Dec 16
While it would have been nice to get a soft touch like Rangers, I’m pretty happy that we’ve drawn a disorganised and ill-disciplined team with a midfield line-up playing nearly as badly as ours. Thank god we avoided Bayern Munich.
The way I see it, we have a decent chance against Real - hopefully Ronaldo will be unfit - they’ll let us play our football and I fancy our chances against their defence. They are undoubtedly saying the same things about us.
28 Responses to “YESSS!! It’s Real Madrid”
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December 16th, 2005 at 8:26 am
Yes, they are not THE Real Madrid right now, but this is why you want to play in the big competitions, for the opportunity to play in the Bernabeu. For the chance to see our boys go up against Zidane, Ronaldo, Becks and company.
As Pirate said, take it to them and we can beat them - and we’re saying the same thing about them.
Lots of interesting match ups and with only half the following teams making it to the next round:
Arsenal/Real Madrid
Barca/Chelsea
Bayern/Milan
December 16th, 2005 at 8:46 am
It’s great to see Arsenal draw Real Madrid.
If the games were played over the next two weeks, we’d be buried - but In February, who knows? Cole will be back, Campbell ight be on form, hopefully Wenger will have stiffened up the midfield, and Hleb might be the great player he looked like being before the injury.
Real Madrid look a bit of a mess at the moment, but Spanish league is technically of a much higher quality than the Premiership - Ronaldo, Raul, Zidane are more than capable of slicing Arsenal apart.
I’n not going to read too much into the game. Arsenal Vs Real Madrid does not come along very often - win or lose, it’s two games that will live long in the memory and is ‘real’ football entertainment.
December 16th, 2005 at 9:00 am
We should match up quite nicely against them. There is nothing great about this Madrid team, not in attack and certainly not in defence. Just look at the drubbings they’ve taken in the CL. Arsenal Prime (i.e Arsenal post 2004/2005) would have had an Inter Milan like (5-1) game against them. As for Arsenal today I just don’t know what to expect, but I’ll put the money on us.
December 16th, 2005 at 9:13 am
I guess its better than facing BM, but I was hoping for Rangers or WB or even Benfica.
I hope Arsenal would be up ready for this Challenge !
December 16th, 2005 at 9:13 am
Yeah happy to avoid Bayern. And Madrid are interesting all right.
Even Madrid don’t know what state their team will be come next year. Rumour has it they will be getting the smoking right back Cicinho (wrong spelling) from Sao Paulo in January. Fine but who will be lining up for them other than that? Julio Baptista and Robinho might be playing. Their defense is not the greatest and the rest of the team has its problems as well.
Wow.
December 16th, 2005 at 10:12 am
Good draw, for football fans.
But not sure how we’d be happy about playing a SLEEPING GIANT.
Other than HENRY, who in our current 11 would start for Madrid?
I want to win the competition or advance as far as possible. To do that, we needed to draw Rangers, Benfica, PSV… Madrid is a tall task for us.
February could see 2 different teams than the current Arsenal and Madrid.
Who is more likely to bring in players to improve?
I think we ALL know that answer, and it ain’t us.
December 16th, 2005 at 10:14 am
Quite like the draw as well, with a few reasons:
1. No more “we had it easy” talks.
2. An attacking side Vs attacking side, win or lose, should be able to expect some entertain football.
3. If we beat them, with all the money they had spent, it’d be quite a satisifying achievement for us.
4. If we are going to go out from the tournament, it’s better lose it to a high profile team.
5. As someone already pointed out, we may have a better chance against an attacking side than a well-organized, defence-oriented side.
December 16th, 2005 at 10:21 am
Stag, didn’t u say after they bought Robinho and the Breat in the summer, they would be great again? So what makes u think if they are going to spend another 50 million during the January transfer window things would be any difference?
Anyway, i think the bottom line is - I don’t think Arsenal will make everybody happy nowadays even if we break into final. So the only way to shut everybody up is to WIN the damn thing. And to win the damn thing, regardless of who we play it doesn’t really make any different. Benfica or Chelsea or Juventus, we just have to beat them all.
December 16th, 2005 at 10:45 am
Campbell, Cole, Lauren, Senderos, Toure, even Gilberto in his horrible form( err,maybe not), oh yeah and Reyes….Cygan!
December 16th, 2005 at 11:01 am
Yes! This is the draw I was looking for. RM in its current form is a beatable team. Especially with all the injuries to Zidane and Ronaldo. And the player dissatisfaction from Carlos. An interim coach who knows he will be replace no matter how well he does. With Real, they will try to play football as they do not know how to play football ala Newcastle or Bolton. Rangers may prove too physical for Arsenal so that would have been a sub-optimal opponent in my opinion. This could be the game for Reyes to rediscover his lost form since he last ran rings around Zidane and company while with Seville. The other bonus is they will now decide to show this game on TV given the opposition. For some reason, the satellite TV provider here always shows Manure in the CL in the past. Now that they are out, I guess they should show Arsenal more.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:07 am
The only player PLAYING FOR US right now…
(not injured)
that Madrid would start, is Thierry Henry.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:09 am
So with this brilliant draw in mind will it influence which type of player Wenger goes for in January?
December 16th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Who would WE want? The Premiership and La Liga are very different environments. Very few players have time to be flashy and clever and Zidanesque in the EPL. Henry being one of them. If the Giant is sleeping, its because he’s OLD.
If our club doesn’t go into these games with the idea that they’re playing the Real of lore, we could win it. Of course, I’m one who puts his vote in on the “we’re mental”, side of things.
Team chemistry, fitness, and fight. If we can get those elements to where they were, we can hand it to any team outside of The League. As things look now, ti does appear to be tall, tall order.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:12 am
No, I never said they’d be great again.
But they got BOTH the players that we coveted in the Summer, didn’t they?
So they saw the same things WE SAW in those players, except they GOT THEM.
Now, they are a whole 6 POINTS behind Barcelona.
They could overcome that lead in 2 weeks.
They could BEAT Barcelona head to head and be 3 points off the top.
They are doing a hell of a lot better in their league than we are.
Its FACT that you need some luck along the way to win the CL. That includes WHO YOU DRAW sometimes. Does it not?
So, no… we only have to beat who we play, we don’t necessarily have to Chelsea, Barca, Juve and Madrid… its all on the draw.
They will spend money to try and improve their team, what we do is a big question mark. At least they try to rectify their problems. We wait while Rome burns. JANUARY. Either we are trying to improve or we are watching TH14 pack his suitcase.
Its up to Wenger and the board.
This current team is a shell of its former self.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:14 am
Most players we would want are already Cup Tied.
Also, there is no past or present proof that Wenger will bring in anybody of note.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
December 16th, 2005 at 11:20 am
As said, the sleeping Giant.
This Giant could wake up anytime. I am fearing that Arsenal would be the Giant’s Breakfast. …
Even Arsenal is a Sleeping lil Giant.
The team that gather themselves first would be up to win this game.
December 16th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Just to bicker on a slow friday….
they’d deffo take campbell who I believe is PLAYING FOR US right now…or perhaps they’d stick with red card ramos and widely criticised helguera….
December 16th, 2005 at 12:34 pm
Your only cup tied if you’ve played in European cup competitions, I think this may make Wenger look to South America and pluck someone we’ve hardly heard of who has one of those ‘dodgy’ EEC passports. Would I bet on it? No!
December 16th, 2005 at 1:09 pm
LEHMANN
EBOUE SENDEROS CAMPBELL GILBERT
LAUREN FABREGAS TOURE LJUNGBERG
v.PERSIE HENRY
I cant see any other midfield formation capable of overpowering Chelsea’s midfield. I love the look and shape of this team, it (in my mind) could save the season.
December 16th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
There is a better chance of hell freezing over than this being our line-up for Sunday.
Wenger goes with the PROVEN. He is going to put in players with experience that have been there before. Playing Lauren & Toure out of position would be ridiculous… and putting Gilbert into the biggest match of the season would be worse than having Cygan there.
You are more likely to see:
LEHMANN
TOURE SENDEROS CAMPBELL LAUREN
FREDDIE CESC GILBERTO PIRES
HENRY BERGKAMP
December 16th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
OOOOOOOPS.
IF GILBERTO IS SUSPENDED? IS HE?
Then you’ll see Flamini.
We’ll need “wonder-strikes” from Henry to win this match.
December 16th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Anyone has “Arsenel Club Football” V. Game for PC or Xbox , or PS2.
I have been looking for a US store that sell the game or even to buy it online from a US store. Shipping from the UK is very expensive and I dont know if it would work here.
Anyone has any idea ?
Thanks.
December 16th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
Wenger’s proven line-up’s have only proven one thing, that he’s got it wrong at least 5 times this season and we’re heading for 6. Lauren was a midfielder before Wenger switched him to right back and Kolo can play midfield. Fabregas needs a protector this season and Gilberto (yes he’s suspended) is not doing the job, Kolo can play the Gilberto role. So you cannot say they are being played out of position as far as their ability goes, only out of position as far as your knowledge goes! Pires is past his best and in a game like this with a huge midfield battle looming he will be a lightweight and cost us. Ljungberg on the left will add cover to Gilbert just as he does to Cygan. Lauren will add cover to Eboue and both fullbacks are good at overlapping creating attacking options which we are lacking in at present. Take another look at this line-up and visualize it against Chelsea’s midfield, then look at your midfield selection (or what you expect Wenger to go for) and can you seriously tell me your midfield will cope better. Out with the old, in with the new and see what haqppens. If I’m listening to the starting line-ups and hear “In midfield lauren, Fabregas, Toure, Ljungberg” I’m thinking ‘RIGHT ON!’…..your probably not are you.
December 16th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
I am simply telling you that your line-up would NEVER happen under Wenger, especially in the biggest match of the year.
With Reyes OUT…
I expect the midfield to be:
Ljungberg Cesc Flamini and Pires
ANYTHING ELSE WOULD BE A SURPRISE!
December 16th, 2005 at 9:39 pm
It won’t work on Xbox or PS2, so you best get the PC version. You should be able to get it on amazon.co.uk.
December 17th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
The question is…
will the site remain broken forever?
or maybe just over a day?
It’d be nice to be able to discuss the big clash.
December 17th, 2005 at 11:13 pm
I would say that Wenger goes with the TRUSTED rather than the PROVEN, because recently the players haven’t exactly proved themselves to be good enough.
December 18th, 2005 at 8:53 pm
Why is everyone so quiet?