Marseille 0-1 Arsenal : Gunners stan the French

Ramsey fires Arsenal to glory in the 92nd minute

Match report and video here.

Ramsey scored in the 92^nd minute last night to snatch a vital 3 points for Arsenal. You have to feel a bit sorry for Marseille, conceding a goal at the death like that with no time to recover is an extremely painful experience. But then again, the game ain’t over till the final whistle blows...

If that had been Arsenal conceding a goal like that, I together with the majority of the Arsenal world would have gone to town on the mental frailties and poor defensive discipline of Arsenal. But hell, we didn’t concede a goal. Maybe our luck is starting to change, finally.

As a contest, the game was very disappointing. I kept dosing throughout the game!! In the first half, Marseille were pressing Arsenal high up the pitch, denying us time and space on the ball. They were attacking at speed and in numbers, with Loic Remy nearly giving them a goal in the first half. But after about 15 minutes, Arsenal started to calm down and played better as the game went on.

Arsenal too had chances in the first half. Van Persie’s header was cleared off the line. Before that, a clear handball by a Marseille defender should have resulted in a penalty for Arsenal, but the ref and his assistants chose to ignore it.

In the second half, Marseille looked tired and out of ideas. Arsenal had more ball possession and looked like the home team. I stopped fearing losing the game when Remy and Gonzalez were substituted for Marseille. A draw nil-nil draw looked most likely.

 In the final 15 minutes of the game, Arsenal were looking the more likely to score. Gervinho and Ramsey came on for Theo and Arshavin and really added some thrust to our attack.

Koscielny & Ramsey run away to celebrate

With 92 minutes on the clock, Djourou, who had come in as a substitute for the very decent on the night Jenkinson, ran down our right flank, delivered a decent cross which Gervinho couldn’t control. It found Ramsey unmarked at the far post. He controlled, fired. 1 nil to the Arsenal!! I couldn’t contain myself!!

Overall, I thought we played well. We were not convincing by any stretch of the imagination, but then they say quality sides win even when they don’t play well. So between playing well and getting 3 points, I take the 3 points thank you.

Half-full stadium but Arsenal fans are global

Fair play to Marseille, I thought the game was played in good spirit. But I couldn’t help noticing that half the stadium was empty!!! For a club like Marseille? Maybe Wenger is right when he says there is a football financial crisis looming...

We are top of our group and if we get 6 points from our remaining 3 games, we should qualify top of our group I reckon.

I won’t bother to dwell on our weaknesses, or try to highlight player performances. Frankly they were all average. But for once I’ll revel in the 3 points that I never saw us getting in France.

Onward crawls the Arsenal!!