FCB - Gunners: Match of the year

http://www.goal.com/en/match/54836/barcelona-vs-arsenal/preview

Give your predictions!

Tbh this should've been the CL final already.
Comments
77
no rvp no win :(
Imo 3-1 or 3-2... Without puyol & piqué it'll be pretty damn hard for the barca defence :|
Shouldn't be a problem since Abidal & Busquets will play there, alves right, maxwell left, without Van Persie & Walcott they lack speed and Bendtner shouldn't be a big problem.
Parent
Milito & Maxwell aren't bad, but they can slip up (especially milito)...

If you saw the match against Bilbao (and Gijon to a lesser extent) it's pretty clear they are vulnerable on the counter. I do hope Arsenal lacks speed now, although the racemachine called Walcott was pretty useless as nobody from Arsenal could follow either ^^
Parent
I never spoke of Milito and I'm 100% sure he won't play

Valdes

Alves - Busquets - Abidal - Maxwell

Xavi - Mascherano - Iniesta

Pedro - Messi - Villa
Parent
If you're going to pick Mascherano, then better go for Adriano tbh. He performed well against Valencia.
Parent
Busquets played CB against Valencia & Zaragoza :)

Correction, not zaragoza, he got rest, it was a week before
Parent
Adriano is a LB / RB ....
Parent
And so is Alves :P
Yet just like Alves you see him giving lots of assists from the sides (Alves right, Adriano left). Especially in Valencia he was very attack-minded, resulting in giving the assist for the only goal.
Of course he needed quite a few attempts before he got it right, but if you ask me he's got the right mindset for such a position in the Barca game, and Valencia was a nice warmup for the big game of tomorrow.
Mascherano on the other hand played well against Zaragosa, but wasn't defining at any point. A bit like Maxwell, he does his thing but never excels in anything. And he's also a danger because the opponent often pressures those guys because they know they can get the ball opposed to futile attempts with Xavi & Iniesta ^^

So in short I'd go for Adriano, although imo Milito is the most likely.
Parent
Seriously, I don't get your point...

You keep talking about Adriano & Milito ...

Milito will never be in the starting line up & Adriano might for Maxwell but I doubt it..

He played decent against Valencia but every other game he lacks skill and that's very obvious to notice..

Also I don't get your mark ' So is Alves '

You wanted to replace Mascherano with Adriano according to your previous statement which is the same like replacing Ashley Cole for Essien
Parent
Oh ye I was confused.

On second thought your lineup seems pretty logical.
I just don't think Mascherano is gonna be starting. With the adriano for mascherano argument I meant it in the way that Busquets would move up to midfield where he normally plays.

But on Milito's case I agree, goal.com put that idea in my head :P
Parent
More logical indeed but I'm very sure Busquets will play in the back , Adriano - Maxwell is the same story , Mascherano is going to start as well. My lineup will be the one except for Maxwell / Adriano i'm very confident these are the starting 11
Parent
Do you think putting Sergio as CB lowers the attacking efficiency of Barca? The last couple games he's been in the CB position scores have been low every time. They don't seem to have that little extra required to really rack up the goals like during the end of 2010.
Parent
Hmm , Busquets certainly offers more possibilities, it's a better link between def & mid then Mascherano is.

But I think the lower scores are the cause of
1. Messi not sharp enough in front of goal latest weeks
2. Ultra-defending teams
3. Rotating in positions (Bojan, Keita, Xavi , Iniesta, Afellay, Pedro)
4. Injured (Valdes, Xavi , Alves, Puyol)

Season is still long though, hope they pick it up again
Parent
Heb jij misschien een link of zo waarop je ze altijd via stream kan bekijken ? Of heb je een abonnement voor je televisie of iets ?
Parent
you do realize mascherano is a mc/dmc ?
Parent
Ye but I meant that Busquets would move to midfield in that case.
Parent
"Alves - Busquets - Abidal - Maxwell"

That is a horrible back line! You're lucky Van Persie & Walcott aren't playing
Parent
ROFL

says how much u ve seen these 4 playing together :D
Parent
You have to remember that anyone who is not a Barca fan thinks Sergio Busquets is average at best.
Parent
You have to remember that you can't really consider Busquets as a typical DMC.
Parent
Busquets it's a magnific mix of an agressive defensive midfielder and a talented & tactical midfielder. He's unique, and extremely different to any other midfielder in any other country(maybe his old teammate yaya Toure was kind of similar) so i guess thats why so many ppl here keep saying he's "average" lmao.
Parent
There's a reason Barça have never lost with Busquets for the past year :) , Puyol is injured & Pique is suspended..

Busquets lead Spain to glory , in the beginning I disliked him a lot as well , was too slow, too predictable, but just as Pedro he has grown incredibly and I consider him on of the best footballing DMC's in the world
Parent
Add too much of a crybaby to that list ^^
Parent
I appreciate that but for the same way I look at the positives of Jon Obi Mikel the rest of the world remembers the negatives :P Mascherano > Busquets at DMC any day. At DC with the injuries I understand why hes playing.

(And Busquets did not lead spain to glory, that was the other Barca players :P)
Parent
Ha ! In England Mascherano may be better sir but in Spain most certainly not ! Sergio B comprehends the barça style much better and that's why Busquets plays and Mascherano is benched in most matches! Mr. Obi Mikel is another story :D

We're not all playing Copenhagen !
Parent
Copenhagen are the greatest team in a huge nation, our victory over them was a true testament to...blah blah ok we got an easy tie :P
Parent
:D , I'm hoping on Donetsk now :D
Parent
Actually I wouldn't want donetsk, they're organised and playing well. I think there must be easier teams in left in.
Parent
Don't think so , you got Barça now, and then lower ranked (imo) , Tottenham, Donetsk, Schalke


Next week you get Man u , Chelsea, Real , Bayern so.. They're all harder
Parent
QuoteMatch of the year



???
2-0/3-1 for barca
It's not match of the year and it shouldn't be the final because its one of the greatest lineups and teams in history vs Arsenal.

Until Arsenal win the league or win the Champions League they are just Arsenal, nothing to fear.
Bitter much?
Parent
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be bitter about?
Parent
Hope it's against Real Madrid tbh , Chelsea doesn't seem up for it & Man utd same story... can't think of another team performing great ...
Parent
You're just mad cuz it ain't Chelsea beating Barca at home!
Parent
BARCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
match of the year already was...

HSV vs Brähmen 4:0
nürnberg vs st. pauli 5:0
result?
nürnberg > hsv
:PPPPPPPPPPP
Parent
Hopefully Arsenal will win or i will lose my money. :(
no idea but barca will win the overall duell
Barca for ever,easy win.
Inter will beat Bayern
Weird, if you also read the Injury News:

"Robin van Persie (Knee)

Last Updated: 07 March

Arsène Wenger hopes Robin will be fit to face Blackburn when the international break ends in four weeks' time."
Parent
low vs low
Van Persie named in the squad.
AHAHHA
QuoteTbh this should've been the CL final already.


no.
3-1 barca


pinto
alves abidal milito maxwell



iniesta busquets adriano


pedro villa messi

!!
Not really!
Parent
Exactly, but without Messi.
Parent
imo real - barca and barca - real are the matches of the year
the only thing u know much about is the internet sir.
Parent
True, but we'll get 5 of those this year. Arsenal is nicer to watch though.
Parent
yep its a nice match let that be clear:P but arsenal plays very (wisselvallig) so we will see if its gonna be nice match :) or a tik takkie game where barca dominates the game
Parent
Van Persie is fit, fuck :<
hy faalt eigelijk best hard laatste tijd:P en ik denk dat barca niet voor hem moet vrezen speelt nasri?
Parent
Wel hij heeft er 13 gemaakt sinds januari dus :< , jep nasri op rechts
Parent
hahaha oke gl tonight ik ben voor aarskenaal:$
Parent
Doubt he'll be 100% fit to make it to the starting lineup but I might be wrong, just reading the gossip about he's return :). Fabregas was supposed to be out as well but apparently he'll be there tomorrow as well, so will Wilshere.. Barça seems to be less lucky :((
Parent
They're playing Arsenal in a cup competition that's quite lucky!
Parent
I think it's a mindfuck-trick from Wegner to fuck up the Barca defence preperations. First he's still out for 3 weeks and now he's fit just because he trained with the normal squad? Sounds too fishy to be true tbh. Like m4xi said he might be a late substitue but I highly doubt that he's gonna be in the starting lineup.
Parent
I wouldn't be surprised if he starts , i'm scared :D
Parent
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