Jack Shines As AA Rescues Arsenal
Aug 1st, 2009 by 'holic
I got in just in time to see Philippe Senderos, in civvies, chatting to Manuel Almunia. Immediately I thought we are down to five central defenders now, Arsene! Arseblog provided plausible confirmation that the Swiss defender is heading to Goodison. We certainly have cashed in handsomely on those who were by no means likely to feature this season, for one reason or another. Now it is time to re-stock the larder please boss!
The forty-five minutes that followed were a disjointed affair, with the only real highlight being another half of football for Tomas Rosicky. Only a well-judged offside flag denied him a very tidily taken goal. The second contest of the weekend may come a bit early for him. Let’s hope he suffers no adverse reaction and is fit to play some part in Valencia next Saturday.
What followed after the break was altogether more inspiring, with half-time substitute Jack Wilshere producing a performance that earned him the man-of-the-match award. Perhaps the injury to Samir Nasri has opened a window of opportunity for young Jack, and he seems eminently capable of flinging it wide open. The seventeen year old was overshadowed only by an astonishing final four minutes.
The game looked won when Andrei Arshavin applied a superb volleyed finish to Cesc’s intelligent far-post chip, but a dozing defence was caught square two minutes later and Pacheco seemed to have earned Atletico a share of the spoils.
Madrid delight turned to despair in the final minute when the astonishing Arshavin skipped past ‘keeper Valera and finished from a seemingly impossible angle. There is much to look forward to from the Russian as he prepares for his first full season in the Premiership.
I will resist the temptation to talk further about the strength of the squad until after the final game of the weekend against Rangers. We have a friendly-free week to speculate all we like then.
Cheers ‘holics.
35 Responses to “Jack Shines As AA Rescues Arsenal”
Vodka and Tonic please ‘holic!
With a Jack chaser.
Its so amazing what that 17 year old could do. I will be looking forward to watching tomorrow’s game. I will be wearing my Nigerian dress with my wife too. Hope the camera gets me, lol. 9ice game
heya ‘holic
i, too, was at the game today. i must say, the player that impressed me the least was Aaron Ramsey, and Jack Whilshire thoroughly deserved his MOTM award. AA was utterly stupendous at times, scaring the living hell out of their defenders.
I do see a rather large whole in our side though, and it is in terms of covering our back line from the midfield, as everyone has been saying for ages now. The trouble is, Im not sure Viera is the solution to our issue either.
Thoughts?
Are you heading to the game tomorrow as well? If so, maybe I’ll catch you there, as I missed you at the Barnett game..
Cheers!
One thing that I was disappointed at was the booing of Reyes – he didn’t deserve that. I think the crowd are a little too fickle these days.
Denilson too slow but never gets subbed find this odd.He must be a Wenger favourite.
well done holic, fizzy for dizzy please
Evening ‘holic,
pint of cider please.
The standard post-match Carlsberg for me, please. π
Typical pre season game and hopefully a valubale run out. Thought Rosicky looked very good. Sharp, creative and above all very hungry. Back 4 looked shakey, especially in the middle. That will need to be adressed.
2nd half was totally different. Wilshere seemed to be the injection that was needed. He is superb on either foot and is so fast. He already seems stronger and more powerful that lats season. He could be a real handful this season if he continues to develop like that. I look at Theo at his age and to be honest I do not think Theo is in the same class. Jack looks streets ahead. I just hope his development continues at the same rate.
For me Arshavin did not really get involved as much as I would have liked. Then he produces 2 bits of clinical finishing. Could be just what we are looking for??????????
Keep the faith.
Agreed Snail. I thought the booing of Reyes was petty.
laker, welcome. I’ll say this now, and doubtless more later. We let Pat go for a reason, and I want to remember Vieira the legend, not see him getting stick from our more fickle supporters because he is no longer the player he was. He isn’t coming back.
what i love most about jack is that he’ll push walcott to improve. and now he wont use the ‘im young and got time’ line coz an even younger player is coming up with very mature perfomances. can only be good for arsenal.
oooh. arshavin for EPL top goal scorer
Hi,deji.Good to hear gunners from nigeria.my yahoo mail is ophet4real,i’ll like to meet you,am a diehard arsenal fan in nigeria and it will be nice meeting other Niger arsenal fan in london too.Wilshere is ARSENAL’S MESSI.he must start getting playing time now,coz he deserve it..
I would like to see Vieira back but in some sort of coaching role. He could be great for some of the younger players. He obvously has a deep love of the club and hopefully some of that would rub off as well.
What about Vieira in a coaching role though, ‘holic? Would he add value there? I’m not sure he is a natural coach either.
Heh Steve T, similar thoughts at the same time.
Not this year, Snail. He wants to play in the World Cup and needs first team football. Really he needs to be at a club like Fulham where he will be guaranteed first team football if he is fit.
Longer term though that is a great idea, and he would obviously be welcome back at Shenley.
I may ask for a drink but I fear I’m already fairl y drunk.
for sure wilshere deserves all tha credit as he played fantastic.i have a beef with bendtner though,he iz stil slow on the ball…!wenger shd consider selling him fast!nway woud love 2 see vieira back in squad though.-kudos 2 arshavin!
Proof once again that Bentner,Denilson and Djourou are not first team players and remain “squad fillers”!
Jack is bringing pure quality to the 1st plus he has already said Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe will follow him soon. Walcott is not in their class, with pace no tricks or football intelligence, Wilshire will end Wengers facination with Walcott and highlight the folly in wasting 10 million on him. Go on Jack do your thing.
“Agreed Snail. I thought the booing of Reyes was petty.
laker, welcome. Iβll say this now, and doubtless more later. We let Pat go for a reason, and I want to remember Vieira the legend, not see him getting stick from our more fickle supporters because he is no longer the player he was. He isnβt coming back”
Agreed, and agreed.
Suppose a Jack is the way to go this evening? No ice.
I agree with you Snail, the fans are damn fickle! As an American Gooner I rarely get to hear the fans’ comments in person, but I happen to be on holiday here in London this week and caught the rare live match. I can’t understand why there is this small group of so called “supporters” whose only purpose in life seems to be to slag off our own players (and very loudly)! There was one jerk just behind me who was slagging off Bendtner from the Dane’s first touch to his last (and I thought Bendtner played a decent game and will be a star for us this year…), and also was slagging off Diaby who wasn’t even in the squad today! What’s up with that? Aren’t we supposed to gee up the team and not knock them down? I think we could learn a LOT from the Rangers fans that were in the stadium today, god the noise the boys in blue produced. If only we could be half as loud and positive!
Jack The Ripper!
Wilshere’s magic, he’s really going to make it! it’s great to see Merida in 1st-team action too, could anybody tell what number he did wear tonight? And what numbers did wear those benchwarmers Szeszny & Watt?
Wish AW would consider Gallas as a holding midfielder?
He is too small at the back and makes too many mistakes.
Maybe I don’t understand footie, but I don’t think the odd mistake or misplaced pass or being slow on the ball (or off it) in certain situations means a player has had a bad game, let alone don’t belong in the first team. FFS! How can perfectionism be a fan’s default position on a player?!
Agreed Siddharta. Let’s give them a little more time before completely writing them off just yet hey??
I unfortunately missed the 2nd half (had a wedding to attend), although have just seen the goals. AA is the real deal!!
Am disappointed to have missed Jack’s MOTM award winning performance in the 2nd half but it is great to know we have that sort of talent coming through and pushing for a regular place in the 1st team.
I’ll drink [another] large glass of Rioja to that please barman.
1. Jack was fantastic, bringing a sense of anticipation every time the ball lands at his feet.
2. Interesting to see Merida and Cesc on the field at the same time. I thought Merida would’ve gotten into our captain’s way but surprisingly not.
3. Vito Mannone looks okay between the sticks, doesn’t he??
4. Eboue really worked his socks off. I like that. Had time for a stinging shot too.
The goal for atletico came (in my opinion) because we had fran and cesc on the field at the same time and denilson was caught slightly napping. Ramsey in the first half provided some sort of cover as he was more willing. Don’t be so short sighted, Djourou did pretty well throughout the game and was unfortunate to have let that pass slip.
Arshavin proving what could (and i say this with huge ” ” around the word) be on the Boss’s mind. We’ll simply score more than what they can throw at us.
Anyway, excellent to watch Cesc and Arshavin working so well together. Even more excellent to watch Rosicky back, he looks really toned huh? Gawd knows he brings so much to this side.
Pace wasn’t Senderos’ best strength but positioning and keeping the defensive line was. However, many a time Toure fucked up the positioning by getting caught deep. Now Toure used to have the pace to make up for that, while Senderos didn’t . So for many a goal that was scored against Arsenal β for which indirectly Toure was responsible β Senderos was blamed because he was the favorite scapegoat of Arsenal fans both on blogosphere and at the Emirates. This constantly started to eat away at his confidence till he was a shadow of the player he could have been.
The final nail in Senderos’ arsenal coffin was because of Wenger. Toure was off to the ANC during the winter of 2008. During that time Senderos did a magnificent job , partnering well with Gallas and keeping the great defensive run going. Infact, and I have stats to prove it, Arsenal’s best run came during the time Toure was away on ANC duty. Why Wenger felt the need to tinker with things, I have no idea. But he did. He brought Toure back into the team. Arsenal lost Eduardo and lost their defensive stability and the title. And then , one bad error β could have happened to anyone β led to a Sami Hyypia goal and that day was probably the end of Senderos’ career at Arsenal.
Phil is an example of a player who either through misfortune or plain bad luck don’t make it.
I wish Philippe all the best. I have read his interviews and he comes across as a very intelligent fellow.
He will do well for Everton. I hope Arsene has kept a sell-on or buy back clause for Senderos because he could just flourish at Everton and be the world class player we all thought he would be back in 2005.
@Finnish Brady:
Merida was #32;
regarding Wilshire — he was good but lets not get carried away; it is just a pre-season friendly; the question remains can he do it week in week out with folks hacking down his ankle?
As a die-hard Malaysian gooner,I’m really impress with the way Jack and Fran contribution. I hope AW will bring back Pat to the team. He will not play week in week out but he’ll give the leadership back to the team. I am not saying Cesc lacking of that ability but he’s just not a natural leader. The defence need to add some steel and I hope AW will do it before the transfer window close. We really need it. I have 100% trust in AW!!!
Bring back the glory day for the gooners all over the world.
A good game, very slow and confused in the first half but The Gunners have shown their true colors in the second half, some wastage in front of goals but well this is a pre season game and once Arshavin and Fabregas came in, an absolute grace to see that Arsene’s biys have not lost their final touch in the crucial seconds.
Go ARSENAL!!!
PS: will go for a drink too π
@Sajit: Excellent insight. I’m really pissed off to see Senderos having to go, mostly because he doesn’t please the know-nothing brigade enough. He is an excellent defender with plenty of potential and a never-die attitude. I wish him all the best in his career.
Echo that Matt. Well said.