Arsenal (0) 0 - 2 (2) Deportivo La Coruna
Highbury, Tuesday March 12th 2001
UEFA Champs Lge, stage 2 match 5
Reports can wait. Let's do some Maths...
Bayer Leverkusen beat Juventus 3-1 tonight. The table is as follows:
Depor 5 3 1 1 6 3 10
Arsenal 5 2 1 2 8 7 7
Bayer 5 2 1 2 8 10 7
Juventus 5 1 1 3 6 8 4
Basically, it's between us and Leverkusen...
- Depor are through. But not necessarily as group winners. If they lose at home to Bayer next week the Germans will top the group. So Depor do have something to play for.
- Juve on the other hand are out. The best they could hope for in the above table is a 3-way tie on 7 points betwen them, us, and Bayer.
If that were to happen (ie if Arsenal and Leverkusen both lose next week), Arsenal would go through. The easiest way to see this is that the results against Depor would be dropped to determine the top team from the 3. Because Arsenal are the only team of the 3 not to have taken a point off Depor, we'd be the only team of the 3 to be left with 7 points.
Havign said all that, Juve would finish 3rd in this scenario, and there is a financial incentive to add to the pride they'll want to restore. So don't expect Juve to roll over for us!
- Ok, so what if Arsenal and Bayer both win next week? Then these teams would finish level with Depor on 10 points. Removing the points won off Juve would be worst for Arsenal, because we'd have taken 6 points off the Italians. Arsenal would be out. (thanks to Aaron McCurrie, Mel Siew, and Paul Brown for putting me right on this so quickly!)
- SO...
If either Bayer or Arsenal get more points than the other next week, they go through
if Arsenal and Bayer both lose, Arsenal go through.
if Arsenal and Bayer both draw, Arsenal go through.
if Arsenal and Bayer both win, Bayer go through.
- Another way of putting it:
If Leberhosen win, they're through
If Leberhosen lose, we're through
If Leberhosen draw, we're through so long as we don't lose
So, it's not looking quite as bad as it feels. But strangely we can win and go out, and we can lose and go through! It's very much not in our hands, but on a positive note: if Depor play like they did tonight, Bayer don't have a prayer.
Having said that, our away form has been poor in Europe, and
our home run is over thanks to a stuttering Arsenal performance and an often breathtaking display by the Spaniards. Don't be under any illusions: this is a team that could easily win the
Champions League. They have now beaten both us and Man Utd home and away this season, and won the Spanish Cup against Real Madrid, in Madrid, last week.
Arsenal had a few chances early on. Pires forced a decent save
after a nice passing move, and then did brilliantly to keep the ball in from an over-hit cross-field ball before feeding Bergkamp on the edge of the box. Dennis juggled the ball past a defender and hit a left footed volley which clipped the top
of the crossbar.
Depor were looking dangerous on the break though, and they defended brilliantly. Whenever Pires or Henry got the ball, in particular, they were surrounded instantly. Eslewheer they were pressing us hard too, and Arsenal were already playing a bit
too quick, passing with unusual inaccuracy.
On about half an hour Wiltord gave the ball away deep in their half. A neat backheel sent one of them scurrying down the wing and a few pinpoint passes later Velderon was passing the ball past Seaman from just inside the box.
Naybet got the second 5 minutes before half-time thanks to a
big deflection off Stepanovs. But to be fair it came at the end
of an impressive and scary spell of attacking possession.
Something had to change, and it was no surprise when Ljungberg
and Kanu came on for Wiltord and Grimandi. Freddie made an impact immediately when his first act was to be brought down by the keeper, but Henry's weak penalty was too close to the keeper
and Kanu's effort on the rebound was deflected onto the roof of the net. Should the keeper have been sent off? Well, to be painfully fair to the ref, it could be argued that it wasn't a goal-scoring chance because Freddie had poked the ball too far forward to
stop it going out of play even if he hadn't been felled.
Shortly after that, Kanu had the ball in the net from a
corner, but it was ruled out because the striker was
backing into Molina.
The wind seemed to go our of Arsenal a bit after that. Depor continued to defend well, and watching Arsenal try to scramble
the ball in is never very hopeful.
Depor had a few chances on the break too, including a Tristan free-kick from the middle of the D (conceded, of necessity, by Stepanovs) which had Seaman well beat. He chipped it over the wall and it came out off the crossbar.
Not many positives to take from this match. Seaman did fine, with a few good saves, and Freddie looked bubbly when he came on.
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