Barcelona v Arsenal, April 6, 2010, Pre/Dur/Post Match [R]

so ur saying maturity?

Why was Diaby up the field directly after we scored playing the wrong ball?? (The one where he should have slipped in Theo) 20 seconds later Messi scores. He should have been back sitting beside Denilson for 10mins to control the lead and try to frustrate Barca. I didnt see anyone except Messi threatening our goal, this excuse of Barca being too good is lame. They didnt tear us apart at the back when Messi was tightly marked.

We cant hold a lead against big teams and its something which has failed to be addressed time and again. I dont need to remind anyone about some of the leads we have let slip due to careless flicks and pouring the team forward instead of controling the game.

Arsenal are behind the top tier teams tacticly and will be for as long as Wenger and his coaches keep repeating the same techniques in training. I believe we have the players to win trophys and they have almost got us in the great position in the league by default.

Actually, Iniesta did a pretty darn good job at that last year.

absolutely

yep, never learn from the same mistakes, again and again. that's just arsene being obtuse....again.....

it got old years ago.

then again, if we hadn't lost focus we wouldn't have had to fight our way back into the race twice and might be safely on top by now. remember all those half hearted games? kids eh?
in a lot of ways we have scrapped a lot of points we never deserved to get. now, you might say that is what winners do, and you'd be right to a degree, but not SO many points from SO many games. that ISN'T how winners do it.

Right after we scored, you're right, we should have kept it tight for the next ten minutes to let things "settle" a bit. But overall, I thought we needed to be positive to get a result because Barca was going to score at some point.

It wasn't just Messi. In the first game, it was Ibrahimovic's poor finishing, then eventually, his two goals that showed our weaknesses. The truth is our defense is average. We have a whole season's worth of evidence.

Average. Drogba, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Rooney...take your pick, elite forwards/strikers have a field day with our defense. I can't recall, but Torres must have been injured when we played Liverpool.

That's the frustrating part. We have a lot of the right parts. We just need a few more additions and to be organized a bit better.

I don't remember those half-hearted games. I remember getting beaten up by the big boys and getting sucker-punched by West Ham just like we did Barca in the first leg.

Spot on. I think AW focuses on the right parts too much and not enough on the additional parts that are needed. BTW Whats the opinion on AA? He lost me awhile ago. He didn't seem like he was his old self. I'm assuming the frustration of having to play up front at 5'4" got to him.

i do. there were quite a few of them where the team looked like they were playing a pre-season friendly. no drive, no passion, no impetus.

I'm not sure anyone can say definitively what's up with him, but it's obvious that he is not happy.

thats a fair point

a bit flippant in his attitude at times. maybe some obviously good additions over the summer will encourage him. maybe he just sees what a lot of the fans see and, to be honest, it can be very depressing and frustrating. still, no excuse for him on his wages to look like he is about to start throwing the toys out of the pram.

brap

Except that he doesn't like his wages either

Is there an ignore function on this site?

sorry, i'm supposed to treat with respect a lower level basketball coach's opinion, twisted into a football fact, because...why exactly?

that's for him to shut up and put up with. he signed the damn contract, no one else did.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Robert Montgomery Knight is one of the greatest coaches of all time irrespective of sport. Not saying you should treat him as God but the man can coach. Don't be so dismissive.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddx0Lyi0v5M"]YouTube- AFICIONADOS DEL ARSENAL ENCULAN A UNA REPORTERA DE LA SEXTA[/ame]

Bob Knight's game face rant>>>lamb's life



and it applies in all sport... the whole "desire" "passion" etc talk doesnt mean anything but makes us as fans and those in the media feel good

he is a lower level basketball coach, correct? college basketball or international is not the pinnacle of that particular sport, correct?
so he hasn't even proven himself at the top level of his own sport and yet here i am having to take some guy i've never heard of's opinion on another sport as a footballing fact?
blah

Part of me wants to agree with you on that.

The other part of me says yesterday was like playing the historically good Brazil sides: They could score whenever they felt like it so it really didn't matter how the small decisions came out.

What?

he also won an olympic gold medal