Football (Soccer)

Originally posted by Deano
arsenal wil be more of a match to barcelona. im sure it will will be a very open game. henry will cause more problems for the barca defence then any one else they have faced, thats for sure

yes, but Henry is the only person/position on the pitch except Lehmann/goalkeeper that Arsenal are more than a match for Barcelona, Barcelona outclass them everywhere else, they outclass every other team in the world in most areas.

Henry will cause Barcelona problems, but Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Giuly and Deco will ALL cause Arsenal problems lol... and since Barcelona sured up their defence from last season Arsenal will struggle to break them down imo, may see Edmilson following Henry around aswell if he starts to show up their back line.

all in all i think Barcelona will take it, not because im a spurs fan but because i think theyre the better team.

I dunno. Barca's 3 man midfield will be overrun by Arsenal's 5 man.

Originally posted by Victor Von Doom
I dunno. Barca's 3 man midfield will be overrun by Arsenal's 5 man.

maybe, but the quality of their midfield belies it's quantity.
that issue may come down to who gets the front foot, if beletti and van bronkhorst manage to push hleb and reyes down the pitch towards guily and ronaldinho Arsenal will struggle, if you stretch the gap between their fullbacks and their wide forwards Deco and Iniesta will struggle in the centre (i beleive Edmilson will be concerned primarily with Henry, even if he isnt especially man-marking him). If Barcelona keep Arsenal pushed back Arsenal will struggle alot, but then again this will be good for Henry, ball over the top to run on to.

it could be a high scoring game (or it could be low scoring but should be highscoring a la the Milan Barca game haha) but i beleive Barca are the better team, by a good margin.

Who cares about the details; Barcelona will fork Arsenal in their tiny, little asses.

Go Barca!

Go Spurs!

I can actually sense the fear.

-AC

Moo.

So, it looks like England will appoint Scolari. He's certainly of a higher pedigree than McClaren, Allardyce and Curbishley.

Obviously, Martin Jol is the best manager around, but he's got his sights set on next season's Premiership and Champions League titles.

Go Spurs!

Originally posted by Victor Von Doom
I dunno. Barca's 3 man midfield will be overrun by Arsenal's 5 man.

I dont think Barca will play a 3 man mid, Im sure they can tell Arsenal are going with 5 man mid.

Should be an Interesting match.

On a side note there are going to be like 10 National teams playing on May 27, same day as CL final, weird.

The Champions League final is on the 17th of May.

Originally posted by Df02
yes, but Henry is the only person/position on the pitch except Lehmann/goalkeeper that Arsenal are more than a match for Barcelona, Barcelona outclass them everywhere else, they outclass every other team in the world in most areas.

Henry will cause Barcelona problems, but Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Giuly and Deco will ALL cause Arsenal problems lol... and since Barcelona sured up their defence from last season Arsenal will struggle to break them down imo, may see Edmilson following Henry around aswell if he starts to show up their back line.

all in all i think Barcelona will take it, not because im a spurs fan but because i think theyre the better team.

and hleb, reyes, fabregas and llungberg will cause the problems for barcalona. barcelonas defence is good but arsneal havent let a goal in the champions league for 10 games. eboue and cole should play also,and they are better full backs, defensivly and attackingly also better than the two barca fullbacks. it will be very close but i think the match will be decided by these 4 players. fabregas, henry for arsenal , ronaldinho and etoo for barcelona. it will be close for sure

I hope they regal us with a footballing spectacle. It would surely be a dull match if they both play too defensively. Ideally they would have to let go of their inhibitions.

Originally posted by Deano
and hleb, reyes, fabregas and llungberg will cause the problems for barcalona. barcelonas defence is good but arsneal havent let a goal in the champions league for 10 games. eboue and cole should play also,and they are better full backs, defensivly and attackingly also better than the two barca fullbacks. it will be very close but i think the match will be decided by these 4 players. fabregas, henry for arsenal , ronaldinho and etoo for barcelona. it will be close for sure

Eboue and Cole are good but Eboue isnt as good as Belletti and Cole hasnt played for ages, so he wont be as good as Van Bronkhorst.

none of Arsenals midfielders match Barca's either, the only midfielder in Barca's setup that isnt as good/better than Arsenals best is Edmilson... i dont rate him much. Deco, Xavi, Van Bommel and Iniesta are all better imo.

Fabregas is blown up out of all proportion, yes hes a talented prospect, but he's not the superhero everyone is playing him up to be, he isnt as good as Deco or Xavi or Van Bommel, whichever of those Barca decide to play.

like i said, Henry is better than Eto'o upfront, but thats the only place Arsenal beat Barca, except Lehmann being a better keeper than Valdes.
Arsenal play through the middle most of the time anyway, which will play right into Barca's hands... Deco Xavi and Edmilson with Puyol and Marquez behind them will be too much to break through imo... unless Wenger sticks Adebayor(donkey) on and plays down the wings looking for a cross to the lanky striker.

Fabregas is getting that Trivium (Df02 will know what I mean) thing happening though (although Fabregas is better in his field comparitively haha). He's really good, but people will always go over the top and the common response is to counter the overrating with criminal UNDERrating. He's become the player to name-drop.

Like Rooney before him, he's a very good player but people go mad and then it leads to people saying "Nah he's shit."

Fabregas is more than capable of getting a job done against Barca with the talent he DOES have. I think Van Bommel is too unreliable. He never impresses me really. Obviously a good player, but I don't think he's got that much. Iniesta is better but he's a bit too inconsistent.

I think the main flaw in Henry is that as excellent as he is, he seems to forget sometimes that there is 90 minutes, not a day, to semi-agree with what PR said before. He can score the most amazing of goals and make them himself with very little effort, but I think sometimes he's just so effortless that it actually has no effect. That only usually happens in drawn out games though. I think faster pace suits Henry and that'll definitely happen with Barca.

To be honest I think Barca will be easier to play against than Villareal. The pace will be more to our liking and more fluid. I think Villareal just shut us down and made it extremely difficult for us to play.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Fabregas is getting that Trivium (Df02 will know what I mean) thing happening though (although Fabregas is better in his field comparitively haha). He's really good, but people will always go over the top and the common response is to counter the overrating with criminal UNDERrating. He's become the player to name-drop.

-AC

hes without a doubt a great player but has been put higher than his season deserves, the beginning of the season he wasnt really anything special and it's only towards the end he's shown his capability.

atm though he isnt on par with the midfield quality Barca can bring to the table, imo.

Van Bommel is a bit unreliable at times but he is still a brilliant player (Spurs offered for him but then Barca offered, and well... who'd choose spurs before barca?)... Xavi and Deco on the other hand are fantastic, Iniesta is another good young talent, Edmilson i dont rate at all however.

I rate players according to how they perform, not performED at some point. Which is why I don't rate many players as high for reputation

Henry still performs excellently enough to earn his rating. Deco has proven to be an excellent player, but when was the last time he had a game that you thought "This dude is excellent"? Last Euro cup probably.

I'll happily acknowledge players who were once great for being great...once. I don't hold them to high regard if they're not worth that now. Like Viera (to a lesser degree than the following), Raul, Del Piero, Fowler etc.

-AC

bommel aint had a great game in ages. id prefer gilberto. deco hasnt been great either this season.. iniesta is playing better but id still rate fabregas a better player. xavi is quality but i doubt he will refind his form, he has been injured for a while

jason koumas

*achem*

award after awards at fans award night

Originally posted by El_NINO
I dont think Barca will play a 3 man mid, Im sure they can tell Arsenal are going with 5 man mid.

Barca won't adapt their system according to Arsenal's.

I would highly doubt it in any case.

well done Borough

unbelievable boro. lol cant believe it

Originally posted by Deano
unbelievable boro. lol cant believe it

That was amazing from Boro.. I wonder what the odds of them winning the final 4-3 are 😛