Match Report: Arsenal 4-0 FC Twente
|Arsenal bounced back from last weekends Premier League defeat to Fulham with a superb win over Steve McClaren’s FC Twente.
Nicklas Bendtner started ahead of below-par Emmanuel Adebayor while Kolo Toure was dropped to the bench mainly thanks to Johan Djourou’s previous performances in the side.
Arsenal Starting XI
Almunia
Sagna – Djourou – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie
FC Twente Starting XI
Mihaylov
Wielaert – Tiote – Douglas – Braafheid
Denneboom – Heubach – Brama – Janssen
Elia – Huysegems
First Half
A chilly north London evening welcomed the teams as they approached kick off. Arsenal certainly didn’t get the chills though, with the Gunners dominating early proceedings.
England winger Theo Walcott caused problems with his pace and won an early corner, Robin van Persie subsequently crossed it in but no red-shirts managed to get on the end of it.
Samir Nasri scored the opener in the 27th minute, giving Arsene Wenger’s team a three-goal cushion in the tie.
Nasri picked the ball up on the edge of the FC Twente penalty-area, beating two defenders to get enough space to shoot.
Goal: Samir Nasri (27)
His left-footed shot, from the edge of the six-yard box, slid through the legs of Twente keeper Nicolay Mihaylov to make it 1-0 in the second-leg of the match, and currently 3-0 on aggregate.
Robin van Persie missed a glaring chance to seal the win when, in the 40th minute of the match, he found himself free at the far-post, picking up the ball with plenty of space and somehow managed to shoot wide of the FC Twente goalpost, much to the distress of Wenger.
The game went into half-time 1-0 to Arsenal, who looked like they will qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.
Second Half
Emmanuel Eboue replaced Samir Nasri as the second half got underway. Nasri was rumoured to of suffered a stomach bug and was taken off as a precaution.
Nasri’s departure didn’t stop Arsenal’s attacking prowess though, William Gallas doubled the score on the night early in the second-half, latching on to a superb cross from Nicklas Bendtner and slotting the ball home from close-range to double the score.
Goal: William Gallas (52)
Steve McClaren instructed his team to push up and they certainly did that. Within minutes of Gallas’ goal, Deneboom ran at Gael Clichy with the Frenchman bringing Twente’s pacey winger down. The subsequent free kick was hit straight into the wall.
It didn’t take long for the third goal to come, Man of the Match Theo Walcott linked well with Danish strikr Nicklas Bendtner before beating two defenders and finishing emphaticaly past Mihaylov.
Goal: Theo Walcott (66)
Togolese forward Emmanuel Adebayor and Cameroonian midfield Alex Song replaced Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas as the game eventually died out.
Arsenal’s fourth goal came along in the last minute thanks to Nicklas Bendtner, the youngster missed several opportunities before hand but got his goal due to a superb breakaway from Emmanuel Adebayor. Bendtner looked to of lost the ball before Denilson took it and backheeled a cheeky flick to the Dane who cooly finished past the ‘keeper.
Goal: Nicklas Bendtner (89)
Bendtner’s goal was practically the last action of the night which proved to be a fantastic one for the Gunners. A smashing 4-0 win against Twente, Gallas answered the ‘captaincy critics’ while Theo Walcott’s calmly taken goal wrapped up what was to be one hell of an easy night for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Player Ratings
Manuel Almunia 6.5 – Rarely called into action to warrant anything more than an average grade.
Bacary Sagna 7 – Supported Theo well. Twente stopped the Frenchman from bombarding down the wing like he usually does.
Johan Djourou 7 – Senderos has gone, but Djourou can step in and be a bigger, better and more sufficient player the back. He certainly proved that tonight.
William Gallas 8 – Silenced the critics with his goal. Proved a surprising attacking threat and led well.
Gael Clichy 8 – Similar to Sagna. Gael did put some decent service into the box though.
Theo Walcott 8 – Was largely anonymous in Arsenal’s games thus far but showed great pace today that Heubach could not handle, forcing Steve McClaren to sub the left back at half-time.
Francesc Fabregas 8 – Showed Arsenal exactly what they missed in their three competitive games prior to this match.
Denilson 7 – Gifted Twente an early chance that they could have scored from had it not been for some wayward shooting. Found his feet as the game wore on, and set up Bendtner with a delightful back-heel.
Samir Nasri 7 – Took his goal really well. Sold three Twente defenders down the river, cut back on his other foot, took one touch, and then rolled the ball into the opposition net.
Robin Van Persie 7 – Showed some good signs of flair and skill early on. His delivery was far, far better than it was at Fulham. Missed guild-edged opportunities though.
Nicklas Bendtner 7 – An enjoyable performance from the big Dane. He tried so hard to make an impact but the balls just wouldn’t fall for him, but he took his goal well. He held the ball well, and looks more of a complete targetman than he did this time last year.
Substitutions
Emmanuel Eboue 7 – Did well. Got booed when he came on by the Arsenal faithful.
Emmanuel Adebayor 7 – Same as Eboue. Contributed to the fourth goal.
Alexandre Song 7 – Got on with the job. Simple and effective.
Fuck yeah Nasri scored Woot Woot Woot
why was nasri taken off?
Was Nasri any good? I had to go swimming
Yep, fantastic first half, ran at the Twente defence and beat them for pace several times. A well taken goal as well.
Theo was good as well, Cesc helped us move and groove and Eboue, Denilson and Van Persie were sadly predictable. I think this should help us move in the right direction
I guess wenger's saving him, both he and fabry had recently recovred from injuries
Chris may you add a player rating please?
bbc shut up shop early after the game, was hoping for a AW interview
on possible signing(s). Arshavin has lowered his wage demands why
not sign him and someone like frings before the window????
We got a 12m windfall out of tonites qualification so lets a big name Arsene
Sure, just doing them.
Big Nick 10/10
I celebrated with some ripe stilton and some favver beans washed down with a fine Chianti – Walcott's goal was exquisite. How sad, Liverpool scraped it again – luckiest team ever.
Cheers Chris.
i liked the guy singing to the dutch fans ' how much was your mummy in the window'
hahahaha
well taken goal from walcot he really needs to get his chance up top he took that
goal like a world class striker that goal alone tells u hes not a winger. i feel saw sorry for Bendtner Bless him he really tries his best but Boy is he shit, his link up
play is terrible he has no pace plus he doesn't even look like a Arsenal player its time he goes to some team like Stoke city. i really do think hes that bad i dont
know why wenger plays him he cant even play with any of our strikers to be honest i think he makes them look shit. why the hell didn't Vela come on but that's
wenger for u. Nasri is going to be a huge star what the hell is wrong with Van persie.
fast
wooo nasri scored again, walcotts goal was brilliant and overall much much better than against fulham all-be-it against a very crappy FC Twente.
Gallas as our top CL scorer? That's neat
When are we going to see carlos vela. He has such amazing skill he should be playing, at least as a sub appearance.
not convincd by Denilson, bt good game for Walcott and Bentender confidence
Im not convinced with Bendtner.
We need Eduardo ASAP.
Yes i agree jillu.. Good win that should get us back on track after the fulham defeat.
i dont think we should be as worried with bendtner as we should be with denilson. he did okay tonight but still passes wildly at times. with diaby out i would go with song and obviously fabregas in the middle. i just think song is playing well at the moment (was good at the olympics) and is mcuh more defensive than denilson
What the fuck do you mean Bendtner ain't good? Bendtner plays better than RvP most of the time.
I take it you didn't actually watch the game then!
Bendtner had a tame shot saved and Gallas rolled in the rebound… hardly 'latching onto a superb cross'!!!
Song walks around so rigid like he is a body builder, dont think he is agile enough for centre mid
Bendtner should be alot better and fitter than what he looks he has had a good
running in preseason know excuse for him in my opinion.who ever thinks hes good
u Iver got shit in your eyes or u must be watching a different game the guys poor
if he wasn't a Arsenal player 99 percent of u would agree with me. he riminds me
of a poor version to Peter Crouch.
Gief playa ratings asap ! 😛
very worried about our strikers is it theo time
Stfu, You act like you all big. You get on the pitch and lets see you fuck up.
I didnt think Bentender did that badly, he took players on. Didtnt look out of sorts but didnt play really well either. Denilson worried me, he still gave th ball away cheaply. We need a solid midfielder next to Cesc and I cant see who is going to fill that roll, /we shd have kept Gilbrto if we wernt gonna sign any1
great response from saturday…when was the last time van persie scored a goal? :s
(in a arsenal shirt) :s
I am sorry but Denilson is just not a first-team player. His passing is just atrocious and he gets caught dribbling too often. If he is our first-team defensive midfielder I will pull my hair out. He looked miles better today simply because Cesc completes passes and that means at least someone is linking up with one of our central midfield players.
Walcott was brilliant I hope he can turn this into something of a more consistent effort.
Bendtner is difficult to figure out. His control is at times unbelievably poor and other times brilliant. He seems to be a lucky player and just naturally creates goals whether by accident or what. I would take him in my team, just likely not in the first team. Have to love his workrate however. I actually agreed (for the first time) with Tommy Smyth saying he should stay more central and up front.
Van Persie is struggling right now, no doubt. Obviously his finishing has been poor and his free kicks have been atrocious. But, he is also getting caught up much too often in possession. Hope he can improve.
Nasri was brilliant tonight – hope that is more to come.
Djourou is very smooth and a likeable player. At times, he has bonehead plays like almost handling the ball and not communicating with Willie but I would like to see him stay with the squad this year.
I agree with whoever said lets see Vela off the bench once in awhile!
Overall: We really need another CM to go with Fab. I would love Alonso or Veloso but I hope I am not dreaming.
Couldn't watch the game due to technical difficulties. Anyway, where did Song play when he came on? Please say DM! Kind of annoyed that Gallas scored because now Wenger will use it to keep him in the team even though as a defender he had nothing to do against really poor opposition. I also get the feeling that Djourou will be dropped again for Toure.
I still want Arsene to buy though.
Denilson and RvP are a liability- they need to be sold ASAP
RvP cannot do Hleb's job in the whole , and Denilson is completely useless
We have Vela/Nasri/Eduardo to replace RvP but we need purchase another DM because Diaby/Song/Ramsey are not ready or injured.
Although Barazite/Wilshere will push Walcott out of the first team next 1-2 years,
I think we can keep him as he can as a winger(runner) do some dammage.
Despite the good performance and scoreline, we are still short of an experienced midfielder.
whats up fellow gooners… it was a good game last nite… nasri and walcott are lookin good…
anyways as any1 heard anything about the link with Johnathan De Guzman???
denilson and bendtner never arsenal quality .. bendner has never set the world alite and i dont think he would ever be a top top player
why are your player ratings allways exatcly the same like at goal.com? are you connected with them or just…
you dont have to set the world alight to be a goodplayer. they are still 20 afterall.
What job did helb do for us 13 goals in 100 odd games and then shaft us………..They are totally to different players
RVP fully fit and match sharp is a top class striker so give the boy a break
We did well, i think djourou looked real good at the back & hope he keeps it up..
Not impressed with denilson, he keeps disapointing us & im sure he can do better & i very rarely say this but id rather be playing song than denilson at the moment
Anyone have these four goal's video download link?
help me thx~~
i hope wenger loans out Bendtner
the guy has got to be the worst striker since France,s Jeffers