Anyway, it's Shakhtar, Braga and Partizan. All things considered, this is a draw I would take. Shakhtar will be tricky, and Eduardo will be all geared up to show us what we'll miss. Nah, seriously, no way is he an Adebayor, and he'll be nice to see again. Hopefully, though, he won't show up as the pre-injury Eduardo.
Braga? Not much anyone knows about them, except that they quite efficiently dispensed of Sevilla in qualifying, which we all know is no mean feat. Partizan? Ditto, but in all seriousness, in Pool 4, and first appearance in yonks, we should be able to take care of it.
Trips to Ukraine and Serbia aren't exactly the most mouth-watering in terms of travel, but the schedule of games quite makes up for it. We do, however, play Partizan away and Chelski away in succession, but it's helped that it's a Tuesday game followed by a Sunday kick-off. (Nice too, that we get to play West Brom at home before travelling).
The trip to Shakhtar in early November (better than December!) is also sandwiched by two home games to West Ham and Newcastle. All in all, relatively kind. No complaints, and I'm chuffed that we'll have our first game at home to Braga. Yum.
After idiot Crouch's call for Inter in the draw, the fool gets it. This bravado after a convincing win against some Swiss young boys was evidently stupid to all non-Spurs fans, and they've been suitable rewarded with Inter, Werder Bremen and McClaren's Twente. I tell you what: how much would we wager that Spurs ends up bottom of their group? Such pleasure, it would bring...
The "Group of Death" of course is Madrid, AC Milan, Ajax and Auxerre. I'm sure Madrid will come out on top, but it'll be a toss up with the other three. As always, Chelski have got an easy run-out, and so do Barca. Man U's Group C will throw up a few interesting ties tough: Valencia, Rangers...what fun.
We do all love the Champions League, do we not?
Looking ahead to Blackburn, Wenger thinks the injury prognosis is quite good. I'll say. We have Denilson back, and RVP and Cesc have not suffered any sort of averse reaction to game time. Koscielny's back too, after his suspension. So we look as full strength as any Arsenal team can look "full strength". Bring it on, bring it on. Is it only Thursday?
Elsewhere, Wenger's finally announced our signing of Le Squid. No surprises there, so let's hope that puts an end to all the conspiracy theories that were circulating as to why it had taken so long in coming. Said Le Boss:
"We needed a centre-back of quality and experience if possible, and at the right price - he was all of that."
See, I told you. His motto is "I only buy them cheap and good", no? These French...
Anyway, speaking of French, looks like our three acquisitions so far have taken on a distinctive French/Francophonie look - Koscielny, Chamakh and now Squid. We're dead stuck with the goalkeeping situation, but let's hope we can once and for all add an Australian to the mix.
At this stage, though, it looks worrying, to say the least. So long as Fulham can't find their replacement, I don't see how they're going to let Schwarzer go. As I've said before - it sure sucks to have our fates determined by the likes of Mark Hughes et al. Maybe if we just offer to give them Fabianski on loan, and volunteer to pay his wages and then some. Szceszny (correct?) can then be the Schwarzer cover.
On some non-Arsenews, and going back to Spurs...Young Boys were a complete let down last night. What the hell. Totally unreliable. I keep getting let down by the Swiss. Wonder if there's a pattern there. Anyway, to let a 3-0 lead turn into a 6-3 aggregate drubbing has got to be one of the worst turn-arounds imaginable. Quite like beating the European (and eventual World) Champions in your first group game and then not even qualifying for the knock-out rounds.
What can you do though? With a name like Young Boys. But I suppose it helps that Young Boys are always going to get the better in any contest with Grasshoppers. Hands down. Even Little Girls.
2 comments:
Excellent analysis and much better than all the media write-ups. The author is a profound guru on Gunners from the age of 12 and so his judgments are pretty stimulating. We request the author to indicate his date of birth which is missing.
To Mr/Ms Anonymous (or not so anonymous): please note the Arsewiper's new policy of only providing my date of birth to those seeking my hand in marriage. In any case, I am already married. Let's just say I'm a tad older than Bobby P.
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