Arsenal 2 - Barcelona 2: Teenagers vs Men.

Talk about a football lesson. We are supposed to be the best passing team in England, if we are, then we need to improve big time. Barcelona starved us of the ball all night, we only mustered 38% possession all game, and at home, incredible. For the first 45mins, we only had 1 shot on goal, and that was wide, whereas Barcelona had 12.

I do question what was Wenger's tactic for this match? Cede possession and then try hit on the break? If so, it was totally wrong. He should have had a man marker on Xavi as well.


Barcelona took their 2 goals very well, one after an Almunia special, and the other after our defensive line was caught out, nothing new to us Arsenal fans. Our two goals came from Walcott squirming a shot and Fabregas earning a harsh penalty which he scored.


Let me put it on record, any Arsenal fan should not be proud that we drew 2-2, and that we showed heart and desire. Since when were we Aston Villa or Chelsea that rely on that? We are Arsenal, we rely on technique and intelligence, and now the lies of Wenger have been exposed to the world that our players are nowhere near the best technicians on the planet. We may outplay teams like Portsmouth, but we never do it to the big boys, Barcelona do it to everybody, it doesn't matter who it is, be it Man Utd in a final, or Inter Milan or Chelsea, they will outplay them. I am only interested in winning, not drawing matches, we should do everything to win, and clearly last night we never, so there is nothing to be happy about. Arsenal fans have begun to become cowards by not demanding success and being happy by simply challenging, since when did that become acceptable? man Utd fans were fuming when they lost to Bayern Munchen, we are over the moon with a draw? Wake Up fans!


This then raises question about our transfer strategy. 5 of the Barcelona team were bought in, the rest from their cantera. So what they have done is buy the best players on the market to supplement their players.All the players on show for us tonight were acquired by Wenger, not under duress, by choice. We do not buy the best on the market,we buy prospects, and this surely has to change now. If we are serious about challenging for prestigious titles such as the Champions League, tonight showed how far away we are from the level required. We need to start buying players that take us closer to Barcelona's level.


Barcelona had players who have won domestic and international honours, every single one of them has won something, they are champions and played like it. We need to sign some champions. Wenger also has to change his tactics, not be scared, and go for it. Why were his players not prepared well enough? Why did Alves have so much space to do damage? Why did Xavi have freedom to pick his passes? This needs to change.


Another thing, why are we playing injured players? Arshavin got injured after being injured last week, Gallas never should have played and he is now out for the season and will never wear our shirt again as he will leave the club, Fabregas should not have played as he was injured. We have a big squad, what message does that send to Campbell/Silvestre, who are 100% fit but not played? What message does that send to Denilson/Nasri/Walcott/Eboué/Rosicky who could all have played for Fabregas and Arshavin, they are all 100% and don't start. The medical team needs to be fired for these decisions.


Player Ratings:

Almunia 3: Good saves, which were routine if we are honest, then made a clanger and was scared of the second. 1 mistake can undo all your work.

Sagna 2: Same old Sagna, crap crosses.

Clichy 2: Dominated by Alves, he should also learn to come inside with the ball.

Vermaelen 2: Exposed against an elite opponent.

Gallas 2: Should not have started the game.

Song 4: Showed guts and good passing, moved to defence and was not up to marking Ibrahimovic.

Diaby 1: Went missing.

Fabregas 2: Injured, should not have played, and selfish reaction when given a yellow card. Xavi showed him what being a regista is all about tonight.

Nasri 1: Alves had a good game because Nasri gave him a bye. Also crosses the ball when there is no one in the box, what is the point of that?

Arshavin 1: The man who says we need new players never pitches up again and gets injured.

Bendtner 3: Created both goals, but he is there to score, and never looked like doing it, especially when he heads straight at the goalkeeper.

Denilson 2: Over run in midfield.

Eboué 2: Not much.

Walcott 4: Created havoc and scored, but still needs to be intelligent.


Coach Rating

Wenger 3: Wrong selections by using injured players who are now probably all out for the season, wrong tactics by not pressing the team and applying man markers on the pressure points i.e. Xavi and Messi. Gets points for ensuring the team never capitulated, however not acceptable that his team is outplayed so comprehensively again at home.

Arsenal 3 - Burnley 1: Slow but Exciting.

So, Arsenal have drawn blades with the other big knights, Man Utd and Chelsea, and are now equal on points with Chelsea, and 2 points behind Man Utd. I am bittersweet about this result, it is bitter because we took so long to seal the deal and now have Fabregas out, sweet as it increases the pressure on the other teams who know they cannot afford to slip up.


The first goal, it saw Fabregas connect with Nasri, the latter it seemed looked to have dwelt too long and looked indecisive, but Fabregas made a small run and he lofted it over the defence with precision for Fabregas to slide under the keepers legs, really nice stuff.


After that, we were treated to a Bendtner masterclass in how to miss chances, it was trully ridiculous how many chances he missed, headers, tap ins, shots, the lot, he managed to mess them up. is Luciano Moggi of calciopoli his agent, because it is madness to miss so many chances?


Nugent broke the offside trap and again we were treated to an Almunia slow motion save, 1-1, with Burnleys only chance of the game. Almunia and Silvestre were awful, even Vermaelen for that, watch the man and get the line right.


Walcott was playing decently, and he scored the second, cutting in from the right and for a change, using his left foot to guide a shot beyond the keeper, 2-1. Arshavin and Eduardo came on, they never added much urgency, the former scoring the third with a low hard drive in the box.


This game shows some flaws in the team, you cannot spurn so many chances and hope to win a championship. Added the fact they play Porto for CL qualification, the team should have had an easy last 30mins to save up energy, instead they had to play the entire 95mins to secure a result, big shame. Nice to see Nasri centrally, more of the same, Bendtner needs to learn to score, Walcott needs to learn elementary control, some of the lapses of control he showed were a disgrace for a professional footballer.


Player Ratings

Almunia 4: Not much action, but failed to save the Nugent goal, wake up.

Eboue 5: Nice thrusting play from him, he should work on his left foot though.

Vermaelen 5: Decent, at fault for the equaliser though.

Silvestre 4: Attack the player, don't stand off them.

Clichy 4: Not much work, but should add much more in attack.

Denilson 5: Decent passing and squeezing space.

Nasri 6.5: Why isn't he deployed here more often? Not likened to Zidane for nothing you know Wenger!!

Fabregas 5: Injured, but scored a nice goal, big loss for Porto.

Rosicky 5.5: I love this guy, very involved and his intelligence is key to the team.

Walcott 5: Lots of speed, but his crosses need to be more measured and he needs to learn basic control.

Bendtner 2: 1 for being present, 1 for trying, but seriously, no striker for a team looking for titles can spurn so many chances, really ridiculous performance by him.


Wenger 5: Easy game to manage, but why play Silvestre and why not take Bendtner off earlier? Forget being nice, do what is right for results, take Bendtner out earlier, the game may have been over by 60mins and the team will be less fatigued for Porto.

Burnley 1 - Arsenal 1: Arsenal are scared and don't have balls.

Ahhh, just as we thought we were ready to show we really wanted the championship, we go and drop 2 points away from home. I won't write a lot on what happened last night, it was clear we needed 3 points, and whilst we took advantage of last weekend, this week we haven't and we have given 2 points basically to the leaders.

If we cannot cope with such a crucial point of the season, there is no hope for us winning the championship, you cannot say 1 point is good because Burnley beat Man Utd there, who cares, Man Utd beat us, so we have to win there, we need 3 points, 1 point does nothing for us.

What also irritates me is that the players never stood up and showed they wanted 3 points. Fabregas did, but he probably realised the others didn't and walked off with injury, awful mentality from the players. Champions always give their best, always force the issue, always go for a win, always find a way to win. Sadly we never.

8 points behind Chelsea, we better concentrate on Aston Villa for now, they are hot on our heels right now, if we aren't careful, they could cause us trouble again. We need to finish 3rd to ensure automatic qualification to the CL, that gives us an extra week or two off next summer (already talking about that, how sad for us fans).

As for player ratings, they all sucked apart from Fabregas who showed lots of quality before his injury, the type of form that commands a transfer war in the summer. Whoever fights that war will win as the rest of the players tonight never wanted a win. The worst offenders, Almunia, what a joke of a performance, he can't even kick the ball properly, and Walcott, if England take him to the World Cup and start him, they will get no goals created from him, he shouldn't be at any World Cup anytime soon until he can shoot or has more tricks.

Hull, oh well, lets hope for the best, and hope others drop points as well.