Ratings and post-match discussion vs Barcelona

[scytheavatar]

Puyol might recover from injury, don't know about that..

I'm not sure about that. I thought he might still out.

He was supposed to be out for 3 weeks and return in time for us, but he got Vermaelen'd and is taking longer than expected to recover. All they have said is that he has an knee injury. We can only hope that he's still out but having Pique out is great news as it means we will be seeing more Maxwell.

 

[Thommybhoy]

Did anybody by any chance find site that has good stats from yesterday's game, including tackles, completed passes, pass ratio etc..

 

[arsmile]

Re: WE ARE THE ARSENAL!!! (MATCH RATINGS)

snez-8

eboue-8- not the weak link soem had feared he'd be

djourou-9

kos-10- he is excellent against this kind of forward line- when it is a case of positional awareness and interceptions and what not as oppsoed to a physical battle he can out do anyone

clichy-8- lost concentration to play villa onside but was exceptional otherwise...especially for the assist

song-8- yellowed early and was inhibited thereafter

wilshere-9

cesc-8

theo-8

nasri-9

vanpersie-9

arshavin-9

bendtner-8


i thought that was phenomenal...all 13 players involved did their absolute best, stayed strong, worked hard and did the job.

also, bringing on arshavin for song was a real game-changer- it was a huge call from wenger and effing brave- not the kind of substitution we are used to seeing from Arsène- that shift in focus really set us up for victory- huge credit to wenger for that cos it would have been easy to not take that risk when only 1 down.

bendtner too, i thought was exceptional when he came on and also played a big part in both goals.




i dotn think we do have exactly the same game as barca- and think that this game should help us find our own way, instead of aspiring to be like them- the short tappy tappy stuff will get you 60% possesion and we can do that- but we can be more dynamic- certainly yesterday even before we went down we moved forward quicker, were more ambitious with our passing and took far more risks in possesion...that is the kind of play that could beat barca....

i know we've felt liek barca do now in the pass- when we've played twice the number of passes and have the far superiour possession but we dont create significantly more chances. It isnt something to aspire to- i know barca are the best team of this generation by a distance- but i think we can evolve into some different from but equal to them with a slightly different brand in the long run.

 

[arsmile]

Re: WE ARE THE ARSENAL!!! (MATCH RATINGS)

oh and did i miss when barca signed almunia

(i like al but that was one of his near-posties)

 

[Herbas]

Such a ******* brilliant assist from Clichy to the first goal too. Alves looked like the mug he is.

Interesting thing about the assist is that it was made by his right foot.
In any way, both the asisst and the goal were inch-perfect.

 

[Legend#1]

1. Wilshere
2. Kos
3. Schez

Wilshere was simply faultless, he drove at them, he was creative, he got stuck in, he ran all game, outshone everyone.

Kos, apart from trying to play offside for Messi's chip chance, was simply outstanding, so many times he read the situation and intercepted, and his passing was crisp and accurate, and he started off the whole 2nd goal.

Schez was brilliant, kept himself as big as possible for as long as possible, to make the angle extremely hard for Messi's chip chance, great save from Pedro before Messi's controversial disallowed followed up, then another great save from Pedro's near post flick, and was a calming influence in a very tense last 5 minutes. New #1.