A comfortable evening at the Arsenal Stadium

I expected more from Shakhtar Donetsk, just as I expected more from Braga. I guess, as Arsenal fans, some of us can be ultra-critical of our team, but the view from outside is sometimes very different. The club certainly has a reputation on the continent, and it seems that many sides come to Arsenal in the Champions League already defeated. Damage limitation seems to be the order of the day from the moment they step out onto the pitch.

As Arsenal have been in the top set of seeds in this competition for a number of seasons now, the opposition in these groups often seems to feature relatively unglamorous teams. I recall being in a group with Inter Milan a few years ago, but since then, my memory is struggling to recall many crunch encounters until the knockout stages. And for this reason, the 60,000 plus attendance given at the stadium last night was certainly nowhere near a reflection on the number of bums on seats. Many choose not to come for any of the group matches. The preference is presumably to have the feet up in front of the fire with the game on the TV after a day at work. Watching the half-time highlights of other matches, I pondered briefly whether Roma’s match v Basel might have been played behind closed doors. It’s difficult to knock the number of people that did turn up to watch Arsenal when you see stadiums as empty as that. On this level, the Champions League, although a commercial success, sure doesn’t capture the imagination of football supporters before the turn of the year. There comes a point where games are just being played for the sake of fulfilling the schedule, with seemingly little at stake. This will surely be the case by the time Arsenal entertain Partizan Belgrade and maybe even the game before when they visit Braga.

In a sense, it is a triumph that so many people do come, but having paid for the ticket (these games being on the season tickets), I guess many think they might as well get their money’s worth. And in fairness, they were rewarded last night with an authoritative Arsenal performance. I guess Diaby was injured as thankfully Wilshere remained Song’s partner with the return of Cesc Fabregas. It will be the last we see of young Jack for a couple of weeks, and he will be missed at Manchester City. It was interesting to see that the moment Cesc went off, he moved forward into the skipper’s position and scored. It looks like the shape of things to come, so it will be intriguing to see what the manager does with the £40 million or so that the club receive for their captain next summer. Other areas might be addressed rather than a direct replacement. Then again, going on past times, the money might not be spent at all!

Good as the spectacle was, I’d be interested to see what kind of crowd the club would have had in attendance if the seats were not on the season tickets. This surely was the case in Rome. I haven’t followed the fortunes of Shakhtar since Eduardo’s move there, but was surprised to see him on the bench. Maybe he is not a regular starter, which – given his price tag – certainly demonstrates the Ukrainians are not hard up. I have a recollection of a 3-2 win against them with Martin Keown scoring the winner in the Highbury days, but this game was nowhere near as closely contested. So much so that by the time Eduardo came on and found the net, Paul Burrell announced the goal in the style of one scored by the home team. That ain’t gonna happen often, but fair play to the PA man for capturing the mood of the moment. It was a corking volley too.

What distinguishes these matches from the bread and butter of the Premier League is that, often, there is no real physical resistance – by way of tackling – from the opposition. So Arsenal are allowed to play their football with sometimes devastating consequences. Of course, when the business end of the competition comes about and better teams come into view, then the script changes and Wenger’s lack of focus on defence pays its price. The refs are less indulgent as well, something which should actually benefit Arsenal throughout the competition, although it never seems to work out that way.

I’ve not much more to say about this match apart from well played Arsenal for doing the job at hand and doing it convincingly. The last word to the Highbury Spy, who sat next to me for this game (such is the plethora of empty seats on such nights). He saw a St George flag which simply read ‘The Arsenal’. He proposes we should re-name the club ‘The Arsenal’. Over to you Mr Gazidis…

Source: Kevin Whitcher, The Online Gooner on 20 Oct 10