We are 1-nil down to PSG and we are playing today at their home ground. Not an ideal situation to be in, specially when PSG under Luis Enrique are playing some beautiful attacking football. But we have our midfield back and with Thomas anchoring it and Declan getting his freedom to move forward, we can certainly play better football today. The only goal from first leg will force Mikel to go all out attacking and the second leg of the Semi Final could turn out to be an exciting affair.
There are couple of things. Declan Rice is an asset, a 100m player when moving forward with the ball but he is not a match to Partey as a DM. Having both fit and in the squad boosts our win rates. Secondly, we can’t afford to miss our chances today. In the first leg, we did fail to bury some of them and it could be fatal to our Champions League run. Barcelona v Inter was a treat to watch last night, and gave us a hope that it’s not over till the final minutes.
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I am expecting Merino to be back to his newly found CF role with a back 4 of MLS, Kiwior, Saliba and Timber. Partey, Rice and Odegaard will start in the midfield while Saka and Martinelli will retain their positions. We were a threat whenever Saka moved towards the middle and we have noticed it with Martinelli too, but I have no idea why Arteta instructs them to stick to the side line. If we are expecting to win this, we need to be more direct, we need to move ball faster and we need to be precise in our passing and shooting. There’s zero margin for errors if you expect to qualify to the finals for the Champions League.
There was a news earlier that Ousmane Dembele had picked up an injury and will not be available for today, but we are not that lucky. He is back to his fitness and he will be a bigger threat today at his home. Kiwior and Saliba needs to find a way to suss him while allowing the wing backs to move forward.
1-0 is a dangerous proposition and can work in favor or against. If we put some pressure initially, manage to score one in the first 30min, we will be in the driving seat.
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Truth be told, I have never seen Arsenal play a semi final game (except the first leg). The last time it happened in ’09, I was still playing cricket. If we win today and go to finals, there is a very good chance we can beat Inter (compared to Barcelona), and it can make things easier for Mikel.
Right, a short one today. Extremely sorry for being absent recently, the immunity overall after Covid has been fucked up and doc says another week before I can get back to normal.
Lets conquer Paris and paint it Red and White! #COYG
I was just about to say that we’re quite fortunate that PSG has been rather putrid on counter, then FR hammer’s one home
or give away a free kick.
this one should be 4-2 for them by now…their passing in the final third has been shockingly bad, which has left the door open
now you can see why they’ve leaned on Dembele so much this season…he’s by far their best player in the final third
TRVL
I do like their number 7.
frankly it’s difficult to fathom that there’s been only 1 score in this one
TRVL
Both 2nd legs of the semi’s (the Inter – Barca 1st leg wasn’t bad!) have been great for the neutral.
Marc—Kvaratskhelia is the one I was clamoring for us to get from Napoli for a few years now…he had a bit of an off year following their Serie A victory and then fell out of favour with Conte…he’s like the real deal version of Arshavin
TRVL
The honest truth is if I could have one name from PSG it’d be Enrique.
Marc—it’s so rare that you would ever see such “open” football in these rounds of the CL, unless someone’s facing a massive deficit….it speaks to the present state of things, which is why I felt it was so imperative that MA got the last several windows right so as to take full advantage of the current situation…of course that didn’t transpire…not over yet though…I’ll be interested to see if Enrique brings Dembele on to try and get a quick third goal
TRVL
The flip side to that is Arsenal can’t afford to concede a third by over chasing the game – 2 down on the night and we might as well catch an earlier flight home! We get an early goal and nerves could come in to it.
that’s my point…if Dembele was on the pitch I think they would already have a third…now tbf we should have at least a goal, if not 2
Let’s accept that fact that we can’t score 2, let alone 3 to win this. We don’t have a striker and Declan Rice’s free kicks are once in a while, not every other game.
Enrique already saw what it looked like when he opted for a more conservative approach, so he would be stupid to wade back into those waters
They have neutralised Saka and we don’t have an answer to it.
Marc
Flick for me.
I get why MA wants to keep his bigger lineup in against this somewhat undersized side, but if we don’t score soon I think he needs to find a way to get Ethan and maybe Tross out there, as they might be our most clinical finishers(well at least the former is)
Ambarish
?
Hansi Flick would be great from an offensive capacity, but I think he lacks something on the defensive end of things…would still put him way, way above our current option
If it’s Enrique you want , I would love Hansi flick here. Better football, uses what he has to his disposal.