Bischoff continues comeback in style

I have now seen two and a half games of his slow recovery from long term injury, and I am starting to like what I see in him. He was Man of the Match in my book yesterday as a solid reserves outfit beat Fulham 2-0, thanks to a wonderful Bischoff goal in the first half followed by an assist for Fonte to slot home to double the lead.

What you immediately notice about Bischoff is the simplicity with which he plays the game. He is not the biggest and will probably need to toughen up a bit if he is going to play in the Premiership, but he rarely makes contact with other players in any case, with a fluid and simplistic style not unlike Hleb’s in some ways, although Bischoff plays even more one touch football than Hleb did it seems. However, he is still very much finding his feet and it’s a long shot to suggest whether he will ever reach the heights of the former Arsenal winger, though last nights performance suggests if he stays injury free this year there may be a place for him at Arsenal yet..

But certainly with his patient link up play I can see him being a decent option for the bench, certainly he can be a far better option for the wings than Diaby and Eboue in time. And if there was any sign that Bischoff has the talent that is needed to succeed, then it lies in the goal he scored last night. A corner was headed clear by the Fulham defence, falling to Bischoff who controlled it well enough with the first touch and with his second produced a great flick over the onrushing defenders head before half volleying a cracking effort into the net.

He grew with confidence after that and several of his cross field passes and through balls could have resulted in good opportunities. And one of those passes paid off when Bischoff, in space on the right, saw Fonte in space inside the box and picked him out with a great ball, which Fonte chose to chest down before the Portuguese striker finished with aplomb.

Overrall the reserves played slightly within themselves, with some poor performances from the likes of Lansbury, Simpson and Merida not really complimenting the good displays from Rodgers, Bischoff and the Frenchman Coquelin who again proved he has what it takes to be a tough tackling defensive midfielder with the same crunching tackles followed by that loping run while driving forward with the ball that Vieira was famous for. And if the 17 year old can become just a fraction of what Paddy was he’ll be some player.

My Ratings:

Mannone – 7 – Made a couple of good saves, messed up when trying to punch a ball at one stage though. He’s a fantastic shot stopper and sweeper, but hasn’t completely managed to get rid of his nervousness with crosses.

Hoyte – 7 – Decent performance, obviously isn’t very good in the oppositions half but great pace for recovery tackles and intercepted a good few diagonal passes out wide as well. Definitely less of a liability at right back. 

Ayling – 7.5 – Excellent positioning and good interceptions, wouldn’t be very confident about him defending a high ball given his height but a very neat and tidy game.
Rodgers – 8 – We’re slowly pushing Rodgers out of the club it seems and I just don’t understand why. He is a proper defender, exactly the style of defender Arsenal don’t have enough of. No, he isn’t the best ball playing centre half but he does make brilliant tackles and positionally he’s not bad either.
Ogogo – 6 – Out of place at left back in the 1st half, and gives the ball away a bit too much as well.

Bischoff – 8 – Very clever, technically gifted and links up play excellently. Great goal and a good assist.
Coquelin – 8 – Gets stuck in and wins tackles better than I’ve seen any young player at the club do for some time, despite the fact he isn’t actually that big he is very strong for his size.
Merida – 6 – Off and on, as always with Merida for the reserves. Over complicates things sometimes and I am not quite sure whether the determination is really there for the reserves.Lansbury – 5 -  Struggled like he has done a lot this season. Massive talent, will he fulfill it?

Simpson – 6 – Always gets a 10 for effort, he is living the dream playing for Arsenal. Unfortunately doesn’t really seem to have the talent to match the passion.
Fonte – 7 – Great finish for the goal, needs to get involved in play more.

Substitutes:
Sunu – 7 – Strong running, sometimes keeps hold of the ball too long though.
E-Thomas – 6 - Unfortunately played at left back rather than centrally (midfield or defence) so wasn’t as involved as he is for the U18s. 

Frimpong – 6 – Could be a monster in the future when he bulks up more, decent passing range as well.

Arsenal vs Real Madrid – 1st team starting to look promising

I have got to say, the trip to the Emirates yesterday was fantastic. It represented for me the proper return to football after the summer, despite seeing other friendlies on TV, there is no substitute to actually being there to support your team. It also represented a glimpse at what wenger has in mind for the opening match of the season, as bar Cesc Fabregas and Kolo Toure, no-one else will return before the match at West Brom and indeed the Champions League qualifier against the The Wally with a Brolly himself.

The Team:

————————- Almunia ————————-

Sagna ———– Gallas ———— Senderos ——— Clichy

Walcott ———- Diaby ———— Denilson ——— Nasri

—————– van Persie ——————————

—————————– Adebayor ——————

Back to the Real Madrid game and I thought that overall Arsenal played excellently throughout against a fairly rusty Real madrid side, with numerous positives that we can take out of it.

First of all, it was far more like a proper Premiership match than even the two previous friendlies which were higher in tempo. It was very competitive, tackles came in and passing had to be crisp and fast paced. Early on Arsenal got at Real Madrid, with the right flank pairiing of Sagna and Theo Walcott looking far better than anything we have seen so far from Eboue and Sagna all last season. Hopefully Wenger will take note and not hesitate to give Theo a first team place.

Robin van Persie, dropping deep, picked up the ball and played a wonderful exchange of passes between himself and Adebayor before picking out Theo Walcott storming into the box. The young Englishman’s shot was well saved by Dudek, but it proved to be a sign of things to come for Arsenal as they continued to press.

Gael Clichy was played in down the left and he blazed over with a speculative effort, before more wonderful football led to Nasri playing in van Persie with a delightful through ball, only for the Dutchman’s perfect cross being wastefully headed wide by Adebayor. Theo Walcott was next to get a chance, combining with van persie and using his pace and trickery to get enough space to striker at goal. Unfortunately his finishing was wayward on this occcasion. The first half action had not ended yet though and an Arsenal-like mistake from a corner by the La Liga Champions gave Adebayor a looping headed chance that was only just saved by the former Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek.

As they came in still level at half time, the most impressive aspect from my point of view was the link up play between the full backs and wingers. Nasri and Clichy, good friends off the field, were combining just as well as Sagna and Walcott were on the opposite flank, and if this trend continues we could once more have the fantastic attacking play we had from Ljungberg and Pires not so many years ago. Not only that, defensively both wingers work very hard, Walcott enjoying a great tussle with Robinho throughout the half. Of course, Sagna and Clichy have already established themselves as majestic attacking and defensive full backs so it should be great to see how these four do this season.

Half Time: Arsenal 0 – 0 Real Madrid

The second half began well for Arsenal, with Real Madrid threatening no more than they did in the first and things got immediately better when van Persie was clattered by Salgado in what was a very stupid foul to give away in a penalty box and something you don’t expect from someone of Salgado’s experience. Nevertheless, the referee pointed to the spot and Adebayor stepped up to blast the ball into the top corner with fantastic technique. The Togolese striker wasn’t finished there either, and after some dubious badge-kissing he set about taking on the entire Real Madrid team and almost came out on top, only just seeing his shot go fractions wide. With more moments like these, Adebayor can start to win back belief by the fans in him.

Before Adebayor made his fine individual run, Denilson, working brilliantly and tirlessly in midfield (unlike his partner in the centre) had forced a comfortable save from Dudek. Less comfortable was Almunia a little later, having to punch the ball away from van Nistlerooy’s shot. But the Spaniard was very rarely troubled in a fairly one-sided game.

The young guns appeared from the bench after this, with Bendtner, Vela, Ramsey and Wilshere coming on to try to impress Wenger in the last quarter of the game or so. And Wilshere did exactly that, bursting down the left and cutting past the depairing attempt of a foul by Javi Garcia, producing a good dinked ball which Bendtner could only direct into the side netting. Had Bendtner been in the middle and not the diminutive Vela, the big Dane could easily have scored from a header from a fantastic cross.

Full Time: Arsenal 1 – 0 Real Madrid

So a very good work out all in all for what looks to be Wenger’s preferred 11 of the players he has available currently. Obviously Fabregas will come in, and judging by performances thus far it will be Denilson and not Diaby that gets the nod as his partner in midfield, barring any signings that Wenger makes. Toure I should think will come back in for Senderos, although it seems to me that the big Swiss deender could form a partnership with Gallas to rival the Toure/Gallas one, particularly against the bigger, physical team that lack the pace to trouble him.

Match ratings:

Manuel Almunia – 6 - Average game, didn’t have to do very much against a bit of a toothless Real Madrid attack. Slightly dodgy for the 50/50 against Raul which could have been given as a penalty, although I’m not sure there was much contact there.

Bacary Sagna – 8 - Fantastic defender, battles with the very best of them and attacks very well. Always an option to pass to and gives a bit of momentum to the side when he comes forward. Having been one of the earlier players to come back in pre-season, he looks fully fit and raring to go.

William Gallas – 7.5 - Composed game from the captain, like the goalkeeper wasn’t overly worked but positionally was excellent and helped out Senderos a couple of times.

Phillippe Senderos – 7 – A couple of mistakes positionally against the wily Raul, but made up for it with commanding headers throughout.

Gael Clichy – 8 - See Sagna. Fantastic full back, and fully fit aftr not playing any internationals in the summer. Thank you Raymond Domenech.

Theo Walcott – 8 - Stunning first half performance, dwindled lightly in the second half but still very impressive. His speed is so dangerous to sides, but his overall passing play is improving a lot, although a couple of telegraphed passes still creep into his game. Another of the players who I would say is fully ready for the season ahead.

Abou Diaby – 4 - Unfortunately looked easily the weakest link in the team. Of course he is behind many of the others in pre-season preparations, but I still expected more from him. I can’t see how defensively he will be able to be Cesc’s partner in midfield, while the amount of unforced errors he makes is inexcusable. But I will wait until the Amsterdam Tournament to really see how he can perform for us this season, as an unfit player does make mistakes of course. Horrible tackle on Sneijder which was a disgrace.

Denilson – 7.5 - Calm, assured in defence, didn’t give away his normal silly fouls in dangerous areas, and he is basically a deep lying playmaker with the ball at his feet. Him and Fabregas will be great against most opposition, but I wonder whether he may be found out against the very best teams defensively?

Samir Nasri – 8 - Very impressed with our new signing.  He is great on the ball, I don’t think I saw him give the ball away once. He is also pretty direct and I expect fairly big things from him this season. I certainly don’t think we will miss Hleb one bit.

Robin van Persie – 7.5 - Very clever as usual, always playing the difficult through ballas and passes with complete ease. But will he stay fit? That is defeinitely the question.

Emmanuel Adebayor – 8 - Such a big unit for defences to handle, and quick with it. Of course he will be a threat for us this season, and hopefully he’ll win us all round once again by scoring a hat trick at White Hart Lane. Just a shame he didn’t just sign a contract at the beginning of the transfer season instead of being ill advised by his agent.

Substitutes:

Emmanuel Eboue – 5 - Didn’t do much bar give the ball away to be honest. I preferred him in the defensive midfield role against Stuttgart! I strongly believe Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky, Vela and even Wilshere are ahead of him in ability on the wing. Despite everyone wanting him out of the club though, he is a decent squad player, and big clubs are always in need of them.

Jack Wilshere – 7.5 - From the short space of time he was in the pitch, he made a very good impact, keeping the ball well, drawing fouls and getting stuck into players who have been there and done it all. Each Wenger press conference has seen the manager give him more and more praise, I think he is very quickly bringing himself into contention for a first team subs place this season. He has the same spark that Fabregas had at his age, and there is no higher compliment than that for a 16 year old.

Carlos Vela – 6 - Quiet but made some good runs behind the Real defence.

Nicklas Bendtner – 6 - Causes trouble for defences and links up well with Vela. Does take a while to get into games though.

Johan Djourou – N/A - On for about 30 seconds…

Match ratings: Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool

Seems a bit pointless to do a match report for such a half hearted match, so i will instead just post match ratings.

Manuel Almunia - 5 – Did well enough, maybe could have done more with the goal though.
Justin Hoyte – 4 - Just not at it for mst of the match, needs games to improve and while he’s not getting games he won’t improve, so at the very least a loan spell is a must.
Kolo Touré - 4 - Keeps making little mistakes we’re not used to seeing from him.
William Gallas – 6 - Did alright, our most solid defnder easily.
Armand Traore – 5.5 - Terrible first half, much better in the second half. As I write this he is battering Tottenham’s Reserves on the left wing – he needs playing time but has massive potential. 

Gilberto Silva - 6 - Did a tidy job in the second half, far better than he has done in other games he has featured in.
Mathieu Flamini – 6.5 - Tried very hard as ever, didn’t look half as tired as Fabregas did, but didn’t quite cut it going forward.
Cesc Fabregas – 5.5 - Drifted in and out of the game, glimpses of the real Fabregas but generally poor. Must do better on Tuesday.
Emmanuel Eboue – 3 - Terrible yet again – doesn’t protect the defence enough, hasn’t got the quality at the other end either.
Theo Walcott – 6 - Poor first half, but did well in the second half once again.

Nicklas Bendtner – 6.5 - Should have scored two, but held the ball well and a good header for the equaliser.

Subs
Emmanuel Adebayor – 6.5 - Ran and ran, but didn’t really offer that much of an attacking threat.
Gael Clichy – 6 - Not much to say, wasn’t spectacular but wasn’t bad either.
Alexander Hleb – 5 - Vital moment to win the game and is control let him down for once. Typical.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool

 

Manuel Almunia – 6 - Didn’t have very much to do really, couldn’t have done much about the goal and was comfortable enough with the few crosses he had to deal with.

Kolo Toure – 5 - Doesn’t look at home at right back, but Senderos is looking better and better at Senderos and gives us a better combination in the centre, so Wenger has a dilemma on his hands when Sagna comes back. I really like Toure but Wenger isn’t going to drop our captain, and Senderos doesn’t deserve to be taken out of the side and that seems to leave him with no choice.

Phillippe Senderos – 7.5 - Couldn’t have done anything about the goal, was solid throughout the game and had one slightly edgy moment in the first half but other than that did well once again.

William Gallas – 8 - Played really well I thought, Torres was in his pocket to be honest.

Gael Clichy – 6.5 - Off and on he had a good game, possibly could have got the other side of Kuyt for the goal and showed more urgency in the opposition’s half at times.

Emmanuel Eboue – 4 - Poor once again. When is Wenger going to drop him from the team for the big matches at the very least he doesn’t offer enough. Walcott’s time has come.

Cesc Fabregas – 6.5 - Much better in the second half after a very disappointing first period. Went close a number of times when he came forward from a far deeper position compared to normal.

Mathieu Flamini – 7.5 - Worked very hard for the team as usual, was every where it seemed on the pitch. Lacking something in the final third to complete his performance though.

Alex Hleb – 7 - Very good in the second half, poor in the first. That dribble to get him the penalty appeal was brilliance, it really was. Just a shame the ref didn’t notice the blatant foul on him.

Robin van Persie – 7 - One of our best players in the first half, but he’s got another niggle just as he was looking sharper and had to be replaced. Shame and hopefully he’ll be back by the weekend as it didn’t seem serious.

Emmanuel Adebayor – 7 - Works very, very hard indeed and got the reward with his 24th goal of the season. When are Arsenal fans going to finally admit that he is an excellent player?

Substitutes:

Theo Walcott – 7.5 - Added urgency and direction to the attack. Had a brilliant strike go narrowly wide and worried defences. A bit less of a threat on the right.

Nicklas Bendtner – 5 - He must be unbelievably embarassed about his goal line clearance from Fabregas, he really must, but it was almost unavoidable as from the position he was in whichever way he chose to run he would have been given offside for interfering with play.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 1 – 1 Middlesbrough

 

Manuel Almunia – 6 -  Had one save to make, which as it happened, he had no chance with. Played as a sweeper all game.

Bacary Sagna – 6 - Disappointing, he had nothing to do defensively yet wasn’t very impressive going forward despite the time and opportunities that he had to roam forward.

Kolo Toure – 7 - I didn’t think that Wenger needed to drop Senderos who has been pretty much faultless recently, but Toure got the goal that saved the match and committed defenders when going forward late on.

William Gallas – 6 - Didn’t do much except pass sideways and into midfield. Defensively untroubled.

Gael Clichy - 6 - Also pretty disappointing. He and Hleb lacked the understanding they normally seem to have and so a lot of the attacks on the left when backwards .

Emmanuel Eboue – 7 - He was decent gong forward although decision making wasn’t always great, generally he at least had some urgency. Faded in the second half though.

Cesc Fabregas – 6 - Played some fantastic through balls at times, but was too slow most of the time for my liking.

Mathieu Flamini - 5 - Wasn’t needed defensively, and his energy going forwards wasn’t great to be honest.

Alexander Hleb – 5 - Nothing came off for him, except one truly brilliant reverse pass which on another day Fabregas would have buried and we’d all be praising his genius.

Emmanuel Adebayor – 5 - Bad first touch, lacked pace and didn’t ask enough questions of the Boro defence. I sincerely hope he finds his form again soon.

Robin van Persie – 6 - Clearly not match fit in my opinion. Created the odd moment of danger but still a while before he’s back to his best.

Substitutes:

Nicklas Bendtner - 6 - Added a presence late on.

Theo Walcott - 6 - Didn’t get the ball enough, because when he did have it he made a difference.

Philippe Senderos – n/a - Wasn’t on for long enough.

Match Ratings: Arsenal 2-0 AC Milan

 

I am so tempted to just give the whole team 10’s, but I will (try to) be sensible about it:

Manuel Almunia – 7 - He had a faultless display, although wasn’t called upon very often and didn’t actually need to work for any of the Milan shots in reality. 

Bacary Sagna - 7 - Strangely enough I would say it was not one of his best games for us, as he did not get forward as much as he has done in some games. Solid defensively as ever though. 

Phillippe Senderos – 7.5 - Did well in defence and made only one slight mistake which Clichy dug him out of. Kept Inzaghi quite enough. Should have scored though…. 

William Gallas – 8: A much better performance from Arsenal’s (cough) inspirational leader. Marshalled defence well when he needed to, and showed real emotion at the end. If he could perhaps keep his passion in check while out on the field when we lose matches it would save him from the media limelight quite a bit.  

Gael Clichy – 8 - Back to his usual self. Tireless running and never got caught out in defence. Vital defending against Pato after Senderos’ mistake.

Emmanuel Eboue – 6 - The only poor player in the white shirts of Arsenal last night. Didn’t offer too much intelligence going forward, and didn’t stretch Milan’s left side. I’m sure he could have exploited Maldini’s lack of pace if he’d ran down the line a bit more. 

Mathieu Flamini – 9.5 - Fantastic. As simple as that. Probably the most improved player in World football this season. Kept Kaka in check, and Gattuso and Pirlo were also victims of the battling midfielder who is fast becoming a fans’ favourite, at least in my opinion. If every player had as much commitment as he does, we’d never lose a game again.

Cesc Fabregas – 9.5: Had all the skill to go with Flamini’s agression and determination, in a simply brilliant midfield partnership. Got the decisive goal as well to round off one of the best individual performances I have seen for quite a while, although this comment is aimed at Flamini as well – they were both immense.

Abou Diaby – 7 - His inclusion was my only concern in the starting line up when I saw it, but he coped well, making a couple of good challenges tracking back and kept the ball far better than he has done normally this season. 

Alex Hleb – 8.5 - Toys with defenders for fun. His movement was second to none, and but for two superlative performances from certain other players, he would get the Man of the Match award without a doubt.   

Emmanuel Adebayor – 8 – Will be giving Milan’s defenders nightmares for a while yet. Work rate was brilliant, attitude spot on, and grabbed a goal which will be of great personal worth to him.

Substitutes:

Theo Walcott – 7 - Did excellently when he came on, almost setting up Gallas for a goal, tackling Kaka superbly, and then running past a Milan defender to give Adebayor Arsenal’s second goal, all in twenty minutes.

Gilberto Silva – N/A -Wasn’t on for long enough to warrant a rating.

Match ratings: Arsenal Vs Aston Villa

 

Manuel Almunia - 7 - I thought he did pretty well. Not at fault for the goal, and produced a couple of good saves to keep us in it at 1-0.

Bacary Sagna – 7 - Didn’t do too much wrong, positionally he was very good, although perhaps didn’t get forward as much as he could have in the first half.

William Gallas - 5 - He had a pretty bad game, along with Senderos. At fault for the goal and although he made a couple of good tackles positionally he wasn’t anywhere near his best.

Phillippe Senderos – 5 - Pretty much the same as Gallas, although more consistent and din’t make too many crucial tackles as Gallas did. Still, like Gallas, was a long way off his best.

Gael Clichy – 6 - Hasn’t been too great for a little while now. You kind of forget how much we rely on his consistency of performance until he goes through a bad patch of form.

Alex Hleb - 5 - Dallied on the ball too much, and generally seemed like the Hleb of last season. Needs to play at a higher tempo. 

Cesc Fabregas - 5 - Like Hleb, we rely on him to dictate a tempo to our play, and unfortunately he chose slow when we should have been sharp and quick.

Mathieu Flamini – 6 - Worked hard but lacked quality in possession and the driving runs weren’t there as much as normal.

Abou Diaby - 3 - Shocking. Had all the skills at the start of game, but by 20 minutes in he was giving the ball away left right and centre, offering little or nothing to our attack and not defending as he should do either.

Theo Walcott – 7 - Our best player for two weeks in a row arguably? Certainly our sharpest player out there on Saturday.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - Pretty poor. Should definitely have been making the Villa defence work more than he did.

Substitutes:

Nicklas Bendtner – 6.5 - Added presence and scored a goal. You can’t really argue with his contribution too much as he got us out of a whole when we needed just that to happen.

Denilson – 6 - Wasn’t on for very long, did alright with the few touches he got.

Gilberto – 6 - Same as Denilson

Match Ratings – Birmingham City Vs Arsenal

Almunia - 5 - Didn’t have that much to do. Can’t be blamed for either goal really. An average performance.
Gallas - 6 - Huge desire to win shown towards the end in a controversial manner. Other than that, a quiet game.
Senderos – 7 - Solid. Handled McFadden pretty well.
Clichy – 5 - Stupid mistake at the end, got the ball in my opinion but should never have got into that situation. Crossing was poor throughout the match.
Sagna – 7 - Supported Walcott reasonably well, crossing was slightly better than Clichy but that isn’t saying much….
Flamini – 6.5 - Fights for everything, but did not show too much quality yesterday.
Fabregas – 7 - This game and the Milan game show promise of Fabregas coming into a bit of form. Should have scored.
Hleb - 6.5 - Great trickery and creativity in the second half, but really needs to shoot more.
Walcott - 7.5 - Great to see him score even if it was overshadowed by other events. Second goal was taken brilliantly, and hopefully this will take a lot of pressure off him.
Adebayor – 5 - Why didn’t he score?! If he had taken just one of the chances he got we would have been home and dry. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that.

Eduardo - N/A - So, so disappointing. Eduardo has really looked part of the first team since the Christmas period, and now he is out for no one even knows how long. Hopefully he’ll recover well and won’t have been affected too much, although that is a big ask.

Substitutes: 

Bendtner - 5.5 - Struggled a bit, but overall wasn’t too bad. If only Adebayor had seen him running through on goal….  

Denilson – N/A
Gilberto – N/A