Messi has never scored vs. Cech Ozil and BFG will remind Neymar of the 7-1 and the PTSD will render him unable to play Suarez never scored against us in his final season at Liverpool Agent Vermaelen Who is even worried?
Arsenal should have quite a few players back by then. it is important not to have other players out at February time, but I think a healthy Arsenal can beat Barcelona. Do not forget that year where but for a poor finish by Bendtner Arsenal would have knocked out Barcelona and were even down to 10 men plus had conceded the usual penalty that Barcelona seem to always get when they need it. I think there is a good chance that Arsenal win if they go into the game healthy.
I genuinely think we could win this tie. Unfortunately I don't think we have the consistency to go on and win the whole thing. Frankly though, after the sh*t storm we served up 6 weeks back I'm just grateful for the game...not to mention all the extra monies we get for qualifying. Poor old Stan needs his consultancy fees paid somehow.
I'd be very disappointed if the players went into the game with anything less than a positive attitude.We have the players to hurt Barcelona,the problem is stopping them from scoring.
Great thing about playing Barca is that we can take so much from it as a team. Can we compete? Of course we can. We have plenty of top players and some who can really hurt Barca like Walcott, Sanchez, Bellerin and Ozil. If we can keep these guys fit, then we can launch an attack that they will struggle to deal with. If we play a tight FAST counter-attacking game and take our chances, then we have a good chance. This is over two legs so anything can happen on the day.
In my opinion the big issue will be getting hold of enough of the ball to hurt them and so we are not torn apart by their front 3. It'll take a big game from Ramsey, Sanchez (who always delivers big games) and whoever is fit to play DM
The best form of defence will be attack and having plenty of speed to break, will make them think twice before swamping us. Also having player like Bellerin who will add another attacking element, will make their attacking players think twice before over committing. I still believe we haven't hit anywhere near top form and our Walcott-Ozil partnership has a lot more potential in it. Take Leicester for example, the Vardy and Mahrez partnership is the best in the Premiership at the moment, but on paper, Ozil and Walcott can exceed that. We aren't going to out pass Barca, that's for sure, but our strengths are clear to see. Playing a tight counter-attacking game is the only way we will beat them and with Ozil on Imperious form feeding Walcott, anything can happen. Also add, we need to have a DM that is on top form for this to work.
I can't argue with anything you say there - hope we can do it. It'll be a really exciting 2nd half of the season if our injury crisis is behind us and we strengthen in Jan - seeing the Ozil/Walcott, Sanchez/Giroud, Ramsey/Coq or Santi/Coq axis' developing will be awesome - with Bellerin and Monreal charging up and down the flanks.
It will be exciting seeing those partnerships develop. But its imperative that Wenger brings in a quality DM this Winter transfer window, otherwise we'll be short.
Very true, I've also seen that Welbeck, Rosicky's and Wilshere's returns have been put back, so we can't rely on when they will actually be back and 100% so we definitely need some extra bods.