*Official* English Football Season 2009-2010

[cpr]

Hmm Arsene, way to blow your own point

'You've got to give the defence time to build a wall'. - No you don't, you've conceded an infringement, you should not then insist to have time to flood the defence with 3 times as many players you had back when the incident took place, otherwise its not really penalising you. If the opposition want to give you the chance to, then fair enough, if not then defend with what you were defending with in the first place

'Yes they have the right to take quick anywhere on the pitch, but not in the penalty area' - Why exactly is the penalty area sacrosanct?

 

[sledger]

We'll kill these guys in London. Were looking the far better side till the penalty decision and will have a lot of players back. 2-1 isn't that horrible a result in the end.

It's not, but the nature of the defeat is just awful. Not to mention the fact that aside from the two hideous goals conceded the team generally played very badly anyway, so many misplaced passes, Clichy again constantly exposed. Diaby was abolsutely insipid. Denilson played better than usual but was still crap. Cesc and Rosicky both had an off day too. And yet again, absolutely no cutting edge up front. I imagine Arsenal probably will win the return leg and go through, but the performance of pretty much every Arsenal player (with the exception of Campbell and Sagna, who were both really solid for the most part I thought) was lacking. That said, if someone had offered me a 2-1 defeat before kick off, I probably would have taken it, but this was a very poor display for mine.

 

[Jarquis]

Fabianksi should've just put it in the stand. Take a yellow.

 

[sledger]

Should have put it in the stand rather than pick it up tbh, avoiding both a goal and a yellow.

 

[Jarquis]

Should have put it in the stand rather than pick it up tbh, avoiding both a goal and a yellow.

True that. After picking it up to just give it back to them and then turn his back was amateurish.

 

[TT Boy]

Fancy Porto will score in the return. Their front three are very lively.

Thought Nicklas Bendtner was awful. Championship footballer.

 

[Uppercut]

Fancy Porto will score in the return. Their front three are very lively.

Thought Nicklas Bendtner was awful. Championship footballer.

Thought they looked like a lot of Portuguese and French teams do in Europe- confident on the ball and good at finding space and keeping possession, but without many ideas in the final third.

Hard to see Arsenal going another 90 minutes against them without giving something away though.

 

[sledger]

Fancy Porto will score in the return. Their front three are very lively.

Thought Nicklas Bendtner was awful. Championship footballer.

I don't actually disagree with this, however, I think it is important that he continues to play. Though nothing came off he at least did win a few flick ons and the ball in the air a couple of times. Eventually one of the competent players around him will make something out of this. Much as I like Eduardo, him playing up front alone is just simply no good. He's a better player than Bendtner, but unless he has a partner to play off he offers nothing, Arsenal already have an abundance of small, fast-ish, reasonable finishers with a deft touch and plenty of flair. Though Bendtner is crap, he has to keep playing for mine, as the best of a bad bunch.

 

[Uppercut]

I reckon the solution for Arsenal isn't to play a horribly sub-standard striker because he occasionally wins flick-ons, it's to quit playing the long ball at all.

 

[sledger]

I reckon the solution for Arsenal isn't to play a horribly sub-standard striker because he occasionally wins flick-ons, it's to quit playing the long ball at all.

Almost certainly right, but it seems they are incapable of doing this. If the fullbacks are going to insist on smashing the ball across the box about 7 feet off the ground, we may as well someone in there who is at least physically capable of reaching them. Not that i'm in any way trying to justify this approach in any way, I see it as a form of damage limitation if you will.

 

[Matteh]

Think a dog would've been a better option on goal for Arsenal tonight.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Chelsea-Barca ref in trouble again.

FIFA clearly knew what they were on about when not selecting him for the World Cup.

 

[grecian]

Think a dog would've been a better option on goal for Arsenal tonight.

What kind of dog? A Staff I can see would attack the ball, and the stature of a Great Dane would be much superior in presensce to Lucas in the penalty area. Yet I'm not sure that one of those tot dog things that Paris Hilton carries around in her handbag is a viable option, TBF.

 

[Matteh]

Can guarantee it wouldn't have picked the ball up though.

 

[cpr]

Haha, Oh dear re the Munich game. Stupid decision to bring it back for a pen for the first, and the 2nd was a shocker.

 

[Furball]

Haven't seen the Arsenal highlights, but Bayern benefitted from possibly the most blatant offside I've ever seen.

edit: just seen the goal on SSN.

Nothing wrong with it. Good quick thinking from the Porto players. The attacking side should be under no obligations to wait on the defence to get ready when they're awarded a free kick for a defensive infringement.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Chelsea-Barca ref in trouble again.

FIFA clearly knew what they were on about when not selecting him for the World Cup.

Vid's been removed. What did he do?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Vid's been removed. What did he do?

Basically, allowed a Bayern goal despite a fairly clear offside. Olić strayed into the box to pick up a rebound and didn't bother to get back onside - ball was cleared to Klose who won a heading duel with two Italians and nodded it on for the offside Olić to score. Only doubt was whether Klose got a touch to it.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Basically, allowed a Bayern goal despite a fairly clear offside. Olić strayed into the box to pick up a rebound and didn't bother to get back onside - ball was cleared to Klose who won a heading duel with two Italians and nodded it on for the offside Olić to score. Only doubt was whether Klose got a touch to it.

Up there with Quisling in giving Norwegians a good name, that bloke.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Dont think there´s any possible way we could´ve had more luck in our two games against Stoke this week. The goal in the FA Cup was the funniest thing I´ve ever seen then after playing like absolute gash Barry somehow sneaks in an equaliser on his 15th try, THEN Shawcross has a perfectly fine goal disallowed because Given is a ******. So much lols.