Arsenal 4 Malaysia XI 0 - Let's Not Get Carried Away!

     

     Alright, a fairly quick post - I just want to recap the goals and the player's performances - it was only a preseason friendly!


     While Arsenal has been in Malaysia, they have attracted loads of attention and I can't imagine the amount of revenue Arsenal has gotten since the tour has started; the number of Arsenal jerseys (especially new ones) is unimaginable. The Bukit Jalil National Stadium was nearly packed to capacity, and the atmosphere was spectacular. Arsene Wenger chose a strong starting side, to add some excitement to the crowd: 
                               
                           Szczesny 


Jenkinson    Koscielny    Vermaelen    Gibbs


                  Song            Wilshere


                            Ramsey


     Walcott                                 Miyaichi 


                          Chamakh


     I don't want to be too critical of the players since it was the first match of our preseason, but Chamakh didn't look to great, and Jenkinson looked nervous, which is completely understandable, but he was caught out of position quite a few times. 


     The first goal came in the fifth minute. After some Arsenal pressure, Gibbs played a ball through for 
Wilshere, and he was taken down in the penalty area. Ramsey stepped up to take the penalty and buried it. 
   
     In the 37th minute after some patient passing, Ramsey played a 40 yard cross field ball to set Walcott through, and Theo finished the bouncing pass with a nice little lob over the 'keeper. A sublime ball by Ramsey; hopefully we'll see more of the form he showed on the day during the upcoming season.


     Then halftime came, and Arsenal looked comfortable. Arsene Wenger made changes to the squad, and the new XI looked like this:


                          Mannone


Jenkinson     Djourou     Squillaci     Traore 


                 Denilson       Frimpong 


                           Ramsey


     Rosicky                              Miyaichi 


                             Vela 


     In the 59th minute Rosicky was in the middle and fed Vela through the middle, and of course, Vela chipped the 'keeper. But it wasn't any old chip. It was a very good one. The 'keeper never went to ground, and the chip was well measured. Three nil to The Arsenal. 


     Then an "interesting" decision. Van Persie, Arshavin, Nasri, and Sagna came on, so the XI now looked SOMETHING like this:
                          
                        Mannone 


Sagna      Djourou      Squillaci      Traore                         


                        Frimpong


             van Persie          Nasri


    Rosicky                             Arshavin


                            Vela


     I stress the word something. The players moved so much and simply floated to different positions, so this is the best guess I've got.
     But back to what I was saying - an interesting decision. No, the inclusion of Nasri was not interesting. The fact that Denilson was substituted after 20 minutes was. Apparently after he was substituted, Denilson stormed straight to the dressing room looking unhappy. 


     What does this mean? It means Arsene Wenger doesn't have Denilson included in next season's plans, and rightly so. Not only is Denilson shit, but the absurd comments he made means he doesn't deserve a place at Arsenal. If he were to make those comments followed by clubs scrambling for him, okay. But it didn't happen, and he now looks like a fool. Jog on Denilson. 


     Anyway, onto the football! 

Full match highlights.

     In the 90th minute, Arshavin used his tiny little magical feet and got to the goal line. His chip into the box was deflected, and it found Rosicky, who's header from four yards out found the back of the net. The match ended Malaysia XI nil, Arsenal four, and overall a good performance. Player performance reviews right this way...

• Szczesny: He didn't really have to do anything. 

• Mannone: He didn't have to do anything either! 

• Jenkinson: At first he looked nervous, which is completely understandable. He was caught up field, out of position numerous times, but he was able to recover well. Perhaps this is because he finished first in fitness tests at London Colney, according to Vermaelen. Though as time went by, Jenkinson slowly relaxed and looked very good. He blended right into the set up. Overall, a good performance. 

• Sagna: He had a good match. Nothing special, but wasn't afraid to go forward, which he did well.

• Koscielny: Shut down danger efficiently. Good game.

• Vermaelen: Your typical Verminator performance. "Is that a striker barreling towards my goal?" *Zap*

• Squillaci: Did well, but again, didn't have much to do.

• Djourou: ^What he said.

• Gibbs: Didn't have a terrible game, but didn't do the best. Went forward well though. No surprises there. 

• Traore: Looked superior to Gibbs. He defended much better. I am now a fan of Traore to get the starting spot, but can he do it again in China on Friday?

• Song: Another average Song match. Nothing special, nothing horrid.

• Frimpong: Looked very good. He shut down Malaysia's play well, and his passing was well executed as well. I'm looking forward to seeing him on Friday.

• Wilshere: Young Jack had a very good match. Committed a few fouls, but that's him. He linked up very well with Ramsey - 2011/2012 is looking bright in that respect.

• Denilson: In no regard did he have a poor game, he only played twenty minutes for the reasons I listed above. 

• Ramsey: He looked like a new player yesterday. While we thought Jack was good (which he is), we've completely forgotten how good Ramsey is. His passing was fantastic, and I'm very optimistic of the upcoming season for him. Life after Cesc doesn't seem too bad.

• Nasri: Malaysian's, so I guess you could call him an arse for that if you wanted. Nasri looked like his "first half of last season" self, but it's only one preseason friendly, so we can't make too many assumptions. 

• Rosicky: He seemed to play better than he has in a while. A resurgence of form for him would be fantastic, but like I said, no early assumptions!

• Miyaichi: Exciting to watch. The Japanese youngster put in a good performance, but looked very raw. I'm slightly disappointed that Ryo won't be playing with us next season, but a loan move for him would be best. Still needs to develop. He'd need to bulk up a little bit too. 

• Walcott: Besides his goal, Theo wasn't involved much at all. Wasn't the best game for him.

• Chamakh: I was disappointed with him. He looked very tired, which is understandable, but more so than the others. Also, he lacked awareness when on the ball, and didn't get involved much.

• Vela: I was impressed with Carlos. He had a good game and you could tell he was having fun. At one point he was either showboating or being a complete idiot, and his chipped goal was delightful.

• van Persie: Came on and did his thing. Good passing, good movement, great touches. He even helped create a chance for Rosicky.

     Once again, it was overall a good match. Big questions that reside over the next match are: 

• Will Traore outplay Gibbs again?
• How will Jenkinson do?
• How will Miyaichi do?
• Can Frimpong force his way into the side for next season?
• Will Denilson play? 

     The next match will be played against Hangzhou Greentown on Saturday, July 16th in China. The squad landed in China today, and were greeted like celebrities. I'll be tweeting live updates for the game on Twitter, and will provide a link for a live stream, for those that aren't subscribed to Arsenal Player. I will be tweeting all this at 12:30 GMT. 

     That's all for today. Check back for another post, they're always coming up!

Cheers.