Arse v Barca

[Jason Roth]

Originally Posted by Eikman

are they? before the arsenal match, they conceded only 4 goals in this entire CL round and only 18 (in 29 games, that's eight less than Real Madrid!) in the spanish league. no other european top team has conceded less goals in their respective home league (i.e. not in england, germany, netherlands, france and italy)

that's not what i would call "weak in the back", but rather one of the best defensive lines there is.

nevertheless, puyol and pique will be missed for sure, but i think with marquez they have another excellent defender along their lines. and if messi shows a better effort and iniesta returns to the squad, the offense should put it straight

Not giving up goals ≠ being strong in the back. La Liga is kinda soft outside of the top 3 or 4. Also Barca usually dominate possession, giving opposing offenses fewer opportunities to score.

Marquez has been in poor form all year, Abidal is coming off injury, Alves likes to play forward and Chygrynski is ineligible. Barca needs to score early next week AND control the midfield. With no Fabregas for Arsenal AND if Iniesta plays, this shouldn't be that tough a task.

[Eikman]

Originally Posted by Jason Roth

La Liga is kinda soft outside of the top 3 or 4. .

which league isn't?

[Jason Roth]

Originally Posted by Eikman

which league isn't?

EPL has a distinct top 3, but the next 5-6 teams down the table can all play.

[Eikman]

and yet surprisingly, none of those teams seem to be able to compete in Europe. who was the last English UEFA cup winner besides Liverpool in 2001? oh right, the Spurs in 1984

admit it, aston villa, man city or tottenham are hardly any better than Sevilla, Valencia, Juventus or even Werder Bremen or Hamburg.

anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic...

[Jason Roth]

Originally Posted by Eikman

anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic...

Ya think?

Btw, I just watched the replay of the Puyol red card. It's an awful call. Fabregas never gets close to the ball. He swings his leg out at nothing, waits for the contact, and then crumples to the ground. Even the English announcers admitted, "Fabregas made the most out of that one."

[Eikman]

and he broke his leg: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...al/8598122.stm

i'm surprised that he managed to take the penalty at all. adrenalin truly is amazing.

[potatobroth]

Perhaps Fulham can be teh next Europa champ!

Arsenal were handled all game until their burst of confidence towards the end. They are an exceptionally young team and you can bet they'll be better in a few years time, sans any more broken legs.

[Rog]

Originally Posted by Eikman

and yet surprisingly, none of those teams seem to be able to compete in Europe. who was the last English UEFA cup winner besides Liverpool in 2001? oh right, the Spurs in 1984

admit it, aston villa, man city or tottenham are hardly any better than Sevilla, Valencia, Juventus or even Werder Bremen or Hamburg.

anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic...

i would say that's about right (i mean the first part not the off topic thing)

[stimpee]

Originally Posted by Eikman

i'm surprised that he managed to take the penalty at all. adrenalin truly is amazing.

so Puyol broke Fabregas' leg?

[Eikman]

well, Abidal had quite a solid comeback against Bilbao tonight (even set up two of the four goals), so i think they'll do fine on tuesday. but apparently Ibrahimovic got injured while warming up, so one will have to see whether he's going to play...

also, a fun fact: Abidal is 30 years old and apparently never scored a goal in his professional career. not a single one. poor guy. maybe they should just let him take a penalty or so