LAUREN's Arsenal Thread 2011/2012 - 125 Years of Greatness *sponsored by being BRILLIANT*

[ScottGooner]

Kind of reminds me of Fever Pitch, lets hope the outcome is the same tonight.

[PaulHartman71]

if Chamakh came on and scored the winner

[Suggy33]

Proud of that performance, RVP missing the sitter will haunt us (or him) for a while).

Still, :applause:

[Suggy33]

Ox coming off changed the game.

[ArsenalFan7]

Bringing Chamakh on for him wasn't exactly genius either

[dagoonerfan]

If only RVP had scored

The injuries are piling up though as well

[Chr1s Lawson]

Love Arsenal, tried hard but for me game finished when Chamakh came on. I really don't want to be too critical of anyone but other than his assist for the winner against Liverpool, Song has been utter utter dog ***** over the last 2 games, he's far better than that. Anyhoo, nobody expected anything after the first leg and at least we can concentrate on the league, similar level of effort agains Newcastle on Monday please.

[johnhughthom]

Bringing Chamakh on for him wasn't exactly genius either

Who should have come on?

[Astafjevs]

Wp chaps (even though you guys in particular weren't actually playing, but you know what I mean).

Ran out of energy at the end really.

[Retro]

Who should have come on?

that is the real problem. Th fact we didn't have anyone decent to bring on.

[Chr1s Lawson]

Oh, special mention to ref, I can't believe the level of refereeing we've had over the last 3 games, it's just beyond comprehension

[dagoonerfan]

Song has been awful recently

[pouncer]

The van Persie chance

never been so disappointed with a 3-0 win. By HT I was pretty sure that was our moment. Literally on the verge of tears at the moment, got all tanked up ready to go out and celebrate and everything

[Retro]

At one point I thought thevref might be suspect, but it became apparent that he was just totally incompetent.

[Retro]

Song has been awful recently

That counter attack near the end summed him up at the moment. He needs to focus on what he used to do best and stop thinking he's an attacking option.

[johnhughthom]

At one point I thought thevref might be suspect, but it became apparent that he was just totally incompetent.

Yes, just as many bad calls against Milan, to be fair.

[Chr1s Lawson]

Yes, just as many bad calls against Milan, to be fair.

Tbh it was both sides

[Chr1s Lawson]

Like has just been mentioned on the tv, what a cm Ox is

[Retro]

Yes, just as many bad calls against Milan, to be fair.

I just realised you were agreeing with me. Apologies.

[Icelander83]

At one point I thought thevref might be suspect, but it became apparent that he was just totally incompetent.

The goal kick you got from Ibra's free kick was what sealed it for me, just amazing ineptness

[Astafjevs]

It's scary that he's going to Euro 2012. So many big tournaments ruined by bad refereeing - hope he's not one of them.

[Retro]

The goal kick you got from Ibra's free kick was what sealed it for me, just amazing ineptness

That was incredible.

[dagoonerfan]

Look on the positive side - this time next week we could be a point behind Spurs

[pouncer]

EVERYTHING was on our side. Did all my pre-match superstitions and everything. The Koscielny goal. I knew we'd go through. 2-0, Rosicky. It was easy. 3-0 before half time and it was guaranteed we'd get that one more goal. We came out in the second half ready to go. We were on top, we were creating chances and van Persie was through! One on one! AND HE MISSED! I'd easily swap 10 of his EPL goals for that to have gone in. Then we stopped, our performance dropped and that was it, over. Gutted.

[Retro]

There's no way I would swap 10 of his goals for that miss. What's the point of losing a chance to finish 4th for the sake of a chance to go out on penalties.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

I'm not disappointed at all, if anything I'm delighted.

What a performance. Spirited, influential, inspiring. There are so many superlatives that I can use, but none can fully explain the level of effort that we showed. I'm hoping that Arsène's anger towards the match officials doesn't spill over onto the players. There's no time or need to point fingers at any individual or circumstance. We have to be proud of that performance, channel our concentration on the Newcastle match and secure this fourth position.

Proud to be a Gooner.

[ArsenalFan7]

I'm happy at the result but at the end of the day we were horrific in Milan and deserve to go out.

Putting ourselves into that situation was never going to end well. I'm very pleased at how we've responded though really.

[Icelander83]

There's no way I would swap 10 of his goals for that miss. What's the point of losing a chance to finish 4th for the sake of a chance to go out on penalties.

It's also easy to forget Milan missed an even better chance

[pouncer]

There's no way I would swap 10 of his goals for that miss. What's the point of losing a chance to finish 4th for the sake of a chance to go out on penalties.

I don't mean that. But at that moment - without thinking - obviously I'd have taken it, anyone would have done I think!

[ajw10]

Song has been awful recently

He's been running on empty for a while now. No rest and he's carrying an injury. Pretty heroic if you ask me.

Chamberlain had the flu last night, still turned in one of the best performances I have seen from an Arsenal player. Laurent Koscielny is the best CB I have seen since Sol Campbell. Woj the best keeper since Seaman. There's some real quality in this side.

[Sy13]

Only being able to bring on Chamakh and Park is unacceptable. Those 2 aren't even good enough for a Championship side, it's embarrassing.

Decent effort but we have lost more key players tonight to injury. Typical.

[johnhughthom]

Only being able to bring on Chamakh and Park is unacceptable. Those 2 aren't even good enough for a Championship side, it's embarrassing.

Decent effort but we have lost more key players tonight to injury. Typical.

When I'm feeling low, I always pop in to the Arsenal thread for some Sy13 optimism to cheer me up.

[ArsenalFan7]

Why does everyone hate Park Wasn't that just his 3rd appearance? And his 2nd sub appearance at that. He got a goal on his debut, why so much hate!

I'll agree the squad depth is absolutely awful though.

[Retro]

I haven't noticed much hate for Park. It's more that in the situation we were in tonight it would have been ideal to have some experience or quality to call upon, but things can't always be ideal.

[pouncer]

Who was sick tonight on the bench?

[ajw10]

There's no hate for Park. He's just terrible at football.

[Maestroik]

Another great performance by Rosicky.

[bergkamp]

Obviously it was always going to be difficult tonight and we done brilliantly to score 3 and not concede. But as it turned out it seems like Milan were there for the taken and we really could of done it. Van Persie maaannnn?? Of course because of how good hes been its forgiven and who knows what would of happened even if he did score. The injuries to Ox and Theo changed things as well. It was always going to be a strange match.

[Retro]

Theo's looked more of a knock so hopefully not too bad. Ox's looked more serious.

[bergkamp]

At least we don't play until Monday now. I get the feeling there will be a lot of knocks in that dressing room and some very tired legs. It was worth the gamble.

[ajw10]

Theo has a dead leg.

[Suggy33]

On a more positive note:

- Not lost at Emirates since Man Utd game in late Jan

- Won our last 3 games against Spurs, Liverpool and AC Milan

- We've scored 18 goals in our last 4 home games

[Razzler]

Bit of a lack of depth there but great performance, I was marking out in that first half. RvP I thought a little side foot to the right (keepers left) seemed the more obvious choice. I can understand why he didn't go for power.

Milan were probably worse than you in the 1st leg. You just know Milan will get a decent draw and some pile of poo will end up in the semi finals :/

[Candre168]

We lost against the ex Italian Prime Minister. We did well. No doubt the ref had a great time with Berlusconi's secretary last night.

[Retro]

The ref was making bad calls against them as well. He was incompetent, not corrupt.

[x-man]

Just watched the highlights and the commentator's "BASE CAMP!" after our second goal, plus Neville's "Bingo Time" after AOC won the penalty both just classic Partridge-esque moments.

[Sparky9334]

I though gary neville was pretty fantastic last night tbf.

Gutted mwe never got that 4th goal, but it was an epic performance. Special mentions for the Ox and Kos for their awesome performances. Rosicky was excellent too.

[chris79]

Rosicky's been great recently.

Makes you wonder if it has something to do with him being played in his natural position.

[Retro]

I don't mind Gary Neville as a pundit or co-commentator. He does tend to go on a bit when he's co-commentating but at least he doesn't talk rubbish all the time like Tony Gayle (who does too many of our Football First matches for my liking!).

I thought Vermaelen was looking back to his best again last night too.

[Razzler]

Neville is a fan of 'this lot are rubbish, Arsenal can score 5 or 6' in the same way he said that about Chelsea the other week at Napoli :/ I think he needs to speak less but he's alright