The first saw him jinking his way past a few tackles in the box but eventually lose his footing; and the second time he carried the ball from deep but overran run it

Match Review – Huddersfield 1 Arsenal 2 – Pre Season Friendly

This was a game with striking similarities to the Barnet one – the key difference being that we had some silverware…I mean, glassware…to play for. Herbert Chapman successfully managed both Huddersfield and Arsenal, but his name will always be synonymous with our Club, and it was fitting that youngsters produced another turnaround victory to bring “Herbie” home.

With the Amsterdam Tournament on the horizon, this was always going to be a match where the reserves got a run out. The likes of Gavin Hoyte, Kieran Gibbs, Mark Randall and Henri Lansbury were complemented by members of the first-team squad such as Djourou, Rambo, Carlos Vela, Theo and of course Jack Wilshere. The home side lined up with some experienced names: David Unsworth and Danny Cadamarteri standing out. Our kids would do well to learn from Cadamarteri’s experience. I remember how he broke onto the scene a decade ago and even grabbed a goal for Everton in a win over us, but then faded into obscurity.

As I watched the game, I couldn’t help but feel how this was a Carling Cup tie in the making. The home side’s relatively new Galpharm Stadium meant it was just like watching us take on Bolton at the Reebok or Wigan at the JJB; both grounds which we have visited in recent cup runs.

With the cutting edge of Vela and Theo up-front, we started well. Theo broke on the counter and fed Wilshere on his left. The young star was pushed slightly wide by the pass but recovered it well and laid it back to Randall, who curled it over. Wilshere again turned provider as he slipped in Vela, but the Mexican’s left-footed effort was saved by the Huddersfield keeper. Then Wilshere released the impressive Kieran Gibbs down the left. His dangerous cross was poorly cleared by Huddersfield and fell to Lansbury at the back post, but his volleyed ball across the face of goal was cut out before it could reach the waiting Vela. All this in the first five minutes.

Sometimes in games you get the sense that we’re just gonna run the opposition ragged with wave after wave of attack. Following the opening exchanges that’s what I felt about this game. How wrong I was. Huddersfield picked up their tempo and began to close us down more in midfield. My biggest fear was that some Huddersfield challenges would be a bit over-zealous and could injure one of our lads, but thankfully that didn’t happen. Instead, the home side simply outplayed us for the rest of the first period. This was due to a couple of factors: namely defensive naivety and a lack of tracking back from the midfielders.

The first bit of danger came down our right after Cadamarteri teed up Luke Beckett. Justin did well to block the shot and even better to block the rebound effort from Cadamarteri. Less than 30 seconds later Fabianski was called into action as he palmed away a low 25-yard effort. Minutes later some slack play by skipper Djourou saw Fabianski forced to make another save as he was back-pedalling to get back to his goal. The warning signs were flashing brightly.

On the quarter-hour a mix-up between Gavin Hoyte and Djourou at the back saw Beckett spring the offside trap and advance on goal. But the young Hoyte has the same sprinting genes as his brother and he exhibited excellent recovery pace to thwart the effort. Given the unfamiliarity between the two centre-halves, a degree of confusion was no surprise.

Yet while Huddersfield were in the ascendancy, Theo and Vela remained a threat up-front. Randall fed Theo who made space for the shot and saw it go inches wide of the post. Then it was Vela’s turn as he found room to get a decent shot away that was straight down the keeper’s throat. Lansbury also had an effort from range: a daisy cutter that was straight at the keeper. So we did manage to muster a few speculative efforts in a generally dull first-half attacking performance, but nothing clear cut.

Young Jack got involved a couple of times in the final third. The first saw him jinking his way past a few tackles in the box but eventually lose his footing; and the second time he carried the ball from deep but overran run it just before he could release Vela. It’s a shame that Armand Traore was not available for this match as it would’ve freed up Jack to operate from the right of midfield, a position in which I think he is better as it gives him the opportunity to cut inside and slip the ball into the strikers. Someone like Theo would thrive on that kind of service. It wasn’t the greatest of games for him – which isn’t unexpected given his tender age – but even then, every time he was in possession of the ball you knew that something special could unfold before your eyes.

The final offensive moment of the half came when Theo beat the offside trap and his first touch took him past the keeper, who sprawled to smother Theo’s initial effort and then got up to tip away his second strike. Lansbury couldn’t reach the rebound in time as he stretched and ballooned it over.

As expected, the second period saw changes for the Gunners. Those established members of the first team squad who are likely to feature in Amsterdam (Fabianski, Theo, Vela, Wilshere and Rambo) came off, to be replaced by the likes Vito Mannone – fresh from his goalscoring exploits at Members Day – and the goalscoring heroes at Barnet: Jay Simpson and Nacer Barazite. And it would be this duo who eventually won us the game.

Just like Barnet, the second-half side showed greater cohesion. I can only put this down to the fact that this XI play together week in, week out; compared the starting lineup which was a combination of first-teamers and reserves who aren’t necessarily familiar with each other.

I’ve always felt that you could judge how well Arsenal are playing by the amount that the full-backs get forward. While their attacking threat was limited in the first period, during the second they removed the shackles, especially Kieran Gibbs who is naturally a left-midfielder. But it was his buddy Justin on the other flank who nearly got on the end of a Randall chip in the opening minutes of the half. Soon thereafter down the other end Huddersfield came close with an effort from 25-yards that went wide of Mannone’s left-hand post. The fact that he was at full stretch to make sure it didn’t creep in showed how close it was.

Just before the hour Simpson received the ball, twisted away from his marker and sent a low effort narrowly wide of the post. His endeavour deserved a goal. Seeing as these days it’s all the rage to compare players to previous ones (e.g. Theo = the new Henry; Diaby = the new Vieira; Nasri = the new Zidane; Wilshere = the new Messi), how about this one: Jay Simpson = the new Les Ferdinand. Built like a tank, strong, quick, decent right foot. All he needs to do now is prove his aerial prowess. During the 1990s I used to dream that we’d sign Sir Les and pair him with Ian Wright. Well now we have a reincarnation of him.

Our best chance thus far came on 65 minutes. Gibbs showed his natural attacking ability as he beat the full-back, got to the byline and pulled it back for Sanchez Watt. Leaning back, he blazed it over the bar from a mere six-yards out. In hindsight, it would’ve probably been easier to score. Despite this miss, Mr. Watt was one of the more impressive second-half subs.

Another spate of changes occurred and on 75 minutes the home side took the lead with a fortunate goal. Our old bogey of failing to defend a long-throw reared its ugly head as we couldn’t properly clear the first ball: Kyle Bartley’s weak header sitting up for James Berrett in acres of space on the edge of the area. His deflected effort left Vito with no chance. Frank Lampard eat your heart out.

More silverware pain and misery hung over us. Can you imagine the vitriol from the fans if we had lost to ‘lowly’ Huddersfield? Poor Arsene would have never heard the end of it. Thankfully the young troops saved his bacon with an equaliser just four minutes later. Simpson advanced down the right, checked his run to throw the defender off balance, and then continued bulldozing down the wing before cutting the ball back to Watt. While his first shot was valiantly blocked by the Huddersfield defence, he made no mistake from the second as he sent it under the keeper and into the back of the net. Much like how Thierry Henry and Ade like to pull to the left, it seems that Simpson has a natural affinity for the right flank.

A great show of character from the youths to equalise so soon after falling behind. Penalties loomed large.

But to assume that the young Guns would rest on their laurels and accept a creditable draw would be to underestimate them.

Top Gun Gibbs got forward again but could only swerve his shot wide on 83 minutes. Then Huddersfield made the grave error of changing their keeper (assuming it wasn’t due to an injury). On a cold and wet night up North, the last thing a keeper wants is to face an Arsenal side with their tails up. A few minutes after his arrival, Barazite turned smartly away from his marker and unleashed a shot from twenty-yards. I guarantee that if the original keeper had been on the pitch, he would’ve saved it. But the only thing the new keeper could do was get a palm to the ball and help it goalwards.

With all the subs made the ref added some three minutes of injury time, and despite a few threats from set-pieces we held our nerve. The Herbert Chapman Trophy can now take pride of place in the Arsenal Museum.