Player Ratings - CL: Barcelona vs Arsenal | 17/05/06

[kel varnsen]

Re: ashley cole

am i the only one that saw ashley cole play etoo onside when lehmann brought etoo down? cole played etoo onside it was obvious

We had just won the ball and got it out of our defense and before we knew Hleb had lost the ball to Ronaldinhio who threaded that pass to Eto'o within two touches of getting the ball,we can blame Hleb or Gilberto too for a stupid 15 yard pass to the chest of Hleb.

defending 101

zonal defense:

when there is no one pressing the player with the ball, the defenders are supposed to fall back and stay with the attackers. offside traps are, almost exclusively, used when there is someone putting the player with the ball under pressure...

Did Hleb have the ball ?
No,he took it on his chest and before he could even get it under control it was taken away.
I am not condoning Cole for playing Eto'o offside though,but fact is it was a fcukall pass from Gilberto,can't really blame Hleb,he probably didn't have a chance to clear it.

gilberto's pass was horrid; that's what caused lehmann to be sent off. cole tried to do the right thing; follow eto'o. the reason is, as i said, because no one was putting the player with the ball(ronaldinho) under pressure. pires tried to tackle, but failed. that meant that ronaldinho could run straight at out back four; which in turn meant that our back four had to drop back and follow eto'o. from there on, it just went too fast. eto'o got away.

cole, or anyone else in the back four, are not to blame for that situation.

 

[Rohit]

Re: ashley cole

am i the only one that saw ashley cole play etoo onside when lehmann brought etoo down? cole played etoo onside it was obvious

We had just won the ball and got it out of our defense and before we knew Hleb had lost the ball to Ronaldinhio who threaded that pass to Eto'o within two touches of getting the ball,we can blame Hleb or Gilberto too for a stupid 15 yard pass to the chest of Hleb.

defending 101

zonal defense:

when there is no one pressing the player with the ball, the defenders are supposed to fall back and stay with the attackers. offside traps are, almost exclusively, used when there is someone putting the player with the ball under pressure...

Did Hleb have the ball ?
No,he took it on his chest and before he could even get it under control it was taken away.
I am not condoning Cole for playing Eto'o offside though,but fact is it was a fcukall pass from Gilberto,can't really blame Hleb,he probably didn't have a chance to clear it.

gilberto's pass was horrid; that's what caused lehmann to be sent off. cole tried to do the right thing; follow eto'o. the reason is, as i said, because no one was putting the player with the ball(ronaldinho) under pressure. pires tried to tackle, but failed. that meant that ronaldinho could run straight at out back four; which in turn meant that our back four had to drop back and follow eto'o. from there on, it just went too fast. eto'o got away.

cole, or anyone else in the back four, are not to blame for that situation.

My bad then,i misunderstood.

 

[ken_75]

Re: ashley cole

am i the only one that saw ashley cole play etoo onside when lehmann brought etoo down? cole played etoo onside it was obvious

no you arent, and some said that he put in a world class performance.

You mean cole didnt play well or something.What game were you watching?

no i didnt say that. I said that I dont agree that it was a world class performance from Cole. imo he had an average/good game but definitely not world class for me as some people put it.

 

[Iniesta]

if i may (i'm still a barca fan) some comments:

I would give Arsenal as a team a 9 or even 9.5. Well deserved! Arsenal defended excellent, and was dangerous with some counter attacks.

Still, forgive me, but i expected more strength from your midfield as you played with 5 midfielders. But then red came and it became a hard game for you guys.
I can't rate your players individually, as i haven't seen them play that much.
I'm going to be kicked for this one. But Henry... he shouldn't have missed those chances... they could have killed us.
You guys defended good, very good. Barcelona got very few chances, although in second half we were clearly dominant (but i think that's all logic 11vs10). You gave no space to Ranadinho. You guys played almost a perfect game with 10 man, and for that i congratulate you!

as for the ref: i think that Arsenal fans as well as Barca fans can say: send him back to ref-skool...

i would like to say something else: 11vs11 would have been much better. Even for us i think. when we came one-nil behind, we had to attack, sometimes with to many. That's how Arsenal got their chances in the second half. I'm only saying that with 11vs11, Barca 1-0 up, we wouldn't give that much freedom to your attackers. Even more you would have to attack and leave space in your back.

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

 

[ken_75]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

 

[Tegh]

I like your style, Iniesta.

I saw your name at the bottom of the forum under the 'users online' section about ten minutes ago and thought to myself; ''Oh no, not another one come to gloat.''

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I read through your posts via your profile, and this one hasn't done you any harm either. I hope you stick around here for a while.

Just out of interest, Is Iniesta your favourite player? I've seen him a few times now and I've got to say, he's absolute quality. Great vision, great technical ability, skillful, and quite strong for a small guy who looks like a bit of a lightweight.

 

[Iniesta]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

i hope so, but remember we weren't at full capacity: Xavi nor Messi played. So be prepared

 

[Tegh]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

i hope so, but remember we weren't at full capacity: Xavi nor Messi played. So be prepared

Neither were we, we had ten men for 70 minutes.

 

[ken_75]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

i hope so, but remember we weren't at full capacity: Xavi nor Messi played. So be prepared

Neither were we, we had ten men for 70 minutes.

we also had cygan missing :wink:

 

[Iniesta]

I like your style, Iniesta.

I saw your name at the bottom of the forum under the 'users online' section about ten minutes ago and thought to myself; ''Oh no, not another one come to gloat.''

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I read through your posts via your profile, and this one hasn't done you any harm either. I hope you stick around here for a while.

Just out of interest, Is Iniesta your favourite player? I've seen him a few times now and I've got to say, he's absolute quality. Great vision, great technical ability, skillful, and quite strong for a small guy who looks like a bit of a lightweight.

first of all i'm a die hard Barca fan. First their is the club, secondly their is the football fylosophy and only third i'm a player fan.

I have been following Iniesta for quiet some time now. About 2 years or so. alwyas loved him. why? don't know. is it because he hasn't been build to play soccer (way to small and no muscules, is it because of the vision? i really don't know.
I only can say his style represents Barcelona.
The first player of the 'Barca'-style was Pep Guardiola, later came Xavi, Iniesta and if i may say... Cesc?
the first three for sure (i'm going to say nothing about Cesc although i think he fitst the row, but i'm on a Arsenal forul...) have a certain calmness and vision on the ball. They bring football back to basics. What is football? what is the first thing what you learn at a football club? correct passing, that is (for me) football, simple passing. Looks simpel but is so complex!
if i may promote Barca? Xavi e.g. in the game against Seville 92% passpercentage! and he gave about 80-90 passes. that are 4-5 wrong passes in 1 game. unbelievable it just is. Iniesta is becoming better than Xavi. He too has that vision and that unbelievable passing skill.
Actually if i may critize me own hero... Iniesta got so well in it, that he hardly can score anymore. he hasn't got a good kick in his feet.
But then again i'm promoting barcelona all the time srr.

to end my post. I thank you for actually read my post, as i'm not here to make trouble. I Love football and only then I love Barcelona.

(apolgies for my english, not my first language...)

 

[Iniesta]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

i hope so, but remember we weren't at full capacity: Xavi nor Messi played. So be prepared

Neither were we, we had ten men for 70 minutes.

we also had cygan missing :wink:

true!

 

[Avenell87]

But that is all a big if... one we will never know...

maybe we will, next time :wink:

i hope so, but remember we weren't at full capacity: Xavi nor Messi played. So be prepared

Neither were we, we had ten men for 70 minutes.

we also had cygan missing :wink:

true!

hey cygan would have burried those chances Henry had

 

[Tegh]

Thanks for the in-depth reply Iniesta, couldn't agree with you more. Cesc and Iniesta are two remarkable players, both brought up in the Barcelona side. It's a shame Iniesta isn't a few years younger, (not to say he'd old) as it'd be awesome to see how Cesc and Iniesta develop during the same stages of their careers.

 

[Iniesta]

you're welcome. always doing my best, and if i can talk about my idol, i just can't stop 8)