It was halftime during the Arsenal vs. Napoli match
in the Champions League last night, and I was so
excited about the unbelivable 45 minutes I had just
seen from the Gunners. This was the big test of
Arsenal's credentials, and it was a test we were
passing with flying colours. But what did the
presenter's focus on? How bad the opposition was.
Bleedin' typical. They did the same when we
travelled to Marseille.
The general consensus, then, was that Napoli had
obviously flattered to deceive so far, even though
they had beaten last year's finalists Borussia
Dortmund in the last round and gone unbeaten in the
Italian league, including a great away win at AC
Milan. It was all about how they had failed to close us
down, blah blah blah. The fact is that we passed
them off the park and they were simply blown away
in the first 15 minutes, and they never recovered
mentally or physically.
Even when they closed down or doubled up on us, we
had the strength, skill or vision to keep the ball and
move it on, so it looked like there were massive
spaces. With 10 outfield players, you can either press
the ball or keep your shape, you can't do both
properly, and Arsenal just made it too hard for them.
Their best player, and he is very good, was Hamsik,
and he was clearly surprised by how much better
Arsenal were.
Hamsik said, "We have to compliment Arsenal. They
deserved the win.
"When you come up against a team like this one,
there are differences."
To be honest, the media can think and say what they
like. It will make Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal
players all the more determined to prove them
wrong. I bet they will say before the next Champions
League game against Dortmund that this is the REAL
test. And if we beat them, you can guarantee that the
Germans will have had an off night.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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