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Thursday, April 01, 2010

The game at Barcelona is far from a foregone conclusion


By 1970’s Gooner

Yes they outplayed us. In the same manner Arsenal outplay other average Premier League sides. They had a multiple of about 3 in terms of shots at goal, passes completed and very real chances. They could have put this tie to bed from the first leg.

Yet we are still in it having come back from the dead, as it were, which goes a long way in explaining the fighting spirit and never ending tenacity that these players possess.

Don’t believe the press when they say we have no chance. They have failed to see that this Arsenal team were severely handicapped throughout the game. And these handicaps are not likely to be there for the return leg.

Consider the following:

1. Gallas was injured and should not have started

Arsene Wenger should not have started with Gallas. He only trained for three days prior to the game after being out for a month. This is not enough to judge someone’s fitness especially for such an important game.



Not only was Gallas handicapped during the game but his necessary substitution deprived Arsene of making a more tactical (free) change. It also meant that Song came back in defence, a move he was not ready nor trained for.

The end result was that Imbrahimovic was allowed the room to waltz into the area and score. Twice

2. Fabregas was injured and should not have started

What we all feared happened. Fabregas was allowed to start when it was obvious that the risk of him breaking down was high. He was also not his usual self, chasing shadows for most of the game unable to dictate play as he has been accustomed.



There was another problem created by his ineffectiveness. His position on the pitch, playing further up behind Bendtner, meant that he was the one that should have been dropping back, harassing Xabi and making life difficult for him.

Alas he was unable to do that and Xabi was free to weave his magic.

While Song was in midfield he also was not able to put up mach of a resistance against Xabi as he was positioned too far back in front of the defence to crowd Messi out.

This left huge gaps for Xabi to pick passes in the unguarded areas between Fabregas and Song. And from there Arsenal’s problems began.

3. Arshavin was injured

Andrey had to come off around the 20 minute mark depriving Wenger of another tactical substitution. He was also pretty ineffective during that early period when Barcelona were allowed to run riot.

So I ask you: Can you name a team carrying so many passengers that would have lived with this excellent Barcelona?

Yet we scrapped a 2-2 draw coming back from 2-0 down…. Pretty heroic I would say.

When we play the return leg none of the above handicaps will be there. Yes these players are of high quality but they are no good to us if they can’t produce that quality on the pitch.

We will be playing 11 fit men and will be employing the appropriate tactics to take advantage of the weaknesses that Wenger so expertly exploited by the only free substitution that he was allowed to make.

Eboue’s and Walcott’s pace but also their ability to dribble past opponents were used to terrifying effect against Barcelona’s weakest link which was their left back. Maxwell was excellent coming forward but defensively he had no answer to pace.

And Walcott and Eboue run riot there.

High balls into their area also troubled them especially with Bendtner’s height posing a threat. We didn’t put too many balls in there but when we did we reaped the dividends.

And our midfield, especially Diaby, will not sit back and admire their passing game I am sure.

And Barcelona will be minus their central defensive pairing.

So don’t despair there’s still life in this team yet….


25 comments:

Anonymous said...

BTW it's Xavi not Xabi

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't mind if Wenger moved Sagna inside to partner Verm and started Eboue at RB and Clichy on the left.

Walcott Nasri Denilson Vela

Rosicky Bendtner

Bring on the pace with Vela and Walcott

Anonymous said...

I like your positivity. It's funny how's there's no "in between" with this current Arsenal side: they'll either get battered by an admittedly superior, more accomplished outfit, or they'll pull out the performance of a lifetime and scrape through. We're not the kind of team where you could say "oooh, tough call that one, Arsenal could nick a goal and keep it tight at the back"...

gazzap said...

I would also like to see a lot more of Vela now Arshavin is missing.
Vela and perhaps Eboue on the 'wings', Bendtner up front, Rosicky, Nasri and Song in the middle - sol coming in for Gallas. No need to play Denilson or Diaby - the enigmas.
Theo to come on as impact sub - Eduardo as emergency striker.

bedy said...

Have you ever noticed that any season we have injury crisis is when we do better in champions league.
Remeber 2006 Ashley Cole,Clichy,Lauren,Campbel (i.e all our defence but Toure) were all out injured we made the finals by defeating Juventus,Real madrid and Villa real.
Either by coincidence or Gods ordainity beleive me we shall play and win in the finals this year.

Nav!! said...

Yes, we were outplayed for most of the times. We were made to do lots of defending, and we were lucky. Aluminia showed he is good, and he is bad.
Until next tuesday at least, its not over yet. We can do it.

Things that we should learn from this leg.

1. Barca are as much vulnerable as we are at the back. See how Alves gives away the open ball to bendtner ( who somehow manages to be offside and make a rash of it).

Every time our guys cross the ball to their goal area, they panic more than we did. Alves and Maxwell did okay at the back uptill the time we didnt test them.
And their so called two first choice center backs are out. So what would that mean?
Hit it to the box, and somehow their own defender would gift us the surprise little ticket for semi-finals. (Well we can dream, till tuesday at least.)

2. We need experience, and there is where Campbell would be handy. He knows how to head against barca, and will teach bendtner that.

3. Use the pace against them. They used it with alves for us. And second half we gave a dose of pace to them.

4. Valdes is as vulnerable as Aluminia.

5. Their defense is even more crapy than ours. Let them panic now.

6. Luck is on our side. We have to work to change luck into result.

We can win. Its hard. But YES we can. Remember they concede as easily as they score. So lets score first and we will see who panics first there.

Anonymous said...

Samir did great the other week in the Cesc role. Barca will be nervous as the out and out favourites, knowing that a semi-crippled Arsenal outfit still put two past them. I feel quietly confident about this I have to say.

Bendter

Rosicky Diaby Nasri Song Walcott

Clichy Campbell Vermaelan Eboue

Almunia

maheshfab said...

i find that you are many times very negative and i dont agree with the way you have written about cesc....

what a leader arsenal is having ... even after being injured he stayed in the ground to do his little bit to help the team...

Anonymous said...

Arsenal must score first. That will force Barcelona to go on the attack and leave gaps at the back. I know it's easier said than done but thats football.If Barca score first I am afraid Arsenal will be chasing shadows.

Anonymous said...

Arsenal will start as underdogs and the pressure will hopefully be off.barca will attack from the first minute and the gunners defence must be on guard repeat all the time.
If there's a chance of a breakaway Arsenal must capitalize and score. Once Arsenal are one up,barca will have to up the tempo.

Anonymous said...

i believe in u arsenal :)

Jullsan said...

This is almost mission impossible but one thing they need to do is cut of Xavi and Messi. They didn't do that well in the first leg. They gave them way too much time to find teammates. Can't do that against Barca, that's suicide.

Anonymous said...

yeah yeah i get it they were injured.. but really.. the hell.. i dont care.. your point is just to blame wenger for their injuries.. seriously man say something more important please...

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