Match Day Thread Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid - Matchday Thread (Champions League - SF - 2nd leg)

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Go on my son. I refrained from posting on any forums because I noticed when I do it all goes Pete Tong.

I will give Arteta his props for navigating us through to the final, there were no gimmes and we had to fight for it, so he gets praise from me for that!
 
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The final will be a different kettle of fish. We saw when Athletico decided to attack properly we were struggling to contain them, against a free flowing PSG or Bayern it will be an entirely different level.

But if we come to play and are brave we can pose both teams big problems.
 
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What a result! Into the Champions League final!!! I was 10 years old the last time we were in the CL final and we've done it for the first time in 20 years - it's been far, far too long for a club of our stature.

Despite only winning 1-0, Atletico were pretty toothless and didn't offer much in the final third.

Some players I want to shoutout:

Ben White - fair play lad. I think it's time to move on in the Summer, but that was one hell of a performance at a critical moment, especially as we don't know when Timber is back. Top, top display.

Viktor Gyokeres - that miss had me gasping, but what a top CF display from him. Held the ball up well, ran the channels, won fouls and was a focal point up top. He didn't get a goal, but he covered every blade of grass and harried the Atletico defence the entire match.

Myles Lewis-Skelly - I hope that injury is nothing serious, but another top, top display from the kid. He's cool as a cucumber under pressure and doesn't let the occasion get to him.

Gabriel - absolute warrior. What a monstrous display.

Declan Rice - running out of superlatives to describe him recently. Another dominant, energetic display with huge interceptions and helping us launch attacks after dispossessing the opposing midfield.

This should give a huge jolt/boost heading into the West Ham game - fair play to the manager and the players, this is an unreal position to find ourselves in <applause>.
 
Do you mean the City game header? He didn't have a good game, it was just ok.
Get outta here.
Havertz hold up and link play was brilliant in that game - AND he scored.
He was widely credited as the reason we played much better than we had been leading into it.
You called him crap regardless - because he missed the chance!
 
What a result! Into the Champions League final!!! I was 10 years old the last time we were in the CL final and we've done it for the first time in 20 years - it's been far, far too long for a club of our stature.

Despite only winning 1-0, Atletico were pretty toothless and didn't offer much in the final third.

Some players I want to shoutout:

Ben White - fair play lad. I think it's time to move on in the Summer, but that was one hell of a performance at a critical moment, especially as we don't know when Timber is back. Top, top display.

Viktor Gyokeres - that miss had me gasping, but what a top CF display from him. Held the ball up well, ran the channels, won fouls and was a focal point up top. He didn't get a goal, but he covered every blade of grass and harried the Atletico defence the entire match.

Myles Lewis-Skelly - I hope that injury is nothing serious, but another top, top display from the kid. He's cool as a cucumber under pressure and doesn't let the occasion get to him.

Gabriel - absolute warrior. What a monstrous display.

Declan Rice - running out of superlatives to describe him recently. Another dominant, energetic display with huge interceptions and helping us launch attacks after dispossessing the opposing midfield.

This should give a huge jolt/boost heading into the West Ham game - fair play to the manager and the players, this is an unreal position to find ourselves in <applause>.

Athleti are a poor team.
Said it during the game - we would have been kicking ourselves if we didn't get through.

On to the final - that is going to be very difficult to win.
We'll need a fair bit of luck.
 
Arsenal have conceded just 6 goals in this tournament.

To put that into perspective:

PSG have conceded 21
Bayern have conceded 19
Athletico have conceded 28

More than 300% less than the other semi-finalists.

Like ive already said there's an anti-Arsenal bias running through the media concentrating on our flaws yet barely recognising the areas we are actually elite in.
 
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Arsenal have conceded just 6 goals in this tournament.

To put that into perspective:

PSG have conceded 21
Bayern have conceded 19
Athletico have conceded 28

More than 300% less than the other semi-finalists.

Like ive already said there's an anti-Arsenal bias running through the media concentrating on our flaws yet barely recognising the areas we are actually elite in.

Defensively we are elite and it is our one glimmer of hope for the final.
However, it's going to take a monumental effort to overcome Bayern or PSG in the final and keep them out.
It's a one off amendment of football, though. We've all seen big upsets before.
 
Defensively we are elite and it is our one glimmer of hope for the final.
However, it's going to take a monumental effort to overcome Bayern or PSG in the final and keep them out.
It's a one off amendment of football, though. We've all seen big upsets before.
They are both extremely good teams - I've always been big fan of Enrique the guy just knows how to get his forwards performing. (Messi scored 91 goals in a Season under him).

I think with PSG - we would need to outmuscle them - they are a not the biggest side and I think we could bully them in the boxes and in the air.

Bayern are bit more physical but I think they lack quality at the back. Tah isn't great, Upemecano is quality but almost too offensive - he makes quite a few errors. Their fullbacks leave them little open as well. Just need to keep it tight and hope to nick a goal against them IMO.
 
Athleti are a poor team.
Said it during the game - we would have been kicking ourselves if we didn't get through.

On to the final - that is going to be very difficult to win.
We'll need a fair bit of luck.
We did get fortunate with the side of the draw we were on, but you could argue that we earned the right to be there by finishing top of the group phase. Also, you still need to beat the teams in front of you, no game is a bye.

Regarding the final, I mean look, it's no secret that PSG and Bayern are both better teams than us and possess more firepower and flair than we do. We certainly won't be favourites to win against either of them. But in a final, anything can happen and we have the opportunity to win a trophy that's never been won in our entire history before. The one trophy that everyone uses as a stick to beat us with - let's be real, we're probably the biggest club to not have won a Champions League.

The team and manager have gotten us here, we need to have belief that they can find it with themselves to win it now.