Arsenal visit the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven on Wednesday as we get down to the real stumbling block of this club: European away games. The Gunners have not won on the Continent since Lens in the UEFA Cup back in the 1999-2000 season. PSV Eindhoven sit atop the Eredivisie with 5 wins in 5 outings, swamping FC Zwolle 3-1 on Saturday behind a brace from Mateja Kezman and one from Jan Vennegoor of Heselink. Kezman is undoubtedly the man to mark, with all 7 of his goals this season coming in the last 3 games. The match also marked the first time PSV have conceded a goal this season.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/News/Kind=1/newsId=34765.html PSV keeper Ronald Waterreus tears a hamstring.
Closed circuit? Is anyone planning on trying to catch this match from the Setanta closed-circuit broadcast? I haven't done an extensive search, but it looks like the Dark Horse/Dickens in Philly is showing it live ($10 cover), while Nevada Smith's in New York is showing it on a 2-hour tape delay. I haven't checked with any of the Denver-area places yet, but it would be a real longshot to get away for 3 hours during the middle of the day, anyway.
With the way the lads have been playing so far this season, I expect us to get at least a draw in this fixture. Having Dennis out there and Vieira back after suspension for the Bolton game will give the team a big boost. If we can get an early goal, I'd hope we can hold out for a win, our players should have enough experience at this level now to dominate when we get on top.
Wow, that is shocking! I heard of threats if your team does NOT succeed, but I've never heard of threats to make a team fail! Hopefully, the police can locate and lock up the perpetrators. Some things are taken a bit too seriously! On to other things, Go Gunners! Arsenal really need to bag at least one goal and hopefully pull out a win. That will set up their confidence in European play and allow them to breaze through the group. On paper, this should be an Arsenal victory but with the European form of late away from home, I feel they need a boost to pull out the win. Perhaps having Bergkamp available will provide that spark!
The player on the spot is Thierry Henry. We all know how often he's disappeared in our biggest matches. For all his strikes the last few years, his CL away tale in 14 matches for Arsenal is a single solitary goal. Contrast that with 11 goals in 16 home appearances in the Champions League. Incidentally, I did make a mistake regarding our last win in Europe: 19 months ago in Lyon, Henry scored his only CL away goal for Arsenal in a 1-0 win. Our fortunes here are tied to the Frenchman's boot. It's time for him to step up to the fore.
Kezman had a poor season last year and almost dissappeared. I believe his poor form had a direct result on PSV not catching up to Ajax in the end. PSV is every bit as good as Dortmund and at home will be very dangerous. I believe one point is satisfactory but I hope Le Boss doesnt play for the point and sends the lads out to attack. Do you play Freddie or rest him? Id love to see Henry and Wiltord up front with Bergkamp slotting in behind them like Kanu was supposed to do vs Bolton. Bergkamp can distribute beautifully to the forwards and ,as we've seen before, score at the 18.
We have to take at least a point from this game. I think it will be the toughest away game for us in this round.
He plays. I don't buy into this thought that we can deal with a point tomorrow. This team needs to make a psychological statement that it is here to win this tournament and that the old way of doing things has passed. Every away game that goes on without a clear victory increases the burden. Three points are the goal. Seaman Lauren Keown Campbell Cole Wiltord Gilberto Vieira Ljungberg Bergkamp Henry Subs: Shabaan, Parlour, Kanu, Jeffers, Cygan, Luzhny, Edu
Good lineup, though I might choose Toure over Parlour for the subs bench. Also, depending on Freddie's fitness, I might start Edu on that wing and bring Freddie in at the break. (Don't forget that we have a biggie against Leeds on the weekend.)
According to Soccernet (don't have link), Parlour and Edu are out. So that makes it more likely that Toure will be on the bench.
Speaking of Parlour(I know this should be on the Bolton post game) but hes up to his old tricks. In the fifth minute he takes a terrible swipe at a player and than right after the PK he nearly gives away one as he stomps on Bolton players ankle inside our 18. I like what he offers off the bench but after seeing these stupid moves Im all for Toure getting that spot. Plus Toure is more fun to watch, he has that enthusiasm you only see in young players.
Someone said they saw him pull Campo's hair. Then someone else said it was in a fit of jealousy over who had the best embarrassing '80s-style hair don't. I didn't spot the hair pull, but then again the announcer in the broadcast I saw called Gilberto "Edu" for much of the game, so the production values weren't exactly on par with Monday Night Football, you know?
Whats with that hair anyways? Campo just had a nervous breakdown and that hair made him look positively mad.
I took another look at the Bolton match this evening to see if Parlour's foot touched the ball on the goal (it didn't), but a couple of other things jumped out: Parlour appeared to be trying with all his might to score from the same spot he did in the FA Cup Final. Every time he got the ball in range of that spot he was trying to tee it up. as for the other hi-jinx, I didn't see anything that just jumped out. Also, Kanu had one decent pass the whole game, to Jeffers after the last goal. How in the hell does Jeffers not put that one away? On his feet, about 6 feet out, and nothing. I guess I was so jazzed on Saturday about the win I didn't care at that point, but he's got to put those away to play with the big boys.
The confidence we could get from a win today would be huge. My fear is that Freddie or DB10 pick up a knock in this game and are unavailable against Leeds.