Showing posts with label Andrey Arshavin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrey Arshavin. Show all posts
Greece invoked the spirit of their Euro 2004 glory days as they reached the Euro 2012 last eight at the expense of Russia with a shock 1-0 win in Group A courtesy of a classic defensive performance in Warsaw.
Greece skipper Giorgos Karagounis scored the solitary goal of the game when he bounded into the Russian box a couple of minutes into time added on in the first half to drive the ball under goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev at the Polish capital's modernistic national stadium. It was an astonishingly sloppy piece of defending from a throw-in before the goal that ultimately cost the much-vaunted Russians their place at these finals.
Russia and Greece finished on four points behind Czech Republic, who topped the section on six points with their 1-0 win over eliminated co-hosts Poland, but it is Greece who progress on the head-to-head records between the two countries.
Greece unearthed a superb performance high on energy and organisation with the kind of defending that carried them to the Euro 2004 title under former coach Otto Rehhagel against all the odds in Portugal, but it would be wrong to label this a fortunate Hellenic success.
Greece were the more purposeful side in the second half and should have been awarded a penalty when Karagounis was somehow booked after appearing to be felled in the Russian area by Sergei Ignashevich around the hour-mark.
Karagounis was furious with the referee and will now miss a possible quarter-final against likely Group B winners Germany in Gdansk on Friday, but he had already contributed to the biggest upset of the tournament so far. He was replaced by Grigoris Makos on 67 minutes perhaps for his own good.
It could hardly detract from a special evening for Karagounis, who equalled Theodoros Zagorakis's national record for Greece in his 120th appearance. It is a pity that he will not be around for the quarter-finals having also missed the Euro 2004 final win over Portugal due to suspension.
Giorgios Tzavellas also whacked a free-kick off the bar from 25 yards out on 70 minutes as Greece attempted to put breathing space between themselves and the Russians, who looked dazed at full-time having gone into the match on the back of a 4-1 win over group winners Czech Republic and a 1-1 draw with Poland.
The Czechs top Group A, but Greece celebrated like they had won the tournament at full-time.
Russia dominated large swathes of possession, but came up short on the night with their inability to penetrate Greece all too obvious.
The Greeks had lost both of their previous meetings with Russia in the European Championships - 1-2 in Euro 2004 and 0-1 in Euro 2008 - but this was as good a time as any to end that record.
Malafeev was forced to tip away a Kostas Katsouranis volley in the opening moments before Russia decided to display their superior technical skills on the ball without ever ramming home the territorial advantage four years after they had cut a dash to the last four of Euro 2008.
The under-worked Greece goalkeeper Michail Sifakis saved from Andrei Arshavin on nine minutes, but had little to do as Alexander Kerzhakov - who was replaced by the equally impotent Roman Pavlyuchenko at half-time - and Yuri Zhirkov illustrated Russian profligacy by walloping efforts wide.
With the roaming Georgios Samaras producing some admirable work to carry Greece forward on the counter attack from time to time, they could easily have added to their tally with Alexander Anyukov nudging the ball away from under his own bar after some decent work and cross by the lively Vasilis Torosidis on 58 minutes.
Russia huffed and puffed, but could not find a way through the Greece wall of bodies as it became obvious the men in the white shirts were not willing to be breached. An Alan Dzagoev header that dropped wide from Arshavin's cross on 83 minutes was the last time they would come close to lancing the Greece goal.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Russia coach Dick Advocaat, who departs the post to return to club football with PSV Eindhoven next month. It was difficult not to feel heartened by the scenes of joy emanating from the Greek fans.
With the well-publicised monetary problems in Greece all too apparent, this will be a real boost for a country addicted to the world game. They may be heading out of the Euro, but Greece are well and truly alive at the Euros.
We were in control against Leyton Orient until their late equaliser, but we have to accept it, as that's what football is all about.
I believe we played the game with the right attitude and I cannot fault our fighting spirit. You have to give credit to Leyton Orient. They never gave up and, as long as you don't score the second goal, this kind of thing can happen.
It's a disappointment of course, but the most important thing is that we go through in the replay. It's frustrating not to win the game, but we are still in the FA Cup. On Sunday we saw a game that a team with fighting spirit against a team who were technically superior, but in a Cup tie fighting spirit has a chance.
Jonathan Tehoue scored their equaliser and I admit I had never heard of him before he came on. If they did not start him maybe they had a plan to defend up front with Alex Revell. But when he came on they went to a 4-4-2 shape and Tehoue did very well.
For us, Andrey Arshavin played the full 90 minutes on Sunday and he is coming back into form. What he is missing is a goal to get completely back to full confidence. But he is lively and dangerous at the moment.
Since the beginning of December we have played almost every three days. Sometimes it would not be bad to have a week where we can give a breather to the players. But we have a large enough squad to cope with a replay - we even left a few players at home on Sunday.
We didn't watch the draw, as we were preparing for the match, but somebody told me just before the game started that we will play Manchester United if we go through. It's an exciting and an interesting draw, but we have had a good warning that Leyton Orient at home will be a difficult game and we are not there yet.
Leyton Orient didn't drop physically, they kept their shape, they fought very hard and they will make it difficult in the replay as well.
We were very dominant in the first half-hour at Aston Villa and the only regret I had at that stage was we had not scored enough goals.
We did make it 2-0 just before half-time but you could feel among the players that what happened last week against Tottenham had had an impact in their heads. So when it came back to 2-1 it was an interesting test. We could crumble or we could score again.
We scored again.
Villa are a good side with good strikers and a solid defence but overall I think we dominated the game. Andrey Arshavin was always dangerous on the day. You always like him to have the ball because you feel he could make the difference.
The result put us top of the Premier League for a while. That's the modern world of football - it changes quickly. What you have to do is focus on the quality of what you want and let other people judge. I feel we played very well against Tottenham and they created less chances than Villa did on Saturday but we still lost the game.
In fact I believe we had three good performances last week. We had a lot of possession in a difficult game in Braga and responded well at Villa.
I say that because I focus on the performance. You do not always lose when you dominate games and that's what happened at Villa. We played well, Villa had a good response in the second half but we managed to find the resources to win the game.
Right now, I feel this team are on the same wavelength in the way they want to play and the way they fight for each other.
It's very interesting to see and I think there is a lot more to come from them in the rest of the campaign.
Arsenal had to ride out a spirited second-half performance from Aston Villa before claiming a 4-2 win at Villa Park in the Premier League.
After enduring a week to forget with a derby defeat followed by a loss in Europe, Andrei Arshavin and Samir Nasri scored at the end of a first half they dominated, despite the absence of talismanic captain Cesc Fabregas.
Youngster Ciaran Clark scored a stunning goal - his first for the club - soon after the restart to pull a resurgent Villa back into the match, only for Marouane Chamakh to restore Arsenal's two-goal lead soon afterwards.
Clark then bagged another with 20 minutes remaining, but Jack Wilshere scored his first league goal for the Gunners in injury time to help Arsenal move top of the table for a few hours at least.
Ex-Arsenal winger Robert Pires made his full debut for Villa against his former club, but the 37-year-old's advancing years showed. The Frenchman made nigh on 300 appearances for the Gunners during the most glorious period of their history, and had trained with his old club before joining Villa on a short-term deal, but he could not exert the influence of old that helped the Londoners to the double and their unbeaten title-winning campaign of 2003-04.
Chamakh, one of seven changes to the Arsenal side following Wednesday's 2-0 defeat at Braga, almost opened the scoring in the first minute when he dinked Arshavin's pass over Brad Friedel, but defender James Collins was on the line to clear the ball.
Not long afterwards Tomas Rosicky flashed an effort across the face of goal, and the tone was set for a half of Arsenal dominance.
However, after that early flourish, the Gunners struggled to turn that hogging of the ball into many more clear chances.
Villa were reduced to going at the visitors on the counter-attack, but for the most part Pires provided an outlet bereft of pace.
Their first opportunity came midway through the first half, when Stewart Downing's cross from deep was flicked on by Clark to Ashley Young at the far post, but the England winger was beaten by the bounce and could only steer the ball over the bar.
Arshavin ended his 11-match run without a goal on 39 minutes. Collins and Luke Young got in each others' way as they both went for Lukasz Fabianski's long ball upfield, and the Russian had plenty of space to eat up before cutting inside and firing a strike that Friedel could only tip on to the far post and into the net.
Nasri fired into the side netting almost immediately from the restart, before Friedel made a good reaction save from Chamakh's header.
However, Nasri was not to be denied, and his volley from a corner took enough of a deflection off Luke Young to deceive Friedel and go into the bottom corner.
Pires was withdrawn for Nathan Delfouneso at half-time, and Villa emerged with renewed vigour. Clark gave the home side hope when Barry Bannan's cross was headed away by Sebastien Squillaci, but only as far as the 21-year-old, who was given enough space on the edge of the box to control with his chest and lash a stunning finish into the top corner.
Chamakh put Arsenal clear again soon afterwards when he beat Friedel to Rosicky's through ball and prodded it into the empty net for his 11th goal of the season.
However, Arsenal were far from home and dry, and Clark got his and Villa's second when he flicked Richard Dunne's header from a corner in off the underside of the bar.
The final 20 minutes promised much for the vociferous Holte End support, but in the end Arsenal's class shone through, and Wilshere sealed the result in the 93rd minute when he met Chamakh's chipped cross with a close-range diving header.
The spirit shown by Gerard Houllier's young side will encourage the French manager, but ultimately the result means Villa remain in the bottom half of the table.
Saturday was a big disappointment because we had the game won at Birmingham and we had the chance to score the second goal.
I believe the pitch was very difficult to play on and it was a scrappy game. We gradually got on top and played the second half in their half of the pitch, but they defended well and made the game difficult. In the end we got caught when Almunia deflected the ball into his own goal.
Of course it is disappointing to concede so late but football is never finished when two teams fight until the end. We had the chance to score the second and to keep the ball. The last thing you want is a free-kick against you but that is what happened.
Cesc Fabregas picked up an injury in the first half and we will assess him before the Barcelona game. He got tackled on the knee. We tried to take him off at first but afterwards he said he was OK and he finished the game.
Injuries were the reason Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri started the game on the bench. Andrey had a groin problem and Samir had a knee problem from the last game against West Ham.
Of course the result is a big blow for our title chances. We were in a position where we had to win all our games and not to win on Saturday is a big blow to take.
