As you say, football’s all about opinion.
My gut feeling is that Wenger will go 4-3-2-1, on the basis that he knows he can’t defend without Song, so his only hope is to get a 2-2 or the like.
He’s not likely to get a 0-0, is he?
I kind of suspect he’d go:
Szczeseny;
Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy;
Eboue/Rosicky/Diaby/Denilson, Fabregas, Wilshere;
Nasri, Arshavin;
RVP or Chamakh.
Eboue/Rosicky/Diaby/Denilson are not there to be playmakers, they are there to support the defence.
Their job is to harry, tackle, mop up, support the back four and only pile forward judiciously. They are not making up the numbers, they are the most important cog in the whole thing. They are being picked because they are up to coping with that responsibility and they will not be forgotten if they deliver. Real football fans appreciate what they are being asked to do…….so go and do it, brilliantly.
On the basis that Wilshere can tackle, he will help Clichy with the marauding Alves. You tell Jack to show Guardiola that his comments that he would be in Barca reserves were perhaps disrespectful……..as he’s far better than Busquets, so he’d better prove that on the pitch tonight! It gives Nasri the freedom of the hole, Fabregas can do what he wants, in fact he could turn it into 4-2-3-1 at times. You tell Nasri he’s not competing with Fabregas to be main man, he’s going out to show Xavi and Iniesta that he and Cesc are as good a team as they are. You tell Cesc to play with the pride of a Catalan captain in the Nou Camp, imagining that Barca were Real Madrid and that Guardiola was Jose Mourinho.
Try and stuff them 5-0 in other words…….although you’ll be happy with any result which takes Arsenal through.
Arshavin you play as you need match winners. You tell him he’s the best player that Russia has produced the past 10 years, so go out and show Barca why they should have bought him…..and tell him not to play fancy flicks near his own area, because Barca are better than Stoke! And promise him a new contract if he scores the winner!
If van Persie plays, you just tell him to stick the ball in the back of the net. From a yard, like Kuyt, if that’s what it takes. Any bloody which way, in fact. And if it’s a penalty with five minutes to go, he’s not a Dutchman, he’s Arsenal’s best striker. Going to put Arsenal through to the quarter finals. Isn’t he?
If it’s Chamakh, tell him that he got his miss out of the way on Saturday, play with all his heart and the goal will come. The weather in Barca will be nice, Chamakh weather in fact. So enjoy the warmth of the Mediterranean…….. Clichy needs specific technical advice about how to handle Pedro, or Messi if he glides over there. He and Jack need to be a team on that. He needs to exude natural authority and he needs to lose his rag with his team-mates if they get lazy and leave him exposed. Merde alors would be far too gentle.
Koscielny needs to be told how well he played against Barca last time, now go and do it again. Djourou is to lead him if he needs leading and needs a bollocking from him if he loses concentration for one second. He’s old enough to know that by now.
Tell Sagna to just keep doing what he’s been doing all season. There are no awards for ‘the most reliable player in the Premier League’, but if there were, he’d be one of the nominees. Tell him to justify that billing toniight.
Szczeseny showed against Sunderland that he’s a good shot-stopper. He’ll need to be tonight. He likes big games, so he’ll like this one. Sit him and his defenders down and agree the calls from the keeper. Make him shout at them for two hours so it’s stuck in their brains. Then sit them all quiet for an hour to get them focussed for the game.
If I were Arsenal, I’d go into this with absolutely no fear. Like you, almost everyone is writing them off. No chance. So losing won’t be a big blow.
They can play their hearts out, see it as an education if they lose, but if they prove you and everyone else wrong, well….. If Messi plays like he did last year, well, it’ll be tough. But he might not. If his shot for 1-1 hits the bar, who knows?
If it were Cesc not Diaby on the ball with Walcott clear, maybe it’s 2-0? On that one minute did the game turn last year.
Once Arsenal were behind last year, it was game over. Barca could hit them on the break, which they did. But this time, if Arsenal score, at 2-1, it’s not game over. It’s extra time.
All Arsenal can do is go out there with their chests sticking out proud, play the best football they are capable of and believe that, if it’s their day, then it’s their day. They can’t beat Barcelona unless they believe they can, so believe they can. Leave nothing out there on the pitch and at the end of the evening, take what comes to you like a man, win, lose or draw.
Barca are strong favourites, but you know something: if it’s a fair fight, Arsenal have a chance.
Here endeth Brian Clough’s European team talk…….. Because their front 6 are good enough to score goals……….and with an away goal, anything is possible…….