UEFA Champions League/Europa League 15/16/17 Feb *** Spoilers ***

jakeke said:
Djourou is great, tonight is a different test though. We all know that regardless of how good a CB you are, Barcelona will get the better of you, even Messi beat Ferdinand in the air.
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Oh of course...Messi will rip us a new one if we dont mark him out of the game...which is easy to say but near impossible to do then you have the likes of Villa, Iniesta and Xavi to deal with lol....feel sorry for our defence but hopefully we can stand up to them and give as good as we get down the other end.
 
Spawn said:
Oh of course...Messi will rip us a new one if we dont mark him out of the game...which is easy to say but near impossible to do then you have the likes of Villa, Iniesta and Xavi to deal with lol....feel sorry for our defence but hopefully we can stand up to them and give as good as we get down the other end.
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I think you're being a bit negative about the whole thing. It's our stadium we don't need to hope for a draw we should be wanting to win not just wanting to draw the game. Messi can be rendered ineffective, Maureen showed that, we won't play that way though, we don't usually change our tactics against anybody, and neither do Barcelona. I reckon it will be the midfield battle that decides how the game unfolds and when you've got Song, Fabregas, Wilshere and then Nasri and van Persie who often drop deep and create I think that we can beat them. We just need to make sure whatever happens we don't concede, we can't win the tie tonight, but we can definitely lose it.
 
Stag said:
Who have you got though, Djourou and Koscielny? They're both massive liabilities.
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Actually they've been our best defensive pairing this season AFAIK:

Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
-Played 90 mins
-1 shot on target conceded

Birmingham 0-3 Arsenal
-Played 90 mins
-1 shot on target conceded

Arsenal 0-0 Man City
-Played 90 mins
-0 shots on target conceded

West Ham 0-3 Arsenal
-Played 90 mins
-3 shots on target conceded

Arsenal 3-0 Wigan
-Played 90 mins
-0 shots on target conceded

Arsenal 2-1 Everton
-Played 90 mins
-3 shots on target conceded

Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal
-Played 49 mins
-0 shots on target conceded

Arsenal 2-0 Wolves
-Played 90 mins
-0 shots on target conceded


In total:
-Played 680 mins (7.5 games)
-Conceded 8 shots on target (1 every 85 mins)
-Conceded 2 goals (1 every 340 mins)

Obviously this will be a much greater test of their abilities though
 
jakeke said:
Stat Attack - Barca have never won an away game in the knockout stages under Guardiola.

Very surprised at that. Getting excited about tonight, can't see a win, but regardless, I will absolutely love watching. My idea of a perfect football game more or less. I think both sides are better than they were last year, should be amazing
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And they didn't win an away game in the group stages this season against pretty average teams.
 
Spawn said:
LOL no the biggest liability we have is Squillachi...Koscielny can be a liability at times but hes young and hopefully will get better with time. Djourou has been pretty solid for us lately.
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jakeke said:
Djourou is great, tonight is a different test though. We all know that regardless of how good a CB you are, Barcelona will get the better of you, even Messi beat Ferdinand in the air.
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K1LLSW1TCH said:
Koscielny made some mistakes earlier in the season but he has picked up and improved greatly, Djourou has been very impressive lately, I wouldn't call either of them a liability, Squllaci on the other hand has been very poor. Sagna is suspended so I think our only defensive liability will be Eboue.
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I'll yield to your optimistic blinkers, but Djourou has taken ages to look like a premier league player. Koscielny certainly looks decent, but in the same way Titus Bramble looks decent when you forgive his massive errors.

As it was Spurs midfield that had to be tested against Milan, so too Koscielny and Djourou will be facing the greatest tests of their careers. I actually want Arsenal to do well, though I can't see them stopping Messi and Co.

Lots of goals in store tonight!
 
Djourou has had injury problems for ages and only this season has he really even had a chance to show how he plays. I think I watch Arsenal more than you do, the same as I won't pretend to know more about Spurs players than you do.
 
Stag said:
I'll yield to your optimistic blinkers, but Djourou has taken ages to look like a premier league player. Koscielny certainly looks decent, but in the same way Titus Bramble looks decent when you forgive his massive errors.

As it was Spurs midfield that had to be tested against Milan, so too Koscielny and Djourou will be facing the greatest tests of their careers. I actually want Arsenal to do well, though I can't see them stopping Messi and Co.

Lots of goals in store tonight!
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Djourou has gone nearly 30 league games unbeaten (the longest of any player in the league), and he's only played about 60 in his Arsenal career.

Sooo .. either the facts/opinions of all Arsenal fans are wrong or you are

Also, that Milan midfield from last night wouldn't have been a test for most. They were dreadful
 
I remember them drawing against Copenghagen but I can't remember who else was in their group, they always seem to do enough to qualify first though. Unfortunately the Emirates is exactly the sort of pitch that suits them, while I imagine they have less joy with their fancy footwork on less slick pitches.

One thing I will try and take from last year is that in the away leg we managed to go a goal up and could have made it two while missing several key players and having Silvestre, Denilson, Diaby and Rosicky in the starting XII and people like Merida and Eastmond on the bench due to so many injuries. Then along came a magic gnome who the football seems to like.

I expect Barca to still go through over two legs but I'd like to think we'd give a better account of ourselves this time, hopefully without anyone getting injured in the first leg.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
Djourou has had injury problems for ages and only this season has he really even had a chance to show how he plays. I think I watch Arsenal more than you do, the same as I won't pretend to know more about Spurs players than you do.
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:D

Yep indeed...hes been out of the squad for some time ie in the past due to injuries but hes finally managed to get himself fit and stay fit so he can have a proper run in the team....and out of all our defenders i would say hes been the most solid one.

Im hoping that our backline tonight have a good solid game tonight...of course i expect Barca to score goals but i also imagine we will score goals...and Kill even though we play at home....i think our home record is pretty abysmal tbh...suffered far too many losses for my liking. So forgive me if im not being too positive about our chances but i do hope we win or get a draw out tonight.
 
Yeah, I'd definitely like Arsenal to win. We've beaten Arsenal the last two times in the league but I doubt we could beat Barcelona.

Djourou will be fine tonight. He's a decent player.
 
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