Emirates Cup Roundup: NY win, Arsenal predictably held.

Today was the first day of our annual Emirates Cup, also known as the joke most jerks use to say “but we HAVE won a trophy this season!”

The first game was Thierry Henry’s New York Red Bulls against newly rich PSG. In a surprising result, NY won 1-0, from a goal by Joel Lindpere. Henry also got a standing ovation from the home crowd, which was really nice.
The other game was our beloved Arsenal taking on Boca Juniors, and boy was the result infuriating. Arsenal took a well-earned two goal lead, only for Boca to strike back to make it 2-2. This raises even more questions about the team, and I’m not sure if we’re going to have any answers to them soon.

The game started relatively well, with Arsenal employing a rushing, direct game- which, considering Arsenal don’t do this often, meant in some possession issues early on. We were denied some pretty clear shouts by Wilshere for a penalty in the opening minutes, but aside from some Jenkinson crosses that found no one (I see he’s learning from Sagna!), Arsenal were pretty sparse in their attacks. Boca, meanwhile, weren’t playing so dangerously either, aside from a great chance for Boca (from a great pass from Riquelme, of course), leaving Viatri one-on-one with Fabianski, that Viatri missed. All that changed when, in the 29th minute, a great pass from Wilshere set Gervinho up to run down the left-hand side of the pitch and deliver a great, drilled cross to Van Persie, who simply tapped it past goalkeeper Orion to make it 1-0. It was a nice goal, and good to see Gervinho and Van Persie link up so well, so early- good news for an upcoming season were we’re likely to be at least without one creative midfielder we play well with.

After that, Arsenal got more engaged and played with more energy and determination, looking for the second goal. Gervinho got a pass from Nasri in the box and delivered a cross-cum-shot that the Boca defender just headed away. Arsenal were playing well, were winning and didn’t look like anything was wrong. Were have I heard that before?

At the half, 5 changes were made, including Ramsey for Wilshere and Vela for Gervinho. Those two would link up with barely a minute having passed to score Arsenal’s second goal. Vela started on a mazy run between several Boca defenders before passing the ball to an onrushing Ramsey, who took a great shot just outside the Boca box past Orion and into the far left corner. 2-0, and it was a sweet goal for Ramsey, who has been involved in most of our pre-season matches and looks rearing and ready to go for the new season ahead. Also, nice work from Vela, who appeared to be on the periphery of this Arsenal squad (and likely still is), but appears to be working hard to get more involved within the team.

After the goal, Arsenal turned off the after-burners and started playing as if the game was already won (Again, sound familiar?). There were a couple of moments of some trickery from the offensive players, but apart from a couple of shots here or there, nothing was really happening. It was around this time that Boca got the initiative and started getting dangerous, particularly Riquelme and Viatri. The latter almost scored with a stunning drive that Mannone, who came in for Fabianski at the half, did well to tip over. But not long after, in the 69th minute, Boca got the goal, from Viatri again, and it was quite an avoidable goal. Squillaci, of course, gave away the ball to Riquelme and the man started on a run before giving it to an unmarked Viatri, who first-timed the shot into the top corner. 2-1, and the fans were getting a bit nervous. They hardly had time to complete the Wave before Boca equalized, just 3 minutes later. This time it was Djourou who gave the ball away, and Riquelme again gave a great ball to Mouche, who had just come on, who effortlessly moved past a sliding Djourou and knocked the ball past Mannone. It was like watching a carbon copy of our numerous home draws and defeats last season.

After that, Arsenal tried to find the 3rd goal, to no avail. Boca had the best chance actually, in the last minute where Riquelme smashed a free kick into the near post, only for Mannone to slap it away. 2-2, and that’s how it would end in Arsenal’s Emirates Cup opener.

Now, it’s just a glorified friendly and we weren’t playing our best eleven and whatnot, but this game did nothing more but to show that defensively, we haven’t improved at all from our catastrophic performances last season. Squillaci was, as expected, terrible, as was Djourou. The Swiss man was playing well when we were getting results but once the spring collapse begun, he was one of the worst offenders. I think this result makes it clear that we are far from the finished article and more signings, especially in defense, are needed. If anything, a positive thing we can take from this game is that hopefully Wenger saw how fragile we still are and know he’ll be more willing to try harder or pay more for quality defensive reinforcements, especially at CB and LB. Because if the team stays like this for the start of the season, then we’re going to have a very shaky August indeed.

Tomorrow, we play Henry and the New York Red Bulls and PSG face Boca. Hopefully we play better (we will, Vermaelen will play!) and win the Emirates Cup, but right now I’m more focused on us signing someone. A liveblog on tomorrow’s match is tentative but not 100% right now. Have a good Saturday!

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Category: Friendly, Match Review, Pre-Season