The big question for Arsenal fans today was about who was going to fill the third forward position for this massive Champions League game against Barcelona, as the team selection of Arsene Wenger for the Hull game away int the FA cup had all but told us what team we would see tonight.
And the man who has got the nod from the boss is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, somewhat surprisingly. Clearly the boss thinks that his pace, power, direct running and perhaps most importantly his unpredictability could be the thing to pull off a surprise against the current European champions.
The rest of the Arsenal team is as we would have expected and hopefully the rest that they all got over the weekend will give the Gunners an adge but they will still need to be at their very best to get a good result and keep this two legged affair alive for whaen we go to Spain in three weeks.
Cech
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Ramsey
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez
Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Campbell, Walcott, Welbeck.
So here we go Gooners. Can we stay in the game long enough to bring our super subs into play? Can we get to Barcelona with a chance of getting into the next round? Of course we can!
Monreal has been looking shaky recently.
Heart attack
All defence, all attack
Crap chamberlain
We look okay so far.
Missed some chances hope it does not cost us.
This ref is biased
The ref is a kebab munching XXXX!
Apart from that! And The Ox having a nightmare!
I’m proud of the way our boys are playing so fat… Oooops!
I mean far.
Ox…. you are the weakest link…. GET OUT! ?
Walcott or Campbell would have scored in Ox’s place, how did he miss that? ?
I hope that wenger see’s sense and replace’s him at half time, he maybe injured anyways.
Ramsey should have done better with his chance!
Sanchez is looking good in spurts and how about Ozil getting back to win the ball…. Come on you Gunners. .. keep it up!
Ozil just c###ed the ref in turkish ??
It was something worse than “son of a bitch”
Ramsey is good. Sanchez getting fired up. Giroud winning some. Not a bad start
No way out
G-rude has to score that!
Rubbish referee
This chamberlain is crap
Nit liking this ref
Giving Barca everything
Just waiting for our next yellow or red card, ref is shocking.
I would pay this frkn Ox to leave AFC!!!!
We not getting any fluky good luck. Think we’ll need it
These british players in our line up are playing rubbish
That was fluky good luck. Whew
Unsurprisingly OX is the sole reason why we are not upfront
When that ball was played to alves, suarez was off side, that gives him an edge over our cb and should not be allowed.
Slow as an ox! Ffs
Bring Campbell on for ox. Only change, rest are going alright.
Ox off for theo and half. Giroud off for Weblz 15 minutes later, play for the counter for the last 30 minutes. Don’t concede away goal.
Here’s hoping
We’re holdin it down. So far, so good…We need the clean sheet.
*sweating profusely*
spot on mate lol
turn on the a/c man
i think the whole team is playing good
our passing is good and precise and we work fantastically our way out of the defense
i like the combination-football we showed in the first half, chambo missed a great chance but that does happen, suarez missed a great chance too
HT. Good result so far
false hope……………..
Decent half overall … For me neither Ramsey nor ox have added anything and sloppiest players … 30 per cent possession not good enough and it doesn’t take much for them to strike so need to concentrate second half …
Ramsey had few interceptions/tackles and he isn’t bombing forward (I think he has been advised not to), helping out the defense.
OX cost us the goal and the counter-attack but he did have one good interception at the end.
Ramsey been decent so far.
He done nothing wrong no neex to be on his back.
Their two best chances came from his sloppy passing unfortunately
haha thanks.. after every comment of you i remember again and again why i hate you the most on this site 😀 ramsey was one of the best along with özil and chamberlain mostly through the right side is our most efficient attacking way right now, yeah i admit he missed a great chance but he was involved in almost every attack we produced and made some good combination play, suarez missed a great chance too, dont be just sticking on that one miss, he defended really well and attacked good too…
but no need to talk discuss: ramsey was great
Your idiocy knows no limits … Better off at the den more your level
As far as am concerned Ox has played well.
yeah he just missed that one chance.. suarez missed one too but the people here like bandwagons and the bandwagon from ox is “he misses chances” so even if he played really well and made one miss, they would label him as the non-improving british player who always misses, yeah somewhat they are right i accept that, but lets be objective in this half he played really well
No sheaaat?
Ok…and r u watching the game?
Good half good pressure relaxed in last minute and they nearly scored stay compact till 70mins then bring Danny for giroud and Theo for of a bit of pace against mashcerano will be good at the end of the game
we are not in a position where just clean sheet saves the day…….. WE NEED GOALS…… And OX just threw one fantastic chance away
Camp nou won’t be friendly
Yeah 45 minutes of concentration needed, no lapses and we can do it.
First time Barca have not had a shot on target in CL since enrique became coach.
Woooaaahhhhh
Park our double decker Chelsea style.
Wenger making Mou proud.
First time since Nov 2013!
I’ll take a nil nil. Not good for the heart though!
Honestly, we don’t need all the possession……… We need the goals
Wow. Cech!
Thanks cech
Why can’t we find a friggin pass when it matters!!!?
Super Cech!
Giroud really isn’t the right striker for this kind of game. We need a more mobile striker up front!
Spot on. G-rude runs in quick sand.
You need pace for the counter which was clearly always our only option against their possession football.
NOT BAD NACHO, holding your own against messi.. respect!
and respect to giroud too for that block right now against messis pass
Defensively OG has been huge, done well with what ball he had.
he is not paid to defend
This ref giving us no 50/50.
Anyone at the stadium, lift the roof gooners.
Giroud off … Welbeck On!!!!
About f###ing time!
Unbelievable ?. .. we just can’t score! !!
Mertesacker saves the day …. again ?
We’ve got to invest in quality attackers
and now sanchez’ defense against messi and even after falling down he stood up right again and defended again… i am just loving the display of this team
Typical
Sh#t
Wtf! Absolutely clueless
don’t know what to do with the ball in their penalty area and then give it back to concede. ….. w@nkers!
We need serious overhaul of these unserious players
A good 70 mins but another last 16 exit because we have obvious and longstanding weaknesses such as centre halfs moving at a snails pace … And Walcott has done less than chamberlain
That’s what we get for shooting blanks against Barca!
look at ramsey, oh my ……can’t even control the ball…………..
Same old Arsenal…. falling to bits!!
Just hope that we don’t concede anymore!!! ?
Wake up ffs!
If you fail to prepare……you prepare to fail.
Please mr chinese money bags come and buy Walcott … Thoroughly useless
Hope u all are seeing how useless ramsey is
Alexis loses it again
OG is not worth s cup of cold piss end of
everyone thumbs you down on every negative og comment, fact is he is not in the class to score consistent, 4 yrs of data, he scores on average one goal per 3 mstches, will never ever ever win the league or ucl w that,
This ain’t Hull City MF’s…. you need to score at least half your chances.
@ Ramsey
Seriously lucky us.
Sanchez playing silly bugger again.
Great…. bring on Flamini to kung-fu kick Messi
Well done Wenger and flamini
Flamini lol penalty
i feel for wenger… now everyone will hate on him for the sub of flamini xD
@Krish
They were gonna hate on him no matter what he did…Right or wrong.
what the ……………………..
Doing so well for 70 mins and then we leave ourselves open at the back. 77 mins and almost the same, we can’t leave just mert and kos back against the fast front 3!
Got to demand more from Walcott hes just come on and he could do better to get back to cover with his pace.
I would have been delighted with a 0-0 tonight, now Barca will play keep ball.
Flam for Coqeulin!
Cech’s record gone…… messi’s one continues
Flamini! Mertesecker! WTF
Oh yeah Arsene……..clever!!!!!
Game over 2-0!! nice Flamini!
Shi*e ball from BFG.
Play the kids in the 2nd leg.
Flamini has done what he knows how to do best
Dunno why Mert was trying to pass to Flamini there 🙁
There he goes again brining on Flamini to give away a penalty. GTF
Beautiful Flamini, just beautiful!
Tragic..
Look at Welbeck. .. now why didn’t the deluded one start with him?…… totally pissed off!… what a waste of opportunities!
Probably finish 3 nil
Wenger’s chickens coming home to roost … He will never take us to next level…when will the imbeciles on this site ever learn this?
Wenger needs to leave at the end of d season. Sentiments won’t let him drop useless players
WelBeck has added a bit of fire.
Merts fault dont blame Flamini, he shouldnt and wouldnt have expected that cr*p pass and Messi is lighting quick.
It was stupid for mert not to just lash it up field but come on man, if one word had to describe flam it would be rash. Messi still had bodies in front of him but flam just flies in without a seconds thought.
hahahahahaha…………..look at that……………….Nowhere to hide now Arsene
So…
Goodbye UCL. Til next year and another short run.
At least we can concentrate on the league now.
Well done fellas…Well done.
Hahaha. … You joker! ?
if it wasn’t for cech … it would have been at least 5 nil
Where’s that Krish and chips and clever Trevor and all the other football morons who claim to be arsenal fans … Fact: Second rate players … Mert Walcott Ramsey giroud mert flamini etc …don’t deliver against quality opposition …can see bellerin heading back to barca he was good along with the coq and kos and Czech ..ozil and Sanchez had their moments but not enough
RKW, I.m here come sun or rain. I thought it was a good effort against the best team on the planet. I actually agree with fatboy, Wengers fault for the penno bringing on flam. I hope it is injury because taking off our best defensive midfielder when we aren’t even half way through a two legged tie does not sound too bright at all.
And you revelling in times like this asking for the glass half full people to come here so you can insult and rub it in worse is even less bright.
Times like this …. Wtf does that mean …LOL.. If u want civil war move to Homs mate this is a football match ..so No revelling …just f@@@@@ angry that arsenal has become identified with a delusional dictator who is able to inflict his tired outdated ideas on us regardless of results….The glass has been half full for ten years … And will be for another ten if wenger stays in charge …
Ramsey should be dropped
We are ?….. we should have been 2 nil up in the first 20 minutes. .. It’s a shame because we played welll for 70 minutes and then the wheels fell off when we didn’t know what to do with the ball on the edge of their box…. which lead to their first goal. .. the penalty was wengers fault for bringing on Flamini lol ? and Welbeck looked up for this… he should have started instead of Ox.
Game over!….. The youth team cant play the return leg! … because they are not registered.
Just hope the lads pick themselves up for the Utd game.
Fantastic effort from the team but I am sorry.. If Wenger thinks Ramsay, Mert, Ox and Walcott are goodd enough for an entire season and European football with 200m in the bank then he needs to go. Koscielny and Monreal are believe it or not our best players.
what did you guys expect? to win against this barca hahahahahahahahahahah, with OG upfront hahahahahahahahahaahha, i am not mad, i am used to this s*it it became normal for me
Don’t know how flamini gets the nod from AW.. He should pay dearly for this
just one thing to say until the match report shows up here. Does Wenger run this site?? OLD COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM NEW COMMENTS AT THE TOP> IM FED UP SCROLLING TO THE BOTTOM FOR NEW COMMENTS FF’s
Your obviously pissed off..lol
Wenger should leave at the end of the season even if we win the EPL. We need a younger Manager who can motivate and get the best out of his players. A manager that will go for what he wants. A younger Manager that will spend good money on players like Lewandosky. I would love Arsenal to sign the Westham Manager.
Our mistakes tonight were:
1 Wenger should have played Sanchez thru the middle with Walcott and Welbeck on both flanks. Giroud does not have the pace and confidence on the ball. Our front 3 strikers had to be comfortable with the ball and needed to shoot more often. Why would Giroud pass the ball to Walcott.
2. Why take off Coq and replace him with Flam? To what end? Wenger making sub’s for the fun of it.
3. Why was Ox still on the pitch till the end of the first half? Wenger is too slow and very reactive. he is not under any pressure. Anceloti won RM the CL but lost his job the season after. Failure is not an option.You either deliver or get fired. Wenger will never win the CL.
To all those out here who think”Tiki Taka” is rubbish…This is the result of it, when played right. Possession with purpose is a joy to watch. Sorry we were on the receiving end of it tonight.
Good match from our guys though, up to a point…
You need a decent coach and a team full of quality players to play that kind of football… having a old deluded manager and just a couple of quality players with a bunch of wanna beeeeees just doesn’t work mate!
I’m mainly disappointed because of the amount of chances we missed ?…. I would have even been happy with 0-0 at the end. …. to concede two goals like that is beyond a joke.
@FBG
We have the right coach, just not enough of the right players…
Heartbreaking the way we succumbed in the end. One goal in a two legged tie is far from over, when will our players/management ever realise this. I was scathing that Giroud did not go to ground when player leaned head forward. Yes it’s a bitch move but we had a chance to make things easier in knocking out the favorites. Also scathing that Suarez was not taking out of it before he passed for their goal. We have allot to learn about doing whats necessary.
Well done Wenger…he has done his job…
Arsenal should take the chances…when we have it..for the first goal…awful defences…for the second goal…merts should have cleared the ball…or is he trying to assist messi?…I don’t see merts can help arsenal in any way…goals?defending?pace?…what a waste…luv to see welback againts ManU…
Message to Wenger:
If you leave arsenal next season, please bring along merts,flam,arteta…cuz those are virus inside arsenal DNA…