Friends told me the first half was strange.
The crowd weren\’t into it, so it was an odd experience, maybe an acceptance that Arsenal had been found out by Chelsea, or some kind of terminal disconnect, a structural malaise that\’s cant be changed by a little run of results.
Times have changed , prices have risen, Arsenal’s fanbase has been deliberately altered, the players are obscenely overpaid, and the global entertainment franchise we call the EPL doesn\’t have a great team in it any more.
This Sky-era Gooner crowd can easily regress into : We\’re crap and we know we’re crap. They knew this team doesn\’t have enough depth, enough quality, enough leadership, enough players with authority, to sustain any little run they put together.
It was just humdrum, another day at the office.
When Koscielny made an inexplicably wild tackle, clattering an opponent with both front boot and trailing leg, he was lucky not to get a red card.
If Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross had made that “tackle†on an Arsenal player, Gooners would have demanded a public hanging.
As if provoked, Olympiacos produced a very dangerous cross from the right flank but Machado somehow contrived to stab over the bar from three yards.
But Gervinho was grafting and his prodigious efforts helped Arsenal to improve from woeful to average.
The Ivorian fastened onto a loose ball and shot low into the corner to put Arsenal 1-0 up.
I was surprised. As soon as I gave up the notion that Arsenal were capable of a goal, they scored.
Then Vermaelen made a surreal square pass to an Olympiacos player and you remembered that, since nobody in Group B is good enough to make the Final anyway, none of this matters very much.
Then, in 45, Leandro crossed very well from the left wing and big Mitroglou, a forceful centre forward throughout, glanced in a powerful header from eight yards. Mannone had no chance.
Second half, Arsenal improved and Gervinho cut a good ball back for Cazorla but he miskicked his shot, wasting a good chance. By now I was wondering whether Olympiacos realised they didn\’t have much to beat.
Then Podolski snapped up a chance, firing in off the keeper’s heel after Gervinho\’s pass from the bye-line picked him out.
Arsenal’s present style doesn’t involve Podolski very much, so their new predator is doing well to score as often as he does.
Arsenal were 2-1 up and now started to play brightly and with belief.
What a difference a goal makes, as the poet once said.
But Koscielny headed another great chance over the bar. Oxlade had been struggling and Walcott came on for him in 70 and his cross almost reached the raiding Vermaelen before the keeper grabbed the ball.
In 79, Ramsey came on for Gervinho and Giroud replaced Podolski.
As the game opened up, Giroud was able to reach a Walcott cross but his touch hit the keeper\’s chest. Then, after a good move, Cazorla gave Giroud a chance but his shot hit a defender on the shoulder.
Then, in 94, a Giroud flick-on released Ramsey and he produced an excellent one-on-one finish to wrap
up a night that had begun badly but ended with a 3-1 victory and Arsenal in firmly in charge of Group B.
Ramsey\’s memorable goal put the icing on a distinctly dodgy cake.
His stylish strike released the anxiety of the supporters who wished it had come before stoppage time.I hope he becomes more than a squad player. Goals are valuable. If Ramsey scores them, he will become a key player. He has the engine and the football brain. If he stays fit, Ramsey might contribute a lot in the next six months .
Still, a win is a win is a win.
Arithmetically, you can\’t do better than six points from two games.
Having said that, I doubt if Arsenal will win in Athens,even if Olympiacos are out of contention by then.
In Amsterdam, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 16th hat-trick for Real Madrid as the Spanish champions beat Ajax.
Although his first was a tap-in, his goal for 3-1 bounced wickedly into the far corner and his imperious dink past the advancing keeper made it 4-1.
In a two-club league, Ronaldo has scored 158 goals in 154 games.