This is my post-match analysis.
I would say arsenal sort of self-destructed...somehow.
haha! lehmann from hero to zero. (self-destruct) It was majorly his
fault! haha.
Anyway, he deserved to be sent off! It was a clear professional
foul. Eto'o had a clear sight on goal and lehmann had no choice but
to bring him down, because Eto'o was too fast and nimble for that
geezer.
Useless old f*ckin' fag anyway. Kahn should be NO. 1, not that
useless 'lemon' keeper. Bet germany will not win the WC with that
eccentric a*shole playing. LOL!
But anyway, Giuly's goal which was from an OFFSIDE position and
rightly so, did not stand.
And arsenal's goal was conjured from a blantant dive resulting in a
free-kick.
The goal from Sol Campbell; was an opportunist strike. Anyway,
barca are not known to be good headers of the ball. Campbell beat
Marquez and Oleguer to the ball. I guess Barcelona's reasonable
headers would still be Puyol and Marquez. And yes, Larsson.
Eboue is a f*ckin' diver, and he rammed his studs straight into van
Bronckhorst's balls! lol. wtf?! ok.. i mean near there... And when
he was tackled, he can still be rolling 5-6 rounds on the pitch!
WTF?! It's like as if he's been headshot and would rolling down a
steep hill. immatured play-acting kid!
Henry was disappointing; he should have scored on the couple of
occasions when presented with 2 glorious chances. On his tackle on
van bommel; although he got the ball, his tackle was kinda heavy.
and that's just a minor controversial decision.
Ronaldinho wasn't at his best; i guess it was partly due to the
man-marking strategy Arsenal deployed. But still, his killer passes
were a constant danger to Arsenal's rearguard.
Giuly was good. Making good runs and having good shots on
goal.
Rijkaard's tactical decision to deploy Eto'o on the left and
Ronaldinho in the centre upfront was to actually confuse the
Arsenal defence. And also to exploit Campbell's lack of pace,
although Toure and Eboue covered up for it.
The turning point was Rijkaard's substitutions.
He was smart to bring on Iniesta.
This boy can dictate play/tempo, spray killer passes, and making
telling runs. He's one of the young, brilliant spanish kids to
emerge under the class of fabregas, fernando llorente, jesus navas,
etc.
Belletti's substitution (in) was actually a safety precaution.
Oleguer was substituted (out), because he was on a caution, and
Rijkaard decided not to take any risk to keep him on. Surprisingly,
he scored the winner as he was one of the most unlikely
source.
Larsson's substitution was one of the major turning point. His two
brilliant touches made a mockery out of Campbell and Cole.
Cole's late sliding tackle missed the ball completely, and he
succeeded in only sending Belletti off the pitch but not the ball.
Stupid idiot. It was clear that he was having problems dealing with
Giuly; and moreover he wasn't match-fit enough, so why did the dumb
professor Wenger played him and not Flamini?
The first Barca's goal scored by Eto'o; although argurably offside,
was actually campbell's fault. I give the benefit of the doubt that
the goal was actually offside.
When Larsson released the ball, Eto'o was in line with the Arsenal
defence, but his pace took him to the ball before anyone could
reached it, and he placed the ball in between the little gap left
between Almunia and the near-post.
Again, i would say that's spells self-destruct. Almunia was poor.
Very, very poor. His positioning was pure sh*t.
Belletti's goal; which was a shot which went through his legs and
rebounded into the roof of the net, was because of his poor
positioning. Wenger's a real crap buyer when it comes to
experienced players, but i have to say he is good at spotting
unpolished gems.
And his tactical decisions were erratic. Playing defensively
against a great attacking side like Barcelona is like shooting
yourself in the foot when faced with an agressive and hungry lion.
It was naive to say the least.
Arsenal's defence was pure sh*t; thinking that they can soak up all
the pressure and hit Barca on the break was kinda far-fetched. Kind
of.. because Barca still left gapping holes at the back which
Arsenal did not exploit successfully.
His substitutions were all wrong! Fabregas was controlling play
well; and why did he sub in Flamini for him? He couldn't do
anything; he's not a player who can change things in an instant. It
is Reyes and Bergkamp and to a certain extent, RVP.
But Reyes came on too late; thus he doesn't have any time to make
any impact.
And why didn't the great dennis Bergkamp make his swansong
appearance for Arsenal?! He could really turn the game on its head
with his killer defence-splitting passes.
To be honest, Barca proved too strong for Arsenal. They deserved to
win the CL anyway. Now the question is; will Henry stay or
go..?
