Like Ramsey in the first-half, the star of the show in the second period was Jack Wilshere. Seriously, the guy is so small and elusive that he will knock the ball past you and run through your legs to retrieve it. Cutting in from the right onto his favoured left-foot with a slippery style of dribbling, it was almost Messi-like

Match Review – Barnet 1 – 2 The Arsenal – Pre Season Friendly

So after months of boring transfer sagas (Flamini, Hleb, Nasri, Adebayor), we’ve finally got something concrete to discuss…a football match! The legendary film Fever Pitch contained the following conversation:

Gooner bloke (after a home defeat) – “I wanna go to sleep for the next ten seasons.”

Nagging girlfriend – “Seasons?! I am sick to death of hearing about bloody ‘seasons’. We live our lives in years, you know…January through to December.”

Gooner bloke – “Not all of us.”

I wholeheartedly agree with that, and I’m sure many of you do too. The months of June and July – generally fallow periods – have now become fraught with tension. Questions like: “Who is gonna leave?”; “Why aren’t we paying him higher wages?”; “Why aren’t we signing anyone?”; “Why have we signed another kid?”; “Why don’t we ever buy any big names?” have become commonplace amongst Gooner fans and forums, so 90 minutes of football is a welcome break.

I had planned for my new ‘season’ to begin with a haircut. “New season, new haircut” I figured. But when my alarm started cock-a-doodle-do-ing at 8.30am, I muttered a few swearwords under my breath and switched it off. I woke up a few hours later to find that Carlos Vela had been withdrawn from the squad and was replaced by new boy Francis Coq-au-vin. Bollocks. I was looking forward to giving my brand spanking new ‘Vela 11’ Mexico shirt a run out. After a fairly arduous journey that took me from Wembley to Barnet via Northwood and Elstree, myself, Dschin and DJ arrived at Underhill a good hour or so before kick-off. We managed to get a decent spot right at the front of the East Stand terrace on the halfway line and the players warmed up in front of us. In the distance I spotted the boy wonder Vela sitting in the dugout in a grey top and jeans. I can only assume it was a match fitness issue that prevented him from playing – after all, he was turning out for his national team only a month ago.

Our first XI had a pretty strong look about it: seasoned veterans such as Almunia, Sagna and Clichy (captain for the day – take that Cashley Hole!) were melded with experienced youths like Bendtner, Denilson, Traore and Justin Hoyte. The team also featured some relative newcomers: reserve team skipper Havard Nordveit, Henri Lansbury returning from a bout of glandular fever and new signing Aaron Ramsey. Barnet fielded former a Gooner in Adam Birchall, who shared a touching embrace with his old mucker Justin Hoyte before kick-off.

As for the game itself…well the first-half was anaemic to say the least. Drab and dreary are two words that spring to mind. But I was just happy to be at a game and hearing the chants of the fans after two months of sitting in front of NewsNow and reading the whines of the fans. The hosts certainly started the better and got in the first three shots of the game whilst we had nowt, as the Barnet fan behind me kept pointing out. My first impressions were of the new boys: Lansbury looked like a central midfielder playing out of position, Ramsey was confident on the ball and seems a well built lad (he already looks stronger than Denilson), and Nordveit was winning balls in the air and on the floor. Rambo was actually clattered early on but picked up himself up and carried on. Resilient stuff, unlike Nicklas Bendtner who had a stinker. One time during the first-half he lost the ball and went down ‘injured’ right in front of us. From where we were standing he was blatantly faking it and looking for sympathy, but it wasn’t forthcoming from either Gooners or Barnet fans.

We had a couple of bright moments early on as Ramsey threaded a ball through for Bendtner but the Big Dane’s touch let him down, and another time when Traore crossed from the left but Bendtner could not divert it goalwards. Nordveit’s first mistake came on the quarter hour as he mis-timed a tackle about 25 yards out. It was a costly mistake as the free-kick was teed up for Kenny Gillet to curl home at Almunia’s near post. Two things immediately sprung to mind: does Almunia have a chronic problem with free-kicks at his near post? (think back to Gareth Bale at WHL and Steve Gerrard at Anfield last season); and why wasn’t anyone charging the free-kick like Flamini would have? Having since viewed the replay, I have to say the free-kick was less Almunia’s fault and more to do with the positioning of the wall. Fair play to the free-kick though, it was very good. Kenny Gillet – the best a man can get?

The players failed to substantially raise themselves from their stupor for the remainder of the half. Normally when I watch a game the first-half flies by but this one seemed to drag. The defence looked decent individually and as a unit and were rarely tested. The full-backs were getting forward a fair amount but couldn’t provide the telling cross. Rambo was positively bossing the show in midfield but was let down by his partner Denilson who seemed as rusty as Bendtner, whilst Theo and Traore couldn’t really get into the game either. All these ingredients made for a below average performance from the first XI. Half-chances came and went from Lansbury (high and wide from a corner), Ramsey (tame and wide from 25 yards), Bendtner (unfortunate to sidefoot his difficult effort wide from 10 yards following neat interplay between Theo and Traore), Gael (high and wide – still waiting for his first goal in red and white), and finally Theo with a curling effort from outside the box that was palmed away by the keeper. But none of these were golden chances and their keeper was only forced to save one of them, unlike Manuel who had been kept busy in having to come to the edge of his area to claim the ball on more than one occasion. The problem was a lack of tempo, which invariably results in a lack of chances. Half-time came and the hosts were deservedly in the lead.

Just before the first-half finished I spotted the Arsenal bench emptying en masse and going into the dressing room. And as soon as the half-time whistle blew they all came out to begin their warm up. Numerous changes were in the offing, and our expectations were confirmed when the PA announced that we had indeed changed the WHOLE team. One bloke standing behind us was so disenchanted by this that when he realised the entire eleven had changed, he considered leaving on the basis that he didn’t know any of the players on the pitch. Whilst I’m sure his quip was tongue-in-cheek, the fact that he spent the majority of the second-half on the phone says it all. Notable introductions were Coquelin in the heart of midfield alongside second-half skipper Randall, with Barazite and Wilshere on the wings and Jay Simpson up-front.

The second-half was markedly different from the first. I put this down to the fact that the starting lineup was a mish-mash of first-teamers and substitutes that didn’t know each others’ games inside out, whereas the second XI were predominantly reserve team players and youths who have played together for a number of years. For example, I’m sure Lansbury would’ve been more comfortable in the second-half team.

This extra cohesion paid dividends straightaway, but not before a near-howler from substitute keeper Vito Mannone. The players’ knew instinctively what their team-mates’ movements would be, making the passing crisper and the tempo quicker. A passage of such play led to Randall winning a free-kick and taking it himself. The Hleb lookalike got it up and down but it was lacking pace and the Barnet keeper clawed it away despite the dodgy bounce. Barazite had an effort from the subsequent corner that zoomed wide of the near post. Much better.

Like Ramsey in the first-half, the star of the show in the second period was Jack Wilshere. Seriously, the guy is so small and elusive that he will knock the ball past you and run through your legs to retrieve it. Cutting in from the right onto his favoured left-foot with a slippery style of dribbling, it was almost Messi-like. And it was he who created the equaliser, receiving the ball and slipping it through to Homer Jay Simpson, who finished with aplomb into the top corner. An excellent goal all-round.

‘Homer’ certainly impressed me. The boy is built like a tank, and combined with his blistering pace you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a professional sprinter. He won the League One Player of the Year award last season whilst on loan at Millwall – an amazing feat for one so young. If he doesn’t go out on loan then I’m certain he’ll feature in the Carling Cup. One super burst of speed down the right nearly lead to a second but a goalmouth scramble was concluded with Rui Fonte shooting over with the goal at his mercy.

Comical moment of the day went to Albert Adomah of Barnet. Despite being flagged offside, he sent a sumptuous looping volley over Mannone’s head and into the goal, but then pulled up lame with cramp. Haha, in a real game he would’ve gotten booked for that.

By now Wilshere had become the prominent player on the pitch. The little nipper won the ball on the halfway line and launched the swiftest of counter-attacks. Just like the first goal he threaded it through to Simpson, but this time instead of shooting the young Englishman spotted Barazite free on the left. With his long hair flowing like Pires’ used to, the young Dutchster’s finished resembled a Bobi classic as he calmly slotted it in off the post. Having got a goal here last year plus a few for the reserves, it seems like he has an affinity with Underhill. Let’s hope he can one day transfer that to the Emirates.

The only event of note during the remaining 15 minutes was an accidental collision between Adam Birchall and Coquelin. This resulted in the Arsenal phsyio coming on for his first action of the day, but for the first time in yonks it wasn’t Gary Lewin doing the patching up. Weird. A word for Coquelin too, who added the requisite bite and aggression in midfield and didn’t look out of place at all – good going considering that he only joined us on Friday and barely knows his colleagues.

So we extended our unbeaten run in this fixture. How we managed to win 10-1 here in 2004 is beyond me. It was a game of two teams and a game of two halves. Like I’ve already mentioned, the fact that the second string are familiar with each other must have helped. My Top Gun award is shared between Ramsey and Wilshere, both of whom I have enthused about. I was also pleasantly surprised by Jay Simpson. Here’s a final thought to leave with you: imagine in a few years a midfield quartet of Cesc, Ramsey, Wilshere and Nasri. Pretty good eh?!

I don’t think you can put too much stock in the below-par performances from the likes of Denilson, Theo and Bendtner. The Barnet game is and always has been a loosener for the players. If they’re still looking off-form towards the end of pre-season then be concerned. But not now.

On Monday the rest of the lads who represented their countries over the summer come back to pre-season as we take a full squad out to Austria for our traditional low-key pre-season tour. Next up is an unnameable Hungarian team on Tuesday, followed by more low-key fixtures building up to the tests of Juve, Real, Ajax and Sevilla. Don’t you love how we do business as a club? Whilst the Chavs and Mancs flaunt their ‘stars’ in lop-sided friendlies in the Far East and South Africa respectively to extract some more monies for their next transfer tap-ups, we will be carrying things out in our usual understated manner. Whether or not we sign the “experienced player” that Le Boss alluded to in his post-match interview, at least we aren’t cunts about it. We are The Arsenal, we are the best, we are The Arsenal, f*ck the rest!

As always, comments are appreciated.

P.S. to the guys who were standing in the North terrace at Underhill: I heard a new Eduardo chant to the tune of Liverpool’s song for Torres. Can anyone provide us with the lyrics? And what were the new words to the Adebayor song?