Dear reader,
I wanted to share some objective viewpoints with you regarding the Champions League game between Barcelona and Arsenal held on Tuesday, March 8th, 2011.
First, both teams are one of the few that still play with heart and have a philosophy of playing speculative, attacking, entertaining football which should have made this game more entertaining than the CL Final itself. It was going to be Attack, Attack, Attack! Instead, Arsenal tried to perform a Moron-who/Inter defensive play, but that worked for a team that had a 2 goal difference and a much formidable defensive line as well as a defensive midfield (aka, the Argentineans).
Second, did Arsenal play as Arsenal? No, Arsenal did not fight (zero shots on goal vs. 12). Lower-tier La Liga teams have fought better than Arsenal did, TRYING to counter attack. A team cannot win if they do not shoot at the opposing teams goal. Barcelona had 310 touches in Arsenal’s half while Arsenal had only 41, and that’s just in the first half. Barcelona had 76% possession vs. 24%. Arsenal had 9 saves vs. zero for Barcelona. Arsenal did not play as Arsenal, but Barcelona did play as Barcelona and actually tried to win.
Three, the refereeing was sloppy on both sides of the pitch! The 2nd yellow card was uncalled for, but an experience professional like RvP cannot afford to make silly juvenile mistakes (Alves duped him into his first card while his little tryst with Mascherano inflamed his passions). Furthermore, Barcelona too were denied a fair penalty and a possible goal which probably would have made the score 2-1 before RvP’s ejection (think Chelsea). Other players deserved to be sent off included Koscienly, with two clear bookable offenses, and Abidal for manhandling RvP’s neck.
Fourth, luck played a huge part in the game for both sides. The own goal gift to Arsenal, the unlucky injury to Szczesny (also Alves) and the back-heel by Cesc near his box in front of a pressing team was a moment of incalculable stupidity.
Fifth, Arsenal’s key players did not deliver. While Game 1 saw Messi, Ineista, and Pedro fail to perform for Barcelona, RvP and Cesc failed miserably to deliver for Arsenal in game 2, regardless of refereeing or luck. This time, Messi, Ineista, Villa, Pedro, Alves, Mascherano, and Xavi (did you see that beautiful 1-2-3 goal that bounced off of Sagna) delivered for Barcelona. Valdez and company were never really bothered. Only Almunia, Nasri and Busquets delivered for Arsenal.
Sixth, the magnificent goal by Messi should have instigated a response from Arsenal (fyi, the previous 4 matches saw the 1st team to score would eventually lose), instead there was no response. The only real threat came from Wilshore’s brilliant pass to Bendtner which was perfectly robbed (yes this time Barcelona did rob) by Mascherano. Speaking of Mr. Mascherano, his control of the mid-field allowed the two wing backs to cause havoc (Adriano, and Alves with RvP and Szczesny) which was not the case, I think, in game 1.
Seventh, Arsenal’s players lost their cool early on with 4 yellow cards. Arsenal was playing hard, physical, but fair, yet Messi was not agitated when he was denied a clear penalty. The players were emotional and that got the best of them.
Eighth, Arsenal has been very inconsistent. The Game 1 comeback against Barcelona showed the everyone that Arsenal is a force to be reckoned with and will be over the next decade as the team matures under the watchful eye of the Professor, but the loss to Dunderland was just as shameful as was Barcelona’s to Hercules, except this was for silverware and not the first game of the season.
Lastly, I am comforted by the fact that Arsenal is in good hands with players such as Nasri and Wilshire who will dominate the pitch over the next decade. That is my silver lining for Arsenal.
In summary, Game 1 had two great teams playing beautiful offense-football (I’ll defer judging the referee to you). Game 2 had only one great team playing beautiful offense-football, trying to win, and lousy refereeing. As a brilliant young man one enlightened me in an earlier post, Victoria Concordia Crescit! (Victory comes from harmony).
To close, as a fan of both Arsenal and Barcelona, I was shocked by the huge gap in quality between the two.
Viva Barcelona
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