Arsenal had a very tough game against Man United just a few days ago, with both sides being extremely aggressive as if they were trying to injure each other ahead of the new season, and the Gunners had to endure another 90 minutes against Barcelona last night.
To be fair this was Barca’s first game of preseason as the first one was cancelled after sickness spread through the squad, and both teams still looked very uncoordinated, but they certainly put on a feisty show for the over 70,000 crowd in California.
Mikel Arteta felt that he had to point out that the “friendly” was a a bit overly physical. he said on Arsenal.com: “It got really competitive for a friendly match – after the first tackle, after the first goal. Obviously, in front of 70,000 fans it helps to create an atmosphere. They are elite players, and all want to win, and at the end it got a bit too much at times for a friendly to be fair. But I think we showed all the people that came to watch the game that it was really good.”
“At the end of the day, football belongs to the players. We’re playing in front of 70,000 people, and when it comes down to it, as soon as the game starts, they’ll rebel against the coaches and do what they want as soon as there’s the first foul, as soon as there’s the first goal, they’ll start getting intense and they’ll start playing.”
And the Barca boss Xavi was very quick to agree with Arteta, and echoed: “Our intensity didn’t surprise me, theirs did,” Xavi said. “It’s normal for it to be so intense and for there to be so many injuries and yellow cards.
“They were at a very high level of intensity and rhythm that we weren’t expecting.”
I guess it is only right that the Gunners have to be prepared for the unforgiving nature of the Premier League very shortly, so maybe it is a good sign after all. This triumph served as the ideal response after their recent loss to Manchester United in New Jersey on Saturday.
Following this, Arsenal is set to participate in the midweek Emirates Cup match against Monaco on Wednesday. Subsequently, they will face Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley next weekend, leading up to their Premier League opener at home against Nottingham Forest, so we will have to get up to speed very quickly….
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