Amsterdam Cup: Ajax Stumble As Arsenal Prosper
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Arsenal had fine chances throughout the first thirty minutes. Walcott laid a perfectly weighted ball on the half-way line onto the grateful Adebayor. Leaving defenders in the wake, the Togolese international virtually had a one-on-one opportunity with new Netherlands number one, Maarten Stekelenburg.
As soon as Ade ran into the box though he made the wrong decision. Instead of feinting his shoulder to the side, and taking the ball round the glovesman to stroll the ball into the Dutch net, he tried to dink the ball over the keeper but ended up hitting it directly at the stopper.
Fabregas too had a chance to break the deadlock, striking the ball perfectly with his right foot from about 25 yards out, showing great technique in getting the ball up-and-down and curling it into the near corner. Stekelenburg however denied the European Championship winner by theatrically palming the ball into touch.
Robin Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor were linking up well for half an hour, and providing the former Feyenoord man stays fit all season, then Premier League defenders will be on red alert.
Just after the half hour mark, Suarez unleashed an unstoppable half-volley past Manuel Almunia, to notch not just the first goal of the game, but also the first goal of the tournament, after the earlier game between Internazionale and Sevilla ended goalless.
Huntelaar struck a second immediately after the restart with trademark opportunism; seemingly taking a deflection off the backing-out Toure, but replays showed that the Ajax forward had just pegged the ball with enough swerve to take it round the Spanish stopper, Almunia. Kolo Toure may feel slightly responsible due to his inability to clear the ball properly prior to the goal.
Five minutes before time, Huntelaar - the natural predator that he is, again rolled the ball past Arsenal's custodian, but the move was rightly ruled offside, as the Dutchman was three yards off the last defender.
After taking their time getting involved with the game, the final quarter of the first half certainly belonged to Ajax. Arsenal went into the break two goals down, and Wenger, who had been irate most of the half due to his team's carelessness in giving the ball away, will surely have vented his fury in the dressing room.
The half time statistics say everything about this match so far. The Amsterdam outfit had 4 shots in total, 2 on target, and had a brace of goals to show for their efforts. Arsenal on the other hand had 7 shots in total, 5 on target, and still drew a blank.
Steve McClaren was in the stadium and will be encouraged by the performance he had seen so far considering his FC Twente side will play host to an Arsenal side that will surely consist of the same components. The former England manager should have gone home at half time comforted, for if he stayed for the second, he would have left worried.
Ajax emerged from the break looking confident and more organised at the back compared to their North London visitors.
Arsene Wenger will be hoping for a better performance from his Brazilian midfielder. Denilson had been largely anonymous all game, and if he is to stake a regular claim for the spot to the side of Fabregas, then he would have been ordered to get his act together.
Stekelenburg had been nothing short of commanding all first half, and again he bossed his area early in the second by claiming crosses and distributing early, releasing his team-mates on the counter, but nothing coming to fruition.
William Gallas and ex-Barca defender Gabri were both booked for separate incidents after ten minutes of the restart. Two minutes later and Fabregas is also cautioned for showing his studs to Silva.
Adebayor and Van Persie linked up well again on the 62nd minute after Manu was threaded through and sprinted away, his ball to Robin though was too heavy and by the time the he had controlled it, he had already been shut down.
Four minutes later Eboue, for the first time in the match, found Adebayor's head with a perfect in-swinging cross that the tall centre-forward powerfully plumbed into the opponents net.
Not long after, Arsenal were searching for an equaliser, and from the same side Eboue put Sagna through who had been marching on the overlap, Bacary then swooped the ball in to substitute Bendtner (on for Walcott) who headed straight into Maarten's mitts.
Bendtner carried on his fine goal-scoring form as Adebayor leaves Ajax's subsitute goalkeeper in no mans land, keeps his composure on the touchline as the keeper flaps, passes back, and Nicklas thumps a neat but powerful finish into the opposition net.
Most of the play was then in Arsenal's final third, the passing was more confident, and Ajax seemed to content to back off play while they recouperated and reflected on Arsenal's ability to creep back into the game.
For the third, Ajax were carved apart. A perfect team goal as touch-and-move football is given a visual education to all those who wanted schooling. Denilson set up Adebayor and all he can do is find the net for his second - much to the delight of the visiting fans. Ajax may feel aggrieved as even though Van Persie was not involved in the build up, he certainly impeded the keeper's vision, blocking his view of the shot.
More substitutes, and the young gun of the moment, Jack Wilshere, comes on for Fabregas with five minutes remaining. Denilson had been complaining for some time about feeling uncomfortable on the pitch and he is brought off - Welsh teen Aaron Ramsey takes his place.
The game finished and Arsenal top the table with six points in the annual Amsterdam event.
Wenger will feel pleased with his team's second half performance in overturning a 2-0 deficit. Ajax coach Van Basten however will be particularly perturbed by his side's inability to hold onto a lead.
At the end of the game Cesc Fabregas told Sky Sports : "That is what it is all about, we want to be there in the Champions League and opponents like this are ones we shall face. The boss said we were second best in the first half, but we created chances and in the second half were more aggressive, I think we deserved it."
Fabregas added: "I love playing for this team and for these fans... I will always give 100 per cent."
Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports: It was the game we wanted, high-paced, Ajax fought for every ball... they died after an hour though. We lapsed concentration for their two goals within two minutes, but they were good strikes. Overall we came back well. Adebayor did very well. We looked dangerous going forward, defensively our positioning was not right."
Line Ups:
Ajax - Stekenlenberg, Silva, Olegeur, Anita, Schilder, Gabri, Lindgren, Aissati, Suarez, Huntelaar, Sulejmani.
Arsenal - Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Walcott, Denilson, Fabregas, Eboue, Van Persie, Adebayor.An exciting match featuring Arsenal's first 11 with the scoreline 2-3 at the end in Arsenal's favour. Ajax's 2 goals kan nice. Next up is Inter Milan and Sevilla live on Supersport.
Source: goal.com
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lucky they win, starting concede 2 goals is lame =.=. defence need to be improved
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reali hope ade gets sold asap...
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Wenger: Ajax Test Was Perfect Preparation
The Gunners fought back from a two-goal defecit to claim victory against the Dutch giants, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner netting three times between them to save the blushes of defensive duo Kolo Toure and William Gallas.
The win sees the Londoners top the Amsterdam Tournament standings as they continue their pre-season preparations ahead of their European qualifier against Twente, the first leg of which takes place on Wednesday.
And while there is clearly room for improvement, Wenger believes the Ajax clash gave a perfect insight into what his men can expect when they face the Tukkers.
"We had an idea tonight of what we can get at Twente," he told Sky Sports 2. "I think the pace will be the same."
Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas agrees, and added: "In a week's time we play a big part of the season, which is the Champions League.
"We want to be there so we know we have to be ready, and opponents like this (Ajax) are the sort of opponents we will face."
Arsenal will face Sevilla today in their final hit-out before the Twente clash.
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Originally posted by thongs:
lucky they win, starting concede 2 goals is lame =.=. defence need to be improved
i feel that the pairing of toure and gallas is ok but senderos definitely needs to improve
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great match! how come gunners like to play against those teams in unofficial cup competitions? like dat dunno their stamina will drain off or not?
