No-one wants to be the odd one out
1 comment March 11th, 2009
Well, Liverpool and Chelsea set the bar last night with two excellent resultsm, meaning 50% of the English contingent have now qualified for the Champions League Quarter-Finals. Responsibility now falls to Manchester United and our own Arsenal to end the remaining Italian interest in the competition.
Chelsea too travelled to Italy defending a 1-0 lead. Although Juventus equalised early on, the tie was immediately put beyond them by Michael Essien’s goal, which meant Juve would need three on the night. With an away goal having such extraordinary valye, it’s unsurprising that Arsene is insisting that we will attack Roma:
“I believe it is down to achieving a good balance between attack and defence. We always have an offensive attitude, sometimes that’s the best way so you do not come under pressure defensively.”
If I was a horrible sarcy snide little thing, I’d say our attitude was particularly offensive in some of our drab 0-0s this season, and laugh to myself out of sheer smugosity at my punning greatness. Fortunately for you, I’m lovely, and would never do that.
That said, an away goal really would be invaluable. I’m quite prepared to say that if we score tonight, we’ll go through. If not, it might prove a little dicey.
The squad has been announced, and the good news is that Kolo Toure has travelled and is “fit to start”. I suspect the team that starts could be the same one that faced Roma last time out, with Nicklas Bendtner wide on the left and Nasri playing just off Van Persie. Unlike in the first leg, however, we’ll have Eduardo and Theo Walcott available from the bench if we need something special late on.
In many ways, I’m less motivated tonight by the prospect of us winning the Champions League (something I consider deeply unlikely) than I am horrified by the idea of being the only English side to go out. Whilst that would allow us to concentrate on our bid for fourth place, which is a pursuit of the utmost importance, it would be horribly embarrassing – especially considering the manner in which we dominated the first leg.
In other news, after Gunnerblog told you the other day that Havard Nordtveit was in talks about a loan move to Lillestrom, it was yesterday confirmed that Nordtveit has joined the Norwegian side until August. He will play under former United defender Henning Berg, and will hopefully get the first-team football he needs at this stage in his development. Some might question the standard of the Norwegian league, but it’s worth remembering that the much-heralded Brede Hangeland was playing there little over a year ago.
I’ll leave you with some happy memories of our last game over in Rome, in November 2002. There is not a single survivor of that squad in the group who travelled to Italy (albeit a little delayed) last night:
I hope in seven years time (yes, that was SEVEN years ago) I’m showing you highlights of what happens tonight. For good reasons. Come on you Gunners.
