Just as the Carling Cup is useful for a developmental manager like Arsene Wenger, so is the Emirates Cup.
He can play his babies against Juventus and give them the experience of a full stadium. OK, they lost 1-0 to an offside goal by Trezeguet, but who cares?.
He can start AARON RAMSEY in central midfield and start JACK WILSHERE on the left wing
Next day Arsene can bring on Wilshere, the mighty atom, and watch him fly in for 50-50 balls with Real Madrid’s right back Michel Salgado, the hardest player in Spain. Bang ! 83 minutes, what a highlight that was ! I can remember watching Salgado when he was at Celta Vigo. He attacked so much I thought he was a right winger. It was only when he joined Real Madrid that I realised he was a right back
What else stood out in Sunday’s 1-0 victory?
Well, VAN PERSIE passed the ball sweetly and neatly. He passed the ball very well. If he keeps doing that, he will help the team a lot. His link-play has needed to improve.
In 35, he gave Walcott a nice little pass and the kid got past Heinze and hit his shot early and hard. But the ball flew just past the angle. Good effort! I thought : It’s August 3, by September 3, that shot will go in.
SAGNA was very good. One recovery late in the game, when Arjen Robben tried to take him on near the corner flag and cross the ball, was absolutely brilliant. He blocked the cross and sprang up again so quickly. He’s very, very agile. Sagna is one of the manager’s best-ever signings.
GALLAS was slick, tidy and hard, as usual. A great defender for Chelsea and a great defender for Arsenal.
DENILSON was tireless, constructive and reliable.
DIABY looks as if he will pick up a lot of cards if he plays in central midfield. But he was not to blame for the injury to Wesley Sneijder in 58 minutes.
Sneijder was one three Dutchmen who came on at half-time. Ruud van Nistelrooy had replaced Raul, Robben had replaced Callejon, and Sneijder had come on for Julio Baptista.
After 48, the roughy-toughy Salgado crashed into Van Persie in the box and Adebayor slotted a well-placed penalty to make it 1-0
Soon after that Sneijder was injured. He made a sloppy touch and it became a 50-50 ball, too far away from both of them, and Diaby lunged a long way it to get his foot over the ball and gather it. And while he was doing that, Sneijder went for the ball and got his leg between Diaby’s legs, and the impact twisted his knee. It looked serious. You knew that his coach Bernd Schuster was thinking : I’ve lost one of my best players for at least six months.
In 67, Adebayor zoomed between Heinze and Diarra and shot just past the extended foot off Dudek, and just past the post. A wonder-goal if it had gone in, a George Weah goal.
After 75, Bendtner replaced Adebayor, Ramsey replaced Diaby, and Wilshere replaced Nasri.
Wilshere floated a lovely cross to the far post but the ball was too low for Bendtner to head and too high for him to volley. Wilshere’s confidence and skill will make Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce think about calling up this 16 -year old.
Arsene said he got what he wanted out of the two days and learned a lot about his squad. Which was the idea. As I say, pre-season is for managers.
Adebayor looked less rusty than he did on Saturday. You could think of other words to use about him. When he scored, he kissed the badge, as most mercenaries do.
On Saturday I heard that all Ade ever wanted was a big pay rise. He never wanted to leave. He wanted much more money, simple as that. At the point in the saga where Ade said, “I love Arsenal, I’m gonna stay,” his agent rang him and said, “You’re an idiot! I’m trying to get you more money, what are you doing?”
Adebayor needs to improve his heading. Lots of big guys are not good in the air. But he needs to improve his heading a lot. He MUST improve it. His heading will never be good, but it must become competent.
Of course, the big game is FC Twente next week.
That CLQ3 tie is serious because failure would cost the club many millions. Twente’s striker Blaise Kufo was the first black player to play for Switzerland.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia; Sagna, Gallas (Djourou, 89), Senderos, Clichy; Walcott (Eboue, 66), Diaby (Ramsey, 75), Denilson, Nasri (Wilshere, 75); Adebayor (Bendtner, 75), Van Persie (Vela, 66). Subs not used: Fabianski (gk), Justin Hoyte, Gavin Hoyte, Lansbury, Randall.
REAL MADRID (4-2-3-1): Dudek; Salgado, Garcia, Heinze, Torres; Diarra (De La Red, 79), Guti; Callejon (Robben h-t), Baptista (Sneijder h-t; Parejo, 59), Robinho (Saviola, 60); Raul (Van Nistelrooy, h-t). Subs not used: Sergio Ramos, F Ramos (gk), Metzelder, Anton.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.