I don't even know why I am upset. I expected nothing since the draw for this Champions League tie was was made, and yet this even stings more than the Birmingham defeat from last week.
It was at times a heroic performance, and for all of Barcelona's domination, it is worth remembering that we were only one goal away from progressing. It would have been jammy- FA Cup Final 2005 jamminess surpassing levels- but it's Barcelona, the best team in the world (TM).
I have to say that while Barca were good, we could have punished them especially if we weren't down to 10 men. Sound bitter?; It's not. Admittedly Barcelona had a million chances, but whether it's the way they play, whether they were just toying with us, we could have punished them for not taking those chances. Score that needed goal especially in the last 10 minutes and we could have been through. If you add the fact that despite their domination, it took a penalty and a once-in-a-season...once-in-a-career even brain fart from Fabregas to beat us, perhaps this is why this hurts.
A perusal of various Arsenal messageboards has many fans complaining about the Van Persie sending off. I'm torn about this. On one hand, at 1-1, with Barcelona pushing up to get the goal they now needed, an outlet was needed, Van Persie was that outlet. A focal point, someone to worry the defence, someone to give us a fighting chance of holding on to possession in their half. On the other, we didn't threaten much before and who's to say we would have threatened after the fact.
Some people have said that Wenger's strategy was basically the football equivalent of rope-a-dope. Get battered, try and keep close to Barcelona and when they are spent in the last 15-20 minutes, play the Arshavin and Bendtner shaped jokers. The Szczesny injury and the Van Persie sending off might have ruined those plans.
Having 11 men would have helped. But we barely had a sniff, we could barely string 2 passes together even with 11, and it just got worse after the sending off. I am loathe to say the sending off changed things when we didn't have a single shot on goal in the match and Barca had 19.
The one good thing is that the unjust and stupid decision by Mr. Busacca seems to have filled us with indignant anger. It would be nice if we took the anger we feel tonight and channelled it against United. The anger might be misplaced, but if the team were to look at this performance with a dispassionate, unbiased eye, it could cause irreparable damage to our confidence.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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