POSTED: Saturday July 30th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gervinho Debut Offers Hope to Arsenal Fans
Directness and aggression shown by Arsenal's new recruit Gervinho Could be Exactly What the Gunners need.
Ivory Coast international Gervinho made an almost perfect debut for Arsenal in a friendly match in Germany yesterday scoring twice in 15 minutes before a knock to his knee forced him off the field after half an hour.
It was a superb first half display from Arsenal who looked potent and direct in attack. Home side FC Köln did not sit back either, themselves looking to attack at any opportunity, creating a real end to end feel to the game at times.
Early on, an excellent lofted pass from Wilshere found Gervinho's run into the box who took the ball at the top of the bounce and lifted it over the onrushing keeper - a cool and assured finish from the forward. The lead was soon doubled as good work from Walcott again resulted in a ball into the well positioned debutant who tapped in from close range. It was refreshing to see a player who isn't a natural striker look to get in the box and shoot whenever possible - directness is something Arsenal have lacked for a while now.
After going off following collision, Gervinho made way for young Japanese Winger Ryo Miyaichi who instantly looked at home and was involved in a lightning break, linking up with Walcott when defending a corner, and bursting toward the opposition box. His through ball to put Walcott in behind was sublimely weighted and the England man should have done better than flash the ball across goal into no man's land.
The freak own goal at the end of the half from Carl Jenkinson was so bad it was almost funny. One has to feel bad for the lad who looked distraught after lobbing his own keeper from 25 yards. The positive thing is that he'll never score another one like it in his career so at least it's out of the way early on!
There were the usual moments of sloppiness and confusion in the back four in the first half and this continued into a dull, broken second half. Szczesny looked confident and alert, making light work of some tricky situations and pulling off one very good save. He was the main positive in a defensive unit that will continue to draw criticism after this performance.
In the end, a narrow 2-1 win against a spirited opposition was a reasonable result and will have done much to ready the team for a likely opposition of this caliber in the Champions League qualifiers that are fast approaching.
Next up is the Emirates Cup next weekend when Arsenal will face Thierry Henry's New York Red Bulls and Argentina's Boca Juniors. The Emirates Cup is usually a decent mini-tournament that produces good quality football. Personally, I'll be looking forward to Arsenal thrashing Boca Juniors - the mortal enemies of the now relegated team I supported when living in Buenos Aires a few years back, River Plate.
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Keywords · arsenal · gunners · soccer · football · premier league · gervinho · walcott · miyaichi · FC Koln · jenkinson · champions league · boca juniors · river plate
Name: J A Kinchin-taylor
Organization: Arsenal Aether
Email:
URL: www.arsenalaether.com
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