Wojciech Szczesny
Lukasz Fabianski
Philippe Senderos
Kyle Bartley
Mikael Silvestre
Kieran Gibbs
Kerrea Gilbert
Fran Merida
Francis Coquelin
Craig Eastmond
Emmanuel Frimpong
Aaron Ramsey
Mark Randall
Samir Nasri
Eduardo
Gilles Sunu
Nicklas Bendtner
Sanchez Watt
Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1
Villa 26, Van Persie 78, Arshavin 83
____________________________
The key player in the Nou Camp will be Szczesny.
So pray that nothing happens to Arsenal’s goalkeeper between now and Tuesday, March 8th.
Barcelona’s style is cleverly-timed runs onto sharp little passes, which ｃ ｒｅａｔｅs a lot of one-on-one chances with the keeper.
Wojciech Szczesny’s fine positional judgement makes him a master of making opponents shoot into the side-netting or just past the post.
On the goal, he was a bit unlucky because David Villa, a razor finisher in these situations, slotted between his legs.
By contrast, he got lucky on the loose ball after his save, when the scrambling Messi headed in but was flagged offside. Messi wasn't offside.
For me, Szczesny was Arsenal’s best player last night for that reason. Making Messi miss was the name of the game.
Yes, Koscielny played his finest game in an Arsenal shirt.
Yes, Jack Wilshere played with remarkable authority at the heart of the team. England need to play Jack football, Fabio - not Capello football.
Yes, of course, CL knock-out ties are a game of four halves.
Arsenal lost the first half 1-0 and won the second half 2-0 and halves three and four will roll round 20 days from now.
Arsenal raised their tempo after half-time and the game turned on 68 when Keita and Arshavin came on.
Keita replaced Villa to stiffen Barca's midfield, which was running out of steam, and allowed young Busquets to go ball-hunting further up the field.
Arshavin’s arrival (for Song) allowed him to link in a cool manner with Clichy, who played a killer ball forward into the box with his right-foot and gave Van Persie a chance to hit a mighty left-foot shot on the half- volley inside the near post of Victor Valdes for 1-1.
Valdes has always had flaky moments. That blunder by allowed Arsenal back into a game that Barcelona were still playing mostly in Arsenal's half.
Still, defending deeper can be good. You can only counter-attack if your opponents are in your half of the field. You can attack too much in a game. If you attack less, you often score more.
Frankly, Fabregas, Eboue and Walcott had been crap.
All three played crap. Only a blinkered, badge-kissing nincompoop would say any of those three played well last night.
Arsenal had nothing on the right flank but now, suddenly, that was where the winning goal came from after a fabulous move.
The cool Koscielny picked up the ball in his penalty area, passed to Bendtner, who passed infield to Wilshere, then quickly forward to Fabregas, who instantly released Nasri with a superb ball down the right flank.
Nasri could have tried the obvious with a low cross to the far post but chose instead to play a lovely pass which allowed Arshavin to curl his sidefoot shot behind Abidal and into the net from 15 yards.
That quality goal gave Arsenal their first victory against Barcelona and it set the seal on the pulsating, rocking, thrilling night that the Emirates has needed since 2006.
Sporting Gijon was a factor last night because game was much harder than the Wolves game was for Arsenal .
After two and half years of staggering success, and intensifying pressure, Barcelona are showing signs of burn-out, so Pep has to husband his resources very carefully.
Coming back off an international break, which is mostly where Barcelona ｄ ｒｏｐ their points, he conceded an early goal at Gijon in a game that was very passionate, intense and physical, since Gijon are fighting for their lives just above the drop-zone.
I was really enjoying the game but as the second half went on I was thinking : This is taking a lot out of Barcelona !
Indeed, it was a helluva battle that was taking a lot out of both sides.
Just as the commentators began to say that David Villa was about to be taken off, he glided onto a wonder-pass from Messi and chipped the keeper from the edge of the box and it finished 1-1.
Success brings a heavy schedule.
The more games you win, the more the pressure is on you. To handle that you need character and guts. Wilshere and Szczesny have given the team a lot more personality and authority than it had last year.
Big characters, big difference.
As Rufus Thomas said, age ain’t nothin’ but a number.
_________________________________________
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy; Song (Arshavin, 67), Wilshere; Walcott (Bendtner, 77), Fabregas, Nasri; Van Persie. Subs not used Almunia (gk), Rosicky, Denilson, Squillaci, Gibbs. Booked Song, Nasri, Van Persie
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Pique, Abidal, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta (Adriano, 88); Pedro, Messi, Villa (Keita, 67). Subs not used Pinto (gk), Bojan, Mascherano, Milito, Afellay. Booked Iniesta, Pique (misses second leg)
Possession :Arsenal 47% Barcelona 53%
Shots on target Arsenal 8 Barcelona 7
Man of the match: Szczesny.
Referee Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
Crowd 59,927.
oh my God , it that a joke ?
Keeper Fabianski ruled out for three weeksSpeaking to TV Online immediately after the game all seemed well with the Polish keeper, who was playing his first match of the season following knee surgery. However, on Thursday lunchtime, Wenger revealed the 24-year-old had picked up a knock. The manager will now leave it until after Friday’s training sessions before deciding whether Vito Mannone or Manuel Almunia plays between the posts for the North London derby.
“We lost Lukasz Fabianski with a thigh injury,” said the manager. “He will be out for three weeks. Of course it is big disappointment because he has just come back from injury.
“Also Wilshere (ankle), Walcott (knee), Denilson (back) and Rosicky (knee) will not be back for the game at the weekend. But we did not lose any players from last night.”
Arsenal TV Online subscribers will be able to see the full video interview with the manager on Friday morning.
Your 波纜 is a piece of cake. Why haven’t I thought of that ????
Fabianski played very well last night, very stable when collecting high balls. The total goals scored should be way more than 3 if both teams had managed their chances. Anyways, I enjoyed last night’s game very much.
Tonight we had a top-quality game'On a top-quality game...
"I believe overall it was a game of top quality with two teams who really went for it. You had the quality of the passing, sometimes the ball was played through a very short space but at a high pace and overall you can say tonight we gave the people what they paid for and I'm very happy to say that and we had top quality in every position I must say.
"The experienced players played well, the young players played well. We had Craig Eastmond make his debut tonight in a holding role and everybody did well in every position. Liverpool came back to 1-1 and we still managed to win the game. That shows as well we have mental resources. It was more of a European Cup night than a Carling Cup night, quality wise. We have seen two very, very good teams who play at the top level."
On the youngsters who played...
"They all worked very hard and they have all shown quality. Fran is 19, Ramsey 18, Eastmond 18. They are all very young so to play a game of that level tonight they deserve a lot of credit."
On Fran Merida...
"He is a quality player and he comes from a very good school [in Spain]. I believe we had some top quality on the pitch in midfield and in that kind of game that is very important. I kept him because I felt he had the quality to break through [to the first team] but when you think that all the players who didn't play tonight plus all the injured players, of course the competition for places is very difficult. He came [to Arsenal] at a very young age but our school is on-line with the way he was educated and he shows perfectly the way we want to play football."
On Samir Nasri's return from injury...
"He has been out for a long time. He has not played a game [this season] and he managed 90 minutes tonight. How he will respond to that tomorrow and Friday I don't know but at least he managed to have a full game."
On having a choice of goalkeepers at his disposal...
"I don't know yet what I will do for Saturday but Lukasz Fabianski is available and he has done very well."
On not signing Alberto Aquilani...
"We were not interested in Aquilani last year, we were the year before. Last year he didn't play a lot and we didn't feel that this year we needed a player in this position because we have so many good young players in midfield. It's always difficult to convince people that we don't need players but when you see them play tonight you can understand why. We see them everyday in training and we have so much quality with our young players that we are not especially out on the market."
On youngsters getting a chance at Arsenal...
"I feel that we get many players through because behind me on the bench tonight were sitting players who played a lot. Most of them who play now in the first team have all played in the Carling Cup."
On Kieran Gibbs' performance...
"I think he was very good, both full backs were very good. Kerrea Gilbert started a bit nervous but in the second half he became stronger and stronger and Kieran Gibbs was very good tonight."
On the number of players who played tonight and will go on to play in the first-team...
"Nearly all of them have already played and I think they will all make it at the top level."
On Manuel Almunia...
"He is back to his normal level. I have no worries [about playing him on Saturday] but I don't want to give you any indication because I don't know myself what I will do for Saturday."
On Kieran Gibbs needing games to be considered for the England World Cup squad...
"He had a game tonight. He will get games. He has played already. Personally, if Fabio Capello asks me my opinion he will get a very positive one."
[Wednesday, October 28, 2009]
tks Bendtner and Merida..
my guess is 9 out of 10 for last night squad.. except Wilshere who was injured .
So will Fabianski keep playing this weekend ? Or Mannone keeps the place , as it's north london Derby so it will be a 80,000 dollar question for Wenger , personally I guess Fabianski will play this weekend, for Almunia which i already mentoned last week his days in Arsenal is numbered...
time to enjoy a free lunch..
13:36
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Well done Merida and Bendtner.
Great to see Cesc and Arshavin coming to support the youngsters. But where is van Persie?