People in glass houses

Arsene Wenger said a few weeks back (in a dig at Chelsea) : "You are not a big club if you win ugly." It should also be added that you are not a big club if you fail to qualify for the Last 16 of the Champions League. It's all very well getting to the final of the competition the season before, but once you get into the knockout stages, a well-organised defence and dollops of luck in two-parter games separate from other results, make progression for big clubs not always as straightforward as it seems. But big clubs prove their status by getting to at least the Last 16 by the quality of their consistency and the consistency in their quality in the Group Stages where the Champions League really is a league. Now, of course, Arsenal should have crushed CSKA Moscow (just as they should have done with Everton, etc.), but you can't criticise other clubs when you fail to make results justify play. Arsenal had eighteen corners last night - there would have been no dishonour had Arsenal had scored from even just one of them.