Arsenal v Napoli LIVE

As much as I believed Ramsey would eventually come good when he was going through his rough phase ... I didn't envision he'd be playing this incredibly well. And so soon. He's extraordinary right now. Tackling, shooting, passing, dribbling, doing a little of everything and sprinting everywhere to do it.

   

I have a feeling Napoli will regroup and make the second half much more difficult and tense. As long as the quality of play remains like this, though, we shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Stunning first half display. Majestic football and a great team performance.

Ramsey and Ozil

Giroud's link up play is on another level tonight

Orbinho ‏@Orbinho 34s
HT Stats Arsenal v Napoli Shots 7-5 On target 3-0, Fouls 9-6 Duels Won 50%-50%, Pass Accuracy 90%-84%, Possession 69%-31%

Apparently, Mesut assisted the nurses during his own birth #Twitter

Flamini and Rosicky have to watch their tackles.

srigooner wrote:Apparently, Mesut assisted the nurses during his own birth #Twitter

Good one.

How have we been playing, I set am alarm for earlier, but I only just got up o.o

beatrixasdfghjk. wrote:How have we been playing, I set am alarm for earlier, but I only just got up o.o

The team is playing like warrior-poets on steroids. The first half was terrific.

Giroud just did beautifully there to get off a pass to Rosicky ... too bad it didn't pan out.

Interested in what the long shot statistics looks like .

Can't believe I'm missing this game

Sounds like it has been great to watch

Remarkable first half. Solid, professional second half. Clean sheet. Six points from two games in the hardest CL group. And (fingers crossed) no real injuries.

Dominating performance.

VendettaRed07 wrote:Can't believe I'm missing this game

Sounds like it has been great to watch

Well I loved this bit of commentary from Arseblog: Another Napoli shot, this one is higher than all the others put together.

8/8 shots on target, Arteta with 99% passing accuracy, 74 passes (not sure if completed or attempted, but not like there'll be much difference, with a completion rate like that).

.

Diego was complaining about not playing sexy stuff.

Arsene listened

We were class tonight against a proper european opposition. Most dominant performance of the season, we're flying high atm - it's been a while I can't even select my MOTM. Giroud, Özil, Ramsey, Arteta, Flamini, whole back four = class

Those first 20 minutes were pure class; simply as good as it gets. In the second half we were able to comfortably see the game out with the handbrake on while not overexerting ourselves, getting a clean sheet in the process. Pretty much the perfect result. This Arsenal team

Vintage Arsenal.

Very exciting times not only at the way were playing and the confidence with in the team but to know Santi, Walcott, & Poldi will soon be walking back into this side is mouthwatering.

Napoli would of been writing off if Theo was on the right tonight.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: "I felt that we played at a good pace, technically very direct and finished with great goals. The first half was outstanding. The second half we played more with maturity, less with drive going forward, a bit more cautious, but overall and outstanding game.

"The first half was amazing, absolutely fantastic. Everything was in there. All that you dream to see when you come to watch football.

"We were solid. Flamini and Arteta contributed to that, and overall it was positive because I wanted Flamini to be very good on the counter-attack, especially with Ramsey, and that worked very well.

[On winning the first two games] "You cannot start better, and the next two will be deciders. That's when we want the game to come back after the international break and have a great game against Dortmund."



Arsenal goalscorer Olivier Giroud: "We had a great first 45 minutes and that meant we could play our game in the second half. Mesut Ozil is a great player it is really easy to play with him.

"We have a good relationship and understanding on the field."



Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta: "Considering we were playing against a top side, we played very efficiently winning the ball back and it was a very impressive first 45 minutes.

"We have the talent up front to score the goals. But there is also a hunger. Now we know that we need to win the ball back quickly, because when we win it back in the final third we are very dangerous.

"We still have players to come back from injury and they will add their own qualities."

RealGunner wrote:Diego was complaining about not playing sexy stuff.

Arsene listened

lol, sort of

we played at a very high intensity, moved the ball very fast, quick to win the ball back, it was difficult for Napoli to live with. Saying that, ozil aside its not exactly silky stuff. Lots of straight ball straight to giroud, when we do decide to build from the back it goes out to a full back and at the first sight of pressure its hoof straight down the line.

Some aspects of our game are enjoyable to watch, some not so much, I don't want possession football per se, just more sophistication in building up, but when playing out with flamini, arteta, sagna, mert, kos and gibbs + szczesney what can you expect. There were good moments, mainly involving ozil, we need someone on the same wave as him imo, hopefully cazorla, and hopefully at some point in the season jack gets back to what he used to be.