Timber takes the lead over Arsenal's headline signings at Wembley
With his arboreal surname, Jurrien Timber will always remember his Arsenal debut as an unlikely tale of copse and robbers.
Of the Gunners' £204 million trinity in the summer transfer market, the Dutch defender was their most accomplished performer in a Wembley curtain-raiser Manchester City somehow managed to lose.
Arsenal won't care two hoots that Leandro Trossard's massively-deflected equaliser, 11 minutes into added time, was scarcely deserved. And they won't shed any crocodile tears that the predators who hunted them down in the title race last season came unstuck in the shoot-out.
Over the next nine months of footslog, the Gunners will want to see a tangible return on the most lavish spree in the club's history. Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Timber have already started paying back their hefty fees.
If Arsenal got lucky in the dying seconds, lifting a trophy won't do them any harm, and it can only help repair the psychological trauma of that horrid stumble on the title run-in last April.
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While £105m Rice was steady but unspectacular, and £65m Havertz will have more productive days in the box, at £34m Timber looked remarkably good value.
Knock on wood? Arsenal can look forward to next weekend's Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest with renewed optimism.
Shiver me Timbers? On this evidence, the former Ajax defender's versatility will be a headline act, not among the supporting cast when the credits roll.
Arsenal's new boys celebrate at the end of the matchRice was neat and tidy - but so are the bathroom towels when you check in to your Premier Inn and they are folded on the bed.
And his shooting was roughly what you expect from a player with a modest 15 goals from 244 appearances at West Ham – not worth £105 million, but admire the stamina and passing range.
For too much of the game he was tethered to the left side, and Arsenal's midfield looked lop-sided as a result, but when the Premier League is in full swing he will be the centre of attention.
Havertz was booked for a gratuitous trip on John Stones and missed two chances from 10 yards when he should have scored at least one of them. He led the line diligently enough, but he will be deployed deeper when Gabriel Jesus is fit.
On social media, the knee-jerk tendency's perpetual refuge, they listed Havertz's shortcomings in a glorified friendly. One branded him an “epic waste of money” and another asked, despairingly, “Is there anything this bloke can do?”
Anything? Like scoring the winner against Manchester City in a Champions League final? But Timber, mobile and nimble, looked up to speed already.
From Oleksandr Zinchenko to Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Arsenal have shuffled between credible left-back options on Mikel Arteta's watch. None has been wholly convincing, but Timber's energy and positional discipline were exemplary here.
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One vital block, to divert Cole Palmer's goalbound shot over the top, was top-class defending.
And it was no coincidence that, no sooner had Timber been replaced by Tierney, City overloaded the Gunners' left flank and, this time, Palmer found enough space to launch his exquisite finish into the top corner.
Whether or not left-back turns out to be Timber's regular patrol at the Emirates – and he can play anywhere across the back four - his energy looks an asset.
If Arsenal fans felt short-changed by referee Stuart Attwell's interpretation of the new crackdown on dissent, notably kicking the ball away after the whistle has gone, it is mystery how Rodri escaped a yellow card.
But manager Arteta can have no complaints about his caution for waving an imaginary card when Rodri helped himself to a handful of Havertz's shirt and hauled him down.
Just as the phantom card-waving is an odious practice long overdue a purge, City's tactical fouls have gone unpunished too long. Every team does it, but nobody gets away with it more than the Blue Moon cult.
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