{"id":10742,"date":"2025-01-30T12:31:51","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10742"},"modified":"2025-02-02T04:10:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:10:28","slug":"ethan-shines-as-arsenal-cruise-through-to-last-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10742","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Shines as Arsenal cruise through to last 16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Match day 8 of the Champions League. How successful has this format been? There have been differences of opinion even within the digital pages of this blog. Some (e.g. TTG) have opined that the extra two matches in the group stage were unnecessary, have filled the January schedule to an impossible degree and have been contributory to the very high number of injuries we are seeing in most teams. Others, including me, have found the format to be more entertaining than the previous four-team group stage, which was often resolved by match day 5. It is possible to hold both opinions at once, as I do. What cannot be denied is that match day eight carried jeopardy for the high majority of teams, either in getting into the top 4 (which means a home draw second in the last 16 and last 8 games), top 8 (which avoids the need for a two match play off to get into the last 16), or the top 24 (which keeps you in the competition). This made for an exciting night ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I found myself not just watching the Arsenal game last night, but instead watching the TNT goals show on the main TV and the Arsenal game on my iPad. This tested my powers of concentration but made for an exciting Wednesday night watching as the situation constantly moved about, not least at Villa Park and the Etihad. The studio pundits were a little over excited (Ally McCoist shouting \u201cCeltic have just scored\u201d and Karen Carney saying \u201coh my God Bruges have just scored\u201d when the format their bosses would prefer would be \u201cgoal at the Etihad\/Villa Park\u201d), but overall I think they did it well and I enjoyed it \u2014 including a helter-skelter game at Villa and the sight of Pep looking as though he hated football as his team went into halftime one nil down, needing to win to continue in the competition. The second halves were less exciting and in the end there were no massive scalps, although many top teams missed out on the top eight (with implications for the draw). But meanwhile Arsenal were playing in Girona, having done virtually all the work in the first seven games and with a 93%+ chance of qualifying in the top eight. A point would confirm it, even a defeat would be enough unless there was an extraordinary swing in goal difference. Arteta rotated quite heavily, resting Rice, Martinelli, Saliba, MLS and Timber, with Raya also missing out through a mysterious (and slightly concerning) injury. He had travelled to Spain but Arteta refused to confirm he would be OK to play at the weekend. So Neto, at 35, became the oldest debutant for The Arsenal since 1915 (I didn\u2019t even know that there were games played in 1915). (clearly, if one didn\u2019t know that, one should go back to 2020 and read this<\/a> post \u2014 eds.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be fair to say that he made an exceptionally nervy beginning. Arsenal had made the better start by far when, to the delight of those in the TNT studio, Girona went ahead. Danjuma ran off the back of Partey, Calafiori played him onside and he was through on goal. Neto was caught in no man\u2019s land and was 10 yards out of his goal when Danjuma shot. Amazingly, given his experience, Neto tried to save the shot. If he had succeeded, it would have been an instant red card (shades of Jens Lehman in the 2006 CL final). Fortunately he failed and we were one down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We carried on playing well and a few minutes later were level. Partey was bundled over in the box, clear penalty given and confirmed. Up stepped Jorghino who with a hop, skip and a jump scored. Trossard hit the bar. Then a few minutes later, came the best moment of the match. Nwaneri had been, at 17, despite being on his Champions league debut as a starter, the best player on the pitch. He received the ball on the right hand side of the penalty area, ran parallel right to left along the penalty line seeking a space and then unleashed a really powerful shot to the right of the keeper. What. A. Goal! It was very reminiscent of the goal he scored in a misty Deepdale in the league cup against Preston North End a few months ago. Only Jude Bellingham as an Englishman has scored a CL goal at a younger age (and only by a few tens of days and while playing for Real Madrid). We have such a player here. May God preserve him from injury because he is really special. He was justifiably made MOTM as you can see above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half had no more goals. A Girona equaliser was chalked off (correctly) because of a foul earlier in the move. Then a comedy handball led to a second penalty for Arsenal. Odegaard handed the ball to Sterling, obviously trying to get his confidence up. Now Sterling had not played badly, especially in the first half. But somehow you knew as he stepped up that he was going to miss. And so it proved, a weak shot to the keeper\u2019s left at exactly the right height to be parried away. Sterling looked absolutely wretched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it remained 1-2 rather than 1-3. But game over, job done and a mighty fine third in the table, behind Liverpool (who lost last night after heavily rotating against PSV) and Barcelona. Played eight, won six, drew one and lost one. Sixteen goals for, just three against and a final goal difference of +13. Just an excellent campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does that mean? Our oppents in March will be, depending on the draw of Friday, one of AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord or Juventus. This graphic (courtesy of ESPN and posted on blue sky) explains it well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, what now? Two more tough games, City at home on Sunday, then Newcastle away, 2-0 down in the league cup semi final. Then ten blessed days off, into which we can hopefully fit a mini break somewhere warm, perhaps with a new team mate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half of the season truly starts here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match day 8 of the Champions League. How successful has this format been? There have been differences of opinion even within the digital pages of this blog. Some (e.g. TTG) have opined that the extra two matches in the group stage were unnecessary, have filled the January schedule to an impossible degree and have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10742"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10756,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742\/revisions\/10756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}