Barnet 1-2 Arsenal – 19/07/08 – (Friendly) 20 July, 2008

We’re officially back to business! I’ve been waiting all summer for this game, it was never going to be a classic but no one really cared. The fact is we were in a stadium, watching Arsenal again, and that was all I went for.

We started almost full-strength considering who we’ve got back for pre-season training. The Euro 2008 players and a few others are due back tomorrow to go to Austria. This was our starting eleven:

Almunia
Sagna – J. Hoyte – Nordtveit – Clichy
Lansbury – Ramsey – Denilson – Traore
Walcott – Bendtner

So not a bad side, a mixture between 1st team players and guys who would normally be on the bench. There was also a couple of reserves thrown in, Nordtveit and Lansbury played for the reserves last season but did alright yesterday. I was particularly impressed with the defender, Nordtveit. I knew this kid was a great little player but yesterday he showed again how capable he is of playing at the top level.

He was quality, made some great tackles, clearing headers and read the game very well. We were playing against Barnet but he did show a lot of technical skill. He made one or two little slip ups but you can forgive that in a game like this, he’s still got plenty of time to get to match performance levels. It’s scary because he’s only 17, would you trust a 17-year-old at the heart of your defence? If I were blind to his age, then yes, I’d have him playing in the Premiership. I’m looking forward to seeing how he performs this pre-season.

There was another 17-year-old out there yesterday, and that was new signing Aaron Ramsey. He played central midfield with Denilson and looked quite exciting. I never really followed him last season with Cardiff so I was keen to see what he could do. Bearing in mind that this was his first game of football since May I thought he did very well.

I’m not sure whether Arsene has brought him in to go straight into the first team, but it does look like he’s not far off. He said in an interview a little while ago that he was aiming to impress in pre-season and was aiming for that first match against West Brom, to make the starting eleven. He did well yesterday, showed some good skill going forward but he’s still got work to do.

On to the game itself, rather than individuals, we weren’t actually playing that well. It was very obvious that this was the first pre-season game of our season. There wasn’t the usual Arsenal link-play and players such as Walcott, Bendtner and Denilson did look rusty. We were finding it hard to break the home side down and we weren’t creating many chances.

Barnet however have had a few games already this summer and had their first team out for this one. They were playing quite well actually and if there was the threat of a goal it was going to come from them. Then after a quarter of an hour played Nordtveit mis-timed a tackle and conceded a free-kick in a dangerous area.

Kenny Gillet placed the ball down and whipped a great free-kick round the wall and inside the post. Almunia had made a great save a few minutes ago but he couldn’t stop this one. A good goal by Gillet and a deserved early 1-0 lead to Barnet.

The goal didn’t really change our attitude and we were still finding it hard to get past the Barnet defence. I think our first shot came from Ramsey, he found the ball at his feet in range of the goal but he couldn’t manage a decent shot and it went wide, this was after about half an hour gone.

Clichy and Sagna started to really get down the wings and we had a little spell where they were starting every attack. We nearly scored from a great move between Clichy and Traore on the left wing. I think it was Traore who put the final ball in, Bendtner made the ground to the near post to meet the low cross but he sent it just the wrong side of the post.

It was a great move and the first sign of ‘Arsenal football’ this season. After that Walcott had a dipping shot saved and just before half time Clichy hit a screamer but it went sailing over.

At half time we made 11 changes. Bit disappointing but it was only a warm up game. The second half was pretty much this seasons reserve side. The notable names were new signing Francis Coquelin, Mark Randall was in there, the exciting youngster Jack Wilshere and Nacer Barazite.

Obviously, these substitutions completely changed the game. Barnet made one ‘keeper change and one outfield change so they were effectively the same side. However, it was quite clear that we were now watching an Arsenal side that had played together before. I’m not sure how long they’ve been back in training but it was obvious that our reserves knew what they were doing.

There was good passing and nice football, a world apart from the first team side of the first half, which was the only time some of them have played together before.

Just after the hour we’d got level at 1-1. Wilshere played a great ball through the defence for Jay Simpson who finished well just inside the post. Was a really nice move actually and a well deserved goal.

Ten minutes later we’d taken the lead. Wilshere started the move off again setting off Simpson. He was calm under pressure of the defence and put Barazite through on goal. Nacer tucked the ball away nicely inside the far post and it was 2-1 to Arsenal. A great little move and you felt we had the game won now.

A mention must go to Jack Wilshere though. The youngster was the star of the second half, playing an important part in both goals and most attacks. He was exciting, clever, quick, skilful and very comfortable on the ball. He looked the all-round player. He’s still really young though but he’s definitely one for the future.

We did end up winning the game 2-1 and it was all thanks to the reserves really. I though they did very well and I’m looking forward to them improving. If they carry on getting better then we could be in for another Carling Cup run.

It really was a game of two halves though; technically it was Barnet 1-0 Arsenal, and Barnet 0-2 Arsenal Reserves. That’s the story of yesterday really. I wouldn’t say our first team was outplayed but we just found it difficult to get going and we were clearly lacking match practice.

Next up it’s erm…some team from Austria with a really long name. Look, it’s written on the side there in the next match thingy. Yeah. That’s on Tuesday evening in the first game of our pre-season tour. I believe it’s on Arsenal TV too.

Thanks for reading. Speak to you tomorrow.