Champion's League Semi Finals (with apostrophe)

This shows you haven't really watched game. Plus every stat points to this being completely wrong

First leg, Martinelli first half through on goal and Trossard second half through on goal. Both were world class saves
Second leg, Martinelli first 5 mins from a throw in, Saka curling shot early in the 2nd half which Donarumma pulled a worldly save.
This also excludes close chances that were missed (Martinelli first leg, Rice in the 2nd minute of second leg, Saka open goal)

They created chances too. They took the lead early which was a killer for us as we had to chase the game and their front 3 are deadly on the counter. But to say they kept us at bay is wildly off.

Sure thing buddy. I'll give you that save, think it was Trossard. He comes in from the side but it was a really good save, That's two across two legs. Barcola and Ramos do however miss 1on1's to kill the tie off in first leg. And it's still an early goal that allows PSG to put their foot off the gas and switch to a lower gear.
But whatever, point still stands. Villa was a closer tie and your side is still impotent, despite all the xG you all seem to be flaunting around lately. Have fun in the finals though, it's a once in a lifetime thing. God knows the sort of draw you had isn't likely to be repeated any time soon, might as well make the best of it.
 
I forgot Arsenal beat Bayern handily in the group stage. Hoping for a PSG win in that case.
Again, we were missing Diaz, Musiala and Davies in that game and till the 70th minute it was an even game.

They were the first (and maybe even last?) team to out run and power us in the last 20 minutes of a game this season though, you have to give them credit for that.
 
Again, we were missing Diaz, Musiala and Davies in that game and till the 70th minute it was an even game.

They were the first (and maybe even last?) team to out run and power us in the last 20 minutes of a game this season though, you have to give them credit for that.

And we were missing Gabriel, Havertz and Gyokeres. Trossard went off injured and we had Mikel Merino up front the whole game. We were both missing players.

That said, if you do get through tonight I don't think the previous game will have any bearing on the final, either psychologically or as a hint into what might happen, whatsoever.
 
I really don’t understand where the people who think Arsenal will definitely lose the final take their confidence from. To me they are the favourites against both possible teams. They defend extremely well and are completely shameless in their cheating. That’s incredibly difficult to overcome.
Our salty fans. I already wrote it is their final to lose. Best defence in Europe eaasily. They are excellent team and have young core.If they ad someone like Vini Jr they will dominate epl and europe for years.
 
Because arsenal cower against good teams and get beat, it's what they do under Arteta.

They obviously have a chance but they are definitely not the favourites.
It’s funny. The last few years we’ve been pretty good in the big games, which largely hasn’t been the case this year.

My hope would be that that’s because of the reliance on our back-ups in most of those big games this year, and that the pressing style led by Havertz and Odegaard, along with the quality of Saka (with Ode), combined with our defence, was what gave us the good record in those same games over the last few years. Gyok, Madueke, Martinelli and to a lesser extent Eze, aren’t cut out for that level in the same way, and we’ve really suffered from those downgrades in quality. Who knows who will be fit for the final, fingers crossed.
 
It’s funny. The last few years we’ve been pretty good in the big games, which largely hasn’t been the case this year.

My hope would be that that’s because of the reliance on our back-ups in most of those big games this year, and that the pressing style led by Havertz and Odegaard, along with the quality of Saka (with Ode), combined with our defence, was what gave us the good record in those same games over the last few years. Gyok, Madueke, Martinelli and to a lesser extent Eze, aren’t cut out for that level in the same way, and we’ve really suffered from those downgrades in quality. Who knows who will be fit for the final, fingers crossed.
I thought Eze was one of your most dangerous players against City and Gyok can be a handful.

At the risk of sounding like Owen, the final will come down to who gets the first goal in my opinion.

I can see Arsenal catching out PSG/Bayern with an early set piece, then Gabriel faking gun shot wounds all game to a clean sheet. I can see the camera showing close ups of Olise (if Bayern make it) as he keeps missing the target and everyone in here saying he's never been that good.

Alternatively, it's just as possible PSG/Bayern get an early goal, force Arsenal to play and pick them off on the counter and hand them a defeat unlike anything they've faced for over two years.
 
I thought Eze was one of your most dangerous players against City and Gyok can be a handful.

At the risk of sounding like Owen, the final will come down to who gets the first goal in my opinion.

I can see Arsenal catching out PSG/Bayern with an early set piece, then Gabriel faking gun shot wounds all game to a clean sheet. I can see the camera showing close ups of Olise (if Bayern make it) as he keeps missing the target and everyone in here saying he's never been that good.

Alternatively, it's just as possible PSG/Bayern get an early goal, force Arsenal to play and pick them off on the counter and hand them a defeat unlike anything they've faced for over two years.
I’d take a dodgy pen from a Gabriel dive on a corner, and ten stonewall pens for the not given for the opposition in a 1-0 win, please. With Arteta so far out his technical area that he’s man marking Kvaratskhelia.
 
I’d take a dodgy pen from a Gabriel dive on a corner, and ten stonewall pens for the not given for the opposition in a 1-0 win, please. With Arteta so far out his technical area that he’s man marking Kvaratskhelia.
And that's why nobody likes Arsenal fans :lol:
 
I’d take a dodgy pen from a Gabriel dive on a corner, and ten stonewall pens for the not given for the opposition in a 1-0 win, please. With Arteta so far out his technical area that he’s man marking Kvaratskhelia.
You can bet your house he will play a big part. Like running on the pitch and making a goal line clearance, and then we see no replays of it. Instead, they just show replays of Saka scoring against Atletico for some reason.
 
I’d take a dodgy pen from a Gabriel dive on a corner, and ten stonewall pens for the not given for the opposition in a 1-0 win, please. With Arteta so far out his technical area that he’s man marking Kvaratskhelia.
Seconded. In fact, I may actually prefer it.
 
Are you talking about some alternate reality? We were unbeaten against the top six teams for a long time and until this season had a great record against top sides.

It’s funny how in the Anfield game that broke the unbeaten streak this season Liverpool had played just as conservatively as us at home as major title favourites at that point, but since they scored a wonderful free kick the narrative was that our negative approach led to the defeat. In the recent City defeat we actually took more risks and created some big chances that we couldn’t convert. Gabriel was pressing Cherki high up the pitch, and City exploited our more open shape to score their winning goal.

Hopefully winning some trophies dispels the nonsensical narratives people have formed about this team over the years because facts apparently don’t.
You’ve been crap in virtually every big game I’ve watched in the league this season, to be fair. Maybe crap isn’t the best word, but certainly cowardly.
 
And that's why nobody likes Arsenal fans :lol:

He said he'd take it, not that it would be he preferred way of it happening :lol:

And I get it honestly. There's so much focus on their style of play, the 'dark arts', the general unpleasantness of figures like Gabriel and Arteta, that I totally get why an Arsenal fan would say I'd love to win it in a way that boils the piss of the footballing world whilst we celebrate being European champions.
 
Are you talking about some alternate reality? We were unbeaten against the top six teams for a long time and until this season had a great record against top sides.

It’s funny how in the Anfield game that broke the unbeaten streak this season Liverpool had played just as conservatively as us at home as major title favourites at that point, but since they scored a wonderful free kick the narrative was that our negative approach led to the defeat. In the recent City defeat we actually took more risks and created some big chances that we couldn’t convert. Gabriel was pressing Cherki high up the pitch, and City exploited our more open shape to score their winning goal.

Hopefully winning some trophies dispels the nonsensical narratives people have formed about this team over the years because facts apparently don’t.
The narrative about your team is that your manager is a twat, who protected (along with your club) a guy charged for rape for several years, plays boring football and has relied massively on ugly set pieces routines to gain a competitive advantage.

What's nonsensical about this?
 
@Daydreamer did :lol:

I do as well. If I was an Arsenal fan at this point I would embrace winning that way.

But I'm not of course :lol:

In the end all this just is an opportunity for fun banter ;)

Didn't see @Daydreamer post. Typical Arsenal fan, employing dark arts on a message board to undercut my point even when I'm being nice to Arsenal :lol:
 
Tonight's game cant be worse than last nights.. but I dont think it'll be as open as the first leg either.

Hope its a cracker.. we deserve some football after last nights horror show
 
This Arsenal team is extremely annoying to play against. They’re physical, excellent at set pieces, risk-averse, and very well organized defensively.

They’re also masters of the dark arts.

In a way, they remind me of José Mourinho’s teams from back in the day: an absolute nightmare to face.

Of course, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain would be massive favorites in a final, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this Arsenal side stole it from one of them.
 
The narrative about your team is that your manager is a twat, who protected (along with your club) a guy charged for rape for several years, plays boring football and has relied massively on ugly set pieces routines to gain a competitive advantage.

What's nonsensical about this?
This post should get stickied at the top of every page of every thread about arsenal
 
Rarely look forward to a game where I'm neutral more than for the one tonight.
 
Our salty fans. I already wrote it is their final to lose. Best defence in Europe eaasily. They are excellent team and have young core.If they ad someone like Vini Jr they will dominate epl and europe for years.
They will start as underdogs against either team wins tonight and it might suit them better than overthinking they're favorites. After that, this season is showing (until this afternoon) that PSG are not as clinical as they were last year and Munich are not leaving anything on the table for a smash and grab, so... I am happy to put a biiig target on my back and say already that Bayern are going to progress tonight and then win comfortably in Budapest :p
 
Tonight's game cant be worse than last nights.. but I dont think it'll be as open as the first leg either.

Hope its a cracker.. we deserve some football after last nights horror show
PSG could sit back and counter, which sounds bad for us.
 
Our salty fans. I already wrote it is their final to lose. Best defence in Europe eaasily.
That remains to be seen, doesn't it
PSG could sit back and counter, which sounds bad for us.
Several experts concluded that sitting back against either these two offensive setups won't work for 90 minutes. Besides PSG would be pretty dumb to do a Pep and try to think up some different game plan for a special match, different to what has worked all season so far.
 
I don't think Inter were better than Arsenal. On the other hand, both this Bayern side and PSG are streets ahead of LvG's version. Plus, Luis was a far more cautious manager than people like to remember.

Everyone with its own taste, yet that Inter played and looked better than Arsenal, it was a great team in their peak of maturity with lots of experience.
 
Several experts concluded that sitting back against either these two offensive setups won't work for 90 minutes. Besides PSG would be pretty dumb to do a Pep and try to think up some different game plan for a special match, different to what has worked all season so far.
I don't expect them to turn into Arsenal or Atletico, but they can afford to wait for Bayern to inconvenience themselves.
I think we're always one counter and one mistimed tackle away from game over.
 
I’d take a dodgy pen from a Gabriel dive on a corner, and ten stonewall pens for the not given for the opposition in a 1-0 win, please. With Arteta so far out his technical area that he’s man marking Kvaratskhelia.
:lol: think that’d be more enjoyable no? Maybe it’ll be like when everyone was saying how Barca need to save the beautiful game and beat Milan only for Milan to win 4-0. Think that was in 94.
 
I actually think tonights game was to decide the runner up as I don't think Arsenal are as good as Bayern or PSG at their best but certainly PSG are the more devastating attacking side.
Ye it’s ashame it wasn’t a PSG and Bayern final.
 
Sit back tonight and you’ll pay the price.
I don’t think psg are the type of team to sit back and even if they did sit a little deeper there so devastating in attack that they’ll just score on the counter anyway.
 
Everyone with its own taste, yet that Inter played and looked better than Arsenal, it was a great team in their peak of maturity with lots of experience.

It's obviously a matter of taste, but I believe it was a one-year wonder from Mourinho, aided by a transfer swap that improved Inter's balance while doing more harm than good to Barcelona's team.

They defeated the best team in the world to get their hands on Big Ears, and Arsenal still lack that badge of honour. They'll have to perform the task in the final. But it's also easy to forget that it wasn't smooth sailing all the way for Inter, either. They were often poor in the first half of the season and were on the verge of elimination from the CL as early as the fourth group game (saved by two late goals). And the certainly didn't have the equivalent of City chasing them in the Serie A for the title.

I believe it's the aftertaste that makes the big difference. Inter 2010 are (justifiably) seen as a great example of resilience and overachievement that mirrors everything that's good about Mourinho while Arsenal are perceived as a team that can play better, but their manager chooses to play a certain way. But if you break them down "coldly", i don't think you'll find a lot of things that Inter could do back then that Arsenal can't do this season.
 
And the certainly didn't have the equivalent of City chasing them in the Serie A for the title.
They had Roma, who overtook them with 3 games to go(and held the H2H tie-breaker) but then lost at home to Sampdoria, losing the title on the final matchday(a tense 1-0 win in Siena, obviously courtesy of Milito). They also beat Roma in Rome in the cup final(1-0, guess who scored)
 
It's obviously a matter of taste, but I believe it was a one-year wonder from Mourinho, aided by a transfer swap that improved Inter's balance while doing more harm than good to Barcelona's team.

They defeated the best team in the world to get their hands on Big Ears, and Arsenal still lack that badge of honour. They'll have to perform the task in the final. But it's also easy to forget that it wasn't smooth sailing all the way for Inter, either. They were often poor in the first half of the season and were on the verge of elimination from the CL as early as the fourth group game (saved by two late goals). And the certainly didn't have the equivalent of City chasing them in the Serie A for the title.

I believe it's the aftertaste that makes the big difference. Inter 2010 are (justifiably) seen as a great example of resilience and overachievement that mirrors everything that's good about Mourinho while Arsenal are perceived as a team that can play better, but their manager chooses to play a certain way. But if you break them down "coldly", i don't think you'll find a lot of things that Inter could do back then that Arsenal can't do this season.

That year Inter was an excellent team on every order and played as such. When they clicked they totally did it, they won everything that year, even their goals were mostly great goals too, while facing giant after giant, dunno I don't see Arsenal on the same level in perfomances and also in names.

The thing it's that Inter was seen as a dark horse, overachiving due to the magnitude of other Giant clubs personel, due to lots of close but not cigar in prior years and because of having more stellar names a la R9 in the recent past without CLs results..YET that was still a Top Notch squad that had lots of players just over their peak years and at the same time mature enough to play really great.
 
They had Roma, who overtook them with 3 games to go(and held the H2H tie-breaker) but then lost at home to Sampdoria, losing the title on the final matchday(a tense 1-0 win in Siena, obviously courtesy of Milito). They also beat Roma in Rome in the cup final(1-0, guess who scored)

It's not remotely the same. The fear factor City currently have over the rest of the PL can't be compared to Roma.
 
I don’t think psg are the type of team to sit back and even if they did sit a little deeper there so devastating in attack that they’ll just score on the counter anyway.
Either one of them, tbh. The attacks and midfields are too much to contain, and they’ll just gobble up the available real estate.
 
It's not remotely the same. The fear factor City currently have over the rest of the PL can't be compared to Roma.

yet that fear factor is more related to their past than CITY having actually an overal great season, witha team with lots of new names, many injuries and struggling with players way off form like Foden.
Also let's not fall in puns, but rans since time on fear factor withourt any sort of help and it's the main reason why they have been playing with such care of not gifting anything
 
It’s rare I look forward to a game not involving United, but I’ve been genuinely looking forward to this since the end of the last one. Please be a repeat of that.