As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
SteveO 35 wrote:I doubt Debuchy was the best right back in his own house. Paceless, gormless......a complete and utter waste of money and can't remember him having one good game for us
He looked right at home in the absolute shambles of a Newcastle defence.
He did start pretty well before getting injured (the first time). But that was a handful of matches and since that he has looked exactly the player he has at Newcastle - a shambolic liability. Another average Frenchman who is undoubtedly on whopping wages - an even more astounding signing given that we paid £16m for Chambers in the same window.
xisstential wrote:I agree with Rodders. It is inexplicable that we have a league title just begging to be snatched and in this very poor league we have the players to do just that. Instead we have been coasting indifferently through the last 3 months as though we don't want it. But we'll bust a gut tomorrow night and at the Nou camp in a hopeless cause that will end once again in glorious failure (or much worse??). These 2 all out efforts will affect both our FA cup & league chances(leetle bit jaded). We can see it, all of us, because it's a re run...... I reckon come middle/end March we will be done on all fronts. Then our little meaningless unbeaten run will start. Oh and Wenger will sign another contract, probably an indefinite one. (He'll leave when he wants, after all he's earned it)
xisstential wrote:The only thing we'll take from the 2 legs is jadedness which will be the excuse for the FA cup exit & league capitulation. In fact a damn good thrashing might just enable him to roll out the "psychological damage" excuse.
Totally agree
It's a question of will the tie be the equivalent of:
A: The rape scene from Scum
B: The rape scene from Deliverance
C: The rape scene from Pulp Fiction
xgtdec wrote:
Wilson wrote:But again, I just dont understand the over the top reaction. The way some go on, you would think we are playing with a ball and chain tied to every players leg.
We are and they are, the ball and chains name is Arsene Wenger....a better manager would get so much more from the same squad!!
Wilson, you are doing a great AFCforever impression with your OTT positivity. No one is positive about this because apart from the fact we are playing the best team in Europe, we have most of the squad underperforming. Can you name one player who is actually playing at the top of his game? It's funny you mentioned the previous clashes with Barca, those teams contained RVP, Fabregas, Nasri etc, it was a stronger team than this one. Also, Id argue our best player(Sanchez) is fucked, he is running on empty since he came back, and seems to spend more time chasing the ball after mis-controlling it than he does running with it. There is nothing to suggest we can get anything from this match, and no matter how much blind faith you possess wont change that.
BFG4 wrote:Wilson, you are doing a great AFCforever impression with your OTT positivity. No one is positive about this because apart from the fact we are playing the best team in Europe, we have most of the squad underperforming. Can you name one player who is actually playing at the top of his game? It's funny you mentioned the previous clashes with Barca, those teams contained RVP, Fabregas, Nasri etc, it was a stronger team than this one. Also, Id argue our best player(Sanchez) is fucked, he is running on empty since he came back, and seems to spend more time chasing the ball after mis-controlling it than he does running with it. There is nothing to suggest we can get anything from this match, and no matter how much blind faith you possess wont change that.
I have to agree with this. That 2010-11 team had a better first 11 than we do now and that is with Almunia in goal. Nasri, Arshavin, Fabregas, RVP, and Wilshere (when he had an excellent season and was deployed deep that season. Don't know why he wasn't kept in that role) were in the starting 11 then. We didn't have the greatest of benches though and we had a 22 year old Walcott who was as good as he is now (meaning not very).
I know it's not going to happen, but seeing as wenger is NOT Going anywhere for the next 3 - 6 years ( sorry Rodders ) I would so 'Love' to knock barcawhores out - yes I know that would make all the AKB sheeple and john cwoss & co unbearable and the media luv in would go totally overboard till we get totally ripped apart in the quarter-finals - But just once to see the look on the barca players and their fans smug faces.
Anyway, back to reality - we might scrape a win or draw at home - But away they will play like the well oiled, drilled machine they are...and we will get 'Humiliated'.
BFG4 wrote:Wilson, you are doing a great AFCforever impression with your OTT positivity. No one is positive about this because apart from the fact we are playing the best team in Europe, we have most of the squad underperforming. Can you name one player who is actually playing at the top of his game? It's funny you mentioned the previous clashes with Barca, those teams contained RVP, Fabregas, Nasri etc, it was a stronger team than this one. Also, Id argue our best player(Sanchez) is fucked, he is running on empty since he came back, and seems to spend more time chasing the ball after mis-controlling it than he does running with it. There is nothing to suggest we can get anything from this match, and no matter how much blind faith you possess wont change that.
Rvp didn't play in the 2-2 with barcelona
He was in the midst of a 5 month lay off with an ankle injury
Bendtner played
BFG4 wrote:Wilson, you are doing a great AFCforever impression with your OTT positivity. No one is positive about this because apart from the fact we are playing the best team in Europe, we have most of the squad underperforming. Can you name one player who is actually playing at the top of his game? It's funny you mentioned the previous clashes with Barca, those teams contained RVP, Fabregas, Nasri etc, it was a stronger team than this one. Also, Id argue our best player(Sanchez) is fucked, he is running on empty since he came back, and seems to spend more time chasing the ball after mis-controlling it than he does running with it. There is nothing to suggest we can get anything from this match, and no matter how much blind faith you possess wont change that.
Rvp didn't play in the 2-2 with barcelona
He was in the midst of a 5 month lay off with an ankle injury
Bendtner played
I was referring mainly to the 2-1 win in 2011, when RVP and Arshavin scored.
The official website gushing over Suarez Neymar and Messi like a bunch of fucking prepubescent girls in the front row of a Justin Bieber concert. Oh here they come walking off the team bus, this is them training at the space bowl. Acting like a non league club that's got a bumper draw in the FA Cup. Have we all had our selfies taken with them yet? How fucking small time, at least try and give the impression we're not just here to make up the numbers
Bet there's a queue for Messi's jersey at full time tomorrow.
Games like this are the ones that should count. It has been 10 years now since we moved to the Emirates and I shall remind at this point, that Lord A-hole and Directors said we were moving grounds "to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe". A decade later should be plenty enough time to compare ourselves to Barca shouldn't it?
One thing that this match is serving to highlight is what an absolute disaster Wenger has been for this club and how he might have been useful for a bit in 2006, but post 2008 he's been useless to the club. I honestly can't believe the attitude of the Gooners I've been talking to lately. A colleague going is giddy as he "can't wait to see Messi and Neymar". People are excited but not because they expect an epic titanic battle, or relish the challenge of pitting our wits against the best...no. It's the same kind of excitement Shrewsbury fans got when they knew they'd be facing ManYoo: they knew they were going to get destroyed overall, but we're just excited to watch a quality of player they'll probably never come close to seeing. That would be fine, except you then remind yourself Arsenal tickets cost more than any club in Europe, the wage bill is virtually on par with Citeh and there's £200m sitting in the bank. I get that Barca are possibly the best European side of the past 20 years but...WHY are we SO FAR apart in quality? Atletico give them a game. Bayern are close enough to them to be considered peers. As are Juve.
I look at the team we've got and just laugh. Honestly. 10 years on from the stadium move that would propel us and what do we see...
Giroud? Would Barca let him serve the HT oranges?
Wally? Would they let him serve breakfast?
Mertesacker? Just wow.
While Arda Turan sits on their bench, one of Gibbs, Flamini or Arteta could realistically come on for us. It's embarrassing.
Losing to Barca is acceptable but what isn't is just how ridiculous the gulf between the two clubs is when frankly, Arsenal have the resources to compete with clubs like Barca. A decade after moving in to the Emirates and absolutely nobody expects Arsenal to be remotely competent over 2 legs against Barca. Just sad. Even worse is the acceptance of that fact...
Last edited by Ikechukwu1 on Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
rodders999 wrote:The official website gushing over Suarez Neymar and Messi like a bunch of fucking prepubescent girls in the front row of a Justin Bieber concert. Oh here they come walking off the team bus, this is them training at the space bowl. Acting like a non league club that's got a bumper draw in the FA Cup. Have we all had our selfies taken with them yet? How fucking small time, at least try and give the impression we're not just here to make up the numbers
Bet there's a queue for Messi's jersey at full time tomorrow.
Fear not, the Ox and Chambers will have updated their Instagram and Twitter accounts from the bench as goal number 4 flies in...
Id pick Cech and the entire back for of the 2016 team (matured Koscielny), I would pick Coquelin over Song. Although given how Wilshere played in that game, its hard to pick him over Ramsey. Ozil over Cesc, Sanchez over Nasri, and Walcott is a better player in 2016 than 2011. So all in all, I would only pick Wilshere and RVP against their opposite number. The 2011 team had Eboue and Djourou in the back 4
We are a better team in 2016 than in 2011, although the problem is so are Barcelona. They have maintained their midfield dominace even without Xavi, yet have swapped David Villa and Pedro for Luis Suarez and Neymar.
I think, that rather then defend deep and compact, we should play a game of Russian roulette and encourage the wingbacks to get forward, rather than play a flat back 4, and encourage all of Ramsey, Ozil , Sanchez to find space when we have the ball - all of them get forward.
If we play a conservative game, its almost as if we are doing damage limitation.
Wilson wrote:2011 . 2016
Szczesny . Cech
Clichy . Monreal
Djourou . Mertesacker
Koscielny . Koscielny
Eboue . Bellerin
Song . Coquelin
Wilshere . Ramsey
Fabregas . Ozil
Nasri . Sanchez
Walcott . Walcott
Van Persie . Giroud
Id pick Cech and the entire back for of the 2016 team (matured Koscielny), I would pick Coquelin over Song. Although given how Wilshere played in that game, its hard to pick him over Ramsey. Ozil over Cesc, Sanchez over Nasri, and Walcott is a better player in 2016 than 2011. So all in all, I would only pick Wilshere and RVP against their opposite number. The 2011 team had Eboue and Djourou in the back 4
We are a better team in 2016 than in 2011, although the problem is so are Barcelona. They have maintained their midfield dominace even without Xavi, yet have swapped David Villa and Pedro for Luis Suarez and Neymar.
I think, that rather then defend deep and compact, we should play a game of Russian roulette and encourage the wingbacks to get forward, rather than play a flat back 4, and encourage all of Ramsey, Ozil , Sanchez to find space when we have the ball - all of them get forward.
If we play a conservative game, its almost as if we are doing damage limitation.
My point was that we haven't really improved from that squad from 5 years ago. We may have a slightly deeper bench than then (although that is debatable).
The reason that Barca are streets ahead is that they also develop some of their great players. Something that we really haven't been able to do in quite a while.
Ikechukwu1 wrote: I honestly can't believe the attitude of the Gooners I've been talking to lately. A colleague going is giddy as he "can't wait to see Messi and Neymar". People are excited but not because they expect an epic titanic battle, or relish the challenge of pitting our wits against the best...no. It's the same kind of excitement Shrewsbury fans got when they knew they'd be facing ManYoo: they knew they were going to get destroyed overall, but we're just excited to watch a quality of player they'll probably never come close to seeing.
Yes I can imagine that 50% of the fans tonight will be snapping selfies and buying their half and half scarves while exchanging tales of how wonderful the last Classico was. The other half will be in the Upper Tier discussing the potential Brexit, whilst bemoaning sterling's result fall against the dollar, but hoping that the snow forecast remains positive for the skiing trip to Zermatt this weekend and that the resort will be showing the Six Nations. They'll probably be accompanied by their Catalan colleagues from the bank politely applauding Messi's every twist and turn
Like most, I am holding no expectations for this game. Although thats not to say the players are allowed to not turn up and lose 5-0. Over the two ties, so long as we make Barcelona earn their win, rather than them breeze through without breaking a sweat, then the players can exit the competition with dignity.
I think most gooners know the league and cup double is the holy grail this season.
The CL is just a pipe dream. It is for every English club in the near seasons. Barcelona, Bayern and Real are just too good.
I went on a City forum, and the naive fools think Pep will make them CL contenders next season.
(meaning not very). 
) I would so 'Love' to knock barcawhores out - yes I know that would make all the AKB sheeple and john cwoss & co unbearable and the media luv in would go totally overboard till we get totally ripped apart in the quarter-finals - But just once to see the look on the barca players and their fans smug faces. 
back to reality - we might scrape a win or draw at home - But away they will play like the well oiled, drilled machine they are...and we will get 'Humiliated'. 
