Atletico Madrid beat Arsenal 3-1 on penalties in their International Champions Cup match in Singapore.
Despite Arsenal’s early dominance, Atletico took the lead just before half time through Luciano Vietto following good work by Angel Correa.
But the Gunners drew level just after the break through a long-range strike from teenager Emile Smith Rowe which would take the game to a penalty shootout.
And Arsenal would be foiled by Adriano Adan in the shootout, with the Atletico goalkeeper saving three of the four penalties he faced before slotting home the winner.
Here are five things we noticed from the tight game in Singapore.
1. Emile Smith Rowe introduces himself to the world
With so many Arsenal midfielders currently out due to their involvements in the World Cup in Russia, 17-year-old Emile Smith Rowe was given a start against Atletico Madrid.
In the first-half, the teenager looked assured in the side, using his time on the ball well and was not afraid to test himself against one of the toughest defences in world football (albeit missing a few key players).
#AFCU23s lead 2-0 against @SunderlandAFC at half-time
Here's how Emile Smith Rowe gave us the lead pic.twitter.com/aBq20lCopR
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) January 28, 2018
But it took him just two minutes after half-time to really put his stamp on the match, as he drew Arsenal level with a shot from outside the area.
Linking up well with Aubameyang, who had won the ball back deep into the Atletico half, Smith Rowe easily beat Thomas Partey before driving the ball past Antonio Adan in the Atletico goal who could do nothing to stop the effort.
And it was clearly not a fluke, with the teenager having previously scored a similar long-range effort for Arsenal’s U23 side last season.
2. Arsenal’s fluid attack shows promise
On paper, Unai Emery set up his Gunners side in a 4-2-3-1 formation which had Alexandre Lacazette leading the line ahead of Reiss Nelson, Smith Rowe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who started on the left.
But with things not quite working out in attack, Aubameyang and Nelson switched wings midway through the first half to test themselves against a different full-back.
And later in the first half, Aubameyang and Lacazette traded places, with the Gabonese forward leading the line and Lacazette dropping to the wing.
In just the opening 45 minutes of the match, Emery showed the various ways his side could possibly line up with regards to Lacazette and Aubameyang getting the best out of their different abilities.
Lacazette played the defensive forward well throughout the half, pushing the Atletico defence close when leading the line before dropping deep to help his own back four with Aubameyang at the head of the team.
Emery may not have yet decided which formation he will line up Arsenal come the start of the season but both Lacazette and Aubameyang have shown how good they can be.
3. Arsenal not yet a coherent unit
When Atletico were on the back foot in stages of the match, a good side would have put the Europa League champions to the sword.
But Arsenal could not find the right link between their defence and attack to punish their opponents despite their frightening pace up front.
Far too often the Spanish side were left unpunished when over-committing in attack, as Arsenal failed to get the ball up to Aubameyang, Nelson and Lacazette quick enough due to a lack of communication between
Even late on in the second half, the Gunners had chances to break following a set piece but Henrikh Mkhitaryan opted to turn back towards his own goal instead of driving forward, giving the Atletico defence a vital few extra seconds to get back and block a cross once the ball eventually made its way up the pitch.
4. The back-three is alive… but not well
Throughout the game, Emery experimented with a number of different formations, starting with a 4-2-3-1 which could be shifted to a 4-3-3 in the first half.
But after an hour, when the head coach made eight changes to his side, the Gunners switched back to a three-man central defence which Arsene Wenger had experimented with in his final two seasons at the club.
However, like many an occasion last season, the back three did not cope well with Sokratis, Calum Chambers and Konstantinos Mavropanpos looking as though they did not fully understand their roles in the defence.
There were quite a few occasions on which the Atletico Madrid attacking line found themselves on the ball with ease and space, though they could not punish Arsenal.
While this may just be a friendly, and those three won’t be the strongest central defence, it does not bode well for the season above were Emery to opt for a three at the back formation at some point in the season.
5. New manager, same old Arsenal
While no one would have expected a complete turnaround from the Arsenal of old in Emery’s first tough fixture of pre-season, the Gunners were still very much Arsene Wenger’s side against Atletico Madrid.
After dominating the first half, without truly troubling Jan Oblak in the Atletico goal, the Gunners fell behind after the Europa League winners made the most of a gap down their left-hand side and a momentary lapse in concentration.
And even when they equalised through Smith Rowe, Arsenal reverted to a side who looked far too comfortable in themselves allowing Atletico to get at them after a period of weakness.
The Arsenal of old was summed up in a mad minute during the second half, in which new signing Matteo Guendouzi was far too lax at the back on the ball and was caught in possession by Kevin Gameiro.
The Frenchman couldn’t find his way to goal and Aaron Ramsey picked up the loose ball, only to try and dribbling it out of the six-yard box before Gameiro won possession back once again.
Fortunately for the Gunners, Rodri shot high under pressure but it was a warning sign and may have brought unwanted flashbacks for those Arsenal fans watching to the late-Wenger era.
The post Who is Emile Smith Rowe? Now we know: five things noticed from Arsenal’s shoot-out defeat to Atletico appeared first on Squawka News.
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