Champions League knockout phase

[Baracus]

also arsenal don't have the leadership or the quality defensively to sit and defend there lead like we did in 2007 or like inter.

[Rudo]

So what!! Its about what you do with that posession, Barca got outplayed in that second half, surely you can't dent that regardless if you don't like Arsenal or love Barca.

Barca are the best team in the world and one of the best teams of all time, usually they make their posession count, but Arsenal deserved that tonight.


Credit where credit is due

Arsenal shots on target: 8
Barca shots on target: 7

If people are going to go down the stats tell you everything route then don't leave out an important one just to suit your argument, eh?

[Drago]

They're overrated and they'll win **** all this season, again. You can quote me on that.

And btw, I'm not bitter about Arsenal at all, they win nothing, so why would I be jealous of a team that wins **** all?

Their in the league cup final against a **** team so I might wanna rephrase that.

[Daniel 7]

Their in the league cup final against a **** team so I might wanna rephrase that.

Oh yeah, forgot about that....

That cup's only worth anything if we win it ourselves, otherwise its bollocks!

[Fredo]

I'm off, it's as if I'm in a forum full of plastic flag waving gooners.

[JohnDoe]

That's a ****ing bold claim.

They'll win the league cup and the league as well I think.

What's the league cup? I don't even remember that things exists.

League? Really? No chance. They will not win the league. Quote me, sig me, whatever. They are a talented group of players with no bottle.

[Fredo]

Their in the league cup final against a **** team so I might wanna rephrase that.

That's true though.

[danperkins]

That's a bit unbalanced a view though dan. I think the point is, that Barca DID do a lot with their possession - Messi went through one-on-one and inexplicably missed it. They also scored a perfectly legitimate goal, which would have made it 2-0 - wrongly ruled out by the flag.

So clearly, what Barca did with their possession, was create situations which, under normal circumstances, would've seen them 3-0 up at HT.

If you didnt realise it already, you can now see that Barca DID do something with their possession. A poor Messi finish, a poor linesman decision and a poor piece of near-post goalkeeping is the main reason for this result.

I get what your saying but they weren't bombarding the Arsenal goal were they? Barca will always create chances but what score was it? Under normal circumstances yes your right, but they didn't take the few chances they had, just the same as on another day RVP would have had a hat trick.

And Arsenal were much the better side in the second half and IMO deserved the game. They really had a go at barca and took the game to them, i just thought it was a fantastic game and Arsenal deserve alot of credit playing against the best side in the world and beating them deservedly.

[Arn]

Arsenal were second best tonight and you don't 'outplay' a team by having one third of the possession.

You can outplay a team having less possession than that if that is what is the best tactic to win the game.

Inter won against Barcelona with the tactic to kick away the ball and give it to Barca instead of risking quick counter attacks. A low risk tactic.

As Mourinho himself said. We didn't want to keep the ball longer than 10 seconds. If we have it longer time than that then it's better to kick it away and organize the defence.

[JohnDoe]

I only care about the league cup if we happen to stumble to the finals and then it's "ah, why not".

[Craig_H]

I get what your saying but they weren't bombarding the Arsenal goal were they? Barca will always create chances but what score was it? Under normal circumstances yes your right, but they didn't take the few chances they had, just the same as on another day RVP would have had a hat trick.

And Arsenal were much the better side in the second half and IMO deserved the game. They really had a go at barca and took the game to them, i just thought it was a fantastic game and Arsenal deserve alot of credit playing against the best side in the world and beating them deservedly.

No, they werent bombarding Arsenal at all - but that's not what they do.

Barca arent about sending in cross after cross, and putting the other team under the cosh with a high tempo and balls flying in and around the box non-stop. It's not their game. Even when they batter teams, they dont do that.

I agree that Arsenal were better in the 2nd half - Barca stopped playing and the Villa sub was an error. I dont think Arsenal deserved to win though, just as i dont think any side deserves to win a game which they should've been losing 3-0 at half time. And even less so when their equalising goal was down to a woeful goalkeeping error. IMO a team definitively deserves to win a match when the factors of their victory are mainly down to their own actions, as opposed to those of an official or via mistakes by the opposition.

I cant make Arsenal deserved winners when, if they'd been 3-0 down at HT, it would've been entirely justified and merited.

[danperkins]

You can outplay a team having less possession than that if that is what is the best tactic to win the game.

Inter won against Barcelona with the tactic to kick away the ball and give it to Barca instead of risking quick counter attacks. A low risk tactic.

As Mourinho himself said. We didn't want to keep the ball longer than 10 seconds. If we have it longer time than that then it's better to kick it away and organize the defence.

IMO thats the best tactic against Barca, to sit deep and counter, but only if you have a solid defence, which Arsenal clearly don't.

But Arsenal really went for it, a different approach than Inter but it worked. We don't usually share the same opinion about... well pretty much everything but IMO your spot on

[doogle]

i thought arsenal would win this. They got lucky in the 1st half.

Just to add. Messi still yet to score on english soil?
Pep has he actually won an away champions league game in the knockout stages over last 2-3 years.
arsenal will go for at camp nou. Puyol is getting on abit.

Would be funny to see all 4 english teams win their 1st games and then get knocked out in the 2nd round. Can see chelsea losing next week and utd drawing

Commentary said they've never won away in knockout stages in the whole time he's been in charge

[Shaggy]

Bit of a smash and grab from Arsenal I thought. Credit for hanging in there after getting a chasing for most of the game but that was a bit of a mugging. They'll get mullered over there anyway so they might as well enjoy this while it lasts.

[danperkins]

No, they werent bombarding Arsenal at all - but that's not what they do.

Barca arent about sending in cross after cross, and putting the other team under the cosh with a high tempo and balls flying in and around the box non-stop. It's not their game. Even when they batter teams, they dont do that.

I agree that Arsenal were better in the 2nd half - Barca stopped playing and the Villa sub was an error. I dont think Arsenal deserved to win though, just as i dont think any side deserves to win a game which they should've been losing 3-0 at half time. And even less so when their equalising goal was down to a woeful goalkeeping error. IMO a team definitively deserves to win a match when the factors of their victory are mainly down to their own actions, as opposed to those of an official or via mistakes by the opposition.

I cant make Arsenal deserved winners when, if they'd been 3-0 down at HT, it would've been entirely justified and merited.

I completely agree that the Villa sub was a bad error by Pep.

And Messi should have had 2 goals, but on another day RVP with his ridiculous left foot, would have had a hat trick, he actually had an off day with his finishing. It was a surprising and dynamic performance by Arsenal IMO, and instead of suiting tactics to playing against Barca in which every team seems to do as usually you have to, Arsenal just went out and played their game. I thought was crazy initially but they wanted it more than Barca in teh second half and it showed IMO.

People have different opinions on it and thats fair enough. Some will say Barca should have won, others will say Arsenal deserved to win. I'll go with the latter and am really looking forward to the return leg, tough ask for Arsenal