football rambles

In the latest preseason friendly Ely took on a strong Sudbury side from the Ryman League. Despite the gulf in levels between the two clubs Ely held their own for most of the first half despite falling two goals behind. The first goal should probably have not been allowed due to a hand ball before the goal was scored anyway. The second one was brilliant though and Ely were showing weaknesses from the left where the passage of play broke through. That said Ely did have a completely different goalkeeper in the first half and on balance the possession was pretty equal. It just looked like Sudbury knew how to put it in the net and Ely didn't. In the second half changes were made on both sides, however it was Sudbury who seemed to change for the better. The centre forward who came on for them was especially impressive. He scored one to extend their lead and also hit the bar and post all with thumping shots. Ely pulled one back with 10 minutes left, but the man up front almost broke the n...

In the second game of the Emirates Cup Arsenal took on Lyon. The French club came second in the league last year and ran PSG close, it could be argued that they are further behind in their preseason preparations, but Arsenal really handed them a lesson in football. Apart from trying to sure up a leaky defence by signing Petr Cech as their new number 1, the Gunners have been pretty quiet in the transfer market. A lot of people thought that they would be trying to strengthen at the back, but yesterday's performance would suggest that they think attack is the best form of defending. Arsenal were firing and attacking from the start with Oxlade Chamberlain tearing down the right wing in an attempt to secure a starting place in the team. Looking back it seems surprising that it took them 30 minutes to open the scoring. The first goal came on the half hour mark when Oliver Giroud headed/ shouldered/ cheeked the ball into the back of the goal with after Oxlade Chamberlain crossed. Five min...

The Emirates Cup started yesterday with a match between Villarreal and Wolfsburg. There were moments in the game where both teams showed what they were capable of, but also periods where the game was quiet and had that preseason feel about it. As usual the Arsenal fans were just wandering in throughout the game, so at times motivation must have been hard for them to keep up. After a quiet opening few minutes Ivan Perisic struck for Wolfsburg after being threaded through by Kevin De Bruyne. The lead was short lived though and the Villarreal midfield showed real pace in going forward. Just two minutes after Perisic had scored Mario Gaspar found the back of the net with a well taken goal on the counterattack. On 17 minutes the Yellow Submarine again broke quickly against their German opponents and Mattias Leiva scored a brilliant goal to give the Spanish side the lead. The skills and abilities of the players on both teams were never in doubt, and occassionaly shone through at periods in t...

Photo of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain's celebration after he put the Gunners 2-0 up in the 6-0 victory over Lyon.

New Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech didn't  take part yesterday, but helped with the warm up by sending a few crosses in.

Ivan Persic in the attack for Wolfsburg in the first half. Nicklas Bendtner comes close to an equaliser for Wolfsburg. Sebastian Jung takes a corner for Wolfsburg. The corner goes in but nothing comes from it.

The teams line up before kick off. Wolfsburg press forward. Villarreal on the ball in midfield. Villarreal press forward in the first half.