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Arsenal (a) v Manchester United (h) - Champions League Semi Final (1st leg)

Mentalist

Administrator
Staff member
[YOUTUBE]BDax48YTDl0[/YOUTUBE]

The big daddy of all sporting events is only hours away.

This one is tough to call. United should be favourites due to the home advantage and the fact some of our top defenders are out (Clichy and Gallas) but this one could easily go either way and will probably be epic.

If ma boy Gibbs can fill in for Clichy and deal with Ronaldo well then who knows.


I am so incredibly hyped for this one and am gunning for a 2-1 victory to the Arsenal.

To show my faith and belief I am plonking down all my credits on this one (ooooh)


Manchester United-Arsenal: Key Personal Battles

The Gunners travel to Old Trafford for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final clash with United, and Goal.com has highlighted some crucial head-to-heads...


Such is Arsenal's injury mini-crisis that a recent breakthrough star, 19-year-old Kieran Gibbs, is likely to be faced by Manchester United's Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday evening.

Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Kieran Gibbs

Although Gibbs has acquitted himself well since stepping into the boots of the injured Gael Clichy at left-back, this is the ultimate mismatch on paper. To make matters worse, the Portuguese powerhouse has looked hungry in the Champions League knock-out rounds, turning in a fine performance in the first leg at Inter, although another starlet, Davide Santon, did okay, before scoring with a crucial, and stunning, strike in the second leg against Porto.

Gibbs has to be fearless – he will be given his age and ability – and ultra-concentrated at the same time. Still, it's up to the Gunners to keep tabs on Ronaldo as a team; he'll drift around anyway, without doubt. To leave him one-on-one with a rookie would be ridiculous, but it will happen at least fleetingly, so Arsene Wenger has to set out a flexible defensive stall.

Wayne Rooney vs. Kolo Toure

In the very heart of their defense, however, the visitors cannot afford to be flexible. In fact, Kolo Toure must be a colossus in an away back-line which could have the famous five – Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs – to deal with at various points during the game.

Squad depletion means that the Ivorian will likely line up beside a half-fit Johan Djourou, on whom he'll need to focus almost as much as he will the opposition. One gets the feeling that Rooney, on the form he's enjoying, will be allowed to link-up and use all his weapons in Europe, and not just his hustle in wide areas. Thus, Toure must lead by example and nullify the threat of the Red Devils' most complete attacker, lest the England man run riot.

Patrice Evra vs. Theo Walcott

Okay, skipper Cesc Fabregas scored a double at the weekend to down Middlesbrough, and his runs have been ultra-positive of late. However, he claims to be more comfortable in a deep role, and will have to prove it by mucking in at Old Trafford. In terms of the midfield, there's also Samir Nasri, who scored a brace of his own in the sides' previous meeting this season: a 2-1 win for the hosts at the Emirates.

For this game, though, Theo Walcott can't be ignored, for he's most likely to compensate for Andrey Arshavin's ineligibility, due to his occasional explosiveness.

Facing the mercurial winger will be left-back Patrice Evra, who is probably the most out-of-sorts player in the United set-up at present. He struggled against Porto, and against Spurs' Aaron Lennon at the weekend, so now is the time to raise his game significantly.

Nemanja Vidic vs. Emmanuel Adebayor

This clash probably looks better on paper, in all honesty, as the Togolese forward is again struggling for fitness. Still, he wasn't long back in the thick of things when he made a mockery of Villarreal over two legs, and will need special attention.

Vidic has steadied himself after a series of wobbles, and his return to form has just about kept the Manc machine on track for another Premier League title. He'll have to use both his strength and his positional awareness against an intelligent group of opponents, whilst taking responsibility for 'Ade', assuming he's in a condition to start.

For his part, Adebayor will look to pull Vidic out of position, and hold up long enough in the final third to receive support from the Gunners' speedsters.

Sir Alex Ferguson vs. Arsene Wenger

There'll be so many wiles transmitted from the two gaffers' craniums on Wednesday that broadcast equipment may begin to malfunction. For these two, this could be part one of the definitive Ferguson - Wenger classic.

Both managers have shown lately that they still have the raw management skills that brought them their elder statesman status in the first place. One can only imagine what 'Fergie' said to his troops at the weekend to turn a 2-0 deficit into an eventual 5-2 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur, while 'The Professor' has turned an at-times threadbare squad into a winning machine.

They may have once been bitter rivals, but these men have grown to appreciate each other over the years, and are relishing this showdown, judging by their respective pre-match chatter.

In terms of this season's dugout wars, much of Ferguson vs. Rafa Benitez has been indirect combat, while Jose Mourinho's Inter weren't ready for the test. For Wenger, though, this could be a case of 'now or never'.
 
Arshavin being ineligible for the CL this year sucks balls.

andrei-arshavin_9727401.jpg
 
^why is he ineligible?

OK, I am NEUTRAL and will be cheering for both sides in this one.

But a bet's a bet! - I think Man U may scrape by in this one - I'm only in it for the credits, Menty!

wist! and the game's afoot!!!
ciaofernow! :D
 
^why is he ineligible?

OK, I am NEUTRAL and will be cheering for both sides in this one.

But a bet's a bet! - I think Man U may scrape by in this one - I'm only in it for the credits, Menty!

wist! and the game's afoot!!!
ciaofernow! :D

He played for Zenit in the group stages of the cup.

Happy with the win, no matter how slender. There's no such thing as a bad win. I fully expect Arsenal to take it to Utd next week.
 
^ah. thnx.
well, an entertaining game for we neutrals!
the score would've been much higher if not for Manuel A.
was hoping to hear more from young Theo W. :(
Ronaldo's aim must have been frustrating for him today.
Giggs = 800 matches! Oi!
 
Let's break it down:

We were shit. Only 3 players turned up for us tonight. That would be young Gibbs (Clichy watch out), Almunia and Song.


Almunia was, as usual, rock solid. I've been saying he's a world class keeper for ages now while others say he is nothing but a mediocre talent. Bullshit. He's fantastic. He was shaky last season but I don't recall ONE single goal being scored against us due to an Almunia mistake this season in all comps.

So who is to blame?

Our shit defense, that's who.

Toure wasn't bad. He never is. Nothing other than a medicore performance from him though. Sagna started off the season as arguably the best Right Back in the Premiership by some margin but his form has dipped a lot and he still can't cross a simple ball in to the box to save his life. Silvestre was so-so but that's only in relation to his usual crap so no points there and again the 19-year-old London boy Gibbs shows all those international stars how to play football. Fucking embarrasing.

Gibbs was outstanding for me. I really think he's a great, great player and it won't be long before he's playing for England. He dealt with Ronaldo as well as you can expect anybody to deal with him and he was threatening the few times we did go forward and held the ball well. Our best player on the pitch after Almunia.

Diaby was shit. I don't like him anyway. He has a few good games where he shows glimpses of potential but that's a rarity. Sell him to Stoke. He got dispossessed far too often and when we did have a chance to break he was slow as shit to find a pass. Bollocks performance from him. Should of started Denilson instead. He's meant to be the lynch pin for our possesion in the role he plays and I frankly don't think he will ever be good enough.

Song had a good game, tracked back well, covered for Gibbs when he went forward and it was an all round solid display from him.

Fabregas never got going, he didn't find his rythym and coupled with Diaby being crap we never had any dominate possession that let our forwards get in to position to be picked out by him. This can, of course be attributed to a fiery performance from United who never gave us any space and never lost their shape.

Nasri and Walcott were both shackled and let down with the lack of vision coming from the center of midfield. Never got in to the game. Walcott especially.

Adebayor was crap but then you could say there was hardly any service to him but he still should of done better. Maybe him and Berbatov can set up a little tea table and read the Sunday newspaper together in the middle of the pitch next time. Lazy bastards the pair of them.

I was rolling my eyes when Bendtner came on but got to give the clown some credit. He put in a good shift and near the end of the game started to actually test United a bit.

Eduardo had no service at all so it's not fair to judge him. He should of started anyway.

Blah.

Bad performance. The worst I've seen from us since mid season. We're fortuante to leave OT with a 1 goal defecit. That's well within the realms of reason to come back from. The game at the Emirates will be entirely different on every single level. One would hope so anyway.

As bad as we were, United were excellent. Gone was the poor form they were in a few weeks ago and the demolition of Tottenham has really spurred them on (lol I'm so clever.)

This tie is not over yet though.
 
damn! i meant to mention that young Arsenal defender! wow!- he was away there by himself working like anything! I'd not known who he was.
Gibbs. I'll remember that.
 
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