A lot can happen between now and February: injuries, new additions etc. Not all hope is gone. Let's just hope we have a fully fit squad by that time. As I said, Barca already have a suspect defence. We may need to borrow Chelsea's bus if we want to progress.
I would have been more confident of our regular two of Coqs and Caz playing, but Flamini and Ramsey have a lot to prove and if they click, then we have a decent chance, but that depends on if Flamini's legs will last.
If we can keep it tight at home, even a 0-0 would be good. We can then go there and try and nick a goal or two and go through even if we concede.
They've struggled to defend set pieces against our previous teams of mountain dwarves feat. Bendtner, maybe Giroud can do something
Well said that man. You get to play the best team in the world in the biggest cup in world football, just imagine it if you win? Isn't this why we watch football? Some of the reaction would suggest you've been knocked out!
We have some tough fixtures during these two legs.: Arsenal v Leicester Arsenal V Barcelona 1st leg Man Utd V Arsenal Arsenal V Swansea Tottenham V Arsenal Barcelona V Arsenal 2nd leg. If there ever was a time to strengthen and for our players to return back from injury, this is it.
On the positive side there is no expectation on us from the media, plaudits, etc... to nick this and we always seem to play better when the expectation is off us. Should be a fun 2 legs. We have a slim chance BUT a chance nonetheless. Win at home and anything is possible.
50/50? You're ****ing 16th in the league, mate. You have a very slim chance of going through, if that.
The cheek of him. A peak Chelsea side got knocked out by PSG last season. A terrible Chelsea side has no chance against a much improved PSG. You're have a giraffe.
It's the worst possible draw, in all honesty, but whether it's Monaco, Milan or Bayern, the perceived difficulty of the team never seems to matter because it seems like fate to go out at this stage. So I say, just bring it on, give them two good games, try to avoid getting hammered if we can and try not to get any injuries. There's no expectation on us to win, so I hope that gives the players the freedom to express themselves and play without any fear.
I have to say that even though barca have the best front 3 in the world and are and awesome side, real have the better form in the comp and are arguably even tougher competition. Both are tough and should beat us though.
I'm not even that annoyed that we drew a strong team. I'm more annoyed that we drew Barca AGAIN. We play like 4 different clubs in the CL nowadays: Bayern, Barca, Dortmund and Olympiakos
I'd advise you to keep your first team strong for the second leg and rest them all in the game before
Much improved? Based on what? That they continue to walk a pub league in France where there is less of an even playing field than Scotland? We've done ok in Europe this year which shows league form only matters so much. Liverpool won it in 05 having finished 5th in the league, we won in in 2012 having finished 6th. The 'invincibles' didn't even make the semis in 04. 2 different comps.
I didn't think Soldado was playing in the CL this season, I thought he was playing in for Villareal? In the CL they hammered Malmo 8-0, after beating Shakhtar 4-3 and PSG 1-0. Better results than we displayed, and Ronaldo in particular seems to be in top form! (not disrespecting Barca who I think are one of the best teams in Europe at the minute, but I just feel Real are on form in Europe...)
