october 21st
Another strange European night for the Gunners. A poor performance will overshadow the creditable away point, but you can’t help thinking it’s a game we should have won having taken the lead twice.
First time was when José played a beautiful ball through to Freddie Ljungberg and his finish was typical. We’re seeing a fully fit Freddie this season and the difference is there for all to see. Anyone who underestimates his contribution to this team doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. Then they got an equaliser.
You can look at it two ways. First is that it was a mistake for Jens to come and try and clear when Sol looked in control of the situation. The second is that if you accept the fact Jens plays a bit like a sweeper he’s going to get caught out once in a while. If he’d headed out for a throw there’d have been no problem, but this team is all about playing football as much as possible. He tried to head it to Ashley Cole but it fell to Olympusokolis and it was a one in a hundred finish. Absolute class but I’d love to see him do it again.
Naturally Jens didn’t come of it smelling of roses but I don’t think it was the disaster people are trying to make it out to be. Certainly the boss doesn’t think so either.
All the papers are full of stuff about Lehmann’s howler, and the German does have his critics, but I think he’s a good experienced keeper and I haven’t yet heard anyone come up with a viable alternative. It may sound trite but you don’t go on the kind of unbeaten run we have with a dodgy keeper and to my mind he’s far better than Seaman was from 2000 onwards.
We went back in front when poor passing from the Greeks saw their move break down, there was some quick passing from Cole to Reyes to Pires back to Cole and his low cross was turned in by Thierry. A beautiful goal and it should have been enough, but static marking saw Pana score from a corner and 2-2 it finished.
Some observations: I don’t think Pires playing as the secondary striker works at all. Maybe at Highbury but we’ve seen it away from home three times now and he hasn’t looked comfortable in the role. I’d much rather he played left with José up front, or let’s see what van Persie can do.
I wrote something about Edu which in the cold light of day seems harsh. I’ll just say that he looks like somebody who’s playing with his mind elsewhere, afraid to get stuck in in case an injury wrecks any potential move in January. With Paddy very doubtful for Sunday let’s hope he gets focussed and performs the way we know he can. All in all I think a draw was pretty much a fair result considering how we performed and how Panathinaikos played.
Arsene Wenger was happy enough with the draw and revealed we’ve picked up a few knocks ahead of Sunday’s game. “Henry has sprained his ankle, Edu and Pires also picked up injuries and we have to see how they react tomorrow morning.”
So PSV top the group after winning away in Norway but with two home games left we’re in a good position in the group. Now we can forget about Europe – if anyone will let us – and concentrate on Sunday. And the Mancs.
