Barcnal!

[evolucian]

good draw, might have been a better final tho!


come on Munich!

[DJ Void]

Yep, would rather play them at this stage. Henry's return should be good.

[DJ Chemical]

I think Arsenal are one of the few team who can actually beat Barca!

[fonik]

gonna be good

thinking bout going over for the game. 2nd leg = wicked atmosphere (could be total heartbreak though)

[masochist]

Gotta beat the best to be the best!

[evolucian]

similar style, vast difference in quality!

[masochist]

Hilarious.

[Mantmast]

I'm just hoping we can come up with the resources to prevent Messi from raping us. He is on fire right now

[Doubt]

Well that was something else.

Barcelona played like the home side, if it wasn't for Almunia producing a string of top class saves Barcelona would've been a few up at half time.

Some of the movement and awareness shown by Barcelona was immense, completely next level. I've watched them play a fair few times over the last few years but last night they all seemed completely fired up and determined. Arsenal simply couldn't get/keep hold of the ball in the first half.

Theo was class when he came on. Just goes to show that even the best defenders can't handle raw pace running at them, good finish too. Great play by Bendtner to get the penalty.

How the scoreline ended 2-2 i don't know. It's gonna take something special for the goons to win this tie.

That ref was trigger happy with them yellows weren't he?!

[Doubt]

Xavi is such a sick player.

Ibrahimovic got there in the end, starting to show the English why he's so highly rated.

[DJ Void]

Was a great game. I think we need our wingers to really push their fullbacks into defending. Walcott's pace scared them and I wouldn't be too surprised to see him start next week with Nasri in the Fabregas role now Cesc is out for the rest of the season.

Game on for the seond leg!

[Doubt]

Messi vs campbell lulz

[DJ Void]

Messi vs campbell lulz

Campbell is a doubt so it may be Silvestre. No Song either. I reckon it's backs to the wall time and a late winner.

[Doubt]

I reckon it's backs to the wall time and a late winner.

More like;

Assume the position and get anally raped for 90 mins.

[fonik]

More like;

Assume the position and get anally raped for 90 mins.


sadly i think this is whats going to happen. no ibrahimovic though. but then again they can just play henry. fuck

the thought of sylvester at the back doesnt fill me with confidence. still, its football, anything can happen. COME ON THE GUNNERS!! lets get revenge for '06....

[Doubt]

sadly i think this is whats going to happen. no ibrahimovic though. but then again they can just play henry. fuck

the thought of sylvester at the back doesnt fill me with confidence. still, its football, anything can happen. COME ON THE GUNNERS!! lets get revenge for '06....

Pedro and Bojan will more than likely start. Henry hasn't been at his best this season.

[DjBondy]

Messi vs campbell lulz

Sol Campbell is playing better than Rio at the moment.

[Smokey]

Hope we can keep them out at the back again, then go for a winner when they start to get tired in the last 2o mins again. Come on you Gooners

[Doubt]

Who was marking Messi?

I blame Bendtner & Almunia

[Doubt]

If bendtner would have put that header in it could have all been different.

He was offside anyway. Barcelona stepped up.

[DjBondy]

The thing that annoys me is after that first goal went in everyone should have been back behind the ball defending for there lives including Bendy.

Except for Messi Barcelona were ordinary at best. Bojan and Pedro could not even manage one shot on target between them and Milito – Marquez were far from solid at the back.

I just hope we beat Spurs on Wednesday night now.

RVP is soon to come back and Wenger is looking to spend at the end of the season. I hope to god he does back up it up with some big names to finish the squad off. Just what we need.

[Doubt]

The thing that annoys me is after that first goal went in everyone should have been back behind the ball defending for there lives including Bendy.

Except for Messi Barcelona were ordinary at best. Bojan and Pedro could not even manage one shot on target between them and Milito – Marquez were far from solid at the back.

I just hope we beat Spurs on Wednesday night now.

RVP is soon to come back and Wenger is looking to spend at the end of the season. I hope to god he does back up it up with some big names to finish the squad off. Just what we need.

Have to disagree.

Xavi, Busquets and Keita were a superior force in the midfield.

Its a shame there were so many players out for both sides but when you consider the fact that Barce had;

Puyol
Pique
Ibrahimovic
Iniesta (just back from injury on the bench)

and Pedro keeping Henry out of the side.

You have to admit that Barcelona are a much much superior footballing team. The strength in depth is unreal.

Fabregas
RVP
Arshavin
Song
Gallas

^ Would've made a huge difference.

[DJ Void]

The thing that annoys me is after that first goal went in everyone should have been back behind the ball defending for there lives including Bendy.


Got to disagree. You can't defend for 70 minutes against a side like Bacelona. If Diaby had picked the right option and passed the ball to Theo when we were 1-0 up then it might have been different.

I think the player we missed the most was Song as he did a good job with Messi in the first leg.

At least we've got a week to recover and Wenger to lift the squad and hopefully also get some of our walking wounded fit.

[Smokey]

we needed song to sit in front of the back 4 like he has so well this season, missed cesc like any team would, arshavin has not been on the best form in recent weeks, so don't think he would have made much difference, Gallas would have made us more solid at the back, never know why we bought Sylvestre, if he isnt good enough for manure why the fuck do we want him? even with all that fixed we would have still of been facing a massive task last night, the ref is a blatant barca fan, Messi is by far the best player in the world & Barcelona are by far the best team in the world, so no shame in losing, I'm proud of the way they still gave it their best even with half our key players out, couldn't really of asked of much more from them last night.

[DjBondy]

[QUOTE=DJ Void;294828]You can't defend for 70 minutes against a side like Bacelona. If Diaby had picked the right option and passed the ball to Theo when we were 1-0 up then it might have been different.

[QUOTE]

No but you can still defend as a team and hit them on the break with Theo's pace. You can't give Messi that much time and space. We played no diffrent as if we were away to Hull or Portsmouth. You can't play Barcelona at there own game.

[Mantmast]

never know why we bought Sylvestre, if he isnt good enough for manure why the fuck do we want him?.

This

[Doubt]

Can i just say how much I've enjoyed watching the English teams get battered out of the Champs League this season.

First LOLerpool, then Chelski and now Man U ha ha.

Lets just hope Fulham win the Europa league! I've really enjoyed some of the Europa games this season. Fulham vs Juve was epic and Liverpools games against Lille and Benfica have been very entertaining.

Next season, hopefully Sunderland will be pushing for top half/7th.

[fonik]

Fulham vs Juve was epic

true. clint dempsey's winner. my days!!

gwan fulham, really hope they go all the way

[DjBondy]

LOL Just read Vela didnt travel with the squad to Barca cause he lost his passport. Shocking.

Also to back up my point about our defending and defending as a team.

"Barca rule that Pep brought in and has drilled his team in. You lose the ball, you have seven seconds to win it back and if you run out of time, you get back in formation and make the opposition break through your regimented team play.

Now we all know that Wenger is all about expressionism, but why haven't we adopted something like this? Once you do that, it's so easy to defend in triangles and win the ball back early.

[DJ Void]

How the fuck do you defend in triangles?

The first 20 minutes we were spot on defending from the front high up on the pitch and getting quickly onto the Barca players. At the end of the day we gave them too much space and sorely missed Alex Song who is the link player between our defence and midfield.

Under GG we would have stuck someone like Martin Keown into midfield to man mark Messi out of the game, but then you get accused of playing negative, boring football.

Quite frankly I'd be happy to watch boring, boring Arsenal win 1-0 if we were to win things, but I think that football has evolved in recent years hence the failure of the Italian teams in European competition recently where their negative attitude has proved unsuccessful.

[Stumasta]

Next season, hopefully Sunderland will be pushing for top half/7th.

I dunno if you have the type of midfielders than can consistantly unlock defences in the prem.

You got some decent players and a very good manager but you'll have to buy pretty well in the Summer if you wanna get top 7.

[Doubt]

I dunno if you have the type of midfielders than can consistantly unlock defences in the prem.

You got some decent players and a very good manager but you'll have to buy pretty well in the Summer if you wanna get top 7.

The transfer window is key. We need to sign Hutton and Mensah on permanent deals. Then we need to get in some good full backs and wingers. Our defence isn't too bad. CM is pretty good if a little lack luster in creativity. Jones, Bent, Campbell and Waghorn will be a good strike force.

Bardsley and in particular McCartney are fucking awful players, but at least Bardo has had some good games this season.

[O-DoG]

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[DjBondy]

Another season over without a trophy - how we are getting used to this. To be honest, we were only in with a shout at the end because Chelsea and Man U have been so bad this year - but they still comprehensively beat us when we played them.

Wenger has to realise that the team is not up to it in a bad Premier league year. Next year Chelsea and Man U will restock - Man U won't want to rely on Rooney so much and Chelsea will begin replacing their old guard. If Man City get fourth watch them spend, spend, spend. We HAVE to buy new players
Look, Campbell has been awesome but that should send a clear message to Wenger - how bad are the rest of our back-up defenders if Campbell can come in and play so well.

What faint hope we had of winning the league went pop with Vermaelen's calf went. Silvestre is a joke and should never have been allowed to wear the shirt.

Almunia gave us his once a game clown moment and, like Birmingham, it cost us dear. He has to go - we will never win anything with him in goal. Top teams need top keepers and Almunia is average at best………….

What he should have done to prevent the first goal last night………….
Firstly, catch the ball don't try to punch it.
Secondly, don't do some theatrical dive after you punch it.
Thirdly, don't flap at the ball that is travelling straight towards you.

We need to sign a couple of new centrebacks to provide Vermaelen a partner and some depth we need to sign a world-class goalkeeper. Offer Sol a new one-year contract to provide some depth and passion - I think he has lifted this team with his desire - he was awesome last night.

Sign a defensive midfielder to back-up Song

Its obvious Chamahk is coming our way which gives us some depth up front and the great news is he will cost us nothing. How we have missed Van P and how pedestrian he makes Bendtner look. Bndtner did not create one single chance last night and was all over the place as usual. Someone needs to install some passion back in this team and fast, the days of Henry, Vieira, Pires etc knew what the local Derby was really all about and how much it means.

We also have to work out why we are the most injured squad in the Premier league - is it our training? Outside of the big injuries we seem to have more knocks and niggles than anyone else so we have to find out why. It has been the same for the last few seasons. We have a young squad yet seem to get old squad injuries.

In a way getting turned-over by Barca, our defeats to Man U and Chelsea and our inability to maintain our challenge may have a silver-lining - it may force Wenger to upgrade and add depth to the squad.

Losing Arshavin, Fabregas, Van P, Ramsey, Nasri, Djourou, Song and Gallas for extended parts of the season is not normal but winning things is about squad depth and that is where we have failed. And it's what we have all been saying for the past three of four seasons. It's time to buy. Buy early before Man City start throwing money around and sending prices sky-high.

I will still be going to the Emirates next Saturday for the City game for some revenge on those cunts and can’t wait to see Van Persie get one over on Ade. I guess second place is still there for the taking. Let’s at least finish on a positive.

One last point I would like us to go back to the 4-4-2 formation were not Barcelona were Arsenal let’s try 4-4-2 again with Van P back.

[Doubt]

We also have to work out why we are the most injured squad in the Premier league - is it our training? Outside of the big injuries we seem to have more knocks and niggles than anyone else so we have to find out why. It has been the same for the last few seasons. We have a young squad yet seem to get old squad injuries.



It's because you have a team full of small lightweight pussyholes.

Van Persie has always been made of glass.

The style of football you play means certain teams set up to play a more physical game against you. The likes of Stoke, B'Burn, B'ham are certainly not going to out pass/play you so they get stuck in.

That, combined with small lightweight players is the reason why imo.

Look at Chelsea's squad, i know they get injuries and some maybe injured right now but generally speaking the likes of;

Drogba
Essien
Ballack
Mikel
Terry
Alex

are all built like brick-shithouses.

Compared with

Arshavin
RVP
Denilson

etc..