By Myles Palmer
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Arsenal 2 Panathinaikos 1
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In a moment of insane optimism I predicted here that Arsene Wenger might discover his second great team in Athens three weeks ago.I thought it could be the start of something big
He didn’t.It wasn’t.Arsenal played badly and lost 1-0.
But he may have discovered his second great team last night.
Arsenal played furiously fast attacking football, scored twice, conceded once, saved a penalty and put themselves in the frame to qualify for Group Stage Two.
Especially as Schalke provided a shock by winning 4-0 in Mallorca.
Wenger took the radical step of starting Matthew Upson, leaving Keown on the bench.
Patrick Vieira was awesome.He won a tackle on the half-way line, took one touch and supplied Henry with a perfect through pass.
And Henry scored a truly fantastic centre forward’s goal after 23 minutes.
One touch to control the ball, one to change the angle of the shot, which gave the keeper no chance.
I hope Batistuta saw that goal.I hope Klinsmann saw it. I hope Vialli saw it. I hope Papin saw it.
They would all have loved to score that goal from that pass.
Great football :simple, direct, penetrating, skilful – typical Arsene Wenger football. A sudden fierce thrust through the middle. Simply irresistible.
Then Upson made a silly tackle on Olisadebe in the penalty area. He was never within playing distance of the ball and his challenge was amateurish. You don’t do that in the box, but he brought his man down, an obvious 24-carat penalty.
BUT RICHARD WRIGHT DIVED TO HIS RIGHT AND SAVED IT !
During the first half Lauren was so good I was hoping he would play for Arsenal for the next 20 years.
After 50 minutes Olisadebe made it 1-1. He turned Lauren too easily and slammed in a shot which deflected off Sol Campbell’s shin and flew past Wright at the near post.He couldn’t save it because he never saw it.
Wiltord had a nightmare, contributing nothing.His control, passing and positioning were atrocious.
But then, after 52 minutes, he charged into the box towards a Pires pass and was bumped by two defenders.He was looking to go down, got bumped on one side, then barged down on the other side.
A penalty was given and Henry slotted it beautifully into the corner.
There were hairy moments after that. Olisadebe hit the bar.
But mostly it was fun to watch Wright, Campbell and Upson getting to know each other.
A massive game for them, three guys who have only played one game together before last night. You could see them learning how to use each other,developing faith in each other. A huge experience for them.
Wright looked excellent. He punched powerfully and didn’t bottle it when he had to come out of his area, head the ball and collide with an opponent. He is left-footed but he also kicked with his right foot!
He is a huge improvement on Seaman. Although he did not keep a clean sheet as I predicted, he had no chance with the deflected shot which beat him.
After 75 minutes Panathinaikos looked tired. Arsenal looked a little bit weary too. The energy output by the ten outfield players had been absolutely phenomenal.
Wenger’s high-speed football had won the day in a match where both teams were really up for it.
Pires has gone off the boil in the last two games, but Vieira played by far his best match of the season.
17th October 2001.
P.S. Liverpool became the first British team to win in Kiev.They beat Dynamo 2-1.
Steven Gerrard made the first goal and scored the second to give stricken manager Gerard Houllier a big boost.
Well, we hope it gave him a boost. After 11 hours of cardiac surgery to repair a split aorta, Gerard may still be on Planet Zargon.
Never mind recovering from heart surgery, it will take him three weeks to recover from the anaesthetic!