Arsenal Thread

good news...ibra will miss the next game , he picked a calf injury, atleast we have that big men situation handled, now we must make sure we shut out messi for a second game in row wich IMO will be tough.

We need to do a better job and pressuring and getting the ball back, and im pretty sure we can produced something good.
 
Will Bojan play for sure? Maybe Henry will start, which I prefer. Thierry is a gooner :D

I'm expecting Super Nick to produce something for us. If you think about his last performances: winning goals against Hull and Wolves and set up both goals against Barca. He is also on fire :)

And I hope Wenger once again uses Walcott only in the 2nd half. He has much more impact when coming on against tired legs.
 
Ibra's out, Pique, Puyol and now Iniesta. Toure is looking a doubt too.
I know theres no Fabregas but this is looking like your best chance.

Walcott FTW!
 
I seem to remember Barca gave Inter a spanking at the Nou Camp without Ibra and Messi, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

It'll probably help delay the inevitable by a bit longer though.
 
Yeah when they beat us in the final they had quite a few players out too and we a lot of people were saying we'd find it easy which was obviously not the case so whilst it's a boost that these players are out, Barca are still very, very good.
 
I love how the media were building this up as a match between two teams who play beautiful football.

If Barcelona is the Ferrari, Arsenal is the man with a Ferrari cap, key-ring and mug but not the car. Essentially Arsenal are a poor-man's Barcelona.

It was painful seeing no pressing by Arsenal whenever Barca were on the ball and yet whatever few seconds Arsenal spent on the ball was met by pressing high and all over the pitch by Barca.

Guardiola seemed to feel sorry for you lot and subbed on the useless Henry to give you lot more of a chance.
 
Yeah Arsenal play pretty football and it's good to watch when they're going forward against an average team but it's far from being 'complete' like Barca's style (this is where I think Wenger is a bit tactically naive) and there is almost no defensive side to his 'philosophy'.
 
Henry is on a really bad form atm. When he is called he is inconsistent as hell and often doesn't give that bonus of speed+intelligence of his anymore. Don't know whats happening to him this season.

Just like Jumbo said, we were missing key players against ManU in last years CL final, yet we dominated them throughout the entire match. This year we have great Subs as well (that eventually came up, with the ridiculous amount of injuries) and Pedro and Bojan are on a sweet form atm. Messi is being the ridiculous creature that he is (lol) and Xavi, well, he is just being himself.

But i will have to agree with Runeedge, if there is a time that Barça is weak is now. Hope Pep can formulate a consistent and balanced team.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
I love how the media were building this up as a match between two teams who play beautiful football.

If Barcelona is the Ferrari, Arsenal is the man with a Ferrari cap, key-ring and mug but not the car. Essentially Arsenal are a poor-man's Barcelona.

It was painful seeing no pressing by Arsenal whenever Barca were on the ball and yet whatever few seconds Arsenal spent on the ball was met by pressing high and all over the pitch by Barca.

Guardiola seemed to feel sorry for you lot and subbed on the useless Henry to give you lot more of a chance.
Click to expand...

As I said before they did press us, but I think it was to their detriment towards the end of the game as they seem to get tired.

I don't think we are a poor mans barcelona. As I said before aswell, if we had a nearly full strength team like theirs, i think it would have been a different story.

But obviously people don't care about information like that, as you can only play what's in front of you. So on last weeks game with the teams that were on the pitch Barcelona obviously looked much better than us.

I just hope we can play better next week and won't get so shell shocked as we did in the first 20mins of the last game.

Fingers crossed anyway :DD
 
Yep, with all the injuries and all the chances we missed at the Emirates, I'm really fearing this match, as Arsenal can play without pressure, they're no favorites and can sit behind and play counter attack. And if they do this, given that one of the central defenders will be really slow (be it Marquez or Toure) they could have great success. My doubts is if Arsenal knows how to play this way and if Wenger will bet for the obvious walcott choice, with Nasri as a AMF to distribute.

Barcelona without Ibra looses a lot of resources, but Bojan is a finisher. I actually think this round will be decided by Xavi and Messi, if they are at their peek, I think we will be on top. If not, I think Arsenal will have more choices, specially if Barcelona can't score on the first 45 minutes.
 
wow we lost alex song , hes injured too and will miss the game...ouch thats a blow to your midfield, he was the only big presense we have in the midfield...its going to be a weird game but im confiend we can upset barca=p
 
If song is out aswell we are definately fucked!

Never known an injury list like this. It's been bad for years now but this takes the fucking biscuit!

Jesus fucking christ!

Song has turned into one of our best players. Him Vermaelen and Fab have been our most consistantly good players. It is going to be a mammoth task without both Cesc and Song.....if it wasn't already :ROLL:
 
lazyForken said:
wow we lost alex song , hes injured too and will miss the game...ouch thats a blow to your midfield, he was the only big presense we have in the midfield...its going to be a weird game but im confiend we can upset barca=p
Click to expand...

for a minute there you almost left , but came back...:))
 
In truth, Toure is not injured, so we're missing but we could add Chigrinsky who is ineligible for the Champions. You have really bad luck, but if you fight you can win, and if you win us with all that injured players, it would truly be a feat.
 
I wrote a whole thing talking about out injuries Nick but my computer decided it did not want me to post it :ROLL:

can't be bothered to write it all again :DD
 
I reckon Wenger will start Eboue on the right with Theo on as a sub to hopefully test some tiring legs. Nasri left, B52 in the middle.

Midfield trio of Denilson, Rosicky and Diaby.

Defence; Clichy, Campbell/Silvestre, Vermaelen, Sagna. Manuel in nets.

The only other real option on the bench will be Eduardo. Merida and Eastmond travel apparently, hopefully we won't have to throw them on.

It's a raggedy mishmash of a team that on paper should get blown away. But who cares, it's Barcelona at the Nou Camp, right? :)
 
I think a team like this would be good.

-----------Alumnia--------------
Sagna---Campbell----Vermaelen-----Clichy
-------------Diaby--------------
------Nasri-----------Denilson
Eboue-----------------Rosicky
---------Bendtner---------------


Althoug it Might be better off though going for more in midfield and two up front. Even though that is not our style and will never happen. But away at the nou camp with so many injuries, i fear if we keep our normal 433 we will be bummed.

So a team of

--------------Alumnia----------------
sagna-----Campbell----Vermaelen----Clichy
Eboue-----Nasri-------Diaby--------Rosicky
---------Bendtner------Eduardo----------

But of course they wouldn't be used to it, but I think Bendtner holding up the ball and playing in Eduardo might be beneficial. Also with the added strength in midfield.

Then bring Theo on last 25-30mins and go crazy, if we are behind :DD
 
Gotta disagree with you on that, Bobby. Our "4-3-3" can be described as a "4-5-1" in the eyes of many, myself included. I think our wingers (Rosicky and Eboue in this case) will track back a lot, especially in a match like this. Whereas Eduardo represents nothing in terms of helping defense.

I think AW will go for this tight formation 4-5-1 and if we don't get humiliated in the 1st half, he will launch Theo in the 2nd.

But without Song now, all my (tiny) hopes of holding Barca are lost. This situation is far beyond ridiculous. AW now has to talk in details about every squad injury and I'm afraid he'll come short of medical jargon. A "cartilage inflamation" for Song was a new one though. Arsenal fans are turning into fucking medical experts.

What's the point of having a good season when your main players collapse in the deciding stages?
 
I don't think the team is looking as bad as people are making it out to be. Arsenal constantly do well year after year at this stage, with the 100 injuries, because there is a sense of hunger and unity. I don't think it will be a thrashing tonight, but an even game. Wenger did a great job of getting the Arsenal players motivated and confident even in intimidating situations.
 
Milanista said:
I don't think the team is looking as bad as people are making it out to be. Arsenal constantly do well year after year at this stage, with the 100 injuries, because there is a sense of hunger and unity. I don't think it will be a thrashing tonight, but an even game. Wenger did a great job of getting the Arsenal players motivated and confident even in intimidating situations.
Click to expand...

The only thing that will be for us is the fact that the starting 11 should all be 100% fit (No matter who will be on the pitch) and will hopefully be able to give all that 100% in not letting Barca play their game.

Playing with 3 players at about 30% (rough guess ;)) ) fitness last time fucked us up abit in the first half an hour or so.

But we are up against Barcelona who are favourites to lift the cup, at the Nou camp and with basically none of our star players there (apart from Vermaelen who has been great this season).

we are really in danger of getting beaten convincingly.

But anything can happen and I am crossing absolutely everything, to make sure that us winning happens!

They will have their first choice central defenders missing, We have to hope they don't score 5 against us before we can get a chance on goal ;))

There is also talk of Campbell not playing. so Silvestre will be at the back :CRY:

If we do manage to come through this and win, nomatter how, it will be a great achievement.
 
Good luck for the match, lads, and hope we watch a good match. I go to the stadium now (I'm a little late, but my motorbike puts me there in 10 mins). You can really take benefit of Marquez, by far our worst defender, and the fact we will defend at the halfline. And we can take benefit of all the injuries you have in the midfield. The truth is the team who believes more and makes the biggest effort will win. Good luck again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom