Marseille 0 Arsenal 1
Ramsey 93
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One of the worst Champions League games I’ve ever seen.
Sometimes a carnival of incompetence is fun to watch. It can be so bad, it’s good. It can be funny.
THIS WASN’T FUNNY.
Marseille didn’t complete one pass of more than 15 yards.
Both teams were clueless. Both lacked ability and confidence. Arsenal’s lack of craft in the front third was quite appalling.
After Song tried dribbling in the centre circle and lost the ball, he naturally tried to dribble out of his penalty area. Song won the ball well and had two short passes available but he tried to beat an opponent who was standing still in the oddest, most predictable manner – and lost the ball in a dangerous area.
Despite many stupid moments like that, and a handball shout against Jenkinson early on, Arsenal kept their first clean sheet in the Champions League for three and a half years.
And the substitutions worked. Wenger brought on a goalscorer : Aaron Ramsey.
When sub Djourou hit a 45-yard diagonal ball from right back, Gervinho tried to control it. If Gervinho had controlled that ball, the match would have finished 0-0 and Arsenal’s would have been the only CL game without a goal this week
But Gervinho waved a leg at the ball,missed it, the cross reached the unmarked Ramsey, who took one touch and rifled a right foot shot inside the near post.
Fine goal, forgettable match.
Some might argue that Arsenal’s performance was shabby. But it wasn’t as good as that.
Marseille are rubbish, new champions Lille lost at home to the elderly Inter, and Lyon were smashed 4-0 by a rampant Real Madrid.
This is the season when everybody knew that Arsenal would lose at White Hart Lane on Sunday October 2nd.
They went to Spurs and lost 2-1. That, in itself, is not a crime. That result can happen in any season. But the fact that everyone knew Arsenal would lose is an indication of where this club is right now. Only one Arsenal director was at Spurs that day, which indicates that the board also knew Arsenal would lose.
Wenger’s spin cannot change the Blackburn and Manchester United fiascos, defeats by 4-3 and 8-2. And his spin can’t fill the increasing number of empty seats and boxes at the Emirates.
There are 25 boxes unsold and only Ivan Gazidis knows exactly how much that is costing the club.
Olympiakos beat Dortmund 3-1, a further indignity for all the solid German tax-payers who are bailing out the Greek economy. Again.