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It’s still painful to think about the Sunderland game at the moment, having created more than enough chances to win the game, without the intervention of the officials, or in some instances lack thereof. A quick scout around the web suggests that as usual, the doom-and-gloomers are out in force, bemoaning a lack of creativity, a lack of desire. And while it’s points dropped for sure, we should remember that we hit the bar, had a blatant penalty ignored, forced great saves from their keeper (Bendtner’s dipping volley springs to mind) and, oh wait, we actually put the ball in the net, only for some idiot in black to deny us. It’s pointless to sit around slating players who, in my opinion, played well enough to win the game, and were just unlucky. Even the Invincibles drew occasionally. Instead, it’s far more preferable to do as the players must, and start thinking about the game ahead, as, whisper it, we have all wanted to since a certain night a couple of weeks ago.
The media may want to call us Barcelona-lite, but what it boils down to is this: we only need to be half as good as Barca on Tuesday night. A bold statement, perhaps, but assuming they don’t score four or more goals (and they shouldn’t, without Silvestre to provide gift-wrapping service), any goal we score requires them to score two of their own to progress. A draw is sufficient, yet the truth of the matter is that with a little application, we can beat anybody.
Of course we want to go out there and win, and win handsomely too, and because we are the Arsenal, that’s what we will doubtless try to do. Yet it won’t hurt us to take the same pragmatic and patient approach that served us so well at the Emirates. Of particular concern are the fitness doubts over our midfield trio of Fabregas, Wilshere and Song, especially given that Wilshere in particular was in a class of his own in the first leg, and we are already without Walcott and van Persie. But while it is natural to be nervous, there is also plenty of reason for cautious optimism.
Goalkeeper is one position where, I believe, we can confidently say we are not only half as good as Barcelona, but in fact twice as good. Before the first leg, I called Valdes as the weak link in the Barcelona team, and lo and behold, he was beaten by a near post fizzer from the flying Dutchman. Let’s face it, if that were Almunia or Fabianski, we would have been screaming. Our ‘keeper on the other hand made a string of good saves, including a point blank reaction save from Pedro, and looked thoroughly assured throughout.
Szczesny has copped a lot of stick for his part in last Sunday’s nightmare, a lot of it undeserved. Yes, he should have called louder, and yes, he should have wiped out Koscielny along with the ball in the interests of safety first. However, if we have to reluctantly apportion blame, more should lie with the defender in this instance, and the rest can be put down to experience. One mistake in 17 appearances is still markedly better than most top flight ‘keepers, and you can bet that a young man as confident and clearly intelligent as Szczezza won’t let that happen again.
Another big positive is that we have Mr. Consistent, Bacary Sagna, returning to the right-back slot. Emmanuel Eboue polarises opinion – he has many positive qualities, such as his marauding attacking runs and his cheerful persona, but for me he is no longer a defensive player, and any game where he sits in the back-four is an uncomfortable 90 minutes. Sagna, on the other hand, is as solid a defensive performer we have had for a long time, and brings calmness to ease the worries of the most neurotic Arsenal fan, which is likely to be all of us, come 7:45pm on Tuesday.
It is fair to say that almost all of their chances last time out came from eye-of-the-needle passes through the centre of our defence, and one of the things we did consistently was to allow Barcelona the freedom of the wings at the Emirates. Although this ceded possession for large periods of time, it was largely effective, and if we can reduce those gaps just ever so slightly, there’s no reason to think we cannot keep the Catalans out. The media love to trot out their statistics about 34:66% possession (Incidentally, the BBC’s dubious stats suggest it was 47:53%!) but it doesn’t fit their arguments so well to point out that in terms of territorial advantage, it was a mere 48:52%, indicating that we were far more direct and progressive with the ball when we had it. But with a goal deficit, they will have to come at us more, and leave those gaps in behind.
It’s difficult to talk about our attacking play, with so much speculation about who will and will not be available on our side, but suffice to say that Barcelona will be without Pique and possibly Puyol, and this Arsenal side can put goals past anyone, especially when playing on the counter attack. One of the themes from the first leg was collective defending and pressing, and you have to think this will be key. They have again rested players this weekend, much as they did before the first leg, but if we can stay solid for a decent length of time, we saw in the first leg and the games last year how we are able to maintain a high tempo for longer than them, and with a lead to defend, we should be able to take advantage of them having to come at us.
Yes, it’s going to be tough, and yes, it’s going to be nerve-wracking. But for those of us who claim the home of football as our second home, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We can do it, and we will do it, but we will, no doubt, do it the Arsenal way. For those fans lucky enough to be travelling as part of the world’s best away support (speaking from experience!), make the players proud of you, and with a bit of luck, they will return the favour.
Keep the faith.
