13 July: Hibernian 2-1 Arsenal (Easter Road) 17 July: Rangers v Arsenal (Ibrox Stadium) 25 July: Arsenal v Inter Milan (Camping World Stadium, Orlando) 28 July: Everton/Millonarios v Arsenal (Camping World Stadium, Orlando) 1 August: Arsenal v Chelsea (Emirates Stadium) 8 August: Tottenham v Arsenal (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium) *feel free to add comments as the results come through
The Hibs result and performance were obviously disappointing, but think some people were getting too carried away with their reaction to the defeat. It's the 1st pre-season game, so it means very little, most of those players won't be featuring this season anyway and it was a very disjointed side. My main issue is why players like Kolasinac, Nketiah and Willian are getting minutes when it's clear none of them have a future at the club. Would it really have been less beneficial to play other youngsters who at least have more of a chance of making it with us than the aforementioned names? It is concerning that we're struggling to offload players, especially as the club reportedly expected to recoup £120m+ in transfer fees this Summer. That's looking like a pipe dream right now.
We beat Milwall 4-1 in our next pre-season game, following the cancellation of our US tour. Chambers, Lacazette, Pepe and Balogun were the goalscorers. I know it's only pre-season, but our vulnerabilities from set-pieces is a real concern.
We've just appointed a new set piece coach, who Arteta used to work with at Man City. Hopefully this will make some improvements, because tbh we're weak both offensively and defensively from set pieces.
Lost 1-0 to Spurs in the Mind Series at their stadium. Son capitalising on a series of defensive errors and having a tonne of space in the box. I'm not bothered about the result so much as I am about the performance. We played quite well in the first-half without creating an awful lot, considering we dominated the ball. But we were aggressive, winning the ball high, trying to sustain pressure and there was some nice rotations. We need more cutting edge in the final third. Second half, we were quite abject. Tried to get on the ball a lot more, but didn't do much with it. Barely had any chances until the final 10 minutes of the game (after they scored). They created the better opportunities and looked dangerous from set plays. We need to find a way of shooting more because our lack of goals will cost us again this season.
Thought we were really poor 2nd half. No urgency whatsoever. I know it’s only a preseason game, so some of that can be explained. But as you say, our lack of incisiveness is going to cost us. Don’t think loads of subs helped either in the 2nd half. But we need to be a lot sharper in the opener against Brentford, because today we looked like we were still on our holidays
Did not see the game, I might be wrong, seems Auba and Laca have carried their end season form into pre-season and the new season! The Pre-season results imho has been abject, lost in Scotland, lost to Chelsea and to Spurs... I am not expecting much from Arteta this season, and will be amazed if he is still in a job by Christmas!
