Would Arsenal match Barcelona in a game of football?

Vampireskiss

I know this probably doesn't deserve a thread of its own but I know if I put it in the Arsenal thread they will be biased.As a manutd fan I was intrigued at how they took us apart in midfied in the champions league final and I was racking my brain and could find no answer on how ferguson could possible ever build a team to play that type of football so the only way to play against them is to try and stiffle them like chesea and liverpool would also do, so I have to ask in your opinion given Arsene Wengers outlook on the game do you think Arsenal at full strength and good form could match the passing game of this current Barca team or even dare I say it be better?

MagicMarker

Breathe.

flahavaj

Toure Yaya says no. Monster of a player, he'll be commonly regarded as the best defensive midfielder by the end of the season, mark my words and the kind of player that would complete the Arsenal team.

Unearthly

The way Arsenal is viewed upon is very random by alot of people.

They win a few games by scoring a few goals and playing nice football and they are footballing gods. Then if they lose to a midtable team they are dropping out of the top 4, Spurs a better team etc.

Mad stuff.

eZe^

Of course they could, arsenal on their day would dismantle any team in world football. I do however think Barca are a superior team in pretty much every department, but in a game of football anything can happen, especially with arsenal, one day they could beat them 4-0 comfortably, and then lose the next two comfortably. I do however think it would be difficult for any team in world football (Barca included) to reproduce the football that Barca consistently did last season, it was breathtaking...

Frisbee

With a fully fit team and if we have a perfect game, yes.

Anything less and Barca would take us apart.

Would be a great spectacle though

eZe^

Frisbee wrote: »

With a fully fit team and if we have a perfect game, yes.

Anything less and Barca would take us apart.

Would be a great spectacle though

It was meant to happen this season wasn't it?

Frisbee

eZe^ wrote: »

It was meant to happen this season wasn't it?

We'll just have to wait till the Champions League Final sure...

Bubs101

flahavaj wrote: »

Toure Yaya says no. Monster of a player, he'll be commonly regarded as the best defensive midfielder by the end of the season, mark my words and the kind of player that would complete the Arsenal team.

Toure is not a better player than De Rossi or Essien.

Anyway, Barca aren't exactly grand sheiks. Chelsea showed what you have to do against them last year and were just unlucky. Man Utd were ****ing idiotic not to copy us. Not to mention that most people have only seen new Barca once and they were uninspiring whereas Arsenal have been amazing so far

Frisbee

Bubs101 wrote: »

Toure is not a better player than De Rossi or Essien.

He is massively better than De Rossi.

As for Essein, no he's not better, but Toure is deployed in a more DM role, where as Essein is a natural CM.

For a DM though Toure gets forward alot.

leninbenjamin

the short answer is no.

the long answer is it depends which Arsenal shows up.

for me Arsenal's best midfield trio would be:

---

Song

---

---Cesc

---

Rosicky----

Cesc has shown in past glimpses that he has the potential to be better than Xavi, no doubt. But he doesn't have anything close to the consistency of Xavi.

Similarly with Song. Some days he can read the game as well as Gilberto could, plus he has a natural physical strength beyond most players his age. If he were on form he could easily match Touré, although he'll never have the same ability on the ball.

As for Rosicky, i know it might seem odd to compare the crock, but he's shown in the past he's the second best midfielder on the Arsenal books behind only Cesc. He has the close control and passing range of Iniesta, coupled with a similar work rate. But he's also much more of a goal threat.

so a hypothetical answer to a hypothetical question; on form and injury free Arsenal's midfield could easily play to the same level of Barca.

But for that to happen in reality, they have to work a lot harder on their consistency and Song in particular needs a bit more experience under his belt.

The Muppet

No

flahavaj

Bubs101 wrote: »

Toure is not a better player than De Rossi or Essien.

Anyway, Barca aren't exactly grand sheiks. Chelsea showed what you have to do against them last year and were just unlucky. Man Utd were ****ing idiotic not to copy us. Not to mention that most people have only seen new Barca once and they were uninspiring whereas Arsenal have been amazing so far

I'd sooner Toure to De Rossi any day of the week, hes the perfect midfield foil to Xavi and Iniesta. Essien is absolutely immense but is probably better as a box to box midfielder than as an out and out defensive midfielder in the Yaya mould.

Anyway I thought you were an Ibrahimovich nuthugger and surely if the praise and hype you've heaped on him is in any way true, Barca will only be better with his "genius" him in the team?:rolleyes::pac:

Soby

leninbenjamin wrote: »

the short answer is no.

the long answer is it depends which Arsenal shows up.

for me Arsenal's best midfield trio would be:

---

Song

---

---Cesc

---

Rosicky----

Which doesnt quite look as sexy as

---

Toure

---

---Xavi

---

Iniesta---

eZe^

Bubs101 wrote: »

Toure is not a better player than De Rossi or Essien.

Anyway, Barca aren't exactly grand sheiks. Chelsea showed what you have to do against them last year and were just unlucky. Man Utd were ****ing idiotic not to copy us. Not to mention that most people have only seen new Barca once and they were uninspiring whereas Arsenal have been amazing so far

Toure IS better than De Rossi, and he'll prove to be as good as Essien this season. Mark my words. Barca aren't great sheiks? Laughable, they win 3 trophies out of 3. Break their personal best goal tally in La Liga, become top scorers in the history of UEFA competition, score over 100 goals between just their front 3, notch up the biggest away victory in El Clasico history, and in general played some of the most exciting football this past decade. Still you decide to pick one match where against one of the best sides in the world where they needed a bit of luck to progress. What about the other 50 games where they were fantastic?

leninbenjamin wrote: »

the short answer is no.

the long answer is it depends which Arsenal shows up.

for me Arsenal's best midfield trio would be:

---

Song

---

---Cesc

---

Rosicky----

Cesc has shown in past glimpses that he has the potential to be better than Xavi, no doubt. But he doesn't have anything close to the consistency of Xavi.

Similarly with Song. Some days he can read the game as well as Gilberto could, plus he has a natural physical strength beyond most players his age. If he were on form he could easily match Touré, although he'll never have the same ability on the ball.

As for Rosicky, i know it might seem odd to compare the crock, but he's shown in the past he's the second best midfielder on the Arsenal books behind only Cesc. He has the close control and passing range of Iniesta, coupled with a similar work rate. But he's also much more of a goal threat.

so a hypothetical answer to a hypothetical question; on form and injury free Arsenal's midfield could easily play to the same level of Barca.

But for that to happen in reality, they have to work a lot harder on their consistency and Song in particular needs a bit more experience under his belt.

I'm sorry mate, I have a massive soft spot for Arsenal, but it's actually ludicrous to say Song could compete with Toure and you essentially said that Rosicky is everything and more in comparison to Iniesta. Toure is more physical, reads the game better, and is probably a better distributer of the ball. The only thing Rosicky is better than Iniesta at is long range shots, Iniesta has better vision, better dribbling, better all around passing, and is more intelligent in his positioning.

Barca's midfield is arguably the best in it's history, and one of the most cohesive midfields seen in the past decade. Arsenals main weakness is arguably their lack of depth in midfield, their attack and defense could be compared with Barca's, but the midfield is exactly where Barca would crush Arsenal every day of the week imo.

Arsenal could quite easily beat Barca on their day, but they have in no way shape or form a midfield as good as this current Barcelona one.

gimmick

Bubs101 wrote: »

Toure is not a better player than De Rossi or Essien.

Anyway, Barca aren't exactly grand sheiks. Chelsea showed what you have to do against them last year and were just unlucky. Man Utd were ****ing idiotic not to copy us. Not to mention that most people have only seen new Barca once and they were uninspiring whereas Arsenal have been amazing so far

Sorry Bubs, but that is a load of utter tripe. Start to finish possibly the worst post I have ever seen on this board.

Toure is miles better than De Rossi and Id have him in my team before Essien every day of the week.

Chelsea did great at shackling Barca, but where did it get them? Nowhere, thats where. Man U dont have the defensive players to have played the same game as what Chelsea did, so they could not have even considered playing a spoiling type game in the CL final.

Barcas season starts Monday. It was nice to win the Super Copa and the Super Cup, but not a big deal. Uninspring last night perhaps, but still won. Against Athletic over the two legs, Barca were at their pomp.

Arsenal Vs Barca is a game I would love to see again though.