Archive for the ‘Champions League’ Category

Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls,

Today, myself and fellow WOA writer @Tottz82 will embark on a mission with  @i_am_jai and @bhavnishpatel to show the world how to ski… the blog, cleverly titled, I’m Off-Ski… getit? Meanwhile, back in the wonderful world of Arsenal… we have drawn Milan in the Champions League… and that’s one of the toughest of the group for sure…

Arsene before the draw:

“You cannot avoid anybody. You would say Basel but they were a very difficult opponent for Manchester United. So you take the draw as it comes, analyse it and plan for the game. The Italian teams have a history but you don’t know how it will go.”

The draw in full was:

• Lyon v APOEL Nicosia
• Napoli v Chelsea
• AC Milan v Arsenal
• Basle v Bayern Munich
• Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
• CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
• Zenit St. Petersburg v Benfica
• Marseille v Inter Milan

Each one of the ties is favoured to one team – I’ve bolded the team I think will win the two legs overall – but for us, it’s a very tough tie. AC Milan have improved a lot in the last couple of years and can now boast the likes of Ibrahimovic, Pato and Robinho up front, with the likes of Mexes in defence, not to forget the likes of Van Bommel in midfield. We’ll have to be on top of our game.

David Miles, club secretary said:

“It’s probably the pick of the round. They’ll be two fantastic games. If I’m being honest, there are some other teams I would have preferred. Last time we played them in season 07-08, we actually went through after winning 2-0 in the San Siro so our recent history against them is good.”

The pick of the round, it is…

With Milan secretary also keen to praise the magnitude of the tie…

“Tie of the round. For the quality and the appeal of the two clubs it is a fantastic tie. Last time we lost 2-0 to Arsenal at the San Siro and we were knocked out by Tottenham last year. We are determined to go through. Last year we had lots of injuries but right now we are in a better status than Arsenal. But lots can change in two months. They have a great player in Robin van Persie and Arsene Wenger is a great coach.”

Lots of things can change in two months, that is for sure… first, we need a good old fashion victory against title rivals Man City, starting this weekend…

But for now, I’m offski…

Morning Folks… 2-1 to the Arsenal, Van Persie scores two… three points on the board, now top of the group with 11 points and a game to go. This is what we call “job done”… Job done to the point where we can send out the youth to Greece in the final game, win, lose or draw and still finish top. Arsenal were supposed to be the team that wouldn’t be able to make it through to the next round… after the away draw to Dortmund, questions were raised about whether we’d be able to make it through, whereas Chelsea, Man City & Man United were supposed to make it through at a canter. Now we’re through and the other three could all be kicked out by the time the group stages are over, suggests the media didn’t quite get their prediction right – but it also suggests that we are quietly carrying on with our business of winning games.

Yesterday’s line up was:

Szcznesy

Koscielny – Mertersacker – Vermaelen – Santos

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Ramsey – Gervinho

Van Persie

And on the bench was the returning Abou Diaby, who replaced the injured Rosicky – along side… Fabianski, Frimpong, Benayoun, Chamakh, Djourou and Arshavin…

With Robin Van Persie in such great form, he just seems to score and score and score. Another two goals yesterday for the Dutchman means he’s scored a whopping 38 goals this calendar year. All that I can say on that is………. wow…….. and also… just imagine if we’d had him fully fit for the last five years….

Arsene spoke on Robin’s form and said:

He is in a period where of course he doesn’t have to look for goals – they just come naturally for him. He is always in the right place at the right moment and he got two goals again tonight from positions that look easy but they are not. He just understands the game so well.

Arteta joined in with the praise:

“We all know how good he is. Robin keeps performing and scoring goals, making the difference. At the moment he is level with any striker in the world, his numbers are unbelievable in the past eight or nine months. For me, it is just a natural talent. Sometimes he looks as if he does not try, but beats players and scores and unbelievable goal. Robin is on fire, he is making the difference. Hopefully he can continue to do that and people can talk about him all the time, because that means we are winning.”

We did get a little sloppy in the final few minutes of the game, and conceded a goal we didn’t need to – I got a little bit worried, but the ref blue the whistle very quickly after their goal, which didn’t allow for another attempt… phew…

All in all, I really felt the performance was a very professional and disciplined performance. The defence was shaky at times, but it stood strong and did well – Dortmund are a very good side, let’s not forget that. Alex Song played very well throughout the game and at the moment, he is becoming one of the first names on the team sheet outside of Robin. Arteta, too, as a partner has been a good compliment to the Cameroonian. Thank God Cameroon didn’t qualify for the African Nations Cup… Koscielny looked very good at right back again, and it’s clear to see that he’s really making a name for himself at the moment. He tired by the last ten minutes and we put Djourou on for him, but overall, he has really impressed me this season…

On the other side is the mercurial Gervinho, who brings so much to the team in terms of skills, pace and pressure on the defence. However, in the last few games, he has had a lot of one-on-ones and good chances to score, but he seems to fluff his chances a lot. We all know that if Van Persie got injured, we’d most likely move him into the middle and have Arshavin on the left (as we did in pre-season) but his inability to finish his chances is very worrying at the moment. Let’s hope he starts maturing in front of goal soon, goals from him could be vital from left mid or from the middle…

There is a bit of a feel good factor about our team at the moment, and that’s very good. I’ve been waiting for this moment all weekend, and we need to continue our good form this weekend by beating Fulham… as they say, as we say… come on you Gooners!

Morning Gooners,

The champions league is back and it’s a big match day too. At stake tonight is qualification to the knockout stage and a win would mean we go through top of our group. You’d like to think we’ve learnt our lesson from last year about why topping the group is slightly advantageous. The task at hand is by no means a formality as we face a Dortmund team full of confidence after beating the Bayern Munich 1-0 in their own back yard. Dortmund need to win their two remaining games to qualify for the next stage so expect them to be ready to battle for their lives.

Right enough worrying about ze Germans, we’re not exactly in the worst form going into this game. 5 league wins in a row but more importantly we’ve got our mojo back. We’re now watching at Arsenal team who are more direct in attack, not afraid to use very competent and pacey wingers; a central trio who are working in tandem with each other in front a stable line and a striker who’s not playing too bad right now I must say. The negative amongst you (and there are a few out there!) will point to the Mertesacker mistake versus Norwich as proof we’re defensively poor, not true. Mertesacker made a mistake, caught in two minds and got punished. Sky would have you believe he’s the new Bramble but for the rest of the game he was calm and controlled. With Vermaelen back and Santos growing in confidence in every game, the team can trust this defence.

My personal favourite man, Szczesney agrees:

“I can feel the improvement in defence. I think it has been the defensive work from the whole team; starting with the strikers, midfielders, defenders and myself.”

“Being vocal is my job, my job as a keeper is to talk to my defenders,”

“I feel like they trust in me, and when I say something they listen. I am just doing my job.”

Dortmund won’t come and sit deep waiting to attack us on the break, they’ll close out build up play down like Marseille did but when they have possession of the ball, they come at us.  We need to make sure we’re careful in possession and ensure Gervinho and Walcott are always exploiting their pace in behind their defence. I wrote a couple of weeks ago on here that the balance Gervinho and Theo offer gives us a far greater attacking dimension than we’ve had for a couple of years. They both switch wings with comfort and are a real threat when they pop up in the centre forward position. With Ramsey’s confidence growing in every game, I’m looking forward to a game of real quality. I think we’ll be unchanged from the team that beat Norwich with Diaby on the bench for the first time this season, great news for the big man who’s got the talent but cruel luck with injuries.

The Dortmund danger man, Gotze, has been our papers recently with The Arsenal apparently pushing for £30million move in January, mind games or some truth? Who knows.

Enjoy the game everyone… feel free to post score predictions!

Robin Van Deadly

Come on The Arsenal!

On twitter – @tottz82

First of all apologies for the quick fire blog this morning. My night was somewhat prolonged last night after a friend offered me a lift to save me time leaving the stadium but then made both of us waiting outside an hour after the game for our golden chariot. Sometimes it’s just easier to stick to your original plan in life… lesson firmly learnt. Never the less I did meet Giles Grimandi and give that Spuds player Benoit Esso-ekotto (or whatever) a good stare out as he walked away from watching our game.

Anyway enough of my life, back to The Arsenal . After the amazing scenes of Saturday afternoon, it maybe wasn’t that surprising that we came down to earth with a small and sobering bump. With Marseille getting back to some sort of form in Ligue 1, with 3 wins in a row, their confidence was higher going into this game.

The team from last night was:

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos, Song, Arteta, Ramsey, Walcott, Gervinho. Park.

It was Marseille that started the brighter with a couple of shots whistling past the post and curling over the bar from the latest new Henry, Remy. They immediately showed more attacking threat than they did for the entire game in Marseille.

Arsenal did eventually create a clear opening when Theo was put through on the right but his shot was saved low by their keeper.

The entertainment of the first half was the ever uber confident Szcz deciding to do a Cruyff turn not once, but TWICE on a Marseille player on the right edge of his box after a back pass. The guy has confidence/cockiness like I’ve never seen before but I do love it. He will soon get caught out and drop a clanger but he’s almost earned the right to do this and learn from it. In other words I’m saying he’s earned one f*ck up!

The first half was an end to end battle with both defences being opened up through the pace of the attacks. Next to spurn an opening was Ramsey, who got underneath a cross 3 or 4 yard outside of the goal.  Remy went close again and Ramsey has the best chance of the half but seemed to wait an eternity before shooting it into the defender when clean through.

The second half was nowhere near a classic and my notes on the 2^nd half are nonexistent. Marseille seemed full of energy and determined not to give us any room in midfield. As soon as a red shirt picked up the ball, they were surrounded by 2 players cutting off the options. Frustrating to watch if you’re an Arsenal fan but encouraging if you’re a fat looking water carrier. The only event of note for me was from the substitute RVP who tried to lob a standing keeper (a la Bergkamp) but it was comfortably saved.

In the end Arsenal and Marseille shared the spoils with a point a piece with a 0-0 draw. Not the worst result in the world but not the best. In my opinion, 4 points home and away to Marseille is acceptable. Some will say we should always win this kind of game at home but having picked up all 3 points away, a point at home is just about tolerable.

The boss said:

We defended very well and tried very hard but lacked the quality in the final third to finish off our chances. We had a few in the first half. Aaron Ramsey had two and Robin van Persie in the second half as well. Overall it was a very difficult game. Marseille were physically very impressive and closed us down at every opportunity. We lacked match sharpness after our performance at Chelsea on Saturday.

Leaving Robin on the bench was a gamble that did not come off, but he was very tired after Saturday’s efforts. I took the gamble to rest him although he had the chance to score when he came on, which would have been the perfect play. Now we want to win the Dortmund game at home, but overall we are in a good position. It was also important that we kept a clean sheet tonight.

RVP being on the bench was no surprise to anyone in the pub beforehand.  After Park’s goal last Tuesday and RVP’s miracle work on Saturday, it was sensible change. If Ramsey and Gervinho had converted their chances in the first half, the gamble would have paid off.

For me there were two standout players, Song and Vermaelen. Song had his work cut out against an extremely combative and determined Marseille midfield. He was a very effective screen for the defence and won more 50 50’s than lost. He is often given a hard time for taking the ball forward and losing it but he wants to help the team create when they need it, I’m sure there were no complaints when he set up Santos’ goal against Chelsea.

Vermaelen looks like he’s ready to make up for lost time. He clicked very well with Mertesacker and was willing to close down Marseille attackers while Pers held the line. TV won countless 50 50’s and a couple of key last ditch tackles. With Koscielny on the bench too, our centre back options don’t look too bad.

I really don’t think we need to over analyse this point today, yes it could have been more but after the buzz of Chelsea , a slightly lacklustre display shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. We are still in complete control of our group and have Dortmund at home next. A win against Dortmund and we’re through as probable winners.  Next up is WBA in the league; let’s concentrate on getting 3 points at home.

Have a good Wednesday and mind you don’t fall over like John Terry.

Follow me if you really really want @Tottz82

After the thrilling encounter at the bridge against Chelsea, our attentions must turn to Marseille. A fortunate win against the French side away means we top the group with 7 points. A win against Marseille today at the Emirates will see us rise to 10 points, which will qualify us for the next round. We’d have to then pick up another 2 points from the remaining two games to ensure we’re first… but first thing is first, let’s try our best to get the three points tonight…

Against Marseille, we were lucky to come away with three points due to the pressure the home team put on us, but then again you make your own luck… and we capitalised on our chances through Aaron Ramsey – whose eye for goal could be a very good blessing in disguise – he’s confident he can score double figures – which I would love him to do – especially if Gervinho, Walcott and Arteta can also do the same! Arsene singled out the progress of Aaron Ramsey yesterday and proclaimed that there is much more to come:

“He is on the way up. We speak about Robin van Persie but Aaron was out for one year when he was just getting into the team. That is tremendous. It is completely normal that he improves now because he is young. And there is still a lot of improvement for him. Secondly he is back to his full physical potential which is huge. We see that when we analyse the games. The worry we had is that he might be touched by being out for such a long time when it comes to the challenges. I have been impressed by the way he dealt with the whole situation.”

Over to the team news and despite the importance of the game, I think Arsene will still rest & rotate a little bit. We know Chamakh is out of the squad with a knee injury and I’d expect Park to come in and replace him; well, I expect Park to start and Van Persie to be rested, but we will see what happens. It may be an opportunity for Vermaelen to come back into the team, so my line up is as follows:

Szcznesy

Jenkinson – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Santos

Rosicky – Song

Walcott – Ramsey – Arshavin

Park

With a bench of Fabianski, Djourou, Mertersacker, Arteta, Frimpong, Gervinho, Van Persie

The reason I’ve included Rosicky in the starting line up is down to the sheer number of games that Arteta has played in a row recently and this is an ideal time to rest him ahead of the home game against WBA. I may be wrong with Gervinho and Van Persie, they may get a start as they’ve both had a rest now – but it’s a perfect time to start Park, at home, in Champions League group of which we are top of. We may have to play a stronger team than I’ve put out simply down to the fact that Marseille are a very good team and if we do win tonight, it will take us to 10 points.

In other news, Stan Kroenke visited the training ground yesterday. He met the players, spent time with the manager and staff and then had a long interview with Arsenal.com, take a read if you have time, but in short, he was very complementary of Arsene Wenger and what he has brought to the club:

“Arsène has been here 15 years and you look at what the Club had as assets and revenues back then. It’s fantastic the growth that has occurred within the Club. It has been done very responsibly and they have the record for participating in the Champions League for the most consecutive years. For long-term stability and an approach to excellence, I think that’s unsurpassed really.

We’ve got a long way to turn the season around, but we’re making progress and last weekend’s win was a very important win for us. We will see where we are in the next couple of weeks, but we have two home games now – first tonight against Marseille and then on the weekend against WBA. Two wins out of those two games and both CL qualification and Premier League ascendency will be ours!

All that is left to say… is… come on you Gooners!!!

A great end to a cagey night out in Marseille…. without a doubt… super sub Aaron Ramsey scored a 92nd minute winner to give us all the three points, and considering it’s an away game in the Champions League, considering Marseille had a real go at us, considering a point away is a good result, the win is just awesome! I can’t remember the last time that we were on the end of a last minute winner… and it feels good!! I do remember that game, when Henry scored from an Eboue cross, as we beat Man United 2-1 at home after going 1-0 down… ah, the memories…

Apologies for lack of blog yesterday – I’ve been convinced to go snowboarding with @Tottz82 and co in December this year, and yesterday was the compulsory purchasing day of ski and snowboarding apparel…

I’ll be back again tomorrow with my take on Arsene’s pre match press conference, but a quick word on Koscielny – he was absolutely outstanding against Marseille – very commanding across the back and he and Mertersacker look like they’re getting to know each other very well.

Arsene singled him out for praise and commented on what he thought was a man of the match performance:

“I believe he was certainly Man of the Match in that game. You saw in that game what we want from Laurent – he was commanding and playing with authority. That is something that has come out of the game last night. When he had the ball he was calm, he read the game well and got in front of the strikers to save many dangerous situations. I would say he was surprised coming from France at the physical intensity of the game here but he has got that now and I think he is very commanding. He had a very good game against Sunderland and again in Marseille. I always thought he would become a great central defender. He is getting there.”

After posting this one, I am already starting the next post, so it will be with you tomorrow morning sharpish!

Morning all,

After a short holiday, a normal blogging service by yours truly resumes. Plenty to look at from yesterday and a quick preview of matchday 3 in the Champions League, Marseille away.

The next line may confuse you so read it carefully, ‘Arsenal first team player signs contract extension…’.

No seriously, Thomas Vermaelen has signed a contract extension to his current, believed to be 4 more years.

Vermaelen said:

“I am really happy to have signed a new contract with Arsenal. I always had the intention to stay here. I feel there is a big belief in me from the Club, from the boss and from the fans and that is one of the reasons why I stayed. Arsenal is a fantastic Club. We have great supporters, we’re doing well financially and we are playing with some quality young players now and they will develop, which is very good for the future.”

Fantastically on the same day, the now financially sound Thomas Vermaelen, (5 starts last season) signs a new deal, Arsenal also announced the opening of a brand new Medical Centre (Diaby House) at the training ground. Colin Lewin revealed, ‘The new equipment will help as much with preventing new injuries’.

We hope and we pray.

All jokes aside Vermaelen signing a new contract is fantastic news on a number of levels for the club. Firstly TV5 is one of the best defenders in the league, yes I know he’s had an injury ravaged 18months but we have to believe he will get back to his best sooner rather than later. In Tommy’s debut season in the premiership he was voted in the PFA team of the year and he is still only 25. The guy is a class act and him and Mertesacker have the making of a great partnership.

Secondly, TV5 signing sends a message out to other players entering the ‘negotiation’ period of their contract, namely RVP and Theo. I truly don’t believe the fact that TV5 and RVP are buddies will have any bearing on RVP’s contract decision, he’s a professional player and he won’t base the decision of his final ‘primetime’ contract on the back of a friendship. Ask Cesc.

On to tonight’s game, a sexy French tie in store, Marseille in the Stade Velodrome. Marseille currently are suffering in the league, sitting 15th and with big players struggling to perform to the level they should be… sound familiar?! No real surprises in the squad news, Ramsey does return from ‘hamstring fatigue’, Coquelin is preferred away from home to Frimpong again (Not Dench) and Gibbs is facing 2 weeks out with an abdominal strain. Santos should deputise.

I expect the team to be:

Szcz

Jennkinson – Mertesacker – Koscielny – Santos

Arteta – Song – Ramsey

Walcott – RVP – Gervinho.

I know little about Marseille but I do know they have some potentially class players who could win a glamour tie like this in an instance.  Given both team’s current form, I imagine both teams have players who have the (in)ability to ‘lose’ the game in an instance for their respective teams. Marseille have a strong defensive record in the Champions League having kept 7 clean sheets in 8 games, therefore chances maybe scarce tonight so we can’t afford to be wasteful in front of goal if opportunities do fall our way. I’m expecting an extremely cagey game tonight from two teams slightly low on confidence, with that in mind I fancy a draw.

Other another note, it was Marseille’s corruption in the early 90’s when Le boss was in charge of Monaco that left more than bitter taste in his mouth and stain on the whole of European football. On top of that, Marseille have give us the greed of Na$ri & Flamini and the grotesqueness of Drogba. So I hope we completely smash them to bits.

Come on The Arsenal!!!

Enjoy it Gooners.

Comments welcome on twitter, @tottz82

3 Points In The League

3 points are three points. Against Sunderland, we made it much harder than it should have been, but in the end, the moment of magic from Robin Van Persie won us the game. I’ve been overly critical of Robin’s ability at free kicks, but when you see him do that, it’s clear he has the quality and considering Arteta, Walcott and Santos had taken the worst three free kicks of the weekend before RvP stepped up, it’s surprising that the captain wasn’t at the helm for all of the previous ones. I’m sure he’ll be back to first choice free kick taker now. But at least there are options, even though not great ones…

Talking about Theo, I was again confused by his display on the weekend. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do a lot of the time. When he gets the ball, it’s… “er… run? cross… er? what do I do?…”, and considering the time he has been with us, you have to wonder why he is still so inconsistent. Stats will tell us that he has scored and assisted a few, but in games like the one against Sunderland, surely his possession play – i.e. giving the ball away a lot – is a problem.

With Arshavin starting to resemble some sort of form now, should he be rewarded with Theo’s place now? Gervinho, The Arsh & Van Persie?

Van Persie has been in super great form and there is a genuine worry about where we would be if he got injured. Arsene praised him highly after his performance against Sunderland:

“Well, he scored two goals. I think you have to analyse the game a little bit to see how important he is. The first goal was a good display of the team and the second chance he made the difference just because of his skill, which was exceptional.”

Perhaps we are over-reacting – Van Persie plays now as he is the best striker, but if injured, the likes of Gervinho, Park & Chamakh will obviously have to play in that role. Because we haven’t seen a lot of them, it’s obviously harder for us to understand the depth we have. But with the number of games we have in the next two weeks, I’m sure we’ll see more of all of them…

Champions League Preview

Many people say the Champions League should only be for Champions – but surely then it would have only five decent teams in it, right? The Champions of England, Spain, Italy, France & Germany… But tomorrow, we take on Marseille, away, and they have become a serious contender in European football. They current top the group on six points, having beaten both Dortmund and Olympiakos. We really have to play to the best our our ability to beat them and to be totally honest, our away form has been very worrying this season. It’s strange how football works – last year, our away form was incredible as a season, but this season, it’s been the opposite. Udinese aside, we’ve failed to win any away games this season and lost the last three on the bounce…

Marseille will be a tricky place, but the returning and impressive Rosicky was keen to stress that we are going for the jugular.

“It must be our aim to win the group, especially after what happened to us last year when we were not top of the group. In the last three games we messed up. Marseille are a direct contender for us who would like to qualify from the group as well. It’s a big game and we want to be successful there. It looks like it will be between us, Dortmund and Marseille so it will be a vital game for us.”

Whereas Arsene highlighted their impressive Champions League start at the expense of their league form… ahem…

“Marseille is a good team but they are under pressure a little bit like we are in the league because they didn’t start as strong as they would have expected. That puts more pressure on you. They have done well in the Champions League, certainly, because it is a competition where there is a bit less expectation and they are less under pressure. They are a quality team.”

No doubt, they are a quality team… and it’s another big away test for us. If we can produce a good performance, it may have a positive affect on the rest of our season.

After his mid-season break, our beloved Tottz is back tomorrow for his latest digest… til then…

Our beloved Arsenal were the only English team to win in Europe this week. Surely that deserves some respect? As much as we do, the media do seem to look down at Arsenal and not give us the credit we deserve. Yesterday we played a decent game, a tactical game, rode our luck at times, but came home with the three points. 9 players were missing through injury - Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastian Squillaci, John Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, Ignasi Miquel, Ryo Miyachi, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Yossi Benayoun, Theo Walcott and Gervinho – and additionally, three first team players in Gibbs, Ramsey & Van Persie started on the bench – which meant that we didn’t exactly have the ideal starting line up to crush a team, but we had a team that could do a job and that’s exactly what we did. We saw United without Rooney draw 3-3 at home to Basel, so with 12 players missing, it surely means we’ve done a good job!

The starting line up yesterday was Szczesny; Sagna, Song, Mertesacker, Santos; Frimpong, Arteta; Arshavin, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Chamakh and it was a bit of a risk and gamble from the manager to rotate. But it paid off – the players coming  in will be better for having played yesterday’s game and the one player who really impressed was Oxlade Chamberlain. I was discussing his name and what we call him with the infamous “Bob” yesterday and although he has Chamberlain on his back, isn’t “Oxlade” much better, it rhymes with blade which is a weapon, so much cooler… From now on, he is the Oxlade. Oxlizzle… okay, that’s going too far…

It was Oxlade himself who opened the scoring when he collected a pass and dribbled to the left of the penalty area before dispatching a left footed shot across the goal. We started well and Oxlade was in the centre of everything. He does look like a real gem. In fact, all the action happened in the first half hour – with some good play by Santos, crossing well and then receiving the ball when it came back out to score from the near post. Our defending was a little bit suspect – but it happens when you change the back four – which we did again, with Song & Santos coming in for Koscielny and Gibbs. We conceded a headed goal shortly after going 2-0 up and for the rest of the game, we rode our luck. Late cameos from Robin Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey added some extra attacking prowess near the end and the introduction of Gibbs – playing in front of Santos helped us see out a nervy last 20 minutes or so.

A win is a win is a win and despite the depleted squad, it was a good outing. The question of course, is whether we’ll have the likes of Gervinho and any one of our missing central defenders back for the game at White Hart Lane this weekend. It would be nice to have a slightly stronger squad for that game… against super favourites Sp*rs…

With Arsene Wenger serving his last game of his suspension, Pat Rice was calling the shots and spoke very highly of Oxlade after the game:

He can go inside, he can go outside, he’s got that injection of pace and I think what he needs now is to be consistent in his play. I am sure that is something he will be working on because he’s certainly not a stupid boy. He has good people around him and they are telling him all the right things. He is a very confident boy, a strong boy and he listens to what people tell him. I think he makes his own mind up because when you are a professional footballer loads of different coaches tell you lots of different things. What you have to do is pick out the best things that are applicable to you. That is something Alex will no doubt actually do. He is very friendly with Theo and no doubt he will give him the benefit of his experience as well. From Arsenal supporters’ point of view, they are going to be seeing a lot of this boy. Whenever he breaks in permanently he has a big, big challenge to now get in front of Theo. I know that Theo is a very strong-willed guy as well and he won’t give in easy. It all bodes well for England anyway.

Indeed, Alex’s performance bodes well for us and for England and it looks like his prominence is immediate and he could make a real impact this season. He’s another option we have at our disposal and direct competition for Theo Walcott, which is definitely needed. Competition for places is paramount to keep players on form and Theo’s been good but a little inconsistent this season.

We don’t know whether Theo will be back for the game on the weekend, but we will have to wait and see how the rest of the week pans out injury wise – if Theo doesn’t make it, then Oxlade could be thrown into the deep end (again) in the North London derby!

The man man for us this season has been Szcznesy, who had another commanding presence in goal yesterday and he was proud of the defending yesterday and spoke after the game himself:

It was a very tough game. We knew before the game that it was going to be a very tough game. I think you have to give credit to our defence for keeping the result at 2-1 because they did put pressure on us. It was a great defensive performance in the second half. We did very well. I think we lost the ball too many times in the middle of the park and that created some problems and they looked dangerous on the break. We won the first half, we were 2-1 up, it was all about keeping the result that way and we managed to do that. I think we knew what we had to do. We had to keep the ball as long as we can. I thought we looked the better side in the second half and deserved the win.

It’s very interesting to see the reliance we have on Szcznesy and very welcoming to Arsenal fans to actually have a decent keeper in between the sticks. He’s been on fire this season and has really won us some points. I remember the penalty save against Udinese and I have to say, that save make the biggest difference of any save he’s made.

It will soon be time to turn our  thoughts to the North London derby this Sunday – where we are not favourites for the win – don’t we do better as underdogs anyway?

Til tomorrow, enjoy the win…

Last night, Bayern Munich beat Man City 2-0… and United drew 3-3 with Basel at home. Surely it’s the end of the road for Mancini? Surely Ferguson has lost the plot? Well, that’s the crazyness that Arsenal fans have had to ensure in recent times – after the Dortmund (Champions of Germany last season) 1-1 away draw, I was asked whom I’d like to replace Arsene Wenger with… Time for a little perspective, I think!

We have a huge game tonight in the Champions League against Greek team Olympiacos and we have an injury ravaged team – with a lot of players missing – in fact our injury list looks something like this:

1. Thomas Vermaelen
2. Sebastian Squillaci
3. John Djourou
4. Laurent Koscielny
5. Ignasi Miquel
6. Ryo Miyachi
7. Jack Wilshere
8. Abou Diaby
9. Yossi Benayoun
10. Theo Walcott
11. Gervinho

That’s 11 players and 8 of them are first teamers…! The big question is who does that leave? Okay, let’s try and make a team from the remaining players:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Song – Gibbs

Frimpong – Ramsey

Rosicky – Arteta – Arshavin

Van Persie

With a bench of Fabianski, Jenkinson, Santos, Coquelin, Park, Oxlade, Chamakh

There is a case for Arsene trying out a few other faces, such as Oxlade or Park – we’ve seen Oxlade against Shrewsbury and he looked very good – but you have to remember, we’re talking about a league 2 side – which is basically the fourth division – versus a champion of a country in the Champions League.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, tonight’s game will be no pushover. We’ve seen in the two games yesterday, where both the Manchester teams failed to win. Olympiacos manager Ernesto Valverde came out with some fighting talk:

“Every time we have clubs playing against each other the one that will win is the one which imposes its own style of play and who will do it better. Usually the team that has to change its style for the other is the one that will lose. We have to face an opponent who is probably one of the toughest we could find ourselves against. They are a great team, we know that we are the underdogs but we are here to give a good impression and why not take something out of this game.”

I really do think Olympiacos will give us a run for our money and we have to be on top form to get past them – but we do have the home advantage, and we are a strong team and despite the eleven players out missing – to field the eleven that we are fielding show an incredible strength in depth.

It’s going to be a tough night at the Emirates, but we can do it – come on you reds, come on you Gunners!!

Last night saw the return of the Champions League ‘proper’ and a very tough game was first up for us, Ze German champions Borussia Dortmund. By some crazy method of UEFA calculations, we drew Dortmund in pot 4. So the German Champions were actually meant to represent the weakest team in the group, they were far from that.

Dev’s predicted line up was close… but not quite right. Arsenal lined up with the expected back four and strike force but with Benyaoun preferred instead of Frimpong. A bold move from Le boss who went for ball retention and experience over a more defensively minded player.

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Gibbs

Benyaoun – Song

Walcott – Arteta – Gervinho

Van Persie

The pre-match atmosphere was simply amazing, while only watching on the box, you could tell why they call it the ‘wall of sound’ at Dortmund. When the teams lined up RVP couldn’t help but take a look round in awe… jealous Robin? I was!!

As soon as the game started, Arsenal were under the cosh. Dortmund were buoyed by the deafening partisan crowd and they took the game to Arsenal, ready to exploit any sloppiness and hesitation. A number of chances came and went with our offside trap completely non existent and Sagna having to make a goal line clearance. For me, Song was isolated. Every time the ball came near him he had at least two players around him and was being forced into mistakes. Arsenal’s first chance of note came from our best offensive player in the opening exchanges, Gervinho. Gervinho seems to have the knack of just popping up in the box at the right time and his opportunist close range shot was saved by up the upright keeper.

Arsenal grew in confidence as the game went on and after a couple of decent chances from Theo and RVP, Arsenal took an unlikely lead through RVP. An under hit pass was fantastically read by RVP who slid in to knock it to Theo. Theo took a couple steps forward and took two defenders out with a delicious through ball to RVP, who curled it round the keeper from the edge of the box with his right foot. Yes, his chocolate leg. 1 nil to the Arsenal on the 42^nd.

The aim of the second half  was simple, don’t let them repeat their first half chances again because they will score. To be fair, we didn’t. Arsenal struggled to get the ball from Dortmund for long periods but we had tightened up and were not conceding possession in vital area’s easily.

We did have to call upon Szcz a number of times to make a couple of world class point blanks saves but this keeper takes them in his stride. How many times have you watched Cech, Van der sar or Reina make a save look easy? Szcz will save up points by making his job look easy.

Our only real chance of the second half fell to Gervinho who admirably (or stupidly) stayed on his feet after being slightly tripped but couldn’t get his shot away when one on one with the keeper. We haven’t had a chance to watch much of Gervinho this season but the guy is a threat. He’s got pace to burn, great ball control but has the ability to lose possession cheaply if he tries to be too clever. He will improve.

Unfortunately our luck didn’t hold out and in the 88^th minute, Arsenal fell victim to another ‘goal of the season’ contender. As Arsenal cleared a corner, the ball fell to Perisic who hit an amazing dipping left foot volley that flew straight into the top corner with Szcz a spectator.

The final score, 1-1. A good point at the noisy German champions.

For the first 30mins Arsenal rode their luck and then some. But this was to be expected from an exciting young team who have been starved of Champions league action for a number of years.

The players who stood out for me were Sagna, Koscielney and Song. Sagna is the best right back in the country, no arguments. Always reliable and a warrior in his approach to the game. Last ditch tackles and goals line clearances helped rescue us during tough periods.

Koscienly showed against Barcelona at home last season he is a ‘footballing defender’. He doesn’t love the rough and tumble of some premiership games but when he plays against a footballing team his ability to read the game and break up play is fantastic. I really thought he had a great game.

The man of the match for me was Alex Song. During the first half he was breaking up play but trying to be too clever and guilty of losing the ball cheaply. In the second half, Song was the ultimate defensive midfielder.  See it, intercept it and pass it, nice and simple. The crowd were getting agitated and frustrated every time he won a tackle; music to Arsenal’s ears. We need to Song to keep it simple yet effective more often. There are too many times where he has taken the ball too far up the field only to lose it thus leaving us exposed.

We picked up a good point today and our confidence will continue to grow. Next up Blackburn away, a completely different challenge to say the least!

(Feedback welcome on twitter – @Tottz82)