Arsenal finished their last Premier League campaign with a run of two wins in ten games, perfecting the habit of snatching draws and defeats from the jaws of victory.
With the new season just two weeks away, Arsene Wenger’s side seem to have taken that form into the Emirates Cup, conceding a late own goal to draw 1-1 against New York Red Bulls and hand the Americans the trophy in the process.
The build-up to the game wasn’t about winning the competition however, or Arsenal’s form, it was all about the return of Thierry Henry.
The Frenchman ran out on the pitch on his own and was met with a standing ovation and rapturous applause from the stands.
Rumours were abound before kick off that Henry was going to appear in an Arsenal shirt for a portion of the match and Wenger, who expressed his delight at seeing Henry again, confirmed that he had planned a ‘surprise’ for his former striker in the form of a five minute cameo.
“He was desperate for it,” he admitted. “But the referee stubbornly turned it down.
“They say great clubs never die and great players never die as well because Thierry has shown us today that he’s still top quality with his feet and with his head.”
Henry himself claimed that he was disappointed not to appear in an Arsenal shirt once more because of the "stupid rules" of the competition.
The game itself was a turgid affair with Arsenal failing to find a way to turn their dominance into a win against New York, a team Robbie Savage compared to a "pub team.”
Arsenal were forced into an early change when Jack Wilshere was taken off with a minor knock to his ankle to be replaced by youth player Benik Afobe.
The substitution was merely a precaution though, with Wenger confirming Wilshere will be out for a week.
“He’s a quick healer usually and a tough boy,” he said.
The first half was played almost exclusively in the American half as Arsenal kept hold of the ball like a greedy child in a playground.
Their usual trait of edge-of-the-box tentativeness was on show once more, though with van Persie flanked by Afobe and Gervinho, they did look somewhat more direct than at times last season.
The home side eventually took the lead after 41 minutes when Tomas Rosicky floated a free-kick into the penalty area and Robin van Persie, carrying on his tremendous goal-scoring record in 2011, leapt in front of Roy Miller to head past Frank Rost in the New York goal.
The Emirates had to wait until the 85th minute for the next goal, however. Henry slipped a precision pass through to Juan Agudelo who ran to the by-line fired a cross across goal which was duly smashed into his own net by substitute Kyle Bartley.
Wenger admitted that he was frustrated that the game was “forwards against defence” though said that he was happy with the competition as in pre-season, the “most important thing is to prepare.”
“Overall I am very happy with the two days because we were confronted with two teams who played very committed, very physical and very strong defensively and both days we played for an hour and we have not more to offer at the moment, hopefully that will change in the next two weeks.”
With his side booed off the pitch at full-time, and the futures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas still in doubt, Wenger will be hoping that any possible moves for Phil Jagielka, Juan Mata and Christopher Samba are concluded sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile in the earlier kick off a youthful Paris Saint-Germain team swept aside Boca Juniors in a tepid 3-0 win.
It took Leonardo’s men only eight minutes to take the lead, with Jean-Eudes Maurice beating Boca goalkeeper Augustin Orion to the ball and diverting the ball into the net with an acrobatic karate kick. Half an hour later, the lead was doubled.
An unmarked Guillaume Hoarau ran in-between Boca centre-backs Gaston Sauro and Matias Caruzzo to get on the end of Maurice’s cross and head past Orion with ease.
The game was wrapped up with twelve minutes to go when Marcos Ceara curled in a delightful free-kick from 30 yards.
It swerved majestically over the wall and into the top left corner of Orion’s goal with little anyone could do about it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment