We have rushed out an Arsenal-led Mailbox because Stewie Griffin has given Arsenal credit for being ‘sensational’. Lordy. What next?
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Credit from Stewie!
Arsenal were sensational in Madrid, usual moment of imbecility notwithstanding. Their defensive organisation was excellent, MLS was outstanding given his age, Timber at full-back nullified Vinicius and Saliba was outstanding, outside of his stupidity.
5-1 over Madrid isn’t a trophy, PSG will be a much harder fixture but, credit where it’s due. Arteta managed this tie almost perfectly. And a reminder: “injuries” is just a ridiculous excuse. Arsenal have just demolished the CL holders whilst missing a host of players.
And yes, this is Stewie.
Stewie Griffin (I give credit where it’s due, but nothing has been won yet)
READ: Arteta will lead Arsenal to Champions League glory if he and they do that three more times
Arsenal were sooooo much better
So there was no Remontada, there was no aura, there was no fear. Arsenal thoroughly outplayed, dominated and deserved to knock out Real Madrid with an aggregate score of 5-1 and it did not flatter us one bit.
The really strange thing in the build up to the second leg was all this talk of ‘the Bernabeu’ ‘the remontada’ etc – it was all mythical guff and not one expert could actually point to how Real Madrid were going to go about beating Arsenal at football. History and aura doesn’t win games against good teams. There was no talk of tactics or players, or tempo, no actual analysis and thought behind how Madrid could beat Arsenal….Everyone was sucked in, which included a fair amount of disrespect to Arsenal because by talking about the Bernabeu’s aura meant there was just the assumption that Arsenal would wilt in Spain simply because it’s Madrid. Did no one watch the first leg, 3-0 but should have been more.
The contrast between the teams was epitomised by Rice v Bellingham. One won man of the match in both games, ran the show, scored big goals, stepped up and showed true leadership in a huge game….the other was essentially anonymous except when he was diving or moaning to the ref or throwing a tantrum. Timber, MLS and Kiwior also superb – at least 2 of not all 3 wouldn’t have been in many fans starting 11 at the start of the season.
Not taking anything for granted because every one of the 4 teams in the semis are capable of winning it and have strengths and weaknesses but for me PSG and Barca seem a better fit to suit the way Arsenal play rather than Inter Milan who are probably more like Arsenal. On to Paris and enjoying the ride
Rich, AFC
Some Arsenal points
– I don’t watch much La Liga sadly. But is Rodrigo the most overrated player in Europe? Is he even better than e.g. Trossard? Zero impact across the two legs.
– Rice has been IMMENSE
– LOVE that Saka ended up scoring a panenka-style finish
– PSG are going to be so difficult to beat
– Timber might be the best FB in Europe right now
Much love
Simon Cochrane
Has Mbappe f***ed Madrid?
It’s funny that Madrid signing Mbappe has basically allowed PSG to become a better team overall because now they have 11 players putting the same effort in and meanwhile Madrid have turned into the team PSG were – a team of big names who don’t give you big games.
So many supposed superstars have gone missing, not just in these two legs against Arsenal but also against Liverpool too.
Mbappe, Vinícius are both players who I’ve always felt were good players but very overrated. Bellingham and Fede were players I thought were world class and both have done f*** all. This season has made Bellingham look like a dodged bullet for Liverpool especially since Mac Allister has had such a good year.
Arsenal have bossed these two games. Out passed them. Out ran them. Out thought them and at 56 minutes right now Madrid don’t look like they could score if the game lasted for 600 minutes and I doubt this Madrid team would finish top four in the Premier League based on the 6 games or so I’ve seen them this year.
Credit were due Arsenal have played extremely well and fully deserved to go through. Bask in it gooners, moments like these are what makes football great. Shame Villa couldn’t join you in the next round but they can feel proud of their efforts against what is probably the best team in the competition.
Lee
Heroes and Villans
When Ezri Konsa rolled in the goal that put us in the lead vs PSG in the 57th minute and I’d stopped losing my shit and hugging/being hugged by half of the top tier of the Holte End, I found myself saying over and over:
“They couldn’t….could they?!?”
Sadly, it wasn’t to be. I had a feeling that the 93rd minute goal in the first leg would cost us and so it proved. However, as I walked up the steps of Villa Park I felt nothing but pride and nothing had changed as I walked down them to head home. Other people have said it in earlier mailboxes that it wasn’t too long ago that we were struggling to get out of the Championship so to get into the Champions League was a tremendous feat in itself, but then you factor in:
– We finished in the top 8 in the group stages.
– We won 8 matches in total – no other team in their debut Champions League campaign has managed this to date.
– We beat the champions of France, Switzerland, Scotland and Belgium (twice!), as well as the team that more often than not are the champions of Germany.
– We progressed further than European regulars like Liverpool, Man City, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Benfica. What odds would you have gotten on that before a ball was kicked?!?
But for some absolutely top drawer saves from Donnarumma (the bastard), I could have been writing a completely different e-mail today but I’ve got absolutely no regrets. PSG were absolutely unplayable in that first leg and deserved the result – fair play to them. Under Unai Emery, we’ve crept under the radar of a lot of people. This campaign hasn’t just made people sit up and take notice, but actually agree unanimously that we belong at the top table amongst Europe’s elite. I just hope and pray we can take this momentum and use it to try and finish in the top 5 (which we can say we played our part in!) so that we can do it all over again next season.
Up the Villa. Now and forevermore.
Jeff G, West Brom Villan (Someone buy the fourth official a watch. 3 minutes stoppage time??? Not even close….)
Kudos to PSG
Fair play to Villa, what a game and what a night, one massive Donnarumma arm from a Champs League semi.
I think it’s worth pointing out and recognising – and I’m sure others have – just how good PSG were in those last 20/25 mins. Villa had most of the ball, and tried and tried, but PSG shut the game down wonderfully.
Their defense and midfield didn’t stop running, closing Villa down and not allowing them to create many real chances. In fact, I’d say PSG looked the more likely to score, such was the intelligence of their clearances and the speed of their counters.
Honestly, PSG’s idea of binning off Galacticos and working as a proper team is paying dividends.
Kudos to Enrique and pals, commiseration to Emery and pals. After spending Monday evening watching the dullest 1-1 draw between Hull and Coventry, last night was a treat and a pleasure.
Robert Welbourn
The big Premier League question
I know noone cares about this record apart from 365, but Palace need 7 pts from.their last 6 games to reach 50. It doesn’t look easy.
They’ve got Bournemouth, Arsenal, Forest, Spurs, Wolves and Liverpool. Maybe Liverpool will be on holiday by then, maybe Arsenal will rest some players for the Champions League but it looks like they’ll need to beat Bournemouth, Spurs and Wolves to stand a chance of breaking through their ceiling.
Will they do it? Part of me hopes they don’t!
Ian, Portsmouth
Amorim has dreadful people skills
Amorim really is the gift that keeps giving. Having unceremoniously dropped Onana (after announcing to the press that he is totally confident in him) making a much bigger issue of his performances, only to find that other GKs make mistakes, he has now announced that he is “ready to return”, rhetoric that he wouldn’t be employing had Bayindir played a blinder against Newcastle.
Onana, a player with a questionable temperament at the best of times, is now under even more pressure in a game that is utterly pivotal in United’s season (and they don’t have many of those), and going into it, does anyone really think he is going to play particularly well? Who would be surprised if he made a game losing error?
Amorim has dreadful people skills. These were clearly masked when he was managing a winning team, and when a team is winning, the ends justifies the means (Mourinho has made a career out of that), but when they are not, then everything is under the spotlight. He has made so many mistakes in his short tenure, it’s hard to remember them all. It’s just marvellous that he has made such a hash of the job, continues to do so, yet still retains the support of the fans, who clearly are stuck between a rock and hard place because we all know managers need time.
But of course, giving him time is no guarantee of success, so if Amorim is the car crash that logic suggests he is, then it will be half of next season before the plug is pulled, and that will be, obviously, even more hilarious, although my thoughts and prayers would be with BW who is basically in an abusive relationship with United at this point.
However, should United get past Lyon, and ultimately win the EL, then that could just be the springboard that they need. Looking at who is left, there is no clear favourite, is there? We might even end up with a Spurs/United final which would be a damning indictment on the quality of the tournament, wouldn’t it?
All these permutations are why football is so endlessly fascinating, of course.
What a time to be a Liverpool fan. It won’t last, fellow redmen. Make the most of it.
Mat (if you haven’t got something nice to say about Hillsborough, how about saying nothing?)
