I thought, 'Thank the Welsh Jesus that we have a different ref this time around', but it seems it didn't make a difference. Perhaps my blog following the first leg was too referee-oriented, but it's not every day I get to blame a poor result on a referee, is it? They're all bastards, even if they're great, they're still wankers. They're all just footballers that weren't good enough to be footballers at the end of the day anyway, aren't they? Wankers.
Obviously I can't comment fully on a game where I only watched 20 minutes of highlights, but I will anyway.
You can't argue much with Debuchy's first yellow, but from a glass-half-full perspective, maybe it's a sign he's getting a touch more confident and is willing to get stuck in. Perhaps it's the healthy glass of optimism I just drank, rather quickly, with two ice cubes.
Alexis got his first (of many) goals for The Arsenal, and I'm glad he took it off Jack too, because we all know Jack would have either muffed it or passed it. Let's be honest.
Almost the most interesting part of the game was Wenger's post-match interview. Props to the journalists for asking the right questions, and good form from the manager for answering them with as little bullshit as possible. Here are some of my faves;
When asked if he'd spoken to Zigic, the manager replied;
"Zigic? No."
Thank god for that, because I had a mild panic attack when I saw those rumors. What would he add to our squad that Sanogo or even the late, great Bendtner wouldn't have?
When asked if he would be signing Danny Welbeck, the Frenchman replied;
"No."
When asked if Falcao was in his price range, he replied;
"No."
And, finally, my favorite of the day, when asked if Alexis Sanchez could play striker for three of four months while Giroud is out injured, he said;
"Three or four months? He can play there his whole life. I bought him to play as a striker, not just on the flanks."
Heh.
So, some good, some bad, but all terrific answers from the boss there. Straight to the point, no fluffing about, no gibberish, just answers. One of his best interviews in a while if you ask me. Would I have perhaps liked him to say,
"Hell yeah! I'm getting Falcao AND Welbeck just for the hell of it. Do we need them both? Probably not, but fuck it."
Probably, but I appreciate his honesty. It makes the rumors that we're signing every striker that has ever played for any team, ever, a bit less tedious.
So, overall a good day. We've qualified for the Champions League group stage, again, our new striker, Alexis grabbed his first goal for the club and we don't have to play Besiktas again!
Next up, Leicester City. There are two things that spring to mind when I think of Leicester - The first is the epic 4-4 draw when Bergkamp scored 'that' goal (along with 2 more glorious goals). The second is listening to Americans try to pronounce Leicester... great fun. Off to King Power Stadium it is!
Up The Arsenal!
