The Game
No, Legia Warsaw will not serve after the change of ends to take us into a tie-break, it was football which we watched this afternoon, not tennis, and the score is a ridiculous one.
With Liverpool waiting next week, today’s friendly game – the last for Arsenal – was supposed to provide important signals on how we will face Roy Hodgson’s new team at Anfield but based on what we have seen we end up with a pile of questions, many of which, unfortunately, are yet to be given an answer. And please, don’t say it was just a “friendly.
Lukasz Fabianski was again very insecure in defending set-pieces although our whole back four should sit down, talk and try to understand what went wrong at the Wojska Polskiego stadium as some of the defending was simply shocking. In midfield we also were a little weak with both Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong failing to show the same tenacity showed at the Emirates Cup.
Luckily, there’s some positive to take from the game such as Samir Nasri, who for the umpteenth time this summer was one of the best players on the field. Marouane Chamakh was also very lively up front and so was Carlos Vela when coming in as a substitute, providing two assists to help us start the comeback from 3-0 down.
We now start the week which will end with our lads facing Liverpool in a very tough Premiership opener. After today I would keep my cash in my pockets as it is very, very difficult to predict what will happen at Anfield.
Match Video Highlights
Player Ratings
Fabianski: 4,5 – I’m afraid we saw no improvements coming from the 25-year old. When important decisions are to be made when defending set-pieces, almost always the wrong ones are taken.
Vermaelen and Koscielny: 5,5 – Five goals conceded today and I am very, very worried about our central pair at the back. It seems they needs at least one more month to find the right chemistry, but do we have so much time on our hands?
Sagna: 6 – Had an awful start, missing easy passes and allowing players to get past him with ease. Recovered as the game progressed, providing the right support as we surged forward.
Clichy: 5,5 – Like Sagna, Gael also made some poor mistakes at the back and his decision making in delivering the final ball when he pushed forward was very disappointing.
Frimpong: 5 – This will go down as the most disappointing game of pre-season from the youngster. He gave way too much space for the local side to attack and looked tired in the final stages of the half.
Wilshere: 5,5 – As per his usual, fought very hard in the middle of the pitch but unfortunately failed to make an impact.
Rosicky: 6 – Started really well Tomas but faded away as Legia started to dominate in the first 45 minutes of the game.
Walcott: 4 – Very poor game from Theo. I’m not sure he will start against Liverpool as both Andrey Arshavin and Carlos Vela showed better things in pre-season.
Nasri: 8 – Top class again from the Frenchman, our best player in pre-season. If Cesc does not recover in time for Anfield, Samir should definitely start at the centre.
Chamakh: 7 – Scored a very important goal to give us some hope at the end of the first half. All in all Marouane did well in pre-season, settled down straight away in the side and will surely be fired up for his first Premiership game next week.
Szczesny: 6,5 – Much, much better than his compatriot. To be fair on Lukasz, Wojciech wasn’t put under the same amount of pressure from set-pieces so really, I honestly don’t know where we are in terms of goalkeepers.
Gibbs: 7,5 – Super game from Kieran who was very lively up front and scored a very good goal.
Nordtveit: No Vote – Only 10 minutes for Havard, not enough to rate.
Eboue: 8,5 – Saved the day for Arsenal, immediately involved in our moves, scored two goals and looked as fit as a fiddle.
Lansbury: 5,5 – Poor Henri gifted Legia a goal which gave them hope going into the last minutes of the game. But it would be harsh to judge him on today, he’s much better than this.
Vela: 7 – Like Eboue, Carlos wasted no time to make an impact on the game, delivering the free-kick from which Emmanuel score and turning provider minutes later when he set up Gibbs to perfection.
Emmanuel-Thomas: 6,5 – Less than 20 minutes were enough for JET to end his pre-season in style. He was impressive in the summer and I hope to see more of him in the regular season.
From thegunninghawk.com
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