Celtic 0-Arsenal 2

By: Martin | August 18th, 2009

Okay performance, great result. But how many times over the past few years have we had the exact opposite, when you’ve said, “we were the better team, but didn’t get the win?” I’ll take this over that any day.

We didn’t create as many chances as usual, but give Celtic some credit. They’re a good team, and present a very tough match-up at Parkhead. Had the breaks gone a little bit differently, we could be having a very difficult discussion. But we were the better team on the night, so even if both our goals were fluky, it’s a fair result.

It was a tight match for most of the first half, with neither side really creating much in the way of chances, until Cesc drew a free kick in a dangerous spot outside the box. Now, I’m sure people are crying “dive,” and Celtic’s players and fans certainly were, but I don’t think this was a dive–(a) Cesc isn’t a big diver, and (b) the Celtic player was coming in hard with studs and Cesc either had to kick back his leg or get cleated in the shin. Regardless, a clear foul on Cesc in an even more dangerous spot was not given at the beginning of the second half. At any rate, Cesc then took the free kick, Gallas found himself in the way and tried to duck out of the way, only to have the ball ricochet off his back and into the very corner of the net. What can you say? It was a lucky, lucky goal.

I really thought we dominated most of the second half, but couldn’t find a way through until Abou Diaby came on for Arshavin and immediately took a good touch to beat his man and made a good run, sent it out left to Clichy, and Clichy put in a great ball that Celtic captain Gary Caldwell had to deal with, and he put it into his own net. After that, Arsenal had a pretty good hold on the game, and Celtic never really threatened.

Make no mistake about it–this is a great, great result for us. Celtic’s away record in European competition the last couple of years is pretty woeful, and ours is pretty good. Assuming we can score a goal at the Emirates next week, which is a relatively safe assumption, Celtic would have to score three goals to put us out, which is a very tall order for them. You never want to be too bold in making assumptions against a good team, but the fact is that it would have to take something very dramatic to keep us out of the Champions League at this point.

I was a bit surprised to see Wenger only use one of his 3 substitutes. With a game coming up on the weekend, I thought for sure we’d see Eduardo and either Ramsey or Wilshere come on. All I can figure is this–Wenger trusted the team that was out there to keep the 2-0 lead. And, thinking ahead a week and a half, we’ve got a crucial match against Manchester United, a good result in which could firmly establish us as contenders in the league. While you don’t want to gamble on a Champions League berth, Wenger might feel confident enough in a result next week to rest some of the first team players so they can be fresh and ready to go against United. Whereas if Celtic had grabbed a late goal, that would have made Wednesday a much closer proposition. We shall see.

Anyway, on to the ratings:

Almunia 6.5. Aside from coming out strong on one corner, he wasn’t involved in the game much. I hope I can write some version of this for Almunia’s rating a lot this season.

Sagna 7. Another solid performance–his crosses were scattershot as usual, but he worked hard and pretty much kept Celtic quiet along their left wing.

Clichy 7.5. Maybe now it’s just because I’m looking for it, but he still looked like he lacked composure a couple of times. By and large, though, a strong performance, seemed to really bother Celtic with his pace and skill down the wing, and got back well. His super cross set up the second goal–if it hadn’t been an own goal, there’s a good chance Bendtner would have buried it. Also picked up a yellow card, though.

Vermaelen 8.5. Gosh. It’s only two performances, but I think this guy could be really, really good. As I said after Everton, he seems to be the complete package. He’s physical enough to deal with stronger strikers, but he showed in this game that he can run back fast enough to deal with counters, too. Either he or Cesc was man of the match for me.

Gallas 8. The goal was pretty much pure luck, but it was a good performance out of Gallas defensively. Between our backline and Song, I don’t think you could have asked for much more out of our defense than we’ve gotten so far.

Denilson 7. Came close to scoring in the second half, and gave a solid all-around performance.

Song 8. All-action today. Frustrated Celtic’s attack pretty much every time they tried to come through the middle, and generally looked pretty assured and safe with the ball.

Cesc 8.5. Celtic didn’t seem to have an answer for him. He was running around finding the ball, and always seemed to know exactly what to do with it. Good in possession, good in distribution. Won and took the free kick that led to the first goal.

Bendtner 6.5 Decent energy, and contributed in small ways, but was pretty quiet in the area of the game where he’s expected to contribute–the attack. Needs to find a way to make more of an impact.

van Persie 7. Not his best game, and the shots he managed to get off didn’t trouble Boruc at all. Still showed some flashes that really bothered Celtic.

Arshavin 7. Pretty much the same as van Persie–certainly not bad, but the second less-than-impressive game in a row for Andrey.

Diaby 7. If you read this site, you’ll know I’m not his biggest fan, but his first touch and subsequent run caught Celtic way off guard and he really created the second goal. After that, he had a couple of trademark giveaways but a couple more dangerous moves as well.

But I guess that’s that. It wasn’t our best performance, but the bottom line is we’re the first English team to win a competitive match at Parkhead since 1983, and we’ve got a virtual stranglehold on a Champions League berth.