Daylight robbery, that's what I made of Barca's loss, rather than Arsenal's victory, in the first leg. Yes, it was quite evenly poised, but that was at the Emirates and I shudder to think the state of Arsenal's play in another country against the damn best team in the world. That was, to say, with Van Persie and Walcott in the starting lineup.
I expect Arsenal to play more through the centre as Barca is without Pique(suspension) and the spaghetti haired Puyol. Arshavin and Nasri should take up the flanks with Fabregas(doubt), Wilshere and Rosicky down the centre. Clichy will be up against the Einstein of football. I expect Arsenal to play long ball as Chamakh or Bendtner are quite good in the air and would shake up the would-be defence of the Catalans. Barca need to watch out for those slick through balls and defend on the counter.
Much will depend on the midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Mascherano(Busquets is expected to play CB). It would be intriguing to see Nasri match his wits against Xavi, both of them being completely different type of players though. Javier Mascherano will have to prove his liveliness to the skeptics and if he can contain Fabregas and Wilshere, it should be a walk in the park for Barca. With Messi, Villa and Pedro constituting the Catalan attack, they sure will be a handful for any Arsenal defence, injured or not!
The Camp Nou has got more width and Arsenal should be making the most of this with Sagna and Clichy whipping up the ball into the box at will. Arsenal have always been weak in some department or the other, now with Van Persie a virtual non-starter it will be upto Chamakh to get back into form of his life to guide the Gunners to the next round. It will be more of a chess game rather than football, one wrong move from you and the other team makes you pay.
So, it remains to be seen if Barca can holdup the Arsenal attack without their first-choice defensive pairing or if Arsenal will take the game to their opponents and beat them at their own game.
P.S: If there was ever a match on which I wouldn't bet, this would be it.
Ciao,
I expect Arsenal to play more through the centre as Barca is without Pique(suspension) and the spaghetti haired Puyol. Arshavin and Nasri should take up the flanks with Fabregas(doubt), Wilshere and Rosicky down the centre. Clichy will be up against the Einstein of football. I expect Arsenal to play long ball as Chamakh or Bendtner are quite good in the air and would shake up the would-be defence of the Catalans. Barca need to watch out for those slick through balls and defend on the counter.
Much will depend on the midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Mascherano(Busquets is expected to play CB). It would be intriguing to see Nasri match his wits against Xavi, both of them being completely different type of players though. Javier Mascherano will have to prove his liveliness to the skeptics and if he can contain Fabregas and Wilshere, it should be a walk in the park for Barca. With Messi, Villa and Pedro constituting the Catalan attack, they sure will be a handful for any Arsenal defence, injured or not!
The Camp Nou has got more width and Arsenal should be making the most of this with Sagna and Clichy whipping up the ball into the box at will. Arsenal have always been weak in some department or the other, now with Van Persie a virtual non-starter it will be upto Chamakh to get back into form of his life to guide the Gunners to the next round. It will be more of a chess game rather than football, one wrong move from you and the other team makes you pay.
So, it remains to be seen if Barca can holdup the Arsenal attack without their first-choice defensive pairing or if Arsenal will take the game to their opponents and beat them at their own game.
P.S: If there was ever a match on which I wouldn't bet, this would be it.
Ciao,
