salaam all
we had Champions League qualifying match last night at The Emirates against FC Twente. leading 2-0 from the 1st leg, the match should be a good way of excorsing the effect of horrible performance that we showed against Fulham last week.
the match was at 3.00 am Malaysia time. with Liverpool match being shown almost all the time by Astro, i can only settle for the delayed telecast at 5.00 am. woke up at 5.56 am thinking sh!t, i must've missed the whole of first half. quickly turn on my Astro to found out the match just started up until 15th minutes. huhhh...glad about that.
just a short 1 about key points from last night match. i like how Nik and Theo in particular never gave up on trying. failed? just keep on trying. the result? both of them got a goal each. and it's amazing to think how much impact 1 player can have to a team. Cesc is world class, there's no 2 way about it. he maintain his fitness throughout the season, we surely have a shot at the title.
so we won 4-0, goals by Samir, Billy Gallas, Theo and Nik to take the tie with aggregate 6-0. the draw for the group stage is at 12.00 am tonight. surely we all Gooners will wait the draw with high interest as there are some very strong clubs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pots. anyway, match rating followed. disclaimer - this match rating is only based on the match starting at the 15th minutes.
Al - less than convincing performance by our #1. there's a couple of incident where his decision making can surely at the least were questionable, most particularly when he came out too far to the front for the cross ball where our defends had it cover. lucky for us the Twente player was offside. not good Al, not good at all. (4)
Bac - solid performance. going forward well, combined with solid defense. remember him and Gael were having the hard time containing Twente forwards during the 1st leg but nothing get past them last night. (6.5)
Johan - solid and reliable display from the young Swiss defender. based on merit, he should play the Newcastle match. heck, he should played the Fulham match. but we all know le Boss will bring back King Kolo back to the 1st eleven for the next match. (6)
Billy - showed glimpse of the old Billy Gallas in this match. even scored a goal. but everything seems easy when we are winning. the question remained how he will lead our young team when the chips are down. and based on the Fulham match, it doesn't looks good. (6.5)
Gael - solid performance. see Bac comment as both having similar efficient display. (6.5)
Theo - good hardworking performance by young Theo. he should keep doing this and surely we have a very good player in our hand. he kept it simple when he has to, and most importantly used his pace in the correct situation. and how we all can see he need that goal. nice finishing touch also. Ade should learn from him. (6.5)
Denilson - decent performance. seems like Cesc presence in the field gave that extra assurance to him. a really glad he got the assist for the Nik's goal. he need that backpass and assist to help him get over that performance against Fulham. (6)
Cesc - not at his best yet, most probably due to match fitness but we all can see the impact of having him on the pitch. as for our current squad, if he can stay fit for the whole season, we have a shot at the title. (6.5)
Samir - good game by our new boy. 2 goals at the Emirates in as many matches, i don't think we can ask for more from him. give him time to fully adapt to our playing style (which i predict to be January barring any major injury), and people will see what the hoo-haa about him. (6.5)
Robin - not a very good game by Robin. too many chances misses in this early season, last night was no difference. at least his free kicks were getting better. need to step up fast; both for Arsenal and his sake. Nik is ready to pounce any time now. to be fair, IMHO he just need 1 goal to get going. (5)
Nik - like Theo, good hardworking game by the young striker. ball control can be better, but i like his confidence. that confidences were what causing our 2nd and last goal. never afraid to do what he wanted to do. c'mon Nik, prove me wrong. i always think he will be a big player, just not for us. i'd be glad to be proved wrong in this. (6)
subs
Eboue - less than decent display only from him. looks lazy at times. not a good way to prove to le Boss that you are Arsenal 1st eleven material. (4)
Ade - good display when he came in. looks hungry for goals during the time Cesc was on the pitch but then looks rather disinterested when Cesc was brought out. we don't need this kind of behaviour, more so from our number 1 striker. (5)
Song - assured display by him. am really curious to see what exactly is le Boss plan with him. surely will be exciting to see his progress with our team. (5)
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