By Rob Deyzel
It seems of late that Wenger must have cruise control for his young Arsenal outfit, when it comes to European fixtures. To be honest it was rather a drab start by the Gunners and the game only really awoke from its footballing coma on 19 minutes when Song (photo) flicked in the ball from close range after an error from the keeper to put the gunners 1-0 in front. Again without much fuss the game continued and Arsenal again continued to pass the ball round the emirates with an air of arrogance. On 42 minutes Nasri brought the ball down gracefully from a Fabregas cross and calmly smashed the ball into the top of the net and signalled Arsenal dominance.
The second half was more of the same. 3 Goals in 9 second half minutes made sure of the victory for Arsenal. First Fabregas slotted home a penalty on 60 minutes followed a nice chip by Jack Wilshere and a poked fifth by Chamakh. Shakhtar got a consolation through former Gunner Eduardo on his first return to the Emirates since his £6million move last summer. Eduardo probably got the biggest cheer of the night, which was a fantastic spectacle to witness, as not many fans show such gratitude for ex-players services like Gunners fans do.
Anyone watching the game last night would have enjoyed seeing a team playing such sweet passing football with a minimum of fuss. Unlike Barcelona who play to the crowd, the Gunners seem to play training game football, or at least it seems that way. I don’t mean that in a bad way! Arsenal just get on with the game playing as a complete unit, playing as if there is no one watching them. The only time it seems they realise that there is an audience of 60,000 watching is when occasionally they throw a fist in celebration at the crowd after a goal. That mentality seems to work, well at least in European fixtures. Its the same old debate as to why Arsenal do so well in Europe against weaker opposition, but poorly against weaker opposition in the English Premier League. As I predicted at the start of the season, the Champions League is the best chance of Arsenal winning a major trophy this year. How ironic that its still called the champions league, when its unlikely Arsenal will be champions of England for at least a couple of seasons! Oh by the way Arsenal fans, how sweet is it not to worry anymore with Alumnia finally out goal!
