Shocker! Arsenal defeat Malaysia XI in pre-season

Arsenal played a team of Malaysia’s best today on their pre-season tour in SE Asia, and predictably won in convincing fashion, 4-0.

The match was streamed for free on arsenal.com, so look at the schedule for coming games. Our next match is this Saturday in China.

I didn’t catch the first half, so instead of a match report and player rating I’m going to go over our four goals and some other chances we had.

szólj hozzá: Malaysian XI 0-4 Arsenal
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Goal #1

We started off lively, with Wilshere drawing a penalty in the 5th minute. Gibbs picked out a good run from Wilshere, who paused perfectly before darting forward and forcing the Malaysia defenders to lunge in. Pretty clear penalty, even if I think Wilshere was looking for it. Ramsey stepped up and easily put the penalty past the keeper, who moved far too early. 1-0.

Chance

We almost went up 2-0 shortly after: Wilshere scooped a pass over the defenders into the box for Walcott to run onto. Unfortunately his flicked chip was too high.

Goal #2

We doubled our lead in the 37th. Ramsey put a lovely (and dare I say Cesc-like*) pass over the Malaysia midfield and defence to Walcott, who ran on to the ball and with his first touch chipped the keeper. 2-0 at the half.

Excellent vision and great placement to find Walcott

Walcott ran on to Ramsey’s pass along the blue arrow, in case you haven’t figured it out yet.

Chance

Carlos Vela slipped a nice ball through the defence for Ramsey, who timed his run perfectly. Unfortunately his shot was high when he could have rounded the keeper and slotted home.

Goal #3

We added a third in the 59th minute: an excellent (if slightly, slightly underhit) pass from Rosicky put Vela free into the box. Vela chipped it beautifully over the keeper. Great pass, great finish. Vela showed some excellent composure and a great touch.

Chance

After great work by Nasri, Vela took too long in the box, holding on to the ball while dancing away from the keeper. Reminiscent of Dos Santos’ beautiful goal against the US in the Gold Cup final, but without the finish. It looked like Vela kept wanting a better shot, and eventually a weak shot was turned away by a defender.

Chance

Van Persie took the ball well down the left, put a nice cross over to Vela on the right, who then volleyed a pass to Rosicky in a better position to shoot, who then put it high. Would have been a tough shot, but a better scorer might have got it on target.

Goal #4

From the middle Vela picked out a good pass to free Arshavin out wide left. He took the ball around the defender along the end line and into the box, then flicked a high pass to an open Rosicky, who put in an easy header.

4-0, and an easy win for the Arsenal.
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* or even Cesc-esque?

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Wenger played 23 players in the match, even giving Denilson 20 minutes. New signing Carl Jenkinson played the first two-thirds, as did Ryo Miyachi, and Nasri, RvP and Arshavin all came on in the 66th. Frimpong played the second half. Fabregas, in case you didn’t know, did not travel with the team. Vermaelen captained the team for the first half:

That looks really good, hey?

On a side note: We played in our blue away strip, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised:

Vela looking good in two-tone blue.

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Category: Carlos Vela, Denilson, Friendly, Jack Wilshere, Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Pre-Season, Samir Nasri, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky, Vito Mannone, Wojciech Szczesny