Arsenal wasted little time in moving into a comfortable lead, earning an impressive 6-0 victory in today’s Emirates Cup clash with Sevilla.
The Gunners named a strong line-up for today’s clash, and we were quickly into our stride. It was only around 10 minutes in when Martin Odegaard’s ball over the top of the defence left Bukayo Saka clear, with the defender flapping to push our wonderkid to the floor to gift us the penalty.
Saka stepped up confidently and made no mistake in sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, and we had barely stopped celebrating when our lead was doubled. Gabriel Jesus picked up the ball on the wide left, teed up Gabriel Martinelli down the left before cutting into the box, and the goalkeeper parried it into his path for him to hit it over the keeper into the goal.
Just 60 more seconds were needed for the Brazilian to double his tally, this time running into the box to latch onto the fast ball, with him sliding into the shot to put it beyond the goalkeeper.
We continue to pile the pressure on, and our pressing forced Bono in goal to make the mistake, gifting the ball to Saka to complete his brace.
While we continued to look dangerous for the remainder of the half, we were unable to add a fifth, and we came out after the break unchanged.
Granit Xhaka had a great opportunity midway through the new half, running onto Thomas Partey’s through ball over the top, but his volley went over the crossbar.
Jesus completed his hat-trick with around 15 minutes remaining before being replaced by Eddie Nketiah to a standing ovation, and his replacement closed out the game with the sixth goal late on.
I can’t think of a better way to close out our pre-season with a massive high, by demolishing one of the best teams in Europe, and we can now aim all our preparations on Crystal Palace on Friday.
Patrick
Come to realize that Party is the linchpin of this team.Master of his responsibilities.Its a team to watch this season….good times ahead Gunners.
which is why, when he got injured towards the end of the season, we struggled.
I have yet to see us bring in anybody who can replace him if he gets injured again this season.
I still believe we are a soft touch in midfield and up front. We need another strong midfielder for those games, like against Palace, where we get man-handled.
I hope I am wrong, but I will know more next Friday!!!
Jw, For what its worth, my mate in Croydon who is a S/T holder at PALACE, SAID TO ME TODAY THAT HE WORRIES the Palace team is now rather physically small and they are without Kouyate who was big. I am not worried about PALACE BULLYING US, NOT AT ALL.
Completely agree Mbizo. He was at the centre of everything that we did and is a unique talent in his position.
super party
It was a great pre-season honestly, just hope that when the real pressure comes at Palace we can repeat the same energy and win the game.
For me this season will be about Jesus. If we keep him fit, my god!
We always score for fun in friendly and once competitive match starts we become laughing stock ourselves. These matches doesn’t mean anything except raising fund if don’t carry this form in competitive match but unluckily it only seldom happens
Are you actually an Arsenal fan vz? If so, why?Because obviously you get no joy from it. Please at least try to say something positive about a 6-0 win, or just don’t bother posting.
I think your brain must be quite childish. Just like a child who cry a lot when given injection but 2 mins later he will forget the pain when if given chocolate. So dear friend don’t get carried away with these titular matches. Our only target should be winning premier league, our only joyous moment should be the day when premier league trophy would be in our cabinet. Anything else it’s just as frustrating as it gets
What was Arsenal results against Hibbs, Rangers, Chelsea and Tottenham last summer preseason and what happened to Arsenal early season matches?
Sometimes you guys should push away the agenda and accept good football
Rejoice Kons my friend! We did the double! Florida cup and Emirates cup! Arteta is the man to lead us to the triple Or quadruple!! Trust the process! Be a realist😁
A 6-0 anihillation,i could’nt ask for more.MENTAL!!!
What a performance! What a team! What a pre-season! What a signing Gabriel Jesus is going to be for Arsenal.
This team should please take this form to the EPL as the season begins in a couple of days with an away game at Cristal Palace. Let’s start this dismantling of teams at the park on Friday evening.
I was really hoping for more of a challenge from Sevilla for the boys to ramp up to our first EPL game.
Great to see us doing a proper press for the first time under MA. Nice to see some switches of play as well. Was hoping Xhaka would sink that volley. Good to see how Jesus supports Martinelli, with Ode always drifting to the right Martinelli was quite isolated last season. Anyone that says Saliba wasn’t ready last season must be delusional, can you really say that if he was playing 3 months ago he wouldn’t have coped? Ben White still made a couple unfoced errors in an extremely low pressure game, hoping to see Tomi back soon.
Some strange decisions from the bench like giving Nelson and Lokonga 25 seconds in a pre-season game which was bizarre, feel a bit sorry for them.
Agree re the 25 seconds, but your question re Saliba is not the right question.
There was no option for Arsenal to play Saliba 3 months ago (i.e at the end of last season) – in fact the decision to go on loan was made over TWO YEARS ago.
Remember covid? That got in the way, a whole season washed out, then the loan happened a year later and even that only *started* a whole year ago, not 3 months. Looking at how he turned out at the *end* of the development process is really not a valid argument.
You really can’t guess at what might have happened in a parallel universe if he hadn’t been loaned out at all (beyond teh contractual ne for the 1st year) – all we can say in this universe is that the process that was *actually* followed to develop Saliba *appears* to have produced a top class player. We’ll know more when the season starts for real. And IMHO we should be happy that it’s worked instead of wishing for something else.
I’ve have been watching Saliba even before he signed for us (I’m French and watch la Ligue 1)there is a reason why at 18 he was already playing for St- Étienne when Fofana was still in their academy team despite being over a year older.why also he was Nice best defender during his loan.every French football journalists/pundits already highly regarded him and considered him the better player to Fofana who only represented the France U21 while Saliba has represented France at every levels from U16 up to the senior team but somehow Fofana was straight away ready to play for Leicester but Saliba not for us.trust me when I say that the improvement between the Saliba of a year ago and today is minimal.lastly as Saliba explained himself,when he came back to Arsenal the French ligue had finished 3 months before the English one and admitted that physically,fitness wise he was behind but MA didn’t give him the chance and judged him after 2 training sessions.
This subject generates a lot of heat and I’ve come to realise that no-one will be changing their mind.
It’s not for any fan to be able to assess the abilities of a player, or to know how many training sessions someone was given (the decision was probably made based on his loan period at St Etienne) – it’s for the pros to decide.
Everyone in one camp seems to want to second-guess what the club decided. They all say “trust me, he was ready” – but I’m sorry to say that I don’t trust anyone who isn’t paid by Arsenal to make these decisions.
And so what if some other guy was playing for an inferior club?
Saliba is here now and playing well. Rejoice! Job done.
IDKWIC You are regularly writing a great deal of sense, I REJOICE TO SEE! A LOVELY, MATURE POST
Job will be done only if he signs new contract. If he leaves for free because of the mistreatment he got then Arsenal will be arsenal as ever.
I agree with you ,he is now with us and playing well. let’s enjoy it and long it may COYG!!
Because the referee refused any injury time and called for match end at 90 dot.
“Was hoping Xhaka would sink that volley.”
He’s made a few more good forward runs than usual in these recent friendlies. I wonder if that’s just because they’re friendlies or if it’s something he’s trying to add to his game. It’s interesting – could actually make a difference to our attack
Agree Davi – Could be Xhaka is finally adding another long overdue string to his bow, and seems to be doing a pretty fair job. I honestly thought the commentator had said the wrong name when he appeared a couple of times in their area.
They will get tired along the way and last campaign scenario will repeat itself. Arteta is a very poor manager of players during a game. He hates substitutions and that’s what is killing some players who stay on the pitch longer than it is necessary and become vulnerable to injuries.
For this game today that was only a friendly, he waited until Busaka was knocked down at the 70th minute to make a substitution. That’s unlike his mentor Guardiola who rotates his players to give them better market value. When you bench players continuously their market value drops
Really MA is poor at managing players? Oh pls it’s a friendly fine we have an opportunity to cross our TS and dot our Is he did ok and made sure his first 11 played out the script well enough ahead of our opener on Friday….my op though
there is still no viable backup for Saka. Pepe is not rated by Mikel. And i dont have a problem with them playing longer today. A lot of them will be playing a full 90 next week and they havent done that since May.
Of course it’s a friendly, but you don’t change a winning team for the fun of it.
The fitness team will have explicitly stated the minutes they felt the 1st players needed ahead of Palace that was then executed. Believe will try to get another closed door game for the fringe players midweek if we can like Brentford last week.
Oh dear oh dear, Atangana. It must be difficult for you to say your team will fail before the season has evwn started and right after a crushing 6-0 win. You have my deepest sympathy. Caution is wise, blind optimism is not… but blind pessimism? You must be a lot of fun at parties.
Didn’t see the game obviously the buzz is worth it, it will definitely not be a walk in the park, but trusting the process we will give teams in the top six a good fight definitely so long the lads are fit we will cause some troubles.
Good performance, confidence should be high now. One thing I’d like to comment on, in a friendly like this I can’t see the point in bringing a substitute on in the 90th minute, the other substitutes came on in the 75th minute, what can be gained by it unless it is so that the player coming on gets appearance money.
The money aspect is an interesting question.
There was expected to be considerable added time as there were a lot of stoppages, but the ref blew at 90 mins.
Amazing!
But Arsenal should’ve replaced at least five of their key players at the 60th minute, to avoid fatigue and injuries. Because we’ll have a tough away match soon
Right decision IMO to leave the players on and get a pretty much a full game under their belts ,they have 6 days now to recover they need to be up to speed .
Jesus looked amazing TBF and Salibas positional sense could be the difference in a lot less goals being conceded this season as long as he plays OFC .
Odegaard Martinelli and saka the other stand out players for me ,now on to the real test
Saliba is simply smooth and impeccable.
What I love about us arsenal fans is we always have our views on everything from who starts and when substitions should be made yet we have a manager for that. Come on stop moaning and enjoy the ride let the manager do his job. That’s what he’s paid to do and he’s the one who’s gona be sacked if he fails.
I’m no expert on Sevilla, does anyone know if that was their best team out today?
Like others, I was also a bit surprised that so few subs were used – and so many want-aways on the bench.
It could be trying to get people match fit, but at 6-0 nobody’s busting a gut anyway – and there’s 5 subs next season. The managers that use that to best advantage will probably do well.
@IdkwIc
They had one of the best defences in La Liga last season losing only 4 matches. But they’ve sold some of their defensive players and was rolling with a makeshift defence.
Thanks NYG
I was also wondering about it from the friendly match angle – some clubs don’t play their best available team in a friendly, experimenting with formations and such.
And some even play about 3 different teams in a friendly and sometimes the players from their best line-up are not on the field at the same time e.g. Klopp played about 30 players vs Man Utd.
I’m just trying to get a handle on how good a performance that really was in context. It seems… too good to be true (and as the old saying goes “If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is”).
This was the last training match, most managers play their best men or a tram close to their best eleven in their last training match, it’s not time for experimenting anymore. Liverpool and Man.City are doing the same tonight…
No surprise on subs last chance to get minutes in ahead of the new season which is starting early.
It’s time to sack Arteta before Arsenal gets too dominant. Today Arteta let us down again with ‘only’ six goals, offensive football and a clean sheet😂 The red part of London has been longing for Jesus to return, finally he’s here ❤️
Yeah!!
Arteta out! 😉
A wonderful reply 🫶
Lol Didrik – great post. Especially in the light of so many critical comments after such a poor performance and a streaky win. If all the pessimists can do is criticise the substitutions and say a 6-0 win was only a friendly I suppose we got off lightly. I wonder would they remember it’s a friendly if we lost 6-0?
@gut – thanks, I’m behind our manager and players and will remind doing so until it’s necessary to make a change. If we want to be champions we should start with ourselves and support Arsenal, and lift our fantastic club 👍
Sorry guy
great performance everyone looked good and ready to start the season. CP away opening day will be a totally different atmosphere though and hope we are prepared for a fight. This looks like a solid starting XI with a few more players still out like Vieira, ESR, Tomi, Tierney still to come. I think the main concerns in this squad is if Partey were to be injured/unavailable, then we will struggle much much more. So hopefully Arsenal are on top of that.
The unanswered question for me is how this 11 will deal with the pressure in a tough game. Still haven’t seen how these players and Arteta handle a grueling match tied or struggling and down a goal with little time on the clock.
It will inevitably happen, and that’s where true growth and progress will be seen. Whipping Seville and Chelsea in meaningless friendlies is one thing, producing under pressure is another.
I hope they still feel the sting of last season’s collapse, and use that as fuel to overcome any similar situations.
Saliba and Gabriel should be the CB pairing, no question about Odegaard and the attacking front 3.
Losing Partey or Jesus would be a blow and devastating setback, so still time to shore up those backup positions.
Can’t come this close and leave a plan B striker and solid backup CDM slots empty.
Other than that, team looks hungry, sharp, and a squad fit to compete to finish inside the top 4.
@Durand
I agree…
i like what nketiah has brought to the table. obviosly not on Jesus’s level but he is a good option. I think Partey backup is the main hole in this squad right now. Xhaka starting is…ok i suppose but it will require other players like Lokonga to start stepping up. i would like someone to step up and overtake him by the end of the season.
There are only two team with that quality on regular basis in the PL. We are moving in the right direction step by step. I don’t think we are finished recruiting players in this window, but I don’t expect us two get all what we need or dream of.
Balanced comments, Durand. If only we could get all that deadweight off the payroll I’m positive we would get at least two more, but atm I’m not so sure. The fact that the epl pays the highest fees and wages is haunting us.
Really promising first team – tactics, skills, cohesion, fitness, attitude. But get injuries and it’s another story. Still – let’s enjoy it while it lasts!
Solid performance, in every aspect. May it continue….
Some fans are bias and don’t want us to progress just to transfer there aggression to the manager….
If Arsenal win, they will complain, if we lose they will still lament, haha, calm down and allow those who support this team and the coach with the progress enjoy it ….. Be calming down my people and let be united as one big family and as Arsenal fans…..
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS. I am not joking, noR being sarcastic. You write a lot of truth my friend!
This season MA doesn’t have many excuses for not rotating the squad bar maybe in a couple of positions,rushing back players from injuries.some fans on JA claimed that MA is the best tactician the club has ever had,well we’ll see how tactically flexible, astute.. he is.this is his squad/players,there is a great atmosphere in the dressing room,no troublemakers, unhappy players, let’s see it!!!
We looked great. I think Gabriel Jesus could be the game changer we’ve been missing – not just for what he does himself but he seems to bring more out of the players around him. Let’s see some of this next week.
A few people have mentioned the need for a backup DM – I’m not sure but we might be OK with elneny. He’s solid and reliable, just not as good with the forward passing – however that might be the difference between a good season and a great season. We’ll see. Really looking forward to seeing how far we can go this season.
I wondered the same about Elneny. They didn’t extend him to make the tea.
Jesus’ movement is excellent. Aubameyang and Laca were far less energetic / mobile.
He also seems to be a genuinely nice guy who is part of helping the players gel as a group, no arrogance about him.
I can’t say that I ever liked Aubameyang as a personality – he came across to me as a cocky, me me me type.
Auba was never my favourite, but i do think he got on well with his teammates – maybe a bit arrogant, but in the benign sense where it’s not affecting anyone else particularly (as opposed to the arrogant people who step on others, if that makes sense). That was how I saw it, although his behaviour at the end (and at the end of his time at dortmund) did suggest he was one to get his way one way or another (me me me), so maybe you are right there.
I’ve come out as a big fan of Laca over the past two seasons, actually, while completely accepting his limitations as a player. He seemed to have lost his mobility and his finishing was always quite poor at arsenal, but i loved how he often found a way to affect the game and link the play, sometimes only through sheer determination.
Anyway, I agree that so far jesus looks to be on another level to laca as a player, and brings another dimension that was beyond auba – even auba at his best.
Yes I came to like Laca as well and I was a little sorry for him too. He seemed to wilt a little when around Auba, that was the negative effect his personality type has on some others (and that aspect isn’t Auba’s fault as such).
There’s a big aspect of personality in success in any walk of life and in the pressure cooker of top level team sport, it’s a massive factor. I wonder if Laca would have done better if his strike partner had been someone with a different nature – more of a Dennis Bergkamp type maybe.
But like you, I always felt that Laca *tried* to give his best in every minute he played for Arsenal – however, he never delivered his Lille form for Arsenal and the above was part of the reason (the fact that Lille play in a lower standard league is another reason of course).
I wish Laca all the best in the future.
Sensible comments as always Davi. Elneny is the backup to Partey, so he will play a lot WHEN Partey gets injured. Elneny is not as good as Partey, but nobody is in that role. Great short and long passer, protects the ball, tackles and harries, protects and runs with ball. He’s unique and we won’t find another. But that’s not Elneny’s fault. And he IS a good player.
You never know,if we manage to move few more players on,we might see 1 or 2 additions.i have to see my favourite goals have to be the 3rd and 4th,I think.the quickly played free kick and our forwards pressing leading to a goal.
After wathcing all pre season match. I was tempted to dream of 3rd place. I even we can challenge to title. But let just see after 10 PL match. Hehe.
Zinchenco
Someone is giving Tieny a run for his money.
White positioned him self in a couple of goal opportunities today, 🤔 hmmm
Saliba; quite comfortable with the ball & good game reading.
Jesus; really love his close ball control & agility. A very good poucher & fox 🦊 in the box; a nack for sniffing goal 🥅 opportunities also complementing that is his build up play,& hold up play.
Ability to Drif into the box 18 from wide
areas is surperb ; really loved his first goal: determination & grit to get into the box after initially give the pass from the wing.
Patey had a Midfield 🎉 Party 🥳 as usual… making arsenal Tik….I believe Lokonga is his understudy….kid gat potential…just needs good coaching
Odegard….Odey To The Nightingale
Saka….This is Saka! , blood! Not wanbisaka
Not wannbe Saka