UEFA Champions League/Europa League 8/9/10 March *** Spoilers ***

This is why losing that CC was so annoying.

Even if we do somehow get the right result at the Nou Camp, then what? We'd very likely have the other three English sides, who have all beaten us recently so it's slightly further progress in a competition that we probably won't win anyway.
 
If we beat Barca I won't be worrying about any of the others too much. They're the only team who are head and shoulders above the rest of Europe
 
As said the other English sides know how to play us, it'll be a Premiership tie rather than a European one.

We've been able to have bloody good goes against European opponents in recent years while being underdogs; don't forget English sides have always knocked us out. We've beaten AC, Real, Juve etc., but lost to UTD recently, then 'Pool before that, then Chelsea in 2003/2004.
 
Put Wilshere in Song's role if he doesn't make it. Play Nasri centrally with Rosicky, Arshavin and Bentner outside with RvP in the middle.

Very annoying though - would prefer to use Wilshere going forward like the first leg. Wenger might do this and put ....*shudder* Diaby or Denilson in the most important position on any team.
 
I think Diaby would be a better fit than Rosicky tbh. Wilshere and Song tend to both cover the back four between them, and leaving Jack to do that all by himself could really make us struggle. Diaby at least has the occasional defensive sense in his brain.

Denilson I'm just not even going to discuss, lest I get nightmares tonight.
 
Hoping for Arsenal tonight; God knows if United can't beat Barca we have beating Arsenal down to a tee (make sense of that 'rock, paper, scissors' as you will. ;)

jakeke said:
Guys

Guess who trained with the squad today



Big Man.

He's gonna play isn't he :D:D:D:D:D:D?
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And that's just him walking up to the pitch.
 
I'm kind of glad Song isn't playing because he'd probably be sent off within the first 20 minutes. That said, his replacements don't give you much encouragement. Really need to keep too much of the game from being played in our final 1/3, and reduce the amount of sloppy passes that the first leg was full of (although half of those were by Eboue).
 
Weebull said:
I think Diaby would be a better fit than Rosicky tbh. Wilshere and Song tend to both cover the back four between them, and leaving Jack to do that all by himself could really make us struggle. Diaby at least has the occasional defensive sense in his brain.

Denilson I'm just not even going to discuss, lest I get nightmares tonight.
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Are you on crack? he's incredibly lazy, he can't read the game and he can't tackle to save his life....... defensive?

Denilson at least stops the opposition, usually at the cost of a yellow card and often when theres entirely no danger, but at least he fouls people. Diaby against Barca last year was by a massive massive margin our worst player, he doesn't close, he doesn't move, he doesn't run, he just walks about half near a Barca player, he was disgustingly bad, he is terrible, he made that performance from Carrick last night look almost good.


Frankly Diaby vs Barcelona was the laziest, worst, most inept performance I've seen from an Arsenal player for as long as I can remember.
 
When you say "Denilson stops the opposition", do you mean on account of how they're too busy laughing at him to pass?

I'm sorry, I'm still voting Diaby on the basis of how, on his day, he's miles better. Admittedly he only tries once every blue moon, but that's better than never, as Denilson does. Plus I've seen Diaby have a decent game this season. Not sure I can say the same about t'other one.

EDIT: Actually, since you don't rate any of them, who would you play in the holding role? I remember asking you this before and you dodged the question. Humour me.

guyfawkes5 said:
Hoping for Arsenal tonight; God knows if United can't beat Barca we have beating Arsenal down to a tee (make sense of that 'rock, paper, scissors' as you will. ;)
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Can you hope for us tomorrow too, it might be slightly more helpful.
 
I've dodged the question, thats pretty funny, for 3 years I've said firstly not getting rid of incredibly good ones for useless youth to come through was one option and buying a DM has been the main target every single season since Gilberto/Diarra left.

Its funny because for three years I've been told from Arsenal fans that Denilson, then Song were fantastic, why do we need others?

On the subject of the holding role, Wilshire has played the holding role all season so far, he was also the more defensive against Barcelona, only in the second half when seemingly Song was told to run away from anyone you might be tempted to hack down, did Song stay back more and Wilshire get forward more.

So my answer, Wilshire, and playing 2 DM's is ridiculous, because we were at our best when Song was scared to go forward and Wilshire helped support the attack more, or when we played more of a 4-4-2, with one DM, and took the game to a poor defence, which happened to work, which I suggested for WEEKS before the game.

Play Wilshire in the DM role he's played well all season and played for England, and put a decent ruddy attacking midfielder in alongside him. Cesc is great defensively anyway, he covers, he reads the game, he tackles and he can work under pressure, all the things that make Wilshire good there.


Personally I think the idea of forcing a crap player into a position YOU DON'T EVEN NEED, is a shockingly bad idea. Bendtner and RVP upfront, or push Diaby/Song/Denilson/other random crap player in alongside Wilshire.......

This would be the answer by the way, I've been giving for three years, dodging the question, if you say so. Packing the midfield with worse quality players, while not playing better players, making your midfield worse, and your attack weaker, is just completely stupid.
 
I didn't ask who you'd sign, I asked you who you'd play. As in, who from our current squad you'd put in the holding role, not which player at another club has 20 for tackling and positioning. And you did dodge the question, because earlier in the season you were moaning about how Wilshere was being wasted there and I asked you who else Wenger was supposed to play if that was the case. I could probably find the post if you want, though I imagine you'll wordswordswords your way out of it.

Anyway, you said Wilshere, so fair enough. As I said, I'm not sure he can handle the defensive role all by himself, and I think he'd be best off paired with someone there, especially since we're away at the Nou Camp.
 
Somnambulist said:
I'm kind of glad Song isn't playing because he'd probably be sent off within the first 20 minutes. That said, his replacements don't give you much encouragement. Really need to keep too much of the game from being played in our final 1/3, and reduce the amount of sloppy passes that the first leg was full of (although half of those were by Eboue).
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Yes, not as gutted about Song as any other game, the first leg was his worst game all season, then he followed it up with a dodgy one vs Birmingham too. Against Barca he just looked a bit off the pace, and subsequently when he got the ball he was a bit slow to move it and you could tell the Barca players were paying more attention to him off the ball as they sensed it too.

As Weebull said, it has to be Diaby and Wilshere as the 2 box-to-boxers and Cesc ahead of them. Diaby has been more disciplined there recently, he's learnt the role this season even though he's hardly played, he was far too rogue when used defensively last season. I also think his strength will work well in the middle of the park, his massive frame could really help stopping their movement in tight spaces, I also think he's a big game player and his best games have come in big occasions imo. Not to mention he's technically very good and Denilson is even slower than Song (on a bad day) moving the ball, he moves in slow motion and would get caught far too often.

The only question is who to start in the front 3. Do you risk starting Van Persie (was he ever even really injured?), do you use Eboue on the right for some defensive balance early on and stick Arshavin on in the second half? or Bendtner wide?

I've got no idea, but I'm not sure any will have Walcott's effect, their left side wasn't good in the first leg and I believe that was down to his constant threat and he also did some excellent defensive work.
 
Weebull said:
I think Diaby would be a better fit than Rosicky tbh. Wilshere and Song tend to both cover the back four between them, and leaving Jack to do that all by himself could really make us struggle. Diaby at least has the occasional defensive sense in his brain.

Denilson I'm just not even going to discuss, lest I get nightmares tonight.
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That's the thing though, Rosicky's defensive work isn't that bad. He's not afraid of getting stuck in either, it just seems his attacking is poor atm.

RvP (?)

Arshavin Wilshere Song Nasri Bendtner ....ideally, noting that Cesc is of course out.

Though:

RvP (?)

Arshavin Wilshere Nasri Rosicky Bendtner ...would probably be our best bet.

or

RvP (?)

Arshavin Wilshere Diaby Nasri Bendtner ...is probably a more realistic starting line up.

We should all fear of course:

Nasri Diaby Wilshere Denilson Betnder ...which would mean rape. Which of course, is what Wenger is probably going for.

Edit - Cesc 90% to play? He better not be risked unless he's 100%. If he's not then that could screw up our season. Chelsea are riding back to form, City are steady as she goes and UTD won't lose any more games - we keep drawing occasionally to Sunderland. !!
 
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