Arsenal vs Kitchee Sports Club, Hong Kong’s Number 1 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

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Arsenal vs Kitchee Sports Club, Hong Kong’s Number 1

Arsenal face Hong Kong First Division Champions Kitchee Sports Club on Sunday, a team who played in the Barclays Asia Trophy last year, losing four nil to Chelsea and three nil to Blackburn, two days after we were seen losing to Manchester City.

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One word I would use for our performance in the game was unlucky. We lost two nil, thanks to two goals at the end of the first half. The scoreline does not reveal how well our young players coped playing a lot of the first team of the Premier League Champions, and in heat not usual to most of the players, even the first team players.

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The game was a good opportunity for certain players. Santos and Gibbs both started again, two players who will be fighting it out for that left back spot by the start of the season. Santos played on the left wing though, and drifting into the centre was a regular occurrence. Using skill and pace to beat players, he proved what a good player the Brazilian international can be. He should have won a penalty when he span through the centre back and right back, and getting taken out.

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Jenkinson started on the right, and it looks like he will be starting there in the Arsenal defence due to Sagna breaking his leg for the second time late last season against Norwich. He needs to prove himself to Wenger in defence a bit more, but attacking wise, he has a lot of potential. Bursting up the wing and cutting in to shoot twice, with good shots. A bit of work on that and he will score a lot. One point in the game, we were caught on the break and Vermaelen lost Yaya Toure, but Jenkinson came into the centre and blocked him well, a great recovery by the young right back. More of that please.

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Then Wenger started Bartley in defence next to Vermaelen. This was a great opportunity for the young player to prove himself to Wenger and the fans. He did play against Olympiacos in December 2009, but this was a proper test of his abilities.

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He is 21 now and this is his best chance to get into the first team. He has been out on loan for two years, twice at Sheffield United and twice at Rangers, staring fifty-nine times overall for the two teams. At one point in the game, the high line game that Wenger may have been testing out failed, and Yaya Toure went through. Bartley caught up with Yaya, and he is a powerhouse as we know, and I personally thought, ‘Goal, Bartley is too inexperienced to stop a player with the credentials and sheer muscle power’, but how he proved me wrong! He made the best challenge of the game, cutting in front of Yaya, winning the ball and knocking him over! He did it again later on, and Walcott went through and had a great shot from the left, inches away from the bar. Walcott showed a lot of confidence. At half time I was disappointed to see Bartley subbed off. I would really like him to get a few games and not get loaned out, he has amazing potential.

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City had a few shots throughout the game, but Fabinaski dealt with the well, the only time he didn’t was the goals, and the second goal was a moment of luck on Man City’s side and unlucky for Arsenal, and Yaya Toure scrambled the ball into the net. He finally looked like he had confidence.

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Players like Arteta, Gervinho and Song looked fit again, all looking sharp, especially Arteta, giving some great through balls to Gervinho.  How beat a few players with skill and pace, exactly what fans want to see! Arteta was subbed because he may still not be able to last ninety minutes and is a player who we do not need to lose before the start of the season, and Wenger knows.

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The young players looked very sharp in the second half, especially Coquelin, who played at right back for a few games in the season during the great fullback crisis of 2011/12. He did play in the centre, like he did against the Spuds when he lost 2-1.  He had Modric in his pocket, and Wenger may be looking at him for back up in the centre of park, especially when the African Cup of Nations happens.  In fact we may not be so lucky again, as Cameroon failed to qualify so Song stayed with us, which won us a few games, (Everton for example).

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So he may feature in the season in the centre, and if he played like he did against Tottenham oh how I will welcome that! An experienced City team were able to deal with the young players movement and ideas though, and they just need to work on them. They didn’t concede, which can be a morale and confidence boost. They were unlucky not to score.

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So Kitchee Sports Club; 95% of Arsenal fans in England have not heard of this team. They won the Hong Kong First Division for the first time in 47 years in 2010 / 2011, and did it again last season, beating their rivals South China AA by one point, still not as close as our league!

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They don’t possess the best record against English teams. The last time they played an English team, as I said, they lost 4-0 and 3-0 to Chelsea and Blackburn respectively. But what they do hold is the best record against an Italian team in China, beating AC Milan 2-1 then beating Juventus 5-4 on penalties in 2004 and 2005.

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This game should really not be a difficult one for Arsenal what ever team is deployed. I personally think that Eisfled should be given a whole game, he showed his class against Malaysia XI, and then was unused against City; hopefully Wenger allows him to play. I would also like to see Bartley, as he also showed his class, but against City. His interceptions were first rate, and he looked strong and had a lot of vision. Miyaichi also deserves a run, he has shown his quality at Bolton in his twelve Premier League games for them (being man of the match twice, scoring against Millwall and being voted Bolton’s player of the month in February). Hopefully a potential player in our future.

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But again, like against Manchester City, Untold have no clue about the starting line up, it will just be a another mystery, don’t you love being an Arsenal fan?

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By Miles Rackham

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