Qualified for the knock out stages, are you watching money teams? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. 800,000 visits last month

By Walter Broeckx

So that is 13 in a row now. 13 times Arsenal has qualified in the CL for the knock out stages.  You can correct me if you want but NO OTHER ENGLISH TEAM HAS DONE THIS! And I am pretty sure of this.  In the last 13 seasons not all the teams even qualified for the CL. Didn’t you Chelsea? Didn’t you Man City? Remember United last season dropping down to the EL? Only Arsenal has been consistent in qualifying for the next round.  Thank you Arsenal, thank you Arsène.

Mean while Man $ity needs to fill up with some new petrol after being dumped out of the CL for the second year running. Maybe they could follow the Chel$ea way and sack their manager?  Money will be no issue to pay Mancini a nice sum of money to get lost.

In a way $ity could even not make it to the Europa League if Ajax would manage to win their last game. But even Ajax could afford to lose their game at Real Madrid and still beat $ity for the Europa League.  $ity must win their own game away  at Borrusia Dortmund. And I don’t think the Sudtribune will like to see Dortmund lose that game.  Just imagine City out of everything in Europe. What an embarrassment that would be.  But a funny one. Well for us. But somehow I think it would be better for us that $ity goes to the Europa league. Otherwise they will have more rest than the rest.

Chelsea still have a chance to go through. But as Shakthar Donetsk proved they are not that afraid to cheat a bit and Juventus well…. Calciopoli remember… we might see a draw in their game and that would mean Chelsea would be out for good in this year’s CL. Somehow this seems a funny thought. Maybe Benitez will get sacked in some 14 days time?  But his bank account will win that is for sure.

Spare a minute for old arry. I bet he has been sitting in his car all day long from the moment he heard Di Mateo was sacked. Waiting to drive up to the press and to give a window conference. I think he will have to settle for the QPR job in a few days time. Unless of course $ity would offer him the Mancini job.

It’s all about winning trophies they tell us. And as Wenger didn’t win one he should be sacked. Funny that 2 of the 3 managers that won something last season has been sacked by now. King Kenny at Liverpool and now Di Mateo at Chelsea. So maybe it’s not always about winning.

On to our game. Koscelny hitting the bar early on… would have been a great goal from the Frenchman. I think he was again impressive and back to his form from last season. A good eye for the interception, strong runs forward. I think Wenger will have a big decision to make next Saturday if Gibbs would start at left back again…. But then again rotation is not a bad thing to have.

We had some problems in the first half with the pitch. I think the groundsman has some work to do. The ball didn’t move at the expected speed at times and this made us lose a few balls. Montpellier didn’t really do much with it but it could have gone wrong. Wilshere was struggling most I thought with a few balls that just didn’t get to the Arsenal team mate.  Podolski looked very strong and was our most dangerous player. But he couldn’t finish the chances he got.

Did they water the pitch at half time? Because now the ball went as we are used to it most of the time. Vermaelen finally running forward and delivering a cross to Giroud who headed it in the path of the onrushing Wilshere. A little move with the left foot and the ball went over the diving Montpellier keeper. What a sweet finish. And what a happy Jack. And so were all of us.

The icing on the cake came a bit later. The Ox who improved the longer the game went on (just as Jack) ran forward with the ball. He gave the ball to Podolski then went to ground after being touched by something in his face. Podolski gave the ball to Giroud, started his run, Giroud saw the movement and delivered an inch perfect pass back to the German.

What followed was a contender for at least goal of the month.  A perfect volley shot from the edge of the penalty area flew in over the keeper just under the crossbar. What a goal. What a strike.  2-0 game won. And Montpellier was trying a bit but not able to produce a lot. Unless a shot in injury time that just went wide.

Arsenal was the better side on the day. Two nice goals, okay one superb goal in fact, a clean sheet. Hell I think even the Ramsey haters have to shut up as I thought Ramsey did very well when he came on the field. It was a very mature performance. And in my part of the world I looked at the different game reports in different countries and well … it was all Arsenal chances and two attacks from Montpellier.

Just what we wanted and now qualification is done. Will it be in first place or second is in the hands of Schalke and Montpellier. We don’t have this in our own hands. And tell you what : I don’t care that much. Results are that even teams that finish first could end up playing Real Madrid or Juventus. So whatever the result will be: we are in the hat for the knock out stages.

Something that Manchester $ity can only dream about. All that money spend…. and yet again no result in the CL. They couldn’t even win one game so far…