Eestacionar el autobús, parc le bus or parcheggiare il bus. Whatever way you want to put it, that was Wenger’s first half game plan; Parking the bus. It wasn’t just one; it was 2 or 3 of them. Did it work? Questionable. To keep Barcelona at bay for most of the first half, without a clear cut chance, bar Adriano hitting the post and a blatant penalty that wasn’t given, then Arsene would argue that it worked to a tee.
Then came a moment of madness. Fabregas and Wilshire suddenly realising that actually they can play football, attempted a ludicrous one two, Fabregas attempting a stupid back pass, which went to Iniesta, great quick movement who slid the ball through to Messi, and the rest was a formality. Lofting the ball over Almunia superbly, and then hitting the ball into an empty net. That’s why he is a genius. Horrible time to concede, game changed as we went into half time, Barcelona one up.
The Second half first real moment was Nasri forcing a corner, good trickery down the left. The corner taken was Arsenal’s first attacking threat in the whole game after 50 minutes. That is how one sided this affair had become.
Diaby jumped up, piled pressure on Busquets who headed it into his own net. Despite Barcelona’s dominance, Arsenal were back in the tie, and as it stood they were going through. Arsenal believed, Arsenal hoped.
The hopes were dashed 2 minutes later, Van Persie, who needlessly gothimself booked by pushing Alves in the face in the first half, was put through by Fabregas, but was marginally offside. Referee blew his whistle; Van Persie played on and took a shot, with his weaker right foot. Referee pulled him up for time wasting. Second yellow. Van Persie argued that he did not hear. The same as Wenger has not been seeing it for the past 20 years. Arsenal needed to sort out their senses; this really was now going to be an uphill struggle.
The next 10 minutes, was an onslaught, Barcelona having 6 clear chances, then a beautiful one two between Iniesta and Messi, passed it to Xavi, who hit it pass Almunia into the net. 2 minutes later, Pedro was tripped in the penalty box, referee pointed to the spot. Messi stepped up. Formality. So much pressure on a moment and the little Argentinean slotted it arrogantly into the bottom corner. Almunia doesn’t move an inch. That’s why Messi is the greatest. Barcelona were 4-3 up on aggregate.
Barcelona continued to be wasteful with their chances, but their quality and man advantage was telling, Arsenal bus was running out of fuel. With 3 minutes to go, Wilshire has the ball and ran down the right and slid in a gorgeous ball to Bendtner, who was goal side of Abidal, and with just the keeper to beat. This was Bendtners’ chance to shine, his moment to be remembered, this was the step up. His first touch however was awful and it gave Mascherano a chance to get back, and get a challenge in. Chance gone. Arsenals hopes completely dashed, there was no way back in now.
Where did it all go wrong?
1. Parking the bus. Works well when there is an outlet to diffuse thepressure at times. Arsenal lacked a target man, a fit Van Persie who could get the ball, and run the channels, force Barcelona back, temporarily halt the continuous onslaught. It would have made much more sense to start Bendtner or Chamakh then a half fit Van Persie. When Inter beat Barcelona in the first leg last year, they played with Ibrahimovic and Eto; two very good outlets and with Mario Balotteli’s pace to run with the ball. You can park the bus or build any wall, but even after a while the Berlin wall came down…..
2. Walcott was a big miss. Again, as mentioned above, he would have been a good outlet and stopped Adriano pushing forward at ease.
3. Far too many players did not really turn up. Van Persie, Rosicky, Fabregas, Cliché all had poor performances. Against Barcelona, the full team needs to be functioning and step up their game.
4. Van Persie’s red card. Although Barcelona dominated before hand, after the sending off Barcelona created chance after chance. Playing Barcelona with 11 men is hard enough, 10 you have no chance with all the running that they will make you do.
5. Did the tactics suit Arsenals players? Am I being harsh that the above players didn’t turn up? Arsene Wenger spends 15 years trying to enforce an ideology on a tea, and build a team to play a certain way, and when it comes down to it, he plays the old George Graham way. Unfortunately these are not George Graham type players. How can you expect to get the best out of Rosicky or Fabregas when you order them not to go beyond the half way line?
This was not the referees fault. The referee decisions over the 2 legs may have favoured Arsenal. Don’t forget Messi’s disallowed goal in the first leg, Messi’s penalty that wasn’t given in the first half, and also no doubt should Koshielney been booked for a second yellow and a sending off after bringing Pedro own.
Arsene the reason why you lost was because you got it wrong. You spent all your press conferences explaining how you would beat Barcelona playing the Arsenal way, but when it came down to it, you choked. You played the wrong players in the wrong system. Out of fear. You remembered Messi’s annihilation last year and you couldn’t face that again. You were out played, out thought and out classed.
Maybe I’m complicating things. Maybe Barcelona are just too good. Maybe everyone is right, that this is the greatest team of all time. One day when we look back, everyone may just be right.
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