₦airaland Forum

tkb417:
judging by yesterdays game

we cannot rely on those chaps we call youngsters at all

Those guys definitely are not the future of United

SAF need to throw some of them away without batting an eyelid

if our policy is to buy them young, then buy the likes of ozil and co. Not these silly set of people

isnt Wilshere 19?

i tire for these set of players. what excuse do you havee for giving insipid performances anytime they are called to play?

i can bet you uttered these words about nani and berbatov last season.

wilshere is 19 but his good performances were boosted by the fact that he plays in the senior team and he gets quality service. put wilshere in arsenal's team b and you will struggle to see him dominating the pitch. if you stick obertan alone amongst 10 senior players in man utd, his performance would appear better than what he's giving. . . . .same goes for bebe and darron gibson. what we do in united is just putting players who have never really played together on the pitch and expect them to deliver results. that is fergie's way of preserving his senior squad.

debosky:
I said his performances have improved, not that he's scored more goals - a distinct difference. Maybe you need to brush up on your comprehension or get some dyslexia therapy.

instead of you to admit you never saw david villa in valencia, you are busy disgracing yourself here claiming his performances have improved? what performance? he is doing less at barcelona than he was in valencia. in valencia, everything goes through him. . . .in barcelona, he's no longer the arrow head.

Even prodigious talents can improve and get better in terms of performance - calling them 'central wingers'( or whatever the rave of the moment title is) cannot take away from that.

i agree - but for messi/ronaldo, they have not improved in terms of performance. what you see now is what they have been giving in the last 3 seasons or thereabout.

debosky:
Only a dimwit will interpret an improvement as an indication of previous mediocrity. His performances have improved - if you want to contest that, do so.

you are still a tool. . . .david villa has scored more goals at this stage in previous seasons in valencia than what he is scoring currently. the fact he's playing wide left has mopped up his goals for barcelona.

Good - neither here nor there means it's debatable. Stick with your opinion and I'll stick with mine.

pssssf

Are you claiming any wide player moving into a 'deep lying centre forward position' bangs in goals on that level? His overall productivity and contribution in the final third has gone through the roof - his finishing and overall play has improved and only a cave dwelling Neanderthal like Sharon would deny this.

messi and ronaldo have always been prodigious talents. i can show you an article that illustrates the emergence of central wingers. http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/12/03/introducing-the-central-winger/ ------educate yourself.

mbulela:
such a shame.
this is how talent goes to waste.
This boy needs deliverance, by fire!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/19/ravel-morrison-manchester-united

blame that on his messed up background. he's staying with his grandparents and there's little such old folks can do to help a highly combustible character like ravel morrison. i think english clubs should start adopting the spanish way of grooming talented footballers by letting them sleep in hostels within the training camp. manchester is a wild place to stay as a teen and unless something is done fast, morrison will go to prison instead of showing his prodigious quality as the most naturally talented english player since paul scholes!

eyoniggar:
So Sharon_[b]cougar[/b] is back from the pits of hell? Nucca STF Up,Arsenal played us good and we
got whooped fair and square. The absence of Puyol meant nothing as long as a make-shift defense
that excludes Abidal and Dani V decimated your team two seasons back. Or would you rather
say the arses  are better than your team?

Stop this irrelevant bitterness and quit using your intelligence/grammar to twist
reality into unrealistic points.


Btwn: I miss you crizzle.

this loser springs out of nowhere again to open his septic tank mouth. . .some gaynners do have em.

debosky:
Make una keep arguing with silly Sharon - The Barca side was better than any other faced by EPL teams - Messi wasn't as good as he is now when he played them - he's obviously moved up a number of notches. Even Villa has improved vastly, so hinging this so called weakness on the absence of one player is patently idiotic.

If you like stick pins in your eyes - this is the best Barca team ever.  

you will get a trophy for beating the best barca side ever at home. how has villa improved vastly? when in the last 10 seasons was villa mediocre?

Yes - this team has the top three WFOTY in their ranks, more world cup winners than most clubs experience in their entire lifetimes and much more.

Xavi,, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Pedro and co are all WC winners, in addition to all the other trophies they won with Barcelona previously.

the bulk of the team united spanked in 2008 went on to win euro 2008 2 months later. this argument is neither here nor there.

Messi of 2010/11 has scored 40 goals and 20 assists in 35 appearances - he is in the best form of his life right now and has never achieved this peak of performance.

Even Iniesta that doesn't score as often has scored  more goals per game this season than at any point in his career.

Puyol's absence cannot detract from the team's strength - they CHOSE to play Abidal  - and he plays BOTH LB and CB and has done so for many years, just like Gallas has done in his career, so that doesn't take anything away from Barca.

I'm done with this - no amount of idiotic gibberish from you can change the result.

messi scoring 40 goals/20 assists in 35 apps had nothing to do with change in positions? was messi used as a deep-lying centre forward in the previous seasons? this is like saying ronaldo of today is scoring more goals than that of 2006/7 season so he has improved? many will tell you ronaldo was a better footballer in 06/07 than when he scored 42 goals by playing as a centre forward. debosky, admit it once and for all. . . .you are a tool!

duduspace:
I didn't expect them to make sense to you, that imaginary bus you saw packed at the emirates is still blocking your view, are yu sure yu aint seeing dead people?

the beauty of this forum is careless comments like above can easily be dug out in the coming weeks. i rest my case until arsenal face barcelona at camp nou. i already know your excuse cos you were making them on the match thread last night. . . . ."there's nothing shameful losing to a team like barcelona"

ritchboy:
Meaning? I believe Messi was battling Giuly for the RWF position but got injured before the final.

fact remains messi missed the semis and the final. barca did it without him.

I don't understand how it supports your(abi DK's) assertion that Barca were a better team then than now, which i find preposterous.

barcelona in 2004-6 were a better team than now.

No point repeating myself over and over, anyone who watched the game should know both teams played a high pressing game. Barca had more possession because they keep the ball better than anyone else, not because Arsenal didn't press.

arsenal didn't press nada or weren't good at doing it. barca owned the emirates last night. forget the result, barcelona played arsenal off the park. like pep said in his post-match interview. . . . .he said he was satisfied with the performance but disappointed at the result.

I said Song pressed high up the field(in Barca's half at times), you asked me to prove it with a heat-map. Don't you have access to the heat-map? Why should i bother proving the obvious? If i say Villa opened the scoring, you'd ask me to prove it as well?

song pressing high up in the field at times is subjected to the state of play as at then. an arsenal corner kick means nearly all arsenal players would be in barca's half of the pitch. song would also be in there trying to score from a set-piece. how is that pressing high up the field? this happens from time to time in football games.

Alluded to Barca shoring up defensively to protect their lead. It's crystal clear.

shoring up what? so iniesta taking up villa's position in a 4-3-3 is shoring up defensively?

Of course Puyol's absence made them weaker, obviously. Just as the absence of Sagna, Vermaelen etc also made Arsenal weaker.

I was calling you out on suggesting Barca had to replace Puyol with "a left-back" when not only did they have a fully fit CB(Milito) on the bench, the so-called left back is also very adept at playing center back as well.

if that point is valid then why have you been writing epistles for the past 8 hours?

duduspace:
Interesting Stats about our starting 11 yesterday:
Avg age of team: 23.36
Number of Players who joined Arsenal before clocking 18:  7 (Cesc, Wilshere, Szczesny, Clichy, Song, Djorou, Theo)
Number of Players who joined Arsenal before clocking 22: 3 (RVP, Nasri, Eboue)

Anyone still wanna say there is no project youth and that this all happened by chance? 

Moral of the story, when Arsene is going for that next young talent, think twice before yu start pounding your keyboard to say he doesn't know what he is doing.

the stats would have made sense if arsenal had won a dime in the same period wenger started his youth policy. 5 yrs and 9 months into the project and arsenal are yet to win anything meaningful in europe/domestic football. the youth project is a failure by that standard.

ritchboy:
Pep's Barca is obviously better than Rijkaard's. . . Anyone who thinks otherwise should be taken round the back and shot.

rijkaard's barca won a champs league without messi.

ritchboy:
Hehehe, you are a clown! Arsenal were pressing Barca in their own half FFS. You must have watched the game in a pub from an acute angle!

You don't "allow" Barca to play tippy-tappy, that's what they do by default. It's inevitable.

pressed who? it was barcelona that were pressing arsenal which shows the huge possession share. arsenal hardly had a kick in the first half except for the occasional bursts forward.

What's stopping you from providing yours?

he made a counter-claim. the onus was on him to prove me wrong.

You have just alluded to what i said!

White elephant lie!

alluded what? speak in clear n concise terms.

They had Milito on the bench and Pep still preferred Abidal. That should give you a clue, hopefully!

that is not the question i asked you. if puyol was available last night, would abidal have played as a centre-back? it's a simple question. . . .this is not about milito or thuram. considering the fact that puyol/pique are barca's first choice and also spain's first choice centre-backs. the absence of puyol alone means barca were weaker as a team than people thought they would be. puyol is a better central defender than abidal - it does not matter if abidal had played in that position 50,000 times before.

dayokanu:
You mean its stronger than the team of Dinho, Etoo, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta etc that Chelsea defeated in 2005? or the one Liverpool defeated in 2007?

. . . . .according to commander-in-simpleton, debosky. . . . .and they still wonder why we think gaynners are deluded.

HNIC:
Don't blame any arsenal fan
Blame the Press for calling this Barca team the greatest ever
But come to think of it, I can't blame the press
Remember this was the same team that beat Real Madrid 5-0
Not just Real Madrid oooh
Real Madrid coached by the self dubbed 'special one' Jose Mourinho

barcelona beat real madrid 5-0 at nou camp not at the bernebau. this is the 50th time i am asking arsenal fans to always compare like for like when debating. did you beat barcelona at camp nou? why compare barca's result at camp nou to their result at the emirates?

When the draw was made, even the most optimistic Arsenal fan felt it was game over
and that it could even be worse than last year.
16 games winning streak is a new record in Spain!
Not taking anything away from Barca, Arsenal was passed to death y'day.
But we won 2-1, which is what matters.
Its half time
We don't know what will happen at the Nou camp in 3 weeks time
But come on, give this team some credit for beating barca
and stop talking up Puyol like he is the best defender in the world.
He couldn't have done better than abidal last night!

i have given arsenal their credits. i got peeved when debosky uttered last night's barca was the strongest barca side ever. that is not the truth and their form away from home in europe means nothing. a quick check will tell you useless teams in europe have drawn/beaten barca away from home. it is what happens at nou camp that will really tell if arsenal have come of age or not. the result was 2-2 last season at the emirates. need i remind you what happened in the 2nd leg?

ritchboy:
Syntax error. . . Parking the bus is sitting deep and inviting the opposition to your final third(half-pressing). I don't know what game you watched but that is not what Arsenal did(full-pressing).

nope. . . .parking the bus simply means putting men behind the ball without really bothering about pressing them. arsenal did that comfortably last night. you allowed barcelona to keep doing tippy-tappy and you were looking to break on a counter.

Did you see how high up the field Song(who's supposed to be a holding midfielder) was pressing?

a graphical evidence or his heat-map would clear this up. i hate conjectures.

If at all any team tried to park the bus yesterday it's Barca(when they took off Villa for Keita).

pay attention to details my friend. they still retained their shape. iniesta became an auxiliary forward and keita tucked in the middle between xavi and busquets. iniesta joined messi and pedrito cos guardiola had seen enough. the away goal was sufficient enough for him. he is a conservative manager who likes to play within himself away from home in europe. why kill myself to beat arsenal at the emirates when they will still come to camp nou(slaughterhouse)? he has not won a game away from home in the k.o. stages and you will be shocked at the quality of teams that have drawn/beaten barca away from home under guardiola. he relies so much on his home form.

There is a difference between surrendering possession because you want to(i.e. Inter vs Bayern) and surrendering possession because the opposition are so good they won't let you have it.

arsenal surrendered position because they wanted to. of course, the onus was on arsenal to score cos arsenal were the home team but barca still bossed the game until the second half when they tired or guardiola simply gave up.

Cougar is clutching at straws. . . Abidal has played CB extensively in his career and is very adept at it so i dont know what you're on about.

in other words, if puyol was available, abidal would still have played as a centre-back? you argue like a pregnant  tasmanian devil

There is no difference between Abidal playing CB and, say Iniesta or Nasri playing wide left as opposed to through the middle.

You dont have a case!

would abidal have played as a center-back with a fit puyol?

dayokanu:
Mario Goetze just burst into the scene this year, and has shown a lot of promise. Especially with Shinji Kagawa off for a while, He stepped in and He is 18yrs old and looks to be the best of the lot.

Personally I am still skeptical, In his International debut vs Italy last week he wasnt convincing to me. I have seen some games where he has been awesome.

You know with teenage stars, they are a huge risk. They have great moments and also horrible moments. I think Goetze is worth the risk but dont shoulder him with much responsibility and usher him gradually. I think Fergie should be able to do this

The mood in Germany right now after the success of the Ozils, Muller etc is to promote every youth. Early in the season when Mainz was great it was Lewis Holtby and Andres Schurrle when Dortmund took over it became Goetze, Kevin GroßKreutz and Sven Bender the latest one is now Julian Draxler of Schalke

we see how it goes. mutv has just stated fergie is about bringing the boy to old trafford. i wanted to know what makes him tick. i would have preferred christian eriksen(the teenage sensation that made wilshere look like a zombie last week).

HNIC:
Jeez Cougar
did someone steal your password?
Are you saying you have never seen Abidal play at CB for Barca?
Abidal was perhaps, one of the best players on the field yesterday
Played better than Pique IMO
The last gasp header by Abidal to deny RVP a goal in the 1st half from a Cesc cross was one of the best defensive play of the entire match.
Eboue is far, far behind Sagna as we speak.
Ours was more of a makeshift defence compared to Barca
and my friend, forget last year,even a blind man knows the Arsenal has improved.
Last year we had a quarter fit Gallas playing and Silvestre,Dennilson and Bendtner started at Camp Nou
RVP finally got to play against Barca!

abidal is a left back. . . . .not a centre-back. eboue was a right back before sagna joined you guys. he was playing his natural position last night, same as djourou. abidal's natural position isn't centre-back. just because darren fletcher has played as a right back before does not mean it's his natural position. it's not arsenal's fault barca had no strength in depth but for any gaynner to rant arsenal played the strongest barca side in recent times is stupidly exaggerating and toolishly overstating the issue.

HNIC:
Ok
We played a Nasri just coming back from an injury
Tomas Vermalen(our best defender) did not play
Bacary Sagna(1st choice right back) did not play
Who knows what will happen if they had been available

they all played last season when the aggregate was 6-2. my point is, barca played a champions league game with a make-shift defence. agreed vermaelen and sagna didn't play but their replacements weren't strikers or midfielders or full-backs. eboue(sagna's replacement) is a right back and djourou(vermaelen's replacement) is a centre-back. try playing clichy or gibbs in the central defence in a champions league game and see what happens afterwards.

debosky:
Una dey mind sharon? 
The FACT is that we beat Barca off the back of their record breaking achievement, even with the Gijon draw considered.

shut up your mouth. you were ignorant of their draw against gijon. . . . .which was why you stupidly mentioned their winning streak.

hehehe. . . .so Barca with Messi, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro and Alves is one of the weakest? 

we beat them at old trafford when they had henry, messi, etoo, xavi, iniesta, puyol, yaya toure, deco, etc. so for you to say you played the strongest barca side ever makes you sound a bit silly.

Even the daftest of the daftest Scumtwat would not say this - congratulations Sharon, you've moved right to the top of the pile of scumtwat stupidity.

We might as well say that Barca faced one of the weakest Arsenal sides ever because Sagna didn't play. 

of course, sagna is in the same class as carlos puyol(a refine defender who has won everything in football) how daft can debosky be?

ritchboy:
Rooney didn't need a first touch because the deflection on the cross set the ball up perfectly for him to strike it.

The fact that Berbatov had to control the ball(which he did brilliantly) makes his goal even better.

Let's also not forget Berba caught the ball sweetly(not with his shin!) with his back to goal and it went in off the underside of the bar.

Berba's goal shytes on Rooney's in all possible ways.

except that it didn't. the ball was supposed to have arrived in front of rooney but the deflection took the ball behind rooney. it was instinctive for him to attempt the overhead kick. he was already mid-air when he connected with the cross. a very difficult technique. if he tries it 300 times everyday for the rest of his career, he will strike the ball to row z each time.

berba's goal was easier. he had killed the ball with his first touch. the 2nd touch was what any basic footballer would attempt - although, take nothing away for trying such in a big game and doing it so unexpectedly but the technique isn't the greatest in modern football. then the power behind berba's overhead kick was too mild. had reina positioned himself well, it wlda been a routine catch. rooney's strike was so ferocious it coulda beaten joe hart even if he was well-positioned.

ritchboy:
How can a team holding a high line be said to have parked the bus?

Another smash hit from Cougar!

parking the bus is in 2 parts. defending deep or holding a high line. parking the bus is putting men behind the ball at all times which arsenal did throughout on their home soil. there was a sequence of about 160 touches from the barca side in the first half with arsenal not even bothering to press for the ball because you were very happy where barcelona had the ball. 34% possession for a team like arsenal at the emirates? if you didn't park the bus, what then did you park?

HNIC:
@Cougar
Please enlighten us on the highlighted.
We played a weak Barca team because Puyol did not play.
You are just a bitter soul
How much did u lose yesterday?

barca without puyol is the same as man utd without vidic/rio. abidal(left back) had to play as a centre back - that should tell you how weak barca were last night.

ritchboy:
I never really understood the hype about that goal. . . The boy didn't even catch the ball cleanly(it came off his shin!)

Sure it's still a great strike but not worth 1/4 the press it's got. Zaki scored a much better goal and we didn't hear this noise.

Even Berbatov's goal against 'Pool was better.

be truthful for once. while i agree the english media have overhyped the goal, it was still special and loads better than berba's goal against liverpool.
berbatov got a first touch(his thigh) from nani's cross against liverpool before attempting his overhead kick. rooney was completely mid-air when he met nani's cross against man city. rooney didn't cushion the cross with a first touch. . . . .he just met it directly with his in-step and powered it home. the technique and the power he was able to generate from that cross are what make the goal special. . . .but the hype has been ridiculous.

debosky:
Reh, reh, reh. . . .previously it was Arsenal can't beat Barcelona at their game.

Newsflash: We've done it and regardless of your thoughts on an alleged disallowed goal, the record books will show that, on the 16th of Feb 2011, Arsenal defeated Barcelona on the back of their record breaking 16 game winning streak in La Liga.

see this mumu. . . . . .barca drew over the weekend against gijon before playing arsenal. stop claiming what you had nothing to do with. besides, what gave you the impression you thrashed barcelona at their own game? you parked the bus albeit holding a high line and looking to break on the counter. a match where barca had 66% possession indicated you gave up possession to put 9 men behind the ball. it wasn't as obvious as jose's inter but you still parked a van(if not a bus).

Besides, anyone with half a brain knows that the Barcelona team we beat is better than any that has faced a team in the Premiership.

you are a tool for thinking a barcelona side without puyol is better than any that has faced any other premier league side previously. you played one of the weakest barca team yesterday and that was why you won with the aid of a dodgy line assistant. at 2-0 in the first half, the match would have been effectively over.

dayokanu:
Says someone who has been accumulating shyte for half a decade

hehehehe. . . . . .mumuface won't agree with you there at all. arsenal won last night albeit a dodgy decision that chalked off messi's goal and we have seen enough pre-ejac' to sink the titanic. we shall see the outcome in camp nou.

remember this? when andy cole n dwight yorke were pissing on barcelona at camp nou?

https://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2033/cole1cj1.gif

dayokanu:
Say what?

dayo, i need a very honest, no-bullshyting assessment of the 18 yr old mario goetze. is he really good? can he cut it in the premier league?

van r@pist scores.

what a goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

duduspace:
Real madrid has not gone 5 years trophyless but got beaten 5-0 so the link between today's performance and lack of trophies is only in your imagination.

it's a fact!

chic2pimp:
Did he really say that?

he did. he told us only iniesta is better than cesc in the spanish outfit.

duduspace:
I have never changed my opinion about this matchup?    we shouldn't have had it in the first instance if our boys didn't mess up in the group stages.
all I've said is I want to see the boys compete and I don't want us to be cowardly in packing the bus. There is no shame for any team who loses to this Barcelona team, anyone who loves good football will appreciate this team and we are aspiring to their levels.
The important thing is that you don't get to that level by packing the bus when you play them.

by going 7 years without a league title?

ritchboy:
Cesc has been poor.

but you told us he's better than xavi hernandez.

dayokanu:
Why was Messis goal disallowed?

the line assistant pitied the gaynners in the stands. some of them are currently on a suicide watch. that was a legitimate goal disallowed.

duduspace:
There is no shame in losing to a team that blasted Real Madrid 5 - 0, as long as the boys compete no one will complain.

wait till you arrive at nou camp. you might get spanked by 7-0. barcelona have taken over your stadium and all you can point to is the madrid game? shame on you, fufuface.

topeorekoy:
@ cougar, tell me one match that barca has played without not having the lion share of the possession? No team can stand Barca, JM with his star studded Madrid and his defensive strategy went home with 5 goals.Arsenal would have survived this match if they have a mean defence but they don't av.

if no team can stand barca in possession football, why then is arsene wenger playing to barca's strength? arsenal have never beaten barcelona before. chelsea have beaten them, man utd have beaten them, liverpool have beaten them. only arsenal keep falling like a pack of cards trying to beat a team better than them tactically and technically.

dayokanu:
Where is the beautifool football they keep telling us about

arsenal don't play beautiful football.  far from it. look at the chances barcelona have missed compared to the hit/miss arsenal have missed. messi also scored a genuine goal ruled offside by a linesman.

arsenal are so useless. it's like barca are playing at nou camp. pedrito and busquets have seized this game from arsenal's embryos and we keep hearing jack wilshere is the new vieira. rubbish!

disallowed goal. messi was onside there. see ojoro for emirates!

chic2pimp:
Xavi and Iniesta's control of the midfield has reduced Arsenal to chasing shadows

barca touched the ball more than 160 times with arsenal chasing shadows. how does barcelona string these passes together?

jesus christ. . . . . .pedrito is giving the gaynners a nightmare.

van persie is shyte. what a chance.