Morning.
Arsenal’s first public recreation of pre-season came about final evening, Bukayo Saka scored the one aim in a 1-0 win over AC Milan. There’s no must do a whole piece on the sport itself, which was very July, however let’s do some observations for in the present day’s weblog.
Added muscle
We spoke about this from our seats within the press space – Ethan Nwaneri seems extra bodily mature. That’s regular, he’s nonetheless solely 18 however he seems a bit taller and like he’s spent a while within the gymnasium. I believed he was Arsenal’s greatest participant within the first half, and it was fascinating he began within the ‘Odegaard position’.
With a brand new contract set to be introduced formally any time now, he’ll be pushing for extra soccer than he obtained in the direction of the top of final season. It appears as if his position might be extra central, and also you need to get him into these positions the place he can let fly with that left foot of his. He did that a few instances final evening, got here near scoring, and had a very optimistic 45 minutes.
He’s not the one one who seems like they’ve placed on a little bit of muscle. Kai Havertz is one other one who seems like he’s been at gymnasium, and Ricardo Calafiori seems bulked up too.
Outdated reliables
There’s a number of deal with new signings this summer season, which is comprehensible, however the aim was scored by Saka, and I believed William Saliba was actually good on the again. It form of goes with out saying relating to the Frenchman, however possibly it’s price saying since you don’t need to take him with no consideration. We have already got the core of a very aggressive workforce, and we’re all eager to see what the brand new items will add, but it surely’s price remembering a number of what now we have is absolutely good.
Midfield remake
We obtained our first take a look at our two new central midfielders. Christian Norgaard is mainly an oven prepared signing, 31 years of age, a great deal of expertise, and as you’d count on, he seemed very comfy in his first look. We then noticed Martin Zubimendi within the second half, and contemplating the quantity of adjustments we made to the workforce in that interval, with some very younger gamers on the pitch, he seemed very strong and his passing was assured. Clearly there’s extra to return, and you may’t decide an excessive amount of on pre-season video games in this type of warmth, however you may see what he’s going to convey to this workforce in a key space of the pitch.
Age is only a quantity
With about 25 minutes to go, Mikel Arteta made extra adjustments having additionally made a clutch of them at half-time. Even within the context of early pre-season, it’s fairly one thing that we launched two 15 12 months olds. Max Dowman is a reputation many individuals may have heard during the last short time, however he was accompanied by younger defender Marli Salmon. The perfect praise I pays them is that they didn’t look misplaced, nor did the very fact we had two gamers of such tender age destabilise the workforce in any means.
Dowman specifically seems virtually able to go, and there have been some good flashes of his potential on show. Requested about them afterwards, Mikel Arteta mentioned:
I’m very pleased with all the children, I feel they can play at that stage, with 15 years previous, for my part, due to the surroundings, and the tradition that’s inside the workforce, and when someone makes you’re feeling so comfy, so assured, right away you may go and do it. Clearly it offers you the very best probability, you must have the qualities that this child has.
I do suppose we have to have real looking expectations for gamers this younger, however the romance of the Hale Finish graduate is an actual factor. We have now an extended observe document of giving our Academy gamers an opportunity, in order that underpins how we view gamers like Dowman. I feel he’s extra prone to function subsequent season than Salmon, however he doesn’t flip 16 till December, so let’s not fear an excessive amount of if it doesn’t occur right away. His time will certainly come.
Penalties
At one level I believed the shoot-out would by no means finish. Kepa Arrizabalaga saved three however nonetheless ended up on the dropping aspect. Mikel Merino’s penalty was enjoyable, and the spot kicks added a little bit of enjoyable for the group. I don’t know the way helpful they’re to anybody on both workforce, you may’t actually replicate the jeopardy of the ‘actual factor’, however they’ve been a function of pre-season in the previous couple of years.
—
So, the gamers will proceed their coaching earlier than the sport towards Newcastle right here on Sunday. Let’s see what the following few days brings by way of additions. Cristhian Mosquera is about to be made official, after which we’ll see what developments happen within the Viktor Gyokeres switch.
James and I might be recording a podcast for you a bit afterward this morning (Singapore time) so stand by for that. Within the meantime, have a very good one.
