Toggle sidebar

Barcelona scores again..... Arsenal is in trouble

J

jsireland

Redshirt
Sep 1, 2003
271
0
0
we were completely outplayed the first half and had almunia to thank. then barca score two out of pretty much nothing (and have almunia to thank). add in bendtner's header and it's been a much better half everywhere but the scoreboard. the result is deserved, sure, but the way it's come about has been extremely frustrating.

walcott for sagna. that's sure to open it up even more.
 
J

jsireland

Redshirt
Sep 1, 2003
271
0
0
puyol bowled him over. after calling the foul he 'has' to send him off. on the questionable card topic, cesc's yellow was extremely harsh.

two pretty cheap goals given up by arsenal. i know he's out of position, but you can fault song for both (and i'm a big song fan). wouldn't have even been at center half without gallas' injury. song and vermaelen at central defense for the weekend, keep sol fresh for the return leg?

arsenal without cesc and presumably gallas and arshavin for the return leg, pique and puyol miss out for barca. have to say barca are strong favorites at home already with two away goals, we can only hope that the manner the match got away from them has an effect as well. theo's pace really factored in after he came on.

thankfully, there's still something to play for.
 
H

Hotel Roosevelt

Redshirt
Sep 18, 2009
281
0
0
Thank goodness Arsenal recovered, especially thanks to Walcott. Barca's two goals were horrible, Almunia and Song to blame, but with the number of chances they created, particularly in the first twenty minutes or so, you can't quite begrudge them that.

Being two possession based teams, I thought it would come down to whoever was able to maintain possession and that was Barca. But thanks to some terrific saves from Almunia and some terrible Barca finishing, the Gunners were able to level it up and go into the second leg with a fighting chance.

Arsenal have to worry about injuries now. Losing Fabregas, Arshavin, and Gallas(supposedly out for the season) for potentially long stretches is going to be a big blow to both Champions League and EPL chances. But with both of Barca's first choice CBs out for the return leg, Arsenal have a chance to outscore Barca even at the Nou Camp. Advantage Barca though.
 
N

NapoleonDynamite

Redshirt
Feb 29, 2008
313
0
0
I thought that was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen in LONG time. As a Gunner fan, I was ready to throw the remote through the TV on some of those foul calls - especially the one on Cesc. But man, what a comeback. Almunia's game was like his entire career at Arsenal - brilliant at times, and head-scratching at others. But I'll hand it to him - it should have been 8-0 after 15 minutes and he kept them in the game, single-handedly.

I think part of the problem for Arsenal today, particularly early, was that the right side for Barca was just attacking down the wing at will. Not sure if that was Nasri or Diaby's responsibility but Alves was having a track meet over there. Is it just me or does Diaby completely disappear in some game. Today was certainly one of those (but maybe that was because he was told not to leave home because of Messi in the middle... however, he wasn't the definition of aggressiveness all day.)

I don't expect Arsenal to advance, but they gave us our money's worth today. Hope they can pull one out of the arse at Nou Camp. A man can dream...

Come on Gunners!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom