CL: Arsenal v Barcelona - 23/02/16, 19:45

[Bashii]

Stay tuned for the return leg at Camp Nou, you'll see

c*nt.

 

[billyf]

I was so angry last night, I didn't want to make any comment.

Regarding the game now, I believe we lost the game due to lack of focus and vigilance. More specifically, in the first goal noone tried to foul the ball carriers. That's the moment when you get yellow-carded boys, you don't let Barcelona counter attack you. Oh god, it looked so stupid. Let Messi roam what can go wrong? When they can start a counter attack from deep bring them down fast. How hard can that be!!

Our passing game was careless, too. All those flicks and ****. Who were they trying to impress? Messi and Neymar? Really, boys? Really? Pass it safe and risk when you have to. You are ****ing international players. You know what it means to play knock-out games. Sometimes this team make me think that they will never mature. It's so sad.

 

[kopzilla]

Won my bet though.

Might hit bed.

what did you bet?

 

[bingobob]

No disagreement from me there. I just don't think we should be bothered about not acting like a big club when we play defensive at home because we're clearly not that big a club at this stage.

I don't get this playing defensively doesn't mean you're a big club. Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world and they've played defensively. It's not a dirty word and is all part of a game which at its very heart is tactical in nature.

We aren't a big club though. No other manager or fan Base will settle for picking up might come good players when they have 200m in the bank. There is no reason we couldn't have bought Neymar and Suarez with money left over. There lacks a will at the top to act first like a football club and a business secondary.

 

[Nyctophobia]

Seriously, about the Ox miss, I'll give him a pass this time too, but ffs have anyone else noticed it's always him?
It's always him being there getting those easy chances and screwing them up, I think I've seen him miss 3 or 4 other chances like that he had early in the game this season.

I'm not really upset about the match though, foresaw the outcome days before the game.

 

[Jasard]

Could not give less of a **** about this result Which is nice.

 

[Bashii]

I get it, you're bitter

I merely pointed out that you will soon see whether they play at a different tempo at Camp Nou. Or to avert more bitterness, you might want to skip it

Actually, I thought you was being a smart ass, but having read just read your previous posts I can see that you are not really here to gloat so I retract my previous statement and replace it with this..

C*ck.

Seems fairer, right?

 

[albakos]

Regarding the game now, I believe we lost the game due to lack of focus and vigilance. More specifically, in the first goal noone tried to foul the ball carriers. That's the moment when you get yellow-carded boys, you don't let Barcelona counter attack you. Oh god, it looked so stupid. Let Messi roam what can go wrong? When they can start a counter attack from deep bring them down fast. How hard can that be!!

Agreed. I was hoping that Koscielny would definitely take a yellow and foul Suarez, just before he made the pass for Neymar to run to.

The first goal was a carbon copy of Monaco's second.

 

[kopzilla]

I watched the highlights... however I think it won't do justice to judge the whole match by just watching the highlights...even though we do match them pass for pass...the ref whoever it may be will be biased towards them.
This could have been a high scoring game...both sides missing chances..we could have had atleast 2 and they could have hammered a couple more for good measure.
Sadly, I think this is our ceiling...Wenger is not ruthless enough to get more mileage from this team....he never has and never will be able to instill a winning mentality in to his teams...he could make up for that by buying better players but he doesn't do that either.. We see the same stuff...players repeating the same mistakes...no composure in front of goal..no awareness of fellow players in the final third..underweight passes...overweight passes...The problem is everyone wants to be brilliant and lose sight of the basics.
There are two ways of defeating Barca..either frustrate them and stop them from playing...and take your chances...or play just like them and be better at it....the 1st option is not how we roll..but we can be better by just doing the simple things right...look at how Barca manage to keep possession...their decision making is swift and passing is perfect to a T and they take their chances when presented.

 

[Penn_]

Imagine if that Giroud-Alba clash had been the other way round. Would be instant fall from their player.

Same with the challenge that got Ox injured. It was a 50/50 but you can bet that would of seen any of our defenders get a yellow/red.

Takes so much focus not just to beat their skill but to not get drawn into their play acting.

 

[kopzilla]

Wenger: "I felt we were technically average today. When we looked like we were dominating, we conceded. Like Monaco, it's naive."

Wenger: "Barça are better than us. They never make a wrong pass in transition, always have great first touches to get out of pressure."

Would have been a different story with Wilshere and Cazorla in the team..

Exactly..but mere words from him are not enough..you have to practice in training.

 

[kopzilla]

Yep, Özil went to the semi-finals 3 seasons in a row at Madrid. Alexis had 2 semi-finals and a quarter-final, they must be gutted that they're not competing in Europe.

They'll be off soon.

 

[Tourbillion]

**** the entire concept of football.

 

[MagicalRozza]

I had no hopes before the match, but was positively surprised with the first half performance. We were disciplined and seemed to be executing a game plan which was a nice change. Both Ox and Giroud contributed defensively and I think the goalless draw was possible. However at no point we were competing with Barca as equals. It was more like a bottom half la Liga team being able to steal a point of Barca occasionally. I can't understand why obviously unfit Ox was kept on the field and more so why was he not substituted with Campbell. The moment I saw Flamini I knew we were fooked. At the end we did not shame ourselves which is a pretty sad thing to be satisfied about with this once great team.

 

[tap-in]

I had no hopes before the match, but was positively surprised with the first half performance. We were disciplined and seemed to be executing a game plan which was a nice change. Both Ox and Giroud contributed defensively and I think the goalless draw was possible. However at no point we were competing with Barca as equals. It was more like a bottom half la Liga team being able to steal a point of Barca occasionally. I can't understand why obviously unfit Ox was kept on the field and more so why was he not substituted with Campbell. The moment I saw Flamini I knew we were fooked. At the end we did not shame ourselves which is a pretty sad thing to be satisfied about with this once great team.

I agree with what you say but it was Theo who came on for Ox. You are forgiven for not noticing, most people probably didnt notice Theo on the pitch Flamini came on for Coq. With hindsight Ox should have been replaced by Welbeck. Why Wenger continues to use Flamini is beyond me, Elneny already looks a better option and has CL experience.

 

[AVENTUS]

They'll be off soon.

I wish I could protest your comment but can see where your coming from. Wenger is not building on the squad only signing Cech in the summer was mistake must be so frustrating for Özil assisting players like Giroud & Walcott who not on th level of Özil & Alexis.

Hope we win the League and Wenger really corrects some errors in the summer. Arteta, Flamani, & Rosicky should all be going in the summer and there really in no point in keeping 4 Right Wingers in Ox, Walcott, Campbell & Silva who is out on loan cut 2 of them lose and sign some real quality in the summer

 

[General]

^^I think what he meant was Ox should've been replaced by Campbell rather than Walcott. I thought the pace of the game would've suited Cambell. The Flamini sub made no sense and was so predictable. Even if Wenger thought we were tiring, we were still a goal down and taking Coquelin off completely ruined the balance. Flamini is utterly useless, plays too deep and takes up the air space of our centre backs because he cannot press. We supposedly play him for his experience yet he makes some of the most brainless challenges you'll ever see. Per's ball for the penalty wasn't great but Flamini did not have to make the challenge and it serves Wenger right for bringing him on.

 

[BobP]

Did anybody notice after the 1st goal Messi scored how we progressively begun to push men forward and how that resulted in us being more exposed when it came to the transition? Where is the logic in that?

It's a single away goal, carry on as you had been, hold tight, and hopefully you get to the Camp Nou an away goal down with us still to play the away leg where anything could happen.

Instead we keep on pushing men forward resulting in us conceding the 2nd away goal which essentially extinguished what little chance we would have had in the 2nd leg.

 

[leonelxt]

They'll be off soon.

To be honest Barcelona "got rid" of Alexis (and also Fabregas) because he never performed at very important games, as a Barca fan we never questioned his commitment but most of the time he used to run like a headless chicken, i thought he would improve with Arsenal by not having the pressure/obligation of being the striker on a team that must fight for the UCL trophy every season, seems like he didn't change that much.

 

[General]

I think when you take a step back and review the game objectively, their better attacking threat as expected was the difference between the two teams on the night. I'm watching the second half now and Pique and Alvez misplaced some bad balls and they panicked a lot in defence which we failed to capitalise on. I think the Sanchez shot that got charged down with Ramsey eventually skying the ball says it all. Giroud worked hard and won some impossible balls in the air but overall looked limited. Someone like Eduardo wouldve absolutely buried them yesterday. In big games like these, you need your big players to assert themselves on the opposition. Özil flattered to deceive and Sanchez was hit and miss and too erratic at times. Ox, despite the miss had a bigger impact. In the end it took a bit of magic by Neymar from deep inside their territory to break the deadlock and defensively we were not alert enough to the threat.