Anyone else think the Arsenal game had an FM feel to it?

Surely we've all been there, second leg of a cup/playoff tie taking a slender lead, only for the football gods to suddenly conspire against you?

Had a funny feeling when the goalie went off (not even going to try and spell his name!) that it wouldn't be their night (well, that and the fact they're playing the most ridiculous made up team I've ever watched!)... The (ridiculous) red card and penalty only further serving to add to the woes from the weekend for poor ol Arsene. Just reminded me of several FM games I've had where you really believe the game is out to get you and you realize that yeah, it does happen in real life - wonder how many would have been complaining if this had happened in their save!

Just hopefully The Arsenal fan who ran over lady luck can reverse over her again just to make sure my 'tragic' united team can get past them this weekend then I wish them all the best for the rest of the season (1 particular emirates fixture aside of course)!

Ridiculous penalty? It was clearly the right call, they should have even had two.

more of a playstation feel the way we made them look

It was a clear penalty mate, you cant stick a leg out and take a player down like that and get away with it, probably also explains why the arsenal players werent exactly protesting either, dont know what you were watching the red card was harsh though.

It'd even be better if Barca scored another og and Arsenal won without have any attempts

Blame the CCC lol

think he just meant the red card was ridiculous guys (which it was) I think it was just not written very well. Penalty was a clear one tho.

Yes, to all those complaining about how the computer AI cheats, ur players having 10 clear cut chances and not scoring but they scored their only chance, this arsenal-barcelona game proofs that it can happen in real life. 16 shots on target, at least 5 CC yet only 3-1!

agreed with aus. however if you intentially put your hand in somones face as van persie did in the first half (and he meant it) you should be sent off anyway so it was fair enough in the end i dont know why people are ignoring that. got what he deserved. deserved victory for barca aswell. with a very makeshift defence !

agreed with aus. however if you intentially put your hand in somones face as van persie did in the first half (and he meant it) you should be sent off anyway so it was fair enough in the end i dont know why people are ignoring that. got what he deserved. deserved victory for barca aswell. with a very makeshift defence !

its what cause the own goal, there was no communication between the 3 and they got in eachothers way.

Not really.

I've never seen a game on FM where a team tried to win a match without having a shot and then claim they were robbed.

stupid comment. Of course they would feel robbed after that red card. took away any chance they had to stay at 1-1 or get a result. Any team would feel hard done by..

to be fair, any team that doesnt have a single shot for an entire game and only ends with 25% poesession doesnt deserve much out of any game.

to be fair, any team that doesnt have a single shot for an entire game and only ends with 25% poesession doesnt deserve much out of any game.

True but that would mean no one ever deserves to beat Barca.

True but that would mean no one ever deserves to beat Barca.

But these teams won't claimed they were robbed though...

He is saying that there were 95,000 fans so RVP could not have heard the whistle, there were 95,000 there all night but he heard the rest of the whistles. Was a harsh 2nd yellow but they deserved nothing from the game,in my opinion they tried not to lose it, they didnt try to win it.

agreed with aus. however if you intentially put your hand in somones face as van persie did in the first half (and he meant it) you should be sent off anyway so it was fair enough in the end i dont know why people are ignoring that. got what he deserved. deserved victory for barca aswell. with a very makeshift defence !

is that like how abidal put his hand around someone's throat and got away with it? Totally inept performance from the referee, he got little right but a just result in the end.

is that like how abidal put his hand around someone's throat and got away with it? Totally inept performance from the referee, he got little right but a just result in the end.

you are right, anyone defending the red is wrong in my opinion, it was too harsh, semi justifiable as he did technically break the rules, but they usually dont get given a 2nd yellow for it.

Yeah sorry, I only meant the card was ridiculous, penalty was the most obvious one I've seen for ages, think barca were unlucky with a few other decisions too (seem to remember messi being clattered on the edge of the area with no free kick as an example)!!

I certainly have no love for arsenal (being a united fan - hence my wanting their luck to stay away a bit longer) but I can only sympathise with them, a difficult task made all the much harder by a ref who seemed to lose all sense of reason for a minute or two!

I certainly didn't envy them having to go there, barca are just beyond the realms of normality (they're even better than a human controlled FM team 10 seasons in!), they're not the only team to come away looking less than ordinary this season, ask Mourinho and Real fans!

I think Van Persie must have been in the ref's bad books, pretty ridiculous.

Almost thought the ref wasn't going to give the pen to make up for it. Arsenal did get away with one in the first half though.

Have seen games like this on FM but i realy doubt the match engine could replicate some of barca's attacking moves, sensational stuff.

Yes, to all those complaining about how the computer AI cheats, ur players having 10 clear cut chances and not scoring but they scored their only chance, this arsenal-barcelona game proofs that it can happen in real life. 16 shots on target, at least 5 CC yet only 3-1!

Yes, it can happen once in a while. Not all the time like it happens in FM.

And they still managed to score 3, not 1.

Your argument is totally idiotic.

I heard the ref is now driving a porsche

you are right, anyone defending the red is wrong in my opinion, it was too harsh, semi justifiable as he did technically break the rules, but they usually dont get given a 2nd yellow for it.

i know this is completely off topic but are you still going to be involved in reasearching now?

One of the most ridiculous cards and send offs I have ever seen. Despite being dominated arsenal were ahead on aggrigate at the time and barca still had it all to do. Sending off clearly killed the game. Add in the fact that abidal totally gets away with grabbing rvp around the throat and what you have is yet another example of inexcusable refereeing.

as pep said, Arsenal lost cause they couldnt string 3 passes together all night, not cause RVP got sent off, i mean what did RVP do before he got sent off anyway?

I think people should give us a bit more praise in completely playing Arsenal off the pitch

i know this is completely off topic but are you still going to be involved in reasearching now?

yes i am, more than likely changing teams though

I was imagining being Barcelona during that game on FM. Dominating everything and then seeing Bendtner go through in the last 5 minutes when they haven't had a shot and thinking bloody typical, then thinking thank god it was Bendtner.

One of the most ridiculous cards and send offs I have ever seen. Despite being dominated arsenal were ahead on aggrigate at the time and barca still had it all to do. Sending off clearly killed the game. Add in the fact that abidal totally gets away with grabbing rvp around the throat and what you have is yet another example of inexcusable refereeing.

No, what you have is a referee giving arsenal fans something to bitch about and put the blame on so they can ignore the fact that they got completely outplayed.Feel glad that RvP got the red, in 10 years from now you can say "Oh well, you know we got this red and everything, maybe we would have had a chance right?"

The ref totally ruined the game i dont care what anyone here says..... At the time of the sending off Barca needed 2 goals to go through and granted they had all the play it took a mistake from cesc of all people to set up there 1st goal even though it was clear barca gave EVERYTHING in that 1st half. As all the recent games vs barca have proved Arsenal seem to come good in the 2nd half against them as barca seem to tire after all the hard work they put into the 1st half. For me after we made it 1-1 i really thought at that point there would be only 1 winner, i could see barca and theeir fans starting to get really frustrated which meant they would push forward and try to force the game (instead of the low risk patient passing game) even more than they was which would have been suicidal against arsenal as if we would have scored another which i could quite easily see happening with barca getting desperate and having 2 makeshift cb's would have been easy picking for us. There is no chance in hell that Barca would have been able to keep up the intensity of there closing down for the whole 90 min's and with the players we have we could have quite easily found the pass or 2 or 3 to create chances on the break. I mean even with ten men Bedtner should have done alot better when played through by wiltshire which if he had put that chance away even then we would have been through to the next round and which also proves to me with 11v11 and barca chasing the game and with a proper striker up front van persie (not bednter) arsenal could quite easily have caused a tired barca side alot pf problems. If u look how the sending off came it was a ball over the top into space for rvp which he was marginally offside for. The possession stats granted heavily in barca's favour but its because of how the tie was set up, pretty much for the whole 1st half arsenal didnt need to commit players forward as we was leading the tie (till they scored at the end of the half). In the 2nd half in the brief period when 11v11 we scored pretty ealry so again we just tried to protect the lead and catch barca.

Who cares, you lost and thats football. Arsenal have their share of fortune over the years including the other weekend in the Carling cup when My team were denied a penalty in the first minute and your keeper should have been sent off.

Even with RVP on, you may still have lost. Look forward now and win the League, I backed you to.

No, what you have is a referee giving arsenal fans something to bitch about and put the blame on so they can ignore the fact that they got completely outplayed.Feel glad that RvP got the red, in 10 years from now you can say "Oh well, you know we got this red and everything, maybe we would have had a chance right?"

Football s a funny game and ofc we had a chance.... i guess you don't remember the chelsea barca game at stamford bridge a few years back when barca where totally outplayed but went through with a goal in the final minute with the only strike on target and then went on too lift the trophy...??

LOL yea we get a bit of luck now and then but choosing the carling cup final as us being lucky is a bit far fetched, have you ever seen a team win a cup final with a lesser gift of a goal?? and u say we was the lucky ones hahaha

Not Birminghams fault your guys did not speak english then

Was it just be, or did anyone else see the cheeky back-heel pass by Fabregas to Iniesta which resulted in the Xavi (I think) goal?

end of the day the ref although very harshly in my opinion sent off van persie bot h incidents were bookable, the penalty was spot on and barcelona were the much better side all night, the one thing might have swung the game arsenals way would be if the ref had seen abidal put his hands around van persies neck, that shouldve been an instant red but the ref was too busy trying to sort out a playground squable between a bunch of drama school drop outs

same old story in europe, barcelona needing every ref they have to hand them the game, ruined a perfectly great match up

and anybody saying it being a 1 sided match therefore barcelona would have won anyways, clearly did not watch the first leg match as they dominated that aswell.

same old story in europe, barcelona needing every ref they have to hand them the game, ruined a perfectly great match up

and anybody saying it being a 1 sided match therefore barcelona would have won anyways, clearly did not watch the first leg match as they dominated that aswell.

They didn't dominate the first one like last night, I'd exaggerate and say Arsenal didn't have a shot, but they actually didn't. Wenger said last night was a defeat for football, to me the only defeat for football would've been if Arsenal had gone through, with 5 minutes to go and having watched the previous 175 it was absurd that Arsenal only needed one goal to win.

having watched the previous 175 it was absurd that Arsenal only needed one goal to win.

feel free to complain to uefa about the away goals rule

Not Birminghams fault your guys did not speak english then

Its not arsenals fault we wont be playing you in the league next season whats your point?

I'm here to add my two cents:

The red card, imo, was quite harsh. The ref didn't take into account the fact he had already been booked, meaning another booking means he's sent off for no good reason.

HOWEVER, We have to remember that:

before the red card: 0 shots

after the red card: 0

It honestly did not do a huge amount to change the game.

Why are Arsenal fans conveniently forgetting the penalty Barcelona didn't get in the first half even though the ref saw it?

When I saw the replays he didn't even look offsides to me... Even if he was, how would he know to stop, he was zoned out, only focusing on his break, I doubt he would notice that the assistant referee raised his flag right away...

I'm here to add my two cents:

The red card, imo, was quite harsh. The ref didn't take into account the fact he had already been booked, meaning another booking means he's sent off for no good reason.

HOWEVER, We have to remember that:

before the red card: 0 shots

after the red card: 0

It honestly did not do a huge amount to change the game.

The point is the same team that one last night also went to stamford bridge and won a few years ago by having 1 shot on target in the whole match which came in the 90th odd minute! Yea we had 0 shots on target with 10 men for a whole half pretty much. but with 11 men and our striker still on the pitch we would obviuosly had more chance of shots and with the tie poised the way it was just 1 more goal would have knocked barca out no matter how well they played !

When I saw the replays he didn't even look offsides to me... Even if he was, how would he know to stop, he was zoned out, only focusing on his break, I doubt he would notice that the assistant referee raised his flag right away...

van Persie should have been sent off long before he did, if pushing some one in the face and deliberately studding someone in the ankle is not enough for a red card, I don't know what is. I don't think I'm the only one witth the opinion that van Persie ruined a match between 2 brilliant footballing sides.

Arsenal had 20-30 minutes of solid performance in 180 minutes of both matches. Arsenal did`t deserve to win the 1st one, or the second one. Infact they were lucky in both games.

One has to be blind or a true fanboy not to see this.

I would rather see Arsenal againt Real, than Barca, but if they stay together(Arsenal), they will be a true power house in the next years.

Its not arsenals fault we wont be playing you in the league next season whats your point?

Whats yours ?

You got beat last nite,get over yourself and u will be playing us next season

Uh-oh, might need to do a new thread asking if my old one reminds anyone of 606! Come on lads, play nice!

I dislike Arsenal immensely being a united fan but felt sorry for the decision that went against them, would much rather it had stayed 11 v 11 and whoever won did so fairly etc. We all know it isn't necessarily the 'best' team (porto? Inter last year? Liverpool? ) that wins the CL each year so who's to say the gooners wouldn't have won if RVP had stayed on?

Fellow united fan friend of mine was talking to me about it earlier and he found it quite amusing, but also a bit baffling why Arsenal didn't just play their normal style? Reminded him of the tactics united adopted at the Nou Camp a few years ago and he changed his tune a little.

I did feel Arsenal should have been a bit more adventurous but if they had and let in a few more they'd have been criticized for that too. Look at the team they were playing, think barca are tremendously underrated in the work they do without the ball, never seen a team press so well as a unit - Gets them a lot of their goals, win it back high up the pitch and capitalize before the other team can reorganize! It's been one of the main characteristics of uniteds teams throughout the 90s etc but dare I say that even the great teams we've had were not at this barca teams level! (maybe put Ronaldo and Rooney into team of 99 and we'd have game on!)

Let's just hope that arsenal look at the game and say that playing defensive won't work next time, and try learn from their mistakes, instead of doing what their fans are and using the red card as an excuse for being dominated on every area of the pitch.

In my opinion, there was no need to sent off Van Persie. But Arsenal played like weak teams wainting for the final wisthle. The truth is that Arsenal is overhyped, every year people say they are young, unexperienced, bla bla bla... Some players are in their 5th or 6th CL. They are weak team just that. When Inter needed a defensive tactic against Barça, they managed to get it.

In England I am a fan of Arsenal, but I must admit that this Wenger policy is not working at the moment

No, what you have is a referee giving arsenal fans something to bitch about and put the blame on so they can ignore the fact that they got completely outplayed.Feel glad that RvP got the red, in 10 years from now you can say "Oh well, you know we got this red and everything, maybe we would have had a chance right?"

No one is arguing that barca weren't outplaying arsenal. I suggest you read my post again. But believe me, as an arsenal fan I know too well that the dominant or better team does not always win. The fact is that arsenal were still ahead on aggregate before the send off. It shouldn't have happened and it changed the game. Arguing otherwise is frankly ridiculous. I'll also add that in the first half, under the rules of the game, abidal should have been sent off for grabbing van persie around the throat. Valdes should have been sent off for pushing nasri in the face, and so should adriano for also grabbing nasri around the throat. All occurred right in front of the ref and not even one yellow card to barca. Utterly disgraceful refereeing and yet now wenger and nasri are the ones being charged for stating the truth about the ref. Unfortunately yet another example of how low the game has sunk.

But if they stay together (Arsenal), they will be a true power house in the next years.

They said this every year for the last seven years iirc.