Winners and losers of Arsenal in the USA

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Winners

Leandro Trossard

I am not sure why, but a couple of weeks ago I read some Arsenal fans questioning the future of Leandro Trossard.

It baffled me, and I still don’t understand the point they were making.

It was something about him not being good enough for us. Not quick enough to play on the wing, not technical enough to play inside and not strong enough to play up top.

With 3 goals in America, he comes home as our “top scorer” for this stage of pre-season.

Trossard is the Mr Versatile in our attack.

He provides brilliant cover and competition for Gabriel Martinelli, can also cover Bukayo Saka and is an option in the middle both as a number 9 and someone to play deeper.

This season Trossard will be a super sub. He has the ability to change a game from the bench.

In America, he showed his fabulous ball striking from the edge of the area. You can certainly see him making an impact to help unlock deep defence.s.

Kai Havertz

He started the tour of America by being kicked by Arsenal fans for his performance in a charity skills challenge.

It was clear to anyone with a brain that he was taking it easy so that Arsenal did not run away with the competition.

In actual games of football, he showed what he is all about.

He did struggle early on as he adapts to Mikel Arteta’s way of playing, but the way he performed against Barcelona shows that he is improving at a rapid rate.

Havertz was influential in that game, a controlling force on the left hand side, and scored a great poachers goal. Granit Xhaka would not have been in the position Havertz was at that far post to tap in.

The German will only grow and get better. He will prove himself to be a fantastic option when we want to be more attacking.

Bukayo Saka

Missed penalty aside, Bukayo Saka was the best player on the pitch everytime he was out there.

If anyone thought last season was just a hot streak, then they are in for a rude awakening.

Saka looks to have added even more to his game, and he is now up there with Mo Salah for his ability to come in off the left and strike the ball.

When he cuts in on the left, he can bend it into the far top corner, or roll it into the bottom. He can smash it hard to the near post or clip over a cross for a teammate. This will keep goal keepers guessing and in that split second of hesitation Saka has scored.

By the end of this season, there will be no discussion. Saka will be the best right winger in the world.

Losers

Olexsandr Zinchenko

Zinny is clearly a wonderful football, but he failed to play a minute in America due to injury.

Last season he had two extended spells on the sidelines with calf problems. Throughout his Manchester City career he has always had niggling problems.

I was concerned when we signed him if he had the “man strength” to play a full Premier League campaign. He had never played more than 1500 minutes in a single Premier League season.

He played 2135 Premier League minutes last season, missing close to 40% of the game time.

Zinchenko’s injuries are a worry and he is not starting this season in a positive manner.

Kieran Tierney

Despite Zinchenko not playing a single game, our other left back in the squad also failed to start a game.

Kiwior, Tomiyasu and Timber all started the 3 US games at left back. Tierney was off the bench on all 3.

Now I get that pre-season is about trying new things out, but you would think our 2nd choice left back would have started at least one game.

Has his lack of starts shown that he is set to leave? And what Arteta was doing was looking at the options to replace him as back up left back this season?

Folarin Balogun

Flo would have been hoping for a staring role in the country of his birth.

He is all about building this “all-American hero” persona, for marketing purposes of course.

Balogun did not see a second of play time during the trip to America. That will disappoint him considering he made the decision to abandon his country for this summers Gold Cup.

He put himself before his nation to focus on pre-season and put himself in the shop window for a big summer move.

Instead, he failed to play a minute in the two more competitive games and when asked why he was not playing, Arteta was short and sharp in his response: “he first needs to be fit and available to play minutes.”

There have been no reports about Balogun being injured, so you have to assume that it is a conditioning issue.

I do not think he will get the big move he hopes for. He will end up at West Ham, Crystal Palace or Fulham. Maybe even a move to Spurs to replace Harry Kane?

So there we have it, our 3 winners and losers from the tour of America.

Ultimately, you can not read a huge amount into individual performances as you never know where a player is in their fitness and development.

On Wednesday we are back in Islington for the game against Monaco, before our final friendly of the season against Manchester City at Wembley.

Have a good Friday.

Keenos

Match report: Arsenal 5 – 3 Barcelona

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For those that did not stay up until the early hours of this morning, here is a brief summary of what happened:

We lined up in the same formation as the Manchester United game with a few expected tweaks.

White came in at right back and Timber was moved to the left hand side. Partey replace Rice in the mode.

Rice was left out of the squad altogether. Reports are he has been doing some intensive fitness training work to catch up with other.

Trossard came in on the left and Jesus upfront as Arteta looked to give as many players game time as possible.

Barcelona took the lead after just 7 minutes through Lewandowski. Saka levelled 6 minutes later.

Bukayo then sent a penalty wide on the 22 before Raphinha re-gave Barca the lead.

A couple of minutes before half time, Kai Havertz pounced to score a poachers goal. 2-2 at half time.

As the second half began, so did the subs with Smith Rowe replacing Havertz. Trossard than have Arsenal the lead for the first time with a brilliant finish across the keeper.

Odegaard made way for Vieira after 70 minutes before Trossard made it two for himself and four for Arsenal.

That would be Trossard’s last involvement in the game as he and Jesus made way for Martinelli and Nketiah with 11 minutes to go.

More subs would come as Gabriel went off for Holding. Then the young and exciting Cozier-Dubbery came on for Saka.

On the 88th minute, Barcelona made it 4-3 through Torres before Vieira secured the match with a rocket of a strike.

We win 5-3 after losing to Man U 2-0. Plenty of players got some game time. And we now head back to London for the Emirates Cup and then in 10 days, the Charity Shield.

That concludes the US tour…

Keenos

What is the benefit of high-profile pre-season tours?

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By this time tomorrow, our pre-season tour of America will be over.

When I awake, it will be to either a victory over Barcelona or to loads of people losing their shit because we lost again.

The majority of our fans are sensible, though. They realise that pre-season is about fitness, integrating new players and new styles.

Earlier in the week I saw someone someone say “signing Gabriel Jesus and Olexsandr Zinchenko was a cheat code last season. They both knew how to play in our system so didn’t need time to learn”, and that goes some way to explaining how great we were 12 months ago.

Kai Havertz and Declan Rice have never played in a team like Arsenal, whilst Jurrien Timber has played at a less intensive level.

All 3 will take time to settle. Just like Dennis Bergkamp did, just like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and more.

Just because they might not have a great pre-season, or hit the ground running, does not mean they will not become great players.

If Pires came to Arsenal now, he would get the same criticism Fabio Vieira gets. “Too lightweight, not strong enough, not a Premier League player”.

And if Henry joined Arsenal in 2023 it would be “he is an average winger and a poor striker”. Fans would be saying “the experiment of playing him upfront has failed. We should have bought Trezeguet” after just a handful of games.

But those days did not have 24/7 media and twitter (or is it X now?) analysts who think they are experts on the game whilst sitting jobless in their mums basement.

In 2003/04, we lost our first pre-season game to Peterborough 1-0. We drew our next game 0-0 against Barnet. A certain Yaya Toure played and was awful.

Two games, no wins, no goals. Imagine if this happened now!

The team then flew to Austria to undergo pre-season training. This really was a different world where teams would training in peace and quiet in some Central European country under the mountains, playing local sides.

Our first game in Austria was against SC Ritzing. The game finished 2-2. We then went on a nice winning run.

We beat Austria Wein 2-0, before destroy Besiktas 1-0. I then ignore the win over St Albans as this was not part of our senior players pre-season.

A little tour of Scotland saw us draw 1-1 with Celtic and then beat Rangers 3-0. In between, those not let of the senior set up went to Belgium and drew with Beveren.

7 senior pre-season games

3 wins

3 draws

1 defeat

9 goals scored

4 goals conceded

Certainly not an impressive pre-season considering the oppositions.

Imagine if social media was around now to witness those friendlies.

So called fans would be calling for Arsene Wengers head and complaining that we had only bought a single senior player – an average German goalkeeper called Jens Lehman – and a bunch of kids.

As you all know, we would go on to win the league, unbeaten. That average German goalkeeper would become a cult hero.

And as for those kids from Spain, France and Switzerland. They would grow up to be Cesc, Gael, Phillippe and Johan.

I do wonder sometimes if teams put themselves under pressure during pre-season these days with the high profile friendlies.

Is playing an aggressive Man U team with a point to prove in front of 60,000 in New York really worth it?

Ok, you get a few million for taking part in these tours and “build the brand abroad”, but they are all financial benefits. Would it not be better to sacrifice that money for a more controlled pre-season out of the spotlight?

A poor pre-season risks being blown out of proportion. The pressure is on before a ball is kicked.

Fans expect too much. They don’t realise that teams might have had a hard training session the day before, or the move of, the game. The opposition might have had a rest day the previous day. Prepared for it like a proper game.

If you are playing in the foothills of Central Europe against mid-level Austrian or Swiss teams, the games are a little bit less competitive. The focus is kore on fitness. Is this not better for preparation?

Of course, you still want those competitive run outs. Arsenal’s last two games in 2003/04 were against Rangers and Celtic.

We could easily have stayed in Germany training. Playing local sides. Then returned to England for the game against Sevilla before the final friendly (and it is a friendly) against Man City.

Some might say “Keenos, you are only writing this because Arsenal lost and you are preparing to defend tonight’s loss”. I am not. I have always thought this.

Pre-season is about preparing for the season. Wins, draws or defeats do not matter.

Enjoy the game if you’re going to stay up and watch it. I will be asleep.

Keenos