I have to take my hat off to the boys from Bulgaria. They were game. They almost scored a couple times in the first half. To their credit, they tried to play with us, and didn't look bad. But they sure got torched. It took twelve minutes before we rang one up, courtesy of a very nice chip from Alexis. He was standing still and was not much pressured, so the degree of difficulty wasn't high; but he put it exactly where he wanted. Theo's strike was better, I thought, a rocket just under the crossbar near the right corner. The second half was all Gunners. One minute in, and a fortuitous chance for the Ox who buried it in the lower right corner. Then it was the Ozil show: two right-footed goals and one with his left, after sequences that cut the defense to ribbons.
I was disappointed that Lucas Perez didn't start, but no way was Alexis going to be left out. I figured Xhaka would play, since we can't use him in the next three FA games, but I got that wrong.
We're in good shape in the group, but still have work to do. We want to win it, of course, and these six goals might help.
I rushed that last post (debate that evening) and neglected to praise Ospina for some really fine goalkeeping. It was close in the first half and he made sure defensive lapses didn't lead to goals.
ReplyDelete