott’, nice run. Nice composure from Ozil to score (glad he didn’t pass again as he loves to pass)

    SANTI is PRICELESS!

  6. If and it’s a big if, Walcott, Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla, and Giroud are at least major injury-free if not completely injury free, our attack could possibly be the best in the League (depending on who Chelsea, United and city sign)

    If we got another top CF like Benzema, Cavani, Lacazette, Lewandowski etc then we would definitely have the best attack in the League

  7. Also was just thinking. I remember when the “fans” that post on here were crying about needing Roberto Martinez and how much better he was than Wenger. I mean, I don’t expect any semblance of intelligence on this website, but I am really glad no one values any of your opinions haha.

  8. Don’t worry guys: Ox Theo & our new WC striker can be our attacking trio in Sanchez absence at the start of the season. As much as I would like us to sign another DM and ST i would settle for just a WC striker. We were hoping to sign Vidal/Scnd but they’re both b2b. If they can do some dirty work Ramsey also has the capability to do that. He’ll get more game time if he can play as a DM & CM. Different combinations in midfield.

    Santi Coq( best midfield ATM)
    Ozil

    Ramsey Coq
    Ozil

    Wilshire Ramsey
    Santi

    Wilshire Coq
    Santi

  9. Lemme me raise a controversial point, who here is with me when I say we should sell wilshere and get a striker???

  10. If we cant get a striker then at least i hope we will end up with an another winger. Draxler mayb and a Defender. I am scared how we will end up if we we lose the Boss again as last time. If you all remember right, when the boss got injuried, it was then that we started to lose a lot of points. Merti without Koscielny is how a wise man named Giovanni Trapattoni said.. Like an emty bottle.

    Sanchez and Walcott can play in the striker role from time to time. As for Giroud, he is doing his best, but his best is not good enough.

  11. Good display by the boys. But its only pre-season, Wenger go out and make the acquisitions we need in CF and DM to make this team a true contender for the EPL, we are just two signings away!

  12. @NYgunner.
    Man city loan Wilshire for the season to see how he goes?
    Wages of our bill and if he comes of age we have him back. Also he cant play against.
    Logic says sell Wilshire but the one positive I like that he brings is his edge and aggresion on the pitch, apart from Coquelin we dont have too much this elsewhere.
    Wenger will never let him go though due to him being his favourite and home grown.

    What did we learn from today? Lots of positives, but Giroud sadly not good enough.
    Any striker of Benzemas calibre being supplied by Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez, Walcott and Bellerin should be prolific 🙂

  13. The Emirattes cup will be a truer test next weekend, some pretty tasty sides involved.
    Lets hope Arsenal do better than last year as I was there and they were pretty lacklustre in their play, (even though Campbell scored and Sanogo got a hatfull!).

  14. OT: I’m loving the image of Gazidis in Singapore dressed and playing in the Arsenal kit 🙂 Arsenal website if people havent seen it.
    Sign him Arsene!

  15. Cant wait comunity shield, hope we will sign big name before that game, so we can unleash our beast against Mourinho

  16. What is wrong with you.Szczesny has the potential to be better than cech to be honest.arsenal will regret selling him instead of Ospina.You should rather hope he learns from Cech.Szcz has had too some very average centre backs infront of him to
    be honest.remember 2011 2012 there was poor defending.it made him error prone.even 2013 the defense was not that good but he won Golden Glove.we will regret selling him.

  17. Oh dear oh dear Wenger is making muzzi ozcan look silly the longer he doesn’t make this masterful transfer of the season he claimed. I am going to hold him to this massive claim til the end of the window. if it don’t happen he will have to apologise yo all fans online for playing us all on lol

  18. Giroud is an average player to be honest.I never rated him ever since he came to arsenal.i will play Chuba Akpom over him not even because of his hatrick.but its because i believe he is better than Giroud and Welbeck.I hope Wenger does not also make the mistake of selling Szczesny just because he is error prone.He better sell Ospina or he will regret it one day i said it here first.

  19. If we don’t get a top class striker Wenger can kiss the title goodbye we are honestly not that far away atm. Just get the cash spent he has enough of it. I have a funny feeling will sign another contract after this one ends. After what gazidis said today about Wenger. That would just about beat all if Tha did happen.

    1. As much as it looks likely that wenger might sign a new contract at the expiration of his current contract with arsenal. It would be much more down to his decision to either resign or sign a new deal which would be predicated on his success with the club in the short run.

  20. Giroud are always hopeless in friendlies, but in real matches, he is a completely different player

  21. By the way how can someone submit his own article here.its time i came on stage and show human beings the way to open their eyes.How someone please tell me.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors