Beaten By The Better Team, And Lessons Are Clear
Apr 6th, 2010 by 'holic
Now you know what it is like to be a Bolton/Hull/Stoke/Wolves fan. You’ve just seen a team a class apart from what we were able to put on the pitch knock it about for fun, treat the ball as though they owned it. When we got hold of it the period of the loan was strictly short-term.
From the comments flying around the web tonight a lot have taken that affiliation with our victims supporters too far. Furious claims of diving by the victors may have a degree of justification, but there was nothing worse than you will see in the Premiership every week. They didn’t ‘leave the foot in’ too often either, that much-lauded trait among British pundits that has cost us so many players this season. They just played great football, and we of all people should appreciate that.
Criticism of some of the individuals tonight has also been excessive. A side shorn of nine players, at least five of whom would have started were they available, was given a lesson by simply the best team I have ever seen us come up against. Not only did Barca treat the ball as their own, they coveted it to such an extent that when we borrowed it off them they were snapping straight back into us to retrieve what they held to be rightfully theirs.
I will accept, however, that collectively we did not do enough to return that degree of lung-bursting effort, and in so doing probably added to the aura of invincibility we bestowed upon our opponents. They played like we did at the start of the season, but for some reason that high-pressing game has been watered down on the training pitches of Shenley, and we paid the ultimate penalty for that against technically superior opponents.
We are probably clutching at straws a bit when we talk of the opportunity to lead 2-0 when Diaby failed to spot Walcott in the clear just after Nicklas Bendtner had given us the lead. From then on I tend more to the Arsene Wenger viewpoint that we defended badly than the Sky pundits lavish praise of the undeniably superb Messi.
Don’t get me wrong. His finishing was pure class, and under different circumstances we would have been drooling as well, but his task was made much simpler by the space we afforded him both inside and outside the box. Hopefully the lessons we were taught today will lead to a new determination to correct our defensive flaws.
So for a couple of days I suspect the new found unity behind the side will be tested to the limit, and probably beyond. The damage done tonight (and outside of us nobody thought we would get through this tie anyway) will be put into perspective, repaired even, by a victory in the North London derby next Wednesday.
That is a game we have a week to prepare for. Hopefully some broken bodies can be mended. After a couple of days of soul-searching it is our job to get behind the side. A side we now know faces just five more games this season, and every one a Cup Final.
Win the next match.
170 Responses to “Beaten By The Better Team, And Lessons Are Clear”
Well said ‘holic. A large brandy please.
It also didn’t help that we gave Messi two hits at the ball on at least two occasions that lead to goals.
A good beating as expected. We defended poorly, and were punished by a decent side.
Time to invest in some proven players me thinks: – Keeper, Centre Back, Centre Midfield, Centre Forward.
Sound familiar? Oh yes the same positions we needed last season….etc
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Fair play to Barca, they’re the best team in the world, but I thought we were wasteful nonetheless…and a few were lethargic. Nonetheless, it’s done, and they’re off to continue showing the world what the beautiful game should look like. Best of luck to them!
For us on the other hand, what a perfect opportunity to pick ourselves up next week. Down with the Sp*rs! May have to plan a trip to the church soon though, a friend reminded me that the holiest and most revered of saints is set to be celebrated next Wednesday.
Agree with every word ‘holic. We need to put this game in perspective and not over react. Hopefully we’ll have Song and Sol back for Spuds next wednesday – there’s still the league to go for and I’m certain there’s a couple of more twists to come.
Keep the faith – Come on you reds!!!!!
Pete
Time to invest in some proven players me thinks: – …. Centre Back, Centre Midfield, Centre Forward.
What, like Gallas/Campbell/Djourou, Fabregas/Song/Arshavin, van Persie, you mean?
There will be some who will hammer the team for what they see as a lack of performance, but that’s unfair. To ask a team which was not expected to beat Porto, not expected to make the top four, to go to the home of the European Champions without Cesc, Arshavin, VP, Gallas, and Song, and then slate them for losing is simply not acceptable. And, on a personal note, I’d far rather go out to this Barcelona team, than get to the final with three kids, Doris the tea lady, and a lame duck as the only ones able to pull on the shirt just to be destroyed by Man United.
Agreed with you ‘holic. Sometimes you have to put your hands up and say they were better!
When we have all calmed down & a few days have passed the conclusion will be no different
Too many injuries but too many players nowhere near the standard required. we all know the positions we are lacking in.
It seems that the management know different to 99% of the fans,
Will things ever change, I pray so!
The little git had all the luck as well, the ball kept coming straight back to him after he messed up. As if he needed luck as well… ridiculous.
First time poster, Keep up the good work Goonerholic.
I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments. Perspective must be kept. Knees must remain firmly in position and un-jerked. And declarations of a failed season are premature and an over-exageration aswell.
History may well gloss over the circumstances, Preferring to remember only the score, But that doesnt mean us fans should forget the massive task we faced tonight before a ball was even kicked. We did ourselves proud tonight, And though that was a minimum requirement, It gives me hope for the future and for the rest of the season.
I for one will be proudly wearing my Arsenal scarf tomorrow morning. Our boys need our support more then ever, Lets give them that support.
Oh, Ill have a Sam Adams please.
7 players out is a tough ask!
Holic’
True words we did give our best even Clichy can come here and
agree with us all…
It’s holly grail and we will be back even stronger next season…
We are on the UP……….
There are aspects of our play that you can criticise – defensive positioning poor for 2nd and 3rd goals – but overall we can’t complain about this outcome. As others have said if we had signed the 4 experienced players we lack the team might have been ready for this encounter.
You summed up alot of my thoughts holic. one thing within ournpkay that I was a little dissapointed in was that I thought for once we were too direct and not content enough to find the next simple pass as Barca were doing. thsy probed ans probed which then set up the pass which opened our defence up. Too many times tonight we received the ball and went right at them trying to force a ball to Theo or Bendtner. a little more knocking it about, and getting them to try and break their organized defense wouldve helped. But let us now focus on the league and give it a good go.
“Now you know what it is like to be a Bolton/Hull/Stoke/Wolves fan.”
Except those teams are always with hope of a result against us until the last minute.
Come on guys we lost to the best Barca side and there is no shame to take!
If we hadnt suffered half, Nay, A third of the injuries we have suffered then we would have stood a far better chance, JED.
Even the singular addition of Song, Gallas or Cesc would have undoubtedly improved us so to say this loss due to lack of signing’s shows a glaring lack of understanding for our current situation.
Essy was on fire…
We made mistakes and wepaid for it!
Holic
Painful night for all the ‘ Real ‘ Arsenal fans who love and support their Club no matter what.
I think tonight showed there are a few players that are not up to the top technical level required to win the Big Ones.
I’m sure AW is aware of this and hopefully will take steps to correct this imbalance in the squad during the summer.
So despite all the criticisms of certain players which will appear on your blog over the next few hours,let’s not forget the good times we’ve had this season despite a horrendous injury list.
It’s very easy to be an armchair critic,i’d much rather focus on the positives,and be stonkingly proud of my Club,my Team and my Manager,who i wouldn’t swop for any other in the world.
To still be within touching distance of the Premiership Title with 5 games left to play,after all the setbacks we’ve had this season, is a bloody miracle.
Where their’s life their’s hope.!!
Yes we were a weakened side tonight, however, we were closer to Barcelona in 2006 when we only had 10 men. We’re going backwards and after 5 years without winning anything, let’s be honest we’ll remain trophy-less unless we go out and get some Top quality players. In our biggest game of the season, Almunia is our Captain and Silvestre 1 of our Centre Backs, it’s almost comical. How were we ever in with a chance with those 2 in our back 5. Let’s see what we’re made of in the next 5 games, I’m not expecting anything. How long can Wenger ignore our weaknesses?
Thanks Arthur, Clive,
Well most of you really. Can’t believe some of the crap being spouted elsewhere…
It’s the same reactionary bollocks we have to put up with after every defeat. Not sure where it comes from. Generation Y…
Afraid we really have to take a long hard look at ourselves. Most of their players have come through their youth system so we can’t cry about being beaten by a bought team. Just like ourselves they also had many players out tonight for different reasons. Truth is over two legs we were slaughtered. But “you sow therefore you reap” as the good book says.
This summer there can be no more excuses. A full spine needed for the team in every way. Good luck to Barcelona as they play the way that only we all wish. Hope they now go all the way.
Ha ha ‘holic, I notice you left the keeper position out of your quote.
Come on when did we last get a full season out of Gallas & Van Persie?
Let’s do the unthinkable: Cesc to Barca, let Nasri / Wilshere fill his boots, then get a Schwazer, Hangelaand, Melo & Chamakh.
Beaten by the better team. End of really. Not a lot you can add to your right up Holic or the comments.
We can take some positives out of the game Clichy I thought showed true fight and spirit. I was impressed that he still wanted to carry on the fight. I thought Bendtner worked hard up front and took his goal well. Denilson again put in a good shift and his booking was just a shocking decision. I also thought Eboue did well when he came on.
I was disappointed in a few older players who just did not manage to stamp their authority on the game. Not really appropriate to name names at this stage.
We now have 8 days to get refreshed and head off to the toilet down the road. Was there ever a better way to exorcise this result?
Going to conclude by paying tribute to Barca. They are a fantastic side with genuine talent. Messi is head and shoulders above anyone on the planet the moment and they pose a threat all over the pitch. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up. We were beaten by a better team. Good luck to them.
Time to invest in some proven players me thinks: – …. Centre Back, Centre Midfield, Centre Forward.
What, like Gallas/Campbell/Djourou, Fabregas/Song/Arshavin, van Persie, you mean?
Actually Holic, yes, these players have proven they’re not enough to go the distance, oh forget it, just have another ale.
Win the next match? good plan.
Now you know what it is like to be a Bolton/Hull/Stoke/Wolves fan.
Thats exactly what i was saying after 60 minutes. Hoping we might get a bit of luck to get back into the game but knowing the players on the pitch just didnt have the quality to do it.
Quality needs to be brought in in the summer. Not to get carried away but we do need 5 top class players brought in with a few going out the door. A keeper, 2 centrehalves, a defensive midfielder and a 30 goal a season striker.
Almunia needs to go = get Lloris/Akinfeev/Neuer, Sol, Silvester and Gallas will be gone = hense 2 top quality centre halves. Song needs cover or to be cover in the DM position. Eduardo looks finished and Van ps fitness is always in question – Chamakh looks to be coming in, is he quality enough?
These are what needs to be addressed – will they however????
No need to panic, no need to call for some sort of complete reformation of the team. Maybe it’s fair to say we should buy a few players this summer, but no more than we already knew we should consider before this tie, and if money should be going anywhere it should be going into improving our training and fitness. We don’t need a new “full spine” by any stretch. Besides, serious conversations about purchases can wait until they’re actually relevant: the summer. For now, we have a league to win, or at least to die trying.
Besides, why bother wasting worrying about purchases when it’s Sp*rs next. They don’t even belong in the reserve league, let alone facing 35% of our first XI.
I suppose I’m not the only one upset, I’m not going to point fingers at any of our players, we lost, thats that…. I believe if we hadn’t lost so many players to injury than this would be a different tie, a different tie indeed!! I’m not going to spout some of the other shite I have read on the net, it is useless to do so, I’m a Gooner dammit and I’m proud of it, no matter what anyone else may think, I love them and bleed red, come on you Gunners beat those dirty Spuds!!!
Bollocks Bernard and Christophe – the pair of you can go and get fvcked. The boys did us proud tonight in the worst of circumstances: they fought hard and kept us in the tie until the last 3 minutes, against a team and a player that were as ‘lucky’ with taking their chances tonight as they were ‘unlucky’ missing them at The Emirates.Tonight was far, far less painful than any number of recent Champions League exits, and far, far less humiliating than United last year. Silverware would be nice, but a team who can play with style and spirit no matter the odds against them – that’s the Arsenal and I fvcking love them.
Great blog and great comments. Mature, collected, realistic. Some other people are talking like we’ve been relegated!
Anyway, here is my contribution. What I saw over the two legs was the best team in the world have to really make an effort against a weakened Arsenal, and for that we should be proud. However, what we should try and take from this game is even more important if we want to emulate them. At the moment there is only one team in the world who even comes close to the football Barca play and that is us, but we havn’t yet learned how to win trophies with this style. It will come, but only after some adjustments.
Truly the difference was the depth Barcelona had. I mean, Milito and Marquez did very well for them and 20m Chigrinskyi (spelling) was ineligible! That says a lot considering we have Sylvestre as our backup. I would say three signings could address this depth problem (GK, CB, ST) and I hope the management agrees. But also, we need to improve our work off the ball if we are to be like them. They were impecable without the ball in both games and I truly admired them, as well as Guardiola’s tactical masterclass (Toure on for Bojan, Iniesta on for Pedro).
Still, anyone who cannot see the greatness in the making of this Arsenal side is blind. Yes we need to improve – and I hope the management sees this and also adresses our injuries – however it is far from being a tragic situation. We’re still in the premiership so let’s have a real go!
P.S: When Cesc and RvP are out, give the armband to Clichy.
Ha ha ‘holic, I notice you left the keeper position out of your quote.
I may be a tad argumentative, but I’m not fucking stupid, Pete, 😉
Speaking of the armband, am I the only one that thinks that when Cesc eventually leaves (in several years), Vermaelen will be a hell of a skipper?
Barca get my congratulations for beating us over the two legs. But they get my boot in their collective backsides for their all around cheating cuntery, which they didn’t need to play up to when they were 3-1 up.
Your spot on in your assessment, but to dismiss Pete’s suggestion by saying “we’ll get so and so back” is foolish. It’s clear that we need a bigger squad and if we can’t afford it then fair enough, but the financial accounts beg to differ. We clearly have money to spend and a goalkeeper and centre back(s) are a must in the summer. Gallas, Campbell and Silvestre are gone this summer and to count Djourou as anything more than a squad player after a year out is ridiculous. I hate to sound like a “championship manager” but at least 3/4 players are needed this summer to compete with the best
I’m quite possibly the only person who doesn’t think we were outplayed. To be outplayed, the opposing team has to noticeably play better than you did – I don’t see what in Barca’s game today said they “played better”. To be honest they played far worse today than last week.
It’s more than Arsenal didn’t play to their best, rather than Barca playing better than them. After Messi scored his first goal, half the team looked like they gave up. We gave away the ball far too easily, rather than Barca winning it back. We handed Messi his goals rather than make him work for them. Essentially I’m disappointed we didn’t focus better. Even with a depleted squad we’re far better than what we produced today and I’d have rather Barca played us off the park than us making it easy for them.
With the number of injures we have it was going to be a miracle to knock Barca out but pound for pound, a fully fit Arsenal team can match them.
@ Dadric
Without a doubt mate! He will grow into an imperious figure. We still forget he is only 23. But for now, Cesc is the skipper (and will be for a while as he is going nowhere and we adore him), RvP is VC. I think Clichy should also be VC not only for his seniority in terms of years of service, but also because of pure passion. The Verminator can be skipper when he is 30 something and we are winning the Champions League for the third time! =)
the young shall grow and in arsene i trust. looking at the squad every body can believe that known of the dept. is complete from the defense to the attack. so what i can say is that the players have done their best bcos barca is the best team so far in the world.
Evening Holic & Holic`s
Holic you have put tonight`s performance into prospective. We were out played in every department, the team who wanted it more WON !
The shadow chasing gunners were just not at the races. I agree poor defending cost us dear very dear. The first was unlucky that it pounced to the right foot of Messi, it didn’t go in the top corner or anything it was fairly centre so I think possibly the keeper could have done a bit better. The next was just very poor defending, we need to put our foot through it sometimes. The 3rd shows 2 CB who don’t play together, a huge gap between them and one playing the off side and one ball watching & the 4th we just kept letting him have shoots until it went in near post through Almunia`s legs. And Almunia didn’t have that a bad game either he made some good saves.
Clichy was without doubt the best player on the field for us, I only wish his drive and passion was translated to the rest of the lads. When the ball went out he ran to get it to give it to the Barca player to get the game going when we were losing. He made countless runs that were ignored and chased everything in a blue and red shirt and until his lungs burst. The good old Clichy is back.
Most of the team had a very average game and then there was a few who should be a little ashamed of there lack of ambition and pride for the team shirt.
That was the problem a average performance = out of the champions league. After we took the lead I thought hold on until half time and we could really make a game of it. But 3 minutes later, ohh come on guys. Rule 1 0 1 of footballing hand book when you score don’t let the opposition back into the game immediately.
We win together we loose together so here we are, maybe I shouldn’t write this so early after the game but Theo & Rosicky were just awful. Theo`s only contribution to the game was a piss poor pass to Bendtner who done incredibly well to score because he was first to react. Well done Bendtner who had little or no service and our players were very late to join him in attack, by this time he had been dispossess and they were back on the attack.
Rosicky rarely found another Arsenal shirt and failed to make any impact in the game. Both of these players have been limited to very little playing time and that showed, that is the only thing I can think of for such a poor showing. Like the previous game we never really got going which is a crying shame for such a great, no fantastic, no legendary footballing team THE ARSENAL.
I am disappointed in the manor we went out with a squeak and not a roar. I know we had injury problems but so did they. Both CB their main striker and 2 very influential midfielders were only given cameo appearances due to not being fully fit. Its a shame thou that their best player played and our`s watched from the stands on crutches.
I was also a little puzzled why it took Arsene so long to change it to bring more attacking option’s on and freshen it up a bit and give them something else to think of as plan A wasn’t working. But that is why he is the best manager in the world and I am a fan typing my thoughts on a blog.
I am glad the lads get a week off before their next match so the boss can work his magic and rebuild their confidence and just get the boys back on target which of course is the biggest prize of them all the PL.
All must win games with no exceptions so a very hard task but one we are very capable of doing. The spuds next and no better way to kick off with a win on the enemy’s own turf. Sorry for blowing off the steam here but just disappointed that’s all.
I STILL BELIEVE
@titan49
“We still forget he is only 23.”
Hah…I think what we REALLY forget in that context is that that’s older than Cesc!
That’s what the drinks are for ’71, and you have earned the right to blow some respectful steam.
By the way Christophe and all the other doom-merchants on tonight, Messi may have come through the youth system but at 22, he’s still the best paid player in the world, so think twice before saying we weren’t “out-spent” tonight.
It makes me sick to see some of the idiots on here complaining about players and a manager who’ve given us such a fantastic ride this year at such a tiny cost, and the reserve players tonight who fought their hearts out in the Camp Nou. You are worse than Spurs fans – worse than those inhuman Scum.
As upsetting as it was to go out, I agree with holic, better to this team than Jose or Fergie.
A lot has been learned from this game. The buccaneering Clichy of old is back, he read the game very well today breaking up almost everything down the left, getting forward at every chance. I just feel that outside of Cesc, Nasri, & Verm our young players are not quite there yet and could benefit enormously from having an experienced head around. Denilson continually looked for the parallel or back pass pushing us further and further back. Diaby had a second stinker of a game in a row, he dawdled on the ball and tried to take on the entire barca defense on his own. they just weren’t sharp enough, both their focus and passing wasn’t good enough. how many times did we have to watch as one of our players went for the ball only to have 3-4 barca players no more than 10 meters apart just pass it in a circle, all in the blink of an eye. They denied us the flanks, didn’t get over extended and generally bossed 150 minutes of this tie.
All of this being said, I still feel we aren’t far off. Cesc and nasri can become great(er) they just need time. they both have been dealing with injuries these past two seasons. A fully fit Rosicky would be nice to see as well. Theo has time yet to learn, hes barely 21. If you’re calling for his head, maybe you stop and ask yourself what you accomplished by that age?
In Arsene we trust, a large whiskey please and keep them coming.
Off topic for a minute.
Looking at Barcelona’s roster, one comment you can make is that they have a fantastic youth system.
Xavi, Valdes, Puyol are great players that came up through the youth team. Currently, Iniesta and Messi are the shining examples. They have a plethora of talent coming up, including Pedro, Bojan, Pique, and Busquets. In addition, there are plenty of Barcelona players all over the world who are some of the best on their teams, most notably Fabregas/Merida at Arsenal, Arteta at Everton, Reina at Liverpool, Motta at Inter, and many more.
We are laying the foundations for future as well. Clearly we are not up to their level at the moment but this project most likely began less than 10 years ago. Who knows, in the future, our backbone will consist of standout youth team players such as Szczesny, Ramsey, Wilshere, Lansbury, JET, Afobe, Gibbs, etc and the likes. That, along with the likes of would be first team vets such as Verm, RVP, Cesc, Nik, Theo, Nasri, Song, Diaby will be a great team.
We were beaten today but the future is always bright.
Cheers Holic,
Just frustration that’s all,
Cheers Holic, let’s let the lesson be clear, strengthen the squad, can any more be squeezed out of these players? We put up a meek fight today, like a mouse fighting a snake, barca was calm about it’s business and all we could do was… nothing really(oh we did hit the post and scored on a goof play). Messi should be applauded but one player cannot put four past a quality side in a match of this stature. For wenger to make an issue of messi is again a feeble attempt to deflect perfectly valid criticisms away from our self destructing master-plan.
I believe that we are probably the 4th best team in Europe at this moment in time. Unfortunately, of the other three, two are English and undoubtedly the best of the bunch is Barcelona.
It was no disgrace to go out over the 2 legs considering a) the 11 that finished at the Emirates and b) the players that we had left at our disposal tonight. Messi is from another planet and he was just unbelievable tonight.
I am sure AW is now finally aware that he has to add to the squad and remove some of the players that are really not going to make it, and I am sure he knows what positions he has to address.
I cannot understand why he persists in naming Almunia as captain when Cesc is out, as in my opinion a keeper should NEVER be captain. I thought his decision making was dodgy and that was borne out when he won the toss and he shook his head as though he didn’t know what to do!!
We have a ready made skipper in TV and he will grow even more as a player (if that’s possible), with the skipper’s armband.
We have 5 cup finals coming up and an 8 day rest before we meet the scum and we can ram all their “sperz are on their way to wembley” shit straight back down their throats.
I am sure you’ve all suffered taunts tonight on facebook etc about how we got murdered by Messi etc. My answer to that is better to play in the CL and get murdered by players of his quality, than never, ever test yourself at the highest level. No way will sperz make the top 4, and they fucking know it!!!
Well, maybe we just got murdered by Messi, but our next opponents just got murdered by Darren Bent.
Which do YOU think is more embarrassing? 🙂
Let’s also consider the age factor here. Arguably, aside from Busquets, Pique and Messi, the rest of their regular starters are 25 or over (note: I do not consider Pedro or Bojan regulars). On the other hand Cesc, Vermaelen, Song, Diaby, Denilson, Nasri, Bendtner are all arguably regulars for us (leaving out Walcott, Vela, Gibbs, Djourou, Ramsey all of whom fall into the 18-23 age bracket also). With that in mind, as a TEAM they are 2 or 3 years older than us.
As such, if we keep progressing like we are AND add some real quality signings also, I am very confident that within 2 years we could match them and surpass them as the greatest footballing team on the planet.
Evening ‘Holics. Great write up again, Mr. Holic. I think most of all I want to applaud Clichy’s fabulous leadership through example. And in my humble opinion, we matched Barca for most of the first half. While some players failed to make the impact we all hoped they could (including themselves, no doubt), and we were painfully limp with our final ball (two shots on goal whole match I believe), I saw a lot of heart out there tonight. A lot of heart and an unbelievably quality Messi, at the height of his powers (so far, at least).
I feel gutted, and real weaknesses were exposed, but I have to applaud our run and some fierce belief from the Arsenal.
Now let’s crush them fuckers next week!!!
Guinness, please, and a cheers for the boys who showed up tonight and give it a real go. And a chaser in the hopes that Wenger has pre-contracts for Messi’s progeny.
I think the 2 games will tell us a lot about players. Some have it, some quite clearly don’t. It is interesting reading some of the above. I agree with Arsenal 1971. I was really disappointed in Theo and Rosicky. I thought that this could have been the stage for both of them. I also thought Diaby was poor. I never really know what to make of him these days. At times he is truly fantastic. On others he struggles to reach average. I always seem to see a player in him that wants to be top drawer but it just does not appear at the appropriate time. Tonight was crying out for him to dominate that midfield.
I am not going to get into the strengthening debate at this time. I have made my feelings clear over the season and now is not the time.
We are not far away. We know we are not far away. If we had played Cesc, Song and Gallas tonight do we make so many errors at the back? I don’t think so.
Right, onto the spuds. Let’s us all hear about their Wembley antics. Let’s all listen as they sing their Champions League, you’re having a laugh little ditty. (Like they would know). Then we respond in the best way possible by stuffing them out of sight.
Keep the faith.
Well said ‘holic. I have to say that by the end of the game I wasn’t even too depressed because when you come up against one of the greatest club sides ever put together and, more importantly tonight, one of the greatest players in the history of the game who happens to be in the form of his life, what can you do? We were without our 5 most important players plus a few others, you can’t beat yourself up too much for coming up against that and losing.
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened in normal circumstances (i.e. both squads fully fit/ Messi playing like just the best player in the world now as opposed to the best player in the world ever!). But quite simply there was nothing we could do tonight.
It’s all been said well here. Arsenal and the lads have nothing to be ashamed of tonight, and after the fight we put up for all 90 minutes, I’m damn proud to be a Gooner. We’ve still got one more trophy to play for – there’s work to be done, for sure, but we can surely do it with the players we have as long as they keep their “mental strengths” about them and put the same fight into the last five matches as they’ve shown the past few months. I can’t wait…but while I do, make it a double Jameson, neat.
Lose gracefully. Arsenal never gave ball to Walcott or even move in in middle , Diaby could not see Walcott which would have killed Barca dead. Still we scared them with shadow squad. Funny but best side win
A great team. Hope they win it. Our strengths as a team did not match up to their few weaknesses. A team like Chelsea or Inter or other more physical or defensive teams would have more chance to exploit them. Looking forward to their game against Inter.
Back to the drawing board. but let’s see this season through first.
Like it. Admission of defeat but stiff upper lip and all that. Wolfgang Stark is a fussy referee, we know that. Messi dived for the Denilson booking so he’s a cheat. But then they all are.
Question is: do we take Spurs apart despite the loss of Fabregas, Gallas, Arshavin, Song, Van Persie, Ramsay, Wright, Stapleton, McDonald and Drake…. of does the season peter out into a sixth successive dusty trophy cabinet?
Thought Wenger was very sanguine in defeat tonight.
Guess he’s learnt to be that way.
Holics ,
My real worry is that we will go back a few steps again this season. After our wonderful showing in 2007-08 (when the team had made some real progress) we regressed.
And Im fine with our situation right now because I believe the team has again progressed but where is the guarantee that we won’t be back to square one come August.. And that is what really worries me!
Well said, ‘holic.
What I’ve found interesting the last couple of seasons in the Champions League is that Wenger has not applied the kind of tactical nous he showed in 2006 to get a very young, injury depleted team past Real Madrid and a decent Juve team and into the Final. From memory, we got 0-0 draws home against RM and away against Juve to put us through each round. I thought he would have set the team out to be much tighter tonight, really try to frustrate Barca, get a goal on the break (as we did) and use that as a platform. The game was, again, like last week’s, really strung out over what is a huge, huge pitch, and we just struggled (again) to get a real foothold in the game.
Pete, Holic
Time to invest in some proven players me thinks: – …. Centre Back, Centre Midfield, Centre Forward.
What, like Gallas/Campbell/Djourou, Fabregas/Song/Arshavin, van Persie, you mean?
Yep 1 each of all of those would be perfect we deserve a squad that competes for all trophies…
“From the comments flying around the web tonight a lot have taken that affiliation with our victims supporters too far. Furious claims of diving by the victors may have a degree of justification, but there was nothing worse than you will see in the Premiership every week. They didn’t ‘leave the foot in’ too often either, that much-lauded trait among British pundits that has cost us so many players this season. They just played great football, and we of all people should appreciate that.”
Well said ‘holic. Speaking as a Barca fan with more than just a soft spot for the Gunners, I can say I was shaking my head in embarrassment every single time Busquets went down and rolled over on the pitch. Same for Alves, to a lesser extent. You folks aren’t the only ones who don’t appreciate that sort of stuff.
That being said, with a full strength Arsenal team against a full strength Barca (Pique, Puyol, Ibra and an on-form Henry), this would have been much more of a contest, and I don’t think we would have quite been the favorites that we were. Notwithstanding the diving, I am just glad both teams were able to show the world how to play real football.
Good luck to you in the Premier League. Believe in yourselves – it can still be done, starting with a win against that other North London club. I’ll be rooting for you all the way.
Defensively we were very very bad 2day… oh well… Premiership here we come!!!!!!! GO U GUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!
A depleted Arsenal arrive at the Camo Nou.
To face the best player in the world who plays in red and blue.
To play a team at there very best.
We had no time to stand and rest.
A early goal could this be all I had hoped and dreamed.
Only for Messi who connived and schemed.
3 goals for the little man on the right.
Who made us loose the will to fight.
If all played like Clichy we would have stood a chance.
But no we let him run skip and dance.
One more for Messi and I wished it had ended sooner.
But do you know what ? I wouldn’t be anything but a Gooner.
So on to spurs on their own turf.
That’s were we will show them what they are worth.
I wouldn’t be anything but a Arsenal fan.
And lets not worry because Arsene has a plan.
Arsene’s plan… top 4… that’s it 1971… that’s not good enough for me
‘holic,
great post but surely you think we’ll need another centreback and keeper at least?
if not one to replace Sylves, at least one to cover Gallas (and that’s assuming he stays).
Can anyone here seriously believe that Barca without Messi would have won it easily if at all? I watched the game with a couple of neutrals and it’s obvious to anyone that the little fellow is out of this world. He’s on a cloud at the moment and a sheer joy to watch for everyone but the supporters of the team he’s scoring against.
Even if Diaby had made the right pass and we had been 2-0 up, we would still have lost against Messi. At the level he is currently playing he would single-handedly carry a league 2 team to the CL final.
People here know how much I care for our team but I will certainly try to watch even more Barca games from now on because Messi is only 22 and we are witnessing someone on his way to be the best footballer of all times.
Otherwise I’m with Joe. Too many people who pretend to be Arsenal fans are so gleeful when we lose it’s a disgrace. The only point they’re proving is that they’d rather have us lose than being proven wrong. Just look at the number of shite comments here from people who were never behind the team to start with. Let’s just hope Citeh buy Matuidi, Huntelaar and Melo in the summer so they can f**k off and support the mercs!
And yes I’m proud of our B-team. Find me any other team without their 5 best players that would have done better against what is probably the best side of the decade with a football god made man in their midst.
@1971: Great little poem!
Matt.. Barca were missin a few as well…
What can I say…a messy affair for arsenal, a messi affair for barca…
We all deserve better than Sylvestre…. We got what we reap
@Stel: how come we’ve never seen you here before? Did you never have anything positive to say about the team in the past or it’s only when we lose that you feel the need to enlighten us with everything that’s wrong about the team?
Silvestre is Silvestre. He started the season as a 6th choice CB behind TV, WG, Senderos, Djourou and Song and 4th choice left-back behind Clichy, Gibbs and Traore. So now tell me, which super player you seem to know we should have bought that would have accepted to spend the season on the bench with a game every other month at best?
As for Arsene’s plan to aim for top 4 this is simply insulting. Have you ever looked at him on the touchline? Even if that was true it may be not good enough for you but at the same time what makes you think you’re good enough to be an Arsenal supporter? Clearly your comment history here does not support that claim so far.
Come back in better times to discuss with us and then we’ll pay attention to what you’re saying. Because for now there’s nothing to differentiate you from the other Johnny-come-lately glory hunters.
Arsenal 1971 makes some good points without hiding his disappointment and we will all have many discussions about the present and future on our club without blinders, starting with the next 6 games remaining. Feel free to participate and then we’ll have certainly more consideration for your venting when things go wrong.
Well said ‘holic. Our reserves lost against a one man team with some doggy calls from the ref. Still behind the team 100%
F**k me, I forgot the most obvious in my rants: `Holic report is excellent. As usual I might add.
Arsenal have flattered to deceive. I rather they lose at this stage than to be humiliated in the final .AW may think with a ull strength team things could have been different. But I think he knows the outcome will still be the same.
He has the summer to put right things he shd have done last summer.
Arsenal are not able to suffocate teams like Chelsea/MU/Stoke. it is alien to them. but if it helps to win why not.i beleive if messis were markedheaviy he wwont be able to score the four goals.
I have a feeling Mourino has a plan to neutralise him.
Matt, in case you haven’t noticed we’ve been an understrength side for years, we chuck two competitions this season again only end up tripping over own injuries to end with nothing, again. You think this crocked squad can now win the prem?
For #72 especially Matt, I applaud you. What (hopefully) a lot of us were thinking yet didn’t have the energy to spell out.
To people who think they somehow know better than Wenger – what sort of credentials do you have to prove it? Unbeaten season in championship manager?
If you aren’t prepared to be patient with what is still a very young team (who ARE getting better) then as far as I’m concerned you don’t deserve to enjoy it when they do start winning trophies.
I think it’s only fair to expect that mistakes will be made, when you play you 6th (!) choice central defender against the best team and the best player in the world.
Vermalen, Gallas, Djouru, Cambell and Song would all start ahead of Silvestre in the CB position.
What is harder to accept is that Nasri was a passenger and contributed with absoulutely nothing. In the first game it was Diaby. In both games we have (almost) been playing 10 aganst 11.
That’s just not good enough.
@Pete: we’ve had quite a few discussions about injuries here recently if you care to look back in time. Since 2005 each season has been the worst in terms of injuries we’ve ever had and when we think we’ve hit the bottom, the following season proves us it can be worse. The most worrying news this season was the negative result that Arsene and his team came up with after their investigation in a possible root cause of these injuries.
That’s the snake that bites its own tail. We can’t have a squad of 30 first-team first choice starters because they would all want to play (and they need to in order to progress) and the ones on the bench would want to leave (remember Diarra? Now Merida is also about to leave to get more playing time somewhere else). This season I believe we’ve never been able to play twice the same team, every game we have one or more players crocked for a few weeks when not much more.
Until we find a solution we will struggle to win anything. Some argue that it’s age-related but honestly we can’t have a team of players only between 25 and 29 (and then there’s RvP). Nor do I think that we can expect players who play 3 subs in 3 months suddenly fill the boots of established stars (I’m not talking about young players only but the likes of Silvestre too).
Like many I think we could do with a better keeper, 2 CBs and eventually a striker and I have some confidence that Arsene will buy along those lines (although I feel he won’t resist the temptation to buy another pocket-sized attacking midfielder like Eden Hazard). But if we can’t curb our injury rate it won’t make any difference in the end.
There’s nothing that frustrates me more than this. Our first 15-18 players are top notch and our I feel our best 11 (bar Almunia this season) could win against any team including Barca.
So yes if we buy some excellent players I will be happy but what I really want now for our club is a overhaul of the physical preparation, the physio and everything that can improve our fitness and resistance to injuries.
Now on to winning the prem it’s not in our hands. I think Steve T above has it right, it’s time to move on and let the team pick themselves up. If we win the remaining 6 games and finish second I will still consider this an achievement and won’t be too disappointed. If captain Fabtastic was in the squad I would be extremely confident for him to get the team to produce their best but we have a lot of young players who don’t have his resolve at the end of an extremely demanding season. Then looking at our past track record of injuries and the intensity of the games that are ahead of us, I’m afraid we’ll have a few more players crocked and that will just make the task more daunting.
So yes we can do it (the 6 victories) but I’m not holding my breath. That being said I’m behind my team 100%. One game at a time. And winning away against Spurs will certainly lift all of us up!
I agree with matt in that it really is a joy to read all the comments and discuss about the matches in the drinks sections after wins and draws but after losses the sameee thing keeps happening each time. plethera of wenger and squad bashing comments come flying in. I find myself skipping over ten plus comments at times because I can’t stand to read anymore. by no means is matt or anyone trying to say stop the negative comments because its important to hear both sides of arguements both opinions, but if your first posts in months only one after losses and are just laying into OUR team and OUR manager, then we won’t be able to respect your views or opinions at all.
I love Wenger, I love the club we would be a hell of a lot worse off without him… But Arsenal Football Club starting a quarter final 1/4 final with Silvestre is against this Barca team… Matt we were unlucky to draw Barca.. I thought UEFA would have conspired to make us draw ManUSA, alas they paid the ref.. Defensively we were a joke.. it pains me… just because i have participated before means nothing or does it? obviously it does.. I read this blog regularly and havent had the need to comment before..
It just seems to me, that Wenger’s goal is top 4 and anything else is a bonus… I pray and hope we win it this year… last year were lucky we got 4th, yes we finished the season superbly but had Villa not thrown it away… the year b4 it was us that choked, & Kolo Toure playin at RB… I’d love a world class striker to back up RvP NikB is adequate, at this level where he is he would be 3rd choice maybe 4th choice striker.. what would Arsene do with Barca’s squad…
Barca had basically there first choice back 4 out play in a league that only has 1 competitor my beloved Arsenal should have wiped the floor with them… we have a shot this year.. i hope we take it
My hat off to you good sir Matt and all the proper gooners that have been defending Arsene and his cause and the team.
Yes we could have beaten Barca, yes we could have been top of the league and yes we all want to feel like winners, but for how far this team has develped, for the moments of magic, for the fight they have shown, for me, they are already winners and the teams needs our support 100%.
On a side note, Matt, I hope you realise that there only 5 games remaining, 3 away and 2 at home (but I’d have loved to have one in hand 🙂 )
No doom from me. Maybe just a dose of reality. Like one wise drinker said we are currently the 4th best team in Europe (and let´s see if we can improve on that in the next few weeks!), so no disgrace.
Barça´s pressing was superb, which maybe made us look more careless than we were. Obviously Theo and Rosicky had poor games.
Add a few signings, let the team continue to grow and our place at the top of the pile will come….. we just played one of the best team´s in history.
Someone mentioned that Messi was lucky because the ball kept bouncing back to him. I am sure I am not the only one to watch most of Barça´s games, and this ALWAYS happens. No idea why, but clearly not luck! My guess is balance so that when everyone else is falling over (his 4th goal) then he is in a better position to react, and reading of the game so that it APPEARS to always just fall to him. Anyone got better ideas?
Time to go to work and face the music…..
@ 83: No it doesn’t matter just that others won’t respect your opinion nearly as much as you probably may be different and well informed than a small group who wait until we lose to even bother reading the blog and showering us with the same doom and gloom lines.
The one thing that does concern me a bit about our team is the poor movement off the ball and the unwillingness by some of our midfield and attack to track back and cover/win back possession when it is lost. Yes, Barca have outstanding individuals – and one in particular – but the thing that impresses me most about them is how hard they work as a team and how much effort they put into winning the ball back on the odd occasion it is lost. A lesson not lost on AW I’m sure.
Clichy was outstanding and our MOTM in my opinion. Denilson has been criticised but he was one of our players who protected the ball when he had it and didn’t give it away cheaply. Barca had a plan for Theo and it worked! Rosicky and Diaby had nightmares and obviously need more games.
Will new players arrive in the summer? I predict a centre forward/striker and a centre back with an outside chance of a ball winning midfielder.
It is funny how everyone goes on saying ” we need 5 top quality players next year” we need to buy quality, and lots of it bla, bla, bla.
Honestly how many top top players you think you will get gor 45M? Liverpool last year spent 17 on Johnson and 20M on Aquillani. I mean look at the numbers and look at the players! If you want to bring 5 top quality players to arsenal next summer you would need far more cash than 45M. Look at Smalling! he went for 12M! An unproven CB for 12M! Well im thinking we need to splash 15M atleast for a good CB and then 15M atleast for a good DM, that leaves us with 15M for a decent goalie. Oh no i forgot the two other top players we need.
I think realistically if Arsenal want quality they cnnot buy more than top 3 players as good quality cost money.
We already got the 15M players, we got our Nasris, our ARsharvins our Vermaalens. What we need is the outstanding players that can turn us from good to best. They do not come cheap.
Let me add, what we need is the Rios the Rooneys and the Torreses in the world. We all know the two first were 30M each and the latter was 20m? If you use 30 or 20M of a transfarekitty of 45M for one player and you still need 4 more, that will take the quality of the last four down more than one notch would it not?
First time poster but I have been reading this blog for ages! Nice mature comments all the way!
Anyway, we lost because we played with only 7 players. 4 didn’t turn up. E.g Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby and Silvestre. To be honest I don’t buy the argument that Barca were better. We just failed to turn up! They had a weaker defence, they could be opened up more with split centre passes for Walcott to use his speed to rattle them, we could have marked tigher in the middle, make them commit fouls too etc! To me Barca aren’t all that and Chelsea has shown how to contain them and reverse the fear. I honestly think Merida would have had a good game in the middle compared to Nasri or Rosicky! We just rolled over for them to rip us a new one!
It is a reflection of a manager who is mentally weak and refuses to instil the balls of steel into his players. I wonder if Diaby, Nasri or Walcott were playing for Chelsea or Inter that they will be this weak mentally and physically?
My thoughts from a drunken haze this morning,
For those blaming Silvestre Yes hes not good enough and yes we should have brought proper cover but last night wasnt down to him as suc,h how can anyone expect a player to be on the outside looking in for the best part of a season with the odd half here and there before getting yanked of to derison, to then suddenly have to come in and perform to a high standard against the best in the world knowing full well your manager dosent even trust you, Poor sod had no chance and besides he done no worse than TV last night.
The problems run deeper than a new centrehalf and a few injuries the clubs whole ethos towards defending needs to change dramatically, we are not to put to finer point on it an absolute shambles when we havent got the ball and some of the goals we concede with or without our first choice centrebacks are laughable the under 10s on a sat would shake there heads at 3 of the goals we gave away to Barca with simple balls over the top of a totally un organised back 4, We have bar 1-2 players absolutley no leaders or talkers in the squad add to that fact our midfield offer the back 4 no sort of sustained protection when under pressure (look at the space afforded to Messi in between midfield and defence last night and the same for drogba at home this year)and it all adds up to heavy defeats against very good sides, We will always beat mid to lower sides as we always have the greater percent of possesion so dont really ever come under pressure but against the top teams we will always struggle,
Also for those lauding our spirit and grit last night they really need a reality check half the side didnt turn up and were a poor imitation of previous Arsenal sides Yes Barca were better than us but we could certainly have matched them for workrate and heart and that is the saddest thing we didnt,
Anyways no shame in getting dumped by the best side in the comp and a whole lot less mentally scarring than being hammered by the mancs last year good that one did hurt!! Just hope the players can rouse themselves for next wednesday and the 4 games remaining after that as it would be a shame if they let the hard work go to waste now,
Up The Arse,
A far classier report than I could have managed ‘Holic
OK, I’ve had a fairly good nights sleep and time to reflect and I cannot change my opinion, I hate whenever Eboue dived and like the Barca fan above I am ashamed of any Arsenal player doing it, Andy Gray was even lauding them for knowing how to “play” that part of the game and I find it distressing that football is getting less about football and more about how much you can con the officials.
On to our own performance and even Wenger has come out and said we were poor, If its good enough for him then its good enough for me.
I actually have not criticised Mikael simply because he was on a hiding to nothing.
But Tomas and Theo and Vas were awful, A fair few agree and that is good because it is honest.
Clichy was way way better than we could have imagined and as someone else said, if the entire team had shown that much fight we would have been winners.
My biggest complaint is not that we lost, losing to Barca really was not unexpected, but the manner of defeat was, We showed very little desire or belief that victory was possible (Clichy & Denilson aside) We pressed well for the first twenty minutes forcing mistake after mistake from them, but for some reason after we scored we lost focus and never regained it.
I am a more doom laden Arsenal fan simply because the problems have been there for all to see for many years now, Ever since we lost our main Physio Gary Lewin, We have been an injury plagued side, I’m sure it is merely coincidence but we really do get more injuries season on season, We do have a fantastic side and when fully fit I maintain we ARE the best attacking side in world football.
But can anyone recall the last time we actually had a fully fit first eleven, Our real first eleven, Anyone?
I’m genuinely not an Arsene basher, I love the guy for what he has done to Arsenal, but there are just too many things going wrong season after season that as the man in charge he should have found solutions by now, I’m not going to kneejerk over react and say Wenger out, Simply because even a top four finish with a side as heavily depleted as ours is nothing short of miraculous.
Can you imagine any other side in the world with an injury list like ours even coming as far as we did in the CL?
The equivilant woul have been Barca losing Messi, Two top class defenders, two top class midfielders, and all of their top class strikers.
So yes I am bitterly disappointed at our performance, but it will never stop me supporting the gunners and daring to dream winning the PL is still possible, Because it is!!
I cannot credit the entire team last night for the game.
But to those who played with heart and passion the fans will reward it threefold and fans support can carry the boys a lot further than you would think.
I just got into work, Oh Dear….
My head hurts, the boss aint happy but hey I watched the best team in the world take us apart and I would rather Barca than any other team to do it. I hope they go all the way and win it. Man U will be knocked out tonight as well.
I do have to say that we tried our best and as Matt mentioned even if we would have been 0:2 up we would still loose this one.
You have to give to Guardiola (sorry for spelling mistakes) but he got his tactics spot on and that was clearly to be seen. They atatcked us in the first leg and then prodded using Messi’s silky skills. If Barca loose Messi they will loose all the trophies with him.
The way they pass the ball in the midfield is untrue, we chased and chased but we just coudn’t get the ball of them, I don’t think you can beat Barca the way we played. Man to man marking is an idea to a certain extent but how far do you take it? Tactics and once again tactics. We have few years to go to match Barca in any way we clearly saw everything last night.
Ref was a bit of a cock you have to say Denilson should have never been booked but it doesn’t matter, also they way the play acted on some of those challanges well, they all do it, even ours sometimes.
Anyway, lessons to be learnt but I’m still standing as a prog GOONER!
Apologies….
I’m still standing as a proud GOONER….!!!
I don’t think the press have spoke enough about a few players. Like Rosicky. No lung-busting effort, 110% attitude. It was so poor from the likes of him. He’s going to regret yesterday when he’s playing for some low league eurotrash. He may never play at the Nou Camp again at he wasted it by a lazy game. I think it should be his only game there as plenty say we need to buy but I do think we need to sell the expendables, unfortunatley for Tom, he is.
Aran
I don’t agree with you Rosicky was shut dows as soon as he was on the ball, the same goes for all of our players.
I recall three on them chasing Rosicky in the middle with no pass available. It’s rather silly and unfair just to blame him now for everything.
I think this is now a time for a bit of perspective. I do not think we should make the mistake of using Barca as our barometer. I do not think we will come up against the likes of them again this season. Take Messi out of that side and of course they are still top drawer. But you can not tell me the result would have been the same?
We still have the league to play for but I think we will all expect new faces in the summer regardless of how we end up. We all know where we need to strengthen but bringing the right players in to the club in todays climate is not as simple as it may sound.
And for all those who want to join the Wenger out mob I say just this. Be very very careful what you wish for. It may just come back and place the biggest bite mark on your arse that you may ever experience. After nights last night the grass may always appear greener. But we have no devine right to be the best in the world. We will continue to try and make that level. In my opinion we are one of the top 5 clubs in Europe. Let lesser teams scoff at that if they wish but beep down we all know they would tear their right arm of just to be close to that level.
Don’t panic and let’s keep the faith.
We learned today that Barcelona are better than us. Well, it’s not like we didn’t know it already.
P.S Not all of the ‘Generation Y’ fans are dolts as is the prevailing opinion here. I’m 18, just completed five years of Arsenal and enjoyed every minute of it. Will certainly continue for 50 more, if health (and Mayans) permit. Although sometimes I think that I’m unlucky for the gunners. No trophies since I started watching…
And could some of you please check out my blog (it doesn’t deserve to be called that, but still) and comment/criticize? Not you ‘holic, I don’t deserve your presence.
I have read with keen interest comments on various sites and people always tend to take extreme positions, either by calling Barca diving cheats or simply calling our Youth Project a failure that should be abandoned with the speed of light. Its easy to jump on any of these band wagons and either be blinded by quest for “Bragging Rights” without the thoughts of the club’s future or take the simplistic approach of blaming the Ref and the Diving Barca. Am not one to be ungracious in defeat, we were beaten over two legs by a better team and Arsene himself acknowledged that and stated quite obviously that Barca’s youth set up is !0 years ahead of our. Barca has taken a different route to ours by investing in Youth and Spending Heavily too; Zlatan, Alves, Toure, Henry, Eto, Keita and a number of others. We have decided to take a different route which I truly believe in and am sure will dominate the World in a couple of years if they are kept together. Injuries have been more cruel to us, more than any other team in the last few years and a solution needs to be found.
Supporting AFC is not for the faint hearted as we will continue to suffer defeats such as last night’s until the boys mature.
Let’s get behind our team irrespective of what we may think of them. The EPL is still there for the taking.
It would be nice if we could adopt Barca’s work ethics and the way they pressed and earned the right to play by always trying to retrieve the ball.
We are The ARSENAL!!!!!!
‘holic……I’m fed up of beginning with “great opening comments ‘holics’ but the truth is I feel no different. Your comments give a very balanced overview of last nights proceedings. I haven’t read all the comments from those in the bar but here’s my view.
Arsenal were well beaten by a better team….a team, who at their helm, just happen to have the best player in the world bar none. A gifted individual who is capable of unlocking the very best of the best defences. Congratulations to Barcelona!
Hopefully yesterday has been a sage lesson for all those involved (and yes, there were a few who, unfortunately for us, could have been a lot more involved on the pitch). Perhaps more importantly, Arsene has learnt a few lessons, which we all know he is intelligent enough to feed into the future development of our club….of which I am so proud to be associated. We are very much in our ascendency.
One small observation that I shared with a few drinking partners down at my local last night. What do you think would have been the score had we an attacking sensation in the form of Messi? Say we had a Torres? Say we had a David Villa? Say Marouane Chamakh [hopefully] delivers on the promise suggested?
My point is, the scoreline would have been a whole lot different and it would have been so much more difficult to separate the merits of the two teams.
Wenger is made of strong stuff. This team is improving. Enough has been said about our injuries. Let’s dust ourselves off and look ahead. Although slim, there is still enough to play for in the league.
Keep on believing 🙂
@ coolsteve 99.
I applaud your comments (which I didn’t see till after I posted mine).
I completely agree.
don,
One small observation that I shared with a few drinking partners down at my local last night. What do you think would have been the score had we an attacking sensation in the form of Messi? Say we had a Torres? Say we had a David Villa? Say Marouane Chamakh [hopefully] delivers on the promise suggested?
I Like the sentiments but we will not win the big games untill we learn to defend as a unit, we could have pele up front but we would still give away silly goals that would cost us,
@ Chippy 102…..
Yes, I see your point. Which I had given thought to. Because of the strength of Barca’s attacking line up, plus their possessional superiority, their 2nd string central defensive partnership was largely untroubled. In other words, they took the pressure right of them…..by starving us of opportunities.
I think Arsenal are capable of doing the same. I also think (and we would probably all agree) that sort of approach is at the heart of Arsene Wenger’s playing philosophy.
Nevertheless, it would have been interesting what would have happened had those same (few) opportunities been presented to higher quality attackers……is my point!
NB. Liam Brady is still my all time favourite Arsenal player.
Great sobering post ‘holic. I think most people have mentioned the defense, so that’s what we need to focus on improving in the summer. That and reduce the injury problems and we should be alright (easier said than done). Still, very disappointed.
don,
I agree Id love to see a clinical fast forward up top and he would make a massive difference and wed have defo stuck 1 or 2 more past them the only problem being if we got 4 i sense theyd have just turned it on again and got 5 🙂 They gave up in the second half and seemed content to just keep us at bay without wasting to much energy what with the game theyve coming up, Just hoping they go on and finish the job as they are a joy to watch !!
He wasnt bad mate was he, Id love to see him light up the modern game hopefully young Jack can go on to emulate him and his famous left peg 😉
estrella please. Paella time here. And rain. Wtnm. Thank you mr ‘holic
The other point of interest for me is in what we mean when we say ‘2nd choice defence’.
Both defences were far from full strength on the night, but while Barca could bring in a centre-back who cost £14million three years ago (Gabriel Milito), Wenger was forced to field Mikael Silvestre, experienced but nearing his expiry date (£750k circa 18 months ago). Other absentees such as William Gallas and Alex Song were also missed most across the defensive holding line.
Arsenal were seriously understrength, which weakened our ability to get hold of the ball. Wenger most certainly would have known that.
What will be done about it, over the transfer window, remains to be seen. I personally expect more of the same, i.e., conservative spending, maybe one or two signings, growth from within.
We are defensively very fragile and it those defensive fragilities that have cost us the tie. We have paid 6m for that agent from old trafford and what has he given us in return? Nothing absolutely nothing. and if we dont buy 2 quality cbs our defensive fraglities will be xposed even more!
Well I tried to send something off this morning…shortly after the ignominy of seeing AW’s dream demolished…bit of finger trouble Back home now after a hard day at the grindstone (in Aust), my views are now more crystallised.
We were complete rubbish and in my view an embarassment (how do you spell that..how embarassing). I have read many of the posts and there are a wide range of comments. With the help of several rather comforting Cognacs to help me through what has been a tough but in the end enlightening day, I feel emboldened to give a few opinions…with total understanding that I may interest no one, inflame a few but at least go to bed feeling I’ve got something off my chest…after supporting AFC since 1956..I feel more depressed than I can almost ever recall….and yes I remember Wiliie Young, Lee Chapman, Jim Furnell, Bobby Gould, ian Ure et al
In my view the reign of AW should now be brought to a graceful end. His great experiment is over. We all recognise the talents of Messi but perhaps the basic ability to defend and goalkeep might not go astray as far as our current contingent is concerned…In the not so distant past, AW inherited perhaps one of the best defences of recent time…Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bould/Keown, Winterburn. Obstinate man that he is, he thought and still thinks that we really don’t need to defend because we have such an overwhelming ability to attack. That theory has been brought to a grinding halt this season (again) by Manure , Chelski and more recently by the impressive but surely not divine Barcelona…
Notwithstanding the injuries that we (and all teams suffer) lets do a little comparison about some of the present squad and perhaps unfairly(?) rate them against others that we have seen under AW’s tutelage…For the sake of the argument lets leave the defence alone…i think the evidence is clear…
Walcott or Ljunberg….Vieira or Song…Denilson or Petit…Bergkamp or (well who…Diaby/Nasri/Rosicky)…Henry or Bendtner/Eduardo…RvP..maybe…Fabregas/Pires (both would be best)..haven’t included the likes of Parlour/Anelka/Overmars…Its actually a bit sad to see how much we have regressed over recent years…is it the new stadium, the directors, or AW…will we ever really know?
Just my opinion after more than a few…but its worth some thought…Under the present regime I see more of what we have…4th place in th EPL and Qtr finals of the CL…is that what we want…seems to be ok to many…not to me…time to move on.
Thanks Arsene…au revoir mate…you done good but its all over red rover ( But i know it actually won’t happen because the Board are too deeply enamoured…fat and rich helps, of course)…think about the options if we had the likes of Hiddink, Guardiola, (yes even) Mourinho…have you heard of a guy called Pim Verbeek…done a good job Downunder…he at least understands things such as – Goalkeeper, defender, defence
Anyway thanks for anyone whose interested…sweet dream ‘holic…by the heck, we all need some help tonite!!
‘ feel more depressed than I can almost ever recall….and yes I remember Wiliie Young, Lee Chapman, Jim Furnell, Bobby Gould, ian Ure et al’
You think this crop (a team that’s three points off the top in April, with a shot at the title still, and who have come from 9-11 points behind twice this season) is worse than all that lot?
‘In my view the reign of AW should now be brought to a graceful end. His great experiment is over.’
That’s your opinion. Thankfully the board have a bit more common sense.
Malcom,
I agree with most segments of your post but personally i still think that Wenger is the man to lead us but he must see sense and buy in the players that we have so badly needed for 2 seasons +, We are not that far away but will only reach where we want to go with more high quality players, the lot we have at the mo are just not good enough at the top table and noone not even he can surely dispute that now,
And WTF Were we doing playing in white last night not only did we play like The Scum we actually looked like em !!
We have often heard this season that the only reason that Arsenal are still in with a shout in the Premier League is because ManU and Chelsea are somehow failing this season – but I don’t really buy that. This is the current top-three:
Chelsea 74
ManU 72
Arsenal 71
…and then, looking at the top-three from last season with five games to play:
ManU 77
Liverpool 71
Chelsea 68
ManU are five points worse, while Chelsea are six points better off. The only team of those three at the top last year to make it into this year’s top three is ManU, and Arsenal with our 71 points and +41 goal difference would have been in second place a year ago.
I think this team has most definitely moved forward. We’re obviously not at all the finished article yet, but if you can’t see the progress we’ve made from last season you’d have to be rather blind.
Barca were the better team, no doubt about that. Messi was magic, and it is NOT down to luck to always find those rebounds and deflected balls at his feet. He just reads the game extremely well and simply positions himself where he’ll be in a good position should the ball end up there and he is also very, very quick to react. When he is on fire like last night, there are few if any defences that can stop him. One small mistake on your part is all it takes for him to punish you.
And I also can’t understand how people who want to sell players left and right are thinking. And what’s even more puzzling, it is almost always the same people saying that we have no depth that wants to sell every other player. Since coming back from his injury, Bendtner has scored two injury-time winners, he won us the penalty at Stoke, set up several goals, scored a hat trick v Porto etc etc. He has eight goals and a bunch of assists since coming back – and this is a guy some “supporters” can’t wait to get rid of?!?
We need to strengthen the squad, yes. But the way to do that is to keep the players we have and ADD quality players to the squad, not by selling every player who isn’t a dead cert for a starting eleven with all our players available. Because guess what? There are by definition only eleven such players in any given squad.
Malcolm….interesting points!
Each to their own view chap……life’s rich tapestry and all that.
Strange that most of that team of former stars ‘inherited’ by Wenger actually flourished under his tutelage, before which they had struggled to make any real impact or deliver on their early promise. Or was that down to someone else?
I personally prefer to see our current staus as a ‘work in progress’, given the stadium move and the fluctuating economic financial conditions previaling over football. We only need point to the precarious future overlooking Chelsea, Liverpool, even Manchester United, plus other Premier division sides. These things cannot be ignored.
Afternoon Holic & Holic`s
In the cold light of day I always look for the regulars posts like Matt, Steve T,BTM,8 Ball, Pires is king and Arthur and many more to put my rants back into prospective and I think Matt you have done it again.
The frustration of last night may of gotten to me a little too much, and after reading Matts post I thought my post was too harsh on the team. When we look at the team we fielded compared to what may have been if players such as Cesc & Van Persie were available. It was a make shift team, a B team if you will who in the league and CL have performed above and beyond expectations of myself and many others.
I was disappointed in 2 players mainly but as said before lack of matches and injuries have hampered there return to full fitness and match sharpness if that is a word.
The calling of Arsene`s job into question is just plain wrong. I was one of the idiots who came on this blog calling for players to be brought and pointing fingers and after reading the regular posts along with the class writing of Holic I changed my mind and agreed with most of the views put across because they were right.
Arsene has transformed this this club into a football club you are so proud to be a supporter and part of. With his dealings in the transfer market have been nothing less than a miracle with minimal out lay with maximum return. When you look around at our new surroundings at the Emirates just remember a hell of alot of that can be attributed to our manager.
We are still in debt but we have made a massive dent in that also. Do not believe what the media claim when they say we have 40-50 million to spend, that’s rubbish. If we don’t buy anyone in the summer I will understand why, but like all of you on here I would like to see a couple of new faces, who doesn’t like their club buying new players. More competition can only be a good thing in the development of young players. Plus we are not a club to pay 15m for a player who is no better than what we currently have, and as for the statements that we must get 3 or 4 players in the summer just wont happen unless the boss pulls another rabbit out of his already amazing hat.
So a nice rest for the lads before facing the scum next week.
Gooner til I die.
I believe
What’s interesting, ’71, is there may well be some money around this summer. It looks on the face of it as though we have slowly extricated ouselves from future commitments to Queensland Road, although we need clarification on that. If so there is definitely cash in the business that could be used to strengthen the squad. Arsene’s hand may be forced on which positions to strengthen if Gallas, Campbell,and Silvestre all move out, however. Don’t get too excited yet, but get those fingers crossed.
Great stuff as ever ‘holic.
Some of your luvvies like a long post don’t they?
KEEP in my mind… barca won nothing for 6 years!!
http://legendaire.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/barcelona-won-nothing-for-6-years/
Holic i hope we can bring in a few new faces we would all like to see that and your right his hand may have to be played down to total lack of first team defenders. And if most of the burden of Queensland rd is lifted it should have a positive cash injection heading Arsenes way. Fingers crossed in anticipation.
Hmmm….
Wenger seems to be generally of the same opinion (that new playing staff may well be required)….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7560510/Barcelona-v-Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger-admits-he-must-add-to-squad-after-mauling.html
“If it aint broke…”
Not too much wrong with current Arsenal side
Too many injuries have shorn us of class acts – RVP, Fabregas, Arshavin, Song etc
Alumunia and Fab not good enough. Akinfeev and Syzchney!!
Vito = number three GK
Djourou will be back next year and will form half of the best central defensive pair in the prem. No question.
Midfield is sound if we can keep Fabregas another year – Nasri, rosicky (although Tom didnot play his best last night) Merida, wilshere – Pick any two or three- are an awesome combination of attacking midfielders
Diaby and Song – will be the best defensive midfielders in the league – maybe we could do with one more as Denilson is a bit lightweight (Imo)
Upfront RVP and Bendtner are brill – just need to play a whole season for a change – Maybe we need to ship two out – Vela and dudu and get two in Chamakh and D. Villa
Job done
Anymore advice needed Arsene – give me a call!!!
kevnal
Well put my man but somehow i think getting rid off Vela and Eduardo is just plain silly. Vela would do well on loan in Championship or EPL as for Dudu he is still coming back to his best he will be a better player next season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91dg8bViklA&feature=related
Just to cheer you up people…!!
Well I am VERY proud to be a fan of the ARSENAL!
We went to the home the best and wealthiest club in the world who happen to have the best player at the moment on the side. We went without five of our best players (Gallas,Song,Cesc,Arshavin,Van Persie)
and yet showed no fear, we tried to play our game the way we always try.
I know of no other side that would do this. So yes I am very proud to be a fan of the ARSENAL and kudos for that to AW and everyone of our players who went on that pitch last night.
ARSENAL FOR EVER!
Very high quality thread today, thanks to all who have posted their views.
`Holic you’ve made it, your blog has definitively attracted the best community there is around Arsenal. We can’t thank you enough for that.
@Don/119: This is a great article. Obviously Arsene and Guardiola have a lot of respect for each other. I love that quote from Arsene: “Messi made the impossible possible”
If there’s anything I have no interest in, it’s the “Wenger Out!” brigade. Look at our financial situation compared to our peer clubs and try to tell me we aren’t better positioned in the long haul. Be patient, people. I understand that it hurts to watch the club lose, and that success is something we all want for the boys, but your ONLY interest in supporting a club is trophies and bragging rights, I’m sure the United “faithful” would be happy to take you.
I take a lot of pride in the way the club is run, and if that means we might have to be a bit more patient than some clubs with less sustainable business models, so be it. As for Arsene…well, no manager in the world cares about their club and their players the way he does, and he’s a hell of a manager. Maybe I’m insane, but I’d rather see five more trophy-less years than see him treated like dirt, and forced out unceremoniously.
Excellent analysis ‘Holic.
Despite being stunned by the Messi show, I too was proud of our boys last night. 5 of our best (or even our 5 best players) out and the 5th choice centre back in the team and we were by no means disgraced at the Camp Nou. We gave it a real go and on another day with half our absentees fit, it might have been a different story.
Now we need to get some of our crocks fit so that we can have a real go at the Premiership. Nothing better than a win over the scum to lift our spirits.
No doubt we’ll see some changes in the summer, meantime we need to get behind this squad who have carried the torch despite our catalogue of injuries. Come on you redzzzzzzzzz!
Holic,
Ive never felt more like singing the blues when The Arsenal win and the Tottenham lose,
Lets hope that little ditty will be sang loud and proud next wednesday night, Reckon the Pc nuts might cut out the next verse tho 😉
Hi Holics.
A night’s sleep and I awoke absolutely brimming with pride to be an Arsenal fan. Is it me or are Guardiola and Barca players the only other people on the planet not at this bar who recognize Arsenal’s skill, strength, and potential. Sorry to bring in the hypothetical, but had Bendtner’s header been hit 4 inches to the left, Diaby made the right pass, and/or Silvestre’s unfortunate deflection had not been the perfect one-two for Messi, I think many people would be tooting a different horn. I know what if’s are barely useful for discussion, but these are my two cents.
Also have to appreciate the article (can’t find it now) which reminded everyone that between 1999-2005, Barca won nothing. As a club they didn’t think of quitting or crying and whipping their players. They just built on their quality and emerged as the best playing team currently in the world. If anyone truly thinks being a Man U, Chelsea, Inter, or Real fan is more rewarding, then you see a different game then I. Some of the goals we’ve conceded this year have been heart-wrenching, excruciatingly painful, and infuriating. Daggers through the heart. Our injuries- as Matt pointed out- have been practically unbelievable as well. How that translates to any one of the hundreds of slanderous comments about the Arsenal I have no fucking clue.
Not trying to avoid the problem areas here, or that some players didn’t shine (I for one was really disappointed Tomas and Abou didn’t have bigger games)- but for fuck’s sake, I think we are the absolute luckiest fans on earth to have a club like the Arsenal, with our manager and style and competitiveness, and yes, soon, trophies as well.
A salute to the Gunners, and those of us who fucking love this club without caveat or delusion!
loving the football manager 2010 signings being thrown around
keep theeeeee faithhhhhhhh or go support sp*rs instead
jameson please holic
Do you reckon a man marker on Messi would have made a difference? I suspect it would have.
The last time Wenger abandoned his attacking principles was in the FA Cup final 2005. We played dire, and defended all game, but we won. And how sweet was that day in Cardiff? Treacle sweet.
Maybe last night was a time to play with more discipline and try to neutralise the opposition. We’ll never know if it would have paid off.
Probably what irritated me the most today was reading Theo’s statements
“It is disappointing to go out after getting that early goal, but sometimes you just have to sit back and admire it, because it was fantastic,” said the England forward.
SHUT UP and start playing Theo! Do your talking on the pitch for once!
It doesn’t help us, but Bayern Munich have left me feeling a little better now at least.
3-0 and you fucked it up…
Time to stop looking back and realize the Spurs game is the biggie. Extreme biggie, that is.
I’ll admit I rarely agree with your take on things Sajit (not making you wrong mind ~ just different).
But in this case I agree completely. Theo’s comment/s today irritated me….a lot! I want to know he’s devastated. I want to know that he’s taken it personally like us fans.
Rightly or wrongly, I got the opposite impression. Like he isn’t really that bothered. Maybe I’m being unfair but I can’t help feeling that way.
What Theo could do is hire Robben for some one on one and finishing lessons… my goodness that was a winner.
By the way, Chamack did his part, eh? Might work nice with RVP. Bring in Lloris as well and let everyone fear the Arsenal!
Great post Holic. I am an avid reader but too lazy to post.
However, I read a lot of comments here and elsewhere taking about buying and I for one whole heartently disagree with this idea.
We have the necessary tools to win trophies and looking at how we are still challenging for the title with a decimated squad says everything.
Wenger has always said that consistency is the key and barring a few odd results against the top two we have been the most consistent in the premiership since march 09.
This loss to argueable the best team on the planet does not detract away from how we have played in the league.
For those who remember the “old” days also need to remember that even with the greats we never managed to go beyond the second round. We now have consistent presence in the qtrs and further, all the while challenging for the title.
Guardiola does not give praise that often but he took time to mention how he admires the approach Wenger has taken and the football we play.
Barcelona is the benchmark on the field; not in the boardroom. They are in serious, serious debt – read untold arsenal.
They possess the most gifted player around (next to fab of course) and it took real madrid to purchase two world players of the year to compete, but we went further in the CL.
If anything needs to change then AW should go back to the pressing game he deployed earlier in the season. The same game Barcelona uses. I think we are the fittest squad around and the youngest and see no reason why we cannot play the way we did in the first twenty mins of the last match; and with five starters missing.
Barcelona were surprised, but again they showed the way. They tracked back and regained possession. They pressed and regained momentum. I still believe Cesc would have dictated the paced and neutralized xavi.
After this match I had this feeling that we would be unbeatable in the league. It was not from the heart. I think this team climbed a barrier psychological this week.
Even with the odds stacked against them they persevered. It took a genius to carve us apart.
There are no such geniuses in the PL. There is complacency and unfortunately coming up against the likes of stoke, hull, bolton, Blackburn, wolves, does not prepare you for a footballing battle.
Imagine if we played Barcelona and Barcelona like teams week in week out how good our boys would be.
How many premiership teams give us a footballing battle. Even the mancs and chavs resort to the counterattacking game.
When you compete against the best it rubs off.
When you get hacked and bones are broken you lose part of yourself – literally.
Some excellent points, harry. While I find it a bit thin to assign lack of footballing competition to some of the complacency we’ve seen at times this season, you’re general perspective is refreshing. Thoughtful post. Cheers.
harry, great stuff. Don’t be a stranger.
Chamakh. Sorry, gotta work on that one.
Red nose coming up with excuses as usual, he branded them “Typical Germans’ when it came to that second yellow and righlty so it was the correct decision. Anyway they got what they deserved I suppose.
I like your outlook on this Harry really good write up! Unfortunately the media in England are too proud of English football they see the likes of Man U and Chelsea as the ultimate teams and never give us any credit. Even though Liverpool has had a really bad season they don’t have a go at them or laugh at them for that matter. The likes of Hull, Stoke, Bolton and the rest of them have to aquire the phisical game as they can’t match Arsenal’s creative and intelligent football and this really brings me to say that this is what English football is all about. A phisical game and hard tackles flying everywhere, no wonder England has not won a trophy on International for years now.
Holic and Friends
Introspection Over.!!!
Time to put Barca and CL dream to bed.
6 days,20 and 1/2 hrs till we kick off against our good friends down the road.
Refocus please.!!!
As written by Jimc in ArsenalInsider, the Champions League is for wimps, it’s the premiership we want.
I wish I had the time to reply to so many intelligent comments but I have a life so please forgive me for my minimal service.
@Stel: That’s the spirit, keep it up! The top 4 bit is bull though 😉
@ SteveT: I’m with you but I need to address some unsanswered points so I’ll keep lingering on the Barca game for this comment only.
@Arsenal 1971: Somehow your venting resonated with me. I admit I was lucky to watch it with neutrals, it helped me put the game in perspective. I would have been much more critical if my attention had not been called on Messi. I went through the painful exercise of watching the game again and in the end only 4 players did perform once you do some close examination. Here’s how I see it now:
Good:
– The wingbacks: they couldn’t be more different, Clichy is back to form and true to the “Class is permanent but form temporary”saying. Sagna is less offensive but then no attack can come off his side. Both would be first-choice in any team in the world.
– Bendtner: He’s a great player in the making. He had two clear opportunities, one he buried and one where he should have shot instead of trying to control the ball. If you remember well that was what RvP focused last season, not trying to control but take his chance with a reflex shoot instead. RvP is more technical but NB52 has the vista, he has more opportunities because he has the instinct that leads him to position himself better. That’s why I’m ambivalent about Chamakh as I do not want him to prevent NB52 from becoming the monster I believe he’s about to become.
– Denilson: With the wingbacks he’s the only player who I think Guardiola would consider adding to his team. He’s all about possession football, he never gives the ball always cheaply and gets the ball back more than anyone else with his timely interceptions. He reminds me of Makelele, always coming away with the ball when tangling with an opposition player but with more intent in his passes. And this is the only player that positions himself to be always available for a pass.
Meh:
Walcott: it’s easy to fault the lad but he never got a proper ball and had to come back so deep to defend he could never take advantage of his speed.
Nasri: he spent too much time defending. If Song had been included he could have shone but having to press to hard we never got to see what he is capable of.
The 2 defenders. They did not perform as bad as it seems. Messi was simply too good.
Poor:
Diaby and Rosicky could not keep the ball. I’m of the opinion they lost us the game. Don’t want to pounce on the guys, Diaby in particular had a great season. People are not robots, but still…
As for the keeper, I understand that Arsene had to give him the armband and make him feel supported for this game and the end of the season. That said if I were Arsene I would gladly spend 20 mils to get Lloris who’s the only reason Lyon qualified ahead of Bordeaux. He is to goalkeeping what Messi is to attacking. I’ve never doubted Arsene’s policy of not breaking the bank but for that guy.
One thing mentioned earlier in the season about our squad and particularly Sagna is that I would love to see him at CB and believe he can be world class there. Sagna has good pace but not the particular attacking prowress or passing vision which instills fear into opponents when he attacks going forward such as a Maicon. I know he already is class at RB, but his positioning, strenght, and tackling ability at cb could be massive. although he is not the tallest he is a he’ll of athlete too when jumping. a little off topic, but just a thought.
I read the other day that we are looking at Ballotelli after he refused a new contract at inter, and he is French I believe. most likely a bull shit source, but interesting and talented young prospect either way.
Just for a little light relief….
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Carlos-Vela-dumped-from-Arsenal-s-Champions-League-side-in-Barcelona-after-losing-passport-exclusive-article384181.html
Anyone else get the feeling his time might be running out??
Catalan Gooner
I know things like these happen but what a pillock!
Vela has not really made any progress to be honest with you, his trips to Mexico usually leaves him injured all the time.
Then again it would be very weird if we would sell him. First of all we invested in him highly, moved him to Spain and paid his wages for two seasons if I’m not mistaken. He finished last season on the high but we have’t seen much of him this term. Like I have mentioned above his trips are leaving him injured when he gets back so to me either loan him for a season so he gets playing time and more experience or start playing him if we don’t want to lose him.
Theres plenty of rumours doing the rounds that Vela also likes to party a little to hard !!
Shame as there is a very very good player bursting to come out but as arthur says he forever seems to be with the mexico squad and when he does come back hes always picked up an injury, Good shout a loan spell send him away from the bright lights and get some regular football into him in a tough climate as i say i really think the boy can play !!
Partying too hard? That wouldn’t surprise me. You should hear the stories of Ronaldhino over here!
Reminds me of Reyes when he complained that London was boring. Son; you’re 21, a good looking lad, loaded and a famous footballer. If you can’t find anything to do in London then you have no imagination!
Vela’s been a big disappointment. He looked so promising on his outings in the Carling Cup before this season but his progression really has ground to a halt over the last 12 months. I hope it’s not because he’s too much of a party boy off the field, that would be a real waste. The lost passport story sounds shambolic, missing a trip to Barcelona over something so stupid. Hopefully AW has read him the riot act. Maybe in hindsight it would have been better to have packed him off on a 12 month loan this season to someone like Birmingham or Bolton, to get him more games and to toughen him up. It’s not difficult to see him being moved on this summer.
I see we are being linked with Rodwell this morning, he’d be a brilliant signing but with Man Utd and Chelsea also coveting him, and Everton surely holding out for £25m+, our chances of signing him are next to nothing. Will be interesting to see who AW brings in though, he usually does his business before the major tournaments commence.
It would certainly make sense to do the business before World Cup.
Any player who preforms well in the tournament will have his price tag doubled by the end of it.
we got schooled – but we got shown EXACTLY how to play the game – they out arsenaled us. Now we just do what Barca did to us to other side in the last games in the PL… tough lesson but!
Pretty much all of my feelings are expressed somewhere above in this bouyant collection of posts.
The only thing I can add is that I hate it, just fekking HATE it, when we lose, I don’t care who to or how good they are, it just ruins everything.
Yesterday was a write off due to this.
Today is a little better because Man U lost 🙂
Friday starts the build up to the battle of WHL, can’t wait to relegate that lot to 5 th spot or maybe even lower HA ha
Good stuff holic
Mark block 5 row 5
Three Point Lane here we come.
Come on you REDS!
Great post Harry. However, I don’t understand where this comes from:
“Barcelona is the benchmark on the field; not in the boardroom. They are in serious, serious debt”
This is the first time I’m seeing such a statement about Barcelona. Any proof, reference or source? I couldn’t find their financial statements for 2008 but in 2007, they looked far more solvent than Arsenal.
From what I know they are one of the richest footballing establishments in the world and heavy very strong ties to their community. I doubt that debt is a factor here. Plus, they form of ownership would be something, I think, we would admire.
You were spot on about everything else though. They are the worlds greatest team but it took them the genius of Messi to get through a make-shift Arsenal defence. The future looks brilliant for us and by all accounts, this season has been a wonderful one. Any trophy would be a bonus and more than anything, I want us to win something for the boys. They deserve it.
Oh dear, many apologies for the spelling errors… *shudders*
It makes me laugh when I hear some many people on this site talk about how well we played and are angry with the sensible ones who says that our team is not good enough to win anything. to people like Joe, do you realise how mcuh damage your attitude is doing to the club? By giving the impresssion that everthing is alright you are sending out the wrong message to the decision makers, which is mediocrity is acceptable. A 4-1 drubbing is a terrible result and we should be saying so, not trying to find positives after such a result but instead be talking about the players we need to get to lift ourselves out of mediocrity. The problem with the club from the board to the manager and certain fans like the one i mentioned above, they don’t seem to want to address any problem if it means spending money, perhaps they think if they ignore it it will go away. Such fans are so sheep like that they get angry when others expresss a displeasure with the way things are going cause they think that would just encourage others to think like that. Well guess what your type of fan is fast becoming a minority in Arsenal but alas, not fast enough.
‘Well guess what your type of fan is fast becoming a minority in Arsenal but alas, not fast enough’
What rubbish. People here are the sensible ones, not flipping out after every bad result. The only place ‘fans’ like you are in a majority are in your own heads.
And virtually nobody here has said ‘we played well’, they’ve picked out players who acquitted themselves well, they’ve taken it on the chin, and they think we should learn lessons and move on.
Oh yeah, the fact we’re only three points off the top of the table and still have an outside shot at the title may have escaped you. Or maybe you’re confusing our position in the table with Liverpool’s.
@Charlie
You sound to me like all the other sycophants, in your minds Arsene could never do anything wrong. I think if you take the time to read some of the comments you will see that people are trying to find positives in the Barcelona defeat when there aint “none.And to say that expressing displeasure about a 4-1 beatingis flipping out” just shows how conditioned yohur mind has become to failure. NAME ME ANY CLUB THAT HAS ASPIRATIONS TO BE TOP OF THE PILE THAT WOULD PUT UP WITH 5 YEARS OF FAILURE AND MORE OVER REWARD THE MANAGRE FOR IT.
@Ivan (155)
Sid Lowe did a recent piece in The Guardian about the parlous state of Spanish football
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/28/barcelona-real-madrid-spain
“Last year, despite winning the treble, Barcelona made only €8.8m and have a debt of €350m.”
It is flipping out (not to mention unrealistic) to suggest we get rid of the manager, sell half a dozen players or that we buy half a football team this summer. It is also flipping out to start ranting in capital letters – oh, just like you’re doing now!
And newsflash – all clubs go through years where they don’t win stuff, the worst thing they can do is start going through managers and players like sweets. We’ve won games in the league this year that we would have never done last year (the game at Stoke being a case in point), we’ve come back from the dead twice in the title race, we’ve developed a pretty good ‘never give up’ attitude in many league games, so I see good progress this year, especially if we keep winning the remaining games. Yes, we’re out of the European Cup, yes we should have performed better, but we went out to one of the best club sides of the last decade or two without our four or five best players. Unlike, say, Liverpool, at least we’ll get another chance next year.
@Momoney
Answer: Barcelona. No trophies 99-05
I share your frustration with not winning. But don’t agree that makes me a sycophant if I support Wenger (NOT all his decisions – I think we all have opinions). Different opinion – no worries. Getting personal about it – not necessary. We all support the same team….
No doubt there will be changes in the summer, but for now let’s get behind those that we have….
Whatever you say about the man, at least he isn’t a friggin racist/nationalist like Fergie.
I guess he’s typical French
Also – how long did Fergie go at Manure before winning anything? I stand to be corrected, but think it was about 5 years.
I reckon they’re glad that they stayed with the plan!
Wenger can frustrate the hell out of me, but I support him overall, and don’t see being 3 points off the top as being cause for sacking. After all – was it him that broke the legs of Nasri, Ramsey and Cesc? Did he mangle RVP’s ligaments?
@Catalan Gunner: Sir Rednose was appointed manager in 1986 and until they won the league in the 1992/1993 season all they won was one FA Cup, which they won in the 1989/1990 season.
..picture me standing in a corrected manner!
Catalan, you were only off by one year and you said “about 5 years” so technically I’d say you were right 🙂
@momoney: Thanks a lot for the laugh.
Couldn’t wish for a more blatant example of a johnny-come-lately glory hunter, all the traits are in display: the insults, writing in caps, the overblown whining every time we lose a game, the total lack of support for the team when we’re in the race for the title.
If a season likes this one puts you in such a rage you’re in for a life of disappointment as a supporter.
As for the “minority” bit the likes of you are jumping ship in drove so us poor sheep can get back to supporting our team.
Good luck supporting Merc Citeh!
I usually post under momoney and I’d like to state fir the record that this is a different momoney. Think I’ll change m name
now though
Well its over. Message to Wenger.. Fabregas made fool of himself a few years back. Now bringing Campbell to the spiritual home of the Lillywhites. These are Big Mistakes. it was a Great goal by the young lad, yet Almunia proved to us all he is a liability (thank you) Bale scoring was a joy and that was also another hoo doo put to bed. I unfortunately have to wish you luck against City.
Season over lads. Question .. win against Pompey and another trip to Wembley (can your remember what that is like) or Beating you lot.. No brainer!! COYS..