Arsenal 3-0 Sevilla - 19/09/07 - (Champions League) 20 September, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Champions League.trackback
Brilliant. Just brilliant. The score line might be a bit flattering but we were worthy winners. We got off to a flying start and were really putting Seville on the back foot. However shots were limited and it took half an hour for the first goal to come and guess who it was? Yep, Cesc scored again. Well, it was quite a dubious goal as the shot took a big deflection off Julien Escude. The visitors lost possession in a dangerous area and the ball went straight to Hleb, he gave it to Cesc and with the confidence he’s in he shot from some distance and with the help of a deflection it was 1-0 to The Arsenal.
The first goal in this game was always going to be very important. Seville were now on the back foot and as I’m sure you know, we can exploit teams very well that are forced to attack us.
Adebayor went close towards the end of the first half when he broke through. He did well but the final shot was poor and went wide. The visitors too had a chance before the break. The ex-Tottenham striker, Kanoute was getting a bit of stick and he shot from range forcing Almunia to make a good save.
Four minutes into the second half Rosicky came off for Abou Diaby. Tomas had a brilliant first half in my opinion and was definitely a contender for man of the match, however early on in the second 45 he was forced off with a hamstring injury. He’ll be out for at least two weeks according to Arsene. He’s a very injury prone player and just when it looked like players were starting to recover, we have a new load.
Just before Rosicky came off Hleb took a bad knock and was limping around. I though he was coming off but he shook it off. However today Arsene says he’s now a ‘major doubt’ for Saturday along with Senderos who has a hip problem. I guess we’ll learn more about them tomorrow but I doubt they’ll be risked against Derby, in a game which Wenger says he’ll rotate the team a bit.
Anyway, back to last night’s game. The second half seemed to lack the pace of the previous one but Seville were still clearly behind and chasing the game.
In the 58th minute we won a free kick on the left hand side near the corner flag. It was taken quickly and was wasted but just like Saturday, the referee blew his whistle and ordered it be taken again. I was thinking about the Spurs game and thinking maybe we’ll do it again and score from the re-take. And we did! Fabregas’ ball wasn’t brilliant but Sagna helped it on at the near post, it fell to Van Persie right in front of goal and it was a tap-in for 2-0.
Seville made a double substitution a few minutes later and they were really pushing for a goal. They came close a few times but Eduardo would have the final say on this game. He came on for Adebayor in the 84th minute and Lassana Diarra came on three minutes later for RVP for his debut. Eddy’s goal was a simple tap-in by the chance only came from a great, traditional passing move by Arsenal and players not being selfish and shooting. It was a lovely worked goal and a great end to the game.
So we won the first game of the group 3-0 against the toughest opposition we had to face. A perfect start. There were some great performances too: Almunia looked dodgy at times but made a few good stops, Sagna and Clichy were brilliant, Toure was unbeatable, Cesc was…Cesc, Rosicky has a great first half, Flamini was awesome, Hleb looked good and the strikers looked hungry. It was a great all round performance. The only disappointment was Abou Diaby. He didn’t play badly; it’s just that he’s not a winger! He looks lost out there. I have complete faith in Arsene but seriously, I don’t know why he is playing here. If Vieira was put out on the wing what would you think? I pray that Wenger isn’t hoping to convert this player into a winger when he looks like he’s going to be something special in the middle.
It’s back to the League now and it’s Derby at home on Saturday. It should be no problem but they’ve just beaten Newcastle and will be high on confidence. I will build up to that one in the coming days, thanks for reading.
1st gun
I’ve read a number of articles today that described last night’s scoreline as ‘flattering’. We had a good 7 or 8 chances (not sure of the exact number) and managed to bury 3 of them, Sevilla with all due respect managed a couple of half-chances & didn’t score. We had roughly 48% of the possession yet used it more wisely than Sevilla’s 52% (obviously, as we won). So, my question is how could the scoreline be flattering when we, quite simply, maximised our inferior possession & took our chances? We were missing hatfuls of chances last year simply because players weren’t gettting in there & having a go, suddenly the team have rectified that yet they’re not getting the credit they deserve.
Sevilla may have been under strength or whatever new excuse Kanoute might come up with but we were the better team, simple as that, and I think 3-0 was a fair scoreline considering how well we played. And I won’t even bother commenting about Derby, again with respect to Derby fans they are the whipping boys of the EPL this season & I see no reason to suspect that Saturday will bring anything other than a whitewash.
It’s overall a really good article but enough with the nervousness!
We are performing really great now but Wenger needs to make use of Bentdner and Eduardo more. Adebayor deserves the super sub status because his contributions are mostly under what we expect from a striker. On a good day he provided needed goals but i believe Niklas and Da Silva will do better.
Agree Ho-Hum - there was nothing flattering about that scoreline. The team worked for it and deserved it by taking their chances. I can’t believe the possession was 48% to 52% it certainly didn’t look like that at the match.
Dudu will have his first “hat trick” on the EPL on Saturday….
Trust me.
Rick
I think the only reason the possesion % favoured Sevilla was down to Almunia’s love of giving the ball back to the opposition, every time he gets hold of it.
It seems that everyone has got used to the fact that he will kick the ball right down to the other end of the pitch; nobody seems to come short so that he can roll the ball out to them.
Almost every time he had the ball, it ended up with their keeper or one of their two centre backs. It then took us a while to get it back, hence the possession figures.
Did you know your new boss is a mafia rapist ?
Not cool.
Vicky, that’s why Jens the madman is always screaming at the boys to get upfield so he has something to throw it at. Almunia just doesn’t scream. It would be nice if they could get the ball upfield the way Jens did to Sagna in Prague.
6-1 that the Special One winds up with Jol’s job. Who’s taking that action?
Sevilla simply tried to play football against us and found that when it comes to the technichal side of the game, we are in a league of our own. People are now saying that when we play them at their place it will be difficult for us to win as they will have the croud on their side - well Juventus, Real Madrid and Inter all had home ties against us and we swept them aside away from home. The football we are playing at the moment is exceptional. We are beating teams with skill, pace and strength and at the moment (not wanting to jinx us) it will take a very good team to beat us.
I’m as happy as anyone over our form so far. but I also think we’ve been lucky. against man city, spurs and sevilla, we gave them all golden chances to score and their strikers made a dog’s dinner of it. someone’s going to hit us one of these days.
but with that said, I’m actually really interested to watch the Derby game. Those were precisely the games we bolloxed up last year. They’ll park the bus in front of the goal and wait for us to break them down. Can we? I’d love to see da silva out there.
by the way, what’s eboue ankle made of? toothpicks? he’s been nursing that thing for a month now.
by the way, because usmanov keeps trying to shut down sites, let’s spread teh word about ones that have the accusations:
http://www.alisherusmanov.blogspot.com/
the guy’s a scumbag and david dein has sold us down the river.
Usmanov one dodgy evil fuck alright and the orange one has spoiled everything he has done for The Arsenal in the past by getting him involved in our club.
I put together a little summary on Usmanov on my blog.
http://arsenole.com
The ArseNole: Alisher Usmanov: The Rundown
Almunia
Sagna, Toure, Senderos, Clichy
Flamini, Cesc, Diaby, Walcott
Adebayor, Dudu
Rick
Rick.
I see eduardo, flamini or denilson on the left, and walcott on the right. with ade and rvp up top. and bendtner coming on as a sub.
but eduardo (sorry, I just can’t bring myself to type Dudu) will definitely start.
hey!
i’ve been reading the cannon for a while now and decided it’s the best around.
i thought sevilla was a really good show to be honest and at the end of the day the lads deserved the 3 goals.
i’m just a bit unsure of Senderos..
Dein has always had the best interest’s of Arsenal at heart, he lives and breathe’s for the club - I really can not see him bringing Usmanov into the club he has loved for so long if he thought for one moment it would be in anyway a negative thing. I simply feel that Dein is one of football’s visionarie’s, he is constantly looking to take the game to another level and if he thinks that Usmanov is the way to accomplish this then I will believe him. This is only my oppinion, but ask yourselves how many members of any premierships board regularly attend reserve games? How many people also doubted Dein when he appointed Wenger? How many people said Dein was wrong to try and bring Big Phil in as England manager (no no lets get Mclarren)? David Dein is respected throughout the footballing world and you do not get that kind of respect without earning it. David Dein will be back sooner or later - whoever he brings with him as a financial backer will make no difference to our club as Dein will assume full control, he will bring in new revenue’s helping the club challenge even the mighty Real Madrid for the richest club in world football.
guy u are doing it !!!and we are happy ,especial we fans in Namibia.so pls i am asking for any one in england to volntire him/her self pls to send me an asernal t-shirt so that i can wear it and show every body in my country my favorite team in the world.my name is seblon and my adress is :p o box 954 windhoek namibia.plss,any good sameritan and a well committed asernal fans to do a favour please.
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