When Bendtner scored after 19 minutes I thought that Arsenal had a chance at a massive upset in Spain. Then the Gunners then wasted another chance of a breakaway, when Diaby pushed the ball left to Bendtner when Walcott was in acres of space on the right.
Arsenal’s speed was causing Barcelona trouble and I thought that if Arsenal had been able to keep the score 1-0 until half-time who knows how the game would have turned out, as all the pressure would have been on Barcelona.
But when Messi scored his first only two minutes after Bendtner’s goal, you just knew this was not going to be Arsenal’s night. Especially with the way the Gunners defended in the first half.
Mikael Silvestre might be Arsenal’s fourth choice center-half but he once again was not up to the challenge and he was at fault for two of Barcelona’s goals.
But this give credit where credit is due. Lionel Messi is the best footballer on the planet and he simply beat Arsenal tonight. That is what great players do. Last season it was Ronaldo who beat Arsenal in the semi-finals and this year it was Messi’s turn.
What do you think of Arsenal’s performance tonight?
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Steve Biko says:
April 7, 2010 at 2:03
Lets face it. Losing to the world’s best team is no disgrace. Conceeding four cheap goals is a disgrace. Arsenal’s defence this season has been poor especially againist good sides. Our defenders especially Vermallen are too attack minded and are often caught out of position. The goals we conceded today are not much different from the silly goals we conceded against Manure, Man Shi*ty and Chelsea. The problem with Arsenal IS NOT ATTACK! Even if we had Fabregas, Asharvin and Van Persie our defence would still have cost us. While their is debate about Silvestre there is no doubt that our mauling againist Manure and Chelsea came when we had our first choice defence playing.
Chris has a point. Why did Wenger when he realized we had a problem in defence (especially with Djorou out for the season) buy a player who can not play twice in a week? Wenger has always gambled in defence. Silvestre was a gamble and so was Campbell. Vermallen lets face it was also a gamble. In the beginning of the season Asharvin wondered whether Vermallen coming from another league would settle quickly in the EPL. Asharvin suggested that Wenger buy an experienced CB. (I know Asharvin has not had an influential season but his advice was correct. In the final analysis Wenger can learn something from David Moyes of Everton. Arsenal does not necessarily need a 30 million pound defender. But seriously look at the frugal Moyes and his assembly of defenders such as Jagielka, Distin, Heitinga among others. That defence in just two months neutralized Drogba, Rooney and Tevez. By contrast those three guys tore us to bits earlier in the season.
In conclusion, Wenger’s philosophy in attack is reasonably good. He can assemble a great attacking lineup. When it comes to defence Wenger is out of depth. He is willing to invest in band aid and inexperienced adhesive when some like Mourinho at Inter invest in Cement and Steel. Wenger invests quality in attack. Its like he buys diamonds in attack and when it comes to protecting those diamonds he invests in second rate security systems. The result?
Arsenal diamonds in the form of Fabregas and Nasri sooner or later decide to leave for pastures new.
End of rant.
Did you see Clichy last night? He was a one man team. He was amazing he fought for everything he was everywhere on the left and even ran into the middle a few times and won the ball. All eyes are on Messi for his genius, finishing etc. but for me Clichy was the man of the match. I’ve never seen an Arsenal player fight so hard and if his teammates did the same the result might have been very different.
Song and Fabregas were missed hugely last night, especially seeing as Denilson was booked early for nothing early. Denilson didn’t have a bad game last night everyone likes to have a go at him but he fought hard last night, Silvestre didn’t have a bad game either. Messi’s first goal was unstoppable by any standard of the imagination and it was the only one to come from the left.
Vermaelen was our weak link last night surprizingly. He doesn’t look comfortable on the right side at all and he looked very tired.
The lessons that can be learned from last night are simple, at the start of the season we played exactly like Barcelona did last night and it’s the only way to play a 4-3-3, constant pressure off the ball from all players and accurate one touch triangular passing in midfield. We didn’t do any of that last night, we stood off far too much.
Almunia was ridiculous last night, any ball that came back to him he hoofed it out of play and essentially returned possession to Barcelona.
Bendtner had a good game last night but was extremely isolated and this wasn’t helped by the referee giving away free kicks every time he held off the defender to shield the ball. His goal has become typical of him, the keeper saved and he was up very fast to fight for the rebound, his power header late in the game that hit the post was very good too. I like Bendtner a lot he has really stepped up and improved. Eduardo is gone, I hate to say it, I like him as a person and what he’s had to fight back from is admirable but he has lost his confidence and skill. He’s the one that Chamakh will replace in our front line assuming we sign him. Both he and Vela are 4-4-2 players and have not been able to adapt to our new formation.
Let’s face it – this happens to us every season – We have a thin squad and invariably there are injuries in this physical sport – so every year, the first team players take us to the peak and then towards the end of the season the 3rd team players bring us back to mother earth (as most of the 1st team players are sitting on the pot – injured)!
When will Arsene Wenger learn …When? I hope that this summer with our new CEO in place we buy good players to sustain us till May 2011.
Messi is still on an impressive run. They just beat Real Madrid at their own stadium. He’s on an impressive run of form, hope to see the same Messi at the World Cup with Argentiana.
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