Comments on Wicked Deflection: Arsenal miss clear chances to score, but keep out ...

I am very pleased with Senderos' play. Did you not...

2008-02-22T18:19:00.000-05:00

I am very pleased with Senderos' play. Did you noticed after Eduardo sent in a corner in the first half, big Phil took the ball down to the byline and tried to send in a cross with his left foot? I almost broke out laughing! His commitment is unquestionable.

Several AC Milan players were subdued. It was a b...

2008-02-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

Several AC Milan players were subdued. It was a big missed opportunity for Arsenal: 2-0 would have been a logical result. The second half of the game was more open than the first half.

These past two days have been very hard for me. I ...

2008-02-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

These past two days have been very hard for me. I couldn't read much football news and I was in serious withdrawal. I finally managed to watch the first half last night and I thought we did ok. There were a lot of pretty passes but Milan played excellent defense and we lacked the cutting edge in the lat third of the pitch.

A few observations:

1) Eduardo is not a midfielder. His forward play really suffers when he he has to go back to our own box to defend. He is much better loitering around the opponents' box.

2) Eboue is not a midfielder. He plays right midfield like he is still a right back. He is much better when he overlaps down the flank but he doesn't know how to take on and run at the defenders. His performance in this match, though, was much much better than what I've seen in a while.

3) Because of Eduardo and Eboue, Arsneal midfield seems weak. The linkage between the middle and the final thirds is dominated by Milan who were content to just sit back and absorb the pressure.

Kaka was strangely quiet. It almost seems like he was just watching and taking notes for use in the return leg. I expect him to shine at the San Siro in two weeks.

Yeah, he got hit on the knee by the ball, and he w...

2008-02-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

Yeah, he got hit on the knee by the ball, and he was out for the count. Big Phil did ok, though.

Perhaps this is related to the injury he sustained...

2008-02-21T18:24:00.000-05:00

Perhaps this is related to the injury he sustained during ACN. Reports say that his leg was injured when hit by Pato's shot (!) They are saying he would be out for "only" 2 weeks.

Kolo Toure looked ok before he went off. His inju...

2008-02-21T17:17:00.000-05:00

Kolo Toure looked ok before he went off. His injury was strange. He got bumped, and it didn't look like a big deal, but he could barely walk.

Thanks again for the nice write-up. How did Toure ...

2008-02-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

Thanks again for the nice write-up. How did Toure look before he went off injured? I have not seen the game but I thought before the game that Senderos should have been selected ahead of Toure because he had a nice run of games in which he was very solid.