Emirates Cup Review & A look Ahead...

[Newguy]

Not to sure what to feel after todays performance. Yes it's early days and there is a hope that Wenger will add more strength to the side, but I am slightly worried about what i have seen today in terms of the set up as I have a feeling we had a glimpse of the starting 11 in the first half. Yesterday's performance was nice; Sanogo, Campbell, Ox, Ramsey, Rosicky, Chambers and Martinez all looked good and the goals showed in the first half, but the flow of our football was also a lot better than today. Was that Giroud being in the side?? YES

Enter Giroud upfront and we cant score a goal, ok we didnt score in the 2nd half with Giroud subbed off but based on the first half, in all honesty we should have had a much better 45mins than what was produced. Lets not kid ourselves.....Giroud was poor.

The question is what is Wenger going to do? I feel Giroud will start against palace, I hope he does better than the tripe he served up today, but I dont think he will. It will be the same flicks going wrong, not hitting the target, forever offside displays we have become accustomed to with Giroud.

I wouldnt be surprised if wenger steps up his need for a DM as Arteta is horrible (IMO) and Flamini although game is lacking in discipline and strength. but above all at present...what we desperately need is Wenger to spend a fortune on a striker so he is forced to play him upfront resulting in Giroud losing his starting place, i think it's critical right now. Constantly offside, poor touches, poor accelaration, cant hold up the ball, falls over....oh ive said all of that already lol...bottom line is goals win games and we didnt look like scoring today with Giroud upfront and that was the worry

My starting 11 at present based off performance and minus the germans would be the following:

Chez
Debuchy, Chambers, Kos, Gibbs
Rosicky, Flamini?? Ramsey
Ox, Sanogo?? Alexis

It's bold as there is no Cazorla but he just seems lazy to me. Rosicky has to be involved as he keeps the fluididy and speed to our build up play and he's just a top player. Ramsey is a sure starter. Ideally I need Wenger to buy DM and a Striker. Not sure what to do with jack at present and i would consider a midfield three of him, Rosicky and Ramsey agasint palace as it's palace LOL and I dont think you always need someone to sit infront of the back four, but against better opposition we need a strong DM or at least a strong midfield presence (diaby maybe???), so jack's place is in danger.

One thing is clear...Sanogo has to start ahead of Giroud, it's only right unless Wenger is seeing something outstanding that Giroud is doing in training. yes it's only one game, but if Sanogo is in better form than Giroud going into the start of the season then you have to go with your form players.

The good news is at full capacity with everyone fit we have a very strong lineup, especially adding Theo to the team. I dont know where Wenger fits everyone, but then we need a strong squad and at present we do have that, still need to trim the fat slightly and add some muscle but we're ok. I dont think we're league contenders, not with Giroud as a lead striker and Arteta as the lead DM. Get that sorted Wenger and that may change.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Arteta's shite.

[Letters]

Wenger out!

[Munchies]

Arteta and Flamini are useless

[Munchies]

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140803/wenger-on-alexis-chambers-and-fitness

on the form Arsenal showed…
We have made a demonstration that in 24 hours a lot can change in football. As much as our performance was sharp, creative, dynamic and mobile [on Saturday], today it was static, lethargic and not convincing at all. I feel that many players had not recovered completely physically and that we were not completely ready. But congratulations to Monaco. They were better than us. Sharper, stronger and we lost the game because we deserved to lose the game.

on his players’ form…
I’m not especially concerned. It’s part of the pre-season and it just is a good warning for us that we are not completely ready physically. The positives are that we had to dig deep for some players to play and that we got no injuries.

on what role Alexis will fulfil…
I don’t know yet because Giroud is not ready at all so I thought I’d take him out because he didn’t look ready. It was an opportunity for me as well to see Sanchez in the second half as a centre forward. He looked better in the second half than in the first. But that was also because Oxlade-Chamberlain gave us something we needed - some penetration and some power. Overall, the second half we dominated much more of the game than in the first half, when we were dominated.

on the penalty shout…
What was surprising was that the guy who was the closest to the action made the decision and it was contradicted by the guy (the assistant) who was the furthest. And the furthest got his opinion respected. But it doesn’t matter too much. It’s pre-season and we didn’t want to make a fuss about the decision made by the referee which may not have been completely right.

on playing Wilshere as a holding midfielder…
No, because we played only with one holding midfielder here and Wilshere and Ramsey pushing on. He has made his claim - we have seen that again.

on signing another holding midfielder…
We have Flamini and last year we played with Arteta and Ramsey in many games in that position. So it’s just a question. I think Jack is getting better and his ankle is good now but it needs games. At the top top level you need presence and consistent presence. In and out is finished today, that you rest for three weeks and you come in and fit a game - that doesn’t work anymore.

on Giroud's fitness…
I don’t know. Today at least he was not ready at all.

on whether the Arsenal players have to adapt to Alexis…
Yes, but he makes good runs in behind and today I felt that we had problems feeding our strikers because we were not very good in the build up and our combination play was very poor. Our play forward was very poor so it was very difficult for the strikers today. But Sanchez will adapt too. If you have good players in midfield they will find the strikers.

on whether Giroud should be more ready…
No. He had only three weeks rest, it was not an eternity and he had to come back quickly. But sometimes when you come back late you want to work hard and in a game you are not as sharp. It’s nothing about him. He’s not put weight on, he’s not out of shape, he’s worked very hard this week and not recovered from the work he has done.

on whether Cazorla has put weight on…
No, he’s okay.

on Wilshere and Flamini's challenges…
Yes but usually last season we had no big problems with red cards.

on the Community Shield next week…
We will be [in better shape]. And Man City may be as well.

on Calum Chambers’ composure…
He’s one of the players over the two games who played very well. He’s 19 years old and he came here without talking, he plays two good games and is not phased by the quality of the games and the opponents at his first time at the Emirates at 19. He’s one of the satisfactions of the weekend.

on whether his future is at centre back…
He can play as well central midfield because he’s got good technique, good mobility and is a great distance runner. At the moment it’s where I can have a look at him. But I think he can also play central midfield.

on making his breakthrough at right back…
Yes [I was surprised[ because he was educated as a centre defensive midfielder. Then he played in the under-19 with England, he played central defender, he played for Southampton right back. I saw him first time against us as a right back and I liked him. At the end of the season he didn’t play too much at Southampton. But I made my mind up to buy him after I saw him against us.

on Lampard’s loan move to Man City…
It’s a surprise. Because after the statements we heard it is a surprise. But it looks like all these City clubs will feed the main club, Man City. I heard that they want to buy five clubs all over the world.

on the integrity of the competition…
Look. I don’t know well enough the rules. But they bought the franchise for $100m in the States to play next season. At the moment the players they sign cannot play until next year so they register in the clubs where they put them and they can get them on loan. Is it a way to get around the Fair Play? I don’t know.

on whether Arsenal would follow the City model…
We are happy to dedicate the money we make just to run our club. It’s not enough surplus to buy other clubs.

on Mathieu Debuchy…
He’s done well. He’s also not completely fit and ready but he got 90 minutes and should be better next week.

:lol:

[Niall_Quinn]

Benfica were horrible in both matches, easy meat for both teams that beat them. Monaco was a much better organised and motivated team that is approaching match fitness, so the challenge was always going to be very different.

Giroud on the bench now we have Alexis is an absolute no-brainer, except maybe in a scrotefest against the orcs or pub matches like that. Unbelievably, Alexis is better in the air than Giroud. I don't know how that can be but it's true. He's also twice as fast over the first 5 yards, is prepared to defend from the front and has an immaculate first touch. There's no realistic argument here, Alexis is always going to give us more up top than Giroud.

But I think Ox was the standout player. He looks fit, eager, confident and his directness terrifies defenders. He must start wide, it's a sin to play him in the middle where his pace can't be exploited. His position is wide right.

[I am invisible]

Wenger out!
Spend some f--king money!

[Power n Glory]

Wenger being so critical of Giroud is a good thing, hopefully. As suspected, when Giroud looks sloppy like that, the players around him suffer. Cazorla wasn't in the game, Alexis wasn't as effective on the wing even though he showed glimpses of brilliance. He has to play in the centre. Wenger was more impressed with his second half which is a good sign.

Jack and Rambo never make a good pairing in the middle. Luckily it won't happen that often.

Supernintendo Charmers (Chambers) seems like a good young talent. He held his own and I have no worries about him.

Some good performances from yesterday but it all depends on how Wenger feels. Sanogo and Campbell should really be given a go from the bench. Ox looks like this could be his season....

Overall, Wenger has some tough decisions on selections and I hope he's brutal

[AKBapologist]

Random question, was at the game today, was that a penalty towards the end?

[Syn]

Don't normally draw many conclusions from glorified training sessions, but this guy looked good yesterday didn't he? Hopefully he should be able to challenge Debuchy for a starting spot.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuI3xaPIcAA4gGU.jpg

[Munchies]

Random question, was at the game today, was that a penalty towards the end?

No

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuIhHXCIIAAViAc.jpg

[AKBapologist]

No

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuIhHXCIIAAViAc.jpg
Bah, what a shocker. Refereeing all weekend has been fucking shit.

[Xhaka Can’t]

No

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuIhHXCIIAAViAc.jpg

:haha:

[Özil's Panoramic View]

No

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuIhHXCIIAAViAc.jpg

:haha:

[Penguin]

:haha:

[Unai Tea]

Martin Atkinson is already in mid-season form...

[Bumble]

Martin Atkinson is already in mid-season form...
didn't he originally give a penalty only for the assistant referee adjudge otherwise and with an apparent better view of it.

oh well on the plus side good to get all your bad luck in the friendlies as it does even up over the season