FC Twente 0-2 Arsenal – 16/08/08 – (Champions League Qualifier) 14 August, 2008

Just what we needed, that. Ok, it wasn’t a great performance but it’s the result that counts and those two away goals should make it comfortable in the second leg.

We started with the team I expected with Ramsey and Denilson in midfield and Djourou at centre back. Although this wasn’t at Twente’s home ground, their fans had sold out their allocation and were making some noise (which continued well after the final whistle, so fair play to them apart from singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’), which inspired their team in the opening minutes.

We got off to a bad start, it has to be said. I accepted it though, this is the first professional game after pre-season and you can forgive them not for getting off to a flying start. However this poor form continued for much of the first half and it was starting to worry me.

FC Twente controlled the first half. They were playing a packed midfield outnumbering the inexperienced Ramsey and Denilson combination. However their first chance didn’t come until the 18th minute; Theo Walcott lost the ball in midfield and they broke immediately. Elia was sent through on goal but Almunia did well to get off his line so quickly and dispossessed him. We’d cleared the danger but it was an early scare and an example of Twente’s pace and play.

In the 24th minute they had another great chance to take the lead. Denilson lost his man and Clichy let him slip inside after expecting him to go out wide. He drove through and blasted it high aiming for the near top corner. It was over the bar though and we could breathe again.

10 minutes later they broke through our defence another time but thankfully Almunia was sharp off the line again and it stayed 0-0. A few minutes before this we had our first attempt with Ramsey shooting from range but it was well over.

We created our first decent chance around 38 minutes. Robin van Persie showed some good work up the wing and put a deadly shot across the box but it was cleared for a corner. From that corner it fell deep to Clichy who hit it well swerving inside the post but it was saved. However it went straight into the path of Sagna but he could only send it the wrong side of the post.

Half time game and Wenger had some words to say in the break. We were lucky to not be behind, things had to change in the second half.

However, I didn’t feel like we’d made much improvement. Yes, we didn’t allow Twente any decent chances and we were showing promise going forward but nothing clinical was made. We weren’t playing ‘Arsenal football’ and it was so obvious how badly we were missing Fabregas.

When the hour came at it was still 0-0 with Twente still causing us problems I have to admit I had my head in my hands. I still thought we could qualify for the Champions League but I was just at dismay at how we were performing against a side of this quality.

Typical though, three minutes later we had taken the lead. It was from a free kick out on the right hand side with Robin van Persie to take. He whipped it in to a busy box and William Gallas made a run to the near post and bundled the ball across the line. It wasn’t the best goal technically because Gallas couldn’t get a solid touch on it but credit must go to him for the run and managing to get it across the line.

Once we went 1-0 up, you felt like we’d hold out.

With 7 minutes remaining we added the second. Walcott got down the right, looked up and squared it to Adebayor who just about managed to put it under the ‘keeper. The goalie got a bit of his leg to it but it wasn’t enough to stop it crossing the line.

So it finished up 2-0 and that’s all that we should really be looking at I suppose. No, it wasn’t the best performance ever, and I could pick out some players who didn’t look great but we came away with the 2-0 win and that’s what we went for. Job done.

The second leg is in two weeks time and Wenger says he will add to the squad before then. I bloody hope so. He said he was happy with the team he put out last night but admits he still needs to sign.

Looks like it might be one in and one out though. We’ve accepted a bid for Justin Hoyte from ‘Boro. Nothing finalised yet but I’ll update you on that when I get it.

That’s it for today. The Premier League starts in two days, who’s excited?