Marseille at Arsenal

Marseille at Arsenal

Nov. 1, 2011

Champions League Match

Having beaten Marseille in the last Champions League match, Arsenal has found themselves ahead in their group needing only a win and they will be off to the next round. Wenger has shown some more confidence in this outcome, and obviously with the new acquisition of South Korean Captain Park Ju-Young, because he is starting at striker instead of Van Persie. My guess is again, if he is required, he will be put in. Van Persie also has international duties sandwiched in with Arsenal games. It may be the hope again that he will not be needed. 

The first half started with Marseille pushing the pace. Arsenal had a few more chances later, but  for the first 10 minutes Marseille had two shots that went just wide off the left post. The first with only a minute or two gone, was the closest either team would come to a goal all game. Having lost to Arsenal in the last Champions match Marseille needed this win much more than Arsenal. Although a win for the Gunners would push them through to the next round, it was clear that the Gunners focus was on the defense. Their best chances were on counters. Several times it seemed as though it was really just to stump significant Marseille pressure, instead of actually mounting an attack to score a goal. 

Ramsey had two chances that really should have been goals. On one he hesitated on a shot and it was too late by the time he shot. On another, both he and Gervinho had chances to pass to a wide open Walcott in the right flank, but Gervinho  passed to Ramsey and Ramsey again hesitated on a shot that was blocked by the keeper. That ended being the closest Arsenal ever got to a goal. Gervinho had a great game. He pressured several times, but never had a good receiver. Walcott only got open for a few feeds from Gervinho, but his play was down. Park, looked like what he is, a recent aquisition who has yet to gel with the club. He knew what to do, just not when to do it. He was waiting for Ramsey to shoot, he got into position to receive a rebound off his shot, but he passed to Park who was no longer there. Gervinho had a similar situation in the second half. 

Even with Van Persie coming in in the 65th minute, and Arshavin in the 75th, Arsenal could still not push through. However, the Marseille attack befitted a team who needed to win. Arsenal was up to the task. Vermaelen showed little signs of the injury that has kept him out for months. He was a rock in defense. He stunted several crosses with authority, smashing the ball out of bounds and forcing a reset. Mertesacker actually looked great. He seemed to really gel with Vermaelen. The German Mertesacker used his size to flush out several high crosses with a header. With the Belgian behind him, when the German got beat there was always someone in the right place to cover. Santos looked like he always does. He was somewhat erratic in the defensive end, but he was always an offensive threat He was aggressive at times and this created counterattacks for Arsenal as well as chances off his blunders for Marseille. Jenkinson on the other side was in much the same mold. He would streak up the field on counters, create space and chances, but when his charges didn’t work, he had to hustle back into position. 

Sciezcny was solid in net. He was not challenged often, but was up to the task when he was. He was incredibly daring for a 19 year old keeper. On two occasions he raced out of the box to kill a charge. On one he headed the ball away like a charging bull, as a Marseille forward tried to kick it in the air. He punched several corners and crosses away before they became anything really dangerous. He just had a great game.

Going forward, this 0-0 tie keeps Arsenal in first place in their Champions League Group. They do not need to win anymore games, but they still need a tie to assure themselves a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions. They looked much better defensively against Marseille and that more than anything, more than beating Chelsea, might be an indication that Arsenal is ready to place themselves back into the elite in the Premier League. They are now only 4 points out of a Champions League birth in the Premier League standings. As always, it would be great if they could pick up a striker to aid them in a charge up the standings, but with Vermaelen back, Sagna coming back in January, and hopefully Wilshere joining them at some point, Arsenal will certainly look better going past the New Year than they did after their 8-2 loss to Manchester United. As constituted now, they will still not threaten the likes of Barcelona for the Champions League title, but they could if they get healthy.