Arsenal- Key moments of their win in Italy

Champions League Football, at least for one more season

That is the general feeling among most Arsenal fans after the impressive 2-1 victory in Italy that gave Arsenal a 3-1 Aggregate win and booked their place in Pot 1 in the Champion’s League group stage draw tomorrow.

After all that has gone on at Arsenal recently, culminating with the sale of Samir Nasri yesterday, on the eve of the club’s most important game, one could be forgiven to be influenced by the media and claim that Arsenal have no squad left anymore and will get run over in Italy and fall out of the Champion’s League for the first time under Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal had 15 players unavailable for the 2nd leg game and a further 3 would miss the away game to Manchester United on the weekend. The missing personnel read like a whos who of the Arsenal of recent years with Mannone,Gibbs,Koscielny,Diaby,Wilshire (INJURED), Fabregas,Nasri,Eboue,Clichy (SOLD), Almunia,Bendtner,Squillaci,Lansbury (waiting to move away,won’t be involved) Vela,Denilson (on loan), all unavailable to be picked. Frimpong,Song,Gervinho (SUSPENDED), will be the other 3 that will miss the United game.

And once Di Natale scored 6 minutes before half time for Udinese, all hearts dropped fearing the worst. But a rejuvenated and determined Arsenal team took the field in the 2nd half and goals from new captain, Van Persie and Theo Walcott ensured that not only did Arsenal win the tie, they won both legs of the tie and showed their gutsy and gritty side coming back from a goal down and their backs against the wall in Italy to win the game. So what were the standout moments and who were the standout ‘men’ who made this a memorable night and made the fans forget, for maybe just a fleeting moment, that all is not doom and gloom at the club.

1) Arsene Wenger’s Half time team talk- Cannot speak of Arsenal nowadays without speaking about the man himself. After being called senile,past it,cheap, a manager who cannot motivate his players and cannot win, and who is rubbish at any kind of tactics, Arsene Wenger proved his doubters wrong. Starting from the use of 2 Defensive Midfielders to start the game in Song and Frimpong, essentially shifting to a 4-2-3-1 in defense to keep the lead, to the half time team talk, that clearly motivated the players enough to come out and put in a performance that fans wanted, attacking,creativity, grit, determination and leaving their all on the pitch. Arsene Wenger proved that after all these years, he still has the magic in him and why he is the right man to get Arsenal out of the ‘rut’ they are in currently.2) ‘Mental Strength’ , ‘ spirit’ and ‘determination’- Sticking with Arsene Wenger, he is laughed at by rivals and fans alike for saying this team has ‘mental strength’, ‘spirit’ and ‘determination’ but tonight they stepped up and proved that they do indeed possess these qualities, though they don’t show it so often, especially come February. For a team with a lack of self belief, with everyone writing them off, media spreading doom and gloom and the fans booing them after their 1st 2 league games, going down a goal away from home in Italy, in a game that is a must win for the club should have been enough to just give up. But the now infamous ‘spirit’ and ‘mental strength’ shone through as the team stuck together, believed in themselves and the ability of their team mates and ground out a result that could change the season for the club, both on and off the pitch. Hopefully this will give the team a much needed boost in confidence and they can continue to grow from this point and show this ‘spirit’ and ‘mental strength’ the rest of the way, as they will need it this season, because every setback will have the media and fans jump on their back claiming the arrival of doomsday.

3) Gervinho pays off his transfer fee and then some- Qualifying for the Champion’s league is worth 25m alone and the Ivorian set up the goal that put 1 foot into the Champion’s League for Arsenal, in effect paying off his entire transfer fee and then some. He looked like he was really up for it and had a point to prove and terrorized the Udinese defense at every chance. His speed and dribbling bamboozled the Italians throughout the night and created havoc. The run which set up Theo Walcott with an open chance in the first half was just to be the prequel to what was to come in the 2nd half. Faced one on one with his marker, a little shimmy inside, and a drop of the shoulder had Gervinho past his man and on the byline in an Henry-esque fashion and the final ball was much like the great frenchman too, pinpoint on the left boot of his fellow striker and captain , Robin van Persie and he wasn’t going to miss from there. That goal all but sealed the tie as now Udinese would need to score 2 goals in 35 minutes in order to advance and make sure Arsenal don’t score again. It was just the shot in the arm the players and fans needed and the Ivorian provided it superb fashion.

Brilliant saves from Szczesny

4) THAT Penalty Save- Easily the moment that changed the entire course of the match. Arsenal had just scored and Udinese needed 2 goals in 35 minutes to go through. Confusion from a corner led to an Udinese player pushing Vermaelen in the back at the far post just as the ball came towards him, resulting in the Belgian grazing the ball with his hand and Arsenal clearing their area. Much to the surprise of everyone at the ground, the commentators, the fans in the stadium and even the Udinese players,who never appealed, the referee pointed to the penalty spot and yellow carded Vermaelen. It looked like another moment where a referee would make a call to cripple the Arsenal, a theme eerily familar for Arsenal fans by now. Up stepped chief tormentor over the 2 legs,goal scorer in the game and captain for Udinese, Antonio Di Natale.A goal now would put Udinese in a winning position on the night and level on aggregate, needing just 1 more goal in just over half an hour to win the tie and the home crowd right behind them. Di Natale thumped the ball to his left hand side, Szczesny’s right, aiming for the top corner. The ball looked destined to end up in the net till the young polish goalkeeper showed the world why Arsenal fans have been raving about him and calling him the real deal and one of the best, if not the best, young goalkeeper around. It was a majestic save, with Szczesny having extended his left arm all the way to deny the Italian striker. It was such an important and crucial save at that point of the tie that it led to an Arsenal Legend, and someone who knows a thing of two about ridiculous and mighty important saves, Davin Seaman, to tweet

For those who missed it, here is how it all took place.

Other players like Sagna, who was a rock at the back, Song who immense and everywhere, Theo Walcott, who took his goal really well to kill the tie, and Rosicky who looked very sharp and added to the spirit also stood out.

Now with Champion’s League football guaranteed for a 14th season in a row, all eyes turn back to Arsene Wenger to see who he can bring in over the last week of the transfer window. The shiny and mighty tempting carrot of the Champion’s League is dangling again, and that should help attract some of the bigger players. Plenty of rumours already about who ‘all’ are going to sign but that is for another day. For now its a very promising performance full of grit and determination that has left Arsenal fans everywhere with a small smile on their face. Here is hoping for many such nights and many more smiles, hopefully starting with news of some new faces coming in and then continuing on at Old Trafford on Sunday.