I'll start with a quick few thoughts on last night's result/game but I'm not and never will give a "match report", you all saw it or can read one of 100s of reports in the media. At the end of the game against Villarreal I think I had, in the space of about 30 seconds, three different reactions to the result. I can't quite remember the exact order in which they came but I did certainly feel all three sensations.

Disappointment - summed up by thoughts such as "we could have gone on and won that game in the second half",  "oh no, 1-1, that just makes me think of Wayne Bridge in 2004 and Isaias in 1991", "they look like they will score at our place" and my favourite, "when will we learn how to defend set pieces"

Relief - "Blimey at half-time I'd have taken a 2-1 or even a 1-0 defeat with our performance and injuries", "I'm glad they tired in the second half"

Pride - "Finally we actually started to show grit away from home, got an away goal and will easily beat them at home", "Can't see their strikers scoring, I mean, they didn't test Fabianski after his first two saves"

So despite the obvious contradictions between these feelings and after a little more reflection I came to the conclusion it was a little bit of all three and the second leg is going to be one of those incredibly tense evenings that we've missed out on for the last couple of seasons. Is it me or has the whole philosophy of European football done a 180 degree turn in the last 10 years. Commentators still talk about the "advantage" of having the second leg at home but is it still the case. We've had better results playing the first leg at home (though it's not an open and shut argument on which is best for us) and playing the second leg away gives you that advantage (if the first leg is tight) of scaring the opposition by the sheer thought of conceding an away goal. Never mind I can't wait till next week to see it all unfold.

Meanwhile, here in Central Europe, it seems the whole region has expressed complete disinterest in the Liverpool/Chelsea game as French, Swiss, German (fair enough), Austrian (?) and Italian TV are all showing the Barcelona game. People may say it's the glamour of the Spanish side or the more intriguing fixture - I say they've seen enough boring shite over the last five years to want to watch another episode.

After the weekend's game which I managed to make it back for in England we now have a "proper" football game tonight. What I mean by that is that on Saturday it was one of those games where, aside from a couple of first half minutes, both sides almost knew what the result would be. We played well in patches without really getting out of 2nd or 3rd gear and Manchester City looked like a side that had only won one game away all season. Tonight is going to be very different and, I believe, very hard to call.

Sid Lowe on the Guardian podcast (their Spanish correspondent) says that  he thinks Arsenal are just favourites and that may well be entirely due to the injury at the weekend to Santi Cazorla, a man who even the renowned Senna says is the heartbeat of the Villarreal side. I've seen a little of Villarreal this season in La Liga and they have played superbly well at times but have also conceded a lot of goals (mainly when Cygan plays it has to be said) and have a set of forwards that don't always score the goals they should. Doesn't that sound incredibly familiar, perhaps we should at least rejoice in the fact that we know we're playing our Spanish equivalents. The other thing I've noted is the effect Robert Pires ("we're not worthy" - thanks RocktheCasbah) has on this team. He rarely manages much more than 60-70 minutes (even managing to get sent off at the weekend!) but they never seem to play so fluently when he's not on the pitch for them.

The other side to the coin is, of course, which Arsenal will turn up on this away trip. For all the great games away in the Champions League (San Siro x 2, Bernabeu x 1, Rome x 1) we have a history of being bloody awful in strange surroundings. In Rome this year we were lucky enough to find a side who thinks Baptista is a goal scorer, our group stage away games are often indifferent and we rarely seem to impose our own game on the opposition. Let's hope the return of Cesc and Adebayor will inspire a similar approach to Milan last year and the same result, though a score draw will be perfectly acceptable.

Late news - Bob on the bench and no sign of Pascal (boooooo) for them and no surprise that we are playing 4-5-1/4-3-3/4-2-3-1 or whatever.

I've just been researching the possibility of getting back to the UK for the Villarreal home leg and the Chelsea Semi Final the following weekend. It looks like it's possible and have fingers crossed that I (or, in this case, my friend Ian) is successful in getting tickets from the club and am hoping the credit crunch will put enough STHs off! I remember when I first got a Season Ticket it was all about having a guaranteed chance of tickets for Cup Finals - not anymore. I can't believe we only get 32,000 seats for the semi, since it holds 90,000!

The other thing about the FA Cup Semi-Finals is the ridiculous arrangement of them. Arsenal and Chelsea fans get all day on a Saturday to drink before a 5.15pm KO, sure the police are happy with that. Meanwhile half of Liverpool, 1/10 of Manchester (and the rest from Essex and the Home Counties) have to travel on a Sunday for the game!!! It doesn't make any sense at all and whilst it's fine for us there doesn't seem to have been much of a fuss kicked up about it. Football fans are so used to TV dictating the schedule that we would probably turn up for a Tuesday morning game at 05.00AM if it suited Shanghai TV or whoever!

I'm not sure when it actually happened, if it took place at a specific moment rather than a gradual process over the years, but it is much harder now to have any sort of positive support for another English (or from whichever country you come from) in Europe. In the dim and distant past (which to me is sort of the 70s) I remember being, if not a supporter for the day, pleased if English sides did well in Europe. Teams like Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Ipswich Town played decent football and it always seemed good that these teams did well in European competition. There was begrudging appreciation for Liverpool at the time because they just seemed to win everything and it's always harder to cheer on the perennial winners. There was one obvious exception to the rule and unlike today it wasn't the red half of Manchester but the bleeding Lilywhites from up the road. I remember vividly the 1984 UEFA Cup final when I was a student and the whole hall seemed to want Spurs to win, being the English side. That was all except me and my mate, Adrian, who as a Northampton fan had a rabid hatred of all things Spurs - which can only be good in anybody!

However, in recent years watching the Champions League games involving other English teams I cannot cheer them on, even when the play attractive football (so that leaves out Liverpool, last night was an aberration in Europe for them, and Chelsea). I was trying to work out why the difference nowadays and there a number of reasons. The most simplistic explanation is the fact the "Big Four" have developed rivalries that were once the domain of just your local neighbours, there are after all Arsenal fans who seem to hate United more than Spurs (strange people). Could it be that in the most modern era these sides now are our chief rivals for the Cup? 

I think one of the major reasons for me is the attitude of the media in all its guises. English TV coverage is still broadcast with the perception that all the viewers want the English side to do well and I do think (my perception - no facts as such) that they only really want Liverpool or United to win it - more viewers they believe (though watching Liverpool normally that's not likely). The commentators make such biased comments about the game, every Italian or Spanish side is dirtier, dives more or cons the ref constantly (which considering the players in the PL is a joke). References must be made to previous success and great play by opposition sides is acknowledged only grudgingly. It never used to be the case, yes commentators wanted the English club to do well but the Brian Moores' and Peter Jones' were so much more balanced.

Is it the same in other European countries (I'm sure Madrid fans would love to see Barcelona win the CL!!!!) and what about general football fans who maybe follow clubs in League 1 or the Championship. Do you watch the games? Do you give a f##k?

Yesterday a very good friend died at the age of 47 and it doesn't seem that important to talk about football or crisis or anything so trivial really. I've read a lot of moaning from Arsenal fans which seem to be along the lines of "we've spent a lot of money on tickets and we EXPECT to win things". Of course expectation has been raised by all that has gone before but supporting a team is about demanding or expecting success but supporting the team whatever comes.

Last night on 606 Chelsea fans were moaning about their team despite being joint top of the league, having more money than most in these financial difficulties and knowing they will still qualify (despite last night) for the next phase of the Champions League. What lives do people like this lead? In the real world there are much tougher lives, much more difficult decisions to face and the harsh realities of job loss, terrorist atrocities and so on....

Sorry for the downer of a blog but people - GET REAL.

Oh and  one football point - look at the CL group stage tables, with a round to go I think there are only 2 or 3 places left - pointless exercise aren't they really.

Watching what passed as a competitive football match between FC Basel and Barcelona last night was rather embarrassing. Barca managed to leave the likes of Henry, Iniesta and Etoo on their bench and still they eased to a 5-0 away win in St Jakobs Stadium. This followed the Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan basically saying his side, Celtic, had no chance of competing with the likes of Manchester United (yet 2 years ago they were beating United at Parkhead). The Celtic fans are saying what we all know that the finance of the premier league has massively tipped the scales.

Now there were always bigger clubs in Europe (Real Madrid, Juventus etc) but sides as recently as 2004 (Porto v Monaco) were in with a chance of reaching or winning the Champions League. The swing has been so big that even some of the biggest Italian sides seem to have no chance and maybe only Real Madrid/Barcelona can really compete with Manchester United and Chelsea. I'm leaving Arsenal and Liverpool to one side as even they don't have the same resources of the other two Premier League sides, no matter how much of it is debt. Idiots like Tim Lovejoy seem to think it's just a natural cycle but the Premier League is now wiping certain leagues off the map. It wasn't that long ago that Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and Eredivisie could also compete but now it's a rich oligarch's or American businessmen's play thing. Even Cluj are financed to the point that they have a team full of Brazilians and Argentinians.

My favourite media hate figure, Lovejoy, was having orgasms over the wonderful attacking talent and football on show at Old Trafford through Rooney (~£30M), Berbatov (£30M), Ronaldo (£12m at 17) and Tevez (£30M) - it bloody well should be as it should at Chelsea. Real Madrid have been doing this for years but even they can't compete as they once could (God knows what their debt is).

So, in a way, let's hope the financial crisis kicks some bloody sense into the game and maybe even level the playing field a little.

Oh well it was a dream that lasted all of 2 games as Basel now have to play their next two games against Barcelona having got a big great zero points in their campaign so far. Miracles can, of course, happen and maybe Messi won't play in either game as it seems, on the evidence of last night, that he is the absolute key to their season. They have a guy who plays at 14 and he looks a bit like a really good player that used to be at Arsenal. However, that's where the resemblance ends as this player would struggle to get into the Spurs side at the moment. He does seem to be blaming his poor form all on the fact he's not living in London anymore.... Well you wanted to move there and c'est la vie as they say.

In the UK I know that Sky show all eight Champions League games via their Sky Active service, allowing any viewer to switch games at will but it was always quite hard to see all games and see al the goals as they happened. What they need was commentary to interrupt a game when a goal was scored at another game. Well, here in Switzerland, I get access to the German coverage provided by Premier (called Teleclub here) and they offer all the games on individal channels PLUS this service called "The Konferenz". On this channel they go from game to game (a bit liek Radio 5 used to be with Saturday commentary) but then you suddenly hear, "Tor Madrid", and off we go to Athletico Madrid to see the goal (or penalty/red card etc). Each time the coverage switches (when there is no goal) they try to show key chances or misses. It works really well and saves me having to channel hop! Apparently they do it for their Bundesliga coverage and I wonder if Sky will try this style of coverage at some stage?

Having witnessed the jubilation of FC Basel when they qualified for the group stages of the Champions League I was disappointed that, due to my holiday in Singapore, I missed out on tickets for the three group games. Unfortunately the club took the decision to sell the tickets for all three games as a package. Obviously due to one of the games being with Barcelona they went very quickly. Shame as I would have been happy to go to the two other games and see a CL game from a very different perspective.

Of course success, such as it can be measured for such a small european club, would probably be achieving third place in the group and so dropping into the UEFA Cup. However, after the first game that already looks difficult for the team as a home defeat against one of the weaker teams, Shakhtar Donetsk, has lowered expectations.Tonight they play Sporting Lisbon in a game where they need a result even if they don't have to win. The local press are saying they are focused on this game despite the obvious lure of the upcoming Barcelona game.

Having just travelled for around 18 hours from Singapore to Basel (even with the luxury of Business class seats from Singapore to Frankfurt) I'm convinced this is a bloody hard week for Arsenal. I'm all over the place today and, yes, I've gone a lot further but I'm not expected to play at a top sporting level. So Blackburn, Kiev, Bolton could possibly be the hardest week the young gunners will have ever faced. I always hated travelling for work as even for a short flight I felt knackered on getting home so let's hope the wonder of youth can propel them to 2 more good results.

I was asleep at 8.00pm last night so never saw Basel's group stage game but I did see the first goal Shakhtar scored this morning.Now if you're going to lose at home that's the sort of goal to go down to. As Donetsk won the Ukraine league ahead of Kiev and Basel aren't great shakes it should all mean Arsenal can win tonight but....

You just never know.

It was certainly different watching the game on a big screen (or any number of screens, in fact) outside in the heat & humidity of Singapore on a Saturday evening. With Premier League games kicking off at 7.45pm, 10.00pm and 12.30am on Saturday night there was no shortage of football to watch. For various reasons I didn't get to see the Singapore experience of Liverpool vs Man Utd but got to Robertson's Quay to see the Arsenal game. Liverpool shirts were (obviously) still in abundance but the local Manc supporters had slithered away into the night.

No sign of other gooners when I jumped up for Robin's opening goal and it seemed that most watching were clearly hoping Blackburn could do them a favour. However, thankfully we got a great (if flattering) result whilst I drank Tiger beer served by rather nice Tiger Girls and their jugs (of beer that is).

Now planning th etrip home so I'll be watching the Kiev game in the comfort of a CET time zone rather than the far east where Champions League games often kick off at 2.45am!!!