Kevin Whitcher
Thought – Everywhere else, the pre-season play off between the champions and the cup winners is called the Super Cup. It’s a marketable idea, and I would not be surprised if the FA Community Shield is simply listed as the English Super Cup in foreign TV guides showing the game. It stopped being the Charity Shield a few years back and frankly, is a bit of a mouthful these days. Time perhaps for a bit of a re-brand? Just an idea.
Perhaps labelling the season's curtain raiser slightly differently might have added a few dozen to the contingent that travelled to support Manchester City, whose presence in the upper tiers of their half of the stadium was almost a case of ‘count the crowd’. Granted, they have appeared in this fixture for three years out of the last four, on top of a further five trips for domestic cup finals and semis over a similar period. Yet, did Arsenal ever fail to sell out their allocation in Cardiff? The journey is about the same. The reason I attended this game was because the tickets were reasonably priced. Still, it’s a lot cheaper getting to Wembley from the other side of London than it is from Manchester. I wonder how many Gooners would have made the trip were the game to have been played in, say, Old Trafford. There is a school of thought that this fixture should be played abroad, but you can imagine the outcry from the managers of the competing teams. And of course a good number of the fans that do like to attend.
As for the game, yes, it was a pre-season run out when all is said and done. However, Arsenal were fielding a team pretty close to that which will start next weekend. My thought is that Giroud might get the nod ahead of Sanogo against Palace, but I doubt we will see other changes. So on that level, an encouraging performance was important. If the Gunners had been beaten 3-0, there would have been justified cause for concern.
Arsenal were without three likely starters when everyone is fit and available – Ozil, Mertesacker and Walcott. City chose not to start Joe Hart and David Silva, who were on the bench, whilst Kompany, Zabaleta and Aguero would surely feature in Pelegrini’s best eleven. So neither side were full strength, and for this observer, it was a tale of comparison between a pair of impromptu backlines. Clichy played at right back whilst Boyata is still fairly raw at centre back for City. Calum Chambers is still learning his way, and was partnered in the second half by Nacho Monreal.
I am uncertain who decided Olivier Giroud was man of the match based on his wonder strike, but the real man of the match was a pick between Ramsey and Chambers. The latter was exposed two or three times during the course of the match, but got away with it thanks to rescue work from his colleagues. However, aside from those glitches, he did look very impressive, even bursting forward on the break at one point. He looks like a future leader in the making with his on field communication obvious even from the upper tier at Wembley.
Ramsey played another effective match, covering a lot of distance, taking the second goal very nicely and generally influencing the team’s play all over the field. He looks to have picked up where he left off last season.
Elsewhere, Alexis tried hard, but the understanding with colleagues has a way to go, which should be no great surprise to anyone. We won’t see the best of him immediately. At Members Day, he was obsessed by his hair and when the champagne was fired around after the game, he attempted to avoid it, until Mathieu Flamini poured some directly onto his head. On that level, we might have a Cristiano Ronaldo on our hands.
Yaya Sanogo played well enough in the first half to justify his selection, although when Giroud replaced him, it looked like he had a point to prove when his shot sailed in. I thought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a fairly inconspicuous half and it might be a difficult season for him as Wenger does not consider him a starter. I would have liked to see Joel Campbell come on earlier than Rosicky for the plain reason we know what Roiscky can do, but Campbell needs game time with his new colleagues to improve his potential contribution.
Overall though, an excellent display to score three and keep a clean sheet against some very useful and expensively assembled players. Sure, the real thing will be when the league champions visit Arsenal in September, but this will have done no harm at all to the feeling in the side that they can build on last season. Now, where is that replacement for Thomas Vermaelen, and more importantly, the man who will hold things together in front of the defence? Let’s not wait until Besiktas have been negotiated, as the money is already available without the Champions League’s golden egg.
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here.
The current issue of The Gooner will be on sale at the home games v Palace and Besiktas. It will be available to buy online through the website shortly.
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