You Can Only Beat What's In Front Of You
Aug 29th, 2007 by 'holic
That is the message from tonight. Sparta arrived with a plan that was unhinged by their old boy Tomas Rosicky in just seven minutes, and showed no sign of recovering the situation they faced.
The biggest problem that faced Manuel Almunia came in the shape of an underhit backpass in the second minute from Justin Hoyte. The Spaniard raced to the edge of his box to deal with the situation and thereafter saw his team-mates control a tame contest.
In the closing eight minutes the diminutive Eduardo set about showing his value to the side. First he brilliantly set up substitute Cesc Fabregas for the Gunners second goal, before grabbing the third himself from a Denilson cross.
Tomorrow the draw for the group stage will doubtless provide Arsenal with a series of sterner challenges, but do not write them off for enjoying the luck of the draw. Ajax of Amsterdam have fallen to Sparta’s city rivals, Slavia, in another qualifier tonight.
It is now looking unlikely that we will see the kind of drama that was evident at the end of the transfer window last August. Arsenal have made a very strong start to the campaign and so you have to have faith in the squad as it stands. There is no doubt that money is available should reinforcements be required in January. We have to hope that we will still be in contention for the major honours by then.
Next up come Portsmouth, and their former Gunners on Sunday. I’ll be back with a preview before then. In the meantime enjoy the headlines elsewhere. We are supposed to be struggling this season, aren’t we?