Arsenal's Reserves Defeat Jens Lehmann's VfB Stuttgart 3-1
August 1st 2008 03:33
Yesterday's pre-season friendly between Arsenal and VfB Stuttgart was a highly anticipated affair for many Arsenal fans who wanted to see some of their favorite players in action. Indeed, not only were strikers Robin Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor back in action after a long break, it was also Samir Nasri's debut in the Gunners' shirt. Furthermore, the occasion was made even more special by the fact that Jens Lehmann, who used to be Arsenal's goalkeeper from 2003 to 2008, would also make his debut for VfB Stuttgart against his old team.
The Hoyte brothers were nowhere to be seen this time around as Arsène Wenger chose to go with experience over youth for this game (for the first half anyway), putting Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Johan Djourou, and Gaël Clichy in front of Manuel Almunia. Since Denilson, Nasri, and Theo Walcott are all midfielders with offensive flair, Wenger decided to put Emmanuel Eboué in the center of midfield as defensive insurance. Adebayor and Van Persie completed the starting eleven.
With no championship or season trophy on the line, both team elected to play an attacking game with a high-line of defense using the offside trap. As such, both keepers got tested during the first half (including a superb reflex save by Lehmann from Walcott's shot at the 26th minute), but neither team could break the deadlock. While Stuttgart's problem was the inability to send the ball into space for Gomez, Arsenal's lack of offensive punch came from their rusty forwards whose first touches on the ball were far from perfect. To show how rusty they were, Adebayor even stumbled to the ground by making himself trip while running during a counterattack. Of course, both teams' systems didn't help matters very much as strikers often found themselves offside. However, Arsenal's trap looked like it would be the first to break since Djourou and Gallas had trouble synchronizing their movements.
At half-time, Wenger replaced his strikers by Carlos Vela and Nicklas Brendtner. The pair had scored a combined seven goals in Arsenal's drubbing of Burgenland's Select XI three days ago. Stuttgart was a different challenge, of course, but at least the Gunners could count on two fit, confident strikers for the second half. Stuttgart had also made some substitutions at half-time, and it was one of them, Yildiray Basturk, who would score the game's fist goal at the 50th minute. With Sagna and Gallas concentrated on German striker Mario Gómez, the Turkish midfielder had enough space to make a run from outside the box to the penalty spot where he fired a low drive that left no chance to substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Arsenal's young strikers would take things over from there, combining their efforts to score two goals - the first, coming in at the 57th minute, would be scored by Vela who beat the offside trap and converted Bendtner's pass, while the second (at the 64th minute) would see Bendter score after a one-two with the Mexican forward. Talented youngster Jack Wilshere - who came on at the hour-mark - would score Arsenal's third and final goal after a great individual effort from Clichy who managed to get a cross in despite being pressured by two defenders.
Wenger can be satisfied of his younger players at this stage. They're brimming with confidence and the newcomers have seamlessly integrated themselves to the rest of the team. Van Persie and Adebayor will surely get more playing time, and fan favorite Cesc Fabregas will probably return as soon as this weekend since he started training at the same time as Adebayor.
Arsenal's line-up: Almunia (Fabianski, half-time), Sagna (Gavin Hoyte, 77th), Gallas, Djourou, Clichy, Eboue (Ramsey 60th), Denilson (Lansbury, 85th), Nasri (Wilshere, 60th), Walcott (Randall, 77th), Van Persie (Vela, h-t (Jay Simpson, 85th)), Adebayor (Bendtner, h-t)
The Hoyte brothers were nowhere to be seen this time around as Arsène Wenger chose to go with experience over youth for this game (for the first half anyway), putting Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Johan Djourou, and Gaël Clichy in front of Manuel Almunia. Since Denilson, Nasri, and Theo Walcott are all midfielders with offensive flair, Wenger decided to put Emmanuel Eboué in the center of midfield as defensive insurance. Adebayor and Van Persie completed the starting eleven.
With no championship or season trophy on the line, both team elected to play an attacking game with a high-line of defense using the offside trap. As such, both keepers got tested during the first half (including a superb reflex save by Lehmann from Walcott's shot at the 26th minute), but neither team could break the deadlock. While Stuttgart's problem was the inability to send the ball into space for Gomez, Arsenal's lack of offensive punch came from their rusty forwards whose first touches on the ball were far from perfect. To show how rusty they were, Adebayor even stumbled to the ground by making himself trip while running during a counterattack. Of course, both teams' systems didn't help matters very much as strikers often found themselves offside. However, Arsenal's trap looked like it would be the first to break since Djourou and Gallas had trouble synchronizing their movements.
At half-time, Wenger replaced his strikers by Carlos Vela and Nicklas Brendtner. The pair had scored a combined seven goals in Arsenal's drubbing of Burgenland's Select XI three days ago. Stuttgart was a different challenge, of course, but at least the Gunners could count on two fit, confident strikers for the second half. Stuttgart had also made some substitutions at half-time, and it was one of them, Yildiray Basturk, who would score the game's fist goal at the 50th minute. With Sagna and Gallas concentrated on German striker Mario Gómez, the Turkish midfielder had enough space to make a run from outside the box to the penalty spot where he fired a low drive that left no chance to substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Arsenal's young strikers would take things over from there, combining their efforts to score two goals - the first, coming in at the 57th minute, would be scored by Vela who beat the offside trap and converted Bendtner's pass, while the second (at the 64th minute) would see Bendter score after a one-two with the Mexican forward. Talented youngster Jack Wilshere - who came on at the hour-mark - would score Arsenal's third and final goal after a great individual effort from Clichy who managed to get a cross in despite being pressured by two defenders.
Wenger can be satisfied of his younger players at this stage. They're brimming with confidence and the newcomers have seamlessly integrated themselves to the rest of the team. Van Persie and Adebayor will surely get more playing time, and fan favorite Cesc Fabregas will probably return as soon as this weekend since he started training at the same time as Adebayor.
Arsenal's line-up: Almunia (Fabianski, half-time), Sagna (Gavin Hoyte, 77th), Gallas, Djourou, Clichy, Eboue (Ramsey 60th), Denilson (Lansbury, 85th), Nasri (Wilshere, 60th), Walcott (Randall, 77th), Van Persie (Vela, h-t (Jay Simpson, 85th)), Adebayor (Bendtner, h-t)
Basturk goal (VfB Stuttgart) 1-0
Vela goal (Arsenal) 1-1
Bendtner goal (Arsenal) 1-2
Wilshere goal (Arsenal) 1-3
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