ARSENAL FAIL IN SOFT PLAY SETTING

CONCERNS IN PHILLY

Here are my notes from our third preseason game. Not what we wanted. But better to do it in a soft play setting than against Villa in game two.

Liverpool Notes:

• Zinchenko is petrified of Salah early on. I get it, this Salah guy is quite good, but come on man, don’t back off.

• Liverpool takes the lead. The move starts from the keeper; Gabriel doesn’t win the header, no one is marking Elliott, he plays Salah in behind, Zinchenko is behind the play, and Salah does Salah things.

• Arsenal is struggling to break Liverpool's press, resorting to long balls.

• Martinelli looks sharp with a few nice runs, getting in behind Liverpool with ease when given the nod.

• Hein flaps for a cross and misses for the second game in a row. The ref flags it for a foul, but it isn’t one.

• Arsenal is very messy at the back, with lots of nerves, errant passes, and a lack of cohesion. A water break is needed.

• The African-themed training shirt is a bit saucy. Not gonna lie, if I were a divorced dad, I’d be rocking it to collect the baby.

• The second goal from Liverpool is painfully tasty. Elliott is allowed time to turn and chip a ball to Carvalho, who finishes first-time. Arsenal is just not switched on at all.

• Liverpool is getting into great positions by just launching balls at our backline.

• Zinchenko wins a corner. The corner is bad, but he collects the clearance, slips in Martinelli, who gets a shot off that gets blocked towards Ødegaard at the back post. He passes to Kai for the bundled finish. Ugly, but good.

• Zinchenko, for all his defensive flaws, has been potent in the attack. You can’t deny it or get it anywhere else… unless that long-haired Italian has the sauce.

• Salah kills Zinchenko again, finds Jota in acres, and the Portugeeeeezer blasts over. Not good, Arsenal, not good.

• Thomas Partey takes a bit more control in the second half.

• Liverpool struggles without Jota; they lack sauce now.

• Trossard and Fabio enter the mix, and I quite like the trouble the Portugeeeezer has been causing Liverpool. He has a nice strike denied, has done some good running. Could he… be a dark horse for this season? I think so.

• MLS and Nwaneri are ON. We like. The last academy kids standing. Does that tell you something? Maybe.

• Nwaneri occupies a central midfield role, causing trouble early on with some nice passing and positive runs.

• Arsenal rolls on the babies; Nichols is very young, showing loads of spirit.

• The game kind of fizzles out into a bit of a nothing preseason match right now.

Game Over, We Lose, in Front of a Record-Breaking Crowd for Football in Philly.

Concluding Thoughts:

• The second half was a much better showing than the first, but it needs to be caveated against Liverpool taking off their best players.

• The biggest concern to me is the lack of spark in forward areas, but really, the scariest thing on show is the brain fart mistakes from big players. Everyone is at it. The only real solace I can take is that in actual competition, these players will find the level they need to.

• The left side of our defense is problematic at the moment. Zinchenko is at his best and worst in a single game. Caught out in defense, but sublime in attack. He’s not the full ticket right now, and I wonder whether we should be paying attention to his change of agent and the handsome Italian who has just rolled into the club. The future doesn’t look great for him, and I suspect we might see a cheeky bid from a big European club as the window stretches on.

• It’s also worth mentioning that none of the teams I’ve watched in preseason have been playing proper football yet unless they’ve been pumping terrible teams. United looks weak, Liverpool isn’t at their best, Chelsea has been a mess, and Arsenal looks very clunky.

• My big hope is that we can get our full slate of summer signings done inside the next week so we can at least give them a test run in the team before they’re thrown to the Premier League lions. Mikel Merino and Calafiori are going to be needed early on if some of the form on show continues. Let’s get them in the side ASAP.

Ok, we dust ourselves down, wipe the tears and cheesesteak grease from our beards, and we move. See you tomorrow. x