Arsenal -v- Barça, Champions league Last 16 1st leg

iMuse

#fcb:

Valdes;

Alves Pique Abidal Maxwell;

Busquets; Xavi Iniesta;

Pedro Villa Messi.

redout

iMuse

#afc Szczesny; Eboue Djourou Koscielny Clichy; Song Wilshere; Walcott Fabregas Nasri; Van Persie.

Cmon Arsenal

shano_88

Nasri starts!

Huge boost for the team.

mike65

This is going to be fun either way, a no lose for the neutral.

Mr.Crinklewood

Ref Stats

Statistics
Totals: Home Away Total

Penalties 12 1 13
Red 3 0 3
Yellow 70 64 134


Averages: Home Away Total

Penalties 0.32 0.03 0.34
Red 0.08 0.00 0.08
Yellow 1.84 1.68 3.53

based on 38 international matches

Warper

Best game of the year so far.

Worries as a Barca fan is no Puyol and lack of strength on the bench. Just one player missing is good though but i do worry when the day comes that 3 or 4 players are out.

On the plus side, weak points for Arsenal are Wilshere, Song and their inexperienced keeper plus Nasri cant be 100% fit.

greendom

mike65 wrote: »

This is going to be fun either way, a no lose for the neutral.

A 0 - 0 draw ?

Royale with Cheese

Warper wrote: »

On the plus side, weak points for Arsenal are Wilshere, Song and their inexperienced keeper plus Nasri cant be 100% fit.

Wilshere and Song, are you nuts? You're aware Eboue is playing aren't you?

MagicMarker

Count down to kick off has started on ITV4.

el dude

4-0 Barca.

greendom

Warper wrote: »

Best game of the year so far.

Worries as a Barca fan is no Puyol and lack of strength on the bench. Just one player missing is good though but i do worry when the day comes that 3 or 4 players are out.

On the plus side, weak points for Arsenal are Wilshere, Song and their inexperienced keeper plus Nasri cant be 100% fit.

Without Song we wouldn't have a hope tonight

redout

Giles seems to have actually studied Barca - only took him about 5 seasons.

Warper

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Wilshere and Song, are you nuts? You're aware Eboue is playing aren't you?

Wilshere and Song, I really worry about for Arsenal tonight. Song is liable to get booked early and Wilshere could be over-run. Barca will be all over those 2 in particular. Eboue loves Jesus so he gets a pass from me for tonight.

Warper

MagicMarker wrote: »

Count down to kick off has started on ITV4.

RTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Royale with Cheese

Warper wrote: »

Wilshere and Song, I really worry about for Arsenal tonight. Song is liable to get booked early and Wilshere could be over-run. Barca will be all over those 2 in particular. Eboue loves Jesus so he gets a pass from me for tonight.

Valid points, Song constantly gets booked for fouls he needn't commit. He hasn't copped on exactly how to play the fouly breaker up of play role, but he's a decent player.

However I'd be far more concerned about Eboue, Clichy and Koscielny. Eboue just isn't any good at defending and the other 2 are decent on their day but are both prone to complete brainfarts at times.

dfx-

redout wrote: »

Giles seems to have actually studied Barca - only took him about 5 seasons.

In fairness, Dunphy has redressed the balance with their problem is their defence line good and timely intervention:)

Not a hope of any 4-0 Barcelonas, they won't play as well as the first half of last year's first leg. First things first, an away goal is vital...don't be wanting to tempt Arsenal to do an Inter..

Frisbee

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Woj

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Eboué

---

Djourou

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Koscielny

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Clichy

---

Wilshere

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Song

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Walcott

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Fabregas

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Nasri

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RVP

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Very much mixed feelings on Nasri starting. If he get's re-injured for the sake of one game I'll be píssed.

eZe^

Score draw, kplzthnx.

dagdha

Giles saying that Xavi probably does'nt run that much in a game, I'm pretty sure Xavi does almost more milage than any other Barca player during a game. Dunphy saying " watch this goal Messi scored against Real last year", the team is wearing white so it must be Real.

I'm expecting a big game from Iniesta and Pedro tonight.

Mr.Crinklewood

redout wrote: »

Giles seems to have actually studied Barca - only took him about 5 seasons.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, ?????

Pepe LeFrits

Re: nasri - Frisbee; Well the player reckons he's 100%, but I agree with the sentiment.

I'm looking forward to this, not nervous at all. Combination of being insanely busy with work and not expecting a result I guess. Just going to get a few beers and enjoy the game!

eZe^

dagdha wrote: »

Giles saying that Xavi probably does'nt run that much in a game, I'm pretty sure Xavi does almost more milage than any other Barca player during a game. Dunphy saying " watch this goal Messi scored against Real last year", the team is wearing white so it must be Real.

I'm expecting a big game from Iniesta and Pedro tonight.

Complete sh*t, you're right, Xavi covers more of the pitch than any other Barcelona player.

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

Very much mixed feelings on Nasri starting. If he get's re-injured for the sake of one game I'll be píssed.

He won't and he's gonna have a cracker!

staker

I'm going for 1-3 Barca win. Should be a cracker

Paully D

1-1 tonight IMO. I'd expect Barcelona to go through over two legs though.

Best of luck to Arsenal, I'd like to see them progress.

greendom

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Re: nasri - Frisbee; Well the player reckons he's 100%, but I agree with the sentiment.

I'm looking forward to this, not nervous at all. Combination of being insanely busy with work and not expecting a result I guess. Just going to get a few beers and enjoy the game!

I was hoping he would save him for the Orient game In all seriousness I really hope this doesn't back-fire like it did last year.

L'prof

Come on Arsenal!!!

Jayob10

eZe^ wrote: »

Complete sh*t, you're right, Xavi covers more of the pitch than any other Barcelona player.

I'm no fan of Giles' lazy analysis but he is right about Xavi not running that much. Not in comparison to his teammates but in relation to most central midfielders. If you looked at distance covered you would see its not as much as others.

He is a player who plays alot of one touch passes, plays in triangles with Busquets/Mascherano and Inietes, Villa, Pedro and Messi.

He even said it himself in an interview last week (prob where Giles read it) that he doesn't run and run and run. He lets the ball do all the work.

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Re: nasri - Frisbee; Well the player reckons he's 100%, but I agree with the sentiment.

Of course the player reckons he's 100%. If you have a chance to play against Barcelona in the CL you could have a broken ankle and you'd be adamant you were 100%.

Obviously the club have put him through stringent fitness tests but this stinks of Fabregas at Villa/Braga, Gallas at Barcelona last year.

Johner

Come on Messi first goalscorer!

That_Guy

eZe^ wrote: »

Complete sh*t, you're right, Xavi covers more of the pitch than any other Barcelona player.

Ah if you take the "analysis" from RTE to heart then there must be summat wrong with you.

missingtime

John - This isnt an andy gray moment is it

Cant beat rte for the studio analyis

Headshot

Dammit I missed the RTE commentary

Anything said about the headbutt last night ?

Frisbee

Paddy V in the UTV studio. Legend.

That_Guy

Headshot wrote: »

Dammit I missed the RTE commentary

Anything said about the headbutt last night ?

Yep. Proceeded to talk about Gattuso's wife being from Scotland for a while then.

redout

dagdha wrote: »

Giles saying that Xavi probably does'nt run that much in a game, I'm pretty sure Xavi does almost more milage than any other Barca player during a game. Dunphy saying " watch this goal Messi scored against Real last year", the team is wearing white so it must be Real.

I'm expecting a big game from Iniesta and Pedro tonight.

eZe^ wrote: »

Complete sh*t, you're right, Xavi covers more of the pitch than any other Barcelona player.

I think he was more talking about the distance he moves to open himself up for a pass after he gives the ball was impressive because it wasnt that much and he always seems to be free.

Headshot

That_Guy wrote: »

Yep. Proceeded to talk about Gattuso's wife being from Scotland for a while then.

what!

**** it, really disappointed I missed it now

missingtime

Headshot wrote: »

Dammit I missed the RTE commentary

Anything said about the headbutt last night ?

John said he'd played with him or against him, joe jordan
Eamon said that Gattuso wife was scottish
John said that its not gonna turn into an andy gray incident is it.

Brilliant!!!

Mr. Guappa

Headshot wrote: »

Dammit I missed the RTE commentary

Anything said about the headbutt last night ?

Nope - they carefully dissected Spurs' tactics and analysed how we defended excellently. No mention of Gattuso at all.

Kev_ps3

C'mon Barca!

Headshot

missingtime wrote: »

John said he'd played with him or against him.
Eamon said that Gattuso wife was scottish
John said that its not gonna turn into an andy gray incident is it.

Brilliant!!!

Did Bill say "id smash her" ?

missingtime

Headshot wrote: »

Did Bill say "id smash her" ?

Bill said: "She's no bianca"

That_Guy

Nice light show.

Fuhrer

Looks like Arsenal have handed out flags to the fans again, remember what happened last time they did that in the champions league?

Jayob10

Just saw Guardiolas interview on ITV, he is a very classy bloke, extremely complimentary about you guys and genuinely complimentary, no lip service given.

looking forward to this game, 2 teams who play the right way. best of luck to ye

Warper

Barca are the best team EVER.............................

BERBA

looking forward to this game , should be a cracker

Fuhrer

Jayob10 wrote: »

Just saw Guardiolas interview on ITV, he is a very classy bloke, extremely complimentary about you guys and genuinely complimentary, no lip service given.

looking forward to this game, 2 teams who play the right way. best of luck to ye

Its easy to be humble when you manage a team that good.

greendom

Fuhrer wrote: »

Its easy to be humble when you manage a team that good.

Sam Allardyce likes this