Morning all.
I have a confession to make. When I first clapped eyes on our new third kit, I thought it was a cream colour which is why I didn’t like it but it’s white. At least I think it’s white.
Noni Madueke has joined with his new teammates and yesterday, he got stuck into training. The club’s official website has a video clip of him in action and guess what, one of the first things he’s seen doing is scoring a goal. A left footed belter into the top of the net. Let’s see if he can do the same when he has two defenders on him. Same goes for Viktor Gyokeres really, we know he could score goals in Portugal, lots of them too but I think it’s fair to suggest that the Premier League is a totally different challenge. A challenge which strikers like him will no doubt love. My brother in law, a staunch Liverpool fan, reckons he’s going to struggle in a way Darwin Nunez has since his arrival from Benfica where he scored 32 goals in 57 games. Viktor’s 68 in 66 games is way more impressive to begin with though but then he’s a more mature player than Nunez was when he arrived in England.
Rasmus Hojlund is another young striker who has found life in the Premier League difficult, or life at Man Utd difficult. Still just 22 years old he’s being tipped for a move away as Benjamin Sesko looks set to take his place. I read that Hojlund could move for £30 million. (#justsayin) I can already see the negative Arsenal headlines written in bold letters should Sesko be a success. If he does end up at Utd rather than Newcastle, I think Liverpool’s chances of signing Isak lessen. My brother in law won’t be pleased that’s for sure as he’s 100% sure Liverpool will sign him this summer.
Arsenal take on Villarreal tonight at The Emirates with kick off at 6pm.
Mikel Arteta:
We know what we want from pre-season, which is why we have planned the schedule like this. First we played Watford at Sobha, then we went to Singapore to play against AC Milan and Newcastle, before facing Tottenham in Hong Kong. So we’ve been changing conditions, changing contexts, and now we are playing at home against two teams preparing to be in the Champions League this season.
Villarreal are playing at the highest level, and they have a manager in Marcelino who likes to play a very specific type of system and formation that we will find in the Premier League this season. But also we are playing against Spanish opposition, so that will require other things from us as well, and I expect these to be really good games.
When we arrange these pre-season matches, I always look at how the manager sets up his teams, how they coach their team, the kind of players they have, how they train different phases of play against different blocks. We have a very good mixture this pre-season. The knowledge and experience that we gain from these games all goes into our “database” to help us throughout the season and it helps for the way we have to evolve our game models.
Each game is going to demand something from you physically, and the spaces you have to attack or protect, and different ways they can play in their build-up as well. So we have to nail that and improve that, and playing against Villarreal will help that, so it’s a good game for us.
Well, it cannot be said that Arteta and his coaching staff don’t do their homework. I never really understood why we played Premier League teams during pre-season but now it makes complete sense.
Whilst we need to remember tonight’s fixture is a friendly and the result is meaningless, I hope we see the team/players step things up a bit. Quicker passing, quicker movement and quicker football in general. I know any change in life can take time to process and perfect but the opening day of the season is less than two weeks away so I’m hoping we see a bit more of the anticipated improvements in tonight’s match.
Remember Denis Suarez? Well, the once Man City, Barcelona and Arsenal loanee is likely to feature for Villarreal tonight along with another old Arsenal player in Nicolas Pepe. I’m looking forward to seeing Pepe play because despite not having a great time in the Premier League, he’s a talented player. But obviously, I’m a lot more interested in seeing what our new players deliver, especially Gyokeres and Madueke. Then there’s Mad Max of course, who doesn’t want to see him play again. I refer to him that way because it is madness that a player so young can play so well at senior level. Friendlies or not, he’s stood up to whatever test he’s faced so far in pre-season. I’m sure a number of the younger players will get playing time too.
Enjoy the game guys..
Catch up in the comments.
Morning. Likewise, looking forward to seeing the new / fresh team tonight in action. Hopefully they will send a message out of “Watch out, looking what’s coming”
Will be in my weekly trip to swimming whilst the game is in progress so I will have to rely on recorded highlights somewhere . So if anyone gets a decent snapshot of the game I would appreciate if they can post a link.
Why couldn’t they kick off at 7.30 like normal ?
Suarez, who could ever forget the major impact that he had on that particular season, I mean can anybody remind me?
Nicholas Pepe, how different might things have been for him if his goal in the cup final (or was it the semi) had stood, great finish?
I’ll be having my dinner. 😜
Morning Kev, did he ever kick a ball for us?
Nunez to Saudi, what a plonker..
I thought I read somewhere that Pepe was leaving Villareal. I always quite liked him.
I’m looking forward to seeing Madueke,Max Dowman too,I know what Rico means,it’s insane how good he is and how mature and comfortable he looks,it always makes me a bit nervous when a player looks so good,so young. The list of players who didn’t live up to early promise is a long one.
Nunez to Saudi means that Liverpool get a bigger fee from PIF which they in turn can pay to Saudi PIF owned Newcastle satisfying (and circumventing) PSR rules.
Smell a rat anyone?
In view of Partey’s legal problems, I wonder if Villareal will have a rethink about signing him. From what I have read of the charges brought against him it seems unlikely that he will be free to play for any team for a few years.
Great though Limey.. didn’t know that about Pepe, I bet he wishes he’d never moved to England.
£40 million ish I read Kev..
Partey is on bail and free to leave the country so I can’t see that putting Villarreal off. I find the whole investigation a tad strange..
Afternoon Rico and all,
In a way I hope we delibratly loose tonight, so other teams don’t see how good we are untill the main season starts.
With the court case on his mind, Partey could be a big gamble as his mind could be all over the place
I still think we should slap in a bid for Sesko, a 22 year old second striker is infinitely better than a 27 year old attacking midfielder / left winger for about the same money.
We have only two more games before the new season kicks off Geoff, Arteta needs to give his chosen starting eleven as much time as possible playing together.
We don’t need to field an experimental side against Man U in the first game.
Just looked up the Villarreal squad,looks like Pepe is one of their main players,as well as Suarez they have several with Premier league experience. Perez (Newcastle) Foyth (Sp***s) I remember thinking he was too good for that lot. Probably others
Afternoon Geoff, last season the investigation didn’t seem to bother Partey.
Agreed Cicero. I’d love to see us gazump both Newcastle and Utd.
From Arsenal.com
As well as Perez, there are plenty of former Premier League players within Villarreal’s ranks, including a pair of ex-Gunners. Nicolas Pepe arrived from Trabzonspor 12 months ago and hit three goals in 28 appearances, while former loanee Denis Suarez is in his second season at El Madrigal.
World Cup winner Juan Foyth represented Tottenham Hotspur, who plays in defence alongside Manchester United youngster Willy Kambwala, while former Bournemouth, Tottenham and Everton winger Arnaut Danjuma has returned from a loan at Girona.
Spanish international striker Gerard Moreno is the club’s all-time record scorer with 101 to his name across two spells, while right-winger Yeremy Pino was a member of Spain’s Nations League-winning squad in 2023. Captain Dani Parejo had a spell at Queens Park Rangers back in 2008 before playing nearly 400 times for Valencia and has amassed 229 appearances for his current club.
THE SUMMER SO FAR
Following the departure of influential attacking midfielder Alex Baena to Atletico Madrid and striker Thierno Barry to Everton for a combined £62 million, Villarreal have spent £13 million of that windfall on winger Alberto Moleiro from Las Palmas, while his Spanish under-21 teammate Rafa Marin has joined on loan from Napoli.
Another £8.7 million has secured the signing of Uruguayan centre-back Santiago Mourino from Atletico Madrid while Canadian international winger Taion Buchanan has seen his loan from Inter Milan made permanent. Another ex-Red Devil in Eric Bailly was released at the end of his contract, while Spanish legend Raul Albiol also left on a free transfer aged 39.
A packed pre-season has seen a pair of draws in Switzerland against Basel and St Gallen, before a 1-0 loss to Sporting Lisbon was followed by a 3-1 defeat to Genoa and a goalless draw with Real Oviedo. Saturday saw them visit Leeds United and earn a 1-1 draw.
We have faced Villarreal six times in European competition, all across two-legged knockout ties. The first meeting between the teams came in the aforementioned 2005/06 Champions League semi-final, where a Kolo Toure goal secured a 1-0 win on Highbury’s final European night, while a Jens Lehmann penalty save from Juan Roman Riquelme sealed a 0-0 draw in Spain and our passage to the final.
Three years later we met at the quarter-final stage, and after Emmanuel Adebayor cancelled out Marcos Senna’s opener at El Madrigal, we won 3-0 in north London when the Togolese netted as well as Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie. Our last encounters came in 2021 in the Europa League semi-final when a 2-1 defeat in Spain proved costly as we could only manage a goalless draw in the second leg at Emirates Stadium.
Raya, White, Saliba, Kiwor, M L S, Nwaneri, Merino, Norgaard, Saka Gyokeres, Martinelli.
I’m relieved to see Gabriel listed in the subs.
Apparently he and Calafiori will be fit for OT.
Subs
Kepa
35
T. Setford
12
Timber
6
Gabriel
3
Cristhian Mosquera
17
Zinchenko
28
A. Sambi Lokonga
36
Martín Zubimendi
8
Odegaard
20
N. Madueke
41
Rice
56
M. Dowman
71
A. Harriman-Annous
Kick off narfanhour.
It had to be Pepe…
Reading the commentary on the club website this is heading to be the dirtiest game of all time. Nothing but fouls by both sides and not much else aside from a couple of off target shots.
I’m glad I didn’t pay to watch it. 😕
Well we are two nil down, must say I somehow missed the first goal.
35 minutes and Norgaard makes it 1 – 2.
I’m not watching either…
Just flicked through the commentary too, nearly every comment is a foul. Crikey…
Good evening HH family
Yep its a foulfest. Our players have leads in their boots. They are reacting very slow to every ball. That’s how Villareal goals were scored. not because they played well. Both Pepe and Eyong scored because the ball fell kindly after our players failed to react.
If we play like this against Utd their forwards will be rubbing their hands with glee
2-3 now
Odegaard with a penalty after Max Dowman was felled in the box
I bet the knives will be out later and tomorrow
As I said the first two goals conceded were simply because we were too slow to react. The third was because we were open
It was just another meaningless friendly Rico. Bad tempered, by the sound of it, but a game Arteta used to scatter some minutes for the players to pick up.
Does it matter in the great scheme of things? I doubt it. 😉
We even lost the penalty shoot out
Won’t stop the “Arteta out” brigade Cicero.
True Rico, I’m not sure a Premiership title or a Champions League trophy would satisfy that bunch.
Me neither Cicero, I think we’re getting close to the latter stages of the Arsene Wenger years but without the trophies. In terms of fan criticism I mean..
We certainly need a fast start to this campaign..
Night Cicero, all.
Happy to play the top players, but just hold back a bit for the main season and use these practice matches to blow off any cobwebs or muscle soreness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqHnCWh81Gc
Good morning everyone.
For those who did not see the game or goals here they are.
For the first two goals Arsenal players were reactive rather than proactive. Ball watching.
The Villlareal third we were carved open cleanly seeing that we were attacking.
We need to tighten up again.
Yes I agree we need to see the grand scheme of things but I hate losing….even if it is an under 6 game. Against anyone.
It was interesting listening to Adrian Clarke at the end of the game, the most important element of preseason is not to pick up injuries according to him, he also said that players don’t go all in, probably play at 90% in preseason.
Reading between the lines of what he said was that how we played yesterday of even how we play vs Athletic won’t count when we go to OT and play at 100%.
I hope he’s right…
Possibly that sums up the poor defending but that’s all I can glean from the Video , thanks D|evil.
Morning guys.
Didn’t watch the game, just the goals.
I too hope Adrian Clarke is right..
New post up.