Second half Milan knew they had to come at us but instead of over committing like we would have in the past we stayed calm, dealt with the pressure, kept our shape and controlled the ball when we got it, only pushing on if a space opened up. The first has was excellent football with great tactics followed as a team. The second half was the football you see from experienced teams in European competition controlling and seeing out a game. The amount of times we have messed up european two leg games by not being tactically clever enough used to really wind me up. Either pushing too hard to catch up in a first leg or over committing looking for an extra goal when we already have the away advantage. Today I thought we got the balance 100% right.
Second half I was actually really impressed that we adapted as the game changed. The players felt the game change and changed with it. And Wenger was active in telling the players what he wanted to see throughout the game. Haven't seen that in ages.
I know it's only one game and we can't get carried away. But it's SUCH an improvement on what we've seen recently. The hope is that we build on this and use this game as a platform for the rest of the season.
Today they looked like a team playing for each other and for the manager. Proper effort and passion. If they can do that for the rest of the season, particularly in the Europa then they may give the fans something to feel positive about.
Atletico have a strong lead from the first leg and look like they will progress. But Dortmund lost 2-1 at home. It'll be interesting to see who goes through as there are some decent teams in the competition.
My condolences about tonight's result. Its going to be difficult to beat Wenger into the ground for a few days now.
Good result but what does it really tell us about the team? I'm still not convinced that Wenger has lost the dressing room despite some say that he has. But have we REALLY played worse or have we come across better opposition? It's clearly the latter as demonstrated by Milan. We lost 4 on the trot because the other team was better and we beat Milan because they were a shadow of their former selves. This result was good but won't change anything. Sooner or later we will play the tournament favourites Athletico and then we'll see what our team is all about. Then we'll see the usual weaknesses pop up and excuses that Ozil was lazy etc.
How much of a difference do you think Ospina made today? OK, so there were a few flappy moments with crosses, but there were a good many back passes that the defense played that I don't think that they would have been comfortable playing to Cech, and Ospina was fast of his line on several occasions to deny chances on the ground. I'm wondering if some of our defenses woes are due to their lack of confidence in Cech.
Diego Costa, Griezmann as well as Godin and Gimenez in defence. They are a strong side. Good manager too, definitely the team to beat.
Did I see wrong when xhaka took the shoot in the 93rd minute and wenger shouted at him that he responded with a "f*ck off" answer?
Definitely the team to beat and a cut above all the teams, including us, in this tournament. No idea how we will beat them as i can see Simeone exploit our many weaknesses in midfield and defence.
I thought he said "come on" and couldn't tell if it was actually at Wenger who had just shouted at him or one of his teammates.
Well much like ourselves they are weakest in midfield. They are MUCH better than us defensively but we probably have the better creative talent. Lets hope Lacazette is back and fully fit for us soon.
Weird.......up here, Arsenal win and everybody's favourites, the spuds, blow leads and crash out of Europe. There's a ginger haired skinny freak who sings great songs and some guy from Oceans 11, who got stranded by his rocket mates, has developed a way of growing cannabis. Can't think of a reason to come back tbh.
