Arsenal Thread

Cesc Fabregas said:
Gallas is fit to face Barca :BOP:
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:YAWN:

Wont stop messi especialy a player thats been out for a while and not match fit.

gallas at his state is as good as sol cambell. we cannot afford to make a single fucking mistake defensively.

i still think we will lose badly tonight. 3:1 to barcelona is my prediction and a further 2:0 in the return leg.

No way can we keep a clean sheet against these lot. we cant even beta fucking birmingham and the last top team that came to the emirates fucked us over (chelsea).
 
So what's the expected line up from you lot? Is Vermaelen fit? Gallas at CB? or stick with Sol. Fabregas playing?
 
The way to stop Barca is to stay fairly narrow, constantly press them and do it high up the pitch. Only problem for you is Arshavin and co don't seem to like playing this way and may struggle if this is how Wenger instructs you to play.

I don't think Wenger likes adapting to the opposition either (he just wants to play his way which can be quite naive defensively) so as much as I'd like to see you win, I think you might struggle.

I'm routing for you anyway.
 
-------------Almunia---------------
Sagna----Gallas-----Vermaelen----Clichy
---------------Song-----------------
----------Fab--------Diaby----------
Nasri----------------------Arshavin
-----------Bendtner------------------

I hope it is something like this :DD
 
That's spot on Bob according to BBC.

Barca:
Valdes,
Maxwell, Puyol, Pique, Alves,
Xavi, Busquets, Keita,
Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Messi.
 
We saved your life in the first 45 minutes, and knowing football that's a very bad thing for us, missing that bunch of clear chances can cost too much. Impressive Almunia, has already saved the day.

A pitty the injury of Gallas and Cesc missing the 2nd leg. The referee was a bit strict with that yellow card, though in my oppinion could have whistled penalty in that tackle to Messi, but in Europe is very difficult to be awarded a penalty away, must be a blatant one and this one wasn't.

Good luck for the 2nd half, but hope we can finally score and dominate.
 
Yes, but Guardiola failed blatantly. Putting Henry for Ibra killed our team, and mantaining a tired Busquets with Toure in the bench... How can we tie a game we should have won for 2 or more goals? It's the attittude problem we're having all the season. When we want, we play great, but then they decide it's enough and stop playing. Messi played a terrible 2nd half.

In my oppinion, the penalty was a penalty, but not more clear than the one to Messi in the first half to me.

Good luck for the secondth leg, though I think we should go on as we proved to be better overall. Walcott surely will play from start in Barcelona, he changed the match and showed the way with his effort.

PS: Henry displayed a worrying attittude in 20 minutes. He did nothing, didn't run, didn't fight, was simply walking and watching things. A lot more is expected from a professional player.
 
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what a fucking marvalous game. now thats how football is meant to be played.

arsenal are fucking lucky to get something out of this game. Barcelona could have been 4:0 by half time.

why o why diddnt arsenal play like how they did when walcott came on right from teh start of the game?

1st half arsenal looked scared and as bad as a fucking championship side. i know barcelona are a great team but seriously they are NOT that GREAT. arsenal were just absolutely shockingly poor in the 1st half.

begining of the 2nd half was just as bad. fucking terrible goals to concede. championship quality defending right their.

But when walcott came on, the desire, belief and ambitions started appearing and we began to play to our game and because of it, troubled barcelona.

why we diddnt play like that from start to finish is bizare.

roll on 2nd leg. Game of the season by far.
 
drekkard said:
arcelona, he changed the match and showed the way with his effort.

PS: Henry displayed a worrying attittude in 20 minutes. He did nothing, didn't run, didn't fight, was simply walking and watching things. A lot more is expected from a professional player.
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Henry did say he would not score againts us :) tbh he diddnt even want to play tonight
 
Seeing Cesc carry on playing through injury at the end showed incredible heart on his part. I hope he never leaves for Barca.
 
RuneEdge said:
Seeing Cesc carry on playing through injury at the end showed incredible heart on his part. I hope he never leaves for Barca.
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same here. awsome player he is. you could break his fucking leg tonight and he will still be on the pitch crawling for the ball
 
Long ball was a shocked to see from Barca ,but Al`s position was even more shocking :LOL: Yeah Walcott made a huge impact with speed we played more countering and that works with speed not technical. I`m not feeling Arshavin of late...very disappointing.

No pigue & puyol might be interesting to see eh....to have so little possession and score 2 goals is massive lift for the squad.I think Song kept Messi at bay very well. Diaby had lots of pressure more than he can handle and held up abit...it was awful how Barca pass the ball around us four passes to a blink of an eye as it may seem.Enough of that lets beat Wolf !!!

RuneEdge said:
Seeing Cesc carry on playing through injury at the end showed incredible heart on his part. I hope he never leaves for Barca.
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I feel the same he`s been with them 5yrs ,us 7 yrs even tackles like an Englishman :LOL: he loves Arsenal we made him ,he wanted to leave
 
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The cynic in me says Cesc was only so desperate to carry on due to the significance of the opponent and the fact you had no subs left.

Good comeback none the less, Song at fault for both goals when he shifted to centre back but he was great in the first half in midfield.

2-2 is a hell of a lot better than 2-1 going in to the 2nd leg.
 
Jumbo_ said:
The cynic in me says Cesc was only so desperate to carry on due to the significance of the opponent and the fact you had no subs left.

Good comeback none the less, Song at fault for both goals when he shifted to centre back but he was great in the first half in midfield.

2-2 is a hell of a lot better than 2-1 going in to the 2nd leg.
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10 vs 10 wasn`t a disadvantage he even pass the ball and took a shot at goal injured , it was his decision to carry on Wenger send the troops to bring Fab in. So yeah it`s mostly the cynic in you..slippery when wet dig
 
Was already to admit the best team won it 0-2. There to hold my hands up and say that we have alot to learn.

But after the second goal we were a different team. Walcott coming on had a point to prove to the England Manager.

The only point we were totally outplayed was the first 15-20mins. We were totally punch drunk, they run rings around us. Credit to Almunia for keeping us in, it could have been at least 0-3.

But after that first 20 mins we started to defend well. We gave them alot of space out wide, but we dealt with it reasonably well.

The two Barcelona goals were more defensive errors, than Almunia. If it wasn't for Almunia we would have been more goals down.

Most of Barcas chances were in the firse 20mins. If you look at the whole game, then I think it wasn't a total domination. They deserved to win, but they did what we used to do, think they were easily in control and let it slip.

Great goal by Walcott, and it was definately a pen in my opinion. He wasn't going for the ball. He wanted to stop Fab, if a players leg ends up entagled in the defenders legs and the defender is nowhere near the ball, it was definately a pen IMO.

Whatever happened we came back from 0-2 down and it was amazing!

We will have to do it without Gallas and Fab. But atleast we have given ourselves a chance now.

Note on Nasri who in the first half seemed to be our only player up for the fight. Vermaelen also put in some decent tackles. Fab only seemed to come out of his shell in the later half of the game.

Arshavin I am so unsure about. Seems to be lazy in many situations. I really love him. If he had a different mental attitude, I think he would be amazing. But he is too laid back in my opinion. He really needs to fight more for the team as a whole. He seems to pick and choose when he shows some effort. I feel he puts 60% effort in rather than the 100% he should be putting in.

Still dissapointed that we looked like the away team tonight in our own stadium. We will need to play our best game ever to progress to the next round. Especially without Fab, but I think if any team can do it we can.

Went from being so pissed off with how shit we were, to being proud of how well we came back into the game.

What a game :DD!
 
Come on guys, don't you know Andrey only shows up for the big games? It's fine with me, but I think we could've had so much more going forward if he didn't go off injured.

I was surprised to see Cesc continuing to play even though he was injured much earlier. I fear the extra playing time and the penalty kick might have done some serious damage.
 
Was a brilliant game to watch, in the first half was the definition of possession football at its best. I don't think many sides can cope when Barca are like that.

Great fightback though, showed a lot of heart and desire which I honestly didn't think you had in you which was epitomised by Cesc.

Hopefully the 2nd leg is as good as he 1st.
 
beboq said:
10 vs 10 wasn`t a disadvantage he even pass the ball and took a shot at goal injured , it was his decision to carry on Wenger send the troops to bring Fab in. So yeah it`s mostly the cynic in you..slippery when wet dig
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Plus he wasnt fully fit at the start of the game dont forget. He was only 40% ready for this game.
 
BobbyBox said:
Was already to admit the best team won it 0-2. There to hold my hands up and say that we have alot to learn.

But after the second goal we were a different team. Walcott coming on had a point to prove to the England Manager.

The only point we were totally outplayed was the first 15-20mins. We were totally punch drunk, they run rings around us. Credit to Almunia for keeping us in, it could have been at least 0-3.

But after that first 20 mins we started to defend well. We gave them alot of space out wide, but we dealt with it reasonably well.

The two Barcelona goals were more defensive errors, than Almunia. If it wasn't for Almunia we would have been more goals down.

Most of Barcas chances were in the firse 20mins. If you look at the whole game, then I think it wasn't a total domination. They deserved to win, but they did what we used to do, think they were easily in control and let it slip.

Great goal by Walcott, and it was definately a pen in my opinion. He wasn't going for the ball. He wanted to stop Fab, if a players leg ends up entagled in the defenders legs and the defender is nowhere near the ball, it was definately a pen IMO.

Whatever happened we came back from 0-2 down and it was amazing!

We will have to do it without Gallas and Fab. But atleast we have given ourselves a chance now.

Note on Nasri who in the first half seemed to be our only player up for the fight. Vermaelen also put in some decent tackles. Fab only seemed to come out of his shell in the later half of the game.

Arshavin I am so unsure about. Seems to be lazy in many situations. I really love him. If he had a different mental attitude, I think he would be amazing. But he is too laid back in my opinion. He really needs to fight more for the team as a whole. He seems to pick and choose when he shows some effort. I feel he puts 60% effort in rather than the 100% he should be putting in.

Still dissapointed that we looked like the away team tonight in our own stadium. We will need to play our best game ever to progress to the next round. Especially without Fab, but I think if any team can do it we can.

Went from being so pissed off with how shit we were, to being proud of how well we came back into the game.

What a game :DD!
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i diagree with some of your points. first of all. vermalen was to blame for the goals. song, clichy and sagna kept their shape and line while vermalen pushed up on his own leaving a massive gap at the back.

i also felt nasri played shit in the first half showing no desire to fight for the ball and not protecting clichy at all on the left side
 
jonneymendoza said:
i diagree with some of your points. first of all. vermalen was to blame for the goals. song, clichy and sagna kept their shape and line while vermalen pushed up on his own leaving a massive gap at the back.

i also felt nasri played shit in the first half showing no desire to fight for the ball and not protecting clichy at all on the left side
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Well from what I saw, Vermaelen was the only defender getting stuck in, in the first half. He did a few great challenges, that either got the ball, or put the forward player off.

Nasri in the first half was also the only player that actually kept pressing and trying to get the ball from Barca. He was showing alot of heart in my opinion, when the rest of the team did fuck all and chasing shadows.

It's weird how we have such differing opinions, but I guess that is football for you :DD
 
Well, I disagree from you both! :BOP:

I think Arsenal problems in the first half were due to the forwards and midfielders totally loosing track of Barcelona players. If you let Xavi and Busquets to control the ball alone in midfield, and you don't close Alves side, you're going to be treated bad by Barcelona. Defenders could do nothing against that. In fact, the deffensive line and deffensive midfielders saved 3 goals in the first 10 minutes.

To me Arsenal must blame Nasri, Cesc and Diaby for the first 20 minutes. Cesc had an impact in the last 20 minutes, where he entered the game.

In my oppinion, Barcelona attittude after the 0-2 was lame and deserves punishment. I saw clearly that the team was letting the match go, overconfident, and Guardiola reacted very badly to Wenger changes. Wenger was spot on putting Walcott in the precise moment, when Barcelona was startign to sleep. And Guardiola was crap subbing Ibra (the best Barcelona player in the second half) by a lame Henry that allowed everyone to run his side. If guradiola had put Toure in the place of Busquets in the second half, I think we would have won easily, but Arsenal came on top when the forward line started to fight and recover balls upfront (that's the way to play us, unfortunately).

So, in my oppinion, Arsenal defenders were good overall, midfielders were great only in the last 20 minutes and forwards were the worst of the team, even if at the end the result is GREAT for Arsenal given how the match unfolded.

I will be there at the stadium to watch an exciting champions match against my team and my favorite english team, who I respect and love a lot!

PS: In my oppinion, there is no favorite right now. I know I sound wild, but Barcelona is a very overconfident team this season. I get VERY angry watching our matches, because you know this team could win 3-0 almost all matches but they lack effort and focus during the whole match. In Camp Nou, Arsenal can play counterattacking with Walcot and we're missing our best defenders, and I fear Barcelona this season is unable to remain focused for 90 minutes, specially with Busquets in DMF. The first goal is a double mistake by him and there have been lots this season, Arsenal can take profit of the result and go as a wolf disguised as a lamb.

Many people here and the press are too confident we're goinf to win, and many people talking about the first half showing the best Barcelona this season. This, and believing you will win, is how you start to loose matches.
 
Very good post drekkard...most of us Love Barcelona too! just won`t like Fabregas joining until he lifts a few trophies 1st :SMUG:

Francesc is having his best season too!
League ......... .... All together
15 goals 15 asst. ..... 19 goals 19 asst.

I think Nasri has come very good emulating Cesc movement and turns. Who do we have if everyone is injured Gallas(ok) Arshavin(odd... barca`s skillz scared him :LOL: ) imo Walcott isn`t a starter and RVP might be back end of month, maybe earlier now and I can see bendtner on the wings which is scary
 
That Barca game took a lot out your team literally, Fabregas possibly out for the season, Gallas the same and Arshavin out for 3 weeks. Hopefully this derails your PL chase :))
 
Losing Fabregas is a huge blow, he's been fantastic lately! I really hope Arsenal win something this year though, Let's hope the team can cope without a lot of their key players.
 
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