Arsenal vs. Villarreal - CL quarterfinal discussion thread

kas wrote:Imagine if there are enough injuries that we see Cygan's return to Arsenal

Are Arsenal Underdogs Against Villarreal?
Posted 23/03/09 09:32

Arsenal's Champions League clash with Villarreal in April looks set to be a fantastic footballing festival of fanny-merchants - the phrase used by legendary F365 columnist John Nicholson, to describe players of a somewhat poncier persuasion.

The duelling double-date will feature a team with a firm fondness for dicking around and dithering rather than sticking the ball in the back of the net.

It will feature a fourth-placed side well-regarded by neutrals, lead by a professorial manager that likes to promote young talent and do things 'the right way'.

It will also feature Arsenal.

The quarter-final tie that sees the Gunners trying to blast their way through the muti-hulled hide of the Yellow Submarine is a dream come for true for the average footballer, who likes nothing more than staring at his mirror image.

Arsenal and Villarreal are like two peas in pod, Paul Scholes and a volleyball player, Obama and a one-armed bowler.

They are a couple of teams who caress the ball, who have big love for the Beautiful Game, but who have naff-all to show for their admirable efforts over the past few seasons.

At six-points behind a less than sensational Sevilla in third, and 21 off the league leaders Barcelona, it looks like being a season of relative disappointment for the east coast side from the teeny town, of Vila-real.

And if that sounds a tad harsh on the plucky performers, it's because of how darned well the club has done over recent seasons.

In the last campaign, Manuel Pellegrini's men took advantage of a poor Barcelona to slide into second place. An already impressive squad was then reinforced with Valladolid striker, Joseba Llorente, whilst playmaker Ariel Ibagaza joined the Villarreal midfield from Mallorca.

However, the club has failed to make that extra push that so many hoped for in challenging la Liga's big knobs at the top of the table.

Instead, the occasional lack of goalscoring guile and a surprisingly suspect defence sees Villarreal fist-fighting Atlético Madrid for fourth place and looking longingly at the Champions League as their best chance of winning a shiny trinket this season.

On paper, Villarreal have more than a sneaky chance of moving past their English opponents into the final four phase.

An arguably weaker version of the side famously fought its way through to the semi-finals in 2006, only to lose out to Arsenal after a late penalty miss from the long since departed Juan Roman Riquelme.

In this year's competition Pellegrini cobbled together a defensive, counter-attacking plan that produced two goalless draws against Manchester United in the group stages.

And the side perhaps bettered that minor miracle by coming back from a disappointing 1-1 draw in el Madrigal in the last sixteen by beating Panathinaikos 2-1 in Greece - a feat that is worth a fair amount of cap-doffing.

Unfortunately for Villarreal, this handy knack of getting the required results has deserted them for much of the league season, mainly due to poor defensive displays.

After 28 rounds of la Liga, Villarreal have conceded 37 goals, a lacklustre figure compared to the 40 let in for the whole of the last campaign.

This has in part been to persistent injuries to centre backs Diego Godín and Gonzalo Rodríguez and the need to play Pascal Cygan in their place - something that's never going to go well.

The back four's defensive cover in midfield, Marcus Senna, has looked tired and has failed to match the form the that wowed the world - and Manchester City - at Euro 2008.

But Villarreal's squad is still packed with tasty goodies elsewhere.

Goalkeeper, Diego López, has been keeping the defensive damage down with some outstanding displays that have attracted the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson who reportedly sees him as the successor to Edwin van der Sar, López' goalkeeping idol.

Like Arsenal, the men from El Madrigal have a midfield jammed with magic midfielders, who are tremendously comfortable on the ball, but tend to overplay - Cani, 'Matigol', Pires, Ibagaza.

The stand out footballer from this particular pack is Spanish international Santi Cazorla.

The 24-year-old midfielder may look a little like a cheeky chipmunk but is set to be a crucial part of Spain's midfield for many years to come.

On Saturday night, Cazorla popped up to rescue his team-mates who were being bogged down by Athletic Bilbao.

Despite Villarreal's dominant display over their opponents, the home-side simply couldn't make the breakthrough - as predictable as the words 'jobless' and 'immigrant' appearing in a Daily Express headline these days.

But then, midway through the second half, a superb run from Giuseppe Rossi ended with Cazorla hammering the ball home to make it 1-0.

Villarreal visibly relaxed from that point and grabbed their second in injury time to give the match a familiar feel - a narrow win and a scoreline that did not reflect their superiority.

Villarreal is known to be one of the few well-run, relatively normal clubs in Spain. But that's not hard, when compared with the likes of Xerez, whose black eye-sporting president was arrested last week, after a big night out that reportedly involved trying to procure a lady for the night, a fight with a Russian bouncer and five shots being fired into the door of a bordello.

Villarreal is also the second team of most football fans in Spain (aside from Valencia supporters perhaps).

However, club owner and president Fernando Roig, has confessed that he may well struggle to keep the likes of Cazorla, Senna, López and Rossi at the club over the summer, with a fair amount of suitors standing in line to offer them bigger and better deals elsewhere.

But Villarreal will still be causing a kerfuffle next season, no matter what happens. And this is thanks to their Arsenal-like scouting network.

On a recent trip to South America, Getafe's sporting director complained that every time he spotted a talented youngster he discovered that Villarreal had already signed them up.

And this will continue to be the club's strategy - buy low, sell high.

Football365 recently spoke to Villarreal's young American striker, Jozy Altidore, about his side's Champions League chances this year, and his answer was a positive one.

"If the team are at full strength, there's a very good possibility that they good surprise a lot of people," said the forward currently on loan at Xerez.

However, Altidore is perhaps doing Villarreal a disservice by suggesting that a win over Arsenal, for example, would be a shock.

Villarreal have lost just three of their 22 Champions League clashes and have a higher UEFA rating than Real Madrid (admittedly, not that hard).

The English media have no doubt moved Arsenal into the semi-final stages already, but there is a feeling that the Spanish club branded "the pride of the nation" by Marca after their Panathinaikos win, could be making a name for themselves once again.

Round 28 results

Villarreal 2-0 Athletic Bilbao
Sevilla 4-1 Valladolid
Getafe 2-1 Recreativo
Osasuna 1-0 Espanyol
Racing 0-1 Valencia
Numancia 2-1 Sporting
Real Madrid 3-0 Almería
Deportivo 1-1 Betis
Barcelona 6-0 Málaga
Mallorca 2-0 Atlético

Tim Stannard

ROBERT PIRES is out for Euro revenge after claiming boss Arsene Wenger ‘killed’ him at the end of his Arsenal career.

Former Gunner Pires is still haunted by the memory of being subbed just 18 minutes into the 2006 Champions League final in Paris.

Midfielder Pires was dragged off after keeper Jens Lehmann had been red-carded for bringing down Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o.

Pires has still not forgiven Wenger and said: “My biggest disappointment was playing only 18 minutes in the Champions League final. Wenger killed me when he took me off.

“For that reason, I could not stay at Arsenal and I moved to Villarreal. The final was played in Paris. All my family were there and I really suffered.”

Pires, 35, will meet Wenger when Spanish side Villarreal take on the Gunners in the quarter-finals of this season’s competition.

And the Frenchman is up for it. He added: “Arsenal lack English players at the moment. That ingredient is very important and it’s missing.

“When I arrived, there were a lot of English players there and that is why we won. You need to have a mix in the dressing room. What I see now is that they lack that mix.

“I’m sure Arsenal won’t be happy with the Euro draw. The only thing in my head is to knock them out.”

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:How can a French guy be taken off by a French manager playing for a French team, and worst of all, a final held in France? And denying a legal goal by a French man Giuly to add insult to injury? It's ridiculous.

L-r d wrote:

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:How can a French guy be taken off by a French manager playing for a French team, and worst of all, a final held in France? And denying a legal goal by a French man Giuly to add insult to injury? It's ridiculous.

Who would you have taken off?

L-r d wrote:Wheres Van Persie?

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:What is Walcott doing in a CL? There is no 100 meters sprint track in Madrigal.

Jaime wrote:Good news for Villarreal, both Cani and Marcos Senna should be recovered from injury for the first leg.

http://www.marca.com/2009/04/05/futbol/equipos/villarreal/1238931760.html

Messiah wrote:which off the following will replace Santi in the team

Cani
Pires
Mati

My money is on pires, because he will be going out to get some sweet revenge on wenger and will Villarreal try and match arsenal in midfield or stick to their regular 4-4-2 formation.

Rosicky wrote:Expecting this line-up

Almunia

Sagna - Gallas - Toure - Clichy

Song - Denilson

Walcott - Fab - Nasri

Ade