Amsterdam Tournament: Arsenal - Ajax..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just finished watching this match and I must admit I struggled to stay awake, and it was noon when the match started! Arsenal looked bad, played like they were in a daze and had no pace to their game at all. Ljungberg missed 2 easy chances. Senderos looked as if he had never played center back before, and the passing left a lot to be desired. Ajax was not any better, they too missed a couple of chances. It was only the 2nd half sub Lupoli for Arsenal that scored a nice goal that kept this match from being a total bust. I suppose the 2 managers Blind and Wenger will be giving there sides an ear full in the dressing room. I'm just glad I didn't pay to watch it. I guess I'll hang on to that old saying that 'a sign of a good team is when they play poorly and still win'....Still, I'm not real excited at the moment. The Boca - Porto game before was a better played game, yet it too left much to be desired.

But it was the first time Arsenal have scored against Ajax in this tounament in 4 goes, so things are looking up surely.

Thats true,they did manage a goal.....but I expected to see the quick short passes and touchline runs that Arsenal are known for, none of it was there. And like I said, Senderos was very disappointing, as evidenced by Cygan coming on for.... I'm hoping they will look better on Sunday.

Try not to sleep through it on sunday. This tournament has never been really exciting though, has it?

I'll try not to. I'm able to watch both the Amsterdam games live with the Chelsea - AC Milan match sandwiched in between....That may be the highlight of the 3.....

I'm not sure if I can see the Chelsea game here (not checked yet). Probably need a tv license to view it lol

it was not the best of matches was it . I think Henry was rather quiet , none of those scintilating runs down the left that he is known for . Still as you said twmcat we did score a goal at last and Hleb did well to feed the ball to Lupoli who turned and shot well past the keeper . At least it now makes the Porto game a bit more meaningful .

Yeh, Conn, I'll look forward to sunday

Hleb played really well, but Pires must never play in the centre again.

Great goal by Lupoli. I always thought of him as more of a tap-in predator guy, but he has a fierce strike on him.

Nice to see Lupoli getting a chance with the first team. Agree about Pires in the centre though - he's not at his best there and is missed in places where he is good.

The Pires experiment did not work that well and Nigel Winterburn on Sky Sports siad he would be surprised if Wenger tried that again especially in the Premiership. He expects Gilberto to be in the centre along with Fabregas with Freddie on the right and Pires on the left or even Reyes .There is also Hlebb to consider in the middle so Wenger will have to drop somebody .

Didn't look too good defensively again today, but at least didn't look too bad going forward in the second half, and have a bit of silverware.

yeah i think Lauren has not played too well over the two games and Lehman worries me a bit sometimes but we did play quite well once Bergkamp and Ljungberg came on in the second half .

Freddie rules. BUT WHY IS PIRES STILL PLAYING CENTRE MID???

Can't wait for Gilberto and Fabregas to return. We are lacking a bit in that central midfield area, but we did alright I suppose.

We won, it was very ugly except for about 20-25 minutes, otherwise I didn't see much improvement from the Ajax match. Thank God for Ljungberg. And I too believe Pires is out of place anywhere except streaking up the left side. He actually played like he had his mind elsewhere. I think maybe Wenger could be using him late on as a sub as he did last season. Reyes I thought was a bit frustrating, but that’s the way he plays. Lauren, well don't get me started with him. He is a brutal player and seems to always be hacking someone down, and Eboue is no better. Like I said in a previous post, the sign of a good team is when they are able to win when they play bad. I do think Wenger knows what 11 will start when we start playing for keeps, so I'm not going to worry that much about how poor we look now.

LOL , yes Lauren does seem to get a bit physical when he cant cope with some players . He hacked a few players over the last couple of matches and if he does that too much in the Premiership it could cost him a few red or yellow cards and we dont need that this season.

I think we were kinda lucky that Freddie came on because if he hadnt scored we would of lost, but it was a great match
Full of entertainment lol

also to a lesser extent Dennis Bergkamp , he did not quite have the same impact as Ljungberg did but he gave us what Wenger described afterwards as "his science of the game" .

Final pre-season friendly played earlier today, and first time we failed to win (or had a deferred success, as we must now call it in the UK )

But, basically a reserve team outing, with Bentley the only starter from the last line up at Amsterdam in the squad.

But van Persie got 2 of the 3, and a draw's not too bad there I think