Anyway. I caught the game last night, at least the first half. It was torture to watch because I was dead sleepy by the time the kick off came, and then the lads didn't make it any easier.
I know it was a young team being put out there but with the way they started, the expectations simply mounted and I was just looking for a great show where the youngsters beat the Greeks but it was all not meant to be.
The lads did a good job at emulating their senior players in the style in which they jink the ball around and their movement was fantastic.
The bad part is, like the senior team, without a proper target man leading the line in a 4-3-3, it's the same old story all over again. A lot of possession, but no goals to show for it.
We all love that smooth attacking football the team plays but last night just reminded me of why we simply can't win a game dirty and other teams can. We keep possession really well but when it doesn't translate into goals due to the final balls being shit or the opposing team crowding the attack out, there are genuine problems over there.
Possession doesn't win things. Goals do. This is precisely how we can lose to teams who have one shot on target and one goal. They take their chances. We don't always do and it's been costing us.
I know I'm being too overly negative over last night since it was rather meaningless but yeah, it just brought out all the frustrations that have bottled up over the seasons.
The positive side of things were that the lads never gave up and kept fighting. They were punished by a goal that was pretty soft and basically how people play when they're up against us. They play 11 men behind the damn ball and we struggle to create chances and when someone squanders possession in dangerous areas the opponent counter attacks and gets the goal with their first shot on target.
Yep. The story of Arsenal.
So the Champion's league moves on to the last 16 and the draw will be taking place next Friday. Obviously, thanks to Singtel, I won't be able to watch the draw. Unless of course, I just remembered, I'll be in Bangkok next week where Singtel is out of bounds from. That makes me happy.
The teams we would possible face are a mix of the peeps we want to avoid and those others that look a little more manageable. This time though, since we've topped the group, we wouldn't get to whine if we got someone more challenging. Last season's draw was pretty dangerous but we managed. It's all down to luck, this one.
Anyway yeah. The possible teams are Bayern Munich, Ac Milan, Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lyon, Porto and Stuttgart. Every team presents a challenge. Bayern seems to be on the rise now while the two Milans are best avoided. A trip to Moscow may not be at our best interests considering our past records in that freezing wasteland. Karim Benzema is no longer at Lyon and Porto we've already played many times. Stuttgart would be pretty interesting.
And I can't help but notice Liverpool missing out on all the action. They might go on and win the first ever Europa League you know.
Hah.
No football till Sunday. I have survived the entire day with 2 hours of sleep. I'm going to burn out very soon.
Labels: Champion's League, Liverpool
A Little Drunken Madness @ 10:05 PM
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