It was Arsène Wenger's triple substitution in the second half that truly raised the temperature. The home crowd had come to see Arsenal's A-listers and they had revelled in an exciting first-half showing from Theo Walcott.
The England winger merely had to pour a bottle of water over his head, when captured on the big screen, to have the supporters roaring. He did much more than that and his precision lob put his team 2-0 up against a poor Malaysia national side.
Yet it was the entrance of Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin in the 67th minute that set the pulses racing. Nasri occupied a central position behind Van Persie in Wenger's 4-1-4-1, and he might have scored within moments of coming on.
His popularity in these parts has been undimmed by his refusal to sign the new contract on offer at the club and the prospect that he could leave on a Bosman free transfer next summer. It will be interesting to see how the Emirates crowd responds to him but here, there was the comfort of seeing him and his flashy yellow boots in the club strip once more.
Arsenal were 3-0 up by the time that he arrived, with Carlos Vela scoring the pick of the goals, a sumptuously cheeky clip over the goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat. Tomas Rosicky, another substitute, added the fourth in injury time from Arshavin's deflected cross.
Arsenal's players had managed to cope with the clammy heat and their appearance will be long remembered by the 65,000 fans in attendance. To general delight, they threw caps into the crowd after the game.
It was difficult to overstate just how hot it felt inside the stadium, which can hold up to 100,000 fans. At the 8.45pm kick-off time, when the draining humidity was factored in, the temperature was 37C. Arsenal's players had only been in the country for a little over 48 hours, after the 13-hour flight from London across seven time zones. This was a pre-season baptism of fire.
In the absence of Cesc Fábregas, who is recovering from injury and/or bound for Barcelona, Wenger used the same formation with which he had finished last season, when the captain was injured and merely set to embark on the latest Barcelona tedium. Alex Song shielded the back four, with Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey in front of him, behind the lone striker, Marouane Chamakh.
Arsenal scored early on when Wilshere drove into the penalty area and nicked the ball ahead of Mohd Aidil Zafuan. The defender duly lunged in and sent Wilshere sprawling. Ramsey kept his cool from the penalty spot. When the ball hit the net for each of Arsenal's goals, there were plenty of Malaysian supporters out of their seats. Although the home team enjoyed the vocal support, roughly half of the crowd were clad in Arsenal colours. They gloried in stepovers, flicks or any sort of flair. Vela took the prize as the consummate showman.
Wenger played Carl Jenkinson, the £1m signing from Charlton Athletic, and Ryo Miyaichi, the Japanese midfield prospect, who did well on loan at Feyenoord last season. Jenkinson looks too tall to be an Arsenal player, let alone a right-back. He was caught out of position on occasion but he made several solid challenges. Miyaichi's technique is eye-catching. Jenkinson and Miyaichi were two of only three Arsenal players who were not substituted at the interval. Ramsey was the other.
Ramsey missed a one-on-one chance in the second-half before Vela's moment of magic. Arsenal's pre-season is up and running.
Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 13 Jul 11
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