CL Round of 16 - Arsenal vs. Barcelona match thread

Luis wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:Yeah I cant see a problem with putting Mascherano into a team...I just think its a bit mad that Barca havent got a back up for their CB so are having to think about putting a DM in there.

Well it was just me suggesting that - I'm not sure if they do have a back up replacement besides Shifting Abidal there and putting Maxwell on the left. Is Milito still there? I know they sold that chgysnwdoswdwoaqdwiwnsad fella didn't they?

Not quite just you..

fcb wrote:

I'd almost prefer if Guardiola plays Busquets at CB and keeps Abidal at LB to match up against Walcott.

I think Milito is still there..but he's the constantly injured one, no?

What we need here, is a Barca fan to set the record straight.

Normally they're like flies round shit but when you actually need one...

fcb wrote:Puyol probably won't be fit in time for the 1st leg

It means Abidal will probably fill in at CB, and Maxwell will be at LB against Walcott

I'd almost prefer if Guardiola plays Busquets at CB and keeps Abidal at LB to match up against Walcott.

I also don't want to see Maxwell against Walcott and with RVP playing aften as a false 9, don't have a big problem with Busquets playing as CB.

busquets has played at CB quite a few times this season, but not against team has good as arsenal, but i guess Pique,Busquets and Abida should be enough.

masch is getting better with every game, but he hasn't quite mastered our pressing game as yet, so i am a bit reluctant to start him

Messiah wrote:busquets has played at CB quite a few times this season, but not against team has good as arsenal, but i guess Pique,Busquets and Abida should be enough.

masch is getting better with every game, but he hasn't quite mastered our pressing game as yet, so i am a bit reluctant to start him

The only way he'll master it is by playing competitive games with his team-mates.

For me Mascherano's passing has been a pleasant surprise, I don't think he has any problems fitting in. But as I said before, my concern is that against a team like Arsenal - whose players have good feet, control, and lots of pace on the counter - he will concede dangerous fouls too easily.

Busquets has only filled in a few times as a CB, but I'd trust him there, plus it has the advantage of Abidal at LB, rather than Maxwell.

Milito's form has been absolutely terrible all season, would not play him there.


As you can see, I'm proposing two conflicting scenarios. Worried about Mascherano starting, but worried about Maxwell starting as well. Bit of a "rock and a hard place" situation.

I think in the end I'd go with a lineup of Busquets DM, Abidal CB, and Maxwell LB.

The closer we get to the game, the more nervous I get. This time Arsenal have Koscielny-Djourou instead of Campbell-Silvestre, a goalkeeper instead of Almunia, Fabregas and Wilshere instead of Denilson and Diaby, and probably most importantly, Van Persie instead of Bentdner. Even Nasri might be fit.

February has always been bad for Barça under Pep, let's hope that doesn't continue. Even with the club's success over the past 3 years, it's a bit surprising seeing the sudden outburst of praise in the English press over the past couple of days.

The Barça that I grew up supporting in the 90s and 2000s always had some chaos about it...even if things were going well on the pitch, they were never quite perfect. Drama or controversy was always around the corner. Now everything seems ideal - Barça is the model for football, Barça is the model for youth academies, Barça this Barça that. Feels weird. I hope it's not Arsenal - Barçalite - who stop this dream run.

i'm a bit nervous, arsenal by get a win, but we will get the right result, and i doubt they will get that either,

if we show up, then they have no chance.

the team will not train in london which is a bit strange

Nerd time: Thought we could compare the respective 4-3-3 formations of Barcelona and Arsenal. I'm sure Kas will love it.

Overall, they are rather similar, and any difference between them is more down to the personnel rather than what they aim to achieve. Both rely heavily on midfield that is comfortable in position, with even the more defensive players - Song and Busquets being very comfortable in possession and forward passes, aimed at bypassing the oppositions midfield with ease.

Both rely on a false 9, even if they are extremely different players. RVP, despite dropping deep often, offers a focal point of the attack due to Arsenal playing the ball into his feet regularly, and his Totti like ability to know where players are around him and play technically difficult passes. This is done through Fabregas and Wilshere or Song make runs to support him AND DON'T LEAVE HIM ISOLATED WHILST ROBBEN GOES ON HIS OWN CRUSADE AND SENIJDER SHOOTS FROM THE HALFWAY LINE DUTCH POSTERS. Messi just does his own thing really, so Villa and Pedro act as focal points more.

That said, both Walcott and Pedro play similar roles, providing width and looking to make runs inbetween the fullback and centre back.

Finally, a difference can be noted with the fullbacks. Abidal is overly defensive, to compensate for the attacking nature of Alves, whereas Clichy and Sagna (Eboue on wednesday) do pretty much the same thing on the flanks.

Messiah wrote:busquets has played at CB quite a few times this season, but not against team has good as arsenal, but i guess Pique,Busquets and Abida should be enough.

masch is getting better with every game, but he hasn't quite mastered our pressing game as yet, so i am a bit reluctant to start him

Busquets at CB? What happened to the esteemed Bartra and Fontas?!?!?!?!?!?!?! You guys should really think about giving your canteranos a chance! But if not maybe you could quickly recall Caceres or Henrique for this one. And don't you have a buyback on Chygrygyrgyrygyrygrygrgynskiyyyy? I am sure UEFA would reopen the transfer window especially for Mes Que Un Club.

Don't know why Barca fans are nervous. I'll be amazed with anything less than a comprehensive victory over 2 legs for Barca. I don't think Arsenal have enough players to hurt the best teams - RVP and Fabregas.

The wingers/wide attacking forwards are all far too hit and miss. Arshavin has been largely woeful this season, Walcott can be brilliant one game then shit the next. Nasri is out which is a massive loss.

Barca have Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro and Villa that can all hurt you at any time.

Luis wrote:Don't know why Barca fans are nervous. I'll be amazed with anything less than a comprehensive victory over 2 legs for Barca. I don't think Arsenal have enough players to hurt the best teams - RVP and Fabregas.

The wingers/wide attacking forwards are all far too hit and miss. Arshavin has been largely woeful this season, Walcott can be brilliant one game then shit the next. Nasri is out which is a massive loss.

Barca have Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro and Villa that can all hurt you at any time.

Don't be fooled Luis. The cules pull this every year. "Oh our squad isn't big enough", "We always play our worst football in February", "We can't win without our orange away kit", etc etc etc. And Pepe Guardiola's false sense of modesty has made it even worse!

Still. Arsenal will beat them.

I predicted Arsenal to win this tie last year

I'd give them a better chance than most this year - Barca have a small squad, they play loads of games across the 3 competitions and they press like madmen so they are bound to look flat every so often when we move into the 2nd half of the season.

Unfortunately Arsenal have too many missing to capitalise and I need Barca to get through so they can absolutely smash United in the next round.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:I predicted Arsenal to win this tie last year

Why?

I'm more optimistic than I was last year. And occasionally get my hopes up, before realising this is a team that beat a Mourinho team 5-0. *No one* beats Mourinho teams 5-0.

Samir Nasri is in the squad and may start v Barcelona

Sagna's suspension is obviously the biggest deal, I don't want Eboué (or Villa, Messi etc) participating in my dreams too much tonight.

I really hope this doesn't backfire on us like last year with Gallas. We've already seen Ipswich & West Ham players expose Eboue for his lack of positional awareness this season, so we better hope David Villa has a bad day at the office. But like Hlebagone, I'm more hopeful this time around. Diaby was woeful last year, he just froze, almost as if he was in awe of their play - Wilshere won't show anyway near that level of respect. Van Persie is also in red-hot form, possibly the most in-form striker over the last six weeks.

Exciting times.

Allez les rouges wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:I predicted Arsenal to win this tie last year

Why?

I thought they would be able to move the ball so quickly that Barca would struggle to press and that they would do some damage on the counter too.

Well we did do damage on the counter a few times.

We're gonna have to play stupidly high risk football, requiring a very high level of technical ability to have a chance. Working our way past Barca's pressing midfield with triangles, or individual brilliance in possession and passing.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Allez les rouges wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:I predicted Arsenal to win this tie last year

Why?

I thought they would be able to move the ball so quickly that Barca would struggle to press and that they would do some damage on the counter too.

In theory. But did you not see the starting line up and the condition of the team? Amateur error...

Hlebagone wrote:Well we did do damage on the counter a few times.

We're gonna have to play stupidly high risk football, requiring a very high level of technical ability to have a chance. Working our way past Barca's pressing midfield with triangles, or individual brilliance in possession and passing.

I think the key will be walcott. He will have to very efficient with his runs and be productive when he has the chance. I don't think Wenger has the tactical nous to overcome Barca's high pressing game so the players' natural attributes will have to do.

shazlx wrote:

Hlebagone wrote:Well we did do damage on the counter a few times.

We're gonna have to play stupidly high risk football, requiring a very high level of technical ability to have a chance. Working our way past Barca's pressing midfield with triangles, or individual brilliance in possession and passing.

I think the key will be walcott. He will have to very efficient with his runs and be productive when he has the chance. I don't think Wenger has the tactical nous to overcome Barca's high pressing game so the players' natural attributes will have to do.

Might as well just give it all up right there then.

if we get pass this game, we are almost certain to make the final

RVP is gonna do it!! Looking forward to this tie, was hoping he would be fit..but now he is in a better form then ever!

Now it is the time to step up and go to the next level!

Fey wrote:RVP is gonna do it!! Looking forward to this tie, was hoping he would be fit..but now he is in a better form then ever!

Now it is the time to step up and go to the next level!

Fey, do you think the Ducth would have won the World Cup if RVP had been in this sort of form for them?

What you find a lot of people rarely mention when they talk about Barca is how incredibly well they press for the ball when not in possession. They do this much better than Arsenal do, which is going to be the key as to why Arsenal find it so hard to keep the ball against them.

However, the way RVP has been playing, Arsenal are in much tidier nick then when they played Barca last season. RVP is World Class, no doubt. Injury free, he provides a focal point for Arsenal's attacks that in the past would just peater out. Target man, creator, dribbler, headerer - he can do the lot.

On the other hand: Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Pedro. Good luck trying to stop that lot. Arsenal's backline is going to get sorely examined.

At home, I think Arsenal will - and almost certainly need - a result. I'm going for 3-2 Arsenal.

Luis wrote:

Fey wrote:RVP is gonna do it!! Looking forward to this tie, was hoping he would be fit..but now he is in a better form then ever!

Now it is the time to step up and go to the next level!

Fey, do you think the Ducth would have won the World Cup if RVP had been in this sort of form for them?

If they played the ball into his feet, instead of leaving him isolated they wouldnt have player such stick on a shit football at least. I blame Sneijder for this.

Luis wrote:

Fey wrote:RVP is gonna do it!! Looking forward to this tie, was hoping he would be fit..but now he is in a better form then ever!

Now it is the time to step up and go to the next level!

Fey, do you think the Ducth would have won the World Cup if RVP had been in this sort of form for them?

No, before the WC he was also in a super form. The fact he dissapointed wasnt really his fault imo. Look how many useful balls he got, besides I prefer him as playmaker or even a winger for Oranje rather then central striker. It works for Arsenal though.

to Fey.

It's almost time Mes Amis! Almost time to see Arsenal's transformation into Rubin Kazan/Man Utd/Chelsea/Liverpool/Inter...when playing Barça.

Today, Arsenal will take a page out of the Mancs and Chelsea pussy-football book when playing the mighty Catalanes.

They will kick the shite out of Barça, literally, rough them up, let them know THEY ARE THERE! get one of their own sent-off and maybe Wenger will humiliate himself by saying "they didn't beat us 11 vs 11".

Well dickhead, maybe you could play with 11 if you don't play like fucking Neanderthals when playing Barça.

Nevertheless, it's the only chance Arsenal have today, become pussies like the Mancs, and pray/hope for the best. TRUE FUCKING STORY MES AMIS!

If they go toe-to-toe like Real Madrid, they will be minced meat, that's why Mourinho WILL return to pussy-football AT THE BERNABEU next time he faces Barcelona.