ICC: Arsenal v Chelsea | August 1, 2018 20:05 BST | Premier Sports

[Big Poppa]

This was a nice little test and there were good positives as well as negatives. Was quite an engaging friendly.

Defense really is a problem and I didn't realize just how much. I think the difficulties with full-back is more pertinent than CB though - Sokratis and Mustafi had fewer problems the longer the game went on. The full backs are seeing a lot of possession of the ball, likely because of how wide our spacing now is, but they just don't have enough about them to do anything substantial with it. Kolasinac is certainly braver on the ball than present-day Bellerin, but he's pretty brutal at times. Bellerin is the big disappointment though, as he frequently chooses the wrong choice in possession.

It pains me to say it but AMN will end up getting more games at full back than at CM, not just due to the bodies we still have in that position (I'm looking at you, Elneny) but because he can actually contribute to the attack consistently in that position. My only qualms is that he's quite bad at defending laterally in the way a full-back would. He's a CM through and through despite his versatility and we should really consider recruiting a couple of LBs. RB I'm not too worried about - with Jordi Osei-Tutu and Vontae Daley-Campbell, we have two fast improving young RBs with technique and physical skill.

Disappointed to see Elneny get so much time aswell. I wish him no ill will, but he's a player we really should sell. He is of no use for us anymore IMO, he should go somewhere that he can be useful.

Still, there were positives - our possession game is so much more structured than before. We still carve out pretty good chances for ourselves on top of that so those are small encouraging signs! Guendouzi in particular looks seamless in his role as roaming DLP, but he's got to work on his defensive game and perhaps be a little sharper about when he releases the ball in deeper areas. He's far more resistant to the press than Xhaka but that overconfidence can be flaw. Xhaka does not overestimate in that regard.

Özil looked really good aswell, made some good runs off the ball, pressed well and was effective whenever he got the ball in dangerous areas. Auba wasn't bad either but he's a bit like Theo in one regard - ineffective when the balls not in the final 3rd. Smith-Rowe was a bit overawed at times but grew in stature as the game went on and he looked like he could hang.

On a personal note, I'm really happy Nelson got another assist. We really need to see more of him if we aren't spending on a winger, and he has to get a chance to build some confidence. He was still looking a bit subdued today, he was game but could have been braver, particularly one instance where he made a good run into the box but when he received the ball, did an overhit cross rather than shoot for the far corner.

Excellent summary and I agree with everything except the bold part. I don't think Guendouzi is overconfident, he just needs to improve marking a little. He adjusts his body and releases the ball much much quicker than Xhaka, which was critical to the tempo of our game. His first touch, agility and technique sets him up for the pass.

Xhaka often masks his lack of confidence with safe passing for the sake of safe passing and this is a huge hindrance, especially against teams that sit deep. I remember many occasions against weaker teams where we struggled because we took too long to transition the ball out of defence.

I'm incredibly excited to see Guendouzi next to Torreira, as both play crisp, incisive passes with relatively good consistency.

 

[dashsnow17]

Three biggest positives for me were Cech, Özil and Guendouzi. We know Guendouzi is a talent, we know Özil means business, but we've seen that Cech really does too. He's not giving up his spot without a fight I think. Hopefully Lichtsteiner can do something similar and really push Bellerin for the RB spot.

 

[Ashybashy86]

Reiss got an assist while Hudson-Odoi got nothing against a terrible Bellerin.

He won a penalty against Bellerín tbf. Not his fault it wasn't converted. He's a great talent who deserves praise.

 

[JimmyTheMac]

Just back from the match. Was great seeing Arsenal play in my home city. Disgracefully expensive tickets but I'm very lucky I got them on the cheap. About the match anyways, most of this has been said already I imagine;
Poor first half. Couldn't get the ball up to the front three effectively. Bellerin, as everyone knows, was horrendous. Thought Kolasinac was poor too. Hard to gauge the two centre halves but I wouldn't be keen on them two being our first choice pairing. They're both very similar. All I can think is that Emery wasn't to play two aggressive front foot defenders for our pressing game. Let's hope with lichtsteiner and Monreal at full back, torreira in front and an improved press we'll look more solid.
Second half much better. Guendouzi what a player. I can tell you that he's even more impressive live. Amazing touch passing and change of direction . Was excellent with his pressing too. Elneny was annoyingly average as usual and thought smith Rowe was quiet. Miki seemed to have a poor game. I'd like to see lacazette in for him against city. We also wasted a lot of opportubities but hopefully that is just down to lack of match sharpness.
Overall I didn't see much difference defensively than previous years, our pressing game didn't seem particularly strong or cohesive. I noticed at times in the second half we retreated into a 4-4-2 shape without the ball. On the ball I noticed more deliberate build up, more static positional play in order to hold the ball better which was good. Only miki Özil auba seemed to be the only players given freedom and licence to roam and interchange. This is the lineup I'd like to see against city
Cech/Leno - lichtsteiner sokratis chambers Monreal - Torreira Guendouzi Ramsey - Özil Auba - Lacazette

 

[gkoat]

So was what we saw today from CFC the illustrious 'SariBall' that a couple of people have been hyping up all summer?

 

[<<reed>>]

First 15-20 minutes were terrible, the rest was OK. We had 60% possession against a Sarri's team, that's impressive.
I'm not too worried about Elneny playing full 90 minutes, he was just our only available DM, he will find himself behind Torreira & Xhaka when they are fit (and Xhaka is always fit ).
My main concern is Kola & Bellerin. It seems Kola just doesn't fit our style of play with his sloppy passing, we need Monreal back asap, and Bellerin was awful going forward again.
If Cech is looking better than Leno in training atm - he should start, just no more that nonsense when he keeps starting even after numerous mistakes leading to goals.

 

[Impact]

Hudson-Odoi has terrifying potential. Wonder if Sarri will give him sufficient game-time this season.

 

[Erlis]

I'm not too worried about Elneny playing full 90 minutes, he was just our only available DM, he will find himself behind Torreira & Xhaka when they are fit (and Xhaka is always fit ).
.

Did Captain Rambo abandon the ship even before it began to sail? Nice, nice.

I was watching the training pics the other day, Xhaka is a beast, the man. Arsenal don't deserve him, in all honesty.

 

[Ricardinho]

Did Captain Rambo abandon the ship even before it began to sail? Nice, nice.

I was watching the training pics the other day, Xhaka is a beast, the man. Arsenal don't deserve him, in all honesty.

On what basis don't we deserve xhaka?

 

[freeglennhelder2]

On what basis don't we deserve xhaka?

He was fishing and you took the bait bruh

 

[Ricardinho]

He was fishing and you took the bait bruh

Was just asking him to explain the comment but fair enough if he's one of these 'banter merchant' types. Noted.

 

[SantiWizard91]

I liked how we always looked capable of scoring in the last 10-15 Minutes and really pushed forward and created good opportunities.
In the past, when 0-1 down to Chelsea, you could see them passing the game out with no chance for us to create good moments in attack.
But we remained calm yesterday and even in stoppage time we preffered 1 or 2 organised attacks to 10 route one attacks.

What I've noticed - our Fullbacks are much higher and wider than under Wenger.
Looks like Emery wants the build-up-play to be very flexible..not just over our central midfielders but also over our Fullbacks who have a lot of space when we overplay the first pressing lane.
We created our last chances all by overloading the right side and creating majority.

Still, we are doing to many individual mistakes and always got these headless chicken phases where you think we could conced 5 goals in 5 minutes.

 

[Sanchez11]

First 15-20 minutes were terrible, the rest was OK. We had 60% possession against a Sarri's team, that's impressive.
I'm not too worried about Elneny playing full 90 minutes, he was just our only available DM, he will find himself behind Torreira & Xhaka when they are fit (and Xhaka is always fit ).
My main concern is Kola & Bellerin. It seems Kola just doesn't fit our style of play with his sloppy passing, we need Monreal back asap, and Bellerin was awful going forward again.
If Cech is looking better than Leno in training atm - he should start, just no more that nonsense when he keeps starting even after numerous mistakes leading to goals.

As i said last night he is garbage he would be better on the wing imo

 

[pigge]

As i said last night he is garbage he would be better on the wing imo

Harsh on Özil, he did good yesterday

 

[Sanchez11]

Harsh on Özil, he did good yesterday

Im talking about Kola sorry didnt make that clear. With regards to Özil he needs to be consistant this season on his day hes unplayable.

 

[pigge]

Im talking about Kola sorry didnt make that clear. With regards to Özil he needs to be consistant this season on his day hes unplayable.

I realized, just joking

 

[Lidl_Reed]

How'd we play? Everyone was whining so much on Twitter when I logged in this morning that I thought we'd lost. Amusingly, we'd won. Was it really that bad?

 

[Garrincha]

How'd we play? Everyone was whining so much on Twitter when I logged in this morning that I thought we'd lost. Amusingly, we'd won. Was it really that bad?

It started bad but got better.

We cant start like that vs City next week.

 

[Ricardinho]

How'd we play? Everyone was whining so much on Twitter when I logged in this morning that I thought we'd lost. Amusingly, we'd won. Was it really that bad?

Very poor opening 20/30 minutes. Slowly got better towards the end of the half. Second half much better but I still felt we didn't test their keeper enough until late on. Iwobi chance brought out a very good stop by the young sub they put on.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

It started bad but got better.

We cant start like that vs City next week.

Very poor opening 20/30 minutes. Slowly got better towards the end of the half. Second half much better but I still felt we didn't test their keeper enough until late on. Iwobi chance brought out a very good stop by the young sub they put on.

Cheers! So not all gloom and doom, but not a great start at all then.