Archive for February 16th, 2011

Note to Xavi: This is what Arsenal DNA looks like…

306 comments February 16th, 2011

How To Beat Barcelona

1,017 comments February 16th, 2011

Congratulations to Spurs on their outstanding result last night.  Granted, it’s not as good as our 2-0 victory against a stronger Milan side a few years ago, but it certainly raises the stakes a little ahead of tonight.

As if it were needed.  This evening was already set to be an incredible occasion.

Arsenal and Barcelona are two clubs whose recently history is helplessly intertwined.  Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Gio van Bronkhurt and, of course, Cesc Fabregas only tell half the story.

This team share more than a handful of players.  They share a set of footballing principles: a desire to play the game right way.  And they’re both, I’d venture, rather good at it.

In their current incarnation, Barcelona are the best.  In the world.  Possibly, and I don’t say this lightly, ever.  They are an extraordinary team, with some remarkable players.  The heartbeat of the side, Xavi, described their style thus:

“It’s attacking football, it’s not speculative, we don’t wait. You pressure, you want possession, you want to attack. Some teams can’t or don’t pass the ball. What are you playing for? What’s the point? That’s not football. Combine, pass, play. That’s football – for me, at least.”

Arsene Wenger would agree.  Last year in this tie, his team were outclassed for long periods.  It would be easy to approach tonight with trepidation.  But Arsene feels that this time, things will be different:

“The only thing I can say is we are in an ideal condition to face them.  We cannot complain. We have the belief, the confidence and the players available. We are 90 per cent in February and that was not the case last year. I feel we are in an ideal position to face them.”

As usual, he’s talked up the ability of his players. Now they have to prove him right.  They did it against Chelsea in December, and the return to fitness of Samir Nasri means that 9 of that XI will play – Emmanuel Eboue will replace the suspended Bacary Sagna at right-back, whilst Wojciech Szczesny is arguably an upgrade on Lukasz Fabianski.

The task remains an enormous one.  And that’s where we get to the real subject of today’s blog: How To Beat Barcelona.

I don’t claim to be any great tactical authority.  I’m not Zonal Marking, Jose Mourinho, or Andy Townsend.  I do not own a tactics truck, or even an ipad.  But a bit of research and a bit of common sense tells us just where we’ll need to get it right if we’re to come out of tonight ahead in the tie.  Here we go…

Never give Busquets or Pique time…

“The key idea we had was to pile the pressure on their defenders and not allow them to bring the ball out of the back.”
Manolo Jiménez; Beat Barcelona 2-1 on 5 January 2010 with Sevilla

Pressing high up the pitch was key in the victory over Chelsea, and will be so tonight. We can’t afford to sit back and let Barcelona have the ball – once they get it in to the likes of Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and Villa, serious damage can be done.There will be a huge onus on Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas to get in and around Pique and Busquets to stop the flow of Barca’s game at source.

Shoot from long range….

“Xavi and Andrés Iniesta – key players in the team – almost never drop back to their own penalty box. This style of play in the midfield creates free space for shots from the middle range.”
Kurban Berdyev; Beat Beat Barcelona 2-1 on 20 October 2009 with Rubin Kazan

We’re not a team who look to do this often, but with Barcelona open to leaving gaps around thirty yards out, it will be more necessary than ever to heed the crowd’s cries of “shoooooot”. If Nasri is fit to start then he, Cesc and Robin all have the potential to test Victor Valdes from range.

Run the channels…

“Their full-backs, Dani Alves and Eric Abidal, tend to play wide and leave some space in the centre.”
Kurban Berdyev; Beat Beat Barcelona 2-1 on 20 October 2009 with Rubin Kazan

Aaron Lennon’s success in roaring past AC Milan last night is a timely reminded of how effective sheer pace can be on the European stage. A friend close to the squad told me last night that the players are in no doubt about who is best placed to get at Barcelona: Theo Walcott.

Last year, Theo didn’t start the first game. When he came on, he turned the match on its head and terrified Maxwell. An injury to Carlos Puyol means the Brazilian will be starting again, with Eric Abidal switched in to the centre. Whilst Abidal has had a good season, the gap between he and Maxwell is arguably the most obvious weak-point in the side. Walcott’s movement could be crucial.

Be compact…

“We had to try to keep our shape short and narrow to make it hard for Barcelona to find players between the lines.”
Quique Sánchez Flores; Beat Barcelona 2-1 on 14 February 2010 with Atlético Madrid

Alex Song and Jack Wilshere will have to curb their attacking instincts to keep track on Barcelona’s floating wide men, Pedro and Messi. Both players enjoy going forward, but tonight more than ever they’ll have to make sure they don’t leave the back four, featuring the reliably unreliable Eboue, too exposed.

Give everything…

“We were very compact and we fight for every metre and give everything. That is what we said to each other before the game.”
Wesley Sneijder; Beat Barcelona over two legs with Inter Milan in April 2010

It’s not a very academic point, is it? You can’t illustrate it with a Guardian chalkboard. And yet we all know it to be true. Arsenal will get nothing out of tonight without leaving everything on the pitch.

Don’t be scared. Not even of Messi. We can’t afford to be intimidated. This is just another game in what has, thus far, been a rather good season. Barcelona might be the world’s best, but we are a proud club. We Are The Arsenal. Let’s show them what that means.

I don’t think it’ll be easy, but I think we can win tonight. Why not?  Whether we can win over two legs is another question, and one we won’t be able to answer for a couple of weeks yet. Whatever happens this evening, it’s only half-time.

Just enjoy the occasion. This is what being a football fan is all about.


Search Gunnerblog

Get your Gunnerblog t-shirts now!

get regular updates from GS with twitter

Top Gunn

Cesc Fabregas
The man in form.

    Retro Arsenal T-Shirts from
RetroFootballTShirts.co.uk - Bringing Back The Good Old Days!:
www.retrofootballtshirts.co.uk: Click Here!

Latest Posts

Sponsored Links

Calendar

February 2011
M T W T F S S
« Jan   Mar »
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28  

Posts by Month


Most Recent Posts

Posts by Category

Syndication

Powered By

eXTReMe Tracker