Not only were they constantly thwarted by our P.I.G. (Pole In Goal), but Sevilla’s finishing did them no favours either. In the tenth minute they got in behind our full-backs

Arsenal 1 Sevilla 1 – Match Review – Amsterdam Tournament

A Lukasz Fabianski-inspired Arsenal somehow managed to limit Sevilla to one goal following Carlos Vela’s early opener. Combined with Inter’s 1-0 win over Ajax later on, this handed us our third Amsterdam triumph in four years, and second in consecutive seasons. Following on from the heartbreaks of 1999, 2003 and 2005 where we failed to retain our Premiership crown, this momentous victory went some way to mending the pain (note the sarcasm, folks).

After the senior team’s flawed victory over the hosts on Saturday, it was the turn of the kids against Sevilla. A starting XI with an average age of just nineteen going up against one of Spain’s best teams, it was hard to know what to expect. Would the little nippers go out there an exhibit no fear? Or would they simply be outmuscled by stronger, older, wiser and more experienced opponents?

The kids certainly showed no fear in the early goings. And after a quiet Emirates Cup, it was Carlos Vela at the heart of things. Going in for a 50:50 challenge in the second minute, he came away with the ball down the inside-left channel and floated a delightful pass across the pitch to Jack Wilshere on the right. The youngster drove infield and played a reverse pass to Bendtner, who unleashed a fearsome effort that the Sevilla keeper parried behind at his near post.

Arsenal’s goal came in the fourth minute. Sevilla dallied at the back as three Arsenal players converged on the man in possession. His rushed pass back to the defender led to an even more rushed clearance, which was charged down by Vela. As a reward for his persistence, the ball dropped kindly to the young Mexican and he advanced down the left-flank and into the box. Showing a decent amount of strength for one so young, he held off the attentions of the Sevilla defender before neatly slotting the ball past the keeper and into the bottom corner. Thus far in his Arsenal career his finishing has been compared to that of Eduardo’s and this gave further credence to that notion. An excellent goal from an excellent prospect who might make an impact a lot sooner than most people expect.

Immediately down the other end, we conceded a needless corner. The old saying of “when in doubt, kick it out” is obviously not taught in London Colney. While the tendency to try and keep possession instead of hoofing it is admirable and often enthralling, I’d say 50% of the time it can lead to trouble. The corner was commandingly cleared by Johan Djourou, who for my money had a very good game. There were excellent moments in the 25th, 38th and 43rd minutes when he showed his capabilities on the deck too as he made last-ditch tackles to frustrate Luis Fabiano, Arouna Kone and Diego Capel respectively. Compared to his central-defensive colleagues, his pre-season form has been impervious and I would seriously consider starting him against Twente and West Brom. Just our luck that he came off with a slight knee problem towards the end of the game. His career stagnated last season as a relatively unsuccessful loan spell at Birmingham was proceeded by an injury in his first game back in the red and white. I think he may be ready to step up a few gears this year.

For the remaining 85 minutes, we really were on the back foot. I can rarely remember Arsenal being on the receiving end of such a one-sided affair. The remainder of the first-half was dominated by a seemingly endless succession of Sevilla corners. I don’t have the exact stats, but I’d venture to say that they must have won around fifteen corners throughout the entire game. And to our credit, we didn’t concede from a single one. This was down to a mixture of decent defending, wayward finishing, luck, and one Lukasz Fabianski. I’ve been a Gooner for longer than I care to remember, and rarely in my time have I seen an Arsenal goalkeeper so overworked. It was a shame that he was not rewarded with the clean-sheet that his performance so richly deserved.

All top-level goalkeepers are excellent shot-stoppers. It’s a pre-requisite nowadays. But what separates the great from the good is the ability to command the box and take the pressure of your defence, especially from crosses. Whilst in the pass I have been sceptical about Fabianski’s ability to do so – too often he has punched the ball instead of catching it – it seemed that something clicked in this game and time after time he came off his line to catch the ball. If this wasn’t a flash in the pan then our goalkeeping future is very bright.

Not only were they constantly thwarted by our P.I.G. (Pole In Goal), but Sevilla’s finishing did them no favours either. In the tenth minute they got in behind our full-backs (the first of many times) and found Luis Fabiano free in the box but the finish touch was lacking. If you hark back to last Autumn when Sevilla were the first team to inflict defeat on us then you will recall what a slick passing side they are, even if they have lost key figures such as Dani Alves, Keita and, of course, their manager to that lot down the road.

A major problem was that we couldn’t maintain a decent spell of possession. Jay Thomas started on the left of midfield but looked cumbersome and was quickly pushed back to left-back. The central midfield duo of Randall and Ramsey had a shocker too. Although Ramsey has shown enough promise in other pre-season games to suggest he has a real future at the Club, Randall’s below-average performance was symptomatic of his pre-season. Not once have I been impressed with him. He is merely a functional player, at best. And when he loses the ball he tends to go in too hard to win it back, thus giving away fouls in dangerous positions. Maybe a loan spell away from the comfort zone of Colney will do him some good, but I doubt it. Prove me wrong, son.

Bright moments going forward in the first period were few and far between. Two such moments came just before the half-hour. Gibbs launched a long diagonal ball for Bendtner to run on to. Spurning the chance to go for glory himself, the Big Dane waited for support and rolled the ball back to Wilshere on the edge of the box, who decided to sidefoot the ball instead of lashing it. His effort was easily blocked by the Sevilla defence. It wasn’t even a half-chance in all honesty, more like a quarter-chance. Then a few minutes later we worked the ball well from a corner and Ramsey had a shot on goal from twenty-yards that went straight at the keeper. But that really was as good as it got.

Up until the 37th minute, the majority of Fabianski’s work had been to claim crosses and corners. But this changed as he was forced to pull off a save from point-blank range from Luis Fabiano after Navas had got the better of Bendtner. And it was a taste of things to come as he would be called into action on numerous occasions in the second period. A clumsy challenge from Randall in the 40th minute nearly saw us concede a penalty, and then a minute later Luis Fabiano headed wide with the goal at his mercy as we went in at half-time with a slightly fortuitous one-nil lead.

Sevilla began the second-half in the same manner that they finished the first – with wave upon wave of attacks. Looking back, we did fantastically well to hold out until the 80th minute. Fabianski was called into early action as he had to come off his line well a mere fifty seconds into the half to cut out any impending danger.

Up the other end, Jack Wilshere demonstrated why is the opposite of a merely functional player as he showed a lovely sleight of foot to get past the Sevilla full-back before sending a decent low cross into the box with his weaker right peg. Gibbs was unlucky that he couldn’t dig the ball out of his feet and the chance disappeared.

In the 53rd minute Kone’s raw pace saw him zoom past Senderos but Fabianski was again alert to the danger as he came off his line to grasp the ball. Then five minutes later he pulled off an acrobatic save from Chevanton’s shot. The P.I.G. was exhibiting all the attributes needed to be a great goalkeeper: clean handling, a command of his box, positioning, reflexes and the ability to act as a sweeper. His distribution was not bad either.

During the final half-hour, Sevilla employed a tactic that gave them a lot of joy. I lost count of the number of times that they simply dropped the ball over the head of Kieran Gibbs for Navas and his cronies to latch on to and wreak havoc. Navas himself came close on 62 but his angled low drive was foiled by the feet of Fabianski.

Djourou and Thomas came off in the 70th minute to be replaced by Sagna and Denilson, and straight after the change we had our ONLY effort of the second period as Vela let fly from 35-yards but the ball sailed over the crossbar. Navas again got down the right-flank on 72 and supplied a peach of a cross but Chevanton couldn’t direct his header goalwards. Following yet another unbelievable point-blank save by Fabianski in the 75th minute from Squilacci, the Navas/Chevanton combination finally broke our resistance with ten minutes remaining. Gibbs and Vela were caught napping on the left as Navas got in behind and squared the ball for Chevanton to finish from all of three yards. The mind was willing but the limbs were aching and the lungs burning. All that was left to do was try to hold on to a draw.

Theo had come on to replace Wilshere by this stage, and as we ever-so-slightly increased our tempo to look for the winner we left ourselves exposed at the back. The closest Sevilla came to grabbing the three points was in the 87th minute. Capel’s cross floated over Fabianski’s head and travelled all the way to the back post where Navas was haring in but he could only head the ball against the post from a near-impossible angle. That would have been cruel on the youngsters, who eventually managed to claim a very respectable draw in the face of one hell of an onslaught.

For all the value of regular reserve games and going on loan to Championship teams, nothing could ever surpass the experience gained by the youngsters in trying to block out a stylish Sevilla side. If you look at the balance of play and chances created, we barely warranted a draw. But for guts, last-ditch defending and an outstanding goalkeeping performance, a draw was just about right. And at the end of the night, it was enough to see a sheepish Robin van Persie going up to collect some silverware. Fingers crossed, it’ll be the first of many.