AtHletico MaHdrid in SemHi FinHal

[1989]

You make it sound as though it's easy to even score against an Atletico Madrid side that hasn't conceded a single goal in their last 11 home games and have only let in 15 (FIFTEEN) goals in the league all season.

Make no mistake, we fucked up massively tonight. Had we held on at 1-0, we'd have gone out there with a strong chance of going through to the final. Now however its advantage them, and with their formidable defensive record particularly at their own ground, they are by far the favorites and rightly so. All they have to do is keep a clean sheet (something they have been able to achieve easily and frequently at home) and they're through. Besides, I'm pretty sure the thought of facing Danny Welbeck wouldn't be causing them to lose any sleep or worry about their ability to keep a clean sheet. Let's also not forget that we'd need to keep them out at the back which with bottlejobs like Koscielny in there, it's far as fuck from certain. Let's be realistic about our chances here and realize our hopes of causing an upset are very slim.

In many ways, the way we let it slip tonight and the comical fashion in which we conceded the goal is befitting of Wenger's tenure and especially his mismanagement of the team over the last decade. Good riddance.

[Blade]

"fiddling around for ten minutes,then concede a goal".Nick Hornsby

Need the spirit of Paul Vaessen for 2nd leg.

[Bradywasking]

Still pissed off by this all too typical Arsenal cock up..Take the goal in stages..Welbeck lost the ball so his dive was more embarrassing than crucial, long ball with three defenders against a lone striker.

Monreal was behind the other two defenders, and that was crucial as it allowed Griezmann a yard on Koscielny , Monreal was taking a breather but defending is a 90 minute job, Adams or John Terry would have been screaming at him to get in line , but our defence cannot sense danger.
The flight of The ball meant Griezmann couldn't just run onto the ball, he had to stall his run allowing Koscielny time to control the situation.Still three against one and a call from Mustafi or common sense would tell Koscielny to hook the ball to his left as he was facing the goal. There was time to control it then.But for some stupid reason he tried to play it over his head..I thought Ospina done ok but Mustafi was like Bambi on ice. To be fair even if Mustafi had stayed on his feet I think Griezmann would have been to clever for him and would have scored regardless.
There is so much to do for the new manager that it is frightening.

[DB10GOONER]

The difference between Wenger and an actual top class modern tactical manager was exposed in glaring fashion last night.

At 1-0 up and against 10 men we played a far too high defensive line. I said to my son about 5 minutes before they scored "why is Kos exchanging passes around the edge of THEIR box?"

On at least 2 or 3 occasions Griezeman had gotten in behind him but the final ball wasn't right. It was odds on he'd get in at our goal at least once.

Cue to Wenger just sitting there not yelling at Kos and Mustafalaugh to get back and not give Griezman all that space to use his pace in.

Simeone on the other hand kept rotating Griezman and the other guy in and out of that lone striker role. He knows lone striker is an exhausting draining often demoralising job so he rotated them to keep them fresh knowing our high line would offer them at least one or two opportunities for the vital away goal.

I can't see us winning this now. Against 11 men at their place where they have conceded 4 (FOUR!) goals all season and with Costa back fit and maybe Juanfran too... us needing to push for that away goal.... we'll lose 2-0 or maybe 2-1.

That avoidable away goal last night killed us.

[markyp]

if you put your trust in idiots this is what happens,the debacle against birminham in the league cup final should have been enough for any manager to realise that Kos would never cut it in the Premier league,at his best hes been bang average,so many brain farts from this liability,our season officially ended last night,but hey Arsene knows

[Leyton Gooner]

Hoped for us to win this now he's going but now the *word censored* can have the send off he really deserves. 30000 empty seats at the Bowl against Burnley would be fitting but probably not going to happen.

[wibble]

am i right in thinking that if we go out we will have NO European Football at all next season ?

No, don't worry we'll have the joy of the Europa again next season.

[xisstential]

I hope we go out...Wenger does NOT deserve a grand send off. This is the team HE built and as has been said so many times tonight, had we gone down to 10, we would have been reamed (remember Bayern??)

Wenger winning the Europa will perpetuate the myth surrounding him and extend his presence hovering over the club and new manager for another 2 or 3 years. He lived by this crap team that he assembled and now he can die by it.

This is a man who inherited the best back 5 in the world and is leaving us with one of the worst. Ramsey, Xhaka, Kos & Ramsey, my first four out the door. Kos and Mustafi have a comedy doubles act they can take on the road...let them.

Listening to TOF now, not one mention of the fact that we were playing against 10 men, after the two Bayern games it's ALL he talked about. And again no mention of the shambolic defending, instead highlighting their fantastic attacking force??? (One lone striker against 3 defenders)

Two more months and then maybe I can start caring again.

Give it a rest you moron.
The fanbase now needs to come together - Wenger is not worth wasting time over anymore. There is no justification to be negative now.

I'm so hurt......Lol. TO1AW...all together now..TO1AW

[flash gunner]

am i right in thinking that if we go out we will have NO European Football at all next season ?

No, don't worry we'll have the joy of the Europa again next season.

For what its worth ive enjoyed the UEFA cup this season a competition we can progress in, with a new manager we might win it

[northbank123]

am i right in thinking that if we go out we will have NO European Football at all next season ?

No, don't worry we'll have the joy of the Europa again next season.

For what its worth ive enjoyed the UEFA cup this season a competition we can progress in, with a new manager we might win it

The group stages are a bore but so are the CL.

It’s been decent to have some European knockout ties which haven’t resulted in complete domination and humiliation.

The Europa league is obviously the second-tier competition but there’s too much snobbery which goes back to our fans being ingrained with the 4th place be all and end all philosophy. The only English clubs to win anything in Europe since we did nearly two and a half decades ago are United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

[augie]

Havent watched the game yet and I'm not sure yet whether I will or not - my eldest kid was keeping me updated via text and he was telling me in the first half that the ref was screwing madrid, but in the second half he was screwing everyone

Two weeks ago I could not give a flying fcuk about this competition and I really wanted the french cock to get an absolute hammering in the game - now that he is going I want us to win it on the basis that I HOPE that would allow us to get a top manager to join us cos we can provide champs league football. Of course the flip side of it is that our clueless board might intend going for the cheap option anyway (arteta ) in which case it wont matter what competitions we are in next season

[herbert]

"fiddling around for ten minutes,then concede a goal".Nick Hornsby

Need the spirit of Paul Vaessen for 2nd leg.

Absolutely gutted

79 fa cup winners 80 cup winners cup final 0-1 Juve away to get there
05 fa cup winners 06 CL final 0-1 R Madrid away to get there
17 fa cup winners 18 Europa Final 0-1 A Madrid away to get there

Dont give up yet ,we still have a chance of losing in the final

[Bakri]

Wenger: "Once they went down to 10 men it destroyed the flow of the game and it wasn't to our advantage.”

Someone please tell me how playing 11 against 10 is a disadvantage.

[falkirk goon]

Wenger: "Once they went down to 10 men it destroyed the flow of the game and it wasn't to our advantage.”

Someone please tell me how playing 11 against 10 is a disadvantage.

The dribblings of an over the hill madman Truth be told if we had a manager with a tactical brain we would be 2or3-0 up heading over there..One hoofball over the top and our centre backs doing what they always do and it's effectively tie over.

[Gunner Rob]

Wenger: "Once they went down to 10 men it destroyed the flow of the game and it wasn't to our advantage.”

Someone please tell me how playing 11 against 10 is a disadvantage.

typical Wenger response - always trying to make out that we are hard done by.
if however they had not been reduced to 10 men then he would have said something like:

"of course if Madrid had a player sent off we would have had a big advantage, but when it is 11 v 11 it always very difficult..."