Steve McClaren was in attendance and would have been licking his lips. We continued to look shaky at the back, even when dealing with ordinary long balls with little pressure on the defence.

Match Review – Ajax 2 Arsenal 3 – Amsterdam Tournament

The senior Gunners began the defence of their Amsterdam title with yet another startling comeback victory. Two-nil down at half-time against a flying Ajax side, somehow we managed to muster three goals in the final 25 minutes. But don’t let that fool you. We should have been out of sight by the time Ajax grabbed their goals, but the usual curse of paying dearly for our missed chances came back to haunt us. We will always create chances. But when they’re not going in, we MUST be extra wary of conceding goals at the other end. All I could think of during half-time was: “What if we play like this against Twente, in a game that really matters?” I would love to chalk up the defensive failings to pre-season-itis (lack of match fitness, rebuilding the partnerships etc etc), but I fear they are the result of something chronic. And that is the reason for the slightly downbeat vibe to this match report.

As expected, we started the game with our strongest possible lineup. Injuries to Rosicky and Nasri meant that there was room for both Eboue and Theo in midfield, which saw a returning Cesc partnered by Denilson. Diaby did not travel with the squad due to injury.

And we nearly had the best possible start. From an Ajax corner in the second minute, we broke like it was 2002. Fabregas looked up and played a diagonal ball to Theo who was hovering on the halfway line. His first-time pass was played perfectly into Ade’s path. The Togonator showed the speed and strength to get ahead of the defender but his sidefooted finish was too close to the Ajax keeper. The whole scenario reminded me of Wigan away last season. We had an identical chance at an identical time of the match, with the same outcome. When a right-footed striker runs through on goal in the inside-left channel, the smart money is always on him trying to place the ball to the keeper’s left. Someone like Thierry Henry was so adept at this, but even he had the wherewithal to vary it from time to time. The fact that Ade made his intentions clear by opening his body so early worked against him. Let’s hope he can learn from it and show a bit more guile in the future.

From thereon in, Ajax came into the game. Unfortunate to not qualify for the Champions League despite finishing runners-up in the Dutch league last season, they began to knock the ball around in a style that mirrored their esteemed manager (Van Basten) and director of football (our Dennis). Sensing our weakness against high balls, they mixed up their play well too: veering from slick passing to an aerial bombardment. On 13 minutes a chipped ball into our box got the better of the defence but thankfully Cvitanich headed over. Replays showed him to be offside, and our horrible luck with Dutch officials continues…

Then for a five-minute spell it became the Theo Walcott show. Everything that happened in the game seemed to revolve around him. Firstly he did extremely well to win a second ball deep in our own half. He jinked his way out of trouble and then set off on a run down the left-wing, only to slip and receive a painful knee in the back for his troubles. He came off to receive treatment, was waived back on and immediately received the ball again. He skinned a couple of defenders and advanced into the box but his cross was blocked. Theo then instigated a lovely move that saw him exchange passes with Robin before finding Ade in the box. The big man flicked the ball back to Eboue but he was thwarted before he could get a shot in. A minute later, Theo cut in from the left and looked to bend it like Bergkamp, but his effort sailed wide.

Just before the half-hour we won a corner. Instead of crossing it, Robin laid it back to Eboue who was in acres of space on the edge of the box. The Ivorian hit a rasping drive that the Ajax keeper could only parry to Ade. Six-yards out and with the goal at his mercy, he could only find the backside of the defender. A gilt-edged opportunity.

We seemed to be building up a head of steam as Fabregas arrowed a long-range effort goalwards which was smartly saved. But then the obvious happened. Something we are all too familiar with. Ajax tossed a ball into the box and a moment of confusion saw Kolo and Sagna go for the same ball. This meant that there would be no-one around to sweep up the second ball, and this proved fatal as Kolo’s header fell to Suarez, whose sweetly struck half-volley cannoned in off the underside of the crossbar.

No sooner had we gone down than the deficit had doubled. From the restart Theo conceded a free-kick, and once again the ball was launched into our box. We were at sixes and sevens and only Kolo had tracked the runner, who was therefore onside and headed the ball back to Huntelaar. The Ajax skipper exhibited his prowess as a goalscorer extraordinaire with a beautiful volley that his manager would have been proud of. Anonymous up until that point, Huntelaar proved that he is the polar opposite to our own Adebayor: pretty average in general play, but a stone cold killer in front of goal. Minutes later he had the ball in the net again following another expert finish, but was rightly adjudged to be offside.

It was here where I began to wonder: “What if this happens against Twente?” Steve McClaren was in attendance and would have been licking his lips. We continued to look shaky at the back, even when dealing with ordinary long balls with little pressure on the defence. I feared a tonking and was happy to get in at half-time only two-goals down.

Our pride stung, we started the second-half with an increased tempo. Cesc Fabregas came to the fore and had a shot blocked. Only three minutes into the half we should have had a penalty. A great move saw Cesc get into the box and evade the Ajax defender before being clipped. Maybe he was too honest and went down a moment too late? Either way, it was a certain pen. What did I say before about bad luck with Dutch refs? Never mind being Dirk Kuyt’s neighbour, this cunt ref looked like his brother. The cunt then had the cheek to book Gallas for mouth and Cesc for winning the ball, while Gabri continued to get away with murder.

We had a couple of bright moments but each resulted in Ade failing to provide Robin with the required silver service. Our dominance had seen Ajax’s attacking verve wither and they were limited to pot-shots from distance. The majority of our threat came from the right where Eboue and Sagna were looking sharp, the latter showing the advantages of a full pre-season. And it was from this avenue that our first goal came on 66 minutes. Denilson spread a sumptuous ball to the right, Eboue latched on to it and whipped an indefensible cross into the corridor of uncertainty, where Ade leaped to meet the ball and power it home. The celebrations were muted as the Togonator wasted no time in picking the ball up and placing it on the centre-circle. Game on.

A minute later, Theo came off for Bendtner. Our shaped changed to a diamond, with Eboue at the base and Robin at the tip. And it paid dividends straightaway. With an extra man up-front we were able to put more pressure on the Ajax defence. A loose back-pass was pounced on by Ade, who rounded the keeper, got to the byline and cut it back for Bendtner, who finished well with a mass of blue shirts in front of him. Was the ball out before Ade’s assist? More importantly: do I care? If it was, then that was karma falling on our side following the penalty we should have had.

The winner came in the 83rd minute, and much credit should go to Denilson. He had been in the wars and had already signalled to the bench that he was injured and wanted to come off. But he continued on manfully while Rambo was getting ready on the sidelines, playing a neat one-two with Ade before bursting into the box and squaring for the Togonator to stroke the ball home from six-yards. I was quite surprised that Robin wasn’t flagged offside given that he was directly in the keeper’s eyeline, but I definitely wasn’t complaining.

Ajax had the stuffing knocked out of them and the remaining five minutes was littered with a plethora of substitutions. Rambo, Big Phil and young Jack got a run out and should all feature from the start against Sevilla.

So yes, another good victory where the attackers stepped up to the plate. But I’m not going to focus on them. We know that Theo strikes fear into defenders when he runs at them. We know that Robin can link the play and create something out of nothing. We know that for all of Ade’s missed chances and offsides, he will keep coming back for more and will eventually get his reward. And we know that Bendtner seems to have a happy knack of scoring goals coming off the bench. Long may all this continue, plus a little more collective killer instinct in front of goal.

And you can’t fault the spirit of the side either. Yes Robin and Theo had a war of words. So what? I think it’s healthy. Shows that they care. So top marks on the spirit. Had this been a league game where we came back from the dead (like Bolton last season), then I’d be raving about the spirit. But this is pre-season, and I prefer to look deeper at the flaws.

And it was the defensive side of things that concerned me. Individually, there weren’t many problems: Sagna – fine, got forward well; Kolo – showed good recovery pace and did well to complete 90 minutes on his first game back; Willy – okay, not great under the high ball but did not have any momentous mishaps; Gael – a little quiet going forward, but decent enough defensively. But there was something wrong about the chemistry between these players, in particular the central duo. We saw it last year towards the end of the season. Is it simply because the players are getting back in sync with each other? I hope so, but I sincerely doubt it.

Our defensive frailties are exacerbated by the central-midfield. We know the Toure/Gallas combination isn’t rock solid. So to avoid them being over-exposed, logic says that we need a central-midfield pairing that can stop the opposition getting at them. And for all the good work Denilson did going forward, the defensive chemistry between him and Fabregas was lacking in the first-half. In the last two seasons we’ve had Gilberto (the tall sitter) and Flamini (the diminutive presser) to shield the defence. Denilson has similar characteristics to both those players. But it seems that he is a jack of all those trades and a master of none. In essence – as we all believed when he first broke onto the scene – he is Fabregas Mk. II, as he proved with his contribution for the winner. But we don’t need two Cescs in the middle. We need the Cescy one to be partnered by an Ugly one. And Denilson is simply too beautiful to be Mr. Ugly.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m over-analysing a relatively meaningless friendly game. But I fear I’m not. Still, at least going forward we are in decent nick. Hopefully that’ll be enough to grab us an away goal or two against Twente. But before that, a win against Sevilla should be enough for us to retain our Amsterdam crown.