pre-season
ajax-arsenal was a great match for the following reasons:
-well, it IS ajax-arsenal
-i thought it was a display of good technical, attacking football from both sides, with much excitement.
-there was a moment of tactical brilliance by henk ten cate
-well, there was late drama(van persie's winner)
the only fault was that there was only one goal. arsenal dominated the entire opening 20 minutes. then ajax made a change which really changed the game. rommedahl in for van der wiel, resulting in urby emanuelson shifted back to left back, jurgen colin to centre back, and rommedahl on the left wing. his third touch of the ball almost gave ajax the lead, but he shot over, after sneijder threaded a superb ball through. then ajax gained confidence and dominated till maybe the middle of the second half, before arsenal sprang back to life again. and rommedahl was on a few occasions, very dangerous. it was a case of a tactical masterstroke, although van der wiel would no doubt feel disappointed. but you can only step back and applaud henk ten cate for making that change. in any case, rommedahl just managed to earn himself a bit of breathing space with his performance; i was always against signing him.
then in the 87th minute, clichy went on a superb run down the left. they tried to stop him, but they just couldn't. he slipped the ball to van persie on the right, and van persie blasted it home to give arsenal the trophy.
ajax played very well. heitinga dispelled whatever doubts i had of him playing in the dm role. he really worked his socks off and was effective. he was even named the player of the tournament, though i thought sneijder might have deserved it more, because heitinga never really convinced me in the first game.
but i wanted arsenal to win, because i think arsenal needs the win more than ajax. ajax can look back and see that they have played very well against arsenal, that they beat athletico 2-0, and i think this would be good for the morale. but for arsenal, they face much more pressure, so they really needed to win. and i think at the end, the result was the best possible outcome for both sides.
and so, with the conclusion of the amsterdam tournament, the pre-season is almost over. it is as if the season is suddenly at the doorstep. i thought arsenal have done well. they had won two minor trophies. they outclassed inter, saw off psg, lazio and ajax despite not really going at 100percent. you could tell. and to beat ajax at the arena with such a late goal is also encouraging. it shows that the indomitable spirit from last season is still around, and that we might be able to grind out results this season after all-championship form-, something which we sorely lack last season. and the fact that bendtner's two goals in these two tournaments were rather poacher-esque is another piece of good news: we can score ugly goals. van persie's two goals shows that he can hit important goals, and nice ones as well. so i think we are almost ready. just a bit of finetuning. hopefully fabregas and rosicky can regain their form soon. after all, form is temporary, class is forever. and these two are as classy as you can get.
so who is the player of the pre-season?
3- eduardo
i thought he had a marvellous work ethic. a very balanced player with strength, speed and skill. he lunged into a sliding tackle to win the ball back for arsenal near the corner flag against ajax, and i thought that left a very good impression.
2-senderos
he looked a different self. more composed, more commanding, and i thought he was impressive.
1- clichy
the first ten minutes against psg, when he broke down the left 4 times says it all. i thought he was the most consistent throughout the 4 games, not counting the austria ones. and that assist against ajax would have delighted anyone. he was not bad as a winger, but i think he should play left-back, so that we can put another attacker in to play there.
on a sidenote, reyes impressed on his debut for athletico, scoring one, creating one. we just might miss his freekicks, which i think is an underrated quality of his play. and of course a player like reyes is always good to put on the flanks, where he can hug the touchline, stick to the fullback, run on his blindside to latch onto balls, and basically make a nuisance out of himself.
we should find someone like him.
-well, it IS ajax-arsenal
-i thought it was a display of good technical, attacking football from both sides, with much excitement.
-there was a moment of tactical brilliance by henk ten cate
-well, there was late drama(van persie's winner)
the only fault was that there was only one goal. arsenal dominated the entire opening 20 minutes. then ajax made a change which really changed the game. rommedahl in for van der wiel, resulting in urby emanuelson shifted back to left back, jurgen colin to centre back, and rommedahl on the left wing. his third touch of the ball almost gave ajax the lead, but he shot over, after sneijder threaded a superb ball through. then ajax gained confidence and dominated till maybe the middle of the second half, before arsenal sprang back to life again. and rommedahl was on a few occasions, very dangerous. it was a case of a tactical masterstroke, although van der wiel would no doubt feel disappointed. but you can only step back and applaud henk ten cate for making that change. in any case, rommedahl just managed to earn himself a bit of breathing space with his performance; i was always against signing him.
then in the 87th minute, clichy went on a superb run down the left. they tried to stop him, but they just couldn't. he slipped the ball to van persie on the right, and van persie blasted it home to give arsenal the trophy.
ajax played very well. heitinga dispelled whatever doubts i had of him playing in the dm role. he really worked his socks off and was effective. he was even named the player of the tournament, though i thought sneijder might have deserved it more, because heitinga never really convinced me in the first game.
but i wanted arsenal to win, because i think arsenal needs the win more than ajax. ajax can look back and see that they have played very well against arsenal, that they beat athletico 2-0, and i think this would be good for the morale. but for arsenal, they face much more pressure, so they really needed to win. and i think at the end, the result was the best possible outcome for both sides.
and so, with the conclusion of the amsterdam tournament, the pre-season is almost over. it is as if the season is suddenly at the doorstep. i thought arsenal have done well. they had won two minor trophies. they outclassed inter, saw off psg, lazio and ajax despite not really going at 100percent. you could tell. and to beat ajax at the arena with such a late goal is also encouraging. it shows that the indomitable spirit from last season is still around, and that we might be able to grind out results this season after all-championship form-, something which we sorely lack last season. and the fact that bendtner's two goals in these two tournaments were rather poacher-esque is another piece of good news: we can score ugly goals. van persie's two goals shows that he can hit important goals, and nice ones as well. so i think we are almost ready. just a bit of finetuning. hopefully fabregas and rosicky can regain their form soon. after all, form is temporary, class is forever. and these two are as classy as you can get.
so who is the player of the pre-season?
3- eduardo
i thought he had a marvellous work ethic. a very balanced player with strength, speed and skill. he lunged into a sliding tackle to win the ball back for arsenal near the corner flag against ajax, and i thought that left a very good impression.
2-senderos
he looked a different self. more composed, more commanding, and i thought he was impressive.
1- clichy
the first ten minutes against psg, when he broke down the left 4 times says it all. i thought he was the most consistent throughout the 4 games, not counting the austria ones. and that assist against ajax would have delighted anyone. he was not bad as a winger, but i think he should play left-back, so that we can put another attacker in to play there.
on a sidenote, reyes impressed on his debut for athletico, scoring one, creating one. we just might miss his freekicks, which i think is an underrated quality of his play. and of course a player like reyes is always good to put on the flanks, where he can hug the touchline, stick to the fullback, run on his blindside to latch onto balls, and basically make a nuisance out of himself.
we should find someone like him.
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