There was something rather routine about all this pizzazz. Arsenal dazzled tonight, as they invariably do through the group stage of a competition that can feel little more than a giddy formality until the new year, with Braga gasping and the locals rejoicing in everything slick. All semblance of competition had been blown away, along with the visitors, by the interval though Arsène Wenger will not have been hoodwinked.
He has seen all this before and must measure the value of such mismatches on longer-term relevance. The watching world knew that Arsenal can by-pass all-comers – except perhaps Barcelona – once they have built up a head of steam. Now they know they still can. It is fragility at the other end that has cost them and, a little over five months since Barça so ruthlessly exposed a soft underbelly, it is this team's rearguard that has duly been revamped.
The overhaul has been substantial, the departures of older heads in William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Mikaël Silvestre, together with Philippe Senderos, hinting at revolution across the back-line rather than Wenger's favoured process of evolution. In have come Sébastien Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny, for not insubstantial fees, to join last summer's acquisition Thomas Vermaelen. Wenger would have added a goalkeeper – Fulham's Mark Schwarzer – had the opportunity arisen which suggests that, even now, his side's defence is a work in progress.
The chance to strengthen further has gone for now. With Lionel Messi's rampaging at Camp Nou in April in mind, the question has been posed whether Arsenal are better equipped this time to excel in a competition neither club nor manager has ever won. Wenger may privately reserve judgment for now, even after this swashbuckling display. His attack remains irrepressible as ever but vulnerability remains. Braga may not have exploited it but better sides would have prospered.
Perhaps flashes of uncertainty were to be expected given this is a defence whose components are still getting used to each other. Vermaelen's absence with an Achilles problem is untimely given that he is now the club's established central defensive force. Squillaci, at 30 a player of considerable experience, could yet prove an inspired arrival from Sevilla and offered strength and vision against the Portuguese on only his second appearance. His calm block on Paulo César a little after an hour was superbly executed.
The France international has claimed a weight of silverware over the course of his career, from a French Second Division title to the Copa del Rey, and was playing his 33rd Champions League tie here. He, like Arsenal, is a beaten finalist in the European Cup, with Monaco. Yet, if he offered reassurance, then it was his partner, in his first game in this competition, who remains under greater scrutiny.
Koscielny clearly boasts the raw qualities to excel at this level yet, even at 25, he retains the look of a prospect. His brief Arsenal career to date has veered from the sublime to the ridiculous, usually within the context of individual fixtures. A strong display at Liverpool was marred by a late sending- off. A first goal against Bolton on Saturday was undermined by the error that yielded the visitors an equaliser. In between, at an inhospitable Ewood Park, he had been exposed at times by the home side's trickery which lured him away from the centre and into trouble.
The Frenchman should, of course, be permitted his adaptation period but on this evidence it would not be surprising if Vermaelen and Squillaci become the mainstays, in the short term at least. Matheus, Braga's slippery No99, caused him problems, particularly when loitering on the shoulder to peel into space behind the centre-half. The striker relished life on the blind side and what few chances the visitors created – they scored four times against Squillaci's former club Sevilla in qualifying – were invariably gained at Koscielny's expense.
None was taken and the focus was increasingly drawn to the brilliance on offer at the other end of the pitch as Braga creaked in their feeble attempts to contain. But greater tests than this lie ahead. The group already looks like a formality, even after one home fixture. The real intrigue comes after Christmas when the knock-out phase begins.
"Then you need decisions to go for you and your best players available," said Wenger. And steel in your defence most of all.
Source: Dominic Fifield, The Guardian on 15 Sep 10
No comments:
Post a Comment