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Uefa Champions League Quarter-final : Arsenal FC v FC Barcelona
- Thread starter ARIAGA II
- Start date
I hope people stop calling Arsenal a top team. Arsenal can beat the bottom-dwellers, and every season they thrash a few sides and people go on and on about how good they are, but the fact of the matter is, they're not at the level of a top European side like Barca, ManU or Chelsea. Not even close. Their worst player had to pull the best performance of his life just to keep them from being humiliated in result, because anyone who watched this match will know that they sucked.
Honestly, these passing 'specialists' got humiliated by every top team they've faced, in a different way each time. ManU packed the midfield and killed them on the counter, Barca forced them to defend the whole match (which they're not used to and don't know how to do), and Chelsea hassled them into submission, keeping the pressure up. 3 completely different ways to beat the same tactic. I'll give Wenger credit for getting a result tonight, although it was completely undeserved (this coming from someone who wanted Arsenal to win), but he should've seen it coming. Two teams trying to dominate possession means someone will have to defend for long periods and the Arsenal plays didn't seem willing to do so.
People kept saying this would be a match to remember bcause they both play 'beautiful' footie, but it was only entertaining because Arsenal were inept at defending. I want to say Barca were the same, but Arsenal barely did anything to merit a back four. That said, Barca were superb. Dunno if Guardiola chose his midfield specifically for this match or if it's his usual choices, but he picked the best guys for the job. A lot of mobility (no Yaya) but Keita and Busquets are also sound defenders and didn't allow Arsenal to play how they want to play.
Messi was worse than Ribery was yesterday, I thought even Maxwell did a better job today. He wasn't bad, but he didn't contribute much. Even if I were to forget he's Messi, I'd still think he didn't do enough.
Good keeping from both keepers.
2 CL ties: Gallas, Rooney, Fabregas, Arshavin, all potentially injured. Glad we're out, if this is a pattern. (I didn't see Arshavin hobble though, and bringing Eboue on was a good decision at the time, he wasn't injured, was he?)
Honestly, these passing 'specialists' got humiliated by every top team they've faced, in a different way each time. ManU packed the midfield and killed them on the counter, Barca forced them to defend the whole match (which they're not used to and don't know how to do), and Chelsea hassled them into submission, keeping the pressure up. 3 completely different ways to beat the same tactic. I'll give Wenger credit for getting a result tonight, although it was completely undeserved (this coming from someone who wanted Arsenal to win), but he should've seen it coming. Two teams trying to dominate possession means someone will have to defend for long periods and the Arsenal plays didn't seem willing to do so.
People kept saying this would be a match to remember bcause they both play 'beautiful' footie, but it was only entertaining because Arsenal were inept at defending. I want to say Barca were the same, but Arsenal barely did anything to merit a back four. That said, Barca were superb. Dunno if Guardiola chose his midfield specifically for this match or if it's his usual choices, but he picked the best guys for the job. A lot of mobility (no Yaya) but Keita and Busquets are also sound defenders and didn't allow Arsenal to play how they want to play.
Messi was worse than Ribery was yesterday, I thought even Maxwell did a better job today. He wasn't bad, but he didn't contribute much. Even if I were to forget he's Messi, I'd still think he didn't do enough.
Good keeping from both keepers.
2 CL ties: Gallas, Rooney, Fabregas, Arshavin, all potentially injured. Glad we're out, if this is a pattern. (I didn't see Arshavin hobble though, and bringing Eboue on was a good decision at the time, he wasn't injured, was he?)
Mandieta6;2844094 said:
I don't think Bendtner had "the best game of his life".
Arsenal are still playing in the Champions League and remarkably, still in the Premier League chase as well -- despite making a transfer market profit.
If Arsenal isn't a "top team" and Chelsea is being kept up, and out lasted in Europe, by a selling team, what does that make them?
Arsenal are still in the Champions League, but are clearly subpar to the true elite of European football. Arsenal are still in the Premiership race, but again, are subpar. They're still there because they've managed to beat clubs like Hull and Bolton. Arsenal are better than most, but they're not as good as Chelsea.
As to Arsenal outlasting Chelsea in the CL: luck of the draw.
Are you going to be proud of that when you finish another season empty-handed with no apparent progress. You'll go from 4th last season (thanks to Villa imploding) to 3rd this season (thanks to Liverpool imploding).
Edit: I meant Almunia, although you're right, those 2 are also quite poor.
As to Arsenal outlasting Chelsea in the CL: luck of the draw.
Are you going to be proud of that when you finish another season empty-handed with no apparent progress. You'll go from 4th last season (thanks to Villa imploding) to 3rd this season (thanks to Liverpool imploding).
Edit: I meant Almunia, although you're right, those 2 are also quite poor.
Bobby;2844108 said:
Lucky and rich.
Rich and lucky.
Rich.
Lucky.
Lucky to be Rich.
Rich.
Rich.
Rich.
.
.
.
Lucky.
Lucky.
Lucky to be rich.
Rich.
.
.
.
"Debt"-free....well, kinda.
but they can presumably get it back from other sides? or do these other sides not care about keeping possession so much that they give the ball away to Arsenal? and if so, then why would it be more impressive for Barcelona to have had more possession against those other teams?Mandieta6;2844592 said:
anyway, the 71% possession from the first half is a ridiculous stat ... Barcelona were on fire, and they haven't played with that kind of tenacity and precision as a collective unit for a while now (and according to Pep, they haven't played as well as that under him ever) ...
so the possession stat from that first half is as high as it has ever been in recent times, not least in the Champions League ... the reason it was "impressive" is because this was a battle of two teams who want to hold onto the ball; so that match is won by the team that can both keep the ball better, but also get the ball back better ...
now, as you've pointed out, Arsenal are not good at chasing the ball as other teams ... if that is the case, then according to you Barcelona keeping possession is not as impressive ... fair enough ...
but Arsenal did have the ball some of the time; and they are supposedly very good at keeping the ball ... but Barcelona got the ball back from them quite quickly most of the time ... so Barcelona's ball recovery capacity was far superior than Arsenal's ability to keep possession when they have the ball -- so Barcelona's ability to recover the ball so extremely well from a team that knows quite well how to keep the ball is a lot more impressive than Barcelona recovering the ball from a team that doesn't focus on retaining ball possession ... that's why that possession stat against Arsenal is that impressive ...
Xifio;2844620 said:
Arsenal aren't used to playing against a possession-oriented team and they weren't set up to chase the ball. So when they did get the ball and were in posession, they then had to maneuver to get themselves in position and get comfortable on the ball. Barca applied pressure whenever they lost the ball because they knew that's when Arsenal were vulnerable, and got the ball back quickly. How many times did an Arsenal player get swamped off the ball, or lose it after 2 or 3 passes? A lot. (When Arsenal play another team this doesn't happen because they're already set up when they lose the ball, and they rarely got a chance to do that yesterday)
That's impressive. But having a high % of possession against Arsenal is less impressive than were it another team because those teams are prepared to chase the ball, and are therefor better suited to use the ball once they actually get it. Two teams trying to play like Barca and Arsenal play means one of them will lose structure, and Barca are simply far too good for Arsenal, and that's why Barca made them look like amateurs.
Basically, Barca nullified Arsenal, which is, again, impressive, but not as impressive because Arsenal never really got going. Barca never had to deal with Arsenal playing posession-footie. Whenever they had the ball they tried to attack immediately.
Mandieta6;2844094 said:
Fully agree. I've been saying this for years. I don't understand all the media hype around Arsenal every season. They don't even come close to winning a trophy. Their results against United and Chelsea are embarrassing for a team that pretends to compete for the title.
I expected Arsenal to cave under Barcelona's pressure. It's incredible they managed to not get humiliated. I've never seen such an unfair result in my life. Oh well, there's the second leg for another exposing of Arsenal, this time if there are no interventions from above, with a just result too.
kp40;2845392 said:
Not necessarily true on the physical advantage, it was combination of things such as a lapse in concentration that gave arsenal the momentum they needed and also failure to kill off the match...
I'm kind of tired people are saying English teams are superior to all in pace, I'll admit that as a whole the leagues pace is stronger than any other. We have shown however that we are on par with the english pace, every time we have played english teams, we are not the ones tiring at the end of the game with it.
In fact we have shown that our one touch passing ability which is miles ahead of the rest, can elevate our game to a higher "pace" than the english teams are used to, arsenal chased the ball all game and found that pace isn't much if you don't know how to control the game.
I don't mean pace as when walcott beat maxwell which he could have done to most defenders in the prem, but as the speed the team plays with as a whole, I think yesterday we showed we played at a level elevated and faster than one of the quickest teams in the prem at moving the ball.