Steaua Bucharest 0-1 Arsenal: Gunners grab late winner

Written by Loyan Abdulle on Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
02 Oct	7:45 PM	CL	Steaua Bucharest (A)	1	0	Win

As is becoming something of the norm so far this season it was no surprise to see us score yet another late goal to seal yet another win for us. Even more so as the fact that this game ended a poor run of form away to Eastern European teams which has seen us collect just 1 point out of our last six ventures into these territories. A late finish gave us a deserved victory over a team which but for one or two scares did little in terms of asserting pressure onto the game. Such was the manner in which we dominated proceedings early on that we should have scored at least 3 times in the opening stages. In the end a solitary goal from Robin van Persie was enough for the win which takes us up to 6 points in the group and in pole position to qualify for the knockout stages.

To be fair to Steaua, this was a side which was in somewhat of a transition at the moment. The 1986 European Champions had just sacked their coach, former Romanian favourite Gheorghe Hagi in the wake of their recent Champions League defeat against Slavia Prague. The chairman was having even more say in team matters than a certain team in West London and true to form he gave their new manager an ultimatum to beat an as of yet unbeaten Arsenal side. Failing to do so would result in another managerial victim at Steaua. These comments were strange from the chairman as prior to the game he admitted that this Arsenal side had no real "flaws". Coaching a team is down to the coach and the kind of incidents occurring at this club and seen in more high profile cases in the Premier League are not good for the game. After all we are the only "big" Premier League team left without any foreign ownership.

As such after long standing rumours of a hostile takeover of our own Club by the David Dein fronted, Russian billionaire owning, Red and White limited, it was a no surprise to see the Russians and our previously resolute board go into discussions to clarify what was going on. What was surprising though is that having increased his stake in the club to 23%, Alisher Usmanov does not intend to complete a full takeover. In fact having looked at Liverpool FC he was put off by Liverpool chairman David Moore's insistence that to buy into the club the Russian would have to buy his entire 51% stake in the club. Also the fact that they were building a new stadium made the Merseyside club look a lot less attractive in terms as an "investment " (his words, not mine) as Arsenal FC represents. In fact Usmanov, a self-proclaimed Arsenal fan, has deemed us as being "The world's best club" and a team that will "dominate English football for the next decade". The boards seem to believe that his intentions are not to run the team but, by allowing it to be run as it is currently being done, making significant returns on his "investment" as such.

Suddenly all this doom and gloom over a potential takeover seems like just some wishful thinking by jealous fans of Chelski and ManUSA, who would love nothing more but to see us falling into traps they currently occupy.

Chelsea for all their riches are currently languishing in midtable after a poor run of form which saw them fail to score in any of their last four game. This is a team which desperately needs some creative force behind them to reach the attractive and flamboyant style of Arsène Wenger's men. The thing is their main target was Ronaldinho, and having seen the shenanigans going on at Chelsea has seemingly put an end to any rumours linking him with the West End club (they do seem a lot like a soap opera these days don't they?). Add this to the fact that their new manager picked up a reputation for being a 4-5-1 merchant back in his native Israel and in fact has never managed outside his homeland, then you could see why Roman's dream of controlling the most dominant attacking force the world has ever seen is just that and probably even further off than when Claudio Ranieri was at the helm. At least back then the players liked their manager.

Even Man United, having spent in excess of £70m to buy themselves allegedly the most fearful strike force in the world have been struggling in front of goal this season only managing to score more than one goal in a game only one time all season. And even that was aided by a late Louis Saha penalty against a Chelsea team in complete disarray.

How both these teams would love to swap both league and financial positions with us while in the mean time playing the type of football which leave so many neutrals proclaiming Arsenal to be their second favourite team. But despite all the praise and adorations being heaped upon a team which has led some to compare to the "Invincibles" of 2003/2004, Arsène Wenger still feels there are improvements which need to be made. He admits that he "takes pride in the fact that people go home having felt that for one-and-a-half hours, life is beautiful" and that this "is basically why professional football exists". At the same time he also maintains that comparisons to the "Invincibles" are unfair as "At the moment only similarities in the short term - we are consistent. The challenge we face is the other team has been very, very consistent in the long term. That demands special stamina and motivation and that is something we have not proven yet."

The manager remains cautious, yet cautiously optimistic. This can only be a good thing as it prevents complacency creeping in and as a result shock results like Sheffield United away (who we have to play in the Carling Cup at the end of this month incidentally) are a thing of the past. In any case we can be happy with the way we've started this season, but remember it is only the start of the season.

We went into this game boosted by the news that both Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie were deemed fit enough to continue their partnership up front. Even more surprising was the way in which Aleksander Hleb somehow managed to miraculously recover from what looked to be a very serious injury sustained over the weekend against West Ham. In fact he was fit enough to take his place in the starting line-up. Diaby though could not shake off a knock sustained in the same game in time to start and was put on the bench and replaced by Emmanuel Eboue on the wing. Otherwise this was the same team that started against West Ham United on Saturday.

The game started off comfortably enough for Arsenal but after 7 minutes we were picking the ball out of the back of our own nets in Steaua's first attack of the night. A long, driven free kick from our left was headed in by Valentin Badea. Luckily for us the referee and his linesman were quick to rule out the effort for offside.

Straight up the other end in a matter of seconds we could have scored a goal ourselves. Robin van Persie found some space on the right side of the area before bamboozling his marker before firing in a low cross through the 6 yard box. Everyone missed it but Hleb. After doing brilliantly to keep the ball in play and passing the ball calmly into the path of Fabregas, the diminutive Spaniard looked certain to score from 5 yards. The ball unfortunately took bobble and he hit his shot high and wide with his unfavoured left foot. It was unlucky for a player who had managed to score in 6 of his last 7 games.

Steaua were playing on the counter and looked like the away team. For all Arsenal's possession we could have been dealt a sucker punch midway through the first half. With there seemingly no danger Nicolae Dica could have scored had his long range pot shot been a foot or two closer to goal. Although Manuel Almunia would have you believe that he had it covered. Minutes later a mix up at the back nearly let in Nicolita as the Romanian nearly nicked in before the 'keeper to Clichy's header back. Steaua had there chances but weren't really getting s foothold in the game.

Minutes later normal service resumed as van Persie put the impressive Adebayor through in the box, but after catching a glimpse of Fabregas in the corner of his eye chose the wrong option by passing the ball when a shot would have been better. Fabregas was not quick enough to get to the ball and the defenders cleared. Over elaborating as usual but it would have been a goal to remember had it worked out. An even better pass and move opportunity arose soon afterwards as Hleb played Fabregas through into the box. The Spaniard quickly swivelled and passed the ball back to Hleb who fired in a low left footed drive but the defence managed get a block on the shot.

Arsenal were starting to turn the screw at this point and soon enough it looked as though we had broken the deadlock. After a quick break the ball fell to Gaël Clichy on the left wing position. With ample men in the box the Frenchman attempted to curl the ball into the box but a wicked deflection almost caught the 'keeper off guard. After jumping back towards his goal to claim the ball it looked as though he had slid over the line but replays clearly show that the Colombian did well to keep his arms straight and prevent the ball from following his tall frame over the line. Mathieu Flamini then did well to find space inside the box to fire in a testing shot towards goal but Zapata was equal to it and proceeded to palm the ball out.

With seconds remaining of time added on we poured forward to get a goal just before the break and with acres of space for Adebayor to run onto, the Romanians just resorted to feigning injuries so that the ball could be kicked out of play so that they had time to regroup. Much to the bemusement of Arsène Wenger who was rightly getting livid with the amount of times the home side did this while we were looking like a real threat. With that being said they got their wish and as soon as play resumed the referee called for half time. It could have been worse.

After the break Arsenal had continued where they had left off and on 55 minutes only an improvised save by the home team 'keeper prevented us from breaking the deadlock. After receiving a free kick wide on our left hand side, Fabregas promptly stepped up to float in a cross into the area. Adebayor leapt the highest but his touch on the ball was minimal and after coming out full stretch to catch the ball Zapata made a meal of the attempt and was lucky as the ball bounced off his knee and to safety. It was the closest we had come to scoring all night but it also served as a reminder to Steaua that they still had a lot of work left to do in order to see this game out.

Steaua though were not content to sit back in the second half like they did in the first. They went straight up the other end route one style and after telling Senderos he had it covered, Almunia proceeded to clear the ball from the edge of his D with a header. The ball fell to Dica who still had a lot to do. The Steaua captain volleyed the ball towards goal and with Almunia not yet on his line it seemed like a certain goal. Luckily for us our own captain was there to bail us out and head the ball clear from the goal line.

Not to be outdone by their hosts Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure and having come close through both van Persie and Hleb it only seemed like a matter of time; time that seemed to be running out.

Despite this Steaua proceeded to go for broke in the final quarter of an hour and but for some wayward finishing could have stolen a goal completely against the run of play. A through ball down our right found Iacob who had managed to break the offside trap. The gawky forward, on for the hard working yet ineffective Badea, had all the time in the world to either score or set up his fellow strike partner but somehow managed to curl his shot both high and wide of the goal. This was definitely a let off for us.

Minutes later we would leave Steaua ruing missed opportunities as Adebayor did well to skip past his man down the left hand side of the box and direct his low cross towards the penalty spot. Cesc Fabregas had made the run too early and ran past the ball but it came through to van Persie who emphatically thumped the ball into the back of the net. The deadlock was finally broken much to the relief of the 1000 strong travelling Arsenal fans.

Steaua had fought hard and may feel unlucky but we could have even scored a couple more goals in the dying minutes as Fabregas attempted a long range left footed drive but the 'keeper did well to gather at full stretch. Afterwards Adebayor had a great opportunity to double the lead after some great build-up work involving Hleb but after managing to evade his marker he scuffed his shot over the bar.

All in all a good game by the boys and one which stretches our unbeaten start and extends our run of 9 straight victories. Unbelievable if you'd listened to the news over the summer mind you.

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