So agonizing that I was cursing more than a pirate would ever dream of.

I couldn't believe not one went into the back of the net. Eboue is still a putz for going down trying to get a penalty, but beyond that he actually played well. Walcott was running wild there in the last few minutes with his pace. AC Milan were exhausted. Adebayor played well, but his first and second touch just wasn't there tonight. He missed Cesc pretty bad on one occasion, and Cesc would have been one on one with the keeper from the penalty spot. He had a really bad second touch when Lehmann sprung him free with a great throw.

On the good side, it was a 0-0 draw, so we didn't give up that away goal. So it's not all bad. We can still advance with a 1-1 draw. We just have to put one in the back of the net on the second leg, which I don't see why we couldn't. Adebayor and Bendtner up front for the second leg.

Sorry? What do you mean?

AC Milan weren't that good in the Serie A last year either (not quite as bad as this year). They always peak around this time of the campaign, and Europe is their specialty.

Man United played Lyon, not much of a challenge there and yet they scrapped a draw at the end.

If Dida was in goal, it would have been 10-0. Hopefully he'll pay in the second leg.


Oh yeah, Senderos = savior. haha

Remember the last time we were at the San Siro? Inter 1-5 Arsenal.

If Dida is in goal, it's possible.

I think Milan are smart and despite being outclassed tonight, they did the silly little things right - they knew where and when to hoof the ball and despite not being able to play any real football in the 2nd half, they knew how to clear their lines. I think that experience could really bite us in the head.

I think we have to use a five man Midfield again - it was so effective tonight. Pirlo was embarrassingly bad; Gattuso was simply outclassed; Kaká struggled to produce and couldn't get anywhere near Cesc or Flamini. I think Hleb is best in the AM role and he was brilliant tonight - I just think he failed to support Adebayor in the final third.

The weak spot was Eduardo, and although he played well and gave 100%, he is just not a Winger. Play him further forwards on the toes of the CB and he'll destroy you, but in Midfield he doesn't have the know-how, the physique or the stamina.

If we can get Rosický back it'd be magic. Whether he'd be fit and up for it, I don't know but we could do with his wingplay which is the best we've got at the moment. If we could get van Persie fit and use him as a weapon late on, it'd be great as well. If Milan line up with the same side, I'll be happy enough. Kaká and Pato were nullified.

Senderos was outstanding as well - I think he deserves the credit again. Stepping into Kolo Touré's shoes on a massive European game against the Champions in front of 60,000 fans? He gets too much criticism and not enough praise - so here you go Phil! He has really been brilliant as a replacement for Touré in the the recent months.

Oh that's the real Arsenal is it? Play at home and not score, and only create one clear chance in the whole match? Cool! Because the bottom line from this game is that it's advantage Milan. They'll fancy themselves to win at home.

Defences were on top in this game. Arsenal played well and dominated the midfield, but apart from the gilt edged opportunity at the end from Adebayor, I don't recall any other great chances being created. Milan looked happy for the draw and settle the tie at the San Siro.

Pato looks a real star in the making. He's one to watch for sure.

I loved it when Pato had an opening on the wing and ran at Senderos. Senderos just stood his ground running alongside and just let Pato do his dances, twists, curves and whatever else he does and then just stood him up at the end.

The Senderos of 3 or 4 months ago would have panicked and screwed it up. He's come a long ways.

The commentators said something along the lines of "Senderos' experience came to play there". I couldn't help but chuckle at that comment.

Outclassing Milan in one game is one thing, and many teams have done it, it's the second game where everyone's tripped up and Arsenal will too.

As good a performance it was by Arsenal, AC Milan were for the majority totally hapless. They could barely string a few passes together let alone mount any attacks of substance... Only breaking away in one's, two's and at the most three's.

A hatful of missed chances counts for nothing and Milan will definitely be the happier, content to take 0-0 back to Italy, where Arsenal will be up against it. Playing as they did tonight - both sides - and i'd expect Arsenal to come out as victors, but then i'd bet on a far superior performance from AC. It's well and truly open anyway.

One clear chance? Advantage Milan? We score one at the San Siro and they have to score two. We truly outclassed them tonight and gain all confidence points. We have the thumb on them, and truly outclassed them tonight.

It was the real Arsenal in the sense that we outclassed the European Champions throughout the game and played with passion, spirit, ambition, determination, style and true class.

That's why it was the real Arsenal.



Happy to play for a draw? Milan were hanging on by the skin of their teeth and none of their players could do much to prevent that. We ripped them to shreds mate, and they were very lucky to hang on. Anybody who ain't biased can clearly see that. They will be extremely relieved that they didn't concede three.



Eh? He was outplayed by Senderos for the entire game. Adebayor did everything that Pato couldn't do. Alright, he has skill, pace and trickery but I don't know how you can compliment him after seeing that performance - as I said, Phil Senderos outplayed him quite comfortably in all aspects of the game.

Be real for once. Compliment one of the players who outclassed the likes of Kaká, Seedorf, Maldini, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo etc.

One clear chance? Advantage Milan? We score one at the San Siro and they have to score two. We truly outclassed them tonight and gain all confidence points. We have the thumb on them, and truly outclassed them tonight.

It was the real Arsenal in the sense that we outclassed the European Champions throughout the game and played with passion, spirit, ambition, determination, style and true class.

That's why it was the real Arsenal.

Score one in the San Siro? Mate you couldn't even score one in your own backyard! And as for the outclassing them and playing with passion, ambition etc., they let you have the midfield so you would commit going forward meaning that they could counter with Kaka and Pato. To be fair, your defence coped very well especially considering the early loss of Toure. But they were just as comfortable in defence considering how much territory they conceded. Like I said - defences on top.

Happy to play for a draw? Milan were hanging on by the skin of their teeth and none of their players could do much to prevent that. We ripped them to shreds mate, and they were very lucky to hang on. Anybody who ain't biased can clearly see that. They will be extremely relieved that they didn't concede three.

Eh??!! How were they lucky to hang on? OK, Adebayor's late chance aside, what else did you create? You had some half chances from outside the box but nothing that Milan would have trouble dealing with. They are a very experienced side and would have expected some Arsenal pressure anyway. You make it sound like they've never been attacked at such a level before. United scored three past them at Old Trafford last season - this was a walk in the park compared to that!

Pato was outplayed by Senderos for the entire game. Adebayor did everything that Pato couldn't do. Alright, he has skill, pace and trickery but I don't know how you can compliment him after seeing that performance - as I said, Phil Senderos outplayed him quite comfortably in all aspects of the game.

It was his Champions' League debut and he's only 18!! I wasn't expecting him to tear your defence to shreds like Nani did on Saturday. But I was impressed with his skill, strength, composure and quick thinking. I'm not saying he's world class now. I'm saying he will be Adebayor had a fine game too - as I said in another thread I rate him very highly, and the goal would have been deserving. But he's got bags more experience than Pato of playing in a tough physical league so his performance didn't surprise me at all.

Be real for once. Compliment one of the players who outclassed the likes of Kaká, Seedorf, Maldini, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo etc.

J-Axe my friend, we have to assess Milan's performance in context of the situation. Recent history shows that in the knockout matches they tend to settle for a draw and look to win the tie at home. They did it last year with Celtic away (0-0), Bayern Munich (2-2) and nearly did it against Man Utd, although Rooney punished them right at the death (3-2). But on all three occasions they won the return at the San Siro. The previous season they drew away to Bayern (1-1) and Lyon (0-0) before beating both at the San Siro. The season before that when they reached the final they won all three home legs. See a pattern emerging here? They are very formidable at home in the Champions' League - I know it, they know it and the opposition know it. Now you know it. And because of this, this is why they are happy enough to battle for a draw to win the tie at home.

Glad to see someone else who understands AC Milan's strategy in winning the tie

Sorry pal. I'm finished with this argument right here, right now as it's obviously going to be completely senseless if you believe this nonsense.

It's hard to score a goal when the opponents have 7 bodies in the 6 yard box. I don't care who you are, or what strikers you have out there. If your opponents have 7 bodies in the 6 yard box, you're not gonna score unless it's a piece of absolute brilliance.

Credit to the back four of Milan and their goalkeeper. They took the punishment, looked rattled at times, they bent and bent some more, but never broke.

But everyone that said Arsenal were going to sputter to a halt and have a major loss of confidence after the loss to Man United on Saturday have been proven wrong.

Milan were simply outplayed. To suggest they meant for that to happen and purposely let our Midfield outplay them is ridiculous. Their strength is in their Midfield with Seedorf, Kaká, Pirlo and Gattuso bringing in all sorts of qualities, experience and strengths.

We still sliced them open on several occasions and yes we were probably a little too nervy with the final shot, but we tested Kalac plenty of times. There were quite a few occasions in where we ripped them apart so easily that we had three red shirts in their box and only one Defender remaining. We outpassed them and outplayed them.

We were very unlucky to not have seen the net bulge and that is partly down to good keeping and niggle defending. I do think we failed to really support Adebayor much, but we had a defensive mind intact as well - we didn't want to let them get the away goal and that's why we stuck out a 5 man Midfield for most of the tie, even during the period when we pummelled them.

They were very lucky and they should be extremely happy & relieved.

I agree, thats almost as ridiculous as saying Arsenal didnt even want to win their FA Cup match against Man U.

Why cant Arsenal seem to play without the nasty tricks and cheating coming into it every game? Milan twice played the ball out of play for fake Arsenal injuries, then the fans and players all get in a huff when asked to play it out for a Milan player to be stretchered off the field!

sounds like love!

i find it hard for you not to complain about bits and pieces when your team doesn't win or play draw.. =P
having 7 bodies in the 6 yard box can be a brilliant tactic.. better wenger lives with that idea.. lol..
if you can't score.. just admit it straightly.. i saw a little highlight and the shots were less good ones.. XD

eboue's getting worse.. now he's not just known for dirty tackles.. also popular for dirty cheats.. rofl..
hope next time you're not too desperate to score till come up with the idea of winning by a penalty.. tsk..

I didn't see the match (just the adebayor miss) and it sounded like quite a good game.

I wouldn't write Arsenal off just yet, they are sticklers for going away and grinding out a result.
The fact it is against AC does make the Italians favourites, so hopefully their class will shine through and defeat the wannabee's.





Crikey that is lots.

i dont think i quite agree with J-Axe about last night`s performance . I did not think we completely outclassed or outplayed AC Milan , yes we dominated most of the game and should have scored a couple but most of our shots were fairly weak efforts and straight at the keeper . He was never really tested that much ...the Milan defence was well organised and that was obviously their plan ..dont concede and get back to the San Siro all square ...it worked .

Wenger was spot on when he said we lacked a bit of composure in front of goal ...

The booking of Eboue was a bit harsh , there was contact but he did go down too easily ...i hope he does learns from these incidents ..he is getting a bad reputation ..

Ok the misses ....Eboue a great chance but just curled it wide , Bendtner who blasted it wide when in a good position ...and then Adebayor in the last seconds ....the header hit the bar ...that summed our night up really , J-Axe mentioned Liverpool had the luck with them against Inter .. i hope we will get some at the San Siro ...we will need it ...no english team has ever beaten Ac Milan there ..


Still we have made history before ....we can do it again .