Oh well. I was wondering how I could sum up the evening, and the overall tie over two legs in less than a paragraph. Here goes:
Unlike at Emirates, Messi showed up for the party last night. Unfortunately, quite a few of ours didn't - either through injuries or just not performing on the night. The rest of Barca, apart from Messi, were good. Not great. Just good. We just didn't take advantage of the opportunities we had, while they had Messi. We even took the lead. We scored three goals over the two games, which in itself just shows how the tie could have been had, but for some more astute defending. Yes, Bartha were the better team, a very good team, who deserved to get through. But on the night, I'd say we just didn't do well enough as well. We did well, in patches, and in closing them down - but on the ball, we were awful. The passing was atrocious, the finishing dismal. 6-3 on aggregate was probably fair reflection of just the Messi factor, but surely an Arsenal should also have done slightly better.
Where did we go wrong then?
First, Diaby and Denilson.
Second, Walcott.
Third, Silvestre.
Fourth, Wenger.
We cannot continue to bemoan injuries. Period. Injuries aren't some unpredictable, external, extraneous part of the game. They are part and parcel. They can, and should be factored in. How difficult can it be? Here's an equation:
In June/July - look forward to February/March/April - take out 20-30% of your squad to injuries. Include in that 20-30% some of your best performers. Add another 10% to those who might underperform or might be in over their heads. Do we still have a squad that is capable of challening for the Champions League and the league? If yes, and you believe it, then good. If not, then buy.
Hand to heart, as much as I love the Arsenal, there was no way in hell our line-up, with the likes of Silvestre, and Diaby, Walcott and Denilson on the night could be expected to get us through. Yes, if they had all put in individual performances way over their personal best, we could've had a chance. But you can't count on that. You need average, typical performances which can compete with the average, typical performances of the likes of Barcelona. And let's face it. Apart from Messi, the rest of Bartha was average, typical on the night. And our average, typical performance was expectedly way below that level.
There'll be all sorts of gushing, oohing and aahing about Messi in the press. Even from our players, our manager and our arsenal.com. But apart from that, can all our players say they put in their best? Yes, they lost to a better team, but did all they play as well as they should've? I'm afraid not. And THAT'S what the Arsenal should be thinking about right now, and not Messi and Barcelona.
As for the game itself, at least we had about 3 minutes to dream. But that said, at 1-1, 2-1 and even 3-1, I felt that we were still in it. In the second half, especially, as Barca sat back and put in an average-ish performance, we had a second goal in us. And a second goal would have changed things oh so acutely. But alas, we weren't let down by balls, but by a woefully mediocre performance up front.
So where do we go from here? Simple. White Hart Lane. Wenger knows it:
"The defeat is very difficult to handle because when you go out of the Champions League the next day you are in front of a very empty future. We have to deal with the disappointment and make sure that we are ready for the next game."
Is it an empty future? Perhaps. We clearly weren't good enough for the Champions League, and we clearly didn't have the luck of the draw to at least help us along to the semis or the final. So let's refocus. It will be tough. Really tough. But if we're going to fall short in the league as well, for god's sake, let it not be at White Hart Lane, and let's push on towards second spot.
1 comment:
I'm always eager to run down Mr Wenger. My dislike for him has slowly grown since the 2007/08 season.
But this time, I have to say that Arsenal played well. We tried our best. Sure we didn't have fantastic match-winning performances. But even at 4-1 down our guys kept on running. Kept their heads up and chased as best they could.
I think you're being too harsh on Denilson and Diaby. Heck, I don't like them. But Diaby in particular put in a very good effort. There was a period in the beginning of the 2nd half when I felt like smacking him 'coz he seemed to have lost interest. He picked up and he ran his socks off. It's not his fault that Yaya is slightly bigger and much more experienced.
As for Walcott I think he was anonymous. But that's because not even once did he get a sweet little ball he could run on to. He was closed out nicely and even when he had a little room the ball was played to his feet. Again every knows Walcott is ordinary when is not at full speed. So it's not his fault.
Bendtner is no Alan Smith. He can barely even hold up play. But again he tried, never gave up and he'll know he should have done better with a couple of those chances.
Things would have been different if we had Gallas, Song, Fabregas, Arshavin and RVP in the team. As much as I think Wenger is a fool for not buying some reinforcements, I think any team (even Chelsea) would be hard pressed to play Barca with 5 crucial first teamers out.
All in all, I went to bed happy that Arsenal were not dejected, and hopeful that they will learn from this.
Bring on Spurs, 'coz I think somebody's gonna get hurt real bad.
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