BARCA V CHAVS

[Bradywasking]

Agree that Chelsea got lucky but they deserved that luck. Barca were boring (in a different way) they recylced the ball so often infront of the Chelsea back nine. At least twice the ball was played wide to Alves who then brough it back into the middle. There is football and there is over-doing it.
At 2-0 down and with ten men Chelsea could have felt sorry for themselves but didn't. I hate them as the next Gooner but last night was the performance of grit and determination we have too often cried out for. I hope they are beaten in the final. The only consolation from them winning it would be Spuds finishing fourth and missing out on Champions League.
From an Arsenal point of view it is now six years since we moved "in order to compete at that level" The fact that we havn't is as much of a stain on our name as the trophyless years. Even if the Chavs lose the final they are much closer to winning it than us. Another horrible thought I have had is that Drogba is almost certainly finished at Chelsea, RVP apparently wants to stay in London..guess the rest.

[skizz_b]

Decent defensive performance from the chavs (I won't ask why we can't do that ) but they will find it very, very difficult in the final. No "Honest John", no Ivanovic, no Ramires, no Raul Meireles which based on their selection last night is 4 of their first choice 11.

And if Cahill did do his hamstring as bad as it looks last night they will probably have to play Unibrow of the Year winner Bosingwa at centre back!

Ps - it was reminiscent of watching arsenal a few years ago seeing Barca pass the ball round the edge of the fcuking box 800 times without having a shot

[donaldo]

Thanks to augie and Stevo for bring up the Parma final.That was a performance to match both the Chelsea games v Barca.With a manager who got his tactics right against a vastly superior team,Morrow and Selly in midfield FFS.Mourinho did the same when he was at Inter v Barca.Thats where Wenger fails in Europe.Just take a look at his clueless tactics away to Milan.Sometimes you have to park the bus.We won the FA cup in 2005 parking the coach,the last trophy we actually won

What makes me laugh is the AKB's always say we dont want Mourinho's type of football at Arsenal.We would rather have losing football than winning trophies football.Thats bullshit.Football is about winning

[Dan_85]

We did get very lucky against Parma though, as did the chavs last night. Either of those games played again with identical tactics, lineups, manager etc could easily see a win for the other team I think.

Luck plays a huge part...

[UTU The Arsenal]

I was over Barcelonia last year when our 10 man team were smashed by Barca, Chelsea's ten man side get a result. Reminds me of The Arsenal under Georg E Graham never knew when we were beaten.

A lot Arsenal fans constantly go on about Chelsea having no history but compare our clubs during the last 10 years and you will see a trend that Cashley Cole medals will confirm.

Chelsea have now got to 2 Champions League Finals and if they win the Champions league this year their fans will be telling us we have no European Pedigree.

Chelsea have ambition to win on pitch while The Arsenal's ambition is to make profits first, nothing will change unless Arsenal fans paying hugh amounts of cash for this nonsense

[stg]

Chelsea have ambition to win on pitch while The Arsenal's ambition is to make profits first, nothing will change unless Arsenal fans paying hugh amounts of cash for this nonsense

But Chelsea do not have to worry(at the moment) about making profits. They dont have to worry about throwing 150k at JT & lumpard etc

[augie]

The following morning and I am still like an absolute anti-christ over that result I cannot understand how anybody can so easily write off the chavs in the final when they have battled successfully against superior teams when they looked dead and buried - yes they were lucky at times but every team needs luck along the way. I know people will point to all the players that they are missing for the final but most non Arsenal fans gave us a prayer in copenhagen facing a parma side contining zola, asprilla, brolin and others esp with us missing the suspended wrighty but we overcame the odds and you should never underestimate the power of pure grit and determination and it is a lesson that should be learned by players in our club

How there are so many Gooners so flippant about last night is beyond me - I dont care how much some of you hate barca cos surely your hatred of a domestic rival, especially one containing a pikey racist, a fat pie eating c**t and a judas rent boy, should be the sentiment of the day

I think you'll find that the people writing off the Chavs are the same under-16s that were mocking me for saying they were through after the home leg, too lazy to analyze outcomes for themselves and bowled over by the Messi loving media. 63 goals.....how many over the two legs of the CL semi-final and the El Classico match....oh yes, zero.

I'm glad you brought up the Arsenal team that beat Parma under GG because as any of us that have grown hair in funny places will appreciate, the outcome of a football match is not decided on paper or in betting shops, nor is it determined by the total number of shots, corners or possession percentage. After the first half an hour of both legs Barcelona were utterly predictable and Chelsea had them sussed just like Mourinho's Inter team did 2 years ago. Show the wide men down the outside because there is nobody to aim at in the box and string 9 players in two lines in front of the penalty area.

Chelsea have every chance now. I still think they will lose and I will be gutted if they win it.....but I can live with the mocking and gloating of the Chavs if the by-product is that the utterly hopeless and inept owners and exec team at Arsenal have their business plan well and truly fucked by loss of income in the CL resulting in wholesale change at the top. In fact, I welcome it

Feel the same way mate - was gonna post that last night but wasnt sure if I was just lashing out at a time of extreme frustration so wasnt gonna take all the abuse for something I mightnt actually agree with today myself This morning though I do feel the same way and I think that the people at our club need to be taught a serious lesson cos as long as the cash is rolling in then nothing will change.....not the manager, not the players, not the staff and def not the policies

[GranadaJoe]

I've already posted (reluctantly) that the Chavs deserve credit, but they couldn't have got the result without a woeful performance from Barca and I think Guardiola is every bit as culpable as AW has been with us. They both seem to have forgotten that, first and foremost, the objective of football is to win matches.
If you can accomplish this playing the style of football you choose then so much the better, but when your footballing philosophy (ideology?) becomes more important than the result, you're going to have problems. Possession for its own sake is pointless and when your slow, tippy-tappy "we play through the middle no matter what" style isn't working the coach should be sensible enough to change.
Chelsea stuck six at the back with three DMs in front and Barca couldn't get through. The quality of Barca's players mean that they will still make a breakthrough most of the time but the coach is irresponsible to assume that they will all the time.

[safcftm]

I've already posted (reluctantly) that the Chavs deserve credit, but they couldn't have got the result without a woeful performance from Barca and I think Guardiola is every bit as culpable as AW has been with us. They both seem to have forgotten that, first and foremost, the objective of football is to win matches.
If you can accomplish this playing the style of football you choose then so much the better, but when your footballing philosophy (ideology?) becomes more important than the result, you're going to have problems. Possession for its own sake is pointless and when your slow, tippy-tappy "we play through the middle no matter what" style isn't working the coach should be sensible enough to change.
Chelsea stuck six at the back with three DMs in front and Barca couldn't get through. The quality of Barca's players mean that they will still make a breakthrough most of the time but the coach is irresponsible to assume that they will all the time.

Agreed. TBH I think that Barca didn't allow Chelsea enough of the ball. They can keep possession brilliantly and get 80 or so percent of the ball most games but last night Chelsea were absolutely camped (often with no one in Barca's half) and there was no space. They're good enough to operate with almost no space at times but not always. Had Chelsea had more of the ball, they could have been tempted to come out of their shell very slightly and that would have given that little bit extra room for Barca to hit them. Not saying it would be easy, even given the ball Chelsea seemingly had very little desire to move out of their defensive shell (often players started chasing a long ball then stopped still and ran back when they got to a certain point), but if they stood off a bit more it is only natural that Chelsea would have moved forward a little bit more as a result and the tiny amount of extra space could have made all the difference when you have players like Messi and Iniesta around.

But instead you're right, its very much like Wenger that the style has become more important to the boss than the results (albeit at least Barca still have the players that roughly suit that style whereas for Wenger he's lost the likes of Bergkamp, Henry, Pires and Ljungberg who made his style tick and has replaced them with different players who suit a counter attacking strategy more than they do a short passing, possession based game). When Barca do it we hear how great it is that they won't change their style and will keep plugging away, when Arsenal do it the commentators and such like are more critical, and more correct, when they describe it as being a case of not having a plan B.

[I Hate Hleb]

If you think hearing Villa fans gloat about their one European Cup is bad, can you imagine the piss-taking and vitriol we'll get from Chelsea supporters if they go on to win it?

Oh, and is it me or are the same people (usually AKBs) that once upon a time used to claim on various Arsenal forums that: a) you can't just buy success and that it takes time to build a winning team; b) Roman will get fed up in a few years and then piss off on to his next plaything; c) they'll crumble now Mourinho/Hiddinck/Anchelotti have left; d) and more recently that Chelsea are on the downward slide because most of their players are past it / the manager is too inexperienced, now saying that the only reasons the Chavs are having all these triumphs is down to money and luck?

[SPARKSY]

Wow. Roberto Di Matteo, a managerial novice, has managed to already equal Wenger's absurd CL record of ONE final in over 15 attempts. Amazing job Wenger is doing.

Wenger's record is no better than Avram Grant's in fact...

Still chaps. Keep fapping away to royal lord Wenger and his 4th place trophies...oh how I'll laugh if the Chavs win the thing after we finish 4th.

Complete ignore the fact this Chelsea squad has been assembled with ridiculous sums of money

This wasn't a tactical masterclass from Matteo. Chelsea were fortunate tonight and were throughout the whole tie. I think they summoned only 4 attempts on target over both legs and converted 3 of them. Whilst Barca hit the woodwork 4 times and missed some absolute sitters. I would say their success was more down to sheer hard work and luck rather than managerial brilliance.

Yeah and Chelsea are now in 2 finals, LIverpool after winning one cup now have another final to play, Utd or City fight it out for the title, while yet again we've won "the right financial model cup".

[donaldo]

I've already posted (reluctantly) that the Chavs deserve credit, but they couldn't have got the result without a woeful performance from Barca and I think Guardiola is every bit as culpable as AW has been with us.

16 trophies won out of the last 20 they have competed in and two CL wins.Yes Pep is as culpable as Wenger

[Red Member]

If we denied the Spuds or worse Newcastle we would be the number 1 most hated organisation on the planet since Al Qaeda (that's if we aren't already).

I'd like to deny the Spuds but part of me would kill to see Wenger have a hissy fit over it and then RVP to pack off to Barca

taken from a Chelsea forum. They are starting their gloating already.

[goonersid]

I've already posted (reluctantly) that the Chavs deserve credit, but they couldn't have got the result without a woeful performance from Barca and I think Guardiola is every bit as culpable as AW has been with us.

16 trophies won out of the last 20 they have competed in and two CL wins.Yes Pep is a culpable as Wenger

I do think he is heading that way though, tippy tappy football, ageing backline, focus on youth which from what i've seen doesn't look good enough. Guadiola will quit (i believe) at the end of the season and leave barca in the proverbial.

[skizz_b]

while yet again we've won "the right financial model cup".

CHAMPIONE, CHAMPIONE, OLE OLE OLE