AC Milan vs. Arsenal Discussion Thread

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Maldini was very good.

Arsenal were roughing up Pirlo in the 1st half - always a leg going into his calf from Hleb or Fabregash just after he released each pass.

Fabregash's shooting was straight from the Frank Lampard school - medium pace straight down the middle and hope for a bit of luck.

Arsenal should have got a 1-0 out of this - Eboue and Adebayor missed great chances.

Pass of the match from Pirlo to Kaka but his lob drifted harmlessly across the face of the goal.

Tough one to call - Arsenal have pace to hit on the counter and did'nt concede an away goal but Man U fancied themselves last year and you usually need to win at home if 2nd leg is at San Siro.

This game should show why I don't rate your boy Pirlo . Very talented but was out of the game, I said he would'nt do much in the tie, now lets wait for round 2. BTW Gattuso was the worse player on the pitch. This is what happens when you have a non-talent as a body guard instead of a DM that can play football like Flamini. Can all Arsenal fans please stop using Flattuso or any other comparisons to that dog. It is an insult of the highest order.

Anyhow, I am now very confident about beating Milan. The idea that Milan controlled this game is bull. Their defence was great plus Ambrosini was good, otherwise their played bad. Kaka is kick and run as much as anyone.

shazlx wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Maldini was very good.

Arsenal were roughing up Pirlo in the 1st half - always a leg going into his calf from Hleb or Fabregash just after he released each pass.

Fabregash's shooting was straight from the Frank Lampard school - medium pace straight down the middle and hope for a bit of luck.

Arsenal should have got a 1-0 out of this - Eboue and Adebayor missed great chances.

Pass of the match from Pirlo to Kaka but his lob drifted harmlessly across the face of the goal.

Tough one to call - Arsenal have pace to hit on the counter and did'nt concede an away goal but Man U fancied themselves last year and you usually need to win at home if 2nd leg is at San Siro.

This game should show why I don't rate your boy Pirlo . Very talented but was out of the game, I said he would'nt do much in the tie, now lets wait for round 2. BTW Gattuso was the worse player on the pitch. This is what happens when you have a non-talent as a body guard instead of a DM that can play football like Flamini. Can all Arsenal fans please stop using Flattuso or any other comparisons to that dog. It is an insult of the highest order.

Anyhow, I am now very confident about beating Milan. The idea that Milan controlled this game is bull. Their defence was great plus Ambrosini was good, otherwise their played bad. Kaka is kick and run as much as anyone.

mind u, u shouldn't be saying that as he doesn't play in the epl.

btw what a curler by Pierre's favourite push and run player tonight.

shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

No-one aside from Arsenal has talented players - the should be awarded the CL by default

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

It was more like 1 meter...

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

1 game. - that's the problem with you European posters. Just because an English poster doesn't agree with you you seem to think they've only watched one game. I've watched Milan like 5 times this season and 5 times last season. Not a lot, but still. I made similar statements before this game.

shazlx wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Maldini was very good.

Arsenal were roughing up Pirlo in the 1st half - always a leg going into his calf from Hleb or Fabregash just after he released each pass.

Fabregash's shooting was straight from the Frank Lampard school - medium pace straight down the middle and hope for a bit of luck.

Arsenal should have got a 1-0 out of this - Eboue and Adebayor missed great chances.

Pass of the match from Pirlo to Kaka but his lob drifted harmlessly across the face of the goal.

Tough one to call - Arsenal have pace to hit on the counter and did'nt concede an away goal but Man U fancied themselves last year and you usually need to win at home if 2nd leg is at San Siro.

This game should show why I don't rate your boy Pirlo . Very talented but was out of the game, I said he would'nt do much in the tie, now lets wait for round 2. BTW Gattuso was the worse player on the pitch. This is what happens when you have a non-talent as a body guard instead of a DM that can play football like Flamini. Can all Arsenal fans please stop using Flattuso or any other comparisons to that dog. It is an insult of the highest order.

Anyhow, I am now very confident about beating Milan. The idea that Milan controlled this game is bull. Their defence was great plus Ambrosini was good, otherwise their played bad. Kaka is kick and run as much as anyone.

Milan didn't control the game. Arsenal had enough chances to put the game to bed. Adebeyor's overhit pass to Eduardo wasted a great opportunity and there followed a series of shots from good positions either over or straight at the goalkeeper. Then of course there was the worst miss of all at the end. However Milan did look dangerous at times and great credit to Senderos whose early intervention snuffed out a number of opportunities.

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

That's Ok I don't care. I know he's not clinical - none of our players are. He's a good target man though which is much more valuable to a team than whatever Kaka was today.

A Tribe Called TS wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

No-one aside from Arsenal has talented players - the should be awarded the CL by default

Who's more kick and run - Kaka or Jenas?

Rosicky wrote:

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

It was more like 1 meter...

It was a return to the form of last year when he was missing everything and his control kept letting him down.

Sir Les wrote:

Rosicky wrote:

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

It was more like 1 meter...

It was a return to the form of last year when he was missing everything and his control kept letting him down.

Very bad 1st touch today.

Domestically, Milan are fighting for something far more critical (financially and sportingly speaking)... a CL spot!! They cannot afford to rest players either, and their bench is probably worse than Arsenal's.

Batman wrote:Milan will probably rest half the first team before the next CL game.

Arsenal can't do this because they are fighting for the league.

How did the neutrals see the game entertainment wise? I thought the second half was really good, very fast paced.

I think Milan watched tapes of us last season. They blocked the middle area and left the wide corridors empty for us to cross the ball, this almost proved costly in the last minute. Adebayor.

We REALLY missed RvP today, the only player in our squad who can literally take the ball passed two defenders and rocket a shot from 30 yards. Hopefully he'll be fit and becomes the X-Factor tonight.

Senderos.

I'm confident of a score draw at the San Siro, I doubt we'll make the same mistake Man Utd's second string defence made.

Cruyff thought the first half was a bit boring & the second half much better.

On the crossing neither Clichy nor Eboue nor Sagna can cross so it made sense for Milan not to care that much about it. All our dangerous attacks were because of passing moves down the middle. If the wide players would be more effective, we would create more space centrally too.

arsenal seemed to play well from the highlights. Poor finishing just killed you

The second leg will be brilliant

What a miss by ade

I would say that the tie is 65-35 in AC Milans favour now. Very dissapointed that we didn't take one of those second half chances, sometimes the final ball really let us down when we were on the counter attack.

The game was a lot more open than I anticipated though, it was congested in the centre but the wide areas were quite open at times for players to move into. Sagna and Clichy did well to get forward and cross, but Milan (esp with Nesta) can deal with them all day long.

We can only hope that Toure's injury isn't that bad, I suspect it will be a minimum two week layoff for him. Senderos was actually very good tonight, well done to him again. Kalac impressed me for Milan, dealt with everything that came at him, he really is a man mountain. You can see why the played him despite been a big doubt.

I thought Pirlo had a decent game. After the opening period he started to get a little more space on the ball and he made some nice passes. All of Milan's defenders played very well, Kaladze had a solid game alongside Nesta and then Maldini made some important interceptions when he came into the middle. Oddo was a very useful outlet going down the right. Pato was lively up front, though he went down easy reasonably often. Gattuso didn't do much besides from playing up, as is his wont, at one point.

But however good Milan were defensively, I think they were fortunate not to concede, because Arsenal did work some clear chances and should have scored. That's not to say that Arsenal were unfortunate in not scoring, because they always messed up the final ball or the finish - whether it was Adebayor's overhit pass to Fabregas in the first half, his few sliced or leisurely shots or his last minute header, Eboue's poor decision making when he shot wide with players to spare; Fabregas's weak shots. Similarly, Milan certainly didn't control the game, Arsenal were the better team, but Milan did slow the pace effectively and for significant periods - like after Arsenal's ten/fifteen minute blitz after half time.

I did think that Arsenal lapsed into their old habit of not shooting enough, or with enough vigour. They needed to do a Benzema, needed Adebayor to turn on the edge of the box rather than lay the ball off all the time. Anyway, the game is very open still, Arsenal should be able to score in the away leg whilst I can't see Milan getting a hatful.

COTR wrote:arsenal seemed to play well from the highlights. Poor finishing just killed you

The second leg will be brilliant

What a miss by ade

We played well in a sense that Milan hardly had any chances. Hardly saw Pato, Kaka & Pirlo. On the other hand in the first half we played too cautious/slow. Second half was much better, but we still lacked purpose until Bendtner came on. Think it's insane Wenger played Eduardo on the left until he took him off.

Cesc wrote:I would say that the tie is 65-35 in AC Milans favour now. Very dissapointed that we didn't take one of those second half chances, sometimes the final ball really let us down when we were on the counter attack.

The game was a lot more open than I anticipated though, it was congested in the centre but the wide areas were quite open at times for players to move into. Sagna and Clichy did well to get forward and cross, but Milan (esp with Nesta) can deal with them all day long.

We can only hope that Toure's injury isn't that bad, I suspect it will be a minimum two week layoff for him. Senderos was actually very good tonight, well done to him again. Kalac impressed me for Milan, dealt with everything that came at him, he really is a man mountain. You can see why the played him despite been a big doubt.

What happened to Toure? Seemed he got hit by the ball which injured him.

shazlx wrote:

Sir Les wrote:

Rosicky wrote:

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

It was more like 1 meter...

It was a return to the form of last year when he was missing everything and his control kept letting him down.

Very bad 1st touch today.

He's just plain $h!t in the CL

Can't see us going through now. Milan are certainly in the driving seats. I give us a 25% chance.

Rosicky will be back for the 2nd leg. Our left side will be stronger with him there.

Hlebtastic wrote:Rosicky will be back for the 2nd leg. Our left side will be stronger with him there.

For sure eduardo from the left makes no sense whatsoever. He tried the same thing with RVP for a while, who also played shite in that role.

Still don't like Eboue as RM/right winger though. Clueless idiot

Tweedle wrote:

shazlx wrote:

Sir Les wrote:

Rosicky wrote:

Gone wrote:

BoBo Vieri wrote:shaz, i never knew you could make so many conclusions from 1 game.

From this game I see Ade as a really bad striker. He didn't even score from 6 m ffs.

It was more like 1 meter...

It was a return to the form of last year when he was missing everything and his control kept letting him down.

Very bad 1st touch today.

He's just plain $h!t in the CL

Can't see us going through now. Milan are certainly in the driving seats. I give us a 25% chance.

He wasn't $h!t today just bad technically, everything else was good.

I think we will win. I just don't believe Milan will score without us having chances. If Ronaldo was fit then I would be worried. Pato's pace is nothing for a PL team and nor are the (high) crosses from the FBs. Its good that Kaka has only 1 great pass (through ball), he can't cross or spead wide which means he must go through the middle. Flamini, Gallas and hopefully a fully fit Toure can handle his pace. Milan play a very high line at home. I hope they continue with this policy.

RVP works far better on the right as he's able to cut inside and have a crack with his left.

BM wrote:How did the neutrals see the game entertainment wise? I thought the second half was really good, very fast paced.

I thought i was a fine match and nowadays it is what we call an entertaining game in the Cl. it was ok but there was only one big chance in the game and that was the one Ade missed in the end. good pace at times but i dont think that is entertaning unless we also get some chances and we didnt. kaka/seedorf/pato did little but that was also because they were too defensive. that is the problem when you have both ambrosini and gattuso in midfield. milan should have tried more but they did well to control the tempo when it got a bit to high for them. Arsenal were better then milan but not good enough to deserve a win imo.

De Guzman wrote:

Hlebtastic wrote:Rosicky will be back for the 2nd leg. Our left side will be stronger with him there.

For sure eduardo from the left makes no sense whatsoever. He tried the same thing with RVP for a while, who also played shite in that role.

Still don't like Eboue as RM/right winger though. Clueless idiot

I may have forgotten but can't remember a really dangerous cross until Walcott came on after 89 mins.

shazlx wrote:
I think we will win. I just don't believe Milan will score without us having chances. If Ronaldo was fit then I would be worried. Pato's pace is nothing for a PL team and nor are the (high) crosses from the FBs. Its good that Kaka has only 1 great pass (through ball), he can't cross or spead wide which means he must go through the middle. Flamini, Gallas and hopefully a fully fit Toure can handle his pace. Milan play a very high line at home. I hope they continue with this policy.

Well we all saw what Milan did to Utd last season. They have the ability to completely turn it on.

IMO we have a chance of getting a draw there but they're definately the favourites now.

A score draw sees us through. its not like we need to win.

its far from over. what happened the last time we played at the san siro

I think it's 50-50 TBH.

0-0 is a tricky result.