Arsenal vs. Villarreal - CL quarterfinal discussion thread

What Sheffield Gunner says.

Its taking the piss; theres been no closing down anywhere near the box - not just for the goal but always.
fabregas has been lacklustre but is trying. Adebayor has just been shit.

Would also help if our players put the studs in their boots. There have been more instances of our players slipping on their arses than passing it to a team mate so far.

We have been poor(apart from the 15th-30th minutes when I thought we played well). We just keep hoofing the ball to Adebayor, but not good enough movements upfront to support him.

Villareal have been very good as I expected to be(comedians who were predicting an easy 3-0 victory are now looking like complete muppets). We now have 45 minutes to turn things around, the good news is we are only a goal down.

COYG!

DOMINATION

Yeah, Villarreal's defenders don't look entirely steady - they look a bit susceptible to players running at them or hassling them off the ball - so when Arsenal are in the final third, though they're not playing well and creating a huge deal, it still looks as though something could fall for them. But Arsenal's problem is in reaching the final third to begin with, because Villarreal are really dominating the midfield. Eguren and Senna are winning their challenges and they're keeping the ball really well, and Rossi is dropping off the front and dribbling and causing plenty of problems. Denilson and Song need to step up and show more energy; Nasri hasn't been involved much at all thus far; and I don't think Adebayor is using his strength effectively up front.

Oh, I didn't notice Mati Fernandez was on....

Villarreal are going to end up paying if they don't try to take back control of the game.

ADE!!!

Despite being useless for 65 mins, Adebayor scores a fantastic goal.

He has been utterly shit, but hats off to Adebayor, that was one hell of a goal. Absolutely brilliant effort from him.

who the fuck was playing him on.

That was pretty damn good.

Who got the assist?

I blame Adebayor

kas wrote:Who got the assist?

Fab I think

Wenger should take Nasri off.

You could see it coming, Villarreal had completely relinquished control of the game.

Too bad for Villarreal, great first half and then they got complacent. Arsenal big favourites now.

great 2nd half from arsenal, opposite of the first.

puts us in a great position for the 2nd leg.


what a goal from ade.

1-1 it ends, that goal should never had been scored.

But they are still in it, people thought they were done for against pana and they prove them wrong

Messiah wrote:1-1 it ends, that goal should never had been scored.

WHAT?

I think 1-1 is still a good result for Villarreal. Arsenal will look to play football as always, so Villarreal should still be able to create chances. One early goal and the crowd at the Emirates could get nervous. Let's see what happens...IMO this match is closer now than it looked before.

Adebayor. That was a fantastic goal. No question about it.

Bad performance, good result. Adebayor improved so much in the second half (not even taking into account the goal). He actually linked the play up, pressured and stretched the defence. It was just what we needed. The rest of the team improved, but we still weren't great. Very happy with the draw though because it was never going to be an easy match for us.

Rosicky wrote:

Messiah wrote:1-1 it ends, that goal should never had been scored.

WHAT?

Indeed. What the fuck are you on about here? I will now make this comment about every good goal messi scores from now on.

Much improved secondhalf performance. Shame Nasri wasnt at his best as Walcott looked too limited at this level. Song and Denilson improved massively in the second half.

Rosicky wrote:

Messiah wrote:1-1 it ends, that goal should never had been scored.

WHAT?

I think he means the Villarreal defender was poorly positioned for the goal and made Adebayor onside.

Happy with the 1-1. Impressed by Villarreal in the first half, they certainly passed the ball though us very well. We will almost certainly go 4-4-2 at the Emirates. Whatever Wenger said at HT worked, not that we couldn't have played any worse.

Almunia is out for two weeks.

Gallas suffers a medial knee ligament injury.

What a goal reminds me of Dinho's goal against Villarreal.

"On next its children of men, which Arsenal are of course becoming."

I'd welcome even Setanta compared to ITV.

Fabianski looked solid, so the lose of Almunia is no problem