Arsenal vs Juventus

andrewie

Great win for Arsenal. Can't wait for the second leg.

Pepe LeFrits

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I disagree. For once I would like to see a good team win it.

Yeah, 'cos Juventus were awesome out there.

I'm actually enjoying the CL for a change this season!

The way Eboue is playing at the moment, I can't see how Lauren is going to get his place back. Sol has got to be worried too. Vieira must be worried for his place due to the emergence of Fabregas too, oh wait a second...

Aston Villa now, 3 points please boys.

Kingp35

Fantastic performance by Arsenal but Juventus just as terrible as Arsenal were brilliant. The sheer determination and desire of all the Arsenal players shone through tonight and was in complete contrast to a lazy Juventus side who looked like they didnt even care. Both players deserved to be sent off, what Cameronesi was doing I dont know but Capello will not be a happy man as he was smiling and laughing while going off the pitch.

There wasnt a single bad Arsenal player tonight and I hought Toure was immense at the back putting in tackle after tackle. On this kind of form Arsenal can beat anyone. Great to see a proper footballing side winning and winnig well.

Shred

Congrats Gooners fans; Arsenal were excellent tonight Juve were terrible though (not taking anything away from the Arse btw). I'd say they're clear through to the semis now and then have every chance of going all the way to the final as they should beat Inter/Villareal:)

segadreamcast

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I disagree. For once I would like to see a good team win it.

:rolleyes:

As a Liverpool fan, I'd also love to see Arsenal win it. Clearly they've thrown themselves at the competition this year - to the detriment of their league form somewhat - but it's a move that looks like it might all pay off if they make it to (at least) the semi's and reclaim fourth.

mike65

G'wan the Arse, of course you'll be recored in history as being 'lucky' or some such crapola

Mike.

Dr Galen

fair play to them. its good for football in general in england for a team to do well. so hats off. i predicted a win for them but never thought it'd be like this.

now wouldn't it be great if sometime soon an Irish team made it into the group stages. maybe the sucess of english teams will motivate them???

mike65

That was not an English team it was a Prem side! If you see the difference.

Mike.

Dr Galen

mike65 wrote:

That was not an English team it was a Prem side! If you see the difference.

very true, thats the state of the game these days though ain't it

Jivin Turkey

Delighted for Arsenal. My heart was in my mouth when Camaronesi chipped just wide. A single goal would have changed the tie so much. But it didn't happen. Deservedly for Arsenal.

It was amazing to see Arsenal completely out-class the team that has steamrolled Serie A for the last two seasons. There was talk of Barcelona teaching footballing lessons in the last round, but for me tonight was a far more complete performance.

And this is a team that is currently 6th in England? Beating the head honcho's of Italy. I'm sure all our Premiership nay-sayers will be out in force tonight :rolleyes:

As regards individuals tonight, I couldn't really fault any of them. Hleb, Toure, Fabregas and Henry (I thought he didn't deliver on the big stage?) in particular.

It's Arsenals for the taking now. All they will need is a goal IMO. And with Juve needing at least two they will get the chances.

With the easier of the semi-final draws on paper who knows how far they could go? Particularly with players returning from injury.

I, for one, would love to see it.

Irish Gunner

Who said the King is dead

Well they never saw Cesc play man he amazes me week in and week out

I just wish now that the moaners and groaners would stop saying 'Arsenal miss Vieira' we dont bloody miss him we just replaced him

No more pretenders to the throne

What about Eboue and Toure they get better

Flamini is doing the job he was asked and Reyes chased everything

Overall could not ask for anything better and we did not concede

Another few pints in the Westmoreland next week for the return leg

Oooh To Be
Oooh to Be
Oooh to Be a Gooner

Gangsta

PHB wrote:

I honastly can't see anything but a comfortable Juve win. They are on amazingn form as always, and are stronger in all areas. Thuram could keep Henry in his pocket if he plays well. I think this is a huge huge test for Arsenal, particuarly Henry, but I don't think they can beat this Juve team.

It's gona be a fun match though

Kingp35 wrote:

I can see Juventus sitting deep in this game and trying to catch Arsenal on the break. For me this is the way to play against Arsenal because they are one trick ponies and try to walk the ball into the net. If the likes of Henry and Reyes do not get space to work in then they become largely ineffective in a game. I think Arsenal will struggle big time to break down the Juve defence but if they can somehow grab an early goal to bring Juve out of their shell a bit then I feel they can do well.

Pighead wrote:

Scoreless draw for me. Henry and co to be frustrated all evening by some classic italian defending. I think Ljunberg missing is a big blow for Arsenal as he and Henry link up very well when they're attacking the opposition. Reyes has a tendency to play the wrong ball or to drift out of games .Juventus to win the tie with a classic 1-0 home win.

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I disagree. For once I would like to see a good team win it.

:rolleyes:

What a performance from Arsenal and like against Madrid it could and should have been more. Bring on the 2nd leg in Turin.

evilhomer

Arsenal tonight reminded me of the "invincible" side of 03/04. passed the ball through juve like they were not there!

The real test will be in Turin, with Nedved back.

If Arsenal play like that next season, they will put it upto Chelsea.

Well done lads! (Toon fan)

dcarroll

eirebhoy wrote:

I like Arsenal but they are the most likely to force Celtic into playing a qualifier next season so go Juve!

whys that?

andrewie

If the team that wins the CL also wins their league, it means Celtic go straight in and don't have to qualify. Thats what I heard anyway.

evilhomer

dcarroll wrote:

whys that?

ASFAIK, UEFA changed the rules so that if a team win the CL and don't qualify for next season, one of the automatic spots from the low coefficient coutrys is given to them. making the team from that country have to qualify.

I think that is the rule, but i'm too lazy to go check for sure

The Clown Man

Fantastic game for the gunners. Class act all round.

Man that Fabregas is class. 18 years old and they talk about rooney like he is a god. This guy knows football like he has been playing regular top tier for 15 years. Can only get better and my god what a prospect.

Fair play to Eboue as well. He keeps that up him and Cole will make the most formidable pair of attacking full backs football has seen.

Congrats to the Arsenal fans. I'll be cheering loud as any when they go to Turin.

gandalf

Dear god read the review of the game on the Juve website

http://www.juventus.com/uk/news/detail.aspx?lml_language_id=0&trs_id=1367000&ID=7489

Was he watching the same match ?

andrewie

gandalf wrote:

Dear god read the review of the game on the Juve website

http://www.juventus.com/uk/news/detail.aspx?lml_language_id=0&trs_id=1367000&ID=7489

Was he watching the same match ?

lol what a load of rubbish. He definetly didn't see any of the game tonight.

PHB

That is an incredible report.
Somehow he has completely managed to make the game sound totally different, but reported all the facts. An example to all of biased journalism.

MrJoeSoap

Actually fell asleep just after Camoranesi got his first yellow (was jaded, nothing to do with the match) and Arsenal were already looking on top form. Fair play to them, haven't made a deal of the absentees they have and just got on with it.

Would love to see Arsenal take on Barca. Henry -v- Ronnie is droolworthy.

Pepe LeFrits

I guess Comical Ali found a new job...

jank

Great night for the gunners. Lets here no more of this "missing vieira" ****e. 14 million sounds like a bargin now. Never doubt the man Wenger!

Henry was fantastic (Not a big game player :rolleyes: !)
Toure was immense, nothing got past him.
Eboue well its been said before....

And the king himself Cesc. Not only will this guy be in the team for the spanish during the world cup he will be one of their key players, replacing alonso imo

Give him a bit of time and space and he can and will controll the entire game. Hope Arsenal can tie him down to a long term contract (Which I believe they have.)

Arsenal will go to tuirn knowing that they can win. An away goal will kill the tie outright. After that Inter or Villareal which are both very beatable but lets take it one step at a time.

One word must go out to Wenger though. It took balls to get rid of vieria something fergie could never do with keane until it was too late. The 2 players were decling fast and Wenger put sentlemental feelings aside and got rid of him. We all know the problem facing the united midfield now.

Although Arsenal lie 6th in the table I believe they will still get 4th spot and the future looks a lot brigher with so much young talent in that team.
(average age was 24.7)

Hats off to the man

Pepe LeFrits

jank wrote:

One word must go out to Wenger though. It took balls to get rid of vieria something fergie could never do with keane until it was too late. The 2 players were decling fast and Wenger put sentlemental feelings aside and got rid of him.

Trouble is, as good as Cesc is, he's still not ready to spear-head a Premiership title charge. Flogging Vieira looks like being the right decision, not having a temporary replacement looks like being the wrong one.

Great night, great performance, great result. I'm not going to comment on the players' performances (all mostly excellent anyway), I'll save that for another topic later. It's still only half time, but if Wenger drills into them to go out to Turin and be professional about it, I don't see how they can lose it.

Pepe LeFrits

<--- hahaha.

I felt bad for Paddy actually, though it is probably best I try to reserve those feelings until after the second leg. He was booed by a small section of the crowd at times during the game, I hope it was meant in jest but I suspect it was more because of his Real Madrid antics every summer.

Chucky the tree

jank wrote:

Give him a bit of time and space and he can and will controll the entire game. Hope Arsenal can tie him down to a long term contract (Which I believe they have.)

Give me enough time and space and i could nearly control an entire game.

mr_angry

As the game drew to a close the determination of Camoranesi and Zebina led to both being cautioned for the second time, and as such both were sent off. Despite being two goals down, Juve will still feel that they have a good chance to progress; after all, the second leg is at the Delle Alpi…

Would that be the Stadio Delle Alpi that Juventus hate and are leaving in a couple of years time?

"determination"... Genius!

Jivin Turkey

jank wrote:

And the king himself Cesc. Not only will this guy be in the team for the spanish during the world cup he will be one of their key players, replacing alonso imo

Replacing Alonso will see him be on the bench more often that not. But we both know that this is just total troll stuff as opposed to trying to be insightful.

jank wrote:

One word must go out to Wenger though. It took balls to get rid of vieria something fergie could never do with keane until it was too late. The 2 players were decling fast and Wenger put sentlemental feelings aside and got rid of him. We all know the problem facing the united midfield now.

Again total troll stuff. Fair balls for getting rid of Vieira? Why because Juventus are out of the CL but top of Serie A? I'm sure Arsenal wouldn't be looking at a very possible 7th place finish if Vieira was still there.

Let's see if (a) they actually progress, (b) actually win the CL and (c) finish top four before we completely glorify Wenger's decision.

jank

Trouble is, as good as Cesc is, he's still not ready to spear-head a Premiership title charge. Flogging Vieira looks like being the right decision, not having a temporary replacement looks like being the wrong one.

I partially agree with you but I think it was more of a mental problem then a physical one when veiria left. These players have now gone out of that slump and are now gelling together. Also Diaby may be one to throw into the lions den like Bolton and Blackburn.

Give me enough time and space and i could nearly control an entire game

Re read my post

jank

Replacing Alonso will see him be on the bench more often that not. But we both know that this is just total troll stuff as opposed to trying to be insightful.

Maybe.

We will see at the world cup. I dont expect spain to do well anyway so...!?

I'm sure Arsenal wouldn't be looking at a very possible 7th place finish if Vieira was still there.

You have your opinion but would arsenal have played like they did tonight with vieria in the team?? Hell no!

Wenger knows that he cant buy ready made replacements for veiria, who can, especially when Chelsea are buying just about all the ready made midfielders about the place.

Wenger has to grow this team and he has said it before that Cesc was the man to build this "new" Arsenal team around.

You know the phrase one step back 2 steps forward. Arsenal may be in a comfort zone of 2nd/3rd place for the next few years with Vieira but if this team gells as they are in the future withou him then they will be challangeing for 1st. It may take time but it will come.

I may be getting ahead of myself, ok, but Wenger didnt stop Veiria leave as he knew, like all of us tonight that the best of him has in the past. It takes balls to let your captian, your leader and your talisman just leave like that!

Arsenal may fail to get the last CL spot but would you bet against them now that their tails are up.

Of course they may get dumped out of the CL and finish 7th but Chelsea could also lose the title to United, Its football it can go anyway!!

Jivin Turkey

jank wrote:

Maybe.

We will see at the world cup. I dont expect spain to do well anyway so...!?

I don't dispute that Fabregas could be a star of the world cup. But I just find your "at the expense of Alonso" remark hilarious seeing as he has started most of the recent games from the bench.

As I said, we both know it was just trolling.

jank wrote:

You have your opinion but would arsenal have played like they did tonight with vieria in the team?? Hell no!

Wenger knows that he cant buy ready made replacements for veiria, who can, especially when Chelsea are buying just about all the ready made midfielders about the place.

Wenger has to grow this team and he has said it before that Cesc was the man to build this "new" Arsenal team around.

You know the phrase one step back 2 steps forward. Arsenal may be in a comfort zone of 2nd/3rd place for the next few years with Vieira but if this team gells as they are in the future withou him then they will be challangeing for 1st. It may take time but it will come.

I may be getting ahead of myself, ok, but Wenger didnt stop Veiria leave as he knew, like all of us tonight that the best of him has in the past. It takes balls to let your captian, your leader and your talisman just leave like that!

Arsenal may fail to get the last CL spot but would you bet against them now that their tails are up.

Of course they may get dumped out of the CL and finish 7th but Chelsea could also lose the title to United, Its football it can go anyway!!

It does take balls to let your captain go. Maybe it was the right decision. But maybe he got it completely wrong not replacing him.

It would be extremely difficult to argue against that point if Arsenal end up not in the CL next year.

Roddy23

Great night, great performance, great result. I'm not going to comment on the players' performances (all mostly excellent anyway), I'll save that for another topic later. It's still only half time, but if Wenger drills into them to go out to Turin and be professional about it, I don't see how they can lose it.

Never a truer word spoken on boards!!

What a game. (just in from the pub, so excuse the spelling). Great performances al round. Everybody played brilliant, and played an important part in an excellent victory. As pepe said if we can maintain this level of performance, I think we could see a semi final, and possibly even a final in the champions league. Happy days for even one night I may dream of winning our first European Cup/Champions League.

jank

But I just find your "at the expense of Alonso" remark hilarious seeing as he has started most of the recent games from the bench

Sorry actually I thought the midfield was made up of Alonso and Xavi, but the latter is injured so maybe they might both start. Im not 100% sure of the Spanish team. My appologies.

redspider

A great result for Arsenal, and although at 2-0 the tie is not over, it is definitely advantage Arsenal both in terms of scoreline and in terms of psychological effect. They should have the confidence to take it on from here, and an Henry goal on the break is a distinct possibility.

In terms of the game itself, Arsenal at times totally dominated. But, there were times earlier in the match when that wasnt the case. Indeed, looking at the first 40 mins of the 1st half, although Juventus didnt threaten very often, they were the team which had most of the control of the play and had just as much half chances. But it all changed with that first goal.

It was a well worked goal, typical Arsenal, passed up the pitch with everyone running with pace and into space. But there was one aspect about it, did Pires actually foul Viera? I looked at the replay a couple of times and he clearly took out his leg. The ref, who didnt give Juventus any favours on the night, indicated to play on. If anyone has a close-up link to that tackle it would be good to look at it again. Juventus got caught on the break for this goal, and Fabregas's shot went through the legs of Thuram and wrong-footed Buffon.

If there was something iffy about that first goal (or that tackle at least), there was nothing iffy about how Arsenal pressed home their advantage in the 2nd half, and there was nothing iffy about the 2nd goal. Arsenal's runners going through the inside channel (this time Fabregas and very Llungberg-esque) and his square ball leaving Buffon stranded setting up an easy finish for Henry.

After that it was school yard stuff with one team toying with the other. Indeed the schoolyard petulence came through with many intentional fouls by Juventus players leading to the red-cards. The match was not bad tempered, but the Juventus players just got frustrated and thought: "ok, I cant get the ball off you but I am determined to kick you as you go past and beat me".

The next goal in the tie will be crucial. If Juventus get it, it will be a test of Arsenal if they will let that effect their confidence and play. Arsenal are a good team with their tails up, we have seen that in the Premiership over the years and again last night. But its when there is a daunting challenge ahead of them that at many times they fail. As usual, a lot will rely on the shoulders of Henry, and Fabregas, and the defenders, who played out of their skins last night I thought.

Meanwhile, Barcelona looked very dangerous last night in a game they deserved to win and should take the return leg.

redspider

gandalf

Jaysus redspider if there was a poster of the year award on Soccer you would win it hands down. Great post as usual.

mike65

Don't encourage him! We'll get 1000 word reviews for every big match.

Mike.

iregk

Have to say hats off to Arsenal great game and great win. Juve didn't turn up but being a follower of Seria A and Milan in particular I was quite happy to see them thumped.

Agree with Redspider there were moments in the 1st half where Juve controlled large moments of the game and before the goal looked comfortable. That said a brilliant performance from Fiberglass he looked class and showed to me what I have thought for a while. This kid could be magic.

I don't see spain as a Fiberglass or Alonso midfiled, they are two totally different players who could be brilliant for years to come.

Culchie

Good thing for Arsenal, is that the 'Stadio del Alpe' is hardly what you would describe as intimidating, too big, and too far away from the pitch. Crowd will be dead if Juventus are held scoreless for 20 minutes.

BaZmO*

PHB wrote:

Don't forget Juve were missing Del Piero and Nedved tonight, and that they also lost the first leg against Bremen.
Its gona be a tough test, but ****ing hell, what a night for Arsenal.

Don't forget either, that Juve were EXTREMELY lucky to get a result in the second leg. Only for the Bremen keeper gifting them a last minute goal they would've been out.

Fair play to Arsenal last night, cracking team performance. Great to see the game being played like that. Never once sat back and resigned themselves to holding on for the lead, kept pushing for another goal.

evilhomer

mike65 wrote:

Don't encourage him! We'll get 1000 word reviews for every big match.

Mike.

tred

Is it just me, or has arsenal defence tightened up more since gilberto was told to stop trying to pass the ball, just sweep up and hand it to Cesc.
I cant rememeber him giving the ball away as much of late...

BaZmO*

redspider wrote:

setting up an easy finish for Henry.

I didn't think that it was the easiest of finishing. IIRC the ball was played slightly behind him and he done exceptionally well to finish it.

Mr. Presentable

Relative tiredness has been expressed as a reason by some of the Juventus players. The Italian press mentioned on Sunday that Arsenal's game had been called off fortuitously.

"The English play on all conditions of pitch no matter what the weather. When was there last a game in England called off due to rain?"

Getting in their excuses early perhaps, but when was a game in the EPL last postponed due to weather?

BaZmO*

nipplenuts wrote:

Getting in their excuses early perhaps, but when was a game in the EPL last postponed due to weather?

http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/sport1/low/football/eng_prem/4431138.stm

Monday, 21 November 2005 - The Premiership game between Birmingham and Bolton has been postponed due to heavy fog around St Andrews.

Slightly different to rain, but called off nonetheless.

Roddy23

I remember reading an article on this subject before the match had even started yesterday. It was about Bolton, who hadn't played a football match for 10 days, exactly like Arsenal. As we all know Bolton went on to lose the game, 4-3. They started well in that game, but then became lethargic, and looked extremely tired when Parnaby scored in the last minute of the game. So it can go both ways, you lose the match practice or you geta bit of a rest. All this talk that Arsenal didn't have a game at the wkend might have helped them last night, could also have been perceived the other way too, that it might have hindered their performance.
The game is only at half time, but you can't take anything away from last night's performance.

iregk

I believe that last due to rain was in 92 according to one of the commentators last night!

Big Nelly

Best bit of last nights game was the joke about Mutu

"That was too high from Mutu, maybe I should say that" lmao

Also the shot of the nice Italian girl in the crowd:D

MrJoeSoap

gandalf wrote:

Jaysus redspider if there was a poster of the year award on Soccer you would win it hands down. Great post as usual.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=50614394&postcount=1

Even though everyone seemed to ignore it!

Big Nelly

MrJoeSoap wrote:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=50614394&postcount=1

Even though everyone seemed to ignore it!

lmao, to be honest Joe its just to long to keep my attention that long:D

iregk

I come here to read posts not a thesis!!!!