Gunners Maul Lyon Pussy Cats
Jul 25th, 2015 by 'holic
Proper football returned to the Grove this afternoon with Arsenal hammering Lyon in the wake of Villarreal’s narrow victory over Nicklas Bendtner’s Wolfsburg, our Sunday opponents.
Arsenal, as expected, started a mixed eleven at the start with Emiliano Martinez selected behind a back four of Mathieu Debuchy, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, and Kieran Gibbs. The midfield trio saw Francis Coquelin anchoring, Aaron Ramsey box to box, and Mesut Ozil as creator-in-chief. The width was provided by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and young Alex Iwobi, and Olivier Giroud was given the task of leading the line.
Under a sunny sky what looked like being a competitive match unfolded from the off, with Lyon’s midfield quartet keen to press the ball at every opportunity. The first big opportunity fell to the visitors in the twelfth minute and it took an excellent save by Martinez to deny N’Jie. Aaron Ramsey volleyed over shortly after and Mesut Ozil just failed to apply a spectacular finish to a mishit Giroud effort.
Twenty minutes in Giroud headed narrowly wide from an excellent Debuchy cross. Five minutes on and Grenier, not the only Lyon player with whom we have been linked, limped off after appearing to pull a groin muscle attempting a pass. A minute later Ozil failed to find the finish to match a marvellous through ball from Ramsey but it was just a temporary reprieve for the visitors.
From Ozil’s inch-perfect free-kick Giroud climbed to net with a combination of head and shoulder, and shortly afterwards the Ox produced the perfect end to a lightning break which saw the ball moved from the edge of our own box by three superb passes.
Iwobi got the first senior goal he must have been dreaming of on Friday night from the restart, freed by Rambo to finish well at the near post. The winger was denied a second by the flag of the assistant referee after he had put the finishing touch to a Giroud set-up.
Ozil turned provider again, holding the ball on the left flank until Ramsey galloped forward to finish his clever pass to the French ‘keepers vulnerable spot at the near post, and the Gunners had notched four goals in a dreamy nine minutes of scintillating attacking football.
Martinez again came to the rescue with two smart saves ninety seconds before the end of the half as Lyon looked to respond, but the whistle signalled the end of a wonderful twenty minutes of the Ozil and Ramsey wonder show.
How do you follow that? With further onslaught, of course. Four minutes into the second-half the Ox was denied a second by a deflection. N’Jie reminded the Gunners that the visitors could be dangerous on the break, but the Lyon attacker fired wide of the target.
Lacazette, auditioning for Arsene Wenger it is rumoured, found himself offside but Martinez saved his tame effort anyway. The current incumbent of the Arsenal striker’s berth volleyed narrowly wide in the 58th minute. Giroud looks in the mood to challenge those who have an eye on his role.
On the hour Lyon countered again but Ferri blazed wide and that merely prompted Ramsey and Giroud to set up the amazing Ozil who steered his finish across goal and inside the far post. With a five goal lead Arsene decided to rest the entertainers, bringing on Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta for Ozil and Rambo. Iwobi too was treated to deserved applause as he gave way to Chuba Akpom, denied a grand entrance when Lopes saved his deflected effort.
The final substitutions saw Theo Walcott, the newly recruited youngster Jeff Reine-Adelaide, and Isaac Hayden replace Giroud, the Ox, and le Coq. As the match fizzled out there was yet one more strike to complete a thrashing. Santi Cazorla’s cheeky free-kick went under the wall for Arsenal’s sixth of the contest.
Now I don’t know what this comprehensive performance drubbing of Lyon tells us about the season to come, if anything. The French team were clearly blown away rather too easily by that nine minute spell in the first-half. Still, you can only beat what is in front of you, and Arsenal certainly put poor opponents to the sword. Wolfsburg too will need to improve on their display today if they are to stop the Gunners from winning their own tournament on Sunday.
Until then, have a good one, ‘holics.
72 Responses to “Gunners Maul Lyon Pussy Cats”
First!
We lovr you pre-season Arsenal, we do!
Cheers H. Good stuff. Let’s hope the season turns into a continuous ‘Ozil and Ramsey wonder show.’ (Maybe let some of the others have a go too.)
It’s been too long since the last match report. How long ’til the next?
Little rite of passage today. Countryman junior went down to the Grove with his mates, on the train, without Dad for the first time. £7 each on the train and £14 each for the two matches. That’s what I call a value Saturday. Team were fantastic today from what I could see on BT Sport (David James really doesn’t like us does he?), especially Mesut, Ox and Rambo. Looking forward to another Wembley trip to take on the chavs next week.
Interesting audition from Lacazette. Although he appeared to be auditioning for the role of chief cone collector at the training ground. Didn’t seem to have pace or much else of anything really. One game, I know, but on the strength of that I have no idea why the massed ranks of our finest journalists seem to think he is of sufficient quality for Arsenal.
Maybe today was their first sight of the player as well…..
Great day today! Absolutely shattered.
The guys looked in noticeably good shape for a friendly. Very good possession and counter attacking play. Excellent technically and even a few good tackles and break of play from the likes of Coquelin, Ramsey and Arteta!
They looked very organised and appear to have gelled well. If this team can last the distance they’ll make an impact. But standards need to remain consistently high!
Of course it’s way too early and not the right contest to judge them but the above still apply to what was witnessed today.
Day 2 is always tougher, so let’s see!
A quick note on Martinez!
He appears very aware. I noticed his distribution was Cech-esque!
Still young with room for improvement, but made crucial saves at the right times!
Early days yet.
Had a bit of dejavu today. Saw a young Henry gliding around the pitch with his double barreled surname. Aged 17. Was I the only one who sat up and thought: what have we here?
Are we really playing Wolfsburg despite their loss to Villareal maestro? If TGSWEL scores it will stink of match fixing. Should not be complaining after a six goal “win” I suppose but aren’t most tournaments designed for the winners to meet in the final?
bt8: the Emirates Cup has never been a “semi final followed by a final” type of tournament. Arsenal always play the late kick off on both days.
Great to read a match report after such a long time. I hope Our Correspondent has to write many more reports of six-goal thrillers over the next ten months.
COYG
Nice report, H. Hope the elbow stood up to the typing.
It’s very hard to prognosticate the season from such pre-season friendlies. However it’s a better omen to hand out a drubbing than to take one.
I thought Martinez showed excellent handling, Debuchy showed great vision and technique in his passing range, our CBs were unruffled, Gibbs looked confident and fit, Coq is carrying on where he left off, Ozil and Rambo were imperious, AOC looked lively and hungry, HFB took his goal well and linked well and Iwobi shows great promise and Santi is still a cheeky chappy.
All good stuff.
COYGs
Easy Peasy H.
From your report it would appear you were not there in person. ??
Keeping your powder dry for Wembley next week i assume.
Once the first goal went in,the dam burst,and a clear lack of match fitness in the opposition was shown up big time.
Good performance all round.
There will be some very twitchy players during next week in the build up to the Chelsea game,as you would think AW will want to start his preferred 11 in that game, in readiness for the opening PL fixture against the Hammers the following week.
That was a joyful watch! Some very nice goals and a well-controlled passing game. Good fitness and understanding on show.
The youngsters all looked good. Martinez was flawless in goal. Iwobi with a confident and tricky display summed up by a high-quality goal. Akpom with a few good runs and a good attempt at goal. But most impressed by the 17 year old new signing Adelaide, who showed some superb close-control and footwork, and very athletic.
Ozil was a pleasure to watch, best performer by a margin, and a well-taken goal to end his day.
Some excellent goals, Santi’s very clever free-kick — waiting for the wall to jump and then rolling in on the ground — is unique memorable.
We will add this year’s Emirates Cup to our pre-season trophy haul. 🙂
Nice report hol’ whilst on my hols!
Encouraging performance from the lads that showed a simmering hunger and “desire” for the upcoming season. All played well but our two Wizards of the day were most notable (the Welsh Wiz and the Wizard of Oz).
Bring on Wolfsberg in preparation for that oedious cunt and his vile offspring next weekend.
Up the Arse all day long!
Wonderful stuff all round.
Great fame and find report.
As for the six goal thrillers Pangloss, I trust they will be victories!
Very impressed with Ramsey today he played a quarterback role. Ox showed what we have when he is fully fit and I liked Iwobi , Martinez and Ozil.
I agree about David James. Since the ? rise? of Talk Sport it is now permissible to be biased, disingenuous and just plain inaccurate if it creates a bit of controversy. He is a poor ‘ expert’
Arsenal are looking good and Wenger has them where he wants them, if a world- class player ( especially a striker) comes up he will improve the team otherwise what’s the point of buying anyone who wo t improve the squad.Love to see Bielik have a top quality game tomorrow.
A win in July does not a season make, but not much not to like on show today. In Akpom and Iwobi, AW may have two strikers for the future.
Didn’t see the game and unsure what exactly we beat, but 6-0 speaks for itself. Well done everyone. Particularly pleasing to hear of Emily fulfilling the promise I saw in him last year, and also of Özilla’s growing influence in the 10 spot. Could this finally be his turning point? He’s always had it in him but has rarely delivered consistently.
It also seems that Ollie G isn’t going to make it easy to replace him … goodonyer mon brave.
And Alexis still to come of course, and young Theo has signed the thing, and that double-barrel newbie reminding people of TH14?
Rarely has a pre-season looked better. Let’s wrap it up on Sunday, shelve a second trophy, and then grind the chavs into the Wembley dust for a third … all before the new season kicks off! Way to go.
UTA.
Öskar
Oskar @18,
OG is a worldy in my books for a target man! End of! No need for another striker unless he’s another worldy that can do EXACTLY the same job as OG. I’d take Dzeko but for me he’s only back up to OG! CDM as direct equal to Le Coq and we’re ready to go!
Up the Arse!
I’d settle for a class CD, DanC, and leave the rest as is. Unless another Özil or Alexis can be pulled from AW’s chapeau, you can’t have too much class. As last year my dream signings would be Reus and Hummels.
But I can live we what we have.
Öskar
*with what we have…
Savage @ 8: Just saw your post. Not just you, many others including myself have taken notice.
His close control in tight space, sure touch and movement were all very impressive for a 17 year old. As Arsene said, he is something special.
Oskar @ Dapper: more than the goal (shoulder-ed) the two assists to Ox and Ozil were typical of Giroud’s somewhat unique ability to drop down, hold up and create scoring opportunities for other forwards and midfielders. In 13-14 this worked very well with both Rambo and Poldi being beneficiaries. With a fit Theo, fit Rambo and Ozil finding his scoring conviction, combined with Giroud’s improved technical abilities we will see more of these.
For all of Alexis’s brilliance last season, there were times when he tried to take too much upon himself and sort of given up on team-play. His stubborn directness and never-give-up attitude compliment his technical abilities, but I think Alexis would become a truly unstoppable player in this Arsenal line-up if he balances his game a little bit more towards the collective movement. Not a lot of changes, but just a little less of the solitary forays. He has grown a good understanding with Ozil and Santi, who are more matured and understand his game better. But if he can foster that sort of understanding with players of a little less technical and perceptive abilities in Theo, Rambo and Giroud our forward line would be unplayable.
@23 … “attitude complement his technical … “
It’s not friendlies against under par French teams that we need OG to dominate it’s the big matches against the big teams. Tight games like the games against Chelsea where he misses key early chances ( of kate chances). Something tells me that he will play better if top class alternatives are at hand . If Benzema or Lewandoski are available that would be excellent . Preferably the latter.
Unless we play Kos or BFG today at CB we have to find a new partnership to counter the great TGSTEL. Interesting to see if Chambers will partner Gabriel.
Might see
Cech
Bellerin Chambers Gabriel Monreal
Arteta ( Bielik) Wilshere Santi
Walcott Akpom Reine Adelaide
Or late chances ( not of kate chances) ?
Injured passing the ball ?
Sign him up!
The opposition yesterday may have been below par but you have to admire the show we put on for the full house of expectant fans.
Great team goals by different goal scorers and a very impressive display by Martinez. I too noted young Adelaide as quite a prospect and hope I get to see more of him at the Ems this afternoon.
Where was Jack? He wasn’t on the bench and can only hope nothing is amiss and will be in the side against Wolfsburg. Potentially interesting back 5 today, I doubt I shall see a similar goal vest but greatly looking forward to my first taster of footie this season.
COYRs
I want a goal vest!
Delia- When you swing by the Armoury do you think you could pick one up for me? Please!
They are like string vests but the holes are bigger.
🙂
Perhaps Delia’s got a vested interest 😉 I’ll get my coat…much needed today!
tired myself out gettin my coat in here , Up
i just put one on afore i type
saves time
😉
and no mayor big sol for london it seems
still surprises me that people are surprised
when multimillionaire ex footballers
crawl out of their mock tudor woodwork
and say they vote tory
.
anyhoo
.
toodle oo
Cba….it surprises me that some multi-millionaire footballers get out of their bubble and actually vote. Toodle pip.
true Up
true
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33639154
.
clearly more to that story , i presume
quite the dandy , livingstone
Is it time for Mourinho to be eviscerated by flocks of flesh eating pterodactyls?
Have we signed anyone yet?
Silly boy. 🙂
Thanks, Holic.
I don’t have BT and have no intention of paying for it so I missed yesterday’s game entirely. Your report was, therefore, much appreciated. 😉
Afternoon all you fine denizens of the word’s finest online bar, hope you’re all keeping well.
I decided to take a bit of a break from al the computer related hocus pokery, mindnumbing speculation and other assorted claptrap and just enjoy the summer (sit in the garden and drink beer and stuff), but now it’s nearly new season time, bloody hell it went quick didnt it?, I’m back. I’ve done the ol’ backdrink so I’m pretty much up to date, great guest posts gents, kudos to you all.
Glad you enjoyed the trip scruz, sounds like you had a blast in my old neighbourhood, cheers for sharing. Too many great drinks to start replying to them all, but a special “well played, sir” must go out to Mr Waterman for helping us to remember our fallen comerade Gooner Terry. Plus I hope things are looking up for cba, who even though seemed a bit down, still had me chuckling with his musings.
Oh, and did I see the Rev sneak back in wearing a false ‘tache and disguise?
I do hope so.
Up The Gunners!!!!!!!!!!
Cech, Bel, Chambers, Gabriel, Monreal, Arteta, Santi, R-Ade, Ozil, LJW, Feo.
Subs;
The rest of the squad.
Pretty good team prediction, ttg.
Looking into the drinks my flabber was utterly gasted by good old Doctor Faustus @ 23.
While we were basking in the potential of a 6-0 win against the best financially un-doped team in France, the Doctor was launching into deep and meaningfuls on the shortcomings of the absolutely amazing Alexis Sanchez.
“”For all of Alexis’s brilliance last season, there were times when he tried to take too much upon himself and sort of given up on team-play. His stubborn directness and never-give-up attitude compliment his technical abilities, but I think Alexis would become a truly unstoppable player in this Arsenal line-up if he balances his game a little bit more towards the collective movement. Not a lot of changes, but just a little less of the solitary forays.””
He sort of gave up on team play when all the ‘human’ members of the team were too knackered to get up the pitch with him – running the ball through the opposition ranks, taking battering after battering, to relieve pressure on our defence. What more can he do for the “collective movement” than run himself silly week in, week out, when half the first team were lying in the treatment room.
And oh, those irritating “solitary forays”. Just like that one at Wembley to score one of the best FA Cup Final goals of all time. Yes, if only he wouldn’t be so selfish.
We have paid £35 million for one of the best talents on the planet. Let’s not have Championship Managers trying to stifle him from the touchlines, eh?
He contributes just fine.
Always seems to be me railing against this stuff but, please ….
AL – get back in here and help me out, mate …….
Thanks Ned . Not bad prediction on the team front.See 25
10/11- Ozil for Akpom was my mistake so Theo will play through the middle and the exciting Reine Adelaide will start
What Trev said.
Good to see Cech starting. Can’t wait until next sun.
TTG must be ITK. 😉
Cheers Lars, and a fine one to you.
Second best in that first half. At least we know we’re in a game this time.
Pffffeo
scores!
Lovely goal.
Cech big save.
Over the past two days the kids have impressed me a lot: Martinez, Iwobe, Adelaide and Hayden all looked excellent and several can play a covering role this season. Afobe needs to get his head up more often but certainly makes it difficult to see roles for Campbell and Sanogo.
Cheers, bath.
I missed it all again. No BT and getting ready for holiday.
Did you succumb to the charms of BT Sport in the end ?
Afobe doesn’t play for us anymore Bath. 😛
I have the current package until 31 July Trev. I’m still weighing up changing my ISP to BT to get the £5pm deal on the ECL. I’m not going to pay the current ‘offer’ of £21pm extra to get it on my current arrangement.
Chuba then H2H. Wrong surname.
21 quid extra is ridiculous.
My packet doesn’t even cost 20 euro.
Trev @ 49: Calm down. Just my opinion, I am sure no one in Arsenal set-up ever reads our random rumination here, so no fear of this championship manager stifling Alexis.
And leave your sarcasm and misery at your home, please! There is a simple way to disagree with someone’s opinion. And much civil.
Alexis has been a great player for us, but to say that there is nothing in his game that has any scope for improvement is I am sure that he himself would not agree with. And I am sure you will see more of the balance I was talking about in evidence this season.
It is always the best of the lot that gets better, and don’t settle for “just fine”.
I saw all the Copa matches that Chile played this season, and was surprised how much Alexis tuned his game — partly because of fatigue and soreness, but also because he knew these players for nearly 5-7 years or more — to the rhythm of the squad. He calibrated his movements and passes to be in sync with a relatively ordinary player in Edu Vargas, making Vargas look to be a much better player than he is.
That is what true greats do, make the others look better than they are.
Alexis is not yet a true world class great, but he will be for us, and he would make even relatively lesser talents like Theo and Giroud shining brighter.
Did well in the second half today. I was mighty impressed by a few of the youngsters. Reine plays with a swagger way beyond his tender years, Hayden looked pretty assured in his cameo too. Apkom isn’t there yet, as Bath said, needs to get his head up. His decision making was a little suspect over the weekend.
All in all a little more disjointed performance then the previous day, but we still managed to win against a very stubborn German side. The clean sheet was also extra pleasing. 7 goals for and none against, with two completly different back fives, that can’t be bad.
Dr Faustus,
Funny how anyone who ever disagrees with you is either sarcastic, miserable, violent, lacking calm or, in some way, bullying you.
I do not need to calm down – I don’t think I was uncivil to you either. You do seem to be a rather precious soul.
You hit your own nail bang on the head though – random rumination.
I do attend matches matches every week and see all of what Alexis does. I am sure, with a fully fit Arsenal first team around him, he will adapt his game to your liking, just as he did for Chile. I will have to bow to your superior knowledge on his motivation fro adapting, not having had the chance to speak to him about how fatigued or sore he was.
He tried to carry the team at times last season, for sure he did – what was left of it – with a super human effort.
I’m just curious, no I’m not, I’m bewildered as to what brings on a critique of Alexis Sanchez, who wasn’t even in the squad, in the wake of a 6-0 pre-season victory.
And I’m supposed to leave “my misery at home” !
I’ll await your inevitable, long and condescending reply, but I won’t bother responding for the benefit of others.
or screw BT alltogether (they are still HUGE cunts in my books after last years ad for Premiere League when they included our games away at Liverpool and Chelsea) and just use russian streams ..*cough cough*
“…. but I won’t bother responding for the benefit of others.”
I’m sure that regulars love to indulge in your bizarre and unprovoked attacks towards most reasonable contributors.
Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Upson, Keown, Winterburn, Petit, Parlour, Viera, Bergkamp, Anelka.
That was the team playing for Arsenal (in Coventry) on the day Jeff Reine-Adelaide was born (in Paris).
Was that really 17 years ago?
Trev @ 65: Actually it is typically only you who disagree (at least with my posts) in a manner that indicates that you not only disagree with the opinion, but also find the person you think lies behind those ideas to be disagreeable. At least that is the way it reads to me. I am not offended, but simply find the unpleasantness of the exchange unnecessary. Maybe you are being sarcastic in a good-humored way, but lacking any clues into your facial expressions it is hard for the readers, at least this reader who has never met you, to know about it. I find the best way to express disagreements on opinions in the Internet forums is using a simple direct factual statement. And leave the color commentary while expressing original opinions or making comments about some “external” constructs — Spurs or the state of FIFA, for instance. You want your readers to laugh with you.
For instance, you wrote “I will have to bow to your superior knowledge on his motivation fro adapting, not having had the chance to speak to him about how fatigued or sore he was.” Well there were comments and interviews from the Chile camp and journalists covering Copa that Alexis was not fully fit, and you can see in the match that he is holding back on his sprints.
It is not condescending, it is not even an advice. You are free to express your opinion whichever way you want. It reads unnecessarily unpleasant to me, so I let you know. I guess I should not as you cannot help writing in that style, as I probably cannot help let my thoughts stray too ponderously reflective sometimes.
My comment was not a critique, it was simply an observation that we play our best when it is a collective game — a very well-known fact, and something Arsene publicly champions — and Alexis can probably tweak his style a little bit. The observation came about because I was imagining Alexis in this line-up which seemed to have move forward in terms of movement and interchanges, and was wondering how Alexis would make it so much better.
This is what I had written, “I think Alexis would become a truly unstoppable player in this Arsenal line-up if he balances his game a little bit more towards the collective movement.” Hoping one of your best player make a small adjustment to move the collective significantly forward is not a criticism in my opinion. I guess we disagree there.
NBN @ 68: I was just getting into Arsenal by then, following Bergkamp. Not yet a fan, still was holding skepticism about the smash-and-bang of English football. I was barely past 20 then, and unfortunately was taught growing up in the 80s and 90s that English football is nothing but hooliganism. 🙁
I was staying in France for a while, I caught a few recorded games encouraged by my French colleagues who were following Arsenal because of Paddy. This was after the 98 world cup.
Then I traveled back to India and then to US. Stopped watching football as it was hard to find. Started again in the early 2000s, many less games directly on show…then came the second double season. 🙂
Adelaide is something special, more than special. The effortless grace of his movements, and that close control, and the composure…we keep him fit and we have a genuine champion in our hands.
Easy tigers, ta. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Watched all of the game today on BT Sport a station that at one stage spent about a minute with the camera on one Wolfsburg defender with the inset camera firmly fixed on his brother – while the game went on unshown.
Wolfsburg as befits a side that finished as runners- up in the Bundesliga were no mugs and were the better team until the first half although we went closest to scoring. In the second half I thought the introduction of Akpom( aka Afobe;)) , Ox and Ramsey wrested control away from the Germans whose shooting was very erratic.
Thought Cech did very solidly, like Gabriel enormously, worry that Arteta is not the right back- up for Le Coq and think LJW always promises more than he delivers but is a beautiful player to watch. As for Reine Adelaide one can see why that old has- been Wenger might feel £50 m for Sterling a tad OTT. He is a real thoroughbred and looks much older than 17. Nice also to see Hayden back, I think that boy can play and could be the right back- up for Coquelin.
Wenger seems keen to keep Iwobi and JRA at the club next season with Akpom. I think Iwobi and Akpom might benefit from training with us all week and playing for Bournemouth at the weekend.
Can someone sort this?