Report & Highlights: Barnet 0-4 Arsenal
Arsenal strolled to a 4-0 win over fellow North Londoners Barnet in the Gunners’ traditional campaign curtain raiser at Underhill.
Fresh from his summer break, Andrey Arshavin opened the scoring after just 90 seconds before Jay Simpson added a brace to send Arsenal three goals to the good at the break.
Second-half substitute Samir Nasri completed the scoring in the 75th minute as the Gunners enjoyed a comfortable start to their preparations for the new Premier League season.
Arsenal’s Starting XI & Subs
Fabianski
Nordtveit – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Traore
Wilshere – Frimpong – Emmanuel-Thomas
Arshavin – Simpson – Rosicky
Subs: Szczesny, Mannone, Miquel, Djourou, Gibbs, Eastmond, Nasri, Henderson, Lansbury, Barazite, Walcott, Chamakh.
The Gunners looked capable of turning it on at will. When they did, they usually found a way through.
It took Arsenal just two minutes to take the lead, Andrey Arshavin skipping through the defence, playing a one-two with Tomas Rosicky, before rounding Cole with ease. It was almost embarrassingly easy.
Though Arsenal were without their World Cup stars, it was still an impressive starting 11 that the Bees faced up to.
Number two came on 16 minutes, Jack Wilshere teeing up Jay Simpson, who found the corner with a crisp shot from a central position.
Barnet’s first real effort came on 25 minutes, Glen Southam’s speculative drive finishing a couple of feet wide of the post.
But it was still the Gunners asking most of the questions and Arshavin almost found the net just before the break, his curling effort smacking against the home crossbar.
However, goal number three was not long in coming, Simpson tapping into an empty net on the stroke of half time after a fine move involving Arshavin and Wilshere.
Arsenal fielded a totally different side for the second half, with all of their subs replacing the starting 11.
One of those subs, Theo Walcott, almost struck instantly, Cole pulling off a fine fingertip save to deny him.
The Gunners had to wait until 15 minutes from time for their fourth.
Barnet sub Daniel Leach stepped on the ball and lost his footing, allowing Samir Nasri to steal in and tuck the ball past Cole.
Decent first half, awful second half. We really do need a new holding player, Frimpong is okay, but naive, if Song goes down, we are screwed.
Walcott, again, seems he hasn’t learned from why he was left out of the england side, crosses to nobody all the time, and can’t dribble properly.
Also, where was Almunia? No use selling him if we keep the current keepers, Almunia is better than Mannone and Fabianski put together, and more experienced than Sczeny, so we need to buy first then sell him. Then buy again and sell Fabianski, buy again an sell Mannone.
Arshavin looked fresh.
Frimpong was Motm for me.
Kozzer looked decent.
Wilshire was is usual self.
Glad Almunia was not included. Hopefully that is Wenger’s way of saying ‘sorry donkey boy, but u’ve played your last game for Arsenal’
I heard that Almunia was sick…..Hopefully he was ok as he made his way back to Spain…
Frimpong was the stand out performer for me. He bossed the midfield in the first 45 minutes and he commits himself to every challenge. He reads the game well and intercepted the ball when necessary. I’d like to see him play a game against a more accomplished side than Barnet though and see how he does then.
good performance,who are we meeting next
Frimpong was everybody’s motm. Wilshire made sure the midfield was handled well. With these promising younger stars doing the job perfectly well, it won’t hurt to see cesc go.
@ George Wilkins
can you only see the negatives?
DeMoses Lo-Wongo
Are you seriously suggesting that Frimpong and Wilshere are ready to replace Cesc?
did wenger give an interview
I saw someone wearing number 10. Who was that? RVP wants that number…
@arsenal fan:
Yes, only through fixing negatives, can we win the title.
Where was Eduardo & Almunia?
why didn’t dudu feature in the match?
@Gerorge Walkins:
thankfully no one at arsenal listens to you. clearly you have no knowledge about the game. anyone with half a brain could tell arsenal was top class in the first half and frimpong was one of the main reasons (motm for most). saying he is just okay but naive is ludicrous.
jack and arshavin were also in great form. koz and tv5 looked sharp. simpson, for all his faults, has a nose for goal.
while i agree the second half was poor, nasri looked very sharp. theo’s runs were much more positive, diagonal instead of straight ahead, and chamakh also looked capable holding the ball up and feeding others.
instead of bitching just to bitch, get some perspective perhaps.
frimpong had a very good game but lets not all jump on the bandwagon yet, he’s still got a lot to prove and is not ready to do it week in and week out in the prem yet, massive potential tho. lets hope he continues his development n not get star struck like the bentleys and pennants of this world
@American Gooner: Haha, how many games did you watch of Frimpong last year? Are you basing your assessment of him on 1 game? Ask anyone who watches the youth team, it will be a very big ask to expect him to replace Song or even start for Arsenal now.
Maybe it is good the club doesn’t listen to me, but what I know is that listening to the club means we have no trophies in the last 5 years.
My perspective, Walcott still ran around and put crosses when there was nobody in the box, how is that positive?
Yeah,Yeah ,Yeah it all fine and dandy destroying a team of also rans,how many times havnt we seen it,several.But how about not crumbling when the going gets tough that is a big ask for this mentally weak side.
@Gerorge Walkins:
Uhh, yes, I am basing my assessment of him on one game, so were you. In my opinion, as well as every person who watched the game, Frimpong was top class today. Nowhere did I state he is ready to unseat Alex Song and he is now a first-team shoe-in. Rather, I stated that he looked like a young Michael Essien in there and bossed the midfield in the first half. You, on the other hand, thought he looked “okay.”
As for Theo, apparently you missed the diagonal runs made, including one fed by Nasri that almost resulted in a goal, as well as one nice dish to Chamakh for a shot. He still runs too vertical for me but I still thought he made positive contributions.
Now, feel free to return to your negativity…
@Danish Gooner:
Apparently you missed the last few years, when we did not destroy this “also rans” team. Far be it from us supporters to cheer a nice effort from the boys today and point out some positives…