Champions League

A crazy couple of days in the Champions League. Arsenal pulled off a nice 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund (more below), but the rest of the EPL did not fair nearly as well. In a huge upset, Napoli took down Man City 2-1 in Napoli yesterday, all but eliminating what some thought might be the new "best club in the world" (they will need to beat Bayern Munich and hope Napoli loses to a Villareal team that hasn't earned a single point in 5 matches; and been outscored 12-2). Man U (2-2 draw against Benefica) and Chelsea also suffered upsets, though Chelsea (2-1 losers to Leverkusen) will advance with a victory over Valencia at the Bridge. Man U. simply needs a draw at Basil to advance, though it should be remembers that Basil came back for a draw at Old Trafford and looked very dangerous at times. One assumes Chelsea and Man U. will wake up and advance, but I think Man City is all but dead here -- which might actually be bad news for Arsenal, who face them in the Carling Cup. 

Now to a quick rundown of the Arsenal win. A very nice performance by the Gunners, who played very strong defense for most of the match, until a late slip up at the end let in a last gasp goal. That last goal again showed Mertesackers frailty to me, though it was Song trying to dribble out of trouble rather than clearing his line that really caused the trouble to begin with. Rather than a full scorecard, I just want to highlight a few performances. Van Persie was extraordinary, as usual, though really good service played a huge role in both his goals with a truly special cross from Alex Song, after getting around three defenders, and his second goal coming on a great back header by Vermaelen (who has been dangerous on set pieces since his return). Santos is a really talented player on the ball and his passes were really good today, but I still worry that he thinks he is an attacking midfielder and sometimes leaves it to others to cover up his forward adventures when the ball is given away. Gervinho needs to refind his finishing touch as he has missed relatively open goals two matches in a row -- after getting around the goalie in both. He has a tendency toward predictability, dribbles into defenders (or goalees) and just takes too long to make up his mind. On the other hand, the guy I've been on most of the season, along with a host of other gooners, has really shut us up as far as I'm concerned. That is Theo Walcott who has shown in the past few weeks those "football skills" we thought he lacked, regularly getting by defenders, showing some nice skill on the ball, sending in dangerous crosses and almost scoring on a number of occasions. We were very strong defensively again, with a few minor slip ups and can now turn our attention back to the League and our march up to the top four (hopefully) in the coming weeks, as the other top teams all play each other. Go Gunners!

And happy thanksgiving to everyone! I'll be back Sunday or Monday ...