Arsene Wenger says Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi are the best attacking force he’s ever come against and capable of turning ‘normal life into art’.
The trio grabbed a goal each on a wet night at the Camp Nou as Barcelona built on Messi’s first-leg brace to secure a 5-1 aggregate victory over Arsenal in the Champions League.
The Gunners had chances of their own to panic Luis Enrique’s side, but managed to only get three of their efforts at goal on target. It was a difference that the boss couldn’t help but highlight when he faced the press after the match.
“It was a team performance and the quality was good,” said Wenger of his side’s showing.
“I’m disappointed with the result but we played against a team with the best strikers I have seen play together. It is exceptional, they can make chances from nothing.
“We could not take our chances to [find] a second goal that would put us in a strong position tonight but after they scored and it was 2-1, our belief was less than when it was 1-1. We had chances and Barcelona are an exceptional side.”
“We could have taken the dangerous situations we created,” he continued. Barcelona, going forward in the final third with the quality of passing and creativity, Messi was absolutely exceptional.
“Barcelona, going forward in the final third with the quality of passing and creativity, Messi was absolutely exceptional. He went for 90 minutes and came out of the game without missing a first touch, no matter where the ball came from. Barcelona have two or three players who can transform normal life into art.”
Problem, especially in attack is while we are full of players with potentials other top teams have the finished world class ones.Time to invest heavily Arsene.
Problem is he didn’t acknowledge he blew the chance on snapping up one of three World Class attackers we are lacking.
I’m a total fan but can not support the hierarchy decisions. There’s no eagerness to want to be the best which trickles down to a lack of fighting spirit in the team.
But as always…
Forever COYG!!!
What really changed when Ozil and then Alexis came? Fair bit of hype and, certainly, those two players themselves definitely showed what they could do. But we still (a) started the season shakily and then (b) clawed our way to the top two in the table and we all thought YES, finally! … and then (c) only to implode after new year and (d) in the midst of that, we also still contrived to trip over our own laces against lesser CL opposition… and (e) yes, even with the glorious but futile sparks at the Allianz. Even the promising ‘click’… Read more »
They make chances from nothing, we make nothing from chances.
Greatest comment I’ve read on any Blog in 2016… nicely done Cornelius.
I agree For me, despite all the flash play and possession of barca, arsenal played well and caused them some problems of their own going forward. The difference between them and us yesterday was the quality of their forwards, ….they are truly ‘world class’ and @Cornelius P. described it perfectly,….They make chances from nothing, we make nothing from chances.” endof. To illustrate, the messi’s goal was from a through pass that left messi clear on goal with only ospina to beat, ospina came off his line quickly, as a good keeper should, to try and smother the chance and narrow… Read more »
Sorry but it was too long to read
Back to the kids table for you then buzzy lad
Very good points well made
Agree with some of your reasoning but you seem to muddle things after you’ve had your half time orange segment… To whit: What really changed when Ozil and then Alexis came… fair bit of hype and those two players themselves definitely showed what they could do. But we still (a) started the season shakily and then (b) clawed our way to the top two in the table and we all thought YES, finally! … and then (c) only to implode after new year and (d) in the midst of that, we also still contrived to trip over our own laces… Read more »
Dear Arsene, I truly respect what you have done for the club we all love but these sound bites are becoming tiresome. You would gain much more respect from me by admitting that you were wrong in your assumption that we didn’t need another striker because the goals would come from the team as a whole. Divey Biting Racist (thanks Tom) has scored 43 in 42 games. Just imagine where we would be right now with half that performance I.e. An extra 20 goals. And no I don’t have any idea where to find such a player because I’m just… Read more »
Well said, I would like this more than once if I could!!!
Wonderful post!
I don’t think he’s gonna read this mate
He’s had more than enough time
If he cannot get past this stage with who he has access to now he probably never will
Especially when you consider the last two windows
While Arsenal make chances for nothing.
And Arsene makes ecxuses out of nothing.
While we get a bunch of nothings when the window opens.
Welbeck did a bendtner the TGSTEL would have been proud
A decent performance I thought, and a decent game to watch. Just needed the finishing to be a bit more clinical/composed. Same old story though I suppose. Apart from the season that RVP didn’t get injured we haven’t had a clinical striker since Henry/Bergkamp.
Hopefully this summer that gets sorted, we would have had the EPL in the bag by now if we could actually get the ball in the back of the net! We should probably throw our warchest at Everton and grab Lukaku whilst there not looking!
Reckon if moshiri’s buying of Everton was all planned by Usmanov to get us lukaku and barkley…
Sounds a bit farfetched and dubious but you never know.
while at it bring us stones n galloway as well. take some walcott flamini gabriel n wenger as i take my coat bye.
Did they though?
Sloppy play from kos left gabriel and bellerin exposed for the first.
Suarez was completely unmarked for the second.
We gave the ball away for the third.
Chances don’t necessarily have to be scored just ask Arsenal.
Yep – watching Kos for their first, I think he was missing Prince Ramesis so decided so show his solidarity with his injured team mate by charging up over halfway, getting caught in possession, falling over and not being able to get back in time, leaving a gaping MSN sized hole behind him… and we thought we miss Rambo!
but who doesnt do that againts us? :/ a naive team allover from defence to the board n management
i think its time for another not so secret, secret meeting especially before the Everton game
Only as long as Theo can lead the meeting….
I’d take a front three of Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires over them any day
Remember when we could say we had Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, that traitorous wanker left back, Vieira and even if we had a tiny little stadium and not the greatest finances we could still make a valid case for being an elite European team. Now we have Ozil Alexis and Cech, a huge stadium and a fat bank account yet here we are drooling over a Barcelona team that hardly got out of 2nd gear over the course of two games to spank us for 5. Somethings just not right about that.
Errmm… now that you put it like that…
I have been critical of Wenger but last night’s game meant nothing. There was no way this side was beating the Spanish giants, no matter what Wenger did. No one could accuse the side of failing to top the group either, cos duh … Bayern. So the side cudn’t hv finished top and cudn’t have beaten the wud be Spanish champs. Tough luck! However the game against Everton, is a tricky one, and if Arsenal lose, which lets face it is a real possibility, then the fight for 4th wud be truly on, especially with Arsenal still to travel to… Read more »
obviously finishing out of the top 4 in a season where we had a real chance of winning the title would be catastrophic but it might be exactly what the club needs to wake up to the reality of things cos if we maintain status quo, i cant see things changing.
I would love to see changes at mangement level…. But exactly who is available to take over should wenger step aside . If someone better is available , by all means step down , if not …….
Simone has done wonders for athletico Madrid. They are outdoing Real Madrid with half of their budget. He has even made Torres play better.
I have never been one of the Wenger boo boys but in the last two weeks I have started to doubt his future at Arsenal. I fear the Moyes Factor so think we’d have to be very careful who we brought in…As Pepe has sold his soul my only real consideration would be if we could get Joachim Loew, I mean how good is that Germany side under him?
Löw just copies whatever Bayern Munich are doing with the German team.
I’ve seen nothing to suggest that he’s a great manager (not that I’ve seen anything to disprove it, either).
He has better players than practically every other team (Spain might have something to say about that) so it shouldn’t be particularly difficult to get that team to win.
I might’ve been blinded by torrential rain and 10000 feet up but I’m pretty sure they made at least one of those chances from our defensive mistakes
Özil stole the ball to Messi, but who cares? It’s just Özil after all. Nothing to notice.
We need some players like that.
After every game, press conference, excuse, I despise him more.
He had the chance to sign Suarez but passed on it, had the chance to sign messi too, di Maria.. But he keeps giving dumb excuse about not have quality and all that.
Just leave Ffs
So Wengs, you wanna bid 1 pound more above the release clause, just couple years ago, for that guy who bites and scores every game without exception? Maybe should’ve gone 10 quid up, that would’ve been enough for sure… (sarcasm intended, hopefully achieved)
yes, Barcelona can make chances out of nothing, that is true. what gives them that impetus? because they have world class players, at least 6 of them in that team. why do arsenal lack the ambition to reach the competitive level with barca, real Madrid and Bayern. arsenal have a reach history, are respected all over the world and are among the 10 riches clubs in the world, so they are not financially inferior to these listed clubs. now, if Wenger marvels at the dazing artistry of the barca magicians and truly believes that arsenal have world class players in… Read more »
Barcelona make chances out of nothing and Arsenal make nothing out of chances, thanks Wenger?
Oops didn’t notice somebody already make this point. I thought I was soo witty. Smh
I’m over wenger
What a shame yesterday where we Barca under real pressure. The difference was finishing. We seem to get punished for every mistake made. And critical mistakes we make regularly.
Wenger looks like a dinosaur with young coaches around. These younger lot have the intensity that sadly lacks in our gaffer. His time is winding with the support base dwindling fast.
The only positive is El Neny and Iwobi. These two are going to be big players if managed properly. Now on to Everton. If we don’t win the game, we’ll have a big fight for the coveted 4th place.
COYG!
@ BimsJay What really changed when Ozil and then Alexis came? Fair bit of hype and, certainly, those two players themselves definitely showed what they could do. But we still (a) started the season shakily and then (b) clawed our way to the top two in the table and we all thought YES, finally! … and then (c) only to implode after new year and (d) in the midst of that, we also still contrived to trip over our own laces against lesser CL opposition… and (e) yes, even with the glorious but futile sparks at the Allianz. Even the… Read more »
On the point of buying expensive, world class talent… What really changed when Ozil and then Alexis came? Fair bit of hype and, certainly, those two players themselves definitely showed what they could do. But we still (a) started the season shakily and then (b) clawed our way to the top two in the table and we all thought YES, finally! … and then (c) only to implode after new year and (d) in the midst of that, we also still contrived to trip over our own laces against lesser CL opposition… and (e) yes, even with the glorious but… Read more »
Sometimes I wonder if we actually train on finishing rather than just passing. Aubameyang was really wasteful when he was in France. Then he moved to Dortmund and suddenly became a serial goal scorer. What changed? Well I believe he worked very hard on his finishing, that’s all.
They made chances out of gaps in our tactics and lack of goal threat. Everyone knows we can’t convert so the door is left open. We have too many committed forward so we stuff a jamb in it too to make sure.
That is not nothing AW.