Strange happenings at Vicarage Road. The home side are winning 3-0 at half time!. Azerbaijan have been totally outclassed. Marv is on the bench and will probably get a run out in the second half. Goals from Dawson, Lansbury and Henderson.
Marvs movement and ball control have been great in the short time he's been on. His finishing has not...
Final score 6-0. Dawson got the last with a very good header. Excellent to see the best of England's young talent grace our hallowed turf.
Forget that this was on but tuned in just as Marv came on. He did very well and could have scored a couple. Linked up very well with Lansbury as well. Well done Marv! You did us proud!
If Marv doesn't score tonight, with this quality around him, I think we can say that last season's goals tally was a one-off fluke. He's hardly banging them in for us.
Popped along to watch tonight as it was free tickets for season ticket holders (when purchasing another one) and it was worth it to see the home side at Vicarage Road score 6 for once! The opposition were absolutely dire though I must admit, all they did was fall around all the time trying to win free kicks and then just pass it back. Lansbury was simply sublime though, scored a great overhead kick and then set up 3 others. Henderson also scored an absolute peach and Waghorn got a 30 yeard scorcher. Marv did come on for about 20 mins and straight away got himself into positions that Delfonso and Wickham (worst player on the pitch by a country mile I must admit) and was unlucky not to score a couple. With that showing, I would imagine he might well keep his place in the squad and not just to appease the home fans this evening. Looked the sharpest striker out there.
Sordell did pretty well I thought...almost scored twice. Ok the opposition was pretty hapless (I suspect they play at a Sunday league level) Some blinding strikes and a professional job all around. The 1st team would have scraped a 2/3-0 or something. Do we get the money for the almost 8k crowd or share with the FA? TBH Some like that Chamberlain and Wickham guy have a lot to learn before becoming top class players but guess the experience will do them good etc.
Thought Chamberlain was alright myself (though I was only watching on TV). Wickham though... He's never performed when I've seen him. Don't really get what the fuss is about there.
Wickham looked poor and Delfounso average. AO-C just looks like a bag of tricks and goes over very easily. Can't believe Arsenal paid £12million for a player from League 1
Their left back (number 2) did look like their only decent player but Chamberlain hardly threatened him I must admit. I wouldn't say he is over rated but saw a fair bit of Saints highlights last season and he sis look good in them. Hasn't played a full game yet though this season has he, so may have been lacking match fitness. A lot of the England team are not first team regulars though, which is possibly a bit concerning for the future. Only Cauker, Henderson and Rodwell of starting XI actually play regularly for their teams.
By a mile!? Were you watching the game! Lansbury was pure class throughout amomgst a number of players, Briggs played v.well but that's a gross exaggeration
No way was he better than Lansbury, he was sublime! I'll do brief ratings... Butland (GK) - 7 - not troubled much but looked assured when he was, great save to his left from an Azerbaijan toe-punt from close range and another of moves that it'd be nice to see Loach doing more often. Flanagan (DR) - 7 - tendency to move out of position could leave them exposed against a better opposition, but on the whole his dribbling was good and looked fairly solid when (rairly) troubled Briggs (DL) - 8 - I thought he'd disappeared off the radar since he became the Prem's youngest player, but on this appearance he's very much still on the scene. Extremely solid display, knew when to go forward and when to stay back. Don't be surprised to see him in the senior squad within a couple of years. Caulkner (DC) - 6.5 - didn't really have much to do, but on the whole I thought he looked a little more vulnerable than Dawson. A couple of passes went astray, but on the whole there was not much wrong with his performance. Dawson (DC) - 7.5 - two goals definitely helped his case, I doubt there are many defenders with more goals than caps... Looked confident at this level, but can he make the step up to senior? Perhaps, but I would say not. Seemed more 'at home' than Caulkner, although the goals probably helped his nerves a little. O-Chamberlain (MR) - 6.5 - Are we sure this wasn't Theo Walcott? An absolutely brilliant dribbler, but he doesn't have an end product. He just runs, and runs, and gets past players, then runs - out of room. If he could cross it in a bit earlier, he'd be a great player, but he needs to learn when to stop running with the ball. Delfouneso (ML) - 6.5 - Linked up well with Briggs on the left (although he was playing quite an advanced role...) but there was little end product, similar to AOC. Henderson (MC) - 7 - Fantastic goal, but a couple of shots were way off target. On this showing, £20mil was very steep, but a few great passes, good link-up play and general composure on the ball would suggest that Rodwell (MC) - 6.5 - A quiet game, sat back for the majority so wasn't really troubled but seemed to be under control when there was trouble. Lansbury (MC) - 9 - MOTM - Can we have him back? Please? He was fantastic, playing just behind the striker and was controlling the game all through. Two goals, two assists, what more can you ask? Seems like just the sort of player Arsenal need right now, I reckon they'll come to regret loaning him out. Far too good for the Championship. Wickham (ST) - 6 - Didn't really do much at all. He puts reasonable amounts of effort in, but the finish wasn't there. Seemed to hold onto the ball for too long, it appeared like he would've benefited from having someone to partner him to link up with. Not particularly mobile, either. SUBS Sordell (ST) - 6 - Should have scored, and will be disappointed not to have but his nerves gave in when in a great position. Seemed at home with the squad, moved the ball around nicely and made some good runs (including the one which put him in a position he should've scored in) but his finishing let him down. Waghorn (ST) - 7 - A brilliant goal brings him up from a 6, but aside from the goal he didn't do too much in his 20 minutes. Shelvey (MR) - 6 - He has a really, really shiny head.
wasnt a bad game. some players impressed, some well didnt (i.e wickham) was dissapointed with the crowd. was expecting at least 10,000
Good match, bit of a laugh. Nice to walk away from the Vic after watching the team I support actually win. Sordell will be gone in January, looked very sharp last night.
Don't think you can read too much into the scoreline because Azerbijan were always on for a hiding. Pleased for Sordell, looked lively and very unlucky not to grab a couple. First time I've seen a couple of those players play 90 minutes live and was impressed with Oxlade-Chamberlain, Briggs, Henderson, Flanagan and Rodwell all looked good without going over the top however.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is so much better than Walcott technically, and no end product?What about his excellent cross for Lansbury's goal. Henderson and Dawson deserve higher imo too.
This game was televised here in 'Murica... I enjoyed it but was surprised so few were in attendance...
Exactly what I thought, Walcott is generally an absolutely awful dribbler, most of his dribbles end up with him running it out of play or falling over. In that sense, Oxlade-Chamberlain is technically far superior to Walcott so I don't see the comparison.
