KEEPER Igor Akinfeev got close enough to put Thierry Henry off.
Every time he came out, and the ball didn’t touch him, it was a “save”, in a way.
Akinfeev did enough every time and kept a clean sheet.He was one of the main reasons it finished 0-0.
The team news was : Gallas partnered Toure, with Clichy at left back.
Bizarrely, Henry was booked in the first minute for clattering Zhirkov near the halfway line.
In 16, Rosicky released Gilberto on the right and he played the ball into Henry’s run at the near post but Akinfeev came out and got close enough to make Henry miss.
In 26, Fabregas took the ball round the keeper but stumbled and hit the side-netting
In 35, Hleb played van Persie in but Akinfeev came out and put him off and he shot past the post.
In 44, Fabregas played a lovely through ball as Henry ran from a deep position and Akinfeev came out yet again and Henry flicked it past him – but just wide.That was Arsenal’s best move and best chance and it was still 0-0.
In 46 of the first half, Henry got through on the left and Fabregas was tugged off balance and with Akinfeev helpless on the ground Rosicky passed back to the keeper. He missed a tap-in. He wasn’t off-balance but he missed an open goal from three yards.
In the second half, in 48, Henry went to head a van Persie corner but Akinfeev came at him again, so he headed over.A bit like the late header he missed on Saturday when he saw the yellow body of Tim Howard coming at him.
By now it was clear that Wenger should put RVP at centre forward for the rest of this game.
Then Wagner Love made a break against Gallas and I was sure Gallas would take the ball off him. But, with a tricky spurt, Love beat Gallas and hit a low shot which Lehmann did very well to stop, grabbing the ball as it squirted loose behind him. A scary moment. Wagner Love can be alarmingly fast.
In 65, Henry was in on the left but Akinfeev got close to him and he shot just wide of the far post. Van Persie raced in but failed to connect.
ARSENAL had now had 19 shots. But only 4 on target.
They had run out of ideas.
Theo Walcott came on for Hleb and RVP went up front, at last.
In 73, Hoyte’s cross gave RVP a free header from six yards but he placed it just wide of the post. A bad miss for an international striker.
Gael Clichy made a good comeback, reminding us what a fine little player he is But Clichy started to fade now, began do some sloppy things.
ALIADIERE came on for RVP in 82.
Then Akinfeev made a good save when Gilberto headed Hoyte’s cross.
Olic replaced Love and Henry almost scored an own-goal, waving his leg at a corner. The ball hit his standing leg and deflected just wide.
So Matchday 4 ended goalless after 94-plus minutes
THIS 0-0 is Arsenal’s fourth draw in 8 Emirates games.
They had 27 goals attempts but only 7 on target.
How can we sum it up?Did Arsenal lose a goalless draw?
It’s 1.00 am now and too late to write much more so I’ll just say two things.
1. Thierry Henry is not brave enough to be a striker.
He has one eye on the ball and one on the keeper or the nearest defender. He won’t take a knock. He is a winger and always will be. He will always score certain types of goal and always miss other types of goal.
Thierry Henry is a high-scoring, super-athletic left winger with amazing skills who creates a lot of his own chances and they are usually the type of chances where he doesn’t have to take a knock.
2. This game always looked like the Ajax game after the 1-1draw at Highbury in the Second Group Stage in 2002-2003.
Everyone said then that in Amsterdam they would be playing at home and would have to come out and attack more and Arsenal would hit them on the break and win.
But I said : No, the second game will be just the same. Ronald Koeman has rumbled how to contain Arsenal. Defend deep and narrow, let Arsenal have the ball in wide positions. Ajax did that and drew 0-0 and put Arsenal out
I clocked Ajax as a team who could contain Arsenal and CSKA struck me the same way two weeks ago. I thought : I like their teamwork, I think they’re good.
But tonight CSKA were not as solid as I expected, even though big No.4 Ignashevich was excellent. Arsenal opened them up again and again. Very few teams, if any, make as many chances as that against CSKA Moscow.
The Russians must have been shocked at how often Arsenal split them open. And relieved to remain top of the group.
The Rosicky, Fabregas and van Persie misses were not chances. They were goals that were not scored
PORTO went to Hamburg and whacked them 3-1, so they have seven points, as do Arsenal.
Four games played, two to go.
Four games played by Arsenal, four goals scored. It’s not enough. They needed Ian Wright or a young Freddie Ljungberg to score the first goal.They need somebody who will take a knock and score the goal.They need a striker.
A team of wingers and inside forwards will have too many games like this.It was predictable that this would be a night of tension and frustration.What was surprising was the vast number of chances CSKA allowed Arsenal to create.
All teams miss chances, of course.. Teams of every style miss chances.But there is something really fundamental missing from this Arsenal team and Matchday 4 showed us exactly what is wrong.
In that regard, it was a landmark game.
It summed up too many other games.It clarifed the problem.They need a striker who will run in front of defenders and take a knock.They need a Wagner Love.
Arsenal v Hamburg is on Tuesday November 21.
The other game that night is CSKA v Porto.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Lehmann; Hoyte, Gallas, Touré, Clichy; Hleb (Walcott, 71), Gilberto, Fabregas (Flamini, 89), Rosicky; Henry, Van Persie (Aliadière, 82). Subs not used: Almunia (gk), Senderos, Song, Djourou.
CSKA MOSCOW (3-4-1-2): Akinfeev; Vasily Berezutskiy, Semberas, Alexei Berezutskiy; Ignashevich, Krasic (Aldonin, 40), Rahimic, Zhirkov; Dudu; Carvalho (Taranov, 90), Love (Olic, 85). Subs not used: Gabulov (gk), Odiah, Salugin, Grigoryev.
Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)