This is supposed to be the worst Arsenal squad in recent memory (some say Wenger’s era, some say last 20 years, and there are other such opinions floating around). Some Gooners claim Wenger has lost it and gone senile. He has no ambition, is tactically clueless, and the players show no spirit.
Real Madrid on the other hand have a squad assembled at a cost that would make the Galacticos look like a bunch of paupers. They’re also supposed to have the world’s best tactical manager.
Not many people gave Arsenal a chance against Barcelona. Despite a 5-0 trashing earlier in the season, Real were supposed to provide a tough challenge to the Catalans.
Arsenal won the first leg at home, albeit with some luck. One can argue Arsenal deserved the win. Real lost the first leg at home with some luck going against them. Can anyone honestly say Real deserved anything out of this game based on that performance?
In the second leg, Arsenal had a lot to play for. Mourinho has given up on the tie and says there is no hope in the second leg.
After the second leg when Wenger gave an honest opinion about the ref, many fans and pundits got on his back. Arsene was criticized, his tactics were ridiculed, and the Gunners were berated. When the Dark Lord released a calculated and probably rehearsed (he knew he will be needing something to divert the attention from his inept tactics) rant against the ref and Barca, all the attention was focussed on the Catalan side. Even the articles in the media that repeated Mourinho’s allegations didn’t have any mention of the number of times the Dark Lord has benefitted from the refereeing decisions. Not least of which was an off-side goal that saw his Inter side beat the same opponents!
The red card given to Van Persie was a joke by any interpretation of the law. The red card given to Pepe was a bit harsh but could still be given for the way he went into the tackle even if Alves had pulled his leg out.
The Gunners gave a lot mentally. In the end the exhaustion told and the disappointment from the ref’s decision turned into an overwhelming factor. Real didn’t even try to play and completely collapsed after the red card.
The Arsenal players were criticized for lacking spirit and for poor attitude even by some Gooners. Many have been conned by the Dark Lord’s diversionary tactics as no one is questioning the attitude and spirit of the ‘Proven Players’ at Real.
Hardly anyone, except some positive minded Gooners, talked about Barcelona players grabbing Van Persie, Nasri, and co by their throats. How many are talking about the playacting by Alves, Pedro, and Busquest?
I don’t have a problem with the media and others. They are who they are. But why is there so much bile and hatred in the Arsenalsphere? Where is the balance? Where is the perspective?
Desi Gunner 
Desi I have always maintained this is the best 11 in England at the moment if they get it right thats why I insisted more on mental side of things onto our squad yeah that needs some tweaking never said mate this is the worst 11 ,worst mentally yeah I can agree on that because whenever stakes are raised they bottle it due to variety of reasons you point out and they al come to the fore in the latter half ……Sorry you can never accuse me of saying this is the worst Arsenal side
Our squad is certainly better than Manure….how many of
them can play in the Arsenal or vice versa will stop it there or I will go out of context 🙂
Infact I have said this is the worst Manu side to win the BPL(it looks more probable now) thats what increases the agony they have dropped more points in the run in than we assumed
Kushagra, it is not correct to talk about mentality when in 8,9 games from 13 you play against 14 , 11 players + 3 referees. I always will say for this season that even our slips this year and missed chances the refs had more to do with it than our team. 3 games you can blame on the GK(Almunia 2 games against WBA, one on Schezny vs Birmingham). 2
I may be proved wrong but now as we are out of the title race u may see a much improved performance against Manure..
Sadly, I think you have a real point.
So can super manu win a match if the 14th player ensures that the last kick of the game is a penalty against them – Arse – Liv
Desi, I never understood what’s your opinion on the way we play ? Should we stick with this total football or we should play the way Real Madrid(when they do not play against Barca) and Porto do?
You did not make your view clear on that one.
When the opposition is organized, we(Arsenal) probably test the keeper once every 15 min at best.We do not have Messi to score and assist and win us every game.Porto and Real Madrid try to test the keeper with every attack. 4-5 quick moves and they shoot. They do not pass the ball all game long like they have nothing to play for.Football is about goals and not possession.With this style of football you feel that sometimes even the players forget that they have to score goals.
Do you honestly think that Wenger sits there planning to just pass the ball without scoring?
NO but we should be able to vary our approach when need be.
This is where Mourinho is stronger (and more practical) than Wenger.
1) We lack a finisher in the box as RVP drifts out of position (in part because of the player he is), and that leaves us very little to aim for in the middle. As such we tend to pinch narrow.
2) When goiong into traffic (and we have improved a little) we still tend to attempt threading the ball through traffic rather than electing to shoot early when occassion demands.
3) We still don’t shoot enough from outside the box, something which could help open up the opponent’s defense.
4) We pass the ball along well but because it’s short and along the ground, we slow our transition somewhat (as oppose to United who can play a quick daigonal ball out accurately)
There are specific issues which we can continue to improve to add variation to our attack and make us less predictable.
And there are lessons we can learn from some of our close rivals in improving our own game. Let’s be proud BUT let’s not be too conceited either.
I think we need more flexibility. I have talked about it in the past. Will revisit that in the summer.
Well played, Desi. Too bad nobody else is listening… I really mean that, it’s a shame. Thanks for your blaze of reason amidst the futile hype.
“why is there so much bile and hatred in the Arsenalsphere? Where is the balance? Where is the perspective?”
Desi, even paranoids have enemies! And as a proud gooner for more than 60 years it’s still a privilege to be one of the disliked. Jealousy’s always been there with the lesser mortals, especially the spuds. They get more pleasure from our losing than they do from a spud win. That’s why they’re such miserable sods…not much pleasure in their lives.
and fully agree with you on the article we get a bit OTT when Arsenal lose also I believe if we had won a few after that the gooners in general would have dwelled a little less on that loss…
Im glad someone else’s realizes that arsenal get more stick then all the other clubs even when they lose or draw.I feel the bpl is out to rid Wenger of his job because he’s not British.
I think the criticism is deserved because we make the same mistakes in the end of the season for 3-4 years in a row now.We lose against Birmingham and then everything falls apart and you know the other things.
-I think if managed to keep Hleb,Flamini and Adebayor for a little more and of course if those 3 players did not have those bad personalities, we could have been successful.
-If Eduardo did not get the injury, he would still be a top goalscorer for us.We would not need Bendtner and Chamakh who are not up to the required level.
-Rosicky and Diaby would be still very good players without the serious injuries as well.
We could have been so much better.
If is a big word though.
A lot of ‘if’s.
Fact is Wenger had little choice with some of the decisions as it was best for the team.
What he could have done (in hindsight) was kept a couple of experience players a little longer and make the younger players truly fight for their spots.
I have always said that we should understand that football is a game where you will lose nomatter how good you are, you will come against the Boltons and even the Wolves who will do you no favour whether you are a manure or a gooner. The fact is we have a team which have lost the number of games the other club has won, and the finger always points to the best team. As for spuds fans, you will only rot in the bitter shadow of Arsenal. Its like Arsenal is the team to beat for every team. People criticises Wenger for his actions when he lose, can you compare him to red nose? Why is the dark angel of old trafford on the stands this days? Then why was the special joke on the stands against barca? They are there maybe because they are mmore passionate than Wenger.
There’s so much hatred and lot’s of shit are directed 2 us bcos we have won nothing for the past 6 yrs
I think we are easy targets because we have not lifted a trophy for so long. If you go so long without silverware you are easy to attack and get very little/no credit even when you do well.
Winning trophies gets you goodwill and respect. Annual implosions get you the opposite.
@Gunner Zim
We went through 1953-1970 winning nothing. Out of the league race by March, out of the cup by Feb. We were still disliked. And that’s just the way it should be! The fear that the Southern softies, moneybags Arsenal will win something “shortly” …even when shortly takes 17 years, really pisses people off.
I understand that there is an inherent bias against Arsenal. There is no doubt about that.
All I am saying is if people talk crap about you in football the fastest way to shut them up is by winning trophies. If Patrice Evra calls you weaklings who will never win anything, shove it down his throat by beating Manure and winning stuff.
The currency of football for big clubs is trophies.
Arsenal has conceded more penalties than any other team. and all happened when arsenal was close to overtaking Manu. 80% of them have been unfair or considered as errors but the media keeps saying that is normally and these things even out. This is not the case with manu who have been lucky than any team in the EPL. Refs not giving card and penalties against. This is not about mental strength if you play 200% and keep getting bashings.look at the last three games dubious penalties.
Arsenal – Bolton
Arsenal – Liverpool
But walcot van pee and fabregas have all been denied and we condemn eboue for less severe offense than Rio’s stamping of Sagna, Rooney elbow, Rafaels tackles, Fletcher’s shove on ref and insults, shoves against Wenger by Dalglish, Spur Assist manager. If Wenger can be carded for kicking water bottle water what do you expect
at least some one is talking sense
Arsenal fans r shit as they to get sucked in to believe media bolllock
Then u read post like this and feel a bit sheepish for not being behind the team
The fact is real madrid is full of experience on the pitch and on there bench but at least we can boast tht we r probaly the only team to beat barca at there own game and thts by playing football yet still we r full of youngstas with no experience
The way I see arsenal is like luke before he came a full jedi and whn arsenal reach tht level there will be a massacre and the best matches to watch will be ars vs barca
Desi,
I have talked about the throat grabbing and it should have been 3 Barcelona players send off for that when the score was 0-0. I have never felt more frustrated in my life as a football supporter. The turning point in our second leg in Barcelona was not the (ridiculous) second yellow card for RVP but the not punished throat grabbing by several Barcelona players. THAT was the moment of the match.
Since then I don’t even watch CL football anymore. I don’t care.
I think in the group stages you see some good refs. But once that is over it is clear to see that Uefa wants the big teams to reach the final. Barcelona, MU at least one of them has to make it.
After the group stages the Champions League becomes the Corruption League for me.
Good article Desi.
Yes Walter, I remember that pictorial. It was an excellent article. In hindsight, I should have linked to it in the post.
Arsenal has conceded more penalties than any other team. and all happened when arsenal was close to overtaking Manu. 80% of them have been unfair or considered as errors but the media keeps saying that is normally and these things even out. This is not the case with manu who have been lucky than any team in the EPL. Refs not giving card and penalties against. This is not about mental strength if you play 200% and keep getting bashings.look at the last three games dubious penalties.
Arsenal – Bolton
Arsenal – Liverpool
But walcot van pee and fabregas have all been denied and we condemn eboue for less severe offense than Rio’s stamping of Sagna, Rooney elbow, Rafaels tackles, Fletcher’s shove on ref and insults, shoves against Wenger by Dalglish, Spur Assist manager. If Wenger can be carded for kicking water bottle water what do you expect
Good article – Desi
Best writer so far
I don’t think it would be healthy for us to keep considering ourselves being hard done. Wenger certainly does not think so and is trying to stear us away from this sort of thinking.
There is of course truth to it, particularly with the Liverpool game. One has to wonder what Fergusson was doing in the posh seats.
Desi have you noticed that arsenal players are useless in the media but become good once they cross to other teams. Bentley, Larson, Muamba , Cole, Toure, Gallas and good players outside arsenal get destroyed by arsenal fans when the play in arsenal colors – Arshavin, Chamakh. Even el classico coach sees an unfit Adebayor good enough to play for Madrid. Even Eboue who was voted best right back in 2006 is considered useless and keep claiming Wenger should have kept Gilbert and the likes. Playing against media, 11 players, Match officials and FAs every week with most or ur money down to tax is not easy for any arsenal player
@Kofi
Arsene is fighting against Murdoch, the owner of psYCHE. Whose bias for devils is well recorded.
It can’t get more obvious than that.
Well put Desi… I totally understand your point and intention and I could say that I entirely agree with them…
I don’t think I qualify as a Super Hater, but I am a bit critical
Madrid won the Copa Del Rey over Barca for the first time in years though. If Arsenal beat ManU during that terrible 2 wk stretch and went on the win the FA Cup I bet a lot of people would be happy.
I don’t think you can compare the Madrid expectations though. There is NO WAY that they will be satisfied with just winning that when they got beaten by Barca for everything else. They’re stupid though
Madrid put in a pretty disappointing effort, even though we knew what Jose would do. All of the Barca dbags were faking injuries, holding their faces, and surrounding the ref demanding sending offs though……I think they do it more than anybody, just like ManU get the most lucky breaks from refs
I don’t think I ask for too much, it’s just the seemingly “common sense” things during the game and in the offices that drive me crazy
Absolutely. Barca weren’t exactly flying either until the card.
Overall it was tantamount to watching a new hybrid sport mixing diving with karate, acting (not even a sport) and some footy.
But I do think if Mourinho was aiming to contain Barca, then he was doing a decent job.
Real have closed the gap on Barca over the last couple of games (unless of course they are a man less)
Overall, I would say they had a slightly better handle on the Catalans than we did.
But it only takes one Messi (and some extra space) to do the necessary damage.
hey santori, du u know wat ur really talking about
if u say, they handled them more slightly than we
we managed to win at home, they managed to defend, very well, bt wat u defend at home.
Desi how true how true we also played Barca with their strongest team on the pitch ok we lost 4-3 over two legs Real Madrid have spent the most money at club level World wide over the last 2 years plus the have the so called Special One .Look we have a good team in Arsenal and a top World class manager in Arsene Wenger and he is an Arsenal man ,the team needs a fine tune with a couple of players I hope Arsene can get THE players he wants.On a side note ManU I think will attack Barca but on a physical side of the game its going to be interesting to see what the ref allows as fair play.
The Dark Lord may be a hypocrite, but he names 4 refs – yes NAMES them – and that takes courage. You call it a distraction. I call it a double edged sword. Is he wrong when he rattles off Barca’s advantages? I say no. Is he one-sided and a hypocrite? Yes. But even paranoids (and hypocrites) do have enemies. Have a look at his entire rant and there are kernels of truth sprinkled throughout, including mentions of where Arsenal has been stiffed by the UEFA/Referee cabal. NOT at all unlike the FA/Referee cabal. Now the CL has its dream match. I submit, while the sides are both very good, they are also VERY advantaged by bent refereeing. Have a read and analyze for yourselves. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/apr/28/jose-mourinho-real-madrid-barcelona?intcmp=239 And, while I respect you and Walter very much, Desi, I think the readers hear who say oh, Desi, your analysis is sooo brilliant, end of posting, that stuff is no substitute for analysis and frankly, I’d be shamefaced to post that kind of sycophantic stuff. Anyway, keep up the good work.
It’s very convenient isn’t it?
It’s not outside the realm of possibilities. We have to be realistic. This is football and there is a lot of money exchanging hands.
Jose has the testicles to do it because it could get him in very hot soup.
Well it takes courage but he should also remember Wolfgang Stark was the one who didn’t give Chelsea two penalties against Inter! Why did UEFA let Inter go past Barca with an off-side goal last season?
When Pepe was sent off, Di Maria should have slotted in at left midfield to maintain the 3-man midfield. Adebayor, Di Maria, Ronaldo and Lass Diarra were all terrible that day. Real Madrid should still have been able to shut up shop and come away with 0-0. Really disappointed by Madrid not exposing the weakness of Keita and Barca’s makeshift defence.
I thougt Di Maria was doing his job well and was a pest on the LW.
Diarra was also good in winnning the ball.
Real’s tactics were effective. When they lost Pepe, they lost their shape and more importantly the extra man to track messi. Somewhat reminescent of our experience I would think.
It’s not so easy to play against a team with…what..7?.. world cup winners.
Mourinho was a desperate measure for Real Madrid, it’s going to take an awful lot of work to undo the damage to the brand. Just ask Chelsea.
And then to undo the pyschological damage done to the players may take years. Just ask the Chelsea players, still pining for Mourinho.
As someone asked, if you play a results oriented game and then don’t get the results what are you left with?
Oh come on – Mourinho’s tactics weren’t “inept” – he set out with a specific game-plan; to stop Barcelona from scoring and he did it for almost 80 minutes until a) Marcelo slipped, b) Pepe was sent off and c) Messi scored a wonder-goal.
I’m about as positive as you can get as a Gooner but I’m not sure why this is being brought up again. I think most people agreed that neither of the red cards shown in Barca’s last two CL games were deserved but the same argument can be made about RvP as you’ve made against Pepe. If hears the whistle, he’s pretty stupid and Pepe is pretty stupid to go flying in but RvP didn’t and Pepe won the ball.
There actually has been a lot of criticism for Mourinho’s press conference. Papers all over the world have rightly slammed him for his mind-games and ridiculously OTT allegation of the referee.
There’s no where near as much media protection of José than of Pep and the Barca crowd. They’re diving antics and throat-grabbing against RM and Arsenal seem to have gone missing somewhat… While people like Sid Lowe have openly criticised Mourinho for a) his rant and b)ignoring the fact his inter side only beat Barca because of a wrongly given offside/handball goal.
Some perspective is needed in that Arsenal haven’t won a trophy in 6 years – we’re an easy target for anyone and everyone. It’s annoying but this blog post is almost as silly as Mourinho writing a list of things referees do wrong in games.
I don’t mean to be over-critical but it’s been a while since we were knocked out and there’s not a huge amount of point in crying over spilt milk (I did plenty of this immediately after, mind). Use a better example than Mourinho because while you do have a point, particularly for the negative Gooners out there, Mourinho gets just as much stick.
I tend to agree.
It’s easy to be dismissive of Mourinho but :
1) He did it the hard way with Porto.
2) He stepped into a luxury squad at Chelsea but bear in mind his predecessors did not get the results he did in the first season and subsequent one.
3)Just because the squad is expensively assembled does not mean it’s a cake walk. It comes with it’s own set of problems, ask City.
4) He delievered the CL trophy to Inter as promised.
I think he is somewhat justified in shooting his mouth.
He had a clear plan set up against Barca and let’s not forget he has closed the gap since the 5-0 drubbing with a win over them in the Copa Del Rey.
I won’t swap Wenger for him for a moment but I think you need to calm your rethoric down somewhat on Mourinho.
Afterall, if he is flexible enough to adopt some of our tactics and learn from our match against Barca, surely we should be humble enough to partake upon some of his better attributes to strengthen our own tactics.
Considering this was Real’s home game I don’t see how anyone can defend Mourinho’s tactics. If Wenger had done the same many would have accused him of lacking a plan B and of not having the courage or ambition to take Barca on.
As Pique said – If you play with fire, on the limit of violence, you get burned. That’s a simple way of explaining why Jose got it all wrong. One could say his roughhouse tactics in the Cup final took up all his luck.
This post is meant not as an attack on Mourinho or an opinion on the our Champions League run but as an attempt to show the negative fans there isn’t as big a gap between the top teams and Arsenal as they’ve started believing.
I think you’re trying to read too much into one post without noticing the context.
http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item615472/Wenger:-Cup-defeat-damaged-belief/
I think one of wenger’s promblem is playing by d rules.our players dont playact,they don’t try to fall in d penalty box,he doesn’t sign players in jan bcos he feels its not right,pursuing d health of d club rather dan personal glory of wining silverwares.
I disagree with Wenger, the Cup loss didn’t damage the belief of the players.
It was their response to the loss, and consequent fall-out, that damaged belief.
Surely, Arsenal should hedge their bets and not think that losing is the end of the world. Arsenal should raise their game this weekend until the end of the season.
Losing is not failure.
It was compouned by niggling set backs which preyed on the mind of the players.
They simply have to be more strong minded than this.
As a rule MOurinho sets his team up to play one down against 11 (fat lot of hope that does against the likes of Barca of course)
BUT maybe we can instill some belief in the lads by adopting this plus adding the caveat that we will always play coming back from at least one behind (Courtesy of the ref..2 if you’re ref is the Newcastle chap)
abit of an unfair comparison.
I don’t think you can say Arsenal are better but you can say that we were competitive at least for the first leg.
OTOH, we did not have a sending off at the Emirates which would have had a heavy impact.
PLUS I won’t for a moment if I were you believe that MOurinho has given up on the return leg. After all, they did defeat Barca for the Copa Del Rey and seem in recent games to have gotten a measure on this Barca team.
In fact, goals aside, this Real team looked more solid defensively than we did, probably because of the impact Pepe had being deployed to screen the defense.
They were also a little more comfortable on the ball then we were.
I think we run the risk of overestimating ourselves somewhat at this juncture.
Yes we should be rightly proud of our victory but there is also much to be gleaned from how Jose went about his business closing the gap with Barca.
The scoreline was decievingas shorn of Pepe, Messi had the space to run riot.Same thing happened to us.
What you could say is we’re competitive and not half as bad as what people make us out to be certainly. The talent is there with the squad but we need better tactics and coaching to bridge the extra gap.
leadership!!
Inter 0 goals scored at Nou Camp in two games last season. Real hammered 5 – 0 at the same venue. Mourinho knows he has no hope, which is a sorry reflection on his limitations. Unless Barca have a sudden and serious injury crisis Real have no chance.
Btw, I don’t think the article is saying Arsenal are better than Madrid. Just that they are not superior by miles as some fans are claiming.
thing is we are not behind barca by miles or any other team but that next step is taking eternity
[…] Interesting Contrasts Between Arsenal-Barca And Real-Barca This is supposed to be the worst Arsenal squad in recent memory (some say Wenger’s era, some say last 20 years, and […] […]
They dive and feign injury more than most, not just in overheated handbag-waving battles against their Madrid rivals either, but in any game where their rhythm is upset and their supremacy challenged.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1382037/Jose-Mourinho-point-Barcelona-DO-away-DES-KELLY.html#ixzz1KzOMqeBy
Barca’s onfield behaviour was atrocious, and there was a lot of diving and playacting. Not that i support Real or Mourinho on this (you got to be daft if you send in Adebayor against Barca in more than one match), but watching Barca’s ‘play’ for the first 60mins or so was absolutely shameful. It seems Arsenal are the only upright team left at the top.
Many people would hail Barca on this performance, some twisted minds would refer to Real’s ‘fighting spirit’ too. I’d rather not comment on Real, condemn Barca and hail only Messi. Would love to see some club put a ridiculous bid for Messi this summer and give Barca some heartburn.
Wenger has been accused of failing to stock his team
with sufficient experience or provide links to the
previous generation, in the way that Manchester
United, for example, have done with Ryan Giggs and
Paul Scholes. United visit the Emirates Stadium on
Sunday and Wenger was asked whether their
guiding lights gave them an edge. “Maybe, yes,” he
said. “But I don’t fault the attitude of my team. This
team, this season, could have won absolutely
everything. When things turned against us, we
became a bit nervous in the key moments of the
games.
“We try certainly to bring in some more experience.
One of the reasons I took Jens Lehmann back as well,
when we were close to the end was that, you
know … because he has done it.”
So why did we let go of our other leaders who have ‘done it’?
Arsenal beat barcelona. Barcelona beat real, hence arsenal> real madrid. Hmmm.
Arsenal beat barcelona, bolton beat arsenal.
So Bolton> Arsenal, Real madrid?.
I am not against optimism but this is stretching it a bit too far. I called for introspection in the curent squad in a fb forum and was kicked off. Because finding one’s fault is un-gooner-like. Explains a lot why we never improve on our defense and frailty while facing the worst.
You just need a reason to ridicule jose, admit it. And pepe didn’t even touch alves.So why no red card for the lot that warmed our players necks?
So many outrageously biased decisions going in favor of barca. Right from the game at stamford to bernebau
And extending the logic hercules too beat barca at camp nou. If there was a trade off between being consistent over the season though losing to big teams vs beating big teams and being errant in consistency. I will choose for the former.
I know many gooners who might opt for the latter.
Wenger should stay as long as his contract. Just take a look at the money he’s spent on Cesc, van Persie,Nasri,walcott,wilshere,song,vermaelan,chesney,sagna,clichy and others. I’ll ask those of you want Wenger out to just simply add the current market values of the players mentioned and open their mouths in awe. Probably around 200-250 million. I’ll say no manager in the world is capable of that.Sure he needs to tweak his squad this summer but that won’t mean that the youth policy has failed.In fact its worked well enough for Arsenal to succeed at the highest level. Maybe at the moment it’s a bit too much for the players to cross the winning line but we can all hope that next season will be the season that it happens cuz this year for me has been a major improvement disregarding what you say.
Here’s a new article for you to ponder about: