Barcelona Second Leg Football Thread

[JMascis666]

I think the big difference between how Inter approached their particular game at the Nou Camp and ourselves is that they went through over the two legs and we didn't.

[LDB]

More that we can't defend well. Certainly not for 90 minutes even against some of the weaker English premier league side. So what hope against the attacking might of Barcelona?

Did you see what happened to the Human Torch recently against the Annihilation Wave?

And that mother fucker can go supernova.

If you watch the game again you'd realise that other then cescs fuck up most of barca's chances before the sending off were half-chances rather then the clear-cut chances that they created at the Grove. They had plenty of these kind of chances against inter milan, too. The only time they really cut through us with 11 men was David Villa's chance before we properly settled after scoring.

My entire argument is based on the fact that the sending off changed the game; barca had less to fear in terms of our attacking threat, we had no outlet and couldnt bring one on without risking being light in midfield and whatever hope we had that our fitness could see us finish the game strongly went out of the window.

If you cant see that we defended well last night then I can only think that you're letting your general view on this teams defending cloud your analysis of the game last night. Even King George said we defended well.

[TeeCee]

Quite frankly, our manager, and some of our fans are embarrassing.
6 years of failure, spin, bullshit and excuses are rubbing off big time on some fans and we're hearing the same shit from them as from our manager. ANYTHING to deflect the blame from this squad being a long way from good enough.
It's no coincidence that we haven't won anything for 6 years, it's no coincidence that we get so far in each competition and then crumble....YEAR after YEAR. The evidence is there for all to see or is it that every season, when a big game comes around, we have a dodgy referee?? Seriously guys, join the real world and actually see what the issue is FFS.

[LDB]

Quite frankly, our manager, and some of our fans are embarrassing.
6 years of failure, spin, bullshit and excuses are rubbing off big time on some fans and we're hearing the same shit from them as from our manager. ANYTHING to deflect the blame from this squad being a long way from good enough.
It's no coincidence that we haven't won anything for 6 years, it's no coincidence that we get so far in each competition and then crumble....YEAR after YEAR. The evidence is there for all to see or is it that every season, when a big game comes around, we have a dodgy referee?? Seriously guys, join the real world and actually see what the issue is FFS.

Im no unconditional Wengerite but likewise it could be argued that some fans have become so blinkered by their frustrations that they have lost the ability to analyse a game honestly on its own merits.

[JMascis666]

Quite frankly, our manager, and some of our fans are embarrassing.
6 years of failure, spin, bullshit and excuses are rubbing off big time on some fans and we're hearing the same shit from them as from our manager. ANYTHING to deflect the blame from this squad being a long way from good enough.
It's no coincidence that we haven't won anything for 6 years, it's no coincidence that we get so far in each competition and then crumble....YEAR after YEAR. The evidence is there for all to see or is it that every season, when a big game comes around, we have a dodgy referee?? Seriously guys, join the real world and actually see what the issue is FFS.

This is exactly how I feel nowadays. We are just going around and around in circles with the same old tired manager at the helm.

I never wanted it to turn out this way for us or for Mr Wenger.

[Arsenal 1991]

Quite frankly, our manager, and some of our fans are embarrassing.
6 years of failure, spin, bullshit and excuses are rubbing off big time on some fans and we're hearing the same shit from them as from our manager. ANYTHING to deflect the blame from this squad being a long way from good enough.
It's no coincidence that we haven't won anything for 6 years, it's no coincidence that we get so far in each competition and then crumble....YEAR after YEAR. The evidence is there for all to see or is it that every season, when a big game comes around, we have a dodgy referee?? Seriously guys, join the real world and actually see what the issue is FFS.

Did you watch the game? They had two fucking chances before the sending off, yet it was 1-1 and we were 3-2 up on aggregate.

If we had played like barca up until the sending off I bet you would have been complaining that we had no cutting edge etc. etc.

[Number 5]

Everyone is allowed an off day

But in all fairness you're right, and in no way was that sweeping generalisation intented at anyone personally, I just find some of the negativity a tad annoying. Not to say some of it is not unjust, just a bit overkill.

We were unlucky last night, and purely using the fact we had no shots compared to their 18 or whatever to say we were played off the park, yet when Inter did it, it was hailed as a "defensive master class" is a little unfair. Each of us has our own opinion of the game, and it amazes me at times how people can see the same game in such a different light.

If Cesc doesn't try that poxy back heel and we go in at 0-0 having limited their chances in the first half it would've been an outstanding performance. Not the kind we're used to from us, but that's what it was. Many have complained of Arsene's lack of tactics and inability to play any other way, yet that's exactly what we did in the first half.

I think the players and manager deserve some credit for that, and had we kept 11 vs 11 who knows. Yes they would still have dominated the play as they do against everyone, and yes would've created chances. But we would have had more of an outlet and as we saw in the 2 games at the emirates they do tend to tire around the 70 minute mark.

Another frustrating night for us, I guess we have to pick ourselves up (again) and see what we can make of the rest of the season starting Saturday....

That bolded bit says everything for me.

I saw the first half as Barca knowing that they only required to score one goal to be in control of the tie and as such played within themselves to an extent.

Arsenal did put up a decent effort on the whole, I certianly don't dispute that. But we have got to offer something going the other way. We are not a defensively minded team and have too many players who can switch off at a moments notice.

Enter Fabregas for goal one and Djourou falling down for goal two.

Once we went down to 10 men I saw that they knew that game was there for the taking, upped their urgency and created chance after chance which could have resulted in a much less flattering scoreline.

Arsenal were not disgraced by the performance last night, I don't feel pissed off with them in any major way, I guess I had prepared for this result months ago so had already come to terms with it.

I just don't think there was anything heroic about the way we played. And I don't think there was anything particularly heroic about Inter last year.

[mikeyb772001]

Quite frankly, our manager, and some of our fans are embarrassing.
6 years of failure, spin, bullshit and excuses are rubbing off big time on some fans and we're hearing the same shit from them as from our manager. ANYTHING to deflect the blame from this squad being a long way from good enough.
It's no coincidence that we haven't won anything for 6 years, it's no coincidence that we get so far in each competition and then crumble....YEAR after YEAR. The evidence is there for all to see or is it that every season, when a big game comes around, we have a dodgy referee?? Seriously guys, join the real world and actually see what the issue is FFS.

Good post. It seems that some of us see the truth and others are like parents who fail to see that there child is an ugly fucker that can do no wrong.

We could be going into 7 years without a trophy by next season!

Wilshere was 12 when we last won the league!!! That’s how long its been

We cant keep accepting failure!!!!

If we don’t win the league this year it will be a disgrace

[TeeCee]

Arsenal haven't kept a clean sheet in an away CL match for 3 fucking years they said on TV last.....3 YEARS!! That's disgraceful!! How the fuck can we expect to win anything when we can't defend? Same old, same old with this team.....build us up only to disappoint in the big games. Until there are changes we will win fuck all so make all the excuses you want, at the end of the season we'll still finish up in a position that's no better than the last 5 or 6 years but hey, don't worry about it, we can look forward to another few years of total fucking bullshit from the incompetent twat in charge of our club.

[Number 5]

If you watch the game again you'd realise that other then cescs fuck up most of barca's chances before the sending off were half-chances rather then the clear-cut chances that they created at the Grove. They had plenty of these kind of chances against inter milan, too. The only time they really cut through us with 11 men was David Villa's chance before we properly settled after scoring.

My entire argument is based on the fact that the sending off changed the game; barca had less to fear in terms of our attacking threat, we had no outlet and couldnt bring one on without risking being light in midfield and whatever hope we had that our fitness could see us finish the game strongly went out of the window.

If you cant see that we defended well last night then I can only think that you're letting your general view on this teams defending cloud your analysis of the game last night. Even King George said we defended well.

But we had no attacking threat. With 11 men or with 10 men. They had nothig to fear excpet their own players making errors.

My view on how well Arsenal defended doesn't include the goalkeeper. Put him in and the amount of saves he made then it increases dramatically.

However when he is forced into pulling off countless one v ones my view on the defending last night is that it was decent but not consistent enough to take us through the tie.

Again with 10 or 11 men.

[Arsenal 1991]

If you watch the game again you'd realise that other then cescs fuck up most of barca's chances before the sending off were half-chances rather then the clear-cut chances that they created at the Grove. They had plenty of these kind of chances against inter milan, too. The only time they really cut through us with 11 men was David Villa's chance before we properly settled after scoring.

My entire argument is based on the fact that the sending off changed the game; barca had less to fear in terms of our attacking threat, we had no outlet and couldnt bring one on without risking being light in midfield and whatever hope we had that our fitness could see us finish the game strongly went out of the window.

If you cant see that we defended well last night then I can only think that you're letting your general view on this teams defending cloud your analysis of the game last night. Even King George said we defended well.

But we had no attacking threat. With 11 men or with 10 men. They had nothig to fear excpet their own players making errors.

My view on how well Arsenal defended doesn't include the goalkeeper. Put him in and the amount of saves he made then it increases dramatically.

However when he is forced into pulling off countless one v ones my view on the defending last night is that it was decent but not consistent enough to take us through the tie.

Again with 10 or 11 men.

Again that all happened after the sending off. Watch it again. They only had two clear cut chances before the sending off. One was after cesc's mistake and the other when Villa was clean through and Almunia pulled off a good save.

Just TWO!

After that they started ripping us to shreds and that might of always happened anyway but the sending off ment if we brought on a striker then we would be short in midfield and Szczesny getting injured also meant we could only bring on two subs.

Look at what happened in the first leg. They tired and we brought on subs and won the game.

[Number 5]

Again that all happened after the sending off. Watch it again. They only had two clear cut chances before the sending off. One was after cesc's mistake and the other when Villa was clean through and Almunia pulled off a good save.

Just TWO!

After that they started ripping us to shreds and that might of always happened anyway but the sending off ment if we brought on a striker then we would be short in midfield and Szczesny getting injured also meant we could only bring on two subs.

Look at what happened in the first leg. They tired and we brought on subs and won the game.

Brother, a game lasts for 90 minutes.

Arsenal do not have the defensive capabilities to attempt to shut out almost any team for 90 minutes, let alone Barcelona. It means little to me that we limited them to two chances with 11 men if we had fuck all going on in the opposite direction.

The success we enjoyed in the first game came from pushing them back the other way, last night with 11 men we rarely pushed back the other way, we couldn’t hold possession for longer that 60 seconds.

Last night neither Fabregas nor Van Persie was fit enough to play the full game. If the plan was to let them tire so we could use our subs to win the game, those two players had to start on the bench in their condition.

[Arsenal 1991]

Again that all happened after the sending off. Watch it again. They only had two clear cut chances before the sending off. One was after cesc's mistake and the other when Villa was clean through and Almunia pulled off a good save.

Just TWO!

After that they started ripping us to shreds and that might of always happened anyway but the sending off ment if we brought on a striker then we would be short in midfield and Szczesny getting injured also meant we could only bring on two subs.

Look at what happened in the first leg. They tired and we brought on subs and won the game.

Brother, a game lasts for 90 minutes.

Arsenal do not have the defensive capabilities to attempt to shut out almost any team for 90 minutes, let alone Barcelona. It means little to me that we limited them to two chances with 11 men if we had fuck all going on in the opposite direction.

The success we enjoyed in the first game came from pushing them back the other way, last night with 11 men we rarely pushed back the other way, we couldn’t hold possession for longer that 60 seconds.

Last night neither Fabregas nor Van Persie was fit enough to play the full game. If the plan was to let them tire so we could use our subs to win the game, those two players had to start on the bench in their condition.

They had far more chances in the first 55 mins in the first leg than they did with this one.

Playing cesc was a mistake but the key to the first leg was being able to bring on Arshavin for song so we had plenty of players to take advantage of a counter. When RVP was sent off, Nasri was our only player driving forward.

[Gunner4LiF3]

We badly missed Theo. With his pace we would have caused them plenty of problems.

Barcelona clearly dominated the game with 11vs11 but we were 3-2 up with just 30 min to go. Had van Persie stayed on the pitch I could see us getting to extra time, and who knows?
Could Barca keep their intensity for another 30 minutes of extra time? I'm not convinced.

The ref def played a big part in my eyes.

[LDB]

Excellent debate lads.

Gonna bow out now though and try to forget last night because its still making my blood boil