Arsenal had fine chances throughout the first thirty minutes.
Walcott laid a perfectly weighted ball on the half-way line onto
the grateful Adebayor. Leaving defenders in the wake, the Togolese
international virtually had a one-on-one opportunity with new
Netherlands number one, Maarten Stekelenburg.
As soon as Ade ran into the box though he made the wrong decision.
Instead of feinting his shoulder to the side, and taking the ball
round the glovesman to stroll the ball into the Dutch net, he tried
to dink the ball over the keeper but ended up hitting it directly
at the stopper.
Fabregas too had a chance to break the deadlock, striking the ball
perfectly with his right foot from about 25 yards out, showing
great technique in getting the ball up-and-down and curling it into
the near corner. Stekelenburg however denied the European
Championship winner by theatrically palming the ball into
touch.
Robin Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor were linking up well for
half an hour, and providing the former Feyenoord man stays fit all
season, then Premier League defenders will be on red alert.
Just after the half hour mark, Suarez unleashed an unstoppable
half-volley past Manuel Almunia, to notch not just the first goal
of the game, but also the first goal of the tournament, after the
earlier game between Internazionale and Sevilla ended
goalless.
Huntelaar struck a second immediately after the restart with
trademark opportunism; seemingly taking a deflection off the
backing-out Toure, but replays showed that the Ajax forward had
just pegged the ball with enough swerve to take it round the
Spanish stopper, Almunia. Kolo Toure may feel slightly responsible
due to his inability to clear the ball properly prior to the
goal.
Five minutes before time, Huntelaar - the natural predator that he
is, again rolled the ball past Arsenal's custodian, but the move
was rightly ruled offside, as the Dutchman was three yards off the
last defender.
After taking their time getting involved with the game, the final
quarter of the first half certainly belonged to Ajax. Arsenal went
into the break two goals down, and Wenger, who had been irate most
of the half due to his team's carelessness in giving the ball away,
will surely have vented his fury in the dressing room.
The half time statistics say everything about this match so
far. The Amsterdam outfit had 4 shots in total, 2 on target,
and had a brace of goals to show for their efforts. Arsenal on the
other hand had 7 shots in total, 5 on target, and still drew a
blank.
Steve McClaren was in the stadium and will be encouraged by the
performance he had seen so far considering his FC Twente side will
play host to an Arsenal side that will surely consist of the same
components. The former England manager should have gone home at
half time comforted, for if he stayed for the second, he would have
left worried.
Ajax emerged from the break looking confident and more organised at
the back compared to their North London visitors.
Arsene Wenger will be hoping for a better performance from his
Brazilian midfielder. Denilson had been largely anonymous all game,
and if he is to stake a regular claim for the spot to the side of
Fabregas, then he would have been ordered to get his act
together.
Stekelenburg had been nothing short of commanding all first half,
and again he bossed his area early in the second by claiming
crosses and distributing early, releasing his team-mates on the
counter, but nothing coming to fruition.
William Gallas and ex-Barca defender Gabri were both booked for
separate incidents after ten minutes of the restart. Two minutes
later and Fabregas is also cautioned for showing his studs to
Silva.
Adebayor and Van Persie linked up well again on the 62nd minute
after Manu was threaded through and sprinted away, his ball to
Robin though was too heavy and by the time the he had controlled
it, he had already been shut down.
Four minutes later Eboue, for the first time in the match, found
Adebayor's head with a perfect in-swinging cross that the tall
centre-forward powerfully plumbed into the opponents net.
Not long after, Arsenal were searching for an equaliser, and from
the same side Eboue put Sagna through who had been marching on the
overlap, Bacary then swooped the ball in to substitute Bendtner (on
for Walcott) who headed straight into Maarten's mitts.
Bendtner carried on his fine goal-scoring form as Adebayor leaves
Ajax's subsitute goalkeeper in no mans land, keeps his composure on
the touchline as the keeper flaps, passes back, and Nicklas thumps
a neat but powerful finish into the opposition net.
Most of the play was then in Arsenal's final third, the passing was
more confident, and Ajax seemed to content to back off play while
they recouperated and reflected on Arsenal's ability to creep back
into the game.
For the third, Ajax were carved apart. A perfect team goal as
touch-and-move football is given a visual education to all those
who wanted schooling. Denilson set up Adebayor and all he can do is
find the net for his second - much to the delight of the visiting
fans. Ajax may feel aggrieved as even though Van Persie was not
involved in the build up, he certainly impeded the keeper's vision,
blocking his view of the shot.
More substitutes, and the young gun of the moment, Jack Wilshere,
comes on for Fabregas with five minutes remaining. Denilson had
been complaining for some time about feeling uncomfortable on the
pitch and he is brought off - Welsh teen Aaron Ramsey takes his
place.
The game finished and Arsenal top the table with six points in the
annual Amsterdam event.
Wenger will feel pleased with his team's second half performance in
overturning a 2-0 deficit. Ajax coach Van Basten however will be
particularly perturbed by his side's inability to hold onto a
lead.
At the end of the game Cesc Fabregas told Sky Sports :
"That is what it is all about, we want to be there in the Champions
League and opponents like this are ones we shall face. The boss
said we were second best in the first half, but we created chances
and in the second half were more aggressive, I think we deserved
it."
Fabregas added: "I love playing for this team and for these fans...
I will always give 100 per cent."
Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports: It was the game we wanted,
high-paced, Ajax fought for every ball... they died after an hour
though. We lapsed concentration for their two goals within two
minutes, but they were good strikes. Overall we came back well.
Adebayor did very well. We looked dangerous going forward,
defensively our positioning was not right."
Line Ups:
Ajax - Stekenlenberg, Silva, Olegeur, Anita,
Schilder, Gabri, Lindgren, Aissati, Suarez, Huntelaar,
Sulejmani.
Arsenal - Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna,
Walcott, Denilson, Fabregas, Eboue, Van Persie, Adebayor.
An exciting match featuring Arsenal's first 11 with the
scoreline 2-3 at the end in Arsenal's favour. Ajax's 2 goals
kan nice. Next up is Inter Milan and Sevilla live on
Supersport.
Source: goal.com