Gallowgate Toon

They're not going to drop Iniesta after the season he just had.

Senna is class like, but Arshavin has never played against a holding midfielder in this tournament or one of any real class. All CL teams have a holding midfielder, and some are even better than Senna so i think put him in at Barca where he will be meeting these types of opponents week in week out then i think he'll be shown up big style. Yes but in the champions league playing for Barcelona teams are not just going to stop Arshavin there is Messi Iniesta Xavi and whoever else they bring in He was singled out yesterday because of how good he is put him in a team with other world class players and he will be brilliant Man marking? if he signs for Barcelona he'll most likely be their AM, he's going to meet well balanced teams who play a holding midfielder, how's he going to cope. Lots of players can be brilliant for Barca though, doesn't make them great, a great player can lift a shit team, can make a shit team good, Russia aren't shit and he didn't look good when he finally got some tough opposition.

Senna is class like, but Arshavin has never played against a holding midfielder in this tournament or one of any real class. All CL teams have a holding midfielder, and some are even better than Senna so i think put him in at Barca where he will be meeting these types of opponents week in week out then i think he'll be shown up big style.

Alot of people on here have never said he was great, i personally have never before mentioned that he's a 'great' player because i've never seen it in him. He's never played against the top opposition, so how can you judge him to be great? it was ridiculous to say how he was amazing after 2 matches.

So, would you be saying you wouldn't welcome him as a signing then? For us, he'd be class and i'd welcome him as he's miles better than anything here, but for the likes of Barca where he'll be playing in the Champions League i think its too much. I'm not saying he's not a good player because he is, but he'll never be great like he's been hyped up to be.

Tbh he's not as mint as people have put him up to be, yeah he was class against Sweden but they're s*** and Holland suited the Russians, the Spanish control play whereas the Dutch are all about getting to the goal as fast as possible, Arshavin had loads of holes to drop into against the Dutch because they were so open but again its the opposite with the Spanish. I don't think it was a Spanish tactical masterclass, just the fact he's not good enough against the best teams, simple. This was his first big test, and he failed but the worrying thing is he's 27 he should be dealing with it better, never be a great player imo.

Is that not unjust though, this tournament Arda has been played out wide left, Modric has been deployed in a central role. It's much easier for Modric to be the pinnacle of play over Arda as he is in the centre, where most play is created. Didn't catch the whole game btw just the penalties, so i'm not sure who was where last night.

We didn't win one single game without Oba, says it all really.

Maybe but that was pre Keegan, where he was under-confident and under isolation, he has never been the same since Keegan put him in that 4-3-3 with a good contribution to the team, much improved general play and goals. I think it would be unfair to judge how good Martins is until we've seen more of him. Please name a player like him? how can you replace that pace when there are not many if any quicker?

Today i think showed how good a player he really is, technically looked good, and was the only real threat for me.

Personally think that Dunne has looked shit without Richards. Never looked a player before this season either.

His build up play has really stood out under Keegan, maybe because he's been encouraged to play the ball around on the floor rather than be expected to control 70 yard balls being fired out from the back. Agree, his infamous first touch has actually looked pretty good, not that it was that bad anyway. Shown good skills and some intelligent passing.

According to telegraph 91% passing accuracy today, and their MOTM.

Disagree, his passing this season has been excellent just today he was a bit off. I can live with the odd miss-hit pass, what pleases me is the intent to play the ball, or the ideas behind the passes. Enrique was trying to set Martins away with a curved channel ball in between the full-back and centre-half, while playing on the touchline himself, one of the hardest passes to pull off. With such passes, you're going to send a few astray, but it only takes one killer ball.... I agree, some of his passes this season have been brilliant, and he seems to consistently pull them off. Him and Martins are an extremely dangerous combination down that left flank.

Disagree, his passing this season has been excellent just today he was a bit off.

I watched Milan vs Empoli (i think) and Pato has an absolute mare, scored the goal but the commentators lambasted him for not passing. Rightly so imo, just tried to dribble past everyone.

Yer, i thought him and Bojan were supposed to be the best youngsters in Spain.

Personally thought that Martins displayed great technical ability today, first touch looked pretty good imo.

i think it's disgusting how the bbc's priorities lie within the title race over good football games, shambolic.

Did he do some flips?

YESSSSSSS

Henry was something else, he was not as skillful as Ronaldo but alot more elegant with the way he moved and picked things out, he never scored a 'scrappy' goal.

I thought Reyes was good for Arsenal (from memory). The only reason they sold him was because he was doing things like refusing to play and not getting stuck in and being an all round twat. Didn't he score quite alot? certainly remember a couple of screamers from him.

Had more than his fair share of injury problems, if my memory serves me correctly.

Nah he only gave it away 2/3 times.