I will save my detailed analysis for later, when the dust has settled somewhat but there were two main reasons for our demise tonight, one was completely outside of our control and the other was not. The referee was absolutely useless. The first half saw him yellow card several of our players for very very little, give Barcelona numerous non free kicks, give us very little despite several hard tackles going in on our players, fail to book Messi for a blatant dive and fail to punish Abidal for grabbing the throat of RVP. Biased? Corrupt? It was certainly shite.
Having said all that Arsene got his tactics completely and utterly wrong. He started with two players who were clearly not 100% fit, RVP and Cesc, and neither of these lads did themselves justice. Rosicky was chosen to start for some bizarre reason only known to Arsene, he was deeply average and rather anonymous in every possible way. This left us to be overwhelmed in midfield, I thought Jack and Abou did pretty well given the circumstances. We also had so little in the way of an attacking threat, Arshavin was on the bench, what a terrible waste.
The sending off of RVP killed us and what an appalling piece of refereeing it was, RVP clearly didn't hear the whistle, the referee showed him a ridiculous second yellow, even the Barcelona players seemed shocked by the incompetence of the decision. Barca still struggled to finish us off, they needed a very dodgy penalty from yet another Pedro dive to score their third, Bendtner had a last gasp chance when he should have been clean through near the end, his poor touch let him down.
Again Barcelona can be proud of the pathetic cheating that they indulged in from the first minute to the last. They tried to get our players books with little rolls, pirouettes and pikes from the off, it was quite appalling and completely unsportsmanlike. This was all summarised by David Villa's rolling around on the ground after Koscielny had cleanly won the ball with a fair tackle in the second half, yet another piece of despicable gamesmanship from yet another Barcelona cheat. They may have won but they have very little credibility left as sportsmen left in my eyes. Pedro Messi, Villa, Daniel, Busquets, so many cheating cunts in one football team.
I wouldn't like to finish with ranting about Barca's cheating in isolation. Our defeat tonight was sadly predictable and a mixture of refereeing incompetent, Barcelona cheating and Arsene's lack of tactical awareness killed us. Fucketty fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck.
56 comments:
we woz robbed! we woz robbed!
Wenger havnt got a clue tactically,now for the annual surrender at OT,how wonderful it is to follow Arsenes blunders.
pathetic blog.
Referee was crap for both sides-What about Barca's penalty they should have had in the first half?
Arsenal should have lost 9-1
Another Pedro dive? How about the clear foul in Messi in the first half? How about your team getting in foul trouble because they can't keep their tempers in check? Seriously. Get your head out of the sand.
haha...arsenal was really a third-rated team.0 shots on target and need busquets to help u score and still lose.pathetic
Dude, it wasn't referring incompetence. It was obviously UEFA needing Barca in the final for TV monies. The officiating was fixed, and it was there for everyone to see.
this is funny. we got royally destroyed but the ref (who followed the law) robbed us?
that is funny
I am Arsenal through and through but I am not delusional
when your on about sportmanship, you should mention our keeper breaking a finger, throwing the ball for a throw in, an barca give us the ball back at our corner flag... pure class!
For once we could have actually played football.. the way Arsenal played today, we could have just thrown in the towel before the game.. for once, it would have been good to watch we going down with a fight... Arsenal could have played like how we played 2005 FA final against MU..played like how we played against Chelsea at home this season... play with intention... 3-1 should have actually been 10-0.
The Messi panalty claim was bull Anonymst. Watch it again in slowmo and you'll see the guy going down before any contact. As for the rest of you people talking about Wenger not knowing what he's doing; just crawl back into you holes and die. You caome out with this carp every time everything isn't perfect but how often do you get out of your armchairs. Clear of to Chelski, Man Ure or Man C. We don't need inept, brainless people like you.
Oh deary. What about the first match? One goal disallowed, several correct claims for a penalty and one this match as well
Understandable frustration but a poor analysis. The red was absurd and undoubtedly changed the game- we would not have surrendered possesion and ground so critically with van Persie still on.
However, the pen was undeniable. No dive, just a tired lunge from Kes and definite contact. We can legitimately complain about the ref's performance but to moan about things he got right just makes you look bitter and weakens your argument.
But when all is said and done, can we honestly, honestly look at that game and say Barca didn't deserve to go through? No.
So one of the best teams ever is a bit better than us, let's move on.
The referee should have won a Barca jersey mate... it was 12 against 10
But Wenger said we'd win the quadruple 10 days ago.
We actually played against Barcafuckinglona with no striker when another goal would have finished them off.
Having said that it would have been undeserved. Barca hammered us and it's pathetic to hear Wenger saying we would have won with 11 v 11.
And to follow up my comment (anon 22:24) to the person looking to the first match and complainng about the offside 'goal' being ruled out... please shut up about that. Watch a reply, watch the ball come off Szcesney, hit Pedro and go to Messi- when it comes off Pedro, Messi is offside. By a long way. Now be quiet.
Arsenal is often criticised for not being able to play anything but offensive ball. Now, Wenger attempts a defensive tactic (that Mourinho and Inter used to eliminate Barca at Nou Camp last year), and now Wenger is criticised for not playing more offensively. He failed, but he at least tried.
A new Mr Arsenal has been born.
If he stays that is JW
That is because he chose to hire second rate defenders,if you buy your groceries in Tesco sometime you will suffer from a case of the runs.
Man your analysis is subjective... RVP deserved a red card this game, he made 3 crystal clear yellow card deserving fouls. Look in the rule book, kicking away the ball after the whistle qualifies for a yellow card. To say that he did not hear it is bullshit, you could see that he did not really take the shoot well. Messi should also had penalty, you cant blame the ref for this loss, come on...
Ah 'Blaugrana'.... a perfect example of why so many people can't stand the American fans who have never even been to the country of the team they 'support'.
I'm a Spurs fan and come here in peace. 3 things from me:
1). (anon 22.28) You're wrong about Messi offisde in the first game. Replays clearly show as soon as Pedro touches the ball, Messi is either on line or just behind Pedro, so it's a correct goal. So shut it.
2). The ref in the second game was blatantly poor and/or corrupt. The second yellow on RVP was a joke, a 1 second delay on the whistle for a second yellow is totally appalling.
It's not as though RVP dribbled the ball, went round the goalie and then kicked the ball away in dissent 5 seconds later...
3). The penalty in the second game was a penalty, sadly for the Gunners. Replays clearly show CONTACT between Kos and the barca player, regardless of whether the barca player started going down BEFORE the contact.
All in all, I still think the better team won (Barca) with Cesc clearly not fit, but the ref needs to be shot or at least strung up by the balls...Better luck next time goons.
we were cheated alright, but Nik shouldnt have tried to trap the ball. I think M.o.t.M goes to INIESTA, not Messi because he just scored only
There's no doubt that Barcelona were dominant and deserved to win. However, much of the real damage did come after the ludicrous sending off of RVP. People condemn Arsenal when we have all the possession but fail to score and that's exactly what happened here with Barca in the first half until Fabregas' moment of stupidity. Until then, neither Szczesny nor Almunia really had a save to make. We defended magnificently and the full-back's effort that hit the angle was only shot of any note. Wenger shouldn't be ridiculed for claiming that we could have won if all eleven players had remained on the field. We had drawn level and the pendulum could have swung our way. Alas, no one will ever know though. Nothing to be ashamed about going out to a single goal to a side like that on a night when we had no luck at all.
Gribben you're a fucking idiot mate. Honest to God even a Barcelona fan wouldn't sprout such utter shit
How many more refs will you blame for the fact you had no shots on goal?
And if Cesc is right saying a goal lead wasn't enough at the emerates, when are you going to find a home-based ref?
They had no shots on goal probably because the ref red-carded their only goal threat, ie. RVP !!!
When was the last time you lost and you put it down to being beaten by a better team?
It's always shit reffing/cheating opponents with you lot. Just man up and admit you were outclassed
Anonymous: Are you for real tard? Are you really that blind? Red card or not does not matter, how the f*** can you expect to progress with 0 shots on goal? Blaming the ref for the loss is insane, if you don't remember, Barca had one goal wrongly disallowed in first game and in second Messi clearly should have had a penelty... Get a life or some glasses...
Another year without silverwear hey?
Awwwww.....
There's always the Carling Cup.... Oh wait! Some little Midlands team beat you didnt they?
Always leave it to bloody epl fans to blame the ref and blame the other team.
You were outplayed by a superior team. Suck it up princesses
The point is we will never know what would have happened if RVP had not been so ridiculously sent off,
as many have also pointed out, Barca created very little clear cut until we went down to ten men
this is the point
you can waffle on about all the chances after RVP had been unfairly sent off, but it's frankly meaningless
Wenger got his tactics badly wrong as well, it's not the first time he has done this and has played unfit players in big games, i made this clear in the original piece.
This isn't about excuses etc, it's a about a clearly incompetent refereeing performance, even if we had played better we would have struggled against that kind of officiating, Barca will dive everytime you try to tackle them, they make competeting very hard thanks to their cheating.
Maybe one day Arsenal will lose to a better team. But its never happened yet and its not likely to in the future.
Not until FIFA gets rid of referees altogether. Since every single one of them manages to get most big decisions wrong. For example, last night, a huge number of refs would have awarded a penalty against Diaby in the first half. I would have done and I am an arsenal season ticket holder.
A lot of refs would have also found a way to give Kozza a second yellow as well. Either for the pen, or when he pole-axed David Villa after the whistle had gone.
So if this ref had been anywhere near as influential in this game as 1979 thinks, then we would have been 2-0 done and would have played with 9 men for most of the game.
To say that we lost the game because of the ref is stupid. We lost because we were shite.
I think every single person who has commented above would have tried harder out there than Abou Diaby, even the Spurs fans. Professional pride would at least make you break sweat at some point.
Diaby was quite simply useless. Wilshere put his heart and soul into that game and left blood on the pitch. Diaby just looks bemused most of the time. I simply cannot understand why AW continues to pick him in these big games. It is fucking obvious to everyone else that Diaby is awful.
Much of the same applies to Rosicky as well, who was also useless last night.
It strikes me that the ref didn't help us with the red card on RVP, but if he was really that bad a ref, he could have fucked us much worse than he did.
We were utterly thrashed in the first 45 mins with 11 men on the pitch. Stop pretending its the ref's fault.
Here we go again. Arsenal never lose a game unless the ref is corrupt, opponents cheat. I am an Arsenal supporter I get utterly sick of the constant whinging and excuses made on this blog. Barcelona were much the superior team in BOTH legs. They taught us a footballing lesson. Messi is not a diver, he always tries to remain on his feet. Pedro could have gone down for an obvious penalty had he chosen to do so. The referee was not biased. some dubious decisions went our way, some to Barcelona, its a matter of interpretation. As we face another season without silverware we should be asking questions of wenger, his stubborn refusal to confront the weaknesses in the team, (we all know what they are). One can only hope that wenger sees the light, but I doubt it.
Van Persie knew what he was doing chaps - lets face it, if he hadn't heard the whistle he would have scored(surely he's good enough to take a touch and slot it past the keeper(which i've seen him do a million times!) I think his rant was to cover the fact that he knew it was a stupid thing to do. Get over it - there's always next year. One piece of advice for you.....Win your group!
Did-dums!!! Amateurs, send us Cesc when your bored of him and we'll get his career back on track!
Can't understand the level of delusion. You're either admitting Van Persie is a shite striker or putting your head in the sand. He knew he was off-side. It's not the one second but as the ball was played, he knew he was miles ahead of everyone else so he just smashed the ball wide of goal.
There was also decisions that went against Barca in both games which arsenal fans would not have let us hear the end of had they been subjected to them.
Agreed with most of your observations. The David Villa tackle was not a pirouette, the Pedro dive wasn't a dive, but clumsy defending by Koscielny. There's a couple of things you missed. 3/4 in the game, two Arsenal players were closing in on Xavi near the touch line. Xavi lost the ball and went after one of the Arsenal players. The Barca players are beautiful to watch, BUT are dirty players! Arsne got the tactics wrong and the boys were chasing shadows most of the game. Why was Rosicky starting ? He's a dud. Arshavin, though not firing on all 4's is a better option than Rosicky
One of the best articles I read since the defeat. Rosicky should never have played let alove started for me he gives the ball away too easily and is no where near the player he used to be, fab never had a sniff of the ball and diaby couldnt impose his physical strength on their midfielders, I feel let down by the majority of the team (apart from wilshere and nasri and centre halfs) and the only player i could say had a good game was clichy. Disappointing night but we can stil go on and win premiership but not if we perform like last night. Best team in the world or not!!!
I desperately agree this article but I clearly understand that UEFA hates Arsenal like shit because this team always do in out of order and not make the money enough compare with Barca.
BLUEMOON - what sort of fucking english is that?
For the zillionth time, NO ARSENAL FAN IS ARGUING WE DESERVED TO WIN. And to the idiots saying we were "outclassed" - well, gee, morons, tell me, exactly WHICH team on earth is NOT outclassed by Barca? You really think any other team will do better than us in the passing game? Inter eliminated Barca last year with almost no shots on goal yet Inter were outclassed in both games, ffs!
Many Arsenal fans didn't think we'd go thru anyway. I was one of the few who really thought we could get away with a draw and go thru. But most gooners I know just wanted this game out of the way so we could forget about the CL and focus on the domestic campaign because they didn't believe we'd go thru. NO GOONER today would be complaining if that game had been played in the same spirit as the one at the Grove. Yes, Barca were denied legit goals & penalties. We were lucky on a number of calls over both legs. The anger comes from the referee yesterday NOT ALLOWING OUR PLAYERS TO FKG PLAY EVEN WHEN THEY DID TRY.
Watch the game again, the ref had every fighting Arsenal player on a yellow card. He forgave ALL of Barca's bookable offenses and let Abidal go scot free for grabbing RVP by the neck. Plus Adriano & Valdez also grabbed Nasri's neck in the same fashion right in front of the ref, also unbooked http://yfrog.com/h8hpkkvj .
Pedro (a well known diver) got a soft penalty.
Barca had a clear strategy: when they lose possession foul the player (the ref eagerly facilitated this tactic). Even the purported off-side call that led to RVP's sending-off was onside. Watch 39 mins in the 1st half the ref was sharing a water bottle with Barca players and laughing. The ref was totally in thrall to the Barca crowd.
And it's interesting that such an AMAZING BRILLIANT team can't seem to win in CL away games - away from the protection of the Camp Nou and pliant refs.
Ted,
you make the a few decent points but your dislike of Diaby comes through rather strongly, your slating of him while ignoring his decent performance and woeful performances from cesc and rosicky is bizarre
if you thought that was a pen in the first half then i'm surprised, diaby pulled out of the tackle, messi threw himself down and made no effort no go for the ball, dive, never a pen, likewise for the pedro dive in second half
i will happily admit that wenger got things badly wrong tactically
still UNTIL WE WENT DOWN TO TEN MEN we conceded very little in the way of clear cut chances
the useless refereeing changed the game, even though we were second best we would still have had a decent chance of getting through
Inter showed that last season, they were second best in both games but got through!
this is the point that some of your are missing
MARCUS is 100% spot on with his comments, he sums it all up nicely, read that and it's very hard to argue, it's simply what happened
BTW, until RVP's sending off, Barca had only 3 shots on target. 13 of their 19 shots on target came AFTER the sending off.
that last "Anonymus" was me, marcus
Marcus, get yourself an arsenal blog mate. Everything you've said there is spot on and that image of the barca player gripping Nasri's neck, how the hell can the referee not see that.
I'm amazed barca only had 3 shots on target in an hour of football (before the red card).
Depsite this, Wenger got his tactics wrong, it was working to a point, but we were riding our luck.
We really missed outlets like Walcott too and Arshavin, unbelievable to see he wasn't playing. Rosicky gave nothing.
Spot on Marcus.
Hi Goons,
A merry & joyus St.Arsenington day to one and all:-)have a good one!
toodles,
COYS
what a dumb cunt writing this bullshit...are u for real!!!
sssssspppppppppppuuuuuuuuuurrrrrssss!!
The Swiss referee must explain why he sent RVP off. Of course the rules state he has authority to do so. That's why I don't trust these guys in black be it in the cl or epl.
The reason is obvious. With the huge sums of money involved, can any one guarantee there is no bribery in this match?
Of course i Know Barcelona are better. But if RVP had not been sent off and with the score level,anything is possible. Being a youthful team, the gunners could have harassed Barca players untile they were exhausted and ripe for the picking.
Any way I hope Barca get Spurs or the Ukraine team.If the referee is 100% impartial,I expect Barca to fall to either team. The managers of these teams are tactically more pragmatic and have various ways of playing compared to the gunners one stle.
We blame wenger for not strenghthening the defence during widow season.if we had more strong players, injuries could not affect us so much.
How Will Barcelona win against Manchester united? The cheats have a number of tricks up their sleeve. 1. They can probanly score a goal or two from off side positions, then later they can claim that they were beautiful goals and manchester united never got the ball. 2. The real problem with manchester is that their midfield lines and backlines are very organized, so the urgent need is to get one of the central midfielders or central defenders sent off. Then they can probably claim that "special players" like busquets and messi and iniesta need protection. (Yeah right, no body can play act the way these rascals do) 3. The next tactic is a special one, like they did against chelsea, barca can deny man united half a dozen penalties. And then they can always say later that they had the ball and the tackles and handballs were fair 4. They can also call a couple of united goals offside.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All in all the cheats have a massive advantage even at wembley, especially the way UEFA has been licking barca rear ends. It will be a shameful demise of football if barca are to win at wembley.
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