The score line may have read one zip to the home side, but this was one game where even though we ended up second best, I still ended up with a broad smile on my face at 5 in the morning. (And no it was not because Liverpool lost AGAIN. At least not just because of that). An inconsequential game in a tournament of great consequence against an opponent who had everything to play for with us already having won the group in some style; perfect setting for a Wenger Experiment.
A squad of 17 players as opposed to the regulation 18; 2 of whom have never played for the Arsenal first team in any tournament, not even the Emirates Cup; 8 of whom have never played even a minute of Top Flight English League Football, having only a handful of Carling Cup and Reserve Games experience between them, made the trip to Greece to play Olympiakos in front of a hostile partisan crowd which hissed at their every pass and sang so loudly through the night, Zeus could’ve heard them atop Mount Olympus.
Just to put their achievement into perspective, debutant Kyle Bartley has done what the average Tottenham player has NEVER done. He’s played in the Champions League.
He wasn’t the only football virgin though, was young Kyle. His mission which he chose to accept was to rule the left. People might have thought that it was going to be Mission Impossible what with him being so young. However our 5th choice left back Tom Cruise was Samurai like in his perseverance and proved that he could soon be the Top Gun. Hell I’ll go so far to say he was better than Abidal at least.
This experiment could’ve gone badly wrong in more than a few ways. Olympiakos could have thrashed the living daylights out of us leaving me with a permanent grimace and the team with badly scarred confidence levels. The Belgian side could’ve won their game and if we’d lost then, there would’ve been an outpouring of scorn and derision from the rest of Europe (led by Michel Platini naturally) about how we’ve robbed Liege of a knock out stage spot by lowering the Standard of the competition (note the delicious play of words) and how Wenger has sullied the noble name of UEFA by letting pre-pubescents play in their flagship tournament.
As it turns out Standard lost themselves and we more than gave the Greeks a run for their drachmas. In fact two of our ‘veterans’ Vela and Theo were guilty of squandering gilt edged opportunities which should have seen us run out victorious. Proving just how early the indoctrination of the ‘Arsenal Way’ begins, the team put out a demonstration of the philosophy that has been ingrained in them. Possession football, slick one touch passing, pacy and incisive movement was how last night panned out, proving we want to play good football irrespective of whether we are 16 or 35.
Yes, we conceded. The error was clearly down to inexperience. Bartley went to ground in a position where he could’ve just kept the pressure on Leonardo. Gilbert was foxed and went the wrong way. Can you imagine what a good review session where the team analyzes these errors will do in terms of an education? And yes, we were short in the final third sometimes. But that is a problem even the first team faces sometimes (thankfully not so much this season). On the positive side, the midfield trio of Merida, Wilshere and Ramsey justified their billing as wünderkids. I may appear a little partial but I felt we were the better side yesterday and it was because of these three men boys and Song of course who is pretty indispensible right now.
Frankly yesterday’s game gave me much more satisfaction than the 4-1 over Alkmaar or the 2-0 over Olympiakos at the Emirates. That team was expected to roll over the opposition and they duly obliged. Last night however was just a field trip. This team was expected to be rolled over. And like most underdogs they put up a grand fight.
Who doesn’t wonder what the future holds for them? Considering some of my fortunes are unquestioningly linked with that of the club it certainly seems immensely bright.
It was 11 boys against 11 men last night. And the boys can hold their head up high. They truly were champions in a tournament meant for champions.
Heh Liverpool. Things could just get worse pretty soon.
5-4
Yeah. I agree. Watch Arshavin’s pledge 🙂
“It was 11 boys against 11 men last night. ”
The last time that phrase was used, Wenger’s boys were whining away..
Yeah da, This was obviousa a dig on Patrice nancy Evra