Match Report: Arsenal 1-1 AC Milan
|Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger gave home debuts to summer signings Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny as the Gunners’ pre-season preparations were cranked up another notch with a 1-1 draw with AC Milan in the Emirates Cup.
Wenger’s side are hosting the weekend feast of football for the fourth successive summer, and are defending the trophy – the only ‘title’ they won last year.
Moroccan centre-forward Chamakh, a free signing from Bordeaux, took just 36 minutes to win over the Emirates Stadium faithful, slotting home with aplomb after good work by Andrey Arshavin.
Arsenal’s Starting XI
Fabianski
Eboue – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Wilshere – Frimpong – Rosicky
Nasri – Chamakh – Arshavin
As expected, Wenger had named a mixed starting XI, with new signings Chamakh – who netted his first Arsenal goal in the midweek win 4-0 over SC Neusiedl in Austria – and Laurent Koscielny making their first appearance at the Emirates Stadium.
Thomas Vermaelen was captain, standing in for Cesc Fabregas – the Barcelona target still on extended leave after the World Cup – while there were also chances for youngsters Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Emmanuel Frimpong to impress ahead of the new season, which begins at Liverpool on August 15.
However, there was no place in the squad for Manuel Almunia, whose place as number one is in doubt, as Lukasz Fabianski started and fellow young Pole Wojciech Szczesny was on the bench.
There were a few jeers for AC Milan midfielder Mathieu Flamini, who left Arsenal in May 2008 after refusing to sign a new deal with the Gunners.
Andrey Arshavin flashed a volley wide after good work from Gibbs down the left flank.
Chamakh gave the Emirates Stadium faithful what they wanted with a home debut goal on 36 minutes as the Moroccan striker coolly slotted the ball under the keeper after a burst of pace and precise pass from Arshavin.
It was almost 2-0 when Nasri burst down the right and cleverly cut back into the area before squaring to Tomas Rosicky, but the Czech midfielder’s point-blank effort was well saved by Abbiati.
Wenger made three changes at the start of the second half, which included the introduction of Theo Walcott – controversially left out of England’s ill-fated World Cup squad, but given a rousing reception by the Arsenal crowd.
A clever backheel from Chamakh put Arshavin into the left side of the penalty area, but his shot was saved at the near post and the rebound then hacked clear just as Wilshere looked to pounce on the loose ball.
Substitute Carlos Vela, who played at the World Cup for Mexico, was unfortunate not to extend Arsenal’s lead when he cut in from the left and curled the ball just wide.
AC Milan were level on 76 minutes when Pato got ahead of Vermaelen to glance Clarence Seedorf’s free-kick into the far corner.
Arsenal should have regained the lead – but youngster Mark Randall saw his close-range shot and follow-up effort both saved by Abbiati.
Ex-Barcelona defender Gianluca Zambrotta almost won it for the Italians in the closing moments, but his 20-yard, angled drive hit the crossbar.
i was very impressed with Chamakh and Kosclieny (mind my spelling), but if there was any player i was most impressed is with frimpong. He was like alex song’s mini me. Djourou in that same position was looking out of sorts.
@igeneskywalker spot on friend!!
frimpong and wilshere were amazing……. Koscielny and chamakh wre amazing=]
im feeling better about the arsenal team for the season coming.
and d rather fabainski in goal then alumina cos well alumina is shit, and we havnt enough from him=]
we still need a center back and defensive medfielder to a good enough team=]
gibbs was amazing as well. chamakh abilty to hold the ball up is what we need, i believe he is way in front of bendtner.
lets not forget we have fabregas, denilson, song, bendtner, van persie, diaby and ramsay(in future) to come back=]
we was alot better then ac milan today.
and why have we still got randall? he will never make it, frimpong is way ahead already=]
i cant wait till tomorrow=]]]]]]]]] ARSENAL 4 LIKE
Yea i agree on them, djorou was worthless, arshavin and gibbs/clichy i though played very well too. But how does randall miss that rebound, thats gotta be embarassing. Pretty fair result though i guess
Strange that we looked weaker defensively and conceded the goal when we had 3 cb on. I think JD was off the pace because he’s missed training and i hope people don’t start calling for his head based on that cameo.
Kos is definitely the dogs bollocks after that performance against a top team (although in pre season mode). Still there are many more tests ahead but good spot by wenger i gotta say.
@MK: Randall is receiving a lot of critisism around the blogs i i don’t think it’s right. Young lad who knows he’s already on the transfer list comes on against AC MILAN and does well in general, makes an excellent run and gets a glorious chance which he fluffs in heart wrenching style but you could say it was a fantastic double save from Arribiatti. Wenger only put him on because 1. everyone else is injured at the mo, and 2. he is more likely to get noticed by another club.
I was impressed by koscienly chamakh frimpong and nasri. I think we need to add to our coaching team and physio. Get a defence coach from Italy and a fitness coach from Germany plus the cb and gk
great going forward but im still worried about our defending
Impressed with Vela in last game and this one too…showing some moments of brilliance!!
Totally agree with MK….sooo looking forward to the new season.
Djourou looked uncomfortable at DM, however feel he will come good as back up to Koscielny and TV.
Excited for Frimpong and Wiltshire, looked quality today. Its time to move Walcott off the wing now and just play upfront as he just can not cross.
@Nommosi:
lol please tell me you are joking. “randall makes an excellent run…it was a fantastic double save.” are you nuts? randall duffed a pass to walcott, the ball amazingly bounced right in his path with only the keeper to beat and he fluffed it TWICE in a row. he looked as dangerous as a mouse out there. we should sell him to scunthorpe in exchange for fish and chips. ugh.
also did not understand subbing out frimpong for djourou. he looked like a dinosour trying to keep up with the pace in the midfield. whether he has been injured, out of training, or has his shoe untied, it doesnt matter – he is not a midfielder.
now, onto the positives. kos and chamakh were outstanding. the former got every tackle exactly right. the latter provided everything adebayor didnt – held up the ball, effort, great passing, and a goal. frimpong and nasri were also excellent.
wilshire did not have his best game but he is still a good player. rosicky was just okay. arshavin was crap mostly but had one or two typical russian moments of brilliance. love the look of the team and i hope we continue to see more of frimpong and jack. tv5 is a great captain.
We wud have won that match easy but wenger did the wrong substitution it shud have been:
#Jay Emmanuel Thomas on not Randall.
#Nordviet on not Djorou.
#Am not sayin randall is not good but Jay Emmauel Thomas wud have lifeted the game more and it wud have been a direct swap JET for Chamakh. coz if u notice ac milan scored 4 mins after Chamakh went off and i bet it was becoz the team had 2 reshufle like walcot going middle nasri going right randall coming 2 the middle and randall is a young player i bet it took him a while 2 walk up 2 nasri and tell him ”am taking ur position u take walcots place and tell him 2 go centre” lol
#And nordveit is deffinetly a better DM thatn Djorou any day and today showed that, if we borught them 2 on instead i can bet we could have scored or kept it 1 – 0 but wateva right wenger wud get it right in a normal match this is just a friendly
@American Gooner: No, for once I’m not joking. The run was a good one, his pass was direct at Walcott who didnt react quick enough (something he did a lot during that game) and Nesta i think it was just got his toe in. Randall continued and was clean through = great run imo. Yes he should have scored, and i said as much, and it was an excellent double save as both shots were not directly at the gk.
I know Randall is not good enough to play for Arsenal but this was a perfect opportunity to get him noticed and sold. It was still just a friendly match at the end of the day remember so it’s the clever thing to do and to give JD a run out…That’s what they are for.
Nice to hear postive things about Frimpong. Anyone heard about Eastmond though?
We Are Ready
1st Team:
Szczesny
Sagna – Koscielny – Vemalean – Clichy
Fabregas – Song – Nasri
VanPersie – Chamakh – Arshavin
2nd Team:
Mannone(Fabianski)
Eboue – Djourou – Nordtveit – Gibbs(Traore)
Wilshere(Ramsey) – Frimpong – Diaby(Denilson)
Walcot – Bendtner – Vela
3rd Team:
James.Shea
Eastmond – Bartley – Miquel – Botelho(Cruise)
Henderson(Randall) – Coquelin – Lansbury
J.E.Thomas(W.Silva) – Simpson(Sunu) – Barazite(Watt)
@James H: I think he’s better off as our future right back and his definetly gonna get his chance soon wiv both sagna and eboue already 27yrs old 3 more years and Eastmond wud be 22/23 and wud be ready for first team
THIS RESULT IS THE WAY ARSENAL PLAYED THE WHOLE SEASON, WE NEED TO BUY SOMEONE THAT CAN SCORE GOALS NOT LIKE DREAMERS LIKE VAN PERSIE AND BENDTNER, IF NOT THEN OUR WHOLE SEASON WILL BE THE SAME AS LAST YEAR.LOOK AT THE MISS KICKS THAT ARSENAL HAD FOR THE SEASON AND STOP BLAMING THE DEFENCE. I WILL CHANGE MY NUMBER MAYBE I WILL BE BETTER, OR MAYBE I WANT TO BE BETTER THEN MESSI OR RONALDO. YOU CAN NEVER BE LIKE THEM CAUSE IT IS ABOUT BEING YOURSELF AND SELF BELIEF AND DONT EVER GIVE UP.
let fabregas go if He want to go use the and another mfd afterall he is not asenal, arsenal fc have been there before fabregas, please buy another mfd the likes of ozil
I wonder what is in Wenger’s mind. Last season Fabianski showed he’s not qualified to be a keeper in a game of football may be in other games he might try. I wonder why Wenger is wasting time on him. Manone proved himself and I heard Szczesny is good. Why going back to Fabianski. We are going trophiless this season and I feel Wenger is paid to lose matches because his choices are bad. Yes he develops players but he doesn’t make good decisions. Now he (Wenger) is using Fabianski, is Aluminia not far better? I’m not concerned with Emirates cup but Champions League, Premier League, Carling Cup, and FA Cup. Please buy players cos in football players must have injuries. Not when injuries come you will make cheap excuses
@American Gooner: @Nommosi: Where do people get this myth that Randall isn’t talented enough to play for Arsenal, his technique & vision has never been in question for Wenger, its his maturity & temperament that needs improving.
KOS was a monster in defense and TV was as usual brilliant. a goalkeeper is a must of were going for the league and CL. would also like to see a defender coming in.
Nesta anyone?? ;p
Absolutely! I’m a lot more relaxed after seeing that performance from Kos. I’d be happy to see him 1st choice.
However, I’d say another CD is the priority over a keeper tho. A keeper is important and i’d like one if he’s going to be a certain improvement, but i think, controversially i accept, that we have some excellent keepers (- Manuel) already who will do a good job if need be.
chamakh ahead of bendtner on your list? you must be nuts. bendtner is picked 2nd in the starting line up right after cesc. we had no options today without bendtner, with him in the team we have a plan b.
M.Chamakh`s work rate is fantastic he give 100% and gets his team mates into play all the time as for Koscielny he looks good,stood up very well against one of the best striker at the moment in Pato.He reads the game very well.Happy with the performance of the team but that soft goal as usual should have been avoided.Can`t wait for the Celtic game.
Sorry but i thought frimpong, wilshere were outdone, outthought, outbattled by flamini, seedorf and gattuso.
Frimpong showed his inexperience and so did jack wilsere today both didnt relaly have good games but they are young and your up against 3 quality players in flamini who was outstanding- I dont understand why Milan dont play him, seedorf and gattuso.
Laurent koscielny was fantastic, great in the air, strong in the tackle, didnt get beaten by pace or players running at him and so calm and composed. Wenger is a genius the guy has done it again.
Chamakh was fantastic great hold up play , decent goal , great start.
But i still think Nicklas Bendtner has more than chamakh but time will tell.
But iam happy with our strikers chamakh, van persie, bendtner, vela there is good depth.
On the goal wenger is right it was down to communication we had 3 centre backs on and not one of them commanded the situation.
But you expect that especially when vermaelen, djorou, koscielny, fabainski have hardly played together
@arseneman:
Lol u have no fucking clue what u’re talking about, chamakh is as good on the head as bendtner
AC were very lucky to escape without a drubbing. Play the game another 4 times and they would be stuffed 4 times. With Cesc and either Robin or Diaby in to control the midfield a bit- no-contest -a whitewash. Some of you are letting the same old anti-Arsenal gibberish of the pundits get to you. One minute they moan that Arsenal have all the possession and miss all the chances and how appalling is that and the next minute admit that scoring over a hundred goals per season is pretty good.It is like this you see– Barca have all the possession and win-(except when they don’t but we will forget that). Did you hear them go through a list of all the players not there or injured- and then go on to say ‘ how on earth do Arsenal keep in the CL with all those bad injuries and all those bad ref decisions whilst not spending money needlessly so that their Stadium debt can be paid off in double quick time? Oh no! They needle away to try to undermine AWs brilliant management by convicing 5000 fools that black is white- simply by innuendo and damning with faint praise. As it happens we have the best stadium in the world nearly paid for- a third of a billion pounds worth of assets on the pitch and zero debt. We are also within a gnats of having the best team in the world- and it will happen! This sort of football management is obviously upsetting the Prem and Sky- they are pooing it! IT MUST BE STOPPED-WE CAN’T HAVE TEAMS WITH NO DEBTS— REFS, PUNDITS, Mr Mainwaring, DO SOMETHING- STOP THEM!! They are trying but they can’t— and they won’t unless 5000 idiots take it in and start running around like Corporal Jones ( have you been on any of his websites?). Diatribe.
@arseneman: UR PRETTY MUCH CRAZY.LOLOLOL.
BENDTNER 2ND NAME ON TEAM SHEET.LOLOLOL WTF….CHAMAKH IS WAY BETTER ALREADY=] NEVER SEEN BENDTNER AS GOOD AS CHAMAKH.
BALL CONTROL, HOLDING THE BALL UP, WORKRATE………BLAH EVERYTHING=]
Chamakh is 26,27
Nicklas bendtner will improve and get better.
I have always said Nicklas Bendtner is the best youth player i have seen at arsenal when he came through the ranks at 15. I have never seen a player with his height go past players for fun regulary and make an impact in every match than bendtner.
I dont think he has developed but he is starting to bang the goals in and look a threat. But the kid for me has massive talent he needs to shut up and start showing his real qualities. Not just heading the ball and flicking it hes got alot more than that we need to see it now
‘Wenger is a genius the guy has done it again.’
wasn’ t Koscielny noticed by some football scouts? I dont’ t think Wenger deserves all credits for our good transfers.
One more thing, Chamakh>Bendtner, I think this guy will be a very good transfer but if we don’t buy one more defender and a keeper then it’ s 10% we’ ll do it this season, 90% no trophies again. C’ mon AW, let Fabianski show his quality on loan, we can’ t risk, the smaller clubs can give him a chance (and if not, why should us?). If he turns out class, we take him back in year or two.
@john:
john you are clueless. frimpong was excellent today and bendtner is a mostly a joke at the senior level. first, frimpong broke up play time and time again and frustrated seedorf up and down the field. the only time he got beat was on a fortuitous bounce off a shot that landed in flamini’s lap. wilshire did not have a good game but did not look ‘not up to it’. he merely went for the meg too often and wasnt as influential as he normally was. he was better than rosicky.
as for bendtner, chamakh is so much better it is not even funny. chamakh works 10 times harder, holds the ball up 100 times better, and even scored his only chance of the game (how many times can we say that about bendtner)? no one cares if you saw bendtner score when he was 16 or 6, what matters is now.
@Supergunner07:
lol yeah randall is world class. give it up bud. he is a joke. he duffed the pass to theo, got an amazing bounce and then fluffed two point blank shots in a row. he is gutless and lacks any ambition whatsoever. let’s sell him for a pie and chips and be done with it.
I was at the match and was very impressed with Chamakh and Kos. But no way is Chamakh better than Bendtner. He has great skills, and can hold the ball up well, but he is not as phyically strong as bendtner. With Bendtner fit he won’t be in the team. When we play the likes of stoke and blackburn we need Bendtner, i think Chamakh will struggle against them. Its good to have a strong back up tho, wenger has done well.
American goner. You got it wrong with bendtner he’s a wonderful talent he’s just adapting to the league it takes time.
Bendtner is 22 berbatov, depths,villa, even chanson weren’t the greatest at 22 it takes time for strikers but last season bendtner was starting to score goals which is a good sign
American gooner what you saw last season with bendtner was last season hes 22 hes going to improve, get better, get stronger, get more experience you will see a different player.
It takes time for strikers usually look at rooney hes 24 now and hes starting to score goals.
I am sure you will see the same with the likes of gabby agbonlahor.
Look at carlton cole great young talent but now at West ham hes showing some world class form.
American gooner mate i dont what game you were watching frimpong excellent?
flamini, seedorf, gattuso were brilliant they completely shut out wilshere and frimpong.
Frimpong hardly won tackle in the first half i can only remeber him breaking up play twice in the second half in a 10 minute spell where arsenal looked dangerous.
Frimpong showed his inexperience
All this bitchin makes me laugh. Its a pre season for gods sake! Yeah its disappointing we didnt win when we should have. But there was so much to be happy about Chamakh, walcott, Kos, Vermenator, wilshere (who was just outstanding and hopefully pushes for his first team start this year), Gibbs on the wing (was alot more committed than bloody Clichy ever has been) were all amazing. Seems the passion is returning. The tesco’s delivery guy who gave me my shopping the other day (who was a Millwall fan, so that says it all) Laughed at me and said oh Arsenal are too light weight to win anything, Thats what happens every season we get written off, and i kinda relish that, cos one day we’ll turn round and bite everyone in the arse, and after yesterdays game i got a feeling we might be turning things around. The only worry for me to be honest is Flappy-anski in goal. I just cant stand the guy he’s useless. Man Utd in massive debt and have never replaced Ronaldo, Chelsea are aging and in disarray, Liverfool are finding their feet again. All these teams will all struggle this season. So come on people stop being the plastic prawn sandwich brigade and get behind you f**cking team! VICTORY THROUGH HARMONY MOTHERTRUCKERS!
Ive been a gooner since 1982! Believe me ive seen alot worse
i dont care if this was a pre-season kick about or not. Fact is that we had all the persession but failed to kill off the opposition. Then we got punished from a free kick.
Defending free kicks and corners properly would only take an hour after training every day until the problem is solved.
If wenger wants to save money then he MUST spend time.
Feel like Frimpong’s performance is being wildly overrated by many. We really need to distinguish between rating someone’s performance based on age/experience and as an EPL player. He did relatively well given his youth and inexperience, but there are oceans of quality between he and Song. I’m certain Frimpong committed more fouls than had successful tackles and so many of his passes went astray. Arsenal will be done for if Song pick up a major injury. Denilson and Diaby just aren’t DM’s. Marcos Senna has been given permission to leave by Villarreal . . .
Wilshere did well, but so few are mentioning his selfishness when he should have passed to Arshavin and Vela on 2 different occasions in the second half.
No one is mentioning Rosicky. I just don’t think he has the legs play on the wings anymore. He played as deep as Beckham has in recent years on right, but he doesn’t have his right foot. It could be excused somewhat in a 4-4-2, but not in a 4-3-3.
Nasri looked very bright and quick. Its a blessing he wasn’t called up for France’s World Cup squad, though he seemed a bit too eager to take on his marker with his dribble whenever he received the ball.
wheres alex song ???
think we will go bak 2 422
or 4312 wiv arshavin jus behind rvp n chamakh
our defensive play is still a problem!!!!
Such bottlers… Such a worry.. Terrible defending
i think arsenal need to recruit keown to teach our players how to defend and fight for every ball.no goal keeper wil be good enough for arsenal with this kind of defending im afraid!!!
Oh dear, Almunia is clearly in Wenger’s plans for next season unfortunately. To see such a calamitous and clearly un-popular player captain such a history rich team such as Arsenal is a joke witnessed far too often.
Wenger never learns though, Almunia will never improve now, not at his age. Fabianksi has potential and I haven’t really seen enoguh of Mannone to pass any sort of judgement but Aluminia is an experienced class A clown. I hate him. As I’m sure many others do. And I’m extremely fed up of seeing him in goal with his ridiculous hair.