Pre season Friendly: Barnet 1 Arsenal 2
Arsenal players seem to be getting younger. Sagna at 25 was the oldest outfield player of the first half starters and the ‘men’ of the match were 16 and 17 respectively. Some of the Barnet players looked about a decade above their actual ages.
Some fans were disappointed not to see Vela, who’d picked up a knock in training, or Nasri (more like Pires than Hleb according to French journalist, Philippe Auclair), who is back on Monday, like a lot of players.
So all eyes were on Ramsey who started in central midfield with Denilson.
The player has bags of potential: time on the ball, a tackle, good at through balls, perception to switch direction, range of passes and good at driving on. With seven substitutes in the Premiership this season, he’s bound to see some first team action. As are one or two of the youngsters.
Barnet, whose upper echelons regard Arsenal as a big brother, rarely win these fixtures, so manager Paul Fairclough, even though setting up a 4-4-2, concentrated on solid defence, packing the midfield wherever possible.
It was up to Arsenal to break them down with quick posession passing. Only trouble – players were at different stages of fitness, and Lansbury, Nordtveit and Ramsey were new to their colleagues.
Nordtveit put in a great tackle at the start.
Ramsey put in three good passes in first five minutes, one setting up Bendtner who looked extremely rusty (he’s known to be a slow starter) and took it too far.
Justin Hoyte at centre back let Adomah, Barnet’s star player, have a second shot in the first ten which went just wide.
Nordtveit who had mistimed a tackle earlier, gave away a free kick in a central position. Kenny Gillet, an anglo-French name if ever there was one, curled it around Almunia‘s left hand post. It wasn’t a surprise lead. In the first 25 minutes, Arsenal had the majority of possession, but Barnet had three shots on goal to Arsenal’s none.
It could have been two as Adomah was nearly in on a through ball, but for Almunia’s bravery.
Ramsey then delighted with two good passes – one a through ball, which Lansbury delayed, the other a cross field ball to the right. He then took a shot which went wide.
Traore crossed from the left but Bendtner‘s deft touch drifted wide.
Walcott, who wasn’t holding it up well, shot from a Denilson pass – turned round by Barnet keeper, Beckwith.
Towards the end of the half Arsenal started to dominate with a Bendtner, Walcott, Clichy move ending with the Frenchman powering over.
The second half saw wholesale changes with virtually the whole of last season’s reserve side taking the field. The exception, Coquelin, a new signing from French second division club, Laval, and whose defensive positional play and harrying work enabled Randall and Wilshere to go forward.
It was all a bit frenetic in the first ten. But this set of players were more up for it than the first tranche.
Wilshere, who if anything is more like a Nedved than a Brady, made two good runs. There were some classy touches by Randall.
Barazite’s shot – wide from a corner signalled Arsenal’s growing intent.
And soon after, a Wilshere run and pass found Simpson on the right, who let the ball run across him before firing into the corner on 63 minutes. Simpson seems a transformed player since his Millwall loan move, moving with a lot more confidence.
Centre back Rodgers had a chance and in the same move a Randall shot was trapped by Rui Fonte and turned over.
Wilshere‘s persistence won the ball in midfield and a quick pass to Simpson and on to Barazite saw the Dutchman’s shot go in off the post on 73.
Szczesny, and Dunne came on for late appearances.
Steer attacked down the right and sent in a dangerous cross.
Rodgers gave free kick away in a dangerous position, which Barnet fluffed.
Simpson made another aggressive run, reminisent of a young Kevin Campbell. And newcomer Coquelin mis-hit a shot, which shouldn’t detract from his performance.
Arsene Wenger interviewed on Arsenal TV by Richard Clarke, said: “Barnet gives us a tougher time every year,” adding that it has been a week of hard work. He said there were some heavy legs out there.
“Some of the young players showed very good talent. They can push on. We have no injuries.”
On Ramsey: “he works hard in training, but looked a bit tired.”
Wenger said the first half is the most diffcult in these matches, with the opposition more up for it.
He added that many players come back on Monday.
On transfers, he said: “You can expect signings. We’re on the market. If there’s a good opportunity we’ll take it.” [Rumours are flying around of a big signing.]
On Gilberto he said it was rare for a 32 year old to get offered a three year contract, so Arsenal couldn’t stand in his way, after the service he’d given.
On Hleb, Wenger said: “Comfortable [with it] no. He had an opportunity to leave. I would have loved him to stay. Players are in a strong position. But we planned to bring Nasri in for some time.”
On Adebayor: “Adebayor is under contract [stressing it is a different case to Hleb] and will turn up and practice with us.” Asked to confirm whether Adebayor will be with the club at the start of the season, Wenger made a sound close to yes.
He confirmed that he has one or two young players in mind who are close to breaking into the first team.
He added that the vision of the team for the forthcoming season will be seen in The Emirates Cup.
Barnet: Rob Beckwith (Lee Harrison 45) Joe Devera (Daniel Alowisi 89) Ismail Yakubu (Michael Leary 59) Kenny Gillet, Kieron St Aimie (Danny Hart 67) Max Porter (Justin Cochrane 45) Cliff Akurang (Luke Medley 71) Neal Bishop (Joe Tabiri 78) Albert Adomah (Elliot Charles 74) Adam Birchall, Ashley Carew
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia (Vito Mannone 45) [(Wojciech Szczesny 74)] Gael Clichy (Abu Ogogo 45) [James Dunne 74] Justin Hoyte (Paul Rodgers 45) Armand Traore (Jay Simpson 45) Havard Nordtveit (Gavin Hoyte 45) Bacary Sagna (Rene Steer 45) Aaron Ramsey (Francis Coquelin 45) Denilson (Mark Randall 45) Henri Lansbury (Jack Wilshere 45) Theo Walcott (Nacer Barazite 45) Nicklas Bendtner (Rui Fonte 45)