After a gap of 6 years, our season kicked off with the Community Shield though this year it’s in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium not Wembley. We have won the last five Community Shields in which we’ve participated though the last time we lost this match was at this very venue (then called the Millennium Stadium) in 2005 against Chelsea. The Shield match was staged in Cardiff six times at the beginning of this century, while Wembley was being redeveloped, and Arsenal appeared in four of those, winning two and losing two. We’ve won all three prior meetings with C115y in this match.
Mikel’s team was Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Lewis-Skelly, Guimarães, Ødegaard; Madueke, Havertz, Tzolis; Rice and Saka returned to the bench, joining Kepa, Hincapié, Zubimendi, Merino, Eze, Dowman and Gyökeres.
The absence of Martinelli, Nwaneri and Jesùs from the squad prompted speculation about their futures but in his post-match interview, MA8 said the FA rules restricted the number of subs that could be named and he had protested this as these players all deserved to be in the squad – time will tell. The absence of Salmon was also disappointing, particularly as the bench was extremely light in defensive cover.
Arsenal kicked off and retained possession for the first 24 seconds with close control and interplay on the edge of the opposition box, then MLS let the ball run across him, turned and split the defence with a killer pass to Calafiori who was running unmarked into the box and slid the ball past Donnarumma into the net. [1-0]
Apart from a block on Calafiori’s initial pass towards their box (it could be argued that Riccardo had played a wall pass off the defender!), no C115y player had touched the ball until they kicked off 1-0 down! We remained on the front foot and a sweet pass into space from Ødegaard found Calafiori running towards the box who played it on to Tsolis’ but his shot was deflected into Donnarumma’s hands.
Arsenal dominated early possession and territory with a very dynamic Ødegaard prominent in possession and a high press being activated when out of possession.
An early riposte was a curling cross from Anderson from the right that a free Haaland failed to meet in front of goal on 17 minutes. Just two minutes later Foden found himself free on the edge of our box and his excellent shot was parried by Raya to Mosquera who was fouled by some lout. A nice back-heel from Madueke set Guimarães free in the box but his cutback was blocked.
Foden then saw yellow for a crass foul as Tzolis ran out of our box following a C115y corner. Our interplay out of defence was very impressive at this stage.
On 27 minutes, a looping left-footed cross to the far post by Ødegaard was nodded by Tzolis square to Havertz whose header downwards squirmed past Donnarumma. [2-0]
On 37 minutes after a lovely build up, Calafiori went down in the box only to acquire a yellow card for simulation, correctly. Immediately after that a superb Raya save from a Haaland shot from 8 yards was followed by a superb diving block by Calafiori of another C115y shot from within our box. The Italian stallion then met a lovely cross from White at the far post but his shot flew over the bar. In added time a cut back from Havertz was met by Ødegaard but his underpowered shot was scrambled off the goal line by Gvardiol.
Half Time: Arsenal 2 – 0 C115y
We had bossed the first half apart from five minutes towards its end and thoroughly deserved our 2-0 lead. Ødegaard’s contributions stood out, not only for offensive creativity but also for tigerishly regaining possession in midfield several times – the captain certainly looked back to his best. Likewise, MLS had looked good both with and without the ball, while Tzolis had been equally impressive driving forward and tracking back. The contributions of Calafiori and Raya were crucial.
A rather subdued Guimarães was replaced at half time by Declan Rice and Grealish replaced Doku for C115y. Guimarães reappeared to join the bench with ice on his thigh.
Only two minutes into the second half, Tzolis played a square pass to Ødegaard along the edge of the C115y box, and the Norwegian stepped past a defender, shimmied to sit the keeper down, and stroked the ball into the net. Simply beautiful! [3-0]
C115y responded by taking Haaland off for Mamoush and O’Reilly for Guehi.
‘Ole’s’ started at 55 minutes just to tempt fate but didn’t last long. As the game drew towards the hour mark, we conceded possession and territory and challenged C115y to break down our defence. Before 60 minutes came up, Calafiori was replaced by Hincapié and Madueke by Saka while C115y replaced Foden with Cherki and Anderson with Lewis.
A sweet turn by Ødegaard outside our box led to a burst forward by Saka who shot the ball into the side netting at a tight angle when a cut back would have ben more productive.
By the three-quarter mark, the game had settled into a pattern of C115y camped on the edge of our box but failing to penetrate our defence, ultimately turning over possession for an Arsenal break. One break saw Tzolis meet a Havertz knock on and release Saka whose drive into the box was aborted at full stretch by Donnarumma pushing the ball away at full stretch. On 72 minutes, Raya then had to parry a long range shot from Cherki which was C115y’s first shot on target in the second half.
On 75 minutes MLS and Havertz were replaced by Zubimendi and Gyökeres. Gvardiol then tried to buy a penalty by collapsing holding his face after a shoulder to shoulder barge by White. On 78 minutes Gonzalexz replaced Kovacic.
Immediately after, a sweet move upfield finished with a square ball from Hincapié across the box to Saka who, unmarked, surprisingly put it over the bar when he really should have added a fourth. Raya then pulled off a brilliant save at full stretch from Semenyo’s low shot after a Cherki had run across our box.
Just before he was substituted by Eze on 83 minutes, Ødegaard was booked for a clumsy foul on Grealish.
As 3 minutes added time commenced a square ball from Cherki across our 6 yard box looked dangerous but there were no C115y players near it to take advantage.
Full Time: Arsenal 3 – 0 C115y
This well deserved victory was appropriately met by a rousing verse of “North London Forever”! The Arsenal was streets ahead of C115y today and 3-0 did not flatter us. The players had recaptured the free-flowing silky moves of a couple of seasons back and were an absolute pleasure to watch.
Ødegaard deservedly lifted the Man of the Match award and Tzolis, MLS and Havertz weren’t far behind. Raya made several excellent saves, White put in a full shift, Mosquera and Gabriel looked extremely secure and Calafiori rampaged forward brilliantly while not skimping on his defensive responsibilities. As noted above, Guimarães’ contribution wasn’t prominent but he did make several key passes and interceptions. Madueke was tricky and threatening but as ever, unproductive. Of the subs, only Rice and Saka caught the eye and they will benefit from an easy run out against that demoralised shower.
The Arsenal has won the first silverware of the new season.
More, please!
Excellent report, Bath. Spot on in all regards.
Things learned.
1. Tzolis looks very good. To the point where he reminded me of Brian Marwood.
2. Odegaard was MotM. He appears to be back. Long may he continue to play like this.
3. MLS has cemented the DM starting position for me. He was fantastic.
4. It was lovely to watch the Arsenal moving the ball forward and getting bodies forward QUICKLY! More of this please.
All in all, a most enjoyable afternoon, and worlds away from that insipid, supine performance in the Mickey Mouse Cup final earlier in the year.
Thanks Bath, excellent (and quick) report on an enjoyable stroll.
I agreed with your conclusions and would only add I thought Hincapie did well when he came on.
Speedily reported, Bath and very much the match I saw and reached conclusions on.
I was very much taken by the quality of the subs we introduced. In comparison, the Bluebottlers squad looked almost as bare in reserve as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. I think that squad plus Maresca will sail into troubled waters quite quickly.
Our all round performance was very solid. Martin and MLS stood out for me. Noni was Noni (for third goal he was a mile offside and had the ball gone through to him, it would have been 2-0). Victor was rarely visible in his cameo appearance but managed to be Victor nevertheless.
A wonderfully convincing win and a much better performance than I expected based on warm up games so far this season.
That was a statement performance. Bath picks out the high points in his excellent and occasionally sardonic report. The real bonus to me was getting our Captain back. He looked very good at the very end of last season (he made Trossard’s goal against West Ham) and was very good for Norway. He’s back to his quick feet, robbing people and good passing, plus when he sat Donnarumma down for his goal I was in ecstacy. Tzolis looked great and Myles was fantastic.
My only slight concern is that we need cover at RB. Benny cannot cope on his own until Timber returns. Quansah would fill the bill. My biggest fear is that Raya gets injured. He was outstanding yet again today. The stand ins for him are several levels below. Other than that another forward would be nice to have, no more than that.
Can’t wait for Friday.
@4 Countryman, I’d judge Martin and Bukayo’s contribution last season at (at most) 40% of their ceiling potential. And still we won the League. If both can get closer to their top level, a repeat PL win coupled with our first ever CL success is a real possibility. Mikel needs to use both of them very wisely and to not run them into the ground against lesser opposition. Our squad depth now enables that privilege.
Looking forward to Friday night’s kick off.
BtM @5, not to mention Merino and Havertz injured for large parts of the season.
So, looking forward to The Champions beginning their defence of the title, which lucky ‘holic’s have tickets for Friday night?
I’ll be there with number one son!
Rodri to Barcelona confirmed by Ornstein.
Not the best of days for C115Y
Love it.
C100@7 – 21CG and I will be there. Wild horses…
@8 – It would take a heart of stone etc etc.
Thank you, Bath, for a comprehensive report on a game of which I have only seen highlights, edited in a way that suggested — and explicitly stated in the commentary — that the difference between the two teams was the goalkeepers, with Donnarumma making three mistakes to Raya’s none. Your report suggests that there was much more to our victory than that.
I will not get carried away before the season proper starts. The Sheriff’s trophy is somewhere between a friendly and a league game. Yet neither club will have wanted to lose, and it is always nice to pick up a bit of silverware.
With Rhodri going, and Silva and de Bruyne gone, Maresca is going to have his work cut out this season.
Ned @10. Interesting. The U.K. commentary were probably marginally in favour of C115Y at the start. Indeed Ally McCoist had them as favourites for the title. However by the end they were unanimous in stating that they had been comprehensively outplayed by Arsenal and that the better team emphatically won.
C100@11: I’d be curious to know what other ‘holics on this side of the pond think about how we are covered by US broadcast media.
My two cents is that there isn’t the visceral, Neville-esque anti-Arsenal sentiment, but US broadcasters don’t really know how to treat us. We don’t fit the personality-driven mould of US professional sports. We don’t have a franchise superstar around which the team narrative can be built, as with an NFL or NBA team, or even an MLS team with Messi at Miami. We are not a familiar name to many American sports fans beyond those who follow football closely, unlike Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea, and we don’t have the glamour of a Barca, RM or PSG, whose shirts you see in the streets all the time. We don’t have the recent silverware, however tarnished, or the high-profile MLS connections of Man City (NY City FC). If you asked an American on the street to name a US billionaire who owned an MLS team and a PL football club, I doubt one in a hundred would name Kroenke, probably not one in a thousand.
GOONERHOLICS ROPEY LEAGUE WELCOMES ONE & ALL!
A quick reminder that as well as the PL, the Fantasy League
is underway this Friday too and it’s All Gooners Welcome!!
Just let me know if you’d like to join and I will share the entry code
with you…….
@10 Ned,
I’m amazed that anyone could watch that game and think
Raya was the difference between the two teams. We were
far sharper – but I do agree there’s no point in getting carried
away by one pre-season game and it was just a day to enjoy
us tonking them 🙂
Cheers baff. Great report and summary.
The bullet points from CER @ 1 resonate too. I cannot emphasise enough that number 4.
As hinted by bath too: it probably won’t happen but if we can play the football of two seasons ago and get the trophies, it will be the dream.
I approached this match with the mindset of ‘if we lose it is still a meaningless pre-season friendly’, and so I can now declare that the new season started yesterday! Fine match and even finer result.
Raya wasn’t the only difference, but I took a lot of joy remarking he was just as sharp as last season.
I’ve watched only the highlights of the match but as I made my way home from Lords last night I met a number of Gooners who were coming back from Cardiff. The lads I spoke to couldn’t get tickets for home games and one is over 100,000 on the waiting list for a season ticket . So they schlep off to Cardiff to watch their team . They reckoned 70% of the fans were Arsenal as the most plastic of clubs couldn’t sell their allocation.
They were very impressed with Tzolis ,MLS and Calafiori . That game changed the mood about pre- season . Great result
And they were delighted by Odegaard’s performance and his goal .
Cheers Baff. We looked excellent. Lots to come from some of our guys who were hampered by injuries last year. If Havertz scores 20, Odegaard 10 and Saka 15 (and Gyokeres still gets 15) then that’s LOADS more goals than last year. Trossard didn’t get great numbers last year and it doesn’t look a stretch to suggest Tzolis could equal or better them. Eze, Madueke and Dowman could easily score more. I expect Guimaraes will outscore Norgaard! So there’s a lot of attacking potential that went untapped last year.
We do need a right footed defender though!
GSD – You forgot to mention my auntie unexpectedly developing testes. But seriously, none of your your suggestions of goal returns is wildly improbable although I believe the chances of all three of them coming off is. I think it’s probably slightly unlikely that two of them will prove accurate. Even so, we are looking good to score more freely.
Reading Blogs’s match report this morning I was thrown by his reference to The Champions continuing to push forward having established a two goal lead[*] and it genuinely took me a second or two to work out that not only were The Arse in the lead, but it was indeed The Champions who were continuing to press. I really enjoyed sorting that one out – it wasn’t quite worth a 22-year wait to experience it, but there was a delicious feeling as I resolved my confusion.
COYG
[*] This almost certainly wasn’t precisely what confused me for a little while, but it was a phrase along these lines.
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