A tricky hand …
The boys are off on a jaunt to Italy then.
As far as I can tell, a draw or a win puts us top of the group. A defeat by less than a 3 goal margin leaves us runners-up if BVB win in France. I am sure there are all sorts of complicated equations but that’s the gist of it, I think.
Goodness only knows what sort of a team we will put out given that we play City early on Saturday. It could be anything between the best eleven and a shadow team. I really don’t have a clue.
Nor does anyone else, bar Arsene.
A quick scan of some blogs tells me nothing other than what some experts recommend Arsene does.
I suspect no matter what happens on the night he will have made the wrong choices. If we play a strong team and win, we should have rested key players. If we play a weakened team and lose, we should have played a stronger team.
You know how it goes.
So I think its best if we experts decide in the comments section what Arsene should do.
Positively Arsenal 
You’re a blue skies man Henry – I can see that – with us at the controls even Arsene can’t mess it up
LikeLike
@Dexter
Well, Wenger has picked exactly the same team as I have!
LikeLike
On the same wavelength as AW hay?? Impressive
LikeLike
C O Y G !!!!!!!!!
LikeLike
Per is having one of those games. Intercepting everything.
LikeLike
Is it me or has time stopped ?
LikeLike
Tragic
I told him to get a decent coat and I’m ignored
LikeLike
Told you Wenger had lost it! No Theo? Weird as feck. Not even as a sub too.
LikeLike
Outfoxed by the cunning Spanish waiter again
I reckon Rafa has his name on that Europa Cup for a record breaking consecutive victory
LikeLike
Well, we were in complete control until about the 60th minute or so and then a brilliant piece of Napoli play gave them a goal while the referee simultaneously decided that he wants to try and boost the ratings by sending Arteta off. Arteta had comitted a grand total of 2 fouls that night and there had been Napoli players running around with twice or thrice the amount of fouls without being booked. In fact, Mertens did something pretty similar in the first half while he was on a yellow and escaped punishment. Double standards all around.
LikeLike
I don’t give a fuck who we draw in the next round. Guaranteed a great game…unless of course the cunting partnership between TV and EPL steps in. The fuckers have planned a less than three day gap. Glad we kept key players fresh for Saturday. I predict an away win by one goal.
LikeLike
Anicoll out.
Yes the ref was a total arse, but then again he has form.
We are through the so-called “group of death”, which is what really counts, would have been nice to top it, but there was always one eye on Saturday’s game.
LikeLike
Theo is that fresh, he’s still got the sellophane wrapping on.
I think he could have used a run out, or Gnabry. The game was crying out for some pace.
LikeLike
Is it me or has time stopped ?
alo? … i see light…are we back? ..echo….(whistles)
LikeLike
And Frank is right, to have just a couple of days recovery time before such a massive game is a fecking disgrace.
LikeLike
Its BTSport and their amateurish ways. Eejits. Should’ve been a Sunday game. Gawd knows why it isnt?
LikeLike
the first half performance of konscielny.
LikeLike
…was perfect
LikeLike
well in Frank.
I couldnt stand the tension any longer.
LikeLike
I shall reflect carefully
Enjoy our frankly untroubled trip to Italy
The shed is however pristine
LikeLike
The first 70 minutes were completly controlled by Arsenal. Remember, we never had to win tonight.
LikeLike
S’true DC.
Nevertheless, I expect a big inquest from George tomorrow. We’ve progressed, relatively untroubled, through to the group stages, and are sitting five points clear at the top of the league.
Questions must be asked as to why we just lost a game that we didn’t really need to win.
I hope folks (elsewhere) don’t over-react for once. Is that expecting too much? probably. We are doing great, tonight was a minor slip-up along the way, but I couldn’t see anything to get unduly concerned about.
G’night.
LikeLike
Group stages = knockout.
Ffs. Past my bedtime.
LikeLike
So, next up are either Barca, one of two Madrid teams, Bayern or PSG. Personally, I don’t care much for PSG. I don’t think some moneybag asshats constitute a “big European night”. And Bayern, well, that’s the toughest of the lot and we’ve played them already so I’d rather see something new. Barca would be right up my alley since we do have some unfinished business with them but I wouldn’t mind either of the Madrid sides.
LikeLike
noooo…anyone except ronaldo
LikeLike
Bloody hell. Wasn’t expecting that. Should have tried harder for first place. Anywho, I guess my pick would be ATHLETICO MADRID or psg. Will be tough but this crew has what it takes…
UTA……
LikeLike
I relish the thought of this squad shoving it up the best in the world over two rounds…all we need is three of four days after our previous game and three or four for the next.
LikeLike
It’s s cunning plan to shaft the spuds with Napoli in the muppet cup.
However, I’m sure we would have preferred the LWC to play Dortmund but Marseilles let everyone down.
We will know soon why Theo didn’t get a run tonight, but Wenger went with out best possession holding team and he was right.
LikeLike
@Hunter13
Ronaldo is a beast, but Sagna was too good for him whenever they have played.
LikeLike
Laurent Koscielny.
LikeLike
KOSHER IS BOSS!!!
LikeLike
we are getting madrid… for obvious reason.
LikeLike
the inquest should wait till the next post.
LikeLike
The TV companies will only shoot themselves in the foot if their ludicrous scheduling demands cause the English sides to suffer …
LikeLike
good to see youre all brave and fearless, gimme some of that cause …i am shitting myself at the prospect of ronaldo running at jenks or mert….to stop him i think we need sagna konscielny and monreal all 3 of them man marking ronaldo ..and flamini lurking for the sneaky injury tackle should ronaldo get away from the other 3.
LikeLike
mikel looks like he needs a confidence boost..seems a bit scared at times and does silly things. reminding me a bit like vermaelen
LikeLike
i sense jack and aaron ..and theo will rip city apart
LikeLike
They will. The whole team will seem strangely untired too.
LikeLike
yep..cant see this team having three bad games in a row. city will also be up for it..shoudl be a great game!
LikeLike
Having weighed up last night’s performance I think it represents another small but important step in the development of the current squad.
Approaching a game on the basis of “not wanting to lose by 3 goals” is a difficult project, and not one our current players have any experience of. Consciously or subconsciously it is different approach to our normal game. We have players who have been taught and seem to embrace to man “playing with no handbrake”.
And yet last night, and it did surprise me I admit, we played with a sense of clear discipline and control. I do not think we went out with the clear intention of winning the game.
Our shape barely changed over the 90 minutes, irrespective of what a lively Naples tried to do. Tackles were solid, marking at the dead ball impeccable, there was no room or time anywhere on the pitch for the Italian side. And while we went forward it was as a solid unit, and when the ball was lost we retreated in an organised manner.
In short we performed well within ourselves, and earned the result our approach was designed to secure.
LikeLike
That is a mature and considered response. All I would add is that we were not done any favours at all by the ref, which sadly seems so often the case. But given that it is, we might need to try extra hard to end our coming matches with the same numbers we started with.
LikeLike
i sence the draw will take ozil back to madrid. real or athletico.
hunter, i dont know about you but ronaldo hardly perform against us. he may score just like rooney or any other good players but to totally dominate us is highly unlikely. his runs are on the wings not though the midle. we have pacy fullbacks in sagna and gibbs. so ronaldo is really not a problem.
LikeLike
arsene must have a big plan for walcott this weekend. hence why he didnt feature him yesterday when there was acres of space behind napoli’s defence.
regardless of yesterdays result, i still expect shitty to play defensive against us. maybe only aguero up front.
LikeLike
there was a point in the game yesterday when it suddenly became very open and although Napoli were having more of the ball I honestly thought we would score first, however it didn’t quite pan out like that but the medias assertion that we held on to qualify was vastly wide of the mark.
In the end are we the team most disappointed we didn’t qualify top, this year I don’t think so, the nightmare draws, as the media has it, will definitely be hoping to avoid us making us the nightmare team for others to avoid in the next round.
As city looms into the picture now through the fog, I hope we can take our energy and efficiently in front of goal at our best to city and truly do ourselves justice.
LikeLike
Anicoll5 11:51am
Discipline and Control. well said.
Napoli’s first goal came while Arsene was trying to get Nacho onto the field.
There might have been a plan to bring on Theo when Napoli was crowding all 10 outfield players into our half for the last 20 minutes, but the second yellow (really?) for Arteta put a kybosh to that.
LikeLike
layksite
December 12, 2013 at 12:29 pm
so ronaldo is really not a problem.
cant say i share that feeling.
LikeLike
i fear playing against drogba and roonney than ronaldo. defender in spain can make strikers look better than they are. he strugles against pacy defender ( good or averege ). just look at sodaldo.
LikeLike
drogba is 33 and rooney is not ronaldo. ronaldo is chasing records in champions league and is 28 years old and in absolute top form….. besides, both drog and roo we cant face in next round.
LikeLike
anyway thst in fevbruary…lets thrash city and chelsea and build a cushion of points in epl…6 points should be our priority if we are serious this year. …. especially after messing up with everton…especially aginst the next two etams we face ( direct rivals for title)
LikeLike
There’s no point worrying about who we might face in the CL now, or going over why the team didnt perform and why certain players werent used.
Hopefully all the players will be fresh enough for a massive game in Manchester. They have a 9 day break before the next game vs the chavs so they can rest up after Saturday’s game!
I really dont know why Theo is being deployed so sparingly at the moment? Maybe he will get a run out but I can’t see him starting if AW didnt do that last night.
LikeLike