Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
We didn't control a single moment of that game. Everything that's going on this morning is pure fantasy. It's the legacy media rallying (in relief) for their long standing mate Wenger, and the poor old fans lapping it up as usual.
Our midfield was useless. Jack had a shocker. Xhaka improved, but only because he started kicking people (which I heartily approve of, btw) and Ramsey was nothing at all, apart from one moment where he mysteriously retained his composure in front of goal - that bit was excellent. Otherwise we were beaten to the ball time and time again. We can't win headers in the middle. We always seem to be marking empty space when the ball bounces. It's such an easy job for the opposition to pick the ball up. Fortunately Milan didn't know what to do with it and rapidly gave it back.
Defensively we were a little better, but only because we had so much time. Milan didn't threaten up front except on the few occasions when they casually passed through us, which any team can seemingly do at will these days. Kos and Mustafi were supposed to be back to their best, but what really happened is they ran around a lot, dashing to cover spaces they should already have been covering in the first place. Chambers is being lauded for being not as bad as people thought he was going to be. Kolasinac has lost all the fire he had when he joined and now looks like a very average player. AMN was by far the best and most composed player when he came on. That's because he hasn't had enough time in Wenger's system yet and still retains the basics of the game.
Ozil and Mikki were okay, mainly because they were under so little pressure and had so much time on the ball. Ozil's pass for the second goal was great, of course. Welbeck was the ongoing comedy sketch that we all know and would even love (if he were playing for somebody else). The pundits are genuinely trying to pretend he played well. It's hard to imagine anyone could buy into it, but it seems people are.
Anyway, that's what actually happened. For some reason Gattuso played the ideal game for us. No pressure. No pressing. No pace. We were all set up to sit back and soak it up, which we wouldn't have managed at all if Milan had anything about them. As it turned out, by accident, these were the perfect tactics because we have talented enough players to at least make a few chances and last night those players managed to take the chances rather than fluff them. So Wenger was probably the star of the night, by pure luck.
He's a very luck manager. What's the one "big" game that even he can get something from these days? A victory against AC Milan in the San Siro. A deadbeat Milan, but all the wow-factor and history is still there. And that's what we're milking up today. Meanwhile, make no mistake, this tie is not over. It is easily within our grasp to fuck this up at home. So the dangerous talk of winning the tournament and being favourites is desperately premature. Let's just finish this game off first and not be the complacent, assuming team that has had its arse handed to it on too many occasions.
Do we want to win? What an indictment of the manager, that some fans would actually prefer to lose everything if it meant he goes. It's a horrible catch-22 for me. If he stays he might just ruin us for another decade, no matter who we bring in to replace him. And if he gets the slightest sniff of a reason to stay, he'll stay. And if he wins a Euro competition and gets us back in the CL you just know what the journos are going to write and what the fans are going to believe. We are in a terrible situation. We need to win, but we can't afford the catastrophic consequences of winning. How did we ever get to this?
So here we are. We've conquered European legends on their own famous patch and Wenger is back at the height of his powers. Says so in the papers so it must be true.
In reality we're still up to our necks in it. It's just we haven't drowned yet. If things go according to the boring and endless plan we go from triumph to calamity against Watford. Watford won't be sitting back and admiring us like Milan did, they'll be right in our faces. If the team stands up to that, THEN it will be signs of progress. The game last night though? It was a relief not to be humiliated. That's what most thought was going to happen going into the game. And that's what people are really talking about this morning I think. Relief.
Whew. We're still alive.
And that's what it comes to. That's what signifies success at this place. We're not dead yet.