Barnet 0 – 2 Arsenal: Match report/pictures
813 comments July 16th, 2007
And we’re back. Not just Gunnerblog, which took a one-day hiatus yesterday whilst I enjoyed the thrills and somewhat literal spills of a bout of food poisoning, but Arsenal. Over 5,000 fans saw an entertaining if not classic game in which we emerged as two nil winners.
Because I’d had to pick my ticket up from the box-office pre-game, I ended up being rather early, and by chance this led to me being almost at pitchside when our players first arrived. They were all very polite, as you’d expect, and signed plenty of autographs.
Theo Walcott in particular was remarkably friendly – we even ended up having a brief chat about his shoulder problem. There must have been fifty odd fans there by the time he arrived, and I think he signed every autograph. Impressive, particularly from one so young. The way he handles the pressure and responsibility is something to be admired.
Manuel Almunia was there with his new Vanilla Ice look (left), and it seems he will be staying at the club after Athletic Bilbao cooled their interest in the shot-stopper. He started alongside Mathieu Flamini – another who looks like staying.
The future of Kerrea Gilbert is a harder one to call – I myself had almost forgotten about him. With the arrival of Sagna, he’s now fourth choice in our vast collection of right-backs, and might find it hard to get game. Furthermore, in the flesh he really is absolutely tiny – I wouldn’t be surprised to see him moved on before September 1st.
It was great to see the returns of Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott after several months out. Whilst van Persie looked unsurprisingly rusty, Walcott’s shoulder operation seems to have given him greater freedom of movement, and his running with the ball was much more direct. Whilst I remain sceptical about his ability to come straight into our first team, there certainly were some more promising signs from the young winger.
One man who wasn’t in the side despite his presence at Underhill was Eduardo. Worryingly, he is very very slight in the flesh. If a breeze had struck up, he might well’ve blown over. People talk about missing Henry’s speed and finishing prowess, but let’s not forget that the man was six-foot plus and incredibly powerful. Our already small team is getting smaller.
In the first half our senior players were too much for Barnet, and it was overdue when Emmanuel Adebayor side-footed Theo Walcott’s cross home to make it 1-0. Although the game was fairly uneventful, I thought that Mathieu Flamini stood out with some excellent passing.
Alex Song played the first-half at centre-back, and to be honest, it was a complete shambles. I know many readers think I’m harsh on Song, and granted he was playing out of position, but it became ridiculous. When he was replaced by debutant Havard Nordveit after 45 minutes, our defending immediately improved.
A whole host of other youngsters turned out for the second half, of which Henri Lansbury’s performance caught my eye. He has a real eye for a pass, and an intelligence about his play not dissimilar to a certain Spaniard we all know.
The second goal came from Nacer Barazite – a tall, Kaka-esque (ie. powerful yet cultured) forward with obvious ability, as the second goal in this clip shows. At the moment his biggest problem is going to be finding his best position – he’s already played centre-forward, central midfield and right-winger in his short career.
There’s a written report here, and a video clip showing both goals and an interview with Arsene here.
In an interview with ArsenalTVOnline, Arsene intimated that there would be no further signings – the equivalent of telling your children that Christmas has been cancelled:
“At the moment, I don’t feel any need.”
Well, hopefully, Arsene’s mood is changeable. Once the sale of Jose Reyes is completed, added to the possible departure of Freddie Ljungberg (Arsene very carefully said that “at the moment” and only “at the moment” he is staying), there will be a very definite need for at least one wide player.
There are quite a few rumours about a couple of Argentinian players floating around the web. I’m not convinced there’s anything to them, but you never know. More later, perhaps.
