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.
Eboue-Why? wrote:Gentleman, just accept that we were raped tonight by a marvellous team. Yep the sending off was a joke but no conspiracy, just a shit referee. Even with 11 men, do you really think we would have gone through?
Our defence was brilliant at times but they were relentless.
Well at 11 vs. 11, despite being raped, we were still 1-1 on the night and 3-2 up on aggregate.
Despite how well Barca were playing, they had only managed one goal in an hour and could've been held at bay had RVP stayed on the field.
Everyone says that were were totally destroyed - and I won't deny that we weren't - but despite being totally destroyed, we still did enough to remain in the tie and have a chance to progress. The red card totally ended that chance, and was a final blow that no team against Barcelona could ever recover from.
Eboue-Why? wrote:Gentleman, just accept that we were raped tonight by a marvellous team. Yep the sending off was a joke but no conspiracy, just a shit referee. Even with 11 men, do you really think we would have gone through?
Our defence was brilliant at times but they were relentless.
With 11 men we had more of a chance than we did with 10 thats a simple fact.
Yep, but we couldn't keep the ball, no shots on target etc Everytime they got the ball between our midfield and defence it looked like a goal and we defended brilliantly at times. We can't blame the sending off. 30% possession was why we lost
Agreed, i'm proud of our lot tonight, not really got many complaints. As for Barca, as good as ther are off and on the ball, they really do need to meet their match - cynical wise. And they did against Inter last season. I thought we had a fair share of typical girly cheats but fuck me, they take the buscuit. A ref that knows all their little tricks and won't bow down to them plus a nasty little ankle biting *word censored* or two to give the likes of alves etc a good dressing down/slap would sort it out nicely.
Eboue-Why? wrote:Gentleman, just accept that we were raped tonight by a marvellous team. Yep the sending off was a joke but no conspiracy, just a shit referee. Even with 11 men, do you really think we would have gone through?
Our defence was brilliant at times but they were relentless.
Well at 11 vs. 11, despite being raped, we were still 1-1 on the night and 3-2 up on aggregate.
Despite how well Barca were playing, they had only managed one goal in an hour and could've been held at bay had RVP stayed on the field.
Everyone says that were were totally destroyed - and I won't deny that we weren't - but despite being totally destroyed, we still did enough to remain in the tie and have a chance to progress. The red card totally ended that chance, and was a final blow that no team against Barcelona could ever recover from.
Thats the whole crux of the matter. You play football either in attack, or in defence. We are not known for defending, but our defence held the clunges out tonight, but almost from the kick-off it seemed all the decisions were going against us...which is understandable(to a point) as we were the away team, but I really can't understand that ref giving a second yellow to RVP. He is definitely going on the thread.
Eboue-Why? wrote:Gentleman, just accept that we were raped tonight by a marvellous team. Yep the sending off was a joke but no conspiracy, just a shit referee. Even with 11 men, do you really think we would have gone through?
Our defence was brilliant at times but they were relentless.
Probably not but since when did the best team always go through? The game was ruined by the decision.
But we had an unfit Fabregas who shouldn't have been playing, Rosicky and Diaby who offer nothing, and RVP who wouldn't have been 100%. It's all ifs and maybes but I don't think it would have changed anything too much if he'd stayed on.
Feel proud of the team when you defending for your lives and grab a goal to go 3 - 2 up with 11 men you have every chance of going to the next round. but then you get a *word censored* of a ref who somehow misses a grab around a players neck but feels that playing on for 1 second after the whistle has gone is a second yellow you have NO chance of winning.
Uefa have got what they wanted English club to go out to Barcelona
Eboue-Why? wrote:I don't think it would have changed anything too much if [RVP] stayed on.
I don't know how you can say that though. We were undoubtedly being outplayed, but were still ahead in the tie, 3-2. We withstood Barca's pressure and managed to only concede the one goal in an hour. Okay, we may well have lost anyway, but with us being ahead in the tie, you can't say that losing a man wasn't a big influencing factor in keeping Barca at bay.
Even if he had stayed on, we might have lost 2-1 - and at least had a shot in extra-time.
We'll never know the outcome to this debate, but in my mind, we'd hung in there at 11 vs. 11, and I think we would've had a better outcome than a 1-3 defeat had we kept all our players on the field.
In addition, the referee's appalling decision shouldn't be excused purely because we may have lost the match anyway. He should be read the riot act for what was a truly abysmal call.
Ted Baker wrote:Agreed, i'm proud of our lot tonight, not really got many complaints. As for Barca, as good as ther are off and on the ball, they really do need to meet their match - cynical wise. And they did against Inter last season. I thought we had a fair share of typical girly cheats but fuck me, they take the buscuit. A ref that knows all their little tricks and won't bow down to them plus a nasty little ankle biting c**t or two to give the likes of alves etc a good dressing down/slap would sort it out nicely.
Freudian typo? Haha I'm proud if the way we defended. If you look at the back heel, there was nothing else on at the time that had the potential to move the ball forward at any speed. Silly mistake by an unfit player looking to make things happen. Shame
Ted Baker wrote:Agreed, i'm proud of our lot tonight, not really got many complaints. As for Barca, as good as ther are off and on the ball, they really do need to meet their match - cynical wise. And they did against Inter last season. I thought we had a fair share of typical girly cheats but fuck me, they take the buscuit. A ref that knows all their little tricks and won't bow down to them plus a nasty little ankle biting c**t or two to give the likes of alves etc a good dressing down/slap would sort it out nicely.
Freudian typo? Haha I'm proud if the way we defended. If you look at the back heel, there was nothing else on at the time that had the potential to move the ball forward at any speed. Silly mistake by an unfit player looking to make things happen. Shame
see that's just our problem though, wanting to play football at all costs. if there's nothing else on, why not just clear it? i remember bolton away a few years ago, pires tried to play a one-two in our own box, and they scored. we do it far too often, sometimes, it really is necessary to just clear the ball and regroup. we actually try and play far too much, even our corners are passed
by the way, are we the first team in the history of this game to score a goal without having a single shot in 90 mins? if so, we should be given a trophy for it, be it against the worlds best or not. our wait for silverware is over!
Eboue-Why? wrote:I don't think it would have changed anything too much if [RVP] stayed on.
I don't know how you can say that though. We were undoubtedly being outplayed, but were still ahead in the tie, 3-2. We withstood Barca's pressure and managed to only concede the one goal in an hour. Okay, we may well have lost anyway, but with us being ahead in the tie, you can't say that losing a man wasn't a big influencing factor in keeping Barca at bay.
Even if he had stayed on, we might have lost 2-1 - and at least had a shot in extra-time.
We'll never know the outcome to this debate, but in my mind, we'd hung in there at 11 vs. 11, and I think we would've had a better outcome than a 1-3 defeat had we kept all our players on the field.
In addition, the referee's appalling decision shouldn't be excused purely because we may have lost the match anyway. He should be read the riot act for what was a truly abysmal call.
Yep, you're right with everything you say matey. Just think that we were so far behind them tonight with half fit players etc that we wouldn't have created a great deal even with 11 men but we'll never know!!
He is definitely going on the thread.
