Why Arsenal should forget Barcelona – We MUST beat Hull City!

I get the reason for Arsene Wenger bringing up the last time Arsenal faced our Champions League opponents Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium, as we did beat them 2-1 despite being under the cosh for a lot of the match. I’m sure the boss would take that again when Luis Enrique and his treble winning side turn up in north London next Tuesday.

I would as well, of course, but I do not think that the Gunners should focus all our efforts on this one game and I have good reasons. Let’s just take a step back and look at that fantastic win over the Catalan club. It was a great night because at the time Barca were, like they are now, widely regarded as the best football team in the world.

The fact that they had recently demolished Real Madrid in an El Clasico game by 5-0 and were on the way to a Champions League and La Liga double made our win over them pretty special and the performance of a young Jack Wilshere is still talked about today.

BUT. And there are big buts if you will pardon the expression, we did not make it through to the next round so our joy was pretty short lived. Barca won the replay 3-1 with a big help from the officials when the referee took the bizarre decision to show Robin van Persie a second yellow card for shooting at goal after he had blown for a free kick.

Time wasting he called it, despite the fact that you could not hear yourself think in the cauldron of the Nou Camp. If you think that Arsenal would never have such bad luck with decisions again then you have not been paying attention.

Let me just remind you of another little nugget from back then. A few days after beating the mighty Barcelona the Gunners went to lowly Leyton Orient in the FA cup and were held to a draw. Let’s be honest Gooners and admit that the FA Cup gives Arsenal a much bigger chance of a trophy and maybe even a double win.

We are not ready to win the Champions League even if by some miracle we were good enough and the refs were fair enough to let us get past Barca. We did brilliantly to beat Bayern Munich this season but look what happened in the return leg. A 5-1 smashing in Germany.

I would rather Wenger was realistic and made sure of beating Hull City to progress in the FA cup. After all we are on for an amazing three wins in a row. Do you agree that this should be our main focus rather than the dream of beating Barcelona?

Tags Barcelona Hull Wenger

13 Comments

  1. As Forrest Gump… Once said:
    “Arsenal are like a box of chocolates! …. You never know what your gonna get” ? Mmm … that’s not it! … but I’m sure that he was referring to Arsenal ??

    1. yeah would be nice to pull a 6nil win or even 4nil…I know a win is a win but with Barca coming up we need to win this early and rest players…

      1. I agree with Bob, That the Football Association has got it in for Arsenal fc.. Hence – Mike Dean and even if we get over this Hurdle, we will more than likely get a tricky away game in the next round!…

        We will Probably get the Spuds and Mike Dean Combination in the next round ? even Freddy Krueger couldn’t come up with a worser nightmare than that ??

          1. since they became a quality side who outplayed us at the emirates an done double against us last year.

            spuds r not jokes anymore.

            1. Hahaha well said muffy- ‘The fanny-pire slayer’ ?

              I don’t Think that he understood, that the nightmare ‘would be’, is havingh that spud ref, officiating that game!

  2. I don’t get the arguement.

    Starting the likes of Welbz (in place of Giroud), Iwobi (in place of Ozil), Campbell (on d right), El Neny and Flamini (in Midfield) can allow others get the much needed rest they need to come out firing on all cylinders against Barcelona.

    If we are to win a trophy that has eluded us for so long now, we have to show up everyday. No one knows in what state of mind Barca could be in come mid week next week.

    They could have a RARE off-day and if our players have been told ”just go there and have fun, we aren’t taking this seriously” how do they go ahead and take advantage?

    Left for me, I have this very quiet confidence that Arsenal will oust the almighty Barca ds year. I said the same thing against Leciester, and that gut feeling is there again.

    Probably a draw at the Emirates and a win @camp nou will do the trick. Watch this space!

    1. why does mike dean look like jasper carrot.
      cos he thinks hes funny with his bull**** decisions.

      uttter bell end

  3. I agree we should focus on Hull but it’s never possible for the manager to focus 100% because he needs to figure out who to rest for Barcelona
    and who to play

    But yes we need to focus as much as possible on our upcoming match which is Hull.

    Hull can beat us if we don’t focus, put out the right players and perform at our best.

    Every year Premier League and even top Premier League teams lose to lower league teams in FA Cup.

    I want a hat trick of FA Cups. I don’t think any team has won 3 in a row (maybe I’m wrong)

  4. The barca game is the only contest in the year that we should go into we no expectation simple as that! We can get a result that’s the beauty of football where the unexpected things could happen and if does than yes go for it!!
    But if we lose we shouldn’t feel to bad about it & just turn the focus to the Prem as simple as that!!The double is very real if we’re able to win all orbit head to head contest specially the ones coming (FA cup, Premier league) so why not put everything we have into that, with the players we’re getting back there’s a one of a kind opportunity!! The CL is not for us this year not the way we started, the bad luck that paired us up with arguably the best team in history, not with this squad misses 1,2 game changing players!!

  5. Professional athletes – no matter what sport – want to pit themselves against the best..you think for a second not 1 of the players wants to be out there to play Barca! The problem AW has…is to control this desire without deflating players confidence and morale.

    I don’t think he can…he will play whomever is good/fit enough….the players will demand it – that’s my guess. You can’t hold them on a game like this – that would be folly and he would lose the dressing room.

    he also needs to be clear that whomever takes the field for the Hull game is going to give it their all…no holding back for the Barca game. This, my friends, is the tight-rope he walks. This is where professionalism from the SQUAD comes into play. This is where TOGETHERNESS shows itself. This is what Monreal was referring to….you put aside your ego for the club and your team-mate.

    This is what TEAM SPIRIT is about…and this is why it’s important.

  6. My main objective for Barcelona is not to get smashed 7-0 or even worse. I believe we have only 1 chance in 20 of getting past Barcelona. They simply have too much Arsenal for us to handle. If we bow out 3-5 on aggregate and win the league and FA cup I’ll be a happy gooner 🙂

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