Report: Arsenal 3-2 Celtic
Arsenal clinched their third Emirates Cup success in the tournament’s fourth edition, but there was no smile from Arsene Wenger at the final whistle as his boys made too much of a hard task of winning today.
The Gunners had been cruising at 3-0 for much of the second-half but their concentration dropped drastically in the final 20 minutes and Celtic took advantage to score twice.
And it could have been worse as only a string of stunning saves by Almunia denied the Scottish side an unlikely comeback which would have seen them snatch the Emirates Cup.
But Wenger’s men did hang on for victory and as far as preseason is concerned, it was not supposed to be flawless anyway.
Sometimes 3-0’s and 4-0’s can over-flatter, and therefore, for a better assessment of the team, matches like today’s can help preparations and modifications for a new season.
It took just three minutes for Arsenal to begin what promised to be a stroll as Carlos Vela guided the ball home off Walcott’s low cross to put the hosts ahead.
Typical Arsenal. They were in the mood and all over Celtic as they fetched a second goal. But unlike yesterday, it would arrive as on the stroke of halftime, Bacary Sagna unleashed something very rare.
Arsenal slowly worked a corner-kick and Rosicky rolled the ball for the French fullback. And without any thought, Sagna smashed the ball home from just outside the box with his left-foot. Rare indeed, because that was only Sagna’s second ever goal for Arsenal in any football match since netting his first with a header at Stamford Bridge just over two years ago.
It was still one-way traffic after the restart and on 51 minutes, Samir Nasri – just introduced along with Chamakh – added a third, side-footing home a pass from Walcott from about 10 yards out. And as you would expect, that was one of many times Arsenal terrorized Celtic’s territory.
The Gunners threatened the visitors’ goal numerous times, with Walcott profligate on a couple of occasions as substitute Arshavin provided some killer passes.
But with Arsenal’s generous defense, Celtic could always fancy a consolation goal…or two. Neil Lennon’s side had only begun alerting Almunia and Arsenal’s backline when a piece of inexperience from Jack Wilshere cost Arsenal a penalty.
The 18-year-old tried to pull off a trick in Arsenal’s area and as he tried to regain the ball, Wilshere was adjudged to have fouled the attacking Fortune. Georgios Samaras could only blast the resulting spot-kick into the stands, but moments later, the Arsenal defence was in sixes and sevens again and this time, Daryl Murphy made sure they paid as he fired the ball home from close-range.
With 18 minutes still left, 3-1 just could not be the final score. Arsenal could increase their tally and pride, or Celtic could stage some sort of comeback. And it was the latter which nearly happened as Ki Sung-Yueng beat a hapless Almunia – who had made a couple of outstanding saves moments earlier – with seven minutes left.
Almunia then had to come to the rescue again as Celtic fashioned another chance, but this was Arsenal’s day.
Crap! Still need lots of improvements. 3-nil and allow 2 goals from Celtic. Arsenal still missing that killer instinct. I’m concerned this season again.
I agree with you i think we need a strong centre back and a good goalkeeper otherwise we are definately struggling
“Almunia made a number of spectacular saves.”
Oh and I know it’s the Emirates Cup, but still!
The only trophy Arsenal will win this season.
@Neil Rocks(The clown) go 2 hell man ur not A GOONER
no chance this season
man city and spurs will finish above
and wigan and wolves and bolton and newcastle and west brom……….even west ham
🙂
This is what people have been saying about us for the past number of seasons. Remenber the “experts” from last season predicting that Liverpool would win the premiership and we would drop out of the top 4.
Yeah but Loft we didn’t lose so its all ok……… well that will be according to the AKB’s who think Arsene can do no wrong. Another long season ahead me thinks, with the majority of muppets who lick the feet of Arsene Wenger thinking he has nothing to answer for. A f**king joke! GETTING YOUR CHEQUEBOOK OUT ARSENE FFS.
UP THE ARSENAL FC, NOT WENGER FC!!!
mr wenger
instead of talking up the chances this season – like every season in the past 5 years – you need to do something about it
talk alone wont do anything to change the “ecp”
ecp = empty cabinet problem
Things could be worse …hilario has cost chavs the game vs frankfurt while pool have lost too.
so much for arsenal winning4-0
Owh come on…. Its not the real first team yet… Wenger is giving chances to the youngster, hence the lack of concentration from the young gunners, noticeably from gibbs (poor defending on fortune).
But still, Walcott needs to improve!
AN WHEN WALCOTT IS GOING TO IMPROVE?WEE HAVE BEEN SAYING IT SINCE HIS ARRIVAL,I HATE TO SAY IT HE IS A FINISHED ARTICLE( NEVER WAS TO BE ONEST) I HOPE THAT JACK WILTSHERE TAKES HIS PLACE IN THE SQUAD.
The defence is terrible! Terrible! Was Samaras today or Pelè?! It’s incredible, incredible….
And what about Walcott in second half?! Two times Arshavin played him with magic balls, two ball played horribly by him: Walcott has to run the 100m or the 200m, he doesn’t know what is a ball!
Another season with nothing. We can be 3rd: Chelsea and Manchester United will outplay us like last year.
Wenger SVEGLIA!!
Walcott is totally lost has no concept of the game.He must drive the senior pros nuts!
Shut up.
It’s a friendly design to get players match fit, why not look at the positives instead of being so negative, you lot make me laugh, the season hasn’t started yet and you’re all bitching and moaning already, if Arsenal make you that unhappy try something else, some of our play was very inventive, creative and the passing was slick and quick and so nice to have a few English players playing, I enjoyed the game, now the real season starts at Liverpool, let’s see ten games in before we passed judgement and try to be a bit supportive and before you say anything I have been a ST holder for 20 years and have followed the club since 1973
Come on guys just stop blaming arsene and others.This is just emirates cup.Now just tell me one thing if arsenal had won the match 3-0 would you say we will win the league.Instead of blaming arsene just be happy that this has happened now rather than during the reason.Atleast now wenger would have seen the areas to improve and i m we will play in our top gear in our next game against warsaw
your all fucking retards if you think we’d be anywhere without wenger..actually go suppot chelsea or man utd..actually no go support adebayor and the city scum…if they win a trophy before us, i will bend over and let you all penetrate me…its a pre season friendly…we won..we played well..two conselation goals dont mean shit…so shut the fuk up and support your team, if you are faithful. the arsenal way is the wenger way..taste
Manuel, you the Man 😉
If we don’t get a keeps he should stay No 1!
Defence fell to pieces again at the end. Nervous times ahead.
Theo, has not improved. Wilshere, in the other hand has passed him in many levels.
walcott hot and cold again..i’d really like to see the back of him! Off with the defensive coaching staff while you’re at it..the crossing abilities of sagna and walcott are truly APPALLING..off with them methinks
Rosicky, looks hungry! He looks fresh and ready to fight for a title this year. 1st half was fantastic and the 2nd there were periods of lack of concentration from our boys! I’m only concerned if we allow teams back into a game. Overall, there is an abundance of quality and remember we are still missing, Song, Cesc, RVP and Bendtner! Did I miss anyone else? lol.
Go Arsenal!
Same ol, same ol.
Ya right this is not our first team men we are missing RVP ,cesc and more importantly song
buen goool carlos vela sigue haci seguramente podras pelear un lugar en 11 titular hora ke comienze la premier lige grasias atraves good day desde califas usa
It all boils down to Arsenal not learning their lesson. The full back like to push up too much, thus the centre backs are left exposed. Also not being able to deal with set pieces. So whoever leaves or joins the team we’ll still have the same problems unless these concerns are addressed.
Defence, same ol, same ol.
Things we learnt today….
1. We still play pretty attacking football.
2. We still look very suspect at the back.
3. Theo still has pace but no final ball.
So we ‘learnt’ a lot of what we already knew!
To all people expecting a new keeper, forget it, it won’t happen!
I’m sure Wenger will try to sign another CB, but Djourou just isn’t good enough in my opinion.
So more of the same i’m afraid this year….Arsenal will drive us all nuts, but i will always support them and when we are on our game we still play the best football in the league!
If today we lost ,or drew,it would have been the players fault,they must reralise that a game is won when the ref blows the final whistle,and not when we are fuckin 3 or 4 goals up,thiis attitude cost us dearly last seasson,an it seems our players never ;learn from past minstakes.
you could see the enthusiasm in almunia’s eyes as he holds the trophy in the air.
and Vito in Shorts FTW!
Hahahahaha 😆
Almunia bailed us out man nway its too quick to draw conclusions this season wenger ought to be serious n we’ll win fa cup
Wow we won a meaningless worthless cup designed to help us with our £400m debt, the cup just made so foreigns sides would help fund the stadium bill which we struggle pay. I hadda laugh when others appluad the kids, we only played 5 in an aging team of 17 today and only wilshere and frimpong will be lucky make the grade, wenger will do what he always does and flog most of them without giving them a fair chance, exspecially the english lads, the guy has a strict no english policy and its a disgrace.
I think this game reminded me of the Wigan game last season. The primary cause of the defence being overwhelmed in the last 10 to 20 minutes was the defensive midfielders running out of gas. At Wigan, Eastmond “died” after about 70 minutes 9that was his first game for a while) and just managed to stay with it until he was substituted with someone who wasn’t a DM. In this game Wilshere and Frimpong played the whole game and half of one yesterday. Celtic put on fresh attacking substitutes for the last 10 mins or so and overwhelmed them. I thought Djourou played somewhat poorly showing poor positioning (e.g. for the second goal) and when he drove forward and lost the ball – poor judgement. Its not just fitness that’s his problem.
I think Aluminium played a lot better. It could be that AW’s notice that he’s no longer #1 is a giant kick up the behind and he improves accordingly.
Bottom line is that this is pre-season. AW needs to judge the squad. I think the games show we need an experienced physically dominating center half more than anything. And I wish Walcott would learn to cross a ball. If he did, he could be devastating – but now he’s just frustrating.
Quite a lot of Walcott bashing here today and,perhaps rightly so,but it should also be noted that he provided the passes for both Vela’s and Nasri’s goals.