Szczesny, Gibbs, Vermaelen (C), Koscielny, Jenkinson, Ramsey, Song, Wilshere, Gervinho, Chamakh and Walcott lined up in the RheinEnergieStadion for a minute’s silence after what was no doubt a distressing day for Koln’s Norweigan coach Stale Solbakken. Arsenal faced a Koln side who were fitter and closer to the start of their domestic season, as demonstrated by their lack of substitutions, signalling their desire to give each player more time on the pitch in this excellent friendly. 

Koln quickly won a very dangerous free kick in the 3^rd minute after Lukas Podolski was bundled down by Song and Koscielny on edge of box – fortunately the normally dangerous Novakovic curled it high and wide. After some customary Arsenal possession another Koln counter attack in 6^th minute opened up defence again and this was a theme of the half as a whole; a permeable midfield coupled with a young, offensive side meant that Arsenal were frequently caught out at the back. However, in the 7^th minute a fantastic lateral run from left to right by Gervinho coupled by an insightful ball from Wilshire created the opening goal on Gervinho’s first appearance with his first touch. The Ivorian forward dinked the onrushing Rensing, a great keeper in his own right, whose fingertips on the ball were not enough to stop the shot. In the first ten minutes arsenal were noticeably leggy and passing was generally sloppy and in the 11^th minute Koln had another counter attack – Jenkinson overcommitted, Podolski ran down the left, cut inside but dragged his shot wide. The fluid front-three resembled Walcott-Gervinho-Chamakh at times where the wingers tucked inside and fullbacks ran the lines, providing more targets for crosses but causing the root of our defensive problems by leaving holes on the flanks. After a slip from his marker, Walcott picked up  Jack Wilshere’s beautiful volleyed pass and Gervinho tapped in the resulting through ball from six yards in 16^th minute, scoring his second and injuring Rensing in the process, who was quickly subbed.

credit to talkSPORT

In the 23^rd minute Arsenal were almost in again, with a spectacular overhead clearance from Youssouf Mohamed the only thing stopping Arsenal going 3-0 up. Jack Wilshere was instrumental in midfield, going forward and back and Ramsey, who impressed so much in Asia, was missing in action for Arsenal. Gervinho was substituted for Ryo Miyaichi in the 30^th minute as he is lacking fitness after missing the double sessions and sweat-inducing humidity of the Asia tour. Gibbs was caught out going forward on a number of occasions and the midfield were great going forward but distinctively permeable and allowed Koln to breeze through – on the rare occasions they had the ball the Germans looked dangerous. Walcott’s cross-cum-shot, the weapon in his repertoire many Arsenal fans want to see gone was blazed in front of an onrushing Marouane Chamakh and the chance for 3-0 created by the pace of both players was wasted in 41^st minute. Miyaichi/Gibbs on the left looked really suspect defensively with no aggression at all and by the end of the half the emphasis was with Koln to score. Jenkinson coped a lot better in defence despite no cover from Walcott who was in all the action going forward. In true Arsenal style, Jenkinson scored the most bizarre own goal he ever will with a volleyed clearance which turned into a sliced lob, wrong-footing Szczesny who couldn’t stop it going into the net.

credit to Yahoo

A new look Arsenal with Mannone, Gibbs, Djourou, Squillaci, Sagna, Rosicky, Frimpong, Nasri, Arshavin, Van Persie, and Vela lined up for the second half with the left-back the only man to retain his place. This was a second half of substitutions where the game lost all its attractive fluency that Gervinho and co. had brought to the first. In the 52^nd minute some really suspect defending from Johan Djourou led to a Koln cross which Mannone claimed – Djourou came right out to break an attack, caught his man late and then was booked for catching another Koln player as he tracked back. Shocking defending from Squillaci where he almost de-shirted Podolski caused a scuffle between the players which the referee defused without producing any cards and these incidents, mere minutes apart, highlighted the lack in quality between the two sets of centre-backs. In the 56^th minute Koln had a great chance where Novakovic outmuscled the usually robust Sagna to collect a long ball into the box, with Djourou making a last-ditch block to prevent the Germans equalising. Koln had much more possession in the second half and continued to attack the flanks – our fullbacks were frequently not wide enough and the blame has to lie on the total lack of defensive duty along the lines by our wingers and midfielders.

Koln made a more traditional triple substitution in the 63^rd minute, a stoppage which heralded a period of Arsenal pressure with Tomas Rosicky drilling a shot at goal which was saved impressively. Shortly after in the 67^th minute a lovely piece of skill from Van Persie allowed Kieran Gibbs to penetrate the Koln defence but his shot was always in vain when hit from such a steep angle. There was a welcome return from injury in the 71^st minute for Lukasz Fabianski who would have been happy he didn’t have a lot to deal with as a chess game developed in the midfield, with Arsenal without chief orchestrator Cesc Fabregas looking to break Koln down and hog the ball in true Arsenal style. Gibbs was also substituted in the 71st minute for young Irish midfielder Conor Henderson who filled in at left-back. Arshavin drifted inside to squander at least four chances with a sight of goal and the game looked stagnant when the Germans made further substitutions in the 84^th minute. Henderson picked up a nasty injury in the 88^th minute which put a dampener on the game as he caught his right foot in the turf when lunging into a tackle – the youngster was quickly stretchered off and was holding his head as he was stretched off with a limp and bent right leg; forward Benik Afobe replaced him for the mere seconds left in the match.

Gervinho 1-0

Gervinho 2-0

Jenkinson OG

Highlights

A tragic injury for Conor Henderson put a real dampener on what would have been a great win against far superior opposition than we have faced so far this summer. Gervinho was excellent for his half an hour and two goals on his debut is an excellent return, one we hope will be reflected in competitive fixtures – Chamakh, on the other hand, looked suspect in touch and passing in the early stages of the game and I really hope he recovers from this long period of poor form, regaining confidence for the coming season. All in all this was a good result against fitter and more focused opposition – hopefully Henderson will recover quickly, hopefully we’ll buy a much needed centre-back and hopefully we can take home the biggest trophy of them all, the Emirates Cup!