By Myles Palmer
Roma 1 Arsenal 0
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Excellent first half with Montella scoring just on halftime.But C5 were showing a replay of a Ljungberg shot,so we did not see how the goal came about.
All we saw was Batistuta beating Seaman to a long ball down the middle, lobbing him, Adams kicking off the line and
Montella slotting home.
We could not tell if Seaman should have done better – got the ball, or got close enough to put Batistuta off.
Ljungberg,superbly played in by Vieira,missed a sitter after five minutes.
Van Bronckhorst made a couple of early tackles, played neat two-touch, and had a free-kick saved.
Ashley Cole, watched by Tord Grip, was Arsenal’s best player.Sol Campbell played the first half, did OK but looked rusty.
Bergkamp had left for London by road and Wenger played
4-5-1 with this line-up :Seaman ; Lauren,Campbell, Adams, Cole; Wiltord, Pires, Vieira, van Bronckhorst, Ljungberg;Henry.
Roma are a classy, energetic side with quick-witted strikers. They did nothing for 29 minutes, then almost scored twice.
Anybody who is good enough to beat Roma in the
Champions League will be good enough to win it. They are
much more solid than Lazio were a year ago.
Arsenal attacked with considerable verve as the game went on but I was never convinced they would score, even when Jeffers came on and brightened things up with a sharp run in the box.
After 77 minutes Inamoto came on for Lauren,who seemed to
have a groin strain.
Arsenal are still on course to earn three points at Middlesbrough on the 18th. If they play as they played in the first half they will pulverise Steve McClarens all-stars.
1st August 2001.