Still Some Work to do at the Madrigal
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Gilberto clearly was up for it. He pretty much shut down Riquelme.
The rest of the Arsenal team was up for it as well. But at the end of the day, the Gunners have very much left the door open for Villarreal. The teams will go into next Tuesday's return leg of the Champions League semifinal will Arsenal leading 1-0 on aggregate.
Like Real Madrid and Juventus before them, the Yellow Submarine never looked particularly threatening against Arsenal. The young Gunner defense bended, but did not break. Lehmann was only really tested on a couple of free kicks.
Arsenal had plenty of chances to score, particularly in the first half. It took Villarreal a good 15 minutes to finally settle into the match. They were fortunate that the score was not already 2-nil in that first quarter-hour.
With Riquelme being contained, Forlan got no service the entire game. Shut down Riquelme, and Forlan is just a spectator.
Arsenal squandered some clear chances in front of goal, particularly off of set pieces. In open play, the Gunners had trouble getting the ball to Henry in space.
1-0 at Highbury settles nothing. Arsenal can feel good about its performance. But there is still a lot to play for. I think there's a good chance we'll see a goal or two in the return leg. Villarreal will consider themselves fortunate to be very much in this tie still and will relish the chance to make Arsenal pay at the Madrigal.
Video: Arsenal's Kolo Toure scores the game's only goal (courtesy: www.youtube.com).
Email us at bookableoffense@gmail.com
The rest of the Arsenal team was up for it as well. But at the end of the day, the Gunners have very much left the door open for Villarreal. The teams will go into next Tuesday's return leg of the Champions League semifinal will Arsenal leading 1-0 on aggregate.
Like Real Madrid and Juventus before them, the Yellow Submarine never looked particularly threatening against Arsenal. The young Gunner defense bended, but did not break. Lehmann was only really tested on a couple of free kicks.
Arsenal had plenty of chances to score, particularly in the first half. It took Villarreal a good 15 minutes to finally settle into the match. They were fortunate that the score was not already 2-nil in that first quarter-hour.
With Riquelme being contained, Forlan got no service the entire game. Shut down Riquelme, and Forlan is just a spectator.
Arsenal squandered some clear chances in front of goal, particularly off of set pieces. In open play, the Gunners had trouble getting the ball to Henry in space.
1-0 at Highbury settles nothing. Arsenal can feel good about its performance. But there is still a lot to play for. I think there's a good chance we'll see a goal or two in the return leg. Villarreal will consider themselves fortunate to be very much in this tie still and will relish the chance to make Arsenal pay at the Madrigal.
Video: Arsenal's Kolo Toure scores the game's only goal (courtesy: www.youtube.com).
Email us at bookableoffense@gmail.com
posted by Brian at 4/19/2006 02:03:00 PM 
2 Comments:
That goal was something else, but jeepers, those English broadcasters are impossible to understand sometimes.
My Polish is a little rusty. I believe my colleague Bryce is an expert on Polish rap music, however. Perhaps he can help us out.
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