Arsenal fans and Arsene Wenger may well have been a little bit underwhelmed about our participation in the Europa League this season after missing out on our usual Champions League group stage involvement, and we understand the thinking behind putting more focus on the Premier League.
It was nearly a disaster though, with Arsenal going in at the break a goal down but a roaring comeback in the second half gave us a 3-0 win and put a lot of smiles back onto Gooners’ faces.
Having said that about priorities we still want the Gunners to do well and I reckon the Arsenal team selected by the boss was intended to be strong enough to beat a badly out of form Cologne side at the Emirates tonight. We started well enough to be fair but then suffered one of those moments that seem to crop up way too often when things are against you and it set the tone for the rest of the first half.
Ospina did well to react quickly to a rare attack from the Germans but his clearance was not strong enough and as luck would have it fell perfectly for Cologne, And of course their new striker who has been struggling to find the proverbial barn door then hit an inch perfect 40 yarder over our keeper to give Cologne a shock lead.
Arsenal did not react well to the setback while the visitors had their tails up and found it easy to get to the break with the lead intact. Problems and pressure on Arsene Wenger and his players at halftime then. Could we turn this around?
Well you have to give full credit to the manager and players because the second half was a great show and a storming come back from the Gunners. Kolasinac, on at the restart as Wenger shuffled the pack and went to a back four, lashed in a fearsome volley to level the scores within minutes and after that it was all Arsenal.
Then the previously subdued Sanchez came to life and scored a fantastic solo goal cutting in from the left and unleashing a curler that left the German keeper stranded. The third was perhaps a bit of a let down after the quality of the other goals but Arsenal fans were not moaning as Bellerin was the first to react to stab in after Walcott’s shot had been smothered.
Lots of positives for Arsenal after an admittedly poor first half, now bring on Chelsea!!!
Bob.