Other Games - 2010/11 Season

[Phil from the upper holte]

And so the week arrives, right on cue, where Arsenal's season implodes and they blame everybody but themselves

Agree

The red card was a bad decision but these foreign refs don't fuck obout, you kick the ball away your going to get booked and I think he did hear the whistle personally.

Doesn't make it right but I think Arsenal would have lost regardless. Gives them a reason to make excuses now

[Villa'Zawg]

If Arsenal don't want him, can we have him please?

[PeterWithe]

It does seem a little strange that he can pick up shed loads of top quality midfielders and forward for next to nowt but has had nowhere near the same success with defenders.

[pauliewalnuts]

At one point in the second half, I noted how strange it felt to see the camera focusing on the Barcelona half of the pitch, as it had been pretty much entirely happening in the Arsenal half of the pitch.

Wenger can moan all he likes, but I'm not entirely sure Arsenal would have won that if they'd had 15 men on the pitch, let alone 11.

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

[damon loves JT]

When a player gets a silly second yellow for kicking the ball away, he's actually being sent off for being a stupid tit. He knew he was on a yellow card.

[VillaZogmariner]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

Exactly what I thought - he may look like he's going to be a decent player (to be honest I've not seen anything that makes me think he deserves that hype) but there is no way he is good enough to get into the Barcelona midfield.

[Dr Butler]

At one point in the second half, I noted how strange it felt to see the camera focusing on the Barcelona half of the pitch, as it had been pretty much entirely happening in the Arsenal half of the pitch.

Wenger can moan all he likes, but I'm not entirely sure Arsenal would have won that if they'd had 15 men on the pitch, let alone 11.

I agree with this, men vs boys.

[WikiVilla]

In the 1st leg, Wilshire looked very good, I saw a different, lesser player last night

[Chris Jameson]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

Couldn't quite believe I was hearing that, it's almost as if they are trying to find an English player to compare to the best in the world now Rooney is showing he isn't even the best player in a very poor Man Utd team never mind being amongst the best in the world. Wilshere shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta.

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

Exactly what I thought - he may look like he's going to be a decent player (to be honest I've not seen anything that makes me think he deserves that hype) but there is no way he is good enough to get into the Barcelona midfield.

Guardiola said "I have 20 players of that quality in our B Team"

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

Couldn't quite believe I was hearing that, it's almost as if they are trying to find an English player to compare to the best in the world now Rooney is showing he isn't even the best player in a very poor Man Utd team never mind being amongst the best in the world. Wilshere shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta.

I thought it said quite a lot about what is wrong with the English game, all in a couple of sentences.

Media nonsense.
Hyping young players
Not stopping to think about the fact that, maybe, Wilsheres "never stops running" thing might not be of much interest for Barca, as they don't chase anything.
Decent young player gets noticed for Arsenal, is future of football. I don't recall much wanking over him last season at Bolton.

[Somniloquism]

Oh, and what was that absolute bollocks from the pundits at the end about how Wilshere could easily play in that Barcelona side, which was then backed up with about two clips of him using his physical ability.

Exactly what I thought - he may look like he's going to be a decent player (to be honest I've not seen anything that makes me think he deserves that hype) but there is no way he is good enough to get into the Barcelona midfield.

I don't know. He could easily replace Maschereno. But not an Iniesta, Xavi, Messi or Pedro.

[Somniloquism]

Watching the Shakter- Roma highlights and I see Howard Webb has taken on board the English ruling that an elbow to the face is nothing these days

They didn't show on the highlights that Srna got booked for being elbowed. It is a good job that the Rooney-McCarthey incident happened before this. If it happened now McCarthy would probably get a 3 match ban.

[fredm]

Looking at Barcelona the things that struck me were:
The speed they moved the ball and themselves around the pitch and how nippy they were - what fitness routines do they have that english clubs don't?

The way they didn't launch themselves into tackles like english players seem to do, they just seemed to either nip in and steal the ball off the opponent or ease their body between the opponent and the ball and come away with it under their control.  When Arsenal tried to tackle them in the manner used in the PL if they won the ball it was not under control and another Barca player would nip it back.