First of all Arsenal fans, did you see that amazing game between FC Barcelona and PSG last night? Just like Arsenal the Spanish La Liga champions needed to overturn a four goal deficit from the first leg but unlike us they managed it and broke a Champions League record into the bargain, but unlike us they were the beneficiaries of the decisions of the referee and you have to then wonder what might have happened at the Emirates on Tuesday if Arsenal had not been on the wrong end of the big calls.
Just like Barca last night, the Gunners started the match against Bayern Munich well and when we scored a good early goal the Germans were pushed onto the back foot. At the Nou Camp the nerves really started to hit the visitors when a second went in before the break and that is exactly what should have happened in north London but our referee and his assistant went temporarily blind when Theo Walcott was taken out in the box.
Just imagine the scenes in the Bayern dressing room if it had been 2-0 at the break. At the same time the belief would be flowing in the Arsenal side and the second half could have been so much different. Instead our referee decides to help out the Germans and whereas Barca were given two soft penalties to help them achieve this remarkable feat we were punished by some downright bizarre officiating.
So it could have been so different and you can see why Arsene Wenger was so angry and why he declared that the ref changed the game, as we can see the stark difference a couple of decisions one way or the other can make. Having said that, I do not think that we would have had the spirit and the desire to come back to score six after the visitors had interrupted the momentum by scoring as Barca did.
Perhaps another big difference is that their manager fell on his sword after the first leg debacle while ours huffed and puffed and nothing changed. What do you think Gooners, were the two refs the difference in these two attempted comebacks?
Bob.
No. Just don’t see it.
I don’t know if we could have even won the match with our poor performances and team turmoil as of late. Wenger has seemed to have lost the players mentally
We have had difficulties with lower quality teams this season. We beat Sutton by two goals lol
Honestly could not see us beating Bayern 4-0. And this isn’t the best Bayern side I’ve ever seen too.
In order for us to have won we needed a different mentality and a different caliber player. Barca have Messi, Suarez and Neymar. We have Giroud and Sanchez and Walcott. Giroud did what he always does and missed a few makeable chances, he makes them both we are 3 nil up. Giroud is just not that type of winner in fact he didn’t even get his chances on goal, no save forced.
This Bayern is not very good, we make teams look good. I don’t see them win the CL but I don’t think we have the team to pull off a stunt like Barca did. We lack a winners mentality and a killer instinct and leaders on the pitch.
ps: for the rest we are doing great.
Did you just pose that question?
Did you mean Could we have done a Barcelona with a decent manager? Luis Enrique perhaps?
That wasn’t down to the manager, that was purely on how gifted a number of Barcelona’s players are. If it was a managerial masterstroke well then the first leg would have went a bit differently.
PSG was praised after the four nil result, nobody here ridiculed Barca. Then Barca turn it around and that too is used to bash Arsene with some more. Both wins aimed digs at Arsene, but no-one is using the defeats. That was horrendous, to throw away a winning position like that, and Barcelona’s fist leg performance was also horrendous.
From top to bottom we do not have the balls to win in such high profile games.
Most of us are confused thinking that Arsenal is a big club, we use to be a big club but not anymore even in England we are just a good club with some good games here and there… no big club stays 10-12yrs without a trophy.. the list of big clubs are below please correct me if am wrong:
Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid, Juventus, Atletico, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, I will add Man. City cos of Pep, these clubs always win their respective leagues n get to the semis of the Champions League but our darling Arsenal can’t even Win Everton.. please Wenger needs to go for us to move forward
The referee had no involvement with the overall result. Was it the referee’s fault that we also conceded five in the first leg? Second leg was over before kickoff, and instead of making a heartfelt apology to fans after the game, Wenger as always, started with the excuses.
coz he is a dictator, why apologize while everything he does is like a favor to all of us?
Wenger is a clown he still thinks he’s the best man for the job
10-2 over two legs is a massacre.
Bayern’s goal is to win the League
and go deep into the ECL every year.
Arsenals goal is to make top 4 EPL and last 16 ECL.
Right now Bayern is in the process of winning the Bundesliga
for the 5th time in a row and again are going deep into the ECL.
Surprise surprise Arsenal is in the process of not winning the League
for the 13th year in a row and as usual going out in the ECL round of 16.
Bayern like Barca last night dare to seek greatness.
Arsenal strive to achieve mediocrity and succeed brilliantly.
Arsenal owner, the board, the Manager the players and 90% of the fans are thrilled.
Silly article. A complete waste of my time reading it and Admin’s time in posting it!!!
I think we need to come to terms with the fact Arsenal is a small team. Big teams have big players who are on massive wages. We have prooved to be unwilling or unable (not sure which it is) to pay the kind of wages necessary to attract and keep top players. We cannot win the league with the likes of Ramsey, Monreal, Coquelin, Xhaka, Walcott, Giroud and Iwobi. There are simply far too many passengers in our team.
this team with the right management and one strong leader in the team can win anything, what happened to our passing game it just disappeared in to the fin air and now we cannot put two passes together as if its a totally different team, we played some relay good football up until just few weeks ago what happened to it?
some one or something went drastically wrong after Watford game
This team can win nothing with whoever manages. Look at the quality of players we have we only have exactly two world class players Cos and Alexis period.
It’s true the referee’s handling of the game wasn’t good enough in that he gave tow or so wrong crucial decisions against Arsenal. However, Arsenal lacked self-belief and the character. Who told them they could not score six or more goals against any team? When a team is on the brink of history anything can happen but you need to show the required character and the commitment which was what Arsenal lacked.
I have a better question.
Could Arsenal have done a Leicester last season with a decent manager?
2 years in a row
I only watched the extended highlights of the Barca PSG game, and from what I saw, 5 of Barca’s goals were all lucky. The only exception was the free kick from Neymar. Their first goal came from a scuffle in the box with a lucky reverse header. The second goal was an own goal. Third goal was from a penalty caused my PSG defender slipping. Fourth goal, the Neymar freekick. Fifth goal, brilliant acting and dive from Suarez for the penalty. Sixth goal was offsides, bad call from the linesman.
Not to mention PSG were supposed to get a penalty. Suarez actually needs a ban for diving twice in the box. PSG were screwed royally by the ref and dirty Barca tactics.
@Big Gun
You have to get CLOSE ENOUGH to the opposition penalty area to get those kinds of luck. The problem is we find it difficult getting close to the danger area these days. When last have you seen an Arsenal winger or full back send a half decent cross? We were too far away from Bayern’s box to cause any trouble.
No we couldn’t have done a Barcelona. We may try to emulate them in style, but have a team with little belief or confidence, and a manager that is highly overrated.
We try to play like Barcelona, but end up looking like their C team, if that.
I overslept and missed the match
When I woke up I went to a newspaper/tabloid sports page and saw 10-2 in bold with the word “massacre”
I thought we had lost the match 10-2
The title was so misleading because it didnt say “on agg” or “on aggregate”
I was beside myself. That would have meant 15-3 on agg LOL
But losing 5-1 again didn’t make me smile either
10-2 on agg is disgraceful
It doesn’t matter if Referree affected the match. We still lost 5-1 in the first leg
A good team either doesn’t lose like that OR loses like that but comes back in the second leg like Barcelona did against PSG
Ha ha. Unlike you, I didn’t oversleep. I just chose not to watch. I care for my health 🙂