Image courtesy of eventbrite.com Europa League Semifinal - Leg 2 Valencia CF vs Arsenal FC (1-3 agg) Stadio Mestalla, Valencia, Spain Thursday, May 9, 2019 3 PM EST "The finances work out perfectly. We will have the best stadium in Europe, with 75,000 seats, and we'll have more than enough money." - Valencia CF President Juan Soler, 2007 Little analysis needed, folks. Win and Arsenal is one match away from a European trophy and next year's Champions League. Lose and the season ends on Sunday with Arsenal in 5th and back in Europa next year. For Arsenal the emphasis will obviously be on offense, in part because their defense sucks and because getting 1 goal will force Valencia to at least net 3 to force extra time. There'll be no need to hold back in any way for league play, either, now that their domestic fate is sealed, so whatever is left in their physical and emotional tanks needs to be used up Thursday afternoon. We're all pissed and disappointed, we're all dreading the lack of prospective roster moves from the off season... For all our gripes the club still has a shot at something pretty big. Time to rally around the badge.
I think Emery is good at setting up the team in one off games, and bad at setting up a team to play generally. Wenger was the exact opposite. 2-2 draw.
What??!!! I'm too reliant on the alerts & notifications, which either don't show consistently or I don't watch them carefully enough. Also, too reliant on a heads-up post being made in the prior thread. Obviously I should peruse the Arsenal forum more diligently in moments like this. Thanks Mebe for waking me up!
Reposting this in the proper place now! News starting to trickle out of Arsenal: https://www.arsenal.com/news/travelling-squad-confirmed-valencia Thankfully there seem to be no new/significant injuries, so the 21-man squad has all the usual suspects, except perhaps Mavropanos... but then he's not exactly been "usual" for us.
Although my DVR guide is all messed up, it looks like we're on TV via Unimas (aka Futura), whereas Chelsea are on Univision Deportes. And of course also streaming on B/R Live. As for me, I'm considering going to my local for this one, unless of course I get last-minute cold-feet, not wanting to jinx our luck. But I also need to confirm which feed the pub will be showing (they've said before they've had trouble with the B/R streaming... anyone else care to share their experiences w/ B/R Live?)
As for the task at hand, this is a total cliche but "it's going to be very hard going there". Because... 1) Mestalla is a tight cauldron... a proper footy stadium IMO 2) We've played there 3 times over the years and always lost 3) Valencia should be full of confidence because... a) they won 6-2 in their last match (5-0 at HT!) whilst we barely eeked out an impotent 1-1 draw b) look what Liverpool did with their home field advantage last night So will we advance? Yes! But it's likely to be a nerve-wracking squeaker. Please, Unai and the boys please prove me wrong!!!
I dunno, I don't feel good about this one. Arsenal are just so terrible away. I can already see the "all english teams in cup finals except for Arsenal who blew a 3-1 lead" stuff
Nobody expected Liverpool to win . . . and they pulled off a miracle. Nobody expected Spuds to win . . . and they pulled off a miracle. Nobody expects Arsenal to win . . .
Nice try but we've been the bookies favorites to win this tie all along. And those odds improved after our first leg win. It's Valencia who's in the analogous position, especially compared to Liverpool since the game is at their own Stadium where they have big-time 12th Man advantage. It's all to lose for us. We damn well better not fvck it up!
The memes are just too obvious for Arsenal not to lose. Arsenal are also the only english team of the 4 to have a lead going into the 2nd leg
That actually gives me some comfort. I think we've had quite a few triumphs after you've said just that. The main good thoughts I can muster up are: 1) Emery seems to be good a figuring out how to win big matches (though usually not in a swashbuckling way) 2) No new/significant injuries that I'm aware of, so hopefully it's only the lack of Ramsey that hamstrings us 3) Our boys should be up for this one, even with, or especially because of, what happened at Anfield Tuesday I'm probably off to the pub soon, so enjoy the fewer posts from me during the match. COYG!!!!!
Cech AMN Kos Sokratis Monreal Kolasinac Xhaka Torreira Ozil Auba Laca Bench: Leno, Mustafi, Elneny, Guendouzi, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Nketiah No complaints from me regarding the selection. Just get this shit done.
AMN caught a mile up field, then three different defenders fail to track their runner. Cool stuff, guys. 3-2 agg, 80 minutes to go.