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

BEndtner !!!

Before everyone ignores it, that first goal happened because of Bendtner. First half a similar position happened and Walcott, fastest player we've ever had, was walking towards the edge of the box. This time Bendtner from right wing kills himself to get in the box, Valdes is off his line purely because he expects the cross, both the left back and other CB moved towards Bendtner rather than towards RVP.

Walcott is a lazy god for nothing piece of crap, 5 mins effort, thats all you ever get from him, yes sometimes against a rubbish team that will mean a hattrick, today it meant he was never a threat outside the opening 8 minutes or so. Defensively he barely closes anyone down, offensively he makes NO effect EVER to get in those positions that Bendtner did.

Make no mistake, Bendtner closed people down, he was playing the same place THeo was with a heck of a lot less pace, but simply because he actually tries things happen.

Nasri got nothing right but one pass, and it was inside the box again, this year he's been alive in the box and dead outside it.

Song, criminal to leave him on as long as we did, for long periods early in the second half they'd run from deep in their own half to 10 yards outside our box without ANY pressure because Song was clearly, basically avoiding the ball. How the hell can you leave a player on for almost 30 minutes who's avoiding going near the ball???


Arshavin, anyone that doubts how good he is, is retarded. he had 4 goals, 9 assists had one bad game and the fans jumped on his back instantly for no reason and CAUSED his lack of confidence. He ooze's class, he's a fantastic player, stop having a go at the ickle Ruski.


Wilshire was truly fantastic, and quite clearly later on in the game he was getting forwards more, he has that ability, he runs in the right places, good passing, stupidly strong on the ball for a guy his size, similar to Messi I guess, low centre of gravity and great agility so he's very hard to knock off the ball.

Again, why the hell are we playing Wilshire, a GREAT attacking player as DM just because Song is an epic failure defensively? Sell Song, fire him, kill him, I don't care, buy a god damned DM and put Wilshire in the attacking role along side him.


Barca, attack Barca = win, its that simple, they are weak defensively, they've always been weak defensively, first 10 mins, and for a 15 minute spell in the second half when our first and primary thought was to attack, we dominated, EASILY. The second we started backwards passing after the 2nd goal it was all Barca again. Attacking pushes the other team back, NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE. Attack is by FAR our biggest strength so we should focus our entire game on it.

We drop Theo, Song, go 4-4-2 against Barca we can win there aswell. We go for Song/Diaby/Wilshire in the middle, we lose, that simple.
 
I thought both teams played well. Barcelona less so but their passing was very good. Rarely lost the ball. Good thing about Arsenal is even though they were being dominated a bit in the first half (not their fault tbh just barca are brilliant keeping the ball) their counterattacking was uber deadly.

So 2nd leg looks super juicy... but Arsenal definitely deserved to win this game... dont think Barcelona outplayed them...actually thought Arsenal were the better team. People always talk about the amount of possession Barca have and they do but its what they do with the ball....when they have it...messi was relatively quiet by his standards.

best players for me Wilshere, Fabregas, Walcott (1st hf only)
 
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I dont expect us to beat Barca at home but hell at least we will give it a damn good shot and die trying so to speak...thats all i ask for and if we do get spanked then thats not such a bad thing but i just hope we beat them at home....icing on the cake so to speak:p.

If we go to the Nou Camp and play the same style as tonight, it really could go either way. A right drubbing or a sneaky win/draw!
 
I think that just shows how little Barca offer when their better players are having an off night. Messi was so poor throughout, second half all he did was get ball, run forward, lose ball, repeat. Another poor performance against English opposition for him. Iniesta and Xavi for all their pretty little passes in midfield rarely offered anything going forward. Pedro might as well have not been on the pitch, although he should have had a penalty for the foul on him. Valdes is just a **** keeper, always has been. How on earth you can let a goal in from that angle. The defence was terrible as well, second goal they had 4 men back and every one of them was ball watching.

But most baffling is Guardiola, why on earth did he take Villa off for Keita :confused: Villa was the only play that looked like threatening yet he left on the frankly crap on the night Pedro and Messi. After that sub their front line offered absolutely zilch.


Great result for Arsenal obviously, played their heart out, Wilshere was MOTM for me. Kosnielny had a good second half although I think he was lucky not to get sent off when he fouled Pedro, he didn't get the ball and had his arm around the man.

I think to a certain degree barca looked VERY off the pace at the weekend, maybe it is tiredness as they don't often rest their main players. At 1-0 maybe they thought thats enough, give Villa a rest, not sure.

Nou Camp is a different prospect but we'll be against the same team, the biggest difference could be no international game and a tiring long week with lots of travel. Barca certainly weren't quite themselves, but they aren't great when you attack them hard no matter how tired they are.
 
Got nothing to do with butthurt lol

The ref/linesman were awful...

The difference Arsenal missed their chances early on where as Barca took theres and werent given some!
Villa had his,
messi was not offside,
song should have walked for a yellow and 7-8 tackles after,
kos bowled pedro over for a red and a pen
and there was 1-2 handballs in the box as well for good measure.

Rubbish spawn absolute rubbish you missed your earlier chances and barca had theirs not given thats what made the difference in the score at the end of the day

LOL oh dear someone is suffering from a massive dose of BUTTHURT:D:D
 
Arsenal played really well tonight but were incredibly lucky.
Song should have gone, Pedro taken down in box and the handball in the end.

Oh looky here a Citeh fan talking about another team lol....hey come back when you actually get in the CL and can score goals against a lowly Greek side;):p

Yep the ref was poor but thats not our fault is it??...
 
BEndtner !!!

Before everyone ignores it, that first goal happened because of Bendtner. First half a similar position happened and Walcott, fastest player we've ever had, was walking towards the edge of the box. This time Bendtner from right wing kills himself to get in the box, Valdes is off his line purely because he expects the cross, both the left back and other CB moved towards Bendtner rather than towards RVP.

Walcott is a lazy god for nothing piece of crap, 5 mins effort, thats all you ever get from him, yes sometimes against a rubbish team that will mean a hattrick, today it meant he was never a threat outside the opening 8 minutes or so. Defensively he barely closes anyone down, offensively he makes NO effect EVER to get in those positions that Bendtner did.

Make no mistake, Bendtner closed people down, he was playing the same place THeo was with a heck of a lot less pace, but simply because he actually tries things happen.

Nasri got nothing right but one pass, and it was inside the box again, this year he's been alive in the box and dead outside it.

Song, criminal to leave him on as long as we did, for long periods early in the second half they'd run from deep in their own half to 10 yards outside our box without ANY pressure because Song was clearly, basically avoiding the ball. How the hell can you leave a player on for almost 30 minutes who's avoiding going near the ball???


Arshavin, anyone that doubts how good he is, is retarded. he had 4 goals, 9 assists had one bad game and the fans jumped on his back instantly for no reason and CAUSED his lack of confidence. He ooze's class, he's a fantastic player, stop having a go at the ickle Ruski.


Wilshire was truly fantastic, and quite clearly later on in the game he was getting forwards more, he has that ability, he runs in the right places, good passing, stupidly strong on the ball for a guy his size, similar to Messi I guess, low centre of gravity and great agility so he's very hard to knock off the ball.

Again, why the hell are we playing Wilshire, a GREAT attacking player as DM just because Song is an epic failure defensively? Sell Song, fire him, kill him, I don't care, buy a god damned DM and put Wilshire in the attacking role along side him.


Barca, attack Barca = win, its that simple, they are weak defensively, they've always been weak defensively, first 10 mins, and for a 15 minute spell in the second half when our first and primary thought was to attack, we dominated, EASILY. The second we started backwards passing after the 2nd goal it was all Barca again. Attacking pushes the other team back, NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE. Attack is by FAR our biggest strength so we should focus our entire game on it.

We drop Theo, Song, go 4-4-2 against Barca we can win there aswell. We go for Song/Diaby/Wilshire in the middle, we lose, that simple.
Yet again it feels like watching a different game, but here goes...

Walcott was a potential candidate for man of the match, how you can say he is hopeless is beyond me; Arshavin had a good finish but is still clumsy at times and almost conceded you a goal in the last few minutes so I don't see how you can say he 'oozes class'; Song was thoroughly decent throughout the game even if his initial yellow was silly and rode his luck at times; I don't think you 'dominated' Barcelona for any more than some possible 5 minute stretches, and to be honest I never had you down as one for unbridled optimism as I think overall you held your own and gave a good account of yourselves, but were very fortunate to get the win.
 
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Glad it wasn't just me thinking that..

Nicklas Bendtner
Gael Clichy
Johan Djourou
Cesc Fabregas
Alex Song

Are all home grown.

Wilshire, Woz and Theo are all under 21.

I am pretty sure Theo is only one who actually cost us any money really. £5m.
Arshavin is Arsenal's most expensive player on £15m, Nasri cost us £12. So pretty much, our entire team that played today, cost less than David Villa.
 
First things first Arsenal were lucky!

Messi's goal in the first half should have stood
Koscielny should have been sent off for taking Pedro out when it was 0-1, I think that was in the box as well would have given Barca a great chance to make it 0-2
Arshavin should have conceded a pen

Having said that as the second half went on Arsenal probably deserved the win, Koscielny was MOTM and tbh Barcelona want to be sniffing around Wilshire rather than Fabregas who seemed to think he already played for Barca for the majority of the first half.

ITV commentators were annoying with their eulogy's over RVP's goal, firstly it was a cross not a shot, secondly it was a massive goal keeping error that saw it go in but hey ho.

Barca were really a shadow of the team that played Arsenal last season, they had short periods in the first half where they were awesome with the ball but for the most they looked like they were happy with a 0-1 win. Messi probably had the worst game of his career with the amount of opportunities he spurned.

It seems though that Barca have lost 2 players since last season, obviously Villa has come in for Ibrahimovic but who else played in Barca's front 3 last season? Because last season it seemed like they had options should Ibrahimovic not be doing the business tonight though when they took off Villa with Messi not having a great night they looked short of options :confused:

Really looking forward to the next leg, will be very interesting to see if Barca can turn around a defeat in the first leg. I can see them scoring but likewise I can see Arsenal scoring there as well....
 
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