Team to face PSG: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Rice, Merino, Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
Come on, Arsenal!!!!
Nerves are. Kicking. In. Big. Time. Now.
Also @awooga83 , I had a wagyu burger - very good. Jo is currently munching down a rotisserie chicken, which seems to be going down well.
RocktheCasbah wagyu burger, how the other half live😜 on my way to the North bank such a big game for the club COYG!!!
Teams as expected....
Not much to be found on our bench. Not sure why, but I suspect Arteta may (unfortunately) look to Sterling before Nwaneri.
Thank God i have been so swamped at work so far today that i haven't had time to be nervous. But i am starting to get real nervy now!
I know this sounds boring but I'm still not over that stupid Partey yellow card. Anyway, Merino in midfield presents us with another way to hurt them. Get the ball out wide to Saka and instruct Merino to make ghosting runs into the box. He's a better in the air that both of their CBs and they'll find it far harder to win a header against him arriving in the box compared to if he was waiting for crosses in the box.
Gotta say I am a bit pessimistic going into this as we are missing far too many players. This will likely end in a draw methinks. Hope we smash them though.
Tactics I'm still not over that stupid Partey yellow card
Yeah, and thats why Rice was so pissed at him. But if we have to play without him, i'd rather do it at home than away.
Tactics -- I do think getting Merino into the box will be dangerous. Could even see an approach (moments in the game) where Odegaard comes deeper, and Merino is our furthest forward midfielder.
I need the real Odegaard tonight. If we get that we'll win.
Feel much more nervous for this than I did the Madrid home tie but only because I felt like we were playing with house money there and have expectations today.
I also can't kick the feeling that we win comfortably today. I watched a lot of PSG's Champs League games and then rewatched the extended highlights of all their UCL games this past few days out of nerves. They've been impressive but they've also given up a ton of chances in the ties against Villa and Liverpool. They also haven't played a team as defensively solid as us. I think we have the best defender (Saliba), midfielder (Rice) and attacker (Saka) in the tie and it will be important for Saka to win his battle again against Mendes. Really hope we can avoid any needless mistakes and go at them today. Cmon Arsenal!
samthegooner I felt like we were playing with house money there and have expectations today.
Thats 100% fair, and i have felt the same. We had no 'real' pressure against Madrid since everyone had pretty much written us off. But given our performance in that tie, now the stakes and the expectations are higher.
Do you guys see this as the 'glamour tie' of the semi finals, or do you feel like the other one is bigger? (leaving the Arsenal tinted glasses off).
USArsenal -- a week or two back it would have been even in my mind. But since then Inter has fallen off performance wise, and they don't have the stars to make them as appealing.
So yeah, both teams in this tie have stars, where as only Barcelona provides the glamour in the other tie.
I am so anxious. Not felt like this about an Arsenal match for a very long time. Heart says we will actually smash them. Head says we will barely have a hope once this leg is done. Extreme feelings only. Needs to kick off like now
our last semi was 16 years ago. Jesus, I'm old.
Here they come out of the tunnel.. Now im bricking it.
LETS DO THIS GUYS! COME ON!!
Our bench really is a little hollow. Hopefully, we won't need to lean on it all that much...
Fuck
