It was a case of attack against defense Saturday night in Amsterdam as Arsenal found themselves forced to play under pressure for a little less than 90 minutes after taking the lead early on in the match.
The goal came at the 4th minute when Carlos Vela stole the ball from Sevilla's right-back and beat the goalkeeper with a shot to the far post. After that, Arsenal were forced to hold on and pray for the best because they were completely unable to string along more than three passes before losing possession.
One thing you have to understand is that this wasn't Arsenal's first team like the night before. Most, if not all, senior players were given a rest to prepare for the champions League qualifier coming this week. So, against an experienced Sevilla team determined to get more than a goal after their 0-0 against Inter Milan, Arsenal's youngsters looked a bit lost and disconnected at times. Ramsey looked poor on that night, unable to cope with the opposing midfielders' pressure and didn't quite know how to support his defense. Jack Wilshere was completely invisible, and so was Bendtner. The best player on the field for the Gunners was goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. He was simply incredible stopping everything that came his way, it was too bad that Sevilla managed to score at the 79th minute. Fabianski was left to himself when a low-cross managed to get through two defenders before finding Chevanton who fired a close-range rocket that left no chance to the goalkeeper. Still, Sevilla are also a bit to blame for not getting their three points. Their attacks in the first half lacked a finishing touch as several shots/headers went wide or too high. If they were any better, they could have slaughtered Arsenal (thankfully, they didn't).
With that draw combined to their win against Ajax Friday, Arsenal won the 2008 Amsterdam tournament. I'm guessing their reserves are fully fit by now, and their first team should be too. After all, Robin Van Persie and Fabregas' season was extended by the 2008 Euro, and Adebayor has played a certain number of pre-season games already. We'll see how they fare for their qualifier on Wednesday.
Arsenal - Sevilla Highlights
Arsenal's line-up: Lukasz Fabianksi; Philippe Senderos, Justin Hoyte, Johan Djourou (Bacary Sagna, 68th), Kieran Gibbs; Jack Wilshere (Theo Walcott, 79th), Mark Randall, Aaron Ramsey, Jay Emmanuel-Tomas (Denilson, 68th); Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela.
It was goal-galore in Amsterdam Friday night as Arsenal and Ajax delivered an enthralling performance in their first match for the Amsterdam Tournament. For the first time in pre-season, Arsène Wenger's starting eleven was the same as you would expect for a Premier League game with players such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, and Emmanuel Adebayor all taking the field before opening kick-off.
In the opening stages of the match, it was Arsenal on the attack as Theo Walcott led two unsuccessful counterattacks and Fabregas tried a long-range shot that was stopped by the keeper. However, their great forays in front hid one glaring flaw in defense – their inability to deal with Ajax's right-winger Luis Suarez. Indeed, the young Urugayan gave all sorts of problem to Clichy who couldn't participate in the attack for fear of being caught too high, so it came off as no surprise when Suarez scored the first goal of the match – a superb volley that left no chance to Almunia. The goal came after a long spell of Ajax possession in Arsenal's half. It was only a matter of time before the Dutch team found the back of the net with Arsenal's defense slowly wilting away. In fact, Suarez's volley was the result of a poor defensive header by Toure who cleared the ball to the entrance of the box, a big no-no for defenders. Two minutes later, Ajax would strike again with striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who half-volleyed the ball past Almunia. The goal came from a free-kick right after the kick-off, the Gunners had made only three passes between both goals. Huntelaar would score again at the 40th minute, but the goal was ruled offside and thus, disallowed. Although Ajax had a two-goal lead after 45 minutes, Arsenal weren't playing badly. They only had a couple issues to sort out. The first was their final ball which left a lot to be desired and the second was the huge gap between their midfielders and strikers. With those two sections so far apart, Ajax players only had to wait in the middle to gain possession. Every time a midfielder tried to reach a striker, the ball would get stolen along the way by Ajax midfielders. Either a striker would have to come back deep to help out or the midfielders would reduce the distance and play short passes like they usually do.
The tempo settled down a bit in the beginning of the second half, understandable since Ajax had a comfortable lead while Arsenal were probably wondering how to come back from the position they were in. The spark came at the 66th minute when Eboue's cross finally connected with Adebayor's head. I say 'finally' because it wasn't the defender/midfielder's first cross of the match, and they were all far off the mark expect for this one. At 2-1, Arsenal were back into it and they also seemed to have found a flaw in Ajax's tactics since they started to attack exclusively on the right wing. At the 74th minute, it was the Dutch's turn to make a defensive mistake as a sloppy back-pass was intercepted by Adebayor. After running past the goalkeeper, the Togolese striker found himself in a bad angle which prevented him from shooting on goal. Instead, he passed the ball back to substitute Nicklas Bendtner who didn't miss the wide open net. At 2-2, everyone was back to square one. Arsenal's momentum would carry them further on however. At the 83rd minute, Adebayor would score the third goal of his team, his second of the night. The goal came when an ailing Denilson started to combine with Adebayor from just outside the box, all the way to the goal-line. At 3-2, Arsenal had completed the comeback, and there was simply no time for Ajax to score another.
Arsenal - Ajax: 3-2
Arsenal's line-up: Manuel Almunia; Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, William Gallas, Gael Clichy; Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas (Jack Wilshere, 83rd), Denilson (Aaron Ramsey, 83rd), Theo Walcott (Nicklas Bendtner, 67th); Robin Van Persie (Philippe Senderos, 83rd), Emmanuel Adebayor.
After losing against Juventus on a linesman's mistake, Arsenal put up a better front against La Liga champions, Real Madrid, denying them the space and time needed to be effective while bombarding Jerzy Dudek's goal. Despite all their efforts, it was a penalty-kick that gave the winning goal to the Gunners when defender Michele Salgado fouled Robin Van Persie inside the box. The ensuing kick was converted by striker Emmanuel Adebayor at the 49th minute. Here are a couple observations on the match.
There was an interesting battle on Arsenal's right flank as both Robinho and Walcott looked to have some influence in the game. When Robinho had possession, Walcott would often race back to help out his teammates in defense. This resulted in several altercations that left Robinho smiling at the young winger's intensity. When Robinho was substituted at the hour-mark, Robben took the Brazilian place on the wing. In response, Wenger replaced Walcott by Emmanuel Eboue in order to completely lock down the right flank
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