ARSENAL 1

RARELY has such a dominant victory felt so hollow.

Arsenal rolled up their sleeves and played Roma off the park at The Emirates Stadium, but their failure to score more than just the one goal means that this tie is still very much alive and the Gunners have it all to do in Rome.

Shots were hoofed over, lashed wide and driven into defenders, everywhere in fact except in the back of the net. The fact that Arsenal's only goal came from a penalty says it all.

'We played well,' insisted Arsene Wenger afterwards.

'There was room for more goals, but overall we kept a clean sheet and, that is important. Every time we had the ball we used it well, and there were plenty of chances. It is enough. It's down to us to make it enough.'

Roma were simply awful. They barely crossed the half-way line, threatened on just a couple of occasions and gave possession away so often that you suspected they were doing it deliberately.

No-one at this level is that bad at passing, are they? Apparently so.

John Arne Riise, once an Anfield stalwart, was absolutely torn to pieces, unable to cope with the pace of the players running at him.

Up front Julio Baptista, once a cult hero in these parts, was anonymous.

Confident

Is this really the Champions League? Roma looked a long way from being champions of anything.

Arsenal, buoyed by their early success, were so confident after the break that they restarted the game without any central defenders.

Quite what Kolo Toure and William Gallas thought they were playing at by dawdling in the dressing room is anyone's guess, but they certainly got their skates on when they realised the match had kicked off without them.

It appears that Toure is superstitious and believes that he has to be the last player onto the pitch, while Gallas was being patched up by the medical staff.

It was a farcical sub-plot that Arsenal could have done without, but they got away with it.

Luciano Spalletti knew exactly how lucky he was to still be in this tie.

'This is quite a good result for us, considering the difference between the two teams. Arsenal were much better than what I have seen of them recently. They imposed a good pace and intensity on the game and gave us a lot of difficulties.'

Earlier this season, Chelsea found to their cost that a single goal victory in England is no guarantee of success in Rome.

When Luiz Felipe Scolari's side travelled to Italy they were soundly beaten in the Stadio Olimpico.

It would be a tragedy if that were to happen to Arsenal, not simply because Roma are such an underwhelming, unambitious outfit, but because there were signs here that Wenger's men were back to their best.

This was that free-flowing, rapid football that neutrals fell in love with last season.

Arsenal were exciting and daring, but at the risk of repeating what I've said in countless match reports this season, someone really, really, really needs to teach them how to score.