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

[raag]

Who would you guys play on the right wing? I'm tempted to actually consider Welbs. Chambo is Chambo. Theo doesn't defend. Campbell is another option who offers solidity.

 

[Rimaal]

Mert and Kos are familiar with Suarez, as tough as he is , Kos has handled him , same with Messi . I'm talking about on our patch . I think our defence will suprise you pleasantly .

Yes, but they haven't handled all three of them together charging towards our goal.

Sitting deep and defending against Barca is not going to work. It hasn't worked for any of the other teams that have come against them this season and defended.
The midfield is where this match can be won and lost, not defence. Break their attacking play in midfield, make Messy drop deep, and try your best to isolate him. Then knick the ball and charge at their goal. They are weakest (obviously) in defence.
Of course this is all far easier said than done. They happen to have an excellent midfield, it will be a hard job stifling it.

 

[Rishkard_10]

A long shot here.. But what about El Neny in the middle and Ramsey out wide for the first hour of the game due to their high work rate and than releasing oxlade, Theo and Wellbeck..

It will only work if we are still in the game..

 

[Wilshere's Right]

A long shot here.. But what about El Neny in the middle and Ramsey out wide for the first hour of the game due to their high work rate and than releasing oxlade, Theo and Wellbeck..

It will only work if we are still in the game..

Yep, I was thinking this. I think I'd prefer the more disciplined Elneny over Ramsey in the middle. Ramsey out wide though I'm less sure about as I really liked what I saw from Welbeck yesterday.

 

[fabo]

No way Wenger starts El Neny in a game like this.

 

[Rishkard_10]

No way Wenger starts El Neny in a game like this.

That's true aswell but I was just taking into consideration the fact that we will be sitting deep, chasing and closing their players down consistently and with that El Neny's workrate could be vital.. Basically he is use a scapegoat for 60 minutes to close players down etc.. But I don't think it will happen..

 

[Penn_]

Ox not playing yesterday basically confirms him starting.

Elneny isn't ready for this and hopefully Flamini gets nowhere near the pitch.

 

[amirkat]

Welbeck starts for me.

****, we really needed Cazorla or Wilshere ready for this one. Ramsey's poor first touch is going to ruin our midfield.

 

[natural]

We need to re-evaluate a lot of tactics before the home match, they are not flawless but they have flawless attackers, the offside trap seems like a good idea but not with a slow Mer, I think we should focus on not conceding a goal in the Emirates. This is definitely the toughest task of the season but we must believe that we can win it, we got nothing to lose, just be the underdog and believe that you can win it.

 

[Proof]

I think we are definitely going to score against Barcelona. We'll get more room to play than we ever got in any of our previous games against them.

I believe Bellerin and Koscielny can deal with Neymar and Suarez.
My biggest concern is Messi but his kryptonite seems to be Cech. They met in eight games so far and Messi hasn’t found a way to get past him. I don't know, maybe he has developed some kind of mental block against Cech.

It's going to take a herculean effort for us to knock Barcelona out and looking at our inability to convert chances and their elite goal-scoring trio it's probably the Catalans who will qualify for the quarter-finals. I don't think we'll get destroyed though.

 

[General]

Judging by the team yesterday, I think the first 11 for this game pretty much picks itself.

 

[arsmile]

A long shot here.. But what about El Neny in the middle and Ramsey out wide for the first hour of the game due to their high work rate and than releasing oxlade, Theo and Wellbeck..

It will only work if we are still in the game..

if we go down the ramsey wide route...which I don't think it ridiculous...it would mean flamini in CM over Elneny

 

[Marmaduke]

Cech is going to have one hell of a game as is the entire team.

Welbeck, Sanchez, and Theo for me. Even though Barca "counter attack" I don't buy all that much into it. They will have the vast majority of possession so we need to hit on the break and hope our 2 or 3 chances convert. We are Leiscester in this situation and they've proven a fair bit this season.

 

[celestis]

Yes, but they haven't handled all three of them together charging towards our goal.

Sitting deep and defending against Barca is not going to work. It hasn't worked for any of the other teams that have come against them this season and defended.
The midfield is where this match can be won and lost, not defence. Break their attacking play in midfield, make Messy drop deep, and try your best to isolate him. Then knick the ball and charge at their goal. They are weakest (obviously) in defence.
Of course this is all far easier said than done. They happen to have an excellent midfield, it will be a hard job stifling it.

Why are you telling me ? I'm not advocating sitting deep , I wouldn't have a clue how to play them .

 

[General]

I think we are definitely going to score against Barcelona. We'll get more room to play than we ever got in any of our previous games against them.

I hope you are right because none of our attackers is in good form and if as expected Giroud leads the line with Sanchez, Özil and Ox in support, it could be a long frustrating night watching attacks break down regularly either because of our lack of outright pace upfront or the ball simply not sticking up front. In all the games we've run them close, we've always had a natural finisher in the side and we scored from creating little. We would have to create a lot more this time and that's a major challenge even against Barca's relatively average defence. I think Ramsey's runs from deep could be deciding factor for us and he'll probably carry our biggest goal threat.

 

[RandyMarsh]

We can all say what team we hope we want to see and the team we feel will suit our game plan on the day, but we all know what team Wenger is going to pick.

It will be the same team as the Leicester game. Almost guaranteed.

 

[rich 1990]

vs Southampton - 22 shots and 11 on target - 0 goals
vs Leicester City - 24 shots and 6 on target - 2 goals
vs Hull City - 24 shots and 6 on target - 0 goals

In the last three home games we had 70 shots and only scored 2 goals.

That mean's we're going to win 68-0 here.

 

[arsmile]

Campbell is our best defensive wide player so there is an argument for him starting on the right but I doubt Arsène will go with that

 

[kopzilla]

Our major problem is that we lose possession easily which would be suicidal especially Vs Barca.

 

[turkish gooner]

Turkish Ref Cüneyt Çakır will blow the whistle