Well apart from a bit of dodgy defending I think that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players will be well pleased with how the first day of the Emirates Cup competition went today. The Gunners put five past the Portuguese champions Benfica to secure an impressive and confidence building victory.
With a point gained for every goal scored the Gunners are in a fine position to lift our home trophy tomorrow as we play the Spanish side Sevilla who won their own game by 1-0. We had to come from behind though, as a big deflection off Per Mertesacker gave Benfica an early lead against the run of play, but not for long.
Arsenal roared back and were soon ahead from a well taken brace by Theo Walcott, with new signing Kollasinac playing a key role in both, but then a comedy of errors at the back from Mertesacker and young Maitland-Niles presented another chance and after another big deflection we were level again.
Arsenal soon put that right after the break with a great move and ball across the box from Theo leading to an own goal, with Giroud ready to tap in anyway. The big Frenchman soon scored his goal with a fine finish and then set up Iwobi to complete the scoring and give Arsenal fans a happy day.
Bob.
My my….Reis Nelson take a bow…. For a 17 year old goodness me…that cross on his weaker foot to Giroud…. We have a world beater in our hands…. Nelson remember the name…
Man that boy is fireeeeeeeee
For years I’ve not seen a player make me stand on my feet when on the ball in this arsenal team since Wilshere broke into the X11. Man that boy is quality, confident even in challenges and tackles. Nelson God bless you for making me happy today
And where are all those d i ck head that called Kolasinac a donkey.
You’re putting words in peoples’ mouths.
Far too early to judge or give credit to, many have been there and faltered. We shouldn’t expect too much, after all he’s just a boy still.
R.Nelson…i like that boy!
Lacazette seems a very interesting player…
His technique seems exquisite… Hoping to see more of him in the middle tomorrow
Benfica cannot cope with the arsenal offensive and they ain’t the most difficult of teams for us to dominate – but it was an encouraging run-out for the squad. Iv started to like kolasinac already.
Hulk + intelligence = kolasinac
You just took the words right out of my mouth. He, in my opinion is an upgrade on Monreal. Faster, tougher but with
a good footballing brain
R. Nelson just awesome……..these youngsters are yearning for game time…….
People should pray Jadon Sancho signs because if he does we’ll have he best English wingers in he league for he future.Sancho in particular is so good and probably he bes player born in 2000 in England right now.I’ll update you guys on him from time to time.Remember as I said everything about the Lemar deal should be completed by next week.
JUST IN:News coming is that Man City are out of the running for Alexis Sanchez as his agent has told them he’s staying at Arsenal for this season maning he’ll leave for free if he doesn’t sign.
Still no bid for any CM’s and if anyone cares to know Near ain’t going anywhere this season.
Lastly,please guys don’t be fooled by the media as they care only about themselves.For those also thinking I’m resource am not.There’s no need for me to hide or create two different accounts to post here.I’m Resource’s deputy.
It’s shocking how people use preseason to judge players though.One you claim someone to be useless the next moment they are for one believe we have many good players but as good as they are many are overrated.The players who impressed me today were Kolasinac,Reiss Nelson and Holding.For the rest of the players there are still questions about them.The midfield combinations are not working and I feel Coquelin is the only defensively excellent player we have in the centre.There’s a lot of work to do also on our finishing and our passing.We need to maintain fluidity which is something we lack.
All in all it’s a good win.
Yes my little bruva Reis Nelson, stand up.
That was the sh*t we need, quality for a young man.
You could be the arsenal players for the future , stay fit and you can surpass the standard that wiltshere and Ramsay could have reached without the horrible injuries.
Look what you did today. ?
Walcott… His like a new signing ??
Don’t start u slag 🙂
kondogbias own goal against Chelsea
U have to watch it
Wtf lol
Puskas award incoming
Rmember when we were in for him
Nelson is official. What a future
Shouts out to sead
Still not sure what our line up will be next season with all this sanchez drama cos will really miss him.. iwobi is still not ready to be a starter nd whatsup with our back three..?
Lacazette needs to play more through the middle to gel well because the season starts very soon, and no more friendlies to show that. Xhaka plays well with anyone in the midfield apart from Cocquelin. Rob Holding is not fit yet, Giroud would give attack competition and addition of Lemar would improve our attack. Ofcourse Sanchez stays. But i want us to get another Defensive player either a CB or a DM
After that performance, it’s safe to say that Wenger will have his mind on the clubs money … And his mind is in the Bank!
Its only a friendly no one get carried away.
Reis Nelson though very promising.
Lots of great performances today-
Walcott
Kolasinac
Elneny
Had impressive games
Still look vulnerable in defence. 3 at back helps cope with problem, but underlying problems still remain. And need work
Not a fan of Miles – but his young and one for future. Only youngster that gets me excited has been Willock so far
Reiss Nelson? He was the best player on the pitch!
Kolasinaic is very good going forward, but at the same time he really needs to come back always on time to defend the back 3, i know with time he would improve on that. He really loks very strong and solid as well
Yes, he seems more intent on attacking, which he does very well. Left Niles exposed a lot though. Very good run out for him. We now have a bully on the left side of midfield.
with Monreal playing he would have better cover and also be told to defend… good to finally have a beast of a defender size wise
Nelson great kid, sead great game, Theo n og12 nice goals, iwobi pls up ur game.
Iwobi great goal!
Nice performance from the lads…but that Nelson kid!!! Sead is a BEAST, can’t believe we got him for free…still too early though but I loved what I saw….COYG!!
There is a downside to a great performance in the summer. I’m scared Wenger might think we are good enough without any more signings
He may become content with Kolsanic and Lacazette and forget any more signings to save money.
I hope I’m wrong and Wenger gets Lemar and a top CM
Nelson, walcott, saed are just another sanogo bossing benfica in a noncompetitive Mr. Arsene’s cup.
Will they keep up when the main stage is set?
Time’s a snitch…it will always tell????
Could you be more negative?
He has a point though regarding Walcott who missed two sitters either side of his tap-in goals. He lacks composure and a killer instinct. Good positional sense and technique though.
so right..but far as today goes walcott did ok – we can put his attempt at scoring a rugby try aside.
True.. But don’t fail to realize that in as much as Theo could miss some sitters, he’s got some excellent positioning which we rarely see in our team. He’s able to attract chances to himself when opposition try to close the main striker. He’s got to improve but nice job today.
I don’t really see his first goal as a tap-in. I have seen players miss those type of goals. He also gave a very nice assist to Giroud only for Giroud to miss.
I like Walcott. There is a reason why he is always up there in scoring and assists when he is fit a given a chance.
(This does not mean I don’t think we can do better or should get Lemar, it just means we could do worse on the right wing then Theo, like Ramsey who is awful on the right wing and should be played in the middle)
Surely, Theo won’t. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the other two.
Kolosanic we got a 50m player for free, Nelson is ahead of Iwobi and Chamberlain, chambers impressed too metersacker is done,Niles is ok
Gunners for life
Nice game. Really intresting game till the end. That nelson kid is good waiting for tomorrow
Fools people called the Bosnian power bomb a bad signing ?? He’s super free as I said before he’s like ivanovic in he’s prime just he’s a lot faster, and the 2 young kids nelson and niles whoa look very good but it’s not serious match so let wenger do wat he has do with kids which is odd game for me we overplayed iwobi and he lost he’s way u need protect kids ease them in plus is it me but giroud looks angry as ever looks hurt when he scored I thought he was gona cry, big shout out wenger today he does not deserve that stupid fan came on pitch like wat a joke if I was there when that fan ran on I’d slap da head off em and trust me I’m Irish it’s wat we do well done mr wenger and picked rite team today scored 5 goals I’m happy with that for a game meant nothing .
Good test, nice work out for the boys
Forwards
Walcott looking energised did not have much defensive work in this system and therefore looked comfortable in the role close to Giroud, two goals could have been four. I am hoping he keeps this form into the season.
Giroud used his physical presences well in the match and looked more liked the france Giroud than the arsenal Giroud, especially with theo playing close to him, got a goal and made opportunities for many.
Iwobi all over the park, got a goal and tried quickening the game at times, but for me there is something still lacking. He needs to start dominating games with his skill and physique. May i am being too har on him, but it is about time he steps up.
Midfield
Xhaka seemed to be a little more lobile today so had a decent game, still need to cover the ground quicker and was ok with his distribution
Coquelin unfortunately got injured i hope its just a knock and nothing else, he broke up a lot of bebfica’s play early, high up the pitch and started several attacks, had a nice game before injured
Elneny coquelin replacement did similar, normal a quiet simple player, but played with a lot of flair today, actually looked like a fantastic midfielder today, all over the pitch, distributing and intercepting, a lot of energy. Actually look like he should get more practise at CB, if he is going to play like this in the middle of the park.
Defenders
Nelson, Nelson, benfica’s defenders should know is name quite well, was up and down the flanks. if that is the position he is going to be used in Ox and Bellerin must be urinaating in ther shorts.
Holding seem a little rusty made couple errors, need some more game time to catch up to speed. I felt he should have been on the Asian tour. I am looking to see more improvement from him.
Mert made some errors, but i figure he is very important for the young defenders development and will be used sparingly.
Niles had another rough day, alot of errors at the back, i have no doubt he would be more comfortable in the midfield, but grew the further the game went along.
Kola, or pet name hulk, he is very dangerous going forward and dangerous defending (physically powerful) actually which Coquelin or elneny had his physique, he gave some marvelous service on the right and Benfica surely felt his presence.
Ospina, keeper did his job and actually was beaten by two deflections.
Changes
Chambers, did not even realise that he came on for holding in the second half until the commentator called his name, played a simple game. I really do not see why we would be selling him with Europa coming up.
Ox just got few minutes to run about did not truly settle, but should be wondering i may have put my foot in my own mouth, with Nelson looking so good.
Ozil i thought slowed the pace of the game, was his usual seelf passing away to his merriment.
Laca got to stretch his legs a little looks good playing close to Giroud, perhaps something to think about for Wenger
Monreal had a little exercise nothing else
Ramsay did no have enough time to really work up a sweat, but seem to be getting a better understanding of Ozil.
In all a good win, looking forward to tomorrow’s game, although Sevilla won their game i would have rather played RB who seemed more energetic
I would have loved to see Willock Nketiah and Malen and Mavididi at some point tomorrow. Our youth are really good, they have to be given chances.
Saed Kolasinac already played like a £50 mil player. Good to have him in the squad.
Do u think wenger wil play laca through da middle? Welbeck wil b the no 9 for tomoros game!!! These guy sead did we just for free!!! Real fighter neva gives up boy nelson wel wel just wow
Preseason are fake.
no… the matches really happened Mr Trump !
Even sanogoal looked good in emirates cup?
i think it was a good outing for the youngsters and new signings, and confidence building for Theo. I don’t want to rain on the parade. However, I would not use this as a harbinger of things to come for the season. Arsenal has a history of looking good in pre-season against “not so strong” teams. Benfica was pretty poor at defending. I think that the match against Chelsea will be a better test. If they score 5 against Chelsea starters then we can start dreaming about EPL champions. I believe that Lacazette should be starting against Chelsea.
we scored 3 against them last season and they wom the league… why dont we just take each game as it comes !
With what Nelson have done so far I think Belerin is thinking of extra miles and for D Hulk we’ve just got the remedy of Hazard/Mane heartbreak that has really been our problem last season.