What a difference Adams makes!

Going 2-0 down at home, against the team ranked 32nd out of the 32, in the champion's league simply added fuel to the press reports that we were not ready to progress very far in this competition, let alone survive two encounters with the favourites, Lazio. In fact no one outside of N1 had given us a hope. Perhaps when you consider Lazio's financial muscle and the fact that it has one of the strongest forward lines, and midfield, in the world a pessimistic outlook could be warranted. But hang on a second: Henry v Crespo; Salas v Kanu; Inzaghi v Bergkamp; Lopez v Wiltord; Nedved v Ljungberg; Simeone v Viera; and Veron v Parlour (yes an Englishman)….

Why were we written off so readily when our world-class foreigners are just as good as theirs? Maybe Lazio had read too many newspapers beforehand because they played as if they only had to turn up to collect three points. Oh dear! Tough and tenacious tackling throughout the team (even KANU got his boot in) showed Lazio that if they wanted a result they were going to have to work for it and sadly (for the neutral) they didn't have the stomach to make a fight of it. Adams and Viera back in the frame meant we could field just about our strongest side. But the surprise of the evening was Wenger's gamble on playing Bergkamp wide on the right. A masterstroke as it turned out which was in stark contrast to Alex Ferguson's tactical error the day before, which resulted in a defeat for Manchester United at the hands of PSV. Ha! By playing Luzhny in his preferred right back position and bringing Adams in to lead the line again we provided a platform from which the art of great tackling, anticipation and counter attacking could be demonstrated throughout the game. The pinnacle of this defensive exhibition came from a brilliantly executed tackle on Salas, by Adams just outside the area. Salas, alas, went down like he had been executed and he seemed to lose interest in the rest of the game. The icing on the cake was Seaman's performance, when we needed him most he produced his best game for over a year making several world class saves, primarily from dead ball situations which defensively were out of our control.

After a typically Italian cagey opening period Parlour and Viera started to get the better of Veron and Simeone. Bergkamp meanwhile managed to keep Nedved occupied with some intelligent movement and passing. They had clearly listened to Wenger's warning that we had to "take the game to them and not let them have too much of the ball". But if we did Wenger said that he was "hopeful that we will have nine points by tonight." Well there's someone that believes in our capabilities. In depriving Lazio of possession the chances began to flow in our favour. Henry should have put us 1-0 up after 35 minutes as he was put through for a one-on-one against Marchegiani, but the keeper's quick thinking and quicker hands kept him out. The keeper also thwarted Keown, in his now familiar attacking position, on 42 minutes. Our best-worked move of the first half culminated in the Romans conceding their first goal in the competition. Kanu (who else) from right midfield spotted Bergkamp pull away from his marker on the left of the penalty area. KANU's precision cross field pass was met by an equally accurate nod down from Bergkamp into the path of the on-rushing Freddie Ljungberg just outside the six yard box. 1-0. Lazio had been warned very early on that both Ljungberg and Parlour had license to make those runs but they weren't heeded. Consequently Ljungberg, courtesy of a powerful display of midfield dribbling by Bergkamp, scored his second goal outside the six-yard box. As Bergkamp put the ball between Negro's legs, Freddie propelled himself past Attilio Lombardo to slide the ball home, this time with his right foot. Apart from the occasional dead ball situation taken by Mihajlovic, Lazio rarely threatened our goal.

The stats said it all really: Arsenal had 15 attempts at goal and 11 on target; and Lazio had 8 attempts on goal and 2 on target. If it wasn't for some brilliant saves by Marchegiani at the feet of Henry, KANU, Ljungberg and Keown it could have been double figures, instead it was just an embarrassing night for the Italy's Double Winning side.

Man for man when you think about it we are more than a match for Lazio; and when Lombardo and Ravanelli came on in the second half we knew it was time to look ahead to the next group.