Arsenal:
        Lehmann
Lauren Campbell Toure Cole
 Ljungberg Cesc Edu Pires
        Henry Reyes

The Greeks were basically better in all departments except finishing. Their passing through midfield was excellent, but perhaps not quite as excellent as our failure to press them made it look. To be fair, Arsenal's defending was better, but it had to be. And our finishing was better as far as percentages went: as injury time at the end of the match approached I think we'd had 2 shots on goal and scored from both.

The Greeks were quicker out of the starting blocks too. Basinas got the ball rolling on 2 mins with a low swerving shot from outside the box on the left which swerved beyond the far post. A couple of minutes later their right fullback got past Cole (not for the last time) and hit a cross to the near post which Campbell managed to get to and put out for a corner. Good thing he did because Gonzalez was just behind him and would have got to the ball before Lehmann.

Another long-range shot from Basinas was blocked and deflected to the edge of the box where Cole had come in to cover - good thing too as he was able to intercept and prevent an easy chance for a loitering striker.

Another terrific effort from Basinas on the quarter hour, a 35 yard thunderbolt, was parried well by Lehmann who'd have had no chance at all if the shot had been placed a yard or 2 to either side. But Basinas had been allowed a ridiculous amount of space.

Suddenly Arsenal came into the game for a few minutes. Pires found Henry in the box but despite nice control he was crowded off the ball. Then Pires combined with Freddie who got the ball to Reyes on the edge of the box. He tried to slip it through for Freddie's run but again there weer too many defenders around.

Moments later Reyes tried it again and this time he found the required degree of precision, dinking a lovely ball through as Freddie turned just inside the box, level with the last man. He came forward and chipped it over the keeper from a yard and a half in front of the penalty spot, a very cool finish.

But they came right back at us and soon after Gonzalez was heading just wide of the far post from a cross from their right - a difficult chance from 15 yards out. On the stroke of half time Basinas hit another long-range effort, a 25 yard free kick that shot just over the bar and onto the roof of the net.

More of the same in the second half. 5 minutes after the break, Campbell was chasing a striker back towards goal as a through ball came over. The striker handled the ball on the edge of the box just before Sol fouled him. Fortunately the ref was well behind the action and saw neither incident.

Mitu was given far too much space for a shot because Cole and Reyes on the left were too busy complaining about a throw-in that had been wrongly given against us. They were right, but while they were moaning the Greeks got on and took it, but luckily Mitu's very well-struck shot was always going wide. Captain Henry came back to have a word with Cole after that.

Just after the hour, Pana swapped strikers with Olisadebe coming on for Konstantinou. Moments later, when the ball was played forward into space in front of his box, Lehmann came rushing out of his box quite unnecessarily (as Campbell was clearly going to get there first) and headed it clear. Except it didn't go clear. Maybe he just didn't get as much on it as he meant to but it has to be said that it looked very much like, instead of heading it out safely for a throw, he was trying to place the header to Cole on the left wing. But it didn't go to Cole it went to Gonzalez who, to be fair, whacked a superb lob straight back into Lehmann's goal. And I'd just been saying in the pub the night before how Lehmann hasn't made a mistake for months....

But we were ahead again 10 minutes later with a goal on the break. Cole intercepted level with the penalty area and passed inside to Reyes then bombed forward. Reyes found Pires who managed to get his pass forward for Cole off despite being clattered from behind as he played it. Cole continu3ed to bomb forward, now with the ball, and hit a perfect cross for Henry to slide in from 6 yards out.

But oh dear. 8 minutes to go and we left Olisadebe unmarked 10 yards out and level with the far post, as a corner came over from their left. His thumping header gave Lehmann no chance, but only because Lehmann had, strangely, come rushing out for a ball that he was never going to get close to.

Minites later the Greek keeper made a great double save from Reyes and then from Pires after Reyes had headed the rebound to the Frenchman. The second was a bit lucky perhaps, stopping the ball with his legs and maybe not knowing a lot about it, but the keeper deserved it for having got into the right place. 5 minutes to go and these were the first and only saves he'd had to make.

We had a couple more dodgy moments in injury time. A loose header from Lauren fell luckily to Sol, and then Cole slipped as he tried to clear and was lucky to get enough on the ball not to gift a decent chance to the Greeks.

So, not brilliant, but still a damn sight better than last year. We've slipped to second in the table thanks to PSV's win in Norway, but we've got 2 out of the 3 remaining games at home, against what we hope are the 2 weaker teams in the group. But we're going to have to play with a lot more commitment and energy to get the easy win at home over this lot that we ought to.