Arsenal vs Celta Vigo *may contain scores

jank

so its back to champ league action, are arsenal too strong for them or is the european duck going to continue for the gunners

cole and gilberto out but clichy and edu to play instead so no real worries there

reyes will play some part imo being from spain and all
there will be goals too
think arsenal will win with edu and henry scoring in a 3-1 win

eirebhoy

Originally posted by jank
there will be goals too

Cheers. I was just going to ask you that.:D

I'll go for a 1-1 draw.

Pepe LeFrits

Dunno really, i'll go for a 1-1. Pires scorer.

Injures mean the team more or less picks itself;

..................Lehmann.................

Lauren........Toure.....Campbell....Clichy

Ljungberg.....Edu.......Vieira.......Pires

..............Reyes.....Henry.............

Wenger could possibly go for a Cygan/Campbell partnership as Cygan is quite suited to the CL, i doubt he'll break up the Toure/Campbell pairing though.

RasTa

Celta Vigo are about 16th in la liga at the moment

eirebhoy

Originally posted by RasTa
Celta Vigo are about 16th in la liga at the moment

As a lot of clubs have proven over the years, league form usually doesn't affect European form. Celta Vigo are unbeaten at home in the cl and they also beat Milan away.

afcdave

2 -1 to the Gunners, Pires & Reyes with the goals

kida

Celta Vigos current form is good - they have recently recovered a bit of form and started moving up the table.

Depends on whether its the Arsenal pre-Milan form or the post-Milan form. Arsenals memory of Europe seems to be the last 2 matches. Before that they were the laughing stock.

Teams in Europe don't fear them - they have not built up respect.

mr_angry

Celta's form is good??? You've been watching a different La Liga than me then, mate. Admittedly, they look slightly better under Raddy Antic, but they got beaten again at the weekend, and they looked a complete shambles.

Yes, their Champions League form has been good, but they only beat Milan becuase Milan put out a reserve side against them. Having had the misfortune to watch an entire Celta match a couple of weeks ago, I can honestly say that there isn't much for Arsenal to worry about. Mostovoy is a good player, but he's too easily marked out of a game. The wingers are very good too, but one of them is injured, and the other is in particularly bad form. Aside from that, they're rubbish.

2-0 to Arsenal.

ErinGoBrath

I can't see Arsenal losing tonights match.

Looking forward to seeing how Reyes responds to the CL pressure. Hopefully he's be more accustomed to that style of play.

2-0 Arsenal
Henry for both


:ninja:

afcdave

I dont argue the fact that Arsenal still have to prove themselves in Europe but this is surely the season to do it, their form in all competitions in the last 3/4 months has been outstanding. I dont see anyone betting on them losing any particular match

Pepe LeFrits

1-1 so far, Edu & Edu!

Tough half for Arsenal, Celta Vigo have fought very well in midfield and caused a fair few problems down the wings for Clichy & Lauren. Pires & Ljungberg have been peripheral and Henry & Reyes haven't been able to get into the game at all. Celta Vigo were a little bit better overall. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep up the midfield battle in the 2nd half, Vieira isn't really firing on all cylinders atm.

phenom

Celta Vigo are looking Strong and are really going for the attack.
Arsenal will have to defend alot this half. Ill Say it will be 2-1 to celta .

eirebhoy

Celta's keeper got some bang in the head. I don't know how playing a keeper with such a bad injury could be good for him and the team, surely a substitute keeper would be a lot sharper.

eirebhoy

2-2. Nice goal by Edu. I'd say the arsenal fans have never been happier about one of their first team players (Gilberto) being injured.:D

Johnny_the_fox

great goal by edu... tbh better than Henry's similar goal a few weeks back

Dustaz

watching it on the beeb website. Cant believe im missing it, looks like a great game. Damn work.

Pepe LeFrits

3-2 final score, superb combination between Henry & Pires with Pires slotting it past Cavellero. Arsenal finally break their Spanish duck, and look very good for the next round now.

Absolutely toss performance by Arsenal though, they were very lucky to get the win. Campbell & Toure were uncharacteristicly bumbling and nervous in defence, Lauren was shakey, Vieira was missing for most of the game, ditto Pires, Ljungberg was obviously not match fit and wasn't at the races at all. Reyes came into it a little in the 2nd half but it never really got going for him. Henry was very disappointing, he had none of his usual va-va-voom, whenever he got the ball in a 1 on 1 he was looking around for someone to pass to.

I thought it was quite ironic that Arsenal's two best players by far were 2 who wouldn't start if everyone was fit. Edu was virtually Arsenal's entire midfield, scored the first and scored a stunning second. Clichy was my man of the match, he was put under enormous pressure the entire game largely thanks to Pires being a lazy cunt and not helping him out at all, but bar once very early on, he coped with the Celta Vigo wingers superbly. Ashley Cole beware.

Very frustrating game to watch, Arsenal were so sloppy in passing and in closing down, and their defending from set pieces was absolutely brutal, Celta Vigo could have had oodles of goals. Celta Vigo worked hard but they seemed to lack quality... I can't see them coming back from the defeat at Highbury, they'll need to win by 2 goals and I don't think Arsenal will play so poorly again.

More relieved than pleased when the final whistle blew, very lucky escape.

Pacifico

Come on the gunners!:D

3-2 final.


Great goal by pires. Linked up well with Henry:D

James R

Poor performance by the Arse. Typical of them in the Champs League really. Also Wenger said before kick off that Edu would have started anyway had Gilberto been fit so I wouldn't say he wasn't meant to have played. The plan was to play Gilberto on the right and leave out Freddie!

I'm predicting Arsenal to lose their next game and will be putting a bet on it. Its very admirable to play bad and still lose but they've done terrible these past few weeks and the winning form can't go on!

jank

it was a very good game overall plenty of action but yes arsenal were kinda poor but they were worth the win
edu was outstanding and his second was brilliant!!
pires too had a good enough game imo
ljundberg not match fit so the only reason he was playing was because of injuries in midfield
henry too is looking average and we are coming inot the end of the season, hope he is not burnt out.
reyes had a poor first half but came more into it in the second and should have scored however he seems to link up well with henry in times which is encourging

clichy was outstanding, looks like another gem found by wenger and he is only 18 did very well against a much bigger edu. my MOM again

cant see celta vigo coming back to win it tbh but they cant be complacent either and put out a reserves team ala carling cup

onwards to charlton

Pepe LeFrits

I don't know how you can think Pires had a good game. He was absolutely bollocks... poor Clichy, if he wasn't such a beast at left back Celta would have run riot.

jank

yes and no he was ok like but wasnt as bad as everyone made out to be plus he went into the middle of the field alot and he did track back plus the goal wasnt bad either

Dustaz

Excellent write-up Mike, thanks

Pepe LeFrits

Incidently, if tonights performance doesn't win Edu a Brazil call-up at some stage i'll be very surprised... I can't see Gilberto keeping him out of centre midfield for long at this rate.

The Muppet

Originally posted by Dustaz
Excellent write-up Mike, thanks

Spot on. Clichy is very impressive but arsenal are already strong in that position with Ashley cole , I thought Lemon (sp);) could have done better for the second goal too.

I can't see the Gunners slip up in this round now but they can not afford to play like that in future rounds.

kida

Henry was close to being sent off last night - was booked and still went for crazy tacklest there was one near the end where he caught a defender clearing the ball. They seem to have wound him up big time.

Am I the only one that saw the blatant push by Viera before the first goal?

Can't see Arsenal going much further on last nights evidence - any decent team would have destroyed them last night.

Arsenal fans claim Uniteds squad is weak - says it all when your best subs are Kanu & Cygan.

TwoShedsJackson

Arsenal fans claim Uniteds squad is weak - says it all when your best subs are Kanu & Cygan.

:rolleyes:

Of course Forlan and Fortune would walk into the Arsenal side I suppose?? Does every thread about Arsenal have to end in a slagging match versus some cretinous United supporters?

SheroN

the soccer board has gone to pot....every single thread ends up in a silly argument...

afcdave

Once again Arsenal have come away with 3 points without playing anywhere near their true potential. You cant go saying that they will simply get knocked out in the next round because of a below par performance. I mean look at Madrid last nite, they should have been beaten 3 - 0 no question, yet they are still one of the favourites. As for the bench, injuries not withstanding, Ljungberg, Parlour, Clichy and Aliadiere would have been on the bench last nite.

I look forward with great anticipation to seeing O Shea and Hash Brown in the centre of Uniteds defence tonight. Should make for entertaining viewing

vorbis

kida, you must have been watching a different macth. I saw Henry blatantly pull out of that challenge but the defender went down anyways. Was actually surprised as at first it did look like it could be a nasty challenge. I also thought Clichy was a bit poorish at times last night. Still learning obviously but he sometimes seemed to just conced the wing to Celta. Celta got a lot of useful ball from that side of the pitch. The overall team performance was ok I thought. We managed to create a fair few chances away from home with the only major weakness being the weakness in the air from crosses.

cournioni

That's Arsenal into the next round...

Hyzepher

I think Celta really did their homework on Arsenal. The one weakness we have is that we are not comfortable in the air, both at the back and up front. We just aren't used to it. We like when teams attack us down the middle as it's the easiest form of defending. They got around the back far too often for my liking and got some decent crosses in that we frankly were poor trying to defend. I wouldn't be suprised if more teams in teh PL start to try and exploit this.

I think TH is knackered and has played far too many games - he, and others, looked like the last few games are scraping the fuel tank and they need a good week off. I wouldn't be surprised if AW rested some players this weekend.

Hyzepher

jank

Can't see Arsenal going much further on last nights evidence - any decent team would have destroyed them last night.

granted it wasnt the best of performances but rememeber milan and real both had "poor" draws away from home
does that mean they are ****e!?

real will play much better in the second leg as will milan and arsenal

Pacifico

Originally posted by kida
Henry was close to being sent off last night - was booked and still went for crazy tacklest there was one near the end where he caught a defender clearing the ball. They seem to have wound him up big time.

Am I the only one that saw the blatant push by Viera before the first goal?

Can't see Arsenal going much further on last nights evidence - any decent team would have destroyed them last night.

Arsenal fans claim Uniteds squad is weak - says it all when your best subs are Kanu & Cygan.

Banned, for a week. No personal abuse will be tolerated. The sooner people learn the less bannings there will be.

Bit of a nob are you?

jank

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2004090958,00.html

reading that you would think they got beaten

i love the way steven howard says twice "yes they might have won but ....(they are still ****e in my book)" :rolleyes:

what is with the sun,
Thank good I never buy that ****e and I wouldnt even wipe my arse with it

Pacifico

Oh my god they played poorly and won!

How dare they

mr_angry

My God, Arsenal really are terrible, aren't they? I mean, they're only 26 games unbeaten in the league (28 if you count the final 2 games of last season), while all their competitors are faltering against the likes of Leeds Utd, beating all around them in the FA cup, beating a pretty good team away in Spain, looking likely to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League, and playing badly and winning. Quick - sack Wenger!

But seriously folks - all the talk of "Celta are unbeaten at home in the CL, and have beaten Milan" has died out today. I wonder why? All of a sudden its "Any decent team would have punished them last night". Your outright hypocrisy is laughable. I actually hope both Utd and Chelsea go through - I like to see good teams do well. But if Utd go out, I will piss my pants. I really will. Just because then, you lot might f*cking shut up!

Pepe LeFrits

Originally posted by vorbis
I also thought Clichy was a bit poorish at times last night. Still learning obviously but he sometimes seemed to just conced the wing to Celta.

What else could he have done? He was completely isolated at left back, no support at all. Considering the number of times Edu or Angel went up against him 1 on 1, how many did he lose?

It was nerve racking watching them go up against him (because all it really needed was him to be beaten once and they'd be in) but he held his own. He looked great on the ball too, very composed. Gave the ball away a couple of times but the same was for everyone, Arsenal's midfield was very static and Celta Vigo kept very tight on them.

TwoShedsJackson

Originally posted by mr_angry
But if Utd go out, I will piss my pants. I really will. Just because then, you lot might f*cking shut up!

I wish that would be the case, I highly doubt it though.

Gangsta

Some ppl r being so biased. In the CL it's all about winning, doesn't matter if it's 1-0 or 5-0 ( i no 5-0 luks better). Milan and Madrid were very poor, i saw them and madrid were very lucky to get away with a draw (well done Olly) and Milan just didn't play. Look at Milan's Group, it shows u dont need a hatful of goals:
That Steven Howard is unbelievable, they won the game, thats all that matters. Yes they weren't at their best but when they are its 5-1 in the San Siro. Arsenal thru to the Quarter Finals, they won't win the competition but i think a semi-final place is vital.