Arsenal Cruise Into Champions League Group Stages

It’s true.  We did.

A 5-0 aggregate win overall, with a 3-0 win on the night did flatter us slightly, but if you were to ask Manuel Almunia how difficult he found the second leg, he’d probably say, “zzzzzzzz,” because he’d still be so bored after the toothless performance of Sparta Prague.  In truth, the game was over as a spectacle in the 7th minute when Tomas Rosicky arrived late at the far post and neatly tucked home Theo Walcott’s low cross.  It was perhaps destined to be after two games of AW bigging him up to shine against his hometown club that the Czech maestro would score against his former employers.  For me though, the goal was all down to Theo.  His quick feet out on the right wing afforded him the space in which he had time to pick out the arriving the Rosicky with a perfectly executed centre.  But Theo wasn’t done there and had one of his best games in an Arsenal shirt.

As the hapless Sparta were broken down in the final third time after time, it was Walcott who was there as the outlet and the 19 year old didn’t disappoint.  Gone was the familiar uncertainty that has dogged previous appearances this season and in it’s place was a liveliness and directness that had one thinking about us finally having a solution to the winger problem.  Walcott twisted, turned and dribbled superbly throughout the first half and also linked up well with the excellent Justin Hoyte.  Shorn of defensive responsibilities, the stand in right back overlapped well and when required to defended solidly.

The central pairing of Diaby and Gilberto was a bit of a surprise, but given Cesc’s yellow card from the away leg it seemed like a logical decision, and the young Frenchman started brightly and instantly evoked the Veira comparisons that have become defacto when describing his performances.  However, whilst Gilberto went about his business in his usual functional way, doing the ugly work and stopping the Sparta midfield from creating much, Diaby seemed to get bogged down in his own enthusiasm to impress and began to dwell too long on the ball and subsequently surrender possession.  This caused the last quarter of the first half to become a little flat, and with Eduardo and RVP seeing little of the ball for most of the entire 45.  Something was needed to kick-start the game in the second half.

Unfortunately, and much to the annoyance of Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice, that spark didn’t come for much of the second half and as the game descended into an exercise in simply going through the motions, The Boss decided to throw on Adebayor and Cesc for RVP and Diaby in the 68th minute.  Cesc didn’t really seem up for it, but Ade looked lively and keen to put the disappointing Man City game behind him.  Within 2 minutes, he flicked the ball on for Eduardo and we got a glimpse of how that particular partnership might work out in the future.  However, that wasn’t to last, as 5 minutes later Denilson came on for Tomas Rosicky and the deck was shuffled.  Eduardo moved out to the left flank and Theo moved into the middle with Adebayor, with Denilson occupying the now vacant right flank.

With all the subs used, Arsenal looked like they were happy to see the rest of the game out and settle for the 1-0 by keeping possession and not really pushing Sparta too hard.  That is everyone but Eduardo.  Perhaps he was frustrated at not seeing much of the ball for a large portion of the game, but when Eduardo gave Zdenek Pospech the old knock-and-run on the right side of the penalty area, and cut the ball back for Fabregas to power the ball home, we saw what the Croation is capable of with the ball at his feet.  And 10 minutes later the provider turned poacher, when a dinked cross from Denilson after a neat one-two with Adebayor was flicked in with a kung-fu style volley.

All in all, it was a bit of a non-contest.  Sparta never really tested Arsenal, save for a few moments after defensive errors from Hoyte, Clichy and Senderos.  They never really looked capable of matching Arsenal for creativity and looked a bit in awe of the home team.  However, Arsenal failed to put them to the sword as they are surely capable of looked at times as if they were playing a training match.  You can only beat what’s put in front of you though, and Wenger’s team did that with the minimum of fuss.

 In news, er, news, head on over to Arseblog to read about the club trying to copyright the word ‘Gooner’.  Interesting discussion going on there.

Also, Cesc dedicated last night’s win to the memory of Anotnio Puerta.  I’d like to echo his sentiment

“The armband was for him, the goal was for him, everything was for him. “He was a great lad who loved his football. I played with him in the Spanish Under-21s and we made our debuts together in the national team. He was 22, so the way he died was a tragedy. It shows you have to enjoy every moment in football and in life because you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.”

And on that rather sullen note, I’ll say Happy Thursday

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