Who am I to outsmart Arsene Wenger, but I really feel that the Arsenal manager is making the wrong decision to play its typical brand of soccer against Barcelona in the Wednesday night Champions League match at Emirates Stadium.
An open game from both sides will be entertaining but it’ll be a brutal blow to the ego of most Arsenal supporters who may witness a convincing victory for Barcelona who are seemingly unstoppable when they’re on song. When Ibrahimovic and Messi are playing at their best, which they are now, no team in the world can stop them at their own game. Last season, Chelsea tried to shut down Barcelona and they almost did it if it wasn’t for an injury goal by Iniesta to win the match. But this is the time that I believe Arsenal needs to employ a different tactic than playing their typical game.
Wenger believes that Arsenal is capable of beating Barcelona if the Gunners play to their strength and play their typical brand of attractive soccer. While I admire Wenger for his strong beliefs, victory is often more important than style and I don’t believe Arsenal is capable of beating Barcelona at its own game. Plus, Arsenal’s linchpin in midfield, Cesc Fabregas, only has a 40% chance of playing against Barcelona.
The cards are definitely stacked against Arsenal and I fear that the match may be out of reach of Arsenal before the second leg even kicks off.
What do you think? Vote in the poll below and share your feedback in the comments section below.
Yes…why in the last final…if you watched it closely Arsenal was ripping Barca away…until Belletti struck…
It was Arsenal ripping Barca apart??
Don’t you love blinkered fans who deny even statisical evidence.
Arsenal 3 shots, Barcelona 17 shots.
Yep, looks like Arsenal ripped them to bit there.
If you watched the game Arsenal had the clearer chances and Eto’s goal was offside.
Of course Arsenal *can* win. But they won’t.
Also they had 10 men and were unlucky not to win on the night.
I don’t agree that the way to beat Barcelona is to play a conservative and “non-Arsenal” game. If you look at teams that have tried that strategy (Inter in group play comes to mind), Barcelona have made them pay. Contain all you want, but Barcelona can score. The real way to beat Barcelona is to play their own game and test their shaky defense. Atletico Madrid tried this strategy in La Liga and is currently the only team to have beaten Barcelona in La Liga. Just like Atletico, Arsenal have the weapons to score and cannot waste their best assets. Even without Cesc, they can find goals from many places (Arshavin, Bendtner, Nasri, Diaby, etc). I believe Wenger knows this and this is going to be a very entertaining game.
Well said and I agree but I thought it would be worth adding Atletico Madrid did beat Barca but out of all the times Barca have played Atletico most of the time Barca has come out on top. One off results are not really the rule.
This poll is misleading. The headline states that the poll is asking, “Can Arsenal beat Barcelona?”. But the poll itself is worded, “Will Arsenal beat Barcelona?”. The answer for the two questions are not the same: I personally think the Gunners can win, but I don’t think they will.
Arsenal 4 Barcelona 1.Return leg Barcelona 2 Arsenal 1.
you dream!
An early goal for the Gunners could tip the confidence balance decisively. In the absence of that, I will go for a nervy 1-0 win (late 2nd half goal) and a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou via an Arshavin brace.
I think Arsenal should try and shut them down at the Emirates and not give away any goals. Then at the Nou Camp if they score even once they get an away goal. I’d go for : 0-0 at Emirates, 2-1 to Arsenal at the Nou Camp.
Arsenal are a good team and Wenger is a great manager so good luck to them. Can’t wait to see this.
Yes, Arsenal can win but to do so they will have to do 2 things: Play well defensively and not make any mistakes at the back. Not easy to do when you have Almunia in goal who is erratic and Gallas is missing. Then Arsenal will have to control the midfield which they can do provided Fabregas plays and isn’t limited by his injury. Barcelona are not at the top of their game right and are there for the taking. If Fabregas is not fit to play I think Wenger will try to keep it close and not make it an open match and hope to score on the counter-attack. Still, these two teams should put on a good show given their free-flowing styles. I’m really looking forward to seeing this match.
A true Arsenal fan will tell you no chance – thats the Arsenal way. Pessimism.
By God, i hope we win 7-0 but I think we are playing a better team and a better team featuring Messi against our weak defense should win over 2 legs.
Teams cannot change their basic philosophy at the drop of a hat. While it might make tactical sense to close-up shop and play for a draw, Arsenal are not built to do that. The gunners can’t pitch a clean sheet against Birmingham how are they going to defend for 90 minutes agaist Barca?
Wenger is right, they should do what they do best and that is possess the ball and get forward.
I don’t expect Arsenal to win but it should be a great game to watch. The mix of skill and power on display is awesome with the likes of Xavi,Messi, Cesc, and Nasri combining with players like Toure, Keita, Diaby, and Song.
It was not the injury-time Iniesta goal that beat Chelsea, it was the Norwegian ref Tom Ovrebo who didn’t call FOUR clear-cut penalties on Barca.
Chelsea showed how to beat Barcelona, with great discipline off the ball and strong tackling, never losing shape. In the second leg last year, Chelsea were the better side and should have won at least 3-0. Ashley Cole always dominated Ronaldo in the EPL and Messi did nothing against him. It is possible to stop them!
But Gaffer we’re talking about Wenger here – this match was the culmination of years playing football his way, with his players, on a wide pitch on the biggest stage in club football against the best team in the world that supposedly shares his contempt for “anti-football” Why would he have risked that all for a greater chance of a “win”
brn442, I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic there or speaking the truth, but I agree with you. My feeling is that Wenger wants soccer played his way, no matter what happens. If it’s pure, it’s good. But in order to win titles (and matches), it has to be done the right way. I admire Wenger for that, but the reality is that the beautiful game played on a beautiful wide pitch doesn’t always translate into wins. Sometimes teams have to play ugly football to get wins. And Wenger will never do that.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Barcelona killed arsenal and English football, every English team they played they demolished with clinical passes that’s all it took passes, 10 pure passers can the English game learn something from this.
I think arsenal can win because as you have noticed on the last game Barcelona’s defense was surprisingly weak. It seemed as if Puyol was the only one who is really defending. On this game however they have neither Pique nor Puyol and i think this will effect barca. Also i think Arsene Wenger is right to play his own game and probably he needs to choose even more offensive tactic and that way they can win. Otherwise no matter how well arsenal can defeat the defensive line is nowhere near to hold off the barca monsters. So Attack! is the only way to go
Wtf…. If you ask Barcelona to play against Arsenal again now.. with the Arsenal original “failing” formations that Wenger create. Barcelona will ripped. no. RAPE Arsenal once again. Gunners going down guys. Why not let Cesc go to where he wants?
HAHAHAHAHAHA BASTARDS!!!!!!!!