Having declared (or tweeted as it's now known) that I thought West Brom away was our most important game this month I shouldn't feel so annoyed about last night. In the long term it could be a blessing. If Cesc lifts the Premier League trophy high this defeat will mean nothing. The double is still on yet I'm annoyed.
Defeat I can take but it was the manner of it I can't. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning about losing. Barcelona are awesome and deserve to go through. Let's not forget we didn't have a shot. We were, however,resolute and strong and I'm proud of them. Yet, despite all their superiority they needed a big helping hand from a clearly biased referee. I'm not blaming him for our defeat at all but we must remember that we were winning this tie before he got his chance to make sure UEFA's chosen one's progressed.
On three occasions Barcelona players raised their hands to our players in front of the ref and nothing was done. RVP shoots one second after the ref blows and is sent off. Staggering! RVP was right to say the ref was a joke. It's near on impossible to play Barcelona with 11 but with 10 he assured them safe passage. I know it's the football fans job to bemoan refs and it is an impossible job but even the biggest Arsenal hating knuckle dragger could see this man was in their pocket. I'm not saying he was showered with used Euro notes or ladies of the night but he was overcome by his own importance, the crowd, the atmosphere and the stature of the game and clearly wasn't up to it. Without the red card we would've probably eventually lost but it would've been a fair loss. Not once have Barcelona beaten our strongest team. Jens sent off, Silvestre in defence, vermaelan out, RVP off. Last night we played 12 v 10 for the last half an hour and that's when they did us. Their winning goal was a penalty. With injuries, sendings off and a bent ref, we lost to the odd goal. That's how much better they are than us.
The way the pundits pleasured themselves to oblivion was sickening too. Get over it. I know Sky would show nothing but Barcelona if they could but please! We know they are good. We know they can pass. Yes, they deserved to win but for a team THAT good they needed a lot of help. Anyway, sky and UEFA are happy as their team are through.
In a way I'm glad we are out. The Champions league is a grotesque competition that only services the corruption of UEFA. What are we even doing in it. What are we champions of? The group stages are a boring money generating farce. Why not go the whole hog and invite the top half of all European leagues to take part in a massive Champions of nothing league. Each group could have 12 teams in it and could go on and on making more and more money for a flabby ruling body. The bottom half of every league could have their own cup of crap. The winners of each tournament could then play each other in a show piece final where there are only 100 tickets available to real fans at a cost of £15,000 and a kidney.
I'm not enjoying this game of 'who's injured now' we play every match either. There must be some kind of curse on the club when your best keeper collects the ball, like he's done thousands of times before, and has to go off injured. We all collectively panicked when Almunia stripped off yet he played really really well. He made some excellent and brave stops and with Szezzer out for a bit we need more of that from him. The talent Arsene sees shone through last night.
As I write this I hear news of UEFA charging Arsene & Nas for inappropriate language! These people are beyond belief. UEFA are a bunch of corrupt scum filled arseholes (appropriate language I think you'll agree.) Ban the snood, charge our boys for naughty words but let 3 Barca players off for throat grabbing. Interesting they aren't charging RVP for calling the ref a joke. Maybe they secretly agree. Unbelievably Egotistical
F*cking Arseholes or UEFA for short.
In a fit of frustration I tweeted @uefacom a picture of that mug Abidal holding RVP firmly by the throat. I politely asked them to clear something up. My son loves football and likes to copy the professional players. I asked them if grabbing a player by the throat is OK as he has a game tonight and he wanted to know if he could do it. He saw a 'top' international ref let 3 Barca players off last night so it must be an acceptable part of the game.
They haven't replied.
I'm going to have to stop now and have a lie down. I really hope we do the mancs on Saturday. Beating them is always a pleasure and it would mean another Wembley trip and we need a win there to prove we can. The double is very much on.
Up the Gunners.
Expecting an explanation from an organization plagued with corruption would be too naive. You're better off advising your son not to learn anything about football from these woeful referees and that disgrace of an organization called UEFA. And FIFA too. You know this very well. But What I don't agree with in this article is the implication of Barca deserving to win because they passed the ball better. That would mean they deserved to go through in the semi-final of 09 in that controversial Chelsea game and it would also mean that they deserved to win it last year because they passed better than Inter. What really bothers me when people say this is that Defense is not given credit when it's credit is due. Football is not just about how well you pass and create chances but also about your defensive discipline and organization. I was very proud of the defensive resilience showed by our team and if NB52 had scored on that break we would have deserved to win and go through. Why ? Because it would mean we defended better. But Barca did not deserve to win because If RvP was there we don't know what chances he would have created or converted. At 1-1 they were breaking down psychologically. You could read it on the players faces. They needed 2 more goals and Arsenals defence was frustrating them, they were getting tired and our offense was threatening to catch them on the break. Infact, RvP was thrown out in one of those breaks. Busacca clearly knew what needed to be done to affect the game and he went about it the moment he got the opportunity. If RvP was still there, How many of those breaks would we have had and the possibility of converting those? ...Please, let me stop. It is a very disturbing thought to entertain.
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