Sunday, August 12th, 2012 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Over 750,000 visits per month

Arsenal vs FC Cologne, or 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. If You Prefer, Former German Champions

By Miles Rackham

Arsenal finished their Asia pre-season tour with a draw against Kitchee Sports Club. This was the first time Arsenal had played in Hong Kong for seventeen years. Wenger opted to field a youthful side, although Diaby started again, as well as Walcott, Chamakh, Gibbs and the Ox. I was pleased to see Miyaichi given a run out as well.

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Coquelin started the game in the centre, and he covered in defence a few times quite well, something that an Arsenal midfield player has to do. He showed good movement and some skill when he came against players, and also went into tackles bravely.

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On the injury front we have Wilshere missing until October, Rosicky missing until early September, and rumours of Song going.  RVP’s still here however.  On the plus side the stories of Sahin from Madrid on loan persist.

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A lot have happened since this game though. The arrival of Spanish international Santi Cazorla, who has played in the Champions League, but never won a title. Previously voted Spanish player of the year, he is a great signing, possibly one of the best we have had in years. Carlos Vela, a player Wenger described to be one of the most naturally gifted and skilled players he had ever seen has gone aftr twenty nine league games and three goals later, having signed permanently for Real Sociedad, where he was on loan last season.

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Rumours have also arisen that Squillaci has been sold and it may be that we are about to sell   Bendtner too.  This shows promising signs for Arsenal, as we are cleaning up our wage bill, and Wenger said that the amount of signings that we make now (after Podolski and Giroud were purchased) depends of the amount of players we sell. More signings may be on their way, this excites me.

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What about Cologne though? Well they have already begun their domestic campaign, with their new life in Bundesliga 2 after being relegated last year. They played Eintracht Braunschweig, who came eighth last year in the German second division, so their one nil win against the relegated team may have been a surprise for a lot of people. Their last game was five days later, when they payed SV Sandhausen, drawing one all, scoring from a penalty.

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FC Cologne are a team that are battered and bruised, currently sitting fourteenth in the German second division. Their next game is over two weeks away, and it is surprising that they are playing a pre-season friendly game against Arsenal two days after a domestic game, but they want to play us and we start on the eighteenth, so Sunday it is. They did play five pre-season games, scoring fifteen times overall, not conceding once. I’m sure that their fans did have higher hopes than to be fourteenth in the league even after two games, they are hoping of an immediate bounce back into the first division.

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Cologne did lose their best player though, although Arsenal fans don’t feel too much sympathy, as he has become our star signing! His first game for us, as he didn’t attend our pre-season tour of Asia, is going to be against his former employees – and quite possibly was part of the transfer deal.

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We are also hopefully going to be viewing for the first time Giroud and Cazorla in a Arsenal shirt, and hopefully going to be the first glimpse of this new Arsenal team, and what formation Wenger is going to play to be able to accommodate all of these star players.  It is  something Arsenal fans haven’t been able to worry about for a long time; a great problem to have, too many quality players. We may also see if the Ox will be getting more first team football next season, and who is going to play on the right in defence, a centre back, Jenkinson or a defensive midfielder Wenger believes can play there.

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This is my third review for Untold, and I finally think I can carve out a rough guess of the team, as I think Wenger is going to deploy his first team, maybe just for one half.  I think it is going to be –

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Jenkinson Koscielny Vermaelen Santos

Arteta Song

Cazorla

Walcott Giroud/Rvp Podolski

Lets see what Wenger opts to do, I hope he does give the Arsenal fans what they want, (as well as seeing their new players in their new kit). He may also show us their fitness.  By the pictures of the players relaxing in the pool in Germany, I would hope they are all fully fit.

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The mystery of the year may also be revealed to the Arsenal fans in this game, what number Podolski will play in, if he can wear the number he wants, and the Arsenal website is saying that Podolski’s first game will be played against his old club, so finally fans can flock to the stores and get a number of their newly bought Arsenal shirt with his name on the back.

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I think this game is going to be very important for the squad and Wenger, as it shows if his squads fitness during a competitive game, not just in training. This will also allow them to test formations out during the game, and see how the players are capable of playing together. Lets hope that the team do win, as any other result will almost defiantly lower morale in the camp. It will also help the new arrivals adjust with the difference in speed and tempo of the game.

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Until the next game….