Arsenal vs Barcelona Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:45pm(ITV 1)

[Gonner_88]

What're you talking about Clrnc

 

[arsenallegends]

Very excited to see what Theo can do on his second attempt, this time with Sagna behind him. So confident we can give them a torrid time if we use both flanks smartly both on the counter and drifting into pockets of space. Rvp can link immaculately in this way.

At times we were horrible in transition. Thats partly due to Barca's pressing but we can't lose it in our third while attempting to transition the ball like we did. Fabregas could also have a better game with the ball; think he held on too long at certain times and disrupted flow.

 

[Y va marquer]

Klaus, I agree, we won on merit, we deserved it.
I just posted Matt Holland's comment because he was a pundit giving us some credit, albeit by adopting a rather cliched view.

 

[redanddread]

Very excited to see what Theo can do on his second attempt, this time with Sagna behind him. So confident we can give them a torrid time if we use both flanks smartly both on the counter and drifting into pockets of space. Rvp can link immaculately in this way.

At times we were horrible in transition. Thats partly due to Barca's pressing but we can't lose it in our third while attempting to transition the ball like we did. Fabregas could also have a better game with the ball; think he held on too long at certain times and disrupted flow.

And to think we beat them with Cesc having an off night! They will have to pay more attention to Jack and hopefully that will free up Cesc a bit. Sagna's return is most important -he has a brain, not sure about the loveable Eboue

 

[Herbas]

Yeah, I also don't get the notion that Barca controlled the whole game and we were just kinda lucky as our first goal "shocked" them and they did not recover from that.

OK, the first half was truly theirs. But come on, I think it was quite obvious that their game in the second half was a lot slower and with less energy, while we kept or even improved our own level. It was to be expected as it is just impossible to do that Barca pressing for more than a half.

Funny thing that when we dominate possession against other teams and unfortunately lose or draw (the most recent example would be 0-0 with ManC), then pundits keep talking that possession means nothing and praise our opponents for "patient, effective, no non-sense gameplay". So why not the same this time as well, eh pundits?

 

[outlaw_member]

I thought Eboue performed really well. It was an encouraging performance from him.

 

[HollandGooner]

Yeah, I also don't get the notion that Barca controlled the whole game and we were just kinda lucky as our first goal "shocked" them and they did not recover from that.

OK, the first half was truly theirs. But come on, I think it was quite obvious that their game in the second half was a lot slower and with less energy, while we kept or even improved our own level. It was to be expected as it is just impossible to do that Barca pressing for more than a half.

Funny thing that when we dominate possession against other teams and unfortunately lose or draw (the most recent example would be 0-0 with ManC), then pundits keep talking that possession means nothing and praise our opponents for "patient, effective, no non-sense gameplay". So why not the same this time as well, eh pundits?

At some points we were lucky not to conceed but what about RVP,s chance first half when it was 0-0 we could have been 2-0 up

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

Had Barcelona been more clinical with his potential assists and pre-assists he'd be getting a lot of stick on here. He isn't talented enough to take so many risks in defence, although I will readily admit his performance in attack was decent.

One of my favourite moments of the night was when Djourou ****ted the ball out of the stadium near the end. We need to do that more to release pressure.

 

[HollandGooner]

Had Barcelona been more clinical with his potential assists and pre-assists he'd be getting a lot of stick on here. He isn't talented enough to take so many risks in defence, although I will readily admit his performance in attack was decent.

One of my favourite moments of the night was when Djourou ****ted the ball out of the stadium near the end. We need to do that more to release pressure.

Spot on with your last Djourou point,

 

[Nela]

I'm going to watch the game again soon in a less emotional state to see what I think of it now.

But I keep hearing that Barca should have been 3 to 4 nil up by halftime and we were lucky to still be in it. But I strongly remember RvP having one if not two chances to score, so if we're going to count Barca chances as goals, surely they have to count ours as well.

Anwyay, Orbinho on twitter is great for stats on Arsenal for those that are interested. Here's an interesting one from the game.

31% of Arsenal's passes were made in or into the final third, while only 21% of Barcelona's were made in the attacking1/3rd of the pitch.

How many of Barcelona's passes were made in their own half?

333 were in their own half - 44%.

139 backwards and 416 sideways.

 

[Clrnc]

What're you talking about Clrnc

Hey no secret editing allowed!

But I do agree with outlaw Eboue was very good. He does always play well in big matches anyway

 

[DanDare]

Had Barcelona been more clinical with his potential assists and pre-assists he'd be getting a lot of stick on here. He isn't talented enough to take so many risks in defence, although I will readily admit his performance in attack was decent.

One of my favourite moments of the night was when Djourou ****ted the ball out of the stadium near the end. We need to do that more to release pressure.

Spot on with your last Djourou point,

Wasn't that Eboue?

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

No.

 

[MAK 14]

That was Eboue, not Djourou.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

If so then apologies.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Yep, it was indeed Eboue.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

The ball was struck purely with no hint of slice so naturally I assumed it could not have been Eboue. ops:

 

[sagreig]

I can't imagine how hard it must've been for Eboue to do that. He was probably itching to fanny around with it and nutmeg someone.

 

[IBL]

I'm going to watch the game again soon in a less emotional state to see what I think of it now.

But I keep hearing that Barca should have been 3 to 4 nil up by halftime and we were lucky to still be in it. But I strongly remember RvP having one if not two chances to score, so if we're going to count Barca chances as goals, surely they have to count ours as well.

Anwyay, Orbinho on twitter is great for stats on Arsenal for those that are interested. Here's an interesting one from the game.

31% of Arsenal's passes were made in or into the final third, while only 21% of Barcelona's were made in the attacking1/3rd of the pitch.

How many of Barcelona's passes were made in their own half?

333 were in their own half - 44%.

139 backwards and 416 sideways.

It's utter bullcrap, usual lazy Barca biased journalism, if anything Barca were lucky we werent 1-0 up within a few minutes after we caught them cold and carved them open in brilliant Arsenal style. In terms of first half chances we created 3 good ones compared to their 4 which includes their goal.

And all this raving about their passing stats, all that tippity-tappety passes in their own half will do that for their tally as those stats above show. Their were numerous occasions where we pushed them into their own half when they tried to play their stuff in ours.

 

[-vapour-]

I'm going to watch the game again soon in a less emotional state to see what I think of it now.

But I keep hearing that Barca should have been 3 to 4 nil up by halftime and we were lucky to still be in it. But I strongly remember RvP having one if not two chances to score, so if we're going to count Barca chances as goals, surely they have to count ours as well.

Anwyay, Orbinho on twitter is great for stats on Arsenal for those that are interested. Here's an interesting one from the game.

31% of Arsenal's passes were made in or into the final third, while only 21% of Barcelona's were made in the attacking1/3rd of the pitch.

How many of Barcelona's passes were made in their own half?

333 were in their own half - 44%.

139 backwards and 416 sideways.

It's utter bullcrap, usual lazy Barca biased journalism, if anything Barca were lucky we werent 1-0 up within a few minutes after we caught them cold and carved them open in brilliant Arsenal style. In terms of first half chances we created 3 good ones compared to their 4 which includes their goal.

And all this raving about their passing stats, all that tippity-tappety passes in their own half will do that for their tally as those stats above show. Their were numerous occasions where we pushed them into their own half when they tried to play their stuff in ours.

Yeah, I'm sick of people saying we were lucky and that we didn't deserve to win. That is complete nonsense they created a few clear chances in the first half, but so did we. And this is the half they claimed they 'won' complete and utter bullshit, we played well throughout the game and their passing was like us passing in front of 10 men. They went absolutely nowhere other than those few moments. Our players should be encouraged by our performance as we deserved what we got overall. I also find it encouraging that like last year they tired in the second half and allowed us to score 2 goals past them... again. I just hope the next leg doesn't go the same way. Without a doubt though we've improved ten fold and matured with it. Fingers crossed for no more injuries and a fully fit Nasri in the next leg will be perfect!