The whole Arsenal-barca hype is finally over. Or is it. The official site managed to come up with this nonsense.
So, I've put my entire life on hold thanks to those 2 games. The first leg was nothing short of exciting, the second, was a walkover. We all had our hopes up but it wasn't meant to be. Barca is still years ahead of Arsenal. The argument always will be about having our full squad on the pitch but with Arsenal, it seldom materialises.
Been playing Football Manager a lot lately, and I'm into my 2014/15 season already. I play around with editor a lot, so I know which players do good and which will flop. I don't edit the game I'm playing, I just know their stats and their potentials and find out who to sign first before money bags Man City snag them all. My bro is 2 seasons ahead of me and the city squad is phenomenal. They sign all the fantastic players. Fret not, my Arsenal is very well prepared. For starters, my scouts (Grimandi & co.) pick up all the good players for me and I've managed to get them in my squad before City moved for them.
And I have Edin Dzeko. He's so fine I'm already in love with the player. Unlike all the other big strikers i.e. 190 cm and above, he has an excellent first touch (Bendtner fails this one) and a very high technical level. Not just in FM, where his stats are generated by the game makers. Just youtube a random compilation of his and his goals are absolutely fantastic.
Just what Arsenal needs, and he has came up on Wenger's radar too. The only problem is that we have Bendtner, who is arguably the same type of player, just not as good.
This could go on really. If there were to be any positives from this loss, it would be Le Boss dipping into the transfer market in the summer. Plenty of opportunities to look at players at the WC, with the biggest downside being the hefty price tags that come along with it. If he does add more quality to the squad with better players than his current crop, then this would be the biggest positive everrrrrrrr. I am hoping it happens, because a big club like Arsenal really can't sit around without any trophies (like Liverpool) and solely keep their philosophy of grooming young talent. If you've got the talent like the ones from the Barca academy then hats off, please continue because you're actually winning things. When you've got Arsenal's academy that produces less quality players but still possess some degree of good, then we'll only be a mediocre club at best, left with looking back at the 2005 FA Cup and that's that.
Players like Nicky, Diaby, Denilson, Song, Walcott are still developing and have made remarkable improvements in recent times but are nowhere near 'world class' yet. It is wrong to expect any more from them but it's hard not to. Barca added another dimension to their play by adding a world class striker in Ibrahimovic, moving from Inter Milan for 40 million plus Eto'o going the other way. That's essentially a 60 million dollar signing. That is a real statement of intent, one that Arsenal needs, but not necessarily with the same cost. I'm all for signing quality players for less, but Arshavin at 15m being our most expensive signing says it all. I am convinced Wenger will not play beyond that for anyone but I hope things change in the summer. We desperately need special talents in the squad. More often than not, we're stripped to our bare bones with injuries.
The home grown quota kicks in next season. It'll probably dictate how transfers proceed as well. Players aged below 21 do not have to be registered, while 8 of the 25 squad numbers assigned need to be from players trained in England for 3 seasons before they turned 21. We've got a wealth of that so there'll be no worries, and there's certainly room to add more.
Currently, the lads need to keep on going for the last 5 games of the season. The Wigan game has been confirmed to be on the 18th of April, Sunday night 2030 (+8 GMT) thanks to our Champion's League exit. I really do care more about the league title but at the moment, it's still beyond us because Chelsea have to drop 4 points. When they do though, United will be there to pounce as well. Imagine if we didn't draw at St. Andrews. We would have been ahead of United and just 1 behind Chelsea. That's life, but how costly was that?
We'll only know at the end of the season.
I'll be rooting for United to go through later. They'll be the only English representatives left in the competition and also, those 2 more games could come in handy. Besides, if they meet Barca in the final, they'll probably lose anyway.
No football this weekend, but what's interesting is that Chelsea meets Aston Villa at Wembley. After that 7-1 drubbing, I think the blues will proceed to the final comfortably, either that or Villa puts up a big ass fight which severs the legs of Drogba and co.
And like I said before, I really don't care for the legs of other players anymore. We've got 3 broken legs in 4 years and it's high time the numbshites of the lesser teams broke the legs of other teams so that the world would actually respond to stamp it out, because clearly, it's ok for Arsenal legs to be broken since nothing has been done. Not only has nothing been done, but people have came out in support of the perpetrator. So yeah, Shawcross can add to his collection of broken legs.
Going to enjoy this weekend of no football. It's one of my bestie's birthday anyway, so it's perfect. This past week has been nothing short of intense - late goals, late comebacks(2-0 down to 2-2), raised hopes (bendtner goal) that were taken away (by messi) and the ultimate demolition of my team (by messi again).
I need a breather.
P.S. I don't suppose all those out injured will come back 'like new signings'. We'll have Fabregas, Djourou, Van Persie, Song, Arshavin and Gallas. 6 new signings even before the transfer window opens! Fabregas the pick of the lot, tipped to be the signing of the season.Labels: being pessimistic Arshavin style, I want Edin Dzeko, Nicklas Bendtner, transfer window hoo-ha
A Little Drunken Madness @ 11:59 PM
Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1
Not a lot in it, except that we've been trashed quite comprehensively. With the tie at 2-2 before the game began, there was all to play for. But like the previous semi final game against Man United, at half time in the second leg, it was all but over, 3-1 the score.
The reasons for the above scoreline are many, but it simply exposes all of our frailties this season. And this time though, Manuel Almunia couldn't be blamed for all 4 of the goals. The 2 he conceded to Ibrahimovic in the previous leg, yes, but this time, not one is down to him because they were unstoppable.
We really really need a central defender. Had Big Sol played instead of Silvestre I'm not sure it would have been a different story but somehow, so far with Campbell there, we haven't look so exposed for a good long while. He might not have speed, but he keeps our defence organised. Silvestre is not half the player he was at united, and like my brother says, he's more of a LB then a CB. The team had to be stripped down to our bare bones for him to take the field but that's life.
At this point, I'm not sure if having Fabregas, Arshavin, Song and Van Persie all in the side would have changed anything. Barca is the finished product of the type of football we pride ourselves upon and this game simply proves that fact. They managed to be technically superior to an Arsenal side - they passed the ball better, retained possession better. For an Arsenal team, who only know how to play possession football, it's little wonder why they couldn't cope - they don't know how to play it any other way.
Another point to make is the work rate of the team overall. It's not there. The way Barca keep possession is down to them working hard to retrieve the ball when they lose it. They press all over the pitch, and we just let them. When we match like for like, we get punished because they can break even faster, by passing the ball to a player in a better position. I don't think we're new to that at all. And it's also why the less technical teams prefer to let us come at them and all they do is defend with 11 behind the ball and soak up the pressure till the full 90 is up.
Only the league left, and this team has 5 big games to play. The next is at White Hart Lane. Anything less than a win there would mean the end of our season.Labels: Barcelona, being pessimistic Arshavin style
A Little Drunken Madness @ 4:38 AM
Watching the Arsenal is not good for your heart, not good at all.
In fact, it might shorten your lifespan.
Bendtner at the death, going into the 5th minute of stoppage time, gives us the 1-0 win over Wolves.
Arsenal started the game pretty well, but without Bendtner up front and Diaby in midfield, we lacked a bit of physicality. Theo made it up with raw pace but his final balls were absurd at times and he lacks the technique to really get past his man. He did well against Barcelona as an impact sub, but as a starter, he's just not there yet.
Eduardo missed a glorious chance early on, with the goal at his mercy and no one closing him down but it's evident that taking shots on his right side just doesn't work. I've always thought dudu better as a support striker in a 4-4-2 rather than the front man of a 4-5-1. Make no mistake, we're so not playing a 4-3-3. It's a 4-5-1 made to sound nice.
Going into the break at 0-0, Wolves probably felt how we felt going in after Barca. So technically, we felt how Barca felt, except that coming out of the half, we didn't score in 27 seconds. Waited till injury time to do it.
Eboue just isn't a player that will be effective on the left side because he's quite plainly, a right-sided player. He still gave it everything though. Wenger waited till Karl Henry got the boot for a late tackle on Rosicky to ring the changes, which I thought should have came earlier. Henry's sending off was harsh, and you'd get the feeling that it was related to Ramsey's injury. On the other hand, that ass fucker went in behind Theo, didn't get the ball, and left his foot deliberately in Theo's calf. Should have seen a yellow for that, and still the red for the one on Rosicky. No sympathies there. He's a cunt and I enjoyed waving him GOODBYE.
Rosicky surprisingly, could continue. He was filling the large shoes of Fabregas, driving us forward, but it just wasn't working. Hahnemann in goal was denying us left right and centre and the score remained goalless. Silvestre switched positions with Vermaelen, with Wenger probably wanting him forward a little more.
Being a man up against a bottom side sometimes isn't all that rosy. From then on, you simply are condemning them to set their stalls out to defend. The way Arsenal unlock defences is with space and decisive play, which also didn't happen till that last last minute.
We're now missing Arshavin and Cesc who were key players so far and it's going to take a lot to cope without them. Barcelona looms and it would take a lot to not make a mess of it. Barca will be missing their first choice centrebacks but up front, they have the power to outscore anyone.
Anyway, Vela finally gets a game, but showed why he isn't getting any more than that because he's just not there yet. When Wilshere comes back from his loan spell he'll take his place in front of Vela in the pecking order I reckon.
Okay, watching the Burnley-City game while posting this and guess who just scored. He always has stupid goal celebrations doesn't he. The douche who said he didn't make the switch to Eastlands for the money. He's kinda the highest paid player in the BPL now, enough to buy his 72 virgins.
And it's 3-0 now in 6 minutes. -_-
I blame Owen Coyle.
Alrighty, I was being Arshavin-kinda-pessimistic and posted on twitter about how I'm not going to watch any more games this season if they lost/drew. Lol. I guess Mr Bendtner popped up and changed that. I'm pretty darn frustrated with all the shit already and I'm about to have my exams and this Arsenal is adding on the stress. My papers start the day after Arsenal entertain Fulham at home in the last game of the season.
To round off a sweet sweet night, Sp*rs fell to former man Bent and lost 3-1. Hur. When is St. Totteringham's day this year? Might go calculate right this moment.
ETA: YES. If we beat Sp*rs in the next game, we celebrate St. Totteringham's day.Labels: being pessimistic Arshavin style, Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott, what kind of fuckery is this
A Little Drunken Madness @ 12:03 AM
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