Boring match, in a way its similar to our Tie as well. Arse & Villarreal are playing in a way where the attacking is not based on pure skill but skill + confidence. Milan-Barca is basically who will blink first, Milan blinked and we scored. We might blink and let them back in by allowing them to score an away goal (like in 2004). If we blink in the first half..we know how to pressure and pull ourselves through the fire. Villarreal will need Riquelme to play inspired and the crowd at El Madrigal to be loud and boisterous, and help to make Henry disappear, because he'll want to silence them. That's what motivates Henry in away matches. I wonder why Villarreal don't play 4-5-1, I thought they played that way last year when they beat us and had a 3-3 draw after we won the title.
It didn't seem like Villarreal had any shots on goal in the second half. Arsenal seemed to have the box flooded with their players everytime Villarreal tried to push forward, which is not the style of play I have grown accostumed to seeing from them. Although it did work, credit to them. I predict that Villarreal will pull out a home goal and send this tie to extra time, mostly because they play with a lot of passion when behind, but I still think Arsenal will win it in the end.
it was almost as if Villareal played as if they weren't trying. Poor effort from them but a 1-0 defeat is not to hard to overturn. The funniest part was when the squirrel ran unto the field like 3 times and play momentarily stopped. The game should have ended 2-1 but I'm not complaining.
The Villarreal defense was completely lost without their two starters. If they don't get at least one back by next Tuesday, they'll need at least 3 goals to advance because Arsenal WILL score against that shoddy backline. How gilberto didn't get carded is a mystery. The ref let Arsenal get away with murder at times, and the line judge was atrocious both ways. I'll be pulling for an all Spanish final, but I think its going to be Barca and Arsenal. I just hope that Arsenal doesn't play three straight Spanish teams that don't have their central pairing in the back. Puyol and Marquez both one card away from suspension, but if they have to pick up a card to get us to the final, then they just have to do it.
I don't know, I thought Arzo did pretty well. Venta was getting torn to shreds on the right by Henry, though. Villarreal got robbed by the ref on the non-penalty call, though Henry's goal shouldn't have been disallowed by the lineman. All things considered, Villarreal did well to keep Arsenal from scoring a second; I don't think they'll win, but they might get a goal at home and force extra time. I think Arsenal are too strong for them, especially if they can shut down Riquelme again like they did today...like Man Utd showed, Arsenal are prone to a quick counter-attack, and that just isn't Villarreal's style...but it is Barcelona's.
Sort of off-topic but Pires says that Villareal is interested in signing him. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=365393&cc=5901
A few weeks ago, it was Pires going to Rangers under Le Guen, now he's going to Villarreal...wonder who'll be linked with him next week.
Hey the media will say anything to get attention. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was linked to us or Man U.
The 2nd match will depend on the ref and Riquelme. The Arsenal players were all over Riquelme, picking at him like players so often do so against Ronaldinho in the midfield. The thing is, the ref wouldnt call anything. With Roman needing to prove himself in the 2nd leg, being at home, and having a bigger field, I do expect Villarreal to win. This may not be good though. The yellow subs know Barcelona better and have beaten them in the past.
First off anynoe who puts Eric B and Rakim tha Master on for their icon shall be repped! But secondly, I do believe that Villarreal did get robbed on the non-pen call. The problem arises when Villarreal was easy to go to ground. The ref was not having any of it that game. Where is Villarreal's location in Spain? Thank ya now...Roscoe!
If Villarreal gets another biased ref who decides not to make any calls that might compromise the pre-determined favorite's chance of winning, they don't stand a chance. If they can get a fair ref, good or bad, they'll have a good chance; but I think it will depend as much on the play of Senna as it will on Requelme. They need both those two players to really play well to succeed.
I didn't like the ref in the Arsenal vs Villa Real game at all but one thing that goes against Real is all of the diving.. and that is probably why the ref didn't award the penalty/free kick that Real should of had at the end of the first half.
I thought the ref played right into Arsenal's hands. He basically turned it into a Premiership match. Hard tackles, non-calls, ugly game.
I don't think there was even a single dive in that game. There was an embellishment by Franco in the second half. Some histrionics by Arse in the first half...Henri if memory serves. But no dives that I saw based on pretty decent ESPN replays. But if there were a dive the appropriate action based on LOTG is to give a yellow card not to inflict punishment with later non-calls. So, I don't think that is what he was doing. He was just being sure he didn't make any calls that anyone could question might contribute to the "favorite" of the press and odds makers going down.