Champions' League: second group stage, round 1

Arsenal looked excellent tonight, mostly, against an Italian side that had looked very good for the last two years, though they're off to a slow start this year. I was astonished at Newcastle's recovery last time - I can't see them surviving a very tough second-stage group. Man Utd have been erratic this year, and are still missing some great players (any midfield would be greatly diminished by losing Keane and Beckham, and Man U have surprisingly little depth), but I think they'll go through, then we are into knockout competition where they might have all of their stars back, so I think they could still go far. I think Arsenal and Man U both to make the quarters, and it's pretty unpredictable from there.

More importantly, Bristol Rovers overcame the might of Runcorn last night to reach the second round of the FA Cup! Hooray!

Arsenal did look great, they are so good to watch. Henry's first goal was such a pleasing finish aswell.

and Oldham have beaten Burton Albion. *sigh*

thankfully it wasn't at Boundary Park, so no celebratory chorus of Half A Shilling's "Send The Buggers Back".

Yeah Ronan, that was about as lovely a finish as you could hope to see.

yeah arsenal are a joy to watch,i reckon they could well win...
what kind of odds are they getting at the moment?
the thing about them is,like wenger himself,they always look so composed,even if they go a goal down (or lose a few games in a row) it seems like a glitch they can easily overcome...

Shame about Burton. I see Exeter scraped through as well.

I like the way this thread is being derailed into early-round FA Cup chatter...

Vauxhall Motors beating QPR! Only a short while since they were in the West Cheshire League, regularly losing to Poulton Victoria (ground at the top of the road where I grew up; Carlsberg Pub Cup winners 199x - at Wembley!). Feeble punning effort from the Guardian though - "caught in Vauxhall spotlight" or something. Do cars even have spotlights? What about "Nova the moon", or "Vauxhall Chev-ette up Rangers", or "!Viva Vauxhall!", or "Rangers' Roundheads Routed by Vauxhall Cavaliers", or something clever about GM-enhancement?

Arsenal deserve all the plaudits after last night. Wouldn't bet against them reaching the final. As for the Toon...sigh.

Bellamy got us there and then self-destructs. Big Al has now been charged by UEFA for allegedly using an elbow, with a suspension likely. I'm afraid the forward pairing of Shola Ameobi and Lua-Lua (so good they named him twice) isn't going to strike fear in the hearts of the likes of Barcá, Inter and Bayer Leverkusen, whilst our defending is just going to make them laugh. Not a great start.

It's no surprise about Shearer, he's gotten away with murder over the years.