Arsenal 1-0 AS Roma or expecting anything different?

My goodness this is getting repetitive. As the Arsenal blogger here on the Offside, I feel like game in, game out, I’m spitting out the same thing. Something that reads like this:

“They couldn’t finish today… Lots of passing, decent midfield work, nothing in front of the net… Bendtner is awful and terrible. Eboue was rubbish not bad, but couldn’t score when he should have…”

I could bore you with more nonsensical drivel like that, but it would be a waste of my time and yours. Instead, I’m trying to come up with something new and perhaps a little more inspiring. For example, did you notice that Arsenal scored a goal in a competitive match? Sure, it was only one, it came on a penalty kick, but it was a goal. That’s good, right? There were a few bright spots other than the goal — another clean sheet, which would be more impressive if they had scored a goal or two and come away with more wins than draws. In fact, this marked the sixth time in the last seven games that Arsenal has held a clean sheet. Again, as I said, it would be something to brag about if not for the fact they’ve managed four wins out of those seven matches. Not the best return on some solid defending.

Roma didn’t look particularly good yesterday, and they must be wiping their brow having only conceded once. Bendtner could have had a hat trick, Eboue, Song, and Van Persie all shanked a shot or two, basically you name it, this team was unable to get it done. Roma was not without their share of chances and I am very nervous about the return leg. Last season against Milan they got it done at the San Siro, but I’m expecting much better out of the Italian side in two weeks.

This club seems to have serious, serious problems finding the back of the net. Their rich vein of form last winter was simply because Van Persie managed to score almost every game. Now that he’s regressed a bit, there is no one scoring. Adebayor, before getting injured wasn’t all that impressive, we know about Eduardo, but Bendtner, someone who I was hoping would start playing well, hasn’t. The Dane has had chance after chance to prove himself and has not delivered.

We will see what happens in two weeks in Rome. Bottom line, I’m not interested in the Champions League as much as I am in what happens over the two weekends between then and now. String together a couple of wins in the league and things may look a little bit brighter. There’s Fulham and West Brom between then and now. Should be two wins. But as I’ve said before, with these “kids,” you don’t really know what you’re going to get. Come on Arsenal.

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Fixtures