Day: September 17, 2008

Arsenal salvage a draw with Dynamo Kiev – Watch the highlights here!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League, Video

Arsenal were lucky to come away with a point tonight after a 1-1 draw with Dynamo Kiev in front of 20 000 in the Ukraine. Dynamo went ahead after a penalty was harshly awarded against Bacary Sagna, and they defended hard afterwards.

Arsenal left it late to equalise, with a low Walcott cross bouncing its way to Gallas at the far post who bundled it home.

Click on the links below to watch the goals.

Dynamo Kiev 1 – Bangoura 64′ (pen)

Arsenal 1 – Gallas 88′

We looked good early on, and there were great chances for Adebayor and Fabregas. But after half time Dynamo seemed to improve. They piled on the pressure, and eventually the penalty was conceded.

Walcott impressed yet again tonight, his confidence seems sky high at the moment, and he is fulfilling his potential right now.

Interestingly Sagna came off for Eboue in the second half, suggesting he may have picked up a slight knock.

I think we were lucky to salvage the point, but I’ll take it.

The stats tell the tale – a game where Dynamo defended and tackled well, although Arsenal had the most attacking pressure, and eventually managed to break down the Ukrainians.

Dinamo Kiev Team Statistics Arsenal
1 Goals 1
0 1st Half Goals 0
2 Shots on Target 5
8 Shots off Target 4
7 Blocked Shots 3
3 Corners 8
17 Fouls 14
2 Offsides 4
4 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
84.9 Passing Success 86.1
14 Tackles 21
85.7 Tackles Success 66.7
46.6 Possession 53.4
44.3 Territorial Advantage 55.7

Teams

Dynamo Kiev: Bogush, Betao, Diakhate, Mykhalyk, Nesmachniy, Vukojevic, Yussuf (Asatiani 90), Yeremenko, Aliev, Ninkovic, Bangoura (Kravets 90).
Subs Not Used: Shovkovskiy, Ghioane, Morozyuk, Shatskikh, Olexander Romanchuk.

Booked: Nesmachniy, Bangoura, Vukojevic, Diakhate.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna (Eboue 78), Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Song Billong (Bendtner 70), Denilson, Van Persie (Vela 83), Adebayor.
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Ramsey, Wilshere, Djourou.

Booked: Sagna.

Ref: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain).

Nwankwo Kanu: Quality, Quantity and Wenger – Video

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Scouting, Video1 Comment

Arsene Wenger took a massive gamble in 1999. He signed Nwankwo Kanu up after the player underwent a massive heart bypass operation. Kanu had previously played for Inter Milan, but heart problems threatened to end his career. Nwankwo Kanu told Canal he owes his career to Wenger, who took the chance to sign up a talented player.

Kanu was a mesmerising foward, all legs and feet. His gangly frame masked one of the most skilful players around; an African superstar, Nigerian legend. Unlike his date of birth, his tricks were unforgettable.

Doctors said that Kanu would never play football again. Wenger thought otherwise:

“I owe him a lot because he believed in me,”

“He gave me self confidence and faith. And I think I paid him back because I did very well with Arsenal.

We all know that there is a good dressing-room atmosphere at Arsenal, and not many players have complaints about the way things are run, as Kanu says:

“We were all together, like a family during this period, and I scored special goals, especially against Chelsea, three in 15 minutes.

“He gave me the chance to have fun playing football and permitted me to dream on.”

Kanu’s third goal in 15 minutes saw Arsenal come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Chelsea at the Bridge.

“…with the puddles deeping at Stamford Bridge, it was Kanu who kept his feet to give Arsenal hope with a quarter of an hour remaining.”

Click here to read the BBC match report from that memorable day.

It’s well known that Harry Redknapp tries to recreate a ‘Wenger style’ in his teams, Kanu commented:

“I feel great because I have found the same atmosphere than at Arsenal here. This state of mind resembles Arsenal’s and helped us win things.

It’s probably true that the quality training and diet that Kanu recieved at Arsenal revitalised his career and has allowed him to continue playing against all odds.

Read about more Wenger signings – Kaba Diawara the bargain buy that never made it. Or watch more Classic Videos.

Adebayor’s Champions League hunger + Dynamo Kiev vs. Arsenal squad

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League

Adebayor has been talking to Arsenal.com about winning the Champions League and the Dynamo game, it makes very interesting reading.

I’ve emphasised the diffculties of playing in the Ukraine, and Ade picks up on this too:

“We know that playing in Ukraine is going to be very difficult especially because their players are playing in front of their fans and will be doing everything to win the game. But we are Arsenal. We just have to believe in ourselves and, if we can, play our football. If we can stay patient, score the goals then, in the end, we’ll win the game.”

I think we need to get into the game early and really hit Kiev hard in attack. If we aren’t concentrating properly they could punish us early-on.

Ade says he has hunger to win the CL, maybe more than his team-mates, because he was cup-tied in 2006 when reached the final.

“I couldn’t play back then because I was cup-tied and in my head it was difficult.”

“I think I’m not the only one. Cesc lost in the Final aswell and Kolo lost in the Final aswell so to be honest I think all these players would like to win it in their career.”

One very important point, we are playing 3 diffcult away games in one week – we have stumbled with this in the past – last year’s loss to Middlesbrough for example. Ade has the right attitude:

“We’ve won at Blackburn so we have to play away again.”

“We are just taking game after game. We go to Kiev. Let’s win that game then we can talk easily about the game at Bolton.

Click here for the full article.

Arsene Wenger named the squad flying out to Kiev yesterday, Nasri and Silvestre were still missing, although Clichy and Eboue are both going after passing fitness tests.

Click here for the BBC match preview page

Expect a fairly standard 4-4-2 line-up, Ade and RVP upfront, with Eboue playing central midfield possibly, to beef things up (whether he will be effective remains to be seen) either that or he will play on the wing instead of Walcott.

Wenger may opt for a 4-5-1 if he thinks it will be tough out there. Ade will be on his own up front, Van Persie on the left of midfield.

Click here for Dynamo Kiev coach Yury Semin’s comments and here for Wenger’s thoughts.

Here’s to a successful game.

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