Gunners Mode: Cold War in Kiev

Last night Champions league group stage match took us to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kiev. We were still without Nasri to kick-start our midfield with. However, Song was included in the starting list acting as a central mid (Flamster role). The rest was our full first team players.

It was never an easy moment for the Gunners playing in a cold weather. Even in England, winter season saw us struggle a bit to maintain our game consistency. Knowing the fact that Kiev IS a difficult place to go and have full three points, Wenger did pointed out earlier that our target is to earn at least one point at the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium.

Dynamo with full support of the home fans, gain majority of ball posession throughout the game. In my opinion, we did struggle to match their pace. It almost seems like they were the one who were playing the 'arsenal-way' instead of us. We did have an array of chances to take the lead. The most stood out chances were the one with adebayor going one one one with the goalkeeper after an error backpass by Dynamo's defend. And Adebayor being Adebayor (biase ler kan..) hit the ball off wide. AARGHH !! Ape ni Ade !?!? Clear cut chances tu !!! Go back to basic la belajar menendang balik. Isk.. hangin betul.

Its 0-0 by the end of the 1st half. During the 2nd half on the 60+ mins, Sagna was defending the box from Dynamo's free kick when suddenly this most upfront Dynamo guy wrapped his arm around Sagna and brought him down. Boleh pulak the Ref awarded a penalty kick out of favor to Sagna. Bongok nye ref. Kesian aku tgk Sagna, terpinga-pinga je innocently in disbelief. Rempit face Ismael Bangoura sent Almunia flying the wrong way and they now took a 1-0 lead. It seems like they gain more confidence after the lead, as they kept on attacking us repeatedly in search for their 2nd.

With 30 mis left, an act of deperation saw Wenger brought in Bendtner, Vela and Eboue. When Eboue came in the final 10 mins, i know its gung-ho all the way now to secure a point. He's not 100% fit yet since he got knocked in our last league game against Blackburn. But we need someone with his quality to change the game tempo as Song's performance was to me a bit dissapointing. It finally paid off in the 88th mins as Walcott whipped out a low cross just to find the Kapitan Gallas at the farthest end to blast in the equalizer. Wahlauuu.. very late one.. sakit jantung maa.. Mcm ni la yg nak marah ni. Dah ketinggalan baru nak main mcm ni. Masa tgh 0-0 tadi semua tanak serious. Haishh... Kalau tidak, mesti dah boleh menang dah.

Hangin satu badan...