Arsenal~Fanatic wrote:Feck sake we are not minnows to be shitting in our pants at the sight of Barca. This is what the club has been reduced to these days where the best hope is not to suffer a battering. When the manager is spineless it reverberates amongst the supporters as well. I simply cannot stomach the cowardice that has crept in to the club from top to bottom. A shrewd manager would serve Barcelona something they don't fancy. Apply physical pressure on them, get under their noses and try to attack them in the air. But hey we don't love preparations and tactics. We love to play one way and even if it means getting our a*ses handed to us in our own fecking backyard. Today Chelsea thrashed City and we have fans queing up a goalless home draw against a hapless hull.
You pose a problem and basically answer it within your own post. The manager at the helm has caused the attitude to creep in, an attitude which none of our fans should be subjected to believing but one which is the case given the disparity in quality compared to the world's best and the lack of alternative approach from the management as you suggested.
If we were Chelsea or had Mourinho would we be worried? Chelsea always lost to Barca (in their 00's feud) by a piece of crap reffing or at least by narrow margins, we've been subjected to Messi v Almunia and a 15 minute turnaround thanks to 36 year old Henrik Larsson... more recently a Douglas Costa skillshow. I believe we can get a result over 1 leg if we're lucky, play well and they don't show up 100%. Over two legs it would take much more preparation and a lot of luck on top.
Games like this are why I want change, we used to take this manager, take our top team and go to places like the Bernabeu and win. We used to have more desire on top of more quality and the ability therefore to beat anyone in the world. Now we rely on an off day and some luck (see Bayern 2-0 then Bayern 5-1). I want to believe we can progress but I am genuinely scared of a Liverpool 5-1 and Chelsea 6-0 game.
I'm sure i'll get told to stop crying and whatever but I don't care, if we can pull two games out of the bag along the lines of City away last year then I will be more than impressed with Wenger's new found ability to adapt.