Arsene had hinted that the game was going to be more of a war of attrition for us than usual given the personnel that he had at his disposal. Now you could read any number of things into that but I would like to think that he sent the team out with the message to keep things tight, keep a shape, let the opposition make the mistakes and seize on them.
Whether that was the message or not, that's certainly the way things turned out though nobody, least of all me, ever thought that we would put it all into practice within the first 90 seconds. It was a super opening goal from Freddie who made up for fluffing his lines a little at Upton Park last Saturday by making a chump of the Ajax keeper. You could have almost heard a pin drop in the Amsterdam ArenA.
Ajax never knew what had hit them and although they did regain enough composure to knock the ball around in the typical Ajax way, they struggled to get in behind our rearguard with any degree of regularity. In fact it wasn't until the 44th. minute that Ajax managed to create just about their only genuine chance in the game but Steven Pienaar blazed over with the goal virtually at his mercy.
To be fair, Ajax did up it in the second half. Babel tested Almunia with a fierce drive which (contrary to what some papers said the following day) induced a pretty good save from the Spaniard. Nigel De Jong quickly followed that effort up with a shot that flashed about a foot wide.
But that was largely the story of things for Ajax. Most of their efforts were coming from long range but the telling moment of the game came with just over 20 minutes to go. Sol made a superb last ditch tackle in his box and on the break Cesc found Jose with a pass that beat the offside trap.
As Jose scuttled into the box, he managed to nick the ball beyond the keeper who brought him down for what was a clear penalty. I remember watching the Sky highlights of incidents later on in the night and Chris Kamara, who was co-commentating on the game sounded absolutely staggered when the ref pointed to the spot. The Ajax coach was equally dismayed which to some degree was a little more understandable but all I can say to Kamara and his like is that they must be indeed like the Ajax coach – Blind.
Bobby Pires made no mistake from the spot sending the keeper the wrong way and it was tangible reward for the lad. He has come in for some stick from many Gooners but on the night he played quite an unsung role on the night in which he rarely strayed too far away from both young Cesc and young Flamini and often tucking inside to form a central midfield trio when the need was there.
It was a shame (particularly for Almunia and the defence) that Ajax managed to pull one back almost straight away. Almunia did well to deflect a shot from Galasek (the Ajax captain on the night) onto an upright with his fingertips but the ball cannoned back of the inside of the post and straight into the path of Rosenberg, who had come on as a sub for injured centre forward Charisteas, and he put in the rebound.
For just about the first time in the whole night, the Ajax crowd were bouncing but save for a late scare when Pienaar chipped through for a colleague who miscontrolled the ball at the vital moment, Ajax never really threatened to get the equaliser.
And so, the Arsenal are now I control of their group and potentially four points away from qualifying for the last 16. It's not normally something we have been able to say this early on in the group stage but we fully deserve to be in this position after the other night.
I don't know about you, my fellow Gooners, but to me the Arsenal picked up what I call a real European result away from home. Much as we would all love to see the Arsenal go across the channel, play here, there and everywhere wiping the floor with all and sundry, I think the way that we played Tuesday was different from how we have played in the past.
We looked much more measured in our approach and more of a compact unit. We didn't give the Dutch much of a sniff of goal and we made them pay for some of the mistakes they made. That's what it's all about when you play away from home in Europe. I won't get too carried away though. We made a bit of a tactical breakthrough on Tuesday. Whether we have finally found the formula to help us get to the business end of this competition only time will tell.
Now, it's time to look forward to Sunday's game at home to Birmingham City.
Once again, it was a case of revolving doors at St Andrews in the summers. Out, for example, went Clinton Morrison and Darren Anderton and in came Mikael Forssell and (eventually) Walter Pandiani on permanent deals together with Nicky Butt and Mehdi Nafti. Jiri Jarosik has also some in on loan from the PRF.
However, even at this early stage in the season injuries and suspensions have hampered the Bluenoses yet again. Nicky Butt is likely to missing on Sunday due to suspension, Muzzy Izzet got injured (yet again) in the first game of the season and Mehdi Nafti picked up a serious injury before the season had even started.
The good news for Steve Bruce is that David Dunn appears to be on the mend and so I hear the lad could even make the bench on Sunday. The Bluenoses definitely look a far better side when Dunn is in the team and given Birmingham's indifferent start to the season, the sooner they get him back the better. They have only managed one win in their opening seven games and that was down the road at the Hawthorns where they beat West Brom by three goals to two.
However last time out, they did pick up their first point at home against Liverpool. I actually watched that game last Saturday and for just over an hour, the game was downright awful. But after Liverpool initially took the lead with about 25 minutes left, all hell broke loose and a game that looked like it had 0-0 written all over it, turned into a real thriller in the end.
It was a game of mixed emotions for Bruce. He would have been pleased with the way that his team turned the game around having gone behind to a Luis Garcia strike and he would have agonised over the fact that Liverpool snatched a point when they were awarded a penalty from a corner kick that should never have been given in the first place.
So fuelled with that sense of frustration, Bruce brings his to Highbury and although there may be some in the ranks that would not particularly relish coming to Highbury, there will be three players, fitness permitting, that will look forward to the game hugely. Of course, I'm talking about Julian Gray, Matthew Upson and Jermaine Pennant.
I have to say that I've been fairly impressed with the way Gray has developed since he moved to St Andrews. He has turned out to be a really useful performer for them either as a left back, a wing back or a left winger. I even remember him doing a really sound job in shackling Cristiano Ronaldo at St Andrews last season and it must be said that very few people in the Premiership can say they have kept that boy quiet.
Upson will return to Highbury with nothing to prove as far as I'm concerned. I make no secret of the fact that he was the one that got away from Arsenal in my opinion and as much as I invariably don't give a stuff when people bang on and on about our lack of English players, the fact that he was sacrificed in favour of Cygan will mystify me for as long as I live.
I don't quite have the same sense of loss where Pennant is concerned though. Where some Gooners were scornful over his ability to ever become a regular first team regular, I always thought the opposite and he would certainly have given us an option that we don't have right now – a natural winger that isn't afraid to get his boots white. But as we all know, Pennant didn't do himself any favours, did he? The fact that he became the first Premiership player to ever wear an electronic tag during a game says it all really. I hope he continues to progress at Birmingham though. Because when Beckham finally departs the England scene in two or three, he could definitely come into the reckoning alongside Wright-Phillips for a place down the right hand side.
Perhaps the key to this game will lie in the duel between Heskey and Campbell, certainly if Birmingham are going to come away with something from Sunday's game. Heskey had his moments against Campbell early on in his career when he was at Leicester and when Campbell was at the feeder club three miles up the road from us.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Bruce employs Heskey as a lone striker, Pandiani in a role out wide in a five man midfield and then brings Forsell (who hasn't really found his stride yet this season) into the mix late on if things are going well.
So once again for Arsenal it's going to one of the days where patience will be the watchword. We showed that we are capable of showing patience in Amsterdam during the week and feeding off the opposition's mistakes. More of the same would do me very nicely.