2010-2011 Football Thread

[daneoni]

Cant believe that. Fabregas undos all the hardwork the the defence have put in right at half-time. And seeing as we can't even keep the ball let alone get into Barca's box i honestly don't see how we're gonna score.

We also miss Song BADLY...Diaby has been a spectator and Wilshere can't keep holding the line by himself. Also Almunia is in goal...

I want to be optimistic but i'm sensing tie over now

 

[awmazz]

Just remember one thing that until now has never changed between Barcelona and Arsenal, the team that scores first loses, or it ends in a draw. History is now on Arsenal's side. See what happens.

Edit - didn't have to wait long. Now it's all changed - Barca now need to score twice to win.

Edit - Oh wtf? A red card? Gimme a break.

 

[daneoni]

Just remember one thing that until now has never changed between Barcelona and Arsenal, the team that scores first loses, or it ends in a draw. History is now on Arsenal's side. See what happens.

It seems i should subscribe to your faith after all

Edit: Wth ref!

 

[awmazz]

Seriously, the ref should have shown some discretion there. Kicking a ball away may be a yellow in normal circumstances but it certainly isn't a sending off offence. Stupid ref just ruined the match.

 

[daneoni]

Such bad luck

 

[awmazz]

Well, Barca have achieved their 3 goal average at the Nou Camp. Arsenal just need one goal in the dying minutes.. Bendtner or Arsharvin maybe..

 

[daneoni]

What a chance for Bendtner...and this is why Arsene risked Van Persie. He, 9/10, would've buried that.

Edit: All over. Next elimination...FA Cup?

Edit: To be fair, Ref killed the game with that ridonculous sending off and effectively handed the tie to Barca.

 

[awmazz]

Bleh, Barca won by excatly the score they needed with an Arsenal away gaol - because of a stupid error by Fabregas. Put that with the stupid error against Birmingham, I expect a stupid error against Man Utd now for the hat trick.

To be fair, Ref killed the game with that ridonculous sending off and effectively handed the tie to Barca.

True, Arsenal were actually ahead on aggregate when they went down to 10 men because of that stupid decision. Arsenal could possibly have held onto that lead.

 

[takao]

Edit: To be fair, Ref killed the game with that ridonculous sending off and effectively handed the tie to Barca.

smacking the ball away after the whistle is an offense since years and the other players heard the whistle

also Koscielny could have easily collected 3-4 yellow cards but went away from the game with a single card and what about that rather obvious barca penalty kick in the first half wasn't given so i would say it was rather balanced in terms of referee decisions

 

[daneoni]

One second between the whistle and the ball leaving RVP's leg. Kicked the ball away or didn't hear the whistle in a stadium filled with 90,000+ screaming fans.

i'm not saying Ref cost us the game (Fabregas + Bendtner ultimately did) but he all but made sure Barca won it. I also won't argue that we rode our luck sometimes.

Bottom line, refereeing has been shocking this season...in all competitions.

 

[oscillatewildly]

Van Persie could have been sent off when he got the first yellow, but the second Walcott would have come in handy when down to ten.

On the radio they said Fabregas felt a twinge with 15 minutes gone; some you win, some you lose. Was there anyone on the bench who could have added a bit of fight in the middle?

Was it a tactic to play Clichy narrow? The Barcelona right had plenty of space; not much crossing, but enough one-twos.

No.52 It would have served Barcelona right for all their faffing around; shoot already!

At least Arsenal can look forward to playing the Barcelona role on Saturday.

Cheers,
OW

 

[takao]

One second between the whistle and the ball leaving RVP's leg. Kicked the ball away or didn't hear the whistle in a stadium filled with 90,000+ screaming fans.

looking at how the barca defenders stopped running _right_ after the whistle and the goalkeepers reaction they obviously heard it...
and those players were, last time i checked, in the very same stadium
and van persie could easily seen how the defenders stopped running or how the goalkeeper couldn't be bothered.. especially since it was more like 3-4 seconds
personally i hate hate hate the rubbish "didn't hear the whistle" theatrics some players try to pull off ... look at how others players react after they realize they did a way too late shot: normally they raise a hand and make "i'm sorry" gestures towards the referee

perhaps it was karma at work since Koscielny totally deserved to be sent off and wasn't

for "riding luck" i recommend a look at the shooting statistic:
17 - 0(!)
with such a statistic complaining about the referee, that last minutes chance or bad luck is hardly worthy of arsenals performance on the pitch

 

[daneoni]

Only Busquets stopped btw, Abidal kept running and Valdes was still wary of RVP's approach. It wasn't 3-4 seconds match commentators said one second according to pitch-side staff.

How many times have players ignored an offside whistle and gone on to blast a shot towards goal without the ref blinking. It was a soft red card...fluffy even.

Barca outplayed us, no arguments, they usually outplay teams there's nothing new there. They were also better than Inter overall but still lost last year. Part of what makes football interesting is that the team that plays well can still lose. Arsenal are pretty much a poster team for this phenomenon.

The point (which is now clear you and i will have to agree to disagree on) is they were still in it at that point...despite everything that had happen, until that VERY soft/questionable decision effectively swung the game in Barca's favour.

But whatever, it's gone. bring on Spurs/Milan.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

RVP is a striker, he's bred to put the ball in the back of the net, he's one-on-one with the keeper in the Champions League. He's always going to shoot, and the ref is taking a very strict interpretation of the rules to call that kicking the ball away. A very soft yellow in my opinion. However, the foul he committed for the first yellow was stupid, so in the end it's really his own fault.

In the end, I agree with Pep - Arsenal were simply outclassed by Barcelona. There's no shame in it, and Arsenal still have some big silverware to play for.

Roma were well beaten by Shaktar, and it was hard to feel bad for Roma after watching De Rossi throwing elbows. Good goals from Willian and Eduardo to knock out the Italian club.

 

[takao]

The point (which is now clear you and i will have to agree to disagree on) is they were still in it at that point...despite everything that had happen, until that VERY soft/questionable decision effectively swung the game in Barca's favour.

because luck was tilted in arsenal favour massively before: a different referee might have seen that penalty foul in the first half ... which would have meant two first half yellow cards for Koscielny and thus him being sent off and arsenal down 2 goals and a man at the break
if it weren't for the referee missing that and barca scoring a totally avoidable own goal it wouldn't even have been a close game

yes that yellow card for v Persie was harsh but looking that he already got a yellow card before and he still was playing way too agressive it was perhaps coming to him ... just like Klose had it coming during the world cup game against Serbia



regarding milan vs. spurs: if the spurs somehow manage to not reach the next round they are absolute idiots ... it would require a massive disaster

 

[Fizzoid]

Well, as I said to my rather glum gooner chum last night, you were always going to have to score at least 1 goal to beat Barca, as they were always going to score, and with 0 shots on target, even before RVP was sent off, it wasn't going to happen...

Edit: Just seen that Grrard is out of tomorrow night's game with Braga. 0-0 anyone?


And if RVP thinks he was harshly sent off, how about poor Ashley Vikers being dismissed for this

Certainly made me chuckle!

 

[XIII]

I completely disagree with those who say we were never going to do it, 0 shots on target, looking at the stats.. I'd be very interested to see statistics for before and after the red card.

We played badly first half, but defended well. There are always going to be last ditch challenges against a team like Barcelona, but they were made well. We only went in at half time down because of a stupid error by our captain.

We got the away goal and to 1-1, and however that happened, it happened - we had defended well up to that point and restricted Barcelona quite well I thought, and we were in a position where to progress without extra time, Barcelona needed 2 more goals. Bear in mind when we have played Barca this season and last, we have got a lot better in the second half both times: I don't think the tempo of the Spanish game is the same as the Premiership, and in short our players seem to be able to keep going for longer. We would've had a situation where, when we were already defending quite well, Barca had to come at us, and we had players like van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin to come on, who can punish on the break. The more I think about it the more convinced I am that having got that goal for 1-1, it was swinging in our favour.

There is no justification for the referee's second yellow whatsoever. I don't really need to go into it, single handedly he has changed the course of the game. He managed to ignore this in the first half too - red card? I think so...

Although I can't believe it's true, for the first time watching a football match the thought of match fixing entered my head... the decisions he was making were so erratic, so poor... ugh. I do feel robbed, and even worse, in Barcelona I was robbed, of my iPhone! Little bastards.

Low day for refereeing and football. Barcelona are a fantastic team, but no one could beat them with the referee set so completely against you, and with 10 men. Fair play when they had the opportunity with 10 men, they were always going to take it: the size of the pitch, the way they play football, we never had a chance. Gutted.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Meanwhile, both Wenger and Nasri are to be charged by UEFA for their post-match comments to the referee...

 

[awmazz]

I completely disagree with those who say we were never going to do it, 0 shots on target, looking at the stats.. I'd be very interested to see statistics for before and after the red card.

We played badly first half, but defended well. There are always going to be last ditch challenges against a team like Barcelona, but they were made well. We only went in at half time down because of a stupid error by our captain.

We got the away goal and to 1-1, and however that happened, it happened - we had defended well up to that point and restricted Barcelona quite well I thought, and we were in a position where to progress without extra time, Barcelona needed 2 more goals. Bear in mind when we have played Barca this season and last, we have got a lot better in the second half both times: I don't think the tempo of the Spanish game is the same as the Premiership, and in short our players seem to be able to keep going for longer. We would've had a situation where, when we were already defending quite well, Barca had to come at us, and we had players like van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin to come on, who can punish on the break. The more I think about it the more convinced I am that having got that goal for 1-1, it was swinging in our favour.

I totally agree. Arsenal's had their own fair share of losing games after peppering the goal but failing to score because of stout defence or the keeper playing a blinder. Just the last game against Sunderland for example. Stopping the other team scoring is as much part of winning a game as scoring yourself is, so shots on goal stats are meaningless. Anyone could equally argue how bad Barca's offence is with all those shots and not being able to get it into the net until gifted by a backheel.

The only stat that matters is the one on the scoreboard, and up until the red card Arsenal were the team that were going through, not Barcelona. With just 20 minutes left, Barca were desperately needing a second goal just to take it to extra time and then hope for a third so the red card changed everything. It took Barca 45 minutes and a terrible defensive blunder just to show one goal on the board against 11 men, they weren't going to score two more as easily as they ended up doing. Especially as you say, Arsenal will finish the game stronger than Barca do. And in fact, they did, even with 10 men Bendtner almost scoring to earn a victory right at the end.

He and Arsharvin should have come on sooner. Personally, I think playing Fabregas was a mistake as he wasn't 100% fit so he wasn't on his full game and Arsenal never controlled the midfield. They say he tweaked his hamstring on 15 minutes so he should have come off then at least.

Edit - you have a justification to feel cynical about match fixing. Due to the timing. The 'soft' sending off was a mere 3 minutes after Arsenal's equaliser and was in response to an Arsenal attack being called offside, which because Arsenal finish the stronger was surely going to be the first of many. Which was all nipped in the bud. Even Takao defending the decision says there were worse offences in the first half which weren't punished, which begs the question why not them but this one when it actually started to look like it was going bad for Barca?

Look at my earlier post during the game. I'm celebrating Arsenal's equaliser (and potential victory) and then the very next sentence is 'wtf a red card? gimme a break', the two happened so close together.

Meanwhile, both Wenger and Nasri are to be charged by UEFA for their post-match comments to the referee...

The actual 'fracas' was in the tunnel, I've read. Not like they were ranting in public in front of the world's TV cameras like Drogba did. So they aren't allowed to even speak to the refs after a match then?

Oh, Nasri's being charged for what he said on the field when the red card was given. Shouldn't he have been given a yellow at the time then if the ref found it offensive?

 

[bluap84]

Spurs v AC - tonight

Spurs going in with a 0-1 head start. This could be a brilliant match, Harry has served us well. Apart from the shocking display at the weekend, Bale is looking good though so lets hope AC are going down!

 

[Jaffa Cake]

So they aren't allowed to even speak to the refs after a match then?

They are, but Wenger's been charged with improper conduct relating to 'inappropriate language' so it would seem that he's either been swearing at the official or perhaps has been calling his abilities or impartiality into question.

Anyway, it's obviously a witch hunt as it's impossible to believe that Wenger would behave in such a manner...

Oh, Nasri's being charged for what he said on the field when the red card was given. Shouldn't he have been given a yellow at the time then if the ref found it offensive?

Hmm... the reports I've read said that the Nasri charge also relates to post match comments, rather than anything said during the match itself.

 

[awmazz]

Hmm... the reports I've read said that the Nasri charge also relates to post match comments, rather than anything said during the match itself.

Yep, it looks like Nasri had a go at him in the tunnel as well. Tag-teaming with Wenger. I misread the 'Nasri, who confronted the referee at the time of the red card..'

 

[daneoni]

Congrats to Spurs, ugly win but they all count. I felt Milan deserved at least extra time because they played really well but oh well...they failed to make it count where it matters.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

...not the kind of swashbuckling performance I thought might happen but Spurs got the job done and kept a clean sheet.

 

[aloofman]

I can't remember the last time I was so pleased with a scoreless draw.