By Ian Grant
A good work-out in the Glasgow heat.
Arsenal took time to get going – over an hour in fact – when the galvanising influence of Patrick Vieira – made itself felt, and surprisingly the most galvanised Arsenal player, Kanu, made a big difference and scored.
Celtic, lacking Hartson, Sutton and Larsson had the better of the first half, with Lennon and Balde influential. Small forwards Smith and Miller made life difficult, particularly for central defender, Kolo Toure – on the right side of Sol Campbell. The Ivory Coast man’s distribution left a lot to be desired.
Aliadiere showed his pace and trickery in several moves. Pennant put in a defence splitting pass. But Jeffers lost nearly everything that came to him. He had a good chance in the first half, set up by Cole – but dragged it wide, and failed with a lob and flashed a shot wide in the second.
Captain Parlour was full of vim and vigour leaping into tackles, and at one point being warned by the referee. If only his finishing was as good as his competitiveness and attitude. In the second half on the right he had one or two chances.
Lehmann made one good block with his leg, and appeared to organise the defence at set pieces. He came and claimed balls with authority. And he was quickly onto second phase balls, that he didn’t grab first time.
He was at fault for the Celtic goal in the second half though, not reading the angle, or getting down quickly enough, only getting a half block on Liam Miller’s swivel shot.
With Kanu, van Bronckhorst and Edu and Vieira on in the second half, Arsenal appeared to power themselves back into the game, and overtook Celtic who closed down space and worked like demons.
With Anglo-Scottish rivalries and club pride at stake, this was more than a friendly.
Cygan came on. There was a penalty claim as the Frenchman and Miller clashed in the area.
Kanu’s goal was fortuitous as he followed up on a deflection, but his perseverance paid off.
The morning papers claimed Kanu was on his way to Quatar, to join a host of has been superstars. But his performance would indicate he wants to stay and fight for his place.
Van Bronckhorst could have won it with a neat bit of control, but shot just wide.
The 17 year-old Gael Clichy, on trial from Cannes, came on for Cole. He is super speedy, and performed well.
The performance of the youngsters is going to have a big bearing on Arsenal’s season.