panchester07 wrote:Whatever..
I'm not a barcelona follower, but im not blind either and i love good football, inter was "a winner" and not many jumped on that bandwagon... the thing about barca is they play beautiful football, thats why people love to watch it, but remind me what my team of preference has to do in this debate?
First thing first, trust me, it was delight watching Arsenal play yesterday, you are a team that plays football, a combination of possesion and counterattack, and do it very beautifully, very nice to watch, quick plays, wall passes, through balls, 40 yard passes, great skilled players, i have nothing against Arsenal
All I'm saying is you guys seem extremely overconfident just because you won 2-1 in the last 7 minutes.... Before the match many Arsenal fans didn't even trust there team, and thought the series was over... Congratulations, you beat Barca, not many teams do.. But a 2-1 is the shitiest lead you could have in football, especially if your going to Barcelona..
Us overconfident? That's what I've been accusing you of this whole time. I don't think saying we have a chance is being over-confident...I call that believing in our squad. Please find one statement I've made that makes us appear "over-confident". I've said this whole time we got a result better than anyone(including myself) could have hoped for.
The way the game went down doesn't give me any type of confidence that Arsenal was the better side or that you have what it takes to obtain a positive result in Camp Nou...
All im challenging you to do, is to look BEYOND the scored...
Look at the actions of the game...
Did Arsenal really close down Barcelona enough?
In the first 15 minutes + MOST of the 2nd. We choked off most of the attack in the second. I'll admit 15 minutes - half time were ugly.
Was Arsenal really getting clear chances? or was it the 2 goals and maybe on or two other shots?
We created chances within the first 10 minutes. Cesc flick to RvP that Valdes saved. Chances were created more-so in the 2nd as we pressed far more consistently during the 2nd. It's hard to create many chances when you don't have the ball(15-Half time, speaking).
Where the goals good goals, or where there key mistakes, very unlikely to happen again?
A goal is a goal. You can blame Valdes for the 1st, but why bother? He had to hit that shot extremely hard and low to his near post to beat him...Valdes gambled on cross and lost. Valdes is by far your weakest link. Fantastic 1v1 shot stopper but no immune to mental mistakes. No hate, just how it is.
Was Arsenal not lucky a few times in the back?
Arsenal were extremely luck at points. When you combo that luck with Barcelona's lack of finishing, it worked out perfectly for us. The difference is finishing. If Barcelona would have, we wouldn't even be having this debate.
I'm just saying, Switzerland did beat Spain 1-0 in the world cup, but who won the world cup? Obviously Arsenal played a better match than the swiss did in2010, but you get my point..
Very few teams are going to be perfect through the group stage of the WC, as that's when you tinker(if needed). There's no tweaking a club side in the CL, as it's already set in stone. You played the strongest side you had available, as did we. Spain had an issue scoring most of the WC. They either fire in buckets of goals, or just grind one out.
This is the whole reason there is a 2-leg system. Most top sides from the major leagues would be competitive enough to win a head-to-head match against anyone else. A mistake here, a bounce there, a bad call here & there....an top 3-4 squad from any league might be able to knock out an arguably better side. An isolated win means nothing in the grand scheme of things, it's all on the scope of the competition. A loss in the group stage allows you to advance if you are consistent enough, but a loss in the final decides who's the better squad. If the Swiss beat Spain in the final, that's changes the whole scope of your argument.
See, some people look at the score, but actually what you have to do is analyze the game, and watching evidence from the first game, try to imagine how it will be in the rival's ground...
I get that. I'm just saying, you act as if we should write down 5-0 and not even play the game. You're just getting ahead of yourself. Again, it's natural to not focus on the negative and look forward. Heaven forbid Arsenal be congratulated for longer than 1 whole day before someone thinks to count them out on the 2nd leg.
Congratulations, valdes fu**ed up, congratulations the ref called a goal off, congratulations, Messi was inches away from the goal twice, congratulations the ref didn't see a handball in the box, congratulations, pedro missed a sitter...
All these things factored the game, just as any other. We both can play the "what if" game, as it's completely hypothetical.
You weren't better enough than Barcelona in your ground, to assume that you will be good enough in theirs to come out victorious.
I have never once said "We will win" as you tout so highly. I think that's why so many people seem to not even bother arguing with Barcelona fans due to their smugness. I'm saying don't count us out, and that's what I've said this entire time. Please point me to something otherwise.
Now, if you had 6-7 clear cut chances, if Barcelona struggled to create danger, if you controlled the match and did what you want with the ball, and you were clearly a better team, outplayed the rival for the majority of the game.. then i would say, jeez, this team looks like they can go to barcelona and pull a tie or an away win... but that wasn't the case..... at alll.....
Again, all we need is a draw. If we score, you must score at least twice to stay alive. If you let in 2 goals, you have to go 4 to advance. What I'm pointing out is we allowed Barcelona to maintain possession, and they weren't able to capitalize. You can say that Barcelona outplayed us, and I'd agree for about 50 minutes, you did. The first 15 minutes and the last 25 were ours.
Go ahead and start believing with the 2-1, you're an Arsenal fan after all, i just think its funny that after this really tight and close game, may already changed from "this tie is lost, we are ruled out", "we have solid chances of making it through bcasue we won 2-1 " I don't even think the Arsenal players think that
Some do, as they think it's the same team as last year. Last year, we didn't have a chance with the injuries and issues with that squad. I've said it before, only 3 of the same players started from the 1st leg this and last. I'd venture to say maybe 8 or 9 of the same players for Barcelona played in that tie last year(no Ibra this year, can't remember if SB or Yaya played, and not certain of the left back) but the point is, it's roughly the same squad(if not better). We are a much better squad this year, even our domestic league shows it. We've squandered leads in the Newcastle and Spurs games and lost certain games we shouldn't have...yet we are still 2nd(by 4 points) behind a very strong United squad.
Ton of supporters wouldn't mind an early exit from the UCL so we can focus on the league. There's nothing worse than knowing you can juggle 3 things, and someone throws you 4. I personally would rather United stay in as long as possible and deal with 2 games a week as long as possible to wear down their squad down the stretch. I wouldn't have minded a CL exit and still don't to a degree, although there's nothing wrong with giving it a fighting chance. That's all we have. The same thing was said about Inter last year and now Jose looks like a genius. Very few gave Inter a chance of beating Barcelona as they did in the tie, so why is it suddenly crazy that Arsenal have a chance. Inter won 3-1 at home and had it a bit easier. Yes, we aren't Inter, blah blah blah. Inter wasn't Inter the beginning of the season either. They are just like anyone else in football: out-of-form, in-form, or Benetiz is coaching you...and that means your screwed
Inter didn't win using our tactics, and we didn't win using Inter's. Comparing us is like comparing rocking chairs and rattle snakes.
Our No. 1 GK at the beginning of the season is out, but I prefer WS anyways. We haven't had Verms all year. RvP has only had a run of 9-10 games. All I'm saying is tie hasn't been and won't be a carbon copy of last year. If someone doesn't believe we still belong there, then knock us out.
" bu with a 2-1 they are "we stopped your tiki-taka bla bla" 
