Arsenal’s only signing of the season Yaya Sanogo was given his first start for the club after being part of France’s U20 World Cup winning side earlier this summer. Santi Cazorla also started in his first pre-season game after a post-confederation cup break. Only four players kept their place after yesterday’s game. Jack Wilshere was not risked in the Squad.
Arsenal Team: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Walcott, Sanogo
Galatasaray Team: Muslera, Melo, Hamit, Elmander, Riera, Umut, Chedjou, Semih, Eboue, Engin, Amrabat
The opposition was captained by the one and only Eboue. Former Arsenal academy player Colin Kazim-Richards was on the bench for the opposition, alongside the likes of Sneijder and Drogba.
First Half
Within a minute of his debut, Sanogo had the chance to open the scoring. A defensive error lead to Oxlade Chamberlain being able to lay off the ball to the young Frenchman inside the box. While a pass back to the Ox might have been the better option, Sanogo decided unleash a pretty tame shot just to the side of the keeper. An easy save for Muslera. Less than 5 minutes later Eboue was up to his usual tricks. The Ivorian’s tackle on Aaron Ramsey caused some to appeal for a penalty. John Moss was having none of it.
With twenty minutes gone, a phenomenal pass from Aaron Ramsey was not converted by Walcott. Walcott’s first touch was perfect, leaving just the keeper to beat. The chip went just wide. As the first half was coming to a close, the club’s top scorer made up for it. The ball was being played around in the corner between Arteta and Walcott. Walcott decided to cross the ball and hope someone could get something on it. They didn’t. It went in anyway.
Second Half
As the second half got under way, Drogba and Wesley Sneijder came on for the Turkish Champions. Within a couple of minutes it looked as though Drogba would return to haunt Arsenal once more. Fortunately for the home team, Amrabat decided to go for the shot and forced Szczesny into his first involvement of the game . Galatasaray piled on the pressure for the first 15 minutes of the second half, with two shots from Drogba in as many minutes.
The 60 minute mark saw Cazorla and Sanogo come off for Giroud and the 16 year old Zelalem. The inclusion of Giroud was quickly noticed, with this header, as well as another shot that went straight to the keeper coming within minutes. It was noticeable that Arsenal had some form of target man to aim for. It was all looking good for the Gunners to continue their undefeated pre-season tour, picking up a trophy for it.
Then Drogba happened. This dive gave the visitors a penalty, that he then converted to equalise. While it was phenomenally frustrating to see Drogba back to his diving ways, (and even more frustratingly, his scoring ways) Mikel should not have given the referee the option to give it. It was a shove in the back of the smallest kind, but it was a shove. This was after Mikel should have been booked for a tackle on Eboue minutes earlier. While he was playing out of position as a LB, it is hard to see the 20 year old Spaniard stepping up to the first team any time soon.
As it stood, with the scores level, the tournament would have gone to Porto. Then came Galatasaray’s two best players linked up brilliantly to ensure that didn’t happen. Of course it was him. The man that Wenger admitted he should have signed for £100k, the one that terrorised Arsenal’s defence for years. Didier Drogba grabbed his team the win in the 86th minute with a goal that made the usually solid Mertesacker look like a fool. He drifted outside the German only to cut back in when he had the ball, leaving the BFG stranded.
Overall
It was evident that our previous pre-season plans had not included coming up against genuinely good teams. There has been very little defensive match practice and it showed. Both goals could have been prevented with more in-form defenders. While there is some obvious frustration from all of those who paid to go to the tournament, and all those who wanted Arsenal to win, it is only pre-season. Losing a glorified friendly hopefully will lead to the club learning from their mistakes and making sure it does not happen in a competitive match.
With one final pre-season game against City next week in Finland, let’s hope the club can pick up where we left off in the Premier League and get off to the best possible start. A few signings probably wouldn’t hurt either.
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