Champions League - Round of 16

Yes you have, several times, iā€™m talking in a general sense. He was really needed tonight and failed miserably. I still think heā€™s a really good player, but clearly not the world class player ye like to joke about. Neither would i be going along with Cascarinoā€™s hyperbole about Crouch, just to be clear.

To be fair i didnā€™t see alot of the game Puke, but i have never seen Robinho play as a proper striker, he moves out the left and right alot, and thats the way i have seen Milan this year. Pato obviously is more of an out and out up front player.

But as i say, i missed most of it, so maybe you are right about Robinho, but it would be unusual from what i have seen. And even what i did see(from around 62-63 on) i thought Zlatan was isolated till last 7-8 mins.

the point is that you and that other cunt from wexford (whose name escapes me) have been telling us what a great player ibrahinovic isā€¦ (at one point suggesting he was the best player in the world!!the wexford yob still thinks he is). he is nothing of the sortā€¦

Apologies Kev, i took your pointa about the games best in reference to tonights game as opposed to in general sense, sorry for any inconvenience causedā€¦I still rate the lad highly and he was far from useless tonight but I donā€™t think many of the other top strikers in the world would have stood out if playing for Milan given the amount fo men Spurs had back in their half defending and their excellent workrate and the way they pressed Milan and didnā€™t allow them any time on the ballā€¦He got little or no service and this was typified by once they went behind that they just started lumping it aimlessly towards himā€¦At times when they did manage to stretch spurs somewhat he looked quite dangerous but this was very seldom, also even when Milan were well on top second half and worked the balll into wide positions they still failed to deliver ball into the box and on the odd occasion they did he got on the end of itā€¦As stated earlier Dawson had a fine game and made a couple of crucial blocks/interceptions from him as well

Steady on, mate. Itā€™s merely half time in the tie and but for a very spurious refereeā€™s whistle, weā€™d been breathlessly typing about Zlatanā€™s late overhead kick in the same terms as his goal against Fiorentina before Christmas.

I donā€™t think I ever referred to him as te best player in the World, i have been saying that about Messi for the bones of 3 years now and bandage has never said anything of the sort either, as he rates Totti as the bestā€¦

Yet again you have gotten you facts wrong, but we are well used to that at this stage

he pushed the defender with both handsā€¦whats spurious about that you utter gobshiteā€¦

Great win for tottenham.

Great win for tottenham

Great win for tottenham

brianslattery, what do you make of the Tottenham Milan game, was it a great win?

Really looking forward to this game tonight. Could be disappointing, as PJ in the 51 suggested it might be, but Barca are rarely less than enjoyable to watch and Arsenal will at least try and play a bit.

I do think the ā€œattractivenessā€ of Arsenal is overstated though. I heard Des Cahill on the radio this morning saying Arsenal and Barca are 2 of the 3 teams everyone would want to see, he didnā€™t name the third. Heā€™s not very informative at the best of times but I think that opinion is indicative of a general feeling thatā€™s out there. Even Xavi expressed a similar opinion in that interview with Sid Lowe last week, though presumably much of that was related to the fact theyā€™re about to play eachother.

This has the makings of a good game because Arsenal wonā€™t defend like Chelsea would but it doesnā€™t mean Arsenal are in any way similar to Barca in how they play football. Wenger is an early pioneer of the idea of a footballer as an athlete, an idea that Xavi took issue with. He has this (in my opinion) bizarre ideological ruling on not extending contracts for players older 30 and his team are full of quick and/or strong players. Footballing ability isnā€™t always paramount in his decisions.

brianslattery. :lol:

ZonalMarking tactical preview: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/02/16/arsenal-v-barcelona-tactical-preview/

Another good ZM article. Milito was horrible at the weekend so I do think theyā€™ll have to play Abidal in the centre and that leaves Walcott with that match up on Maxwell that he exploited last season. I think Busquets will be crucial tonight - Iā€™m becoming ever more impressed with him and heā€™s absolutely outstanding positionally and will make lots of interventions and launch Barcaā€™s passing game. Arsenal seem committed to pressing Barca hard anyway and Barca do that to everyone all the time so it should be played at a rip roaring pace. I think Barca are technically better and should win but I expect Arsenal to give them a very good game tonight.

As for the big game; Iā€™m waiting to see what our team will be. Totti and Menez are likely to come in from the start and I think Mexes and Burdisso should be the partnership at the back. Shakhtar havenā€™t played competitively since December so they might lack sharpness but theyā€™re a good side with their 4-2-3-1 with the four attacking Brazilians and the likes of Srna and Rat in the full back positions and Chygrynskiy having returned from his poor spell at Barca. I think we need an infusion of energy in midfield and would like to see Greco get the nod but itā€™ll probably be Perrotta, De Rossi and Simplicio with Menez behind Totti and then either Vucinic or Borriello partnering the great man. Iā€™m also wary of Doni coming into the side in goal. I think weā€™ll win narrowly though but weā€™ll probably concede.

Taddei starts for Roma. Ah FFS.

Teams in London as expected:

Arsenal
Sczywkcbkgzyny,
Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy,
Song, Wilshere,
Walcott, Fabregas, Nasri,
Van Persie.

Barca
Valdes,
Dani Alves, Pique, Abidal, Maxwell,
Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta,
Pedro, Messi, Villa.

Arsenal v Barca should be good - two teams playing fairly well.

I fancy Arsenal to pip it 1-0 as Barca will have on ā€˜offā€™ night.

Am I right in thinking that there have been problems having Eircom League games on the same night as Champions League fixtures in the past? League games on all over the place the last two nights.

Yes, youā€™re right but they must have relaxed that old diktat given theyā€™re taking around 2 months to play off this round of the CL and canā€™t be hogging all these Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

La Magica Roma.