It's Barcelona again

Lol.. Walcott said that you guys wanted to face Barca... Wish Granted!

Tasty.

If we knock them out, I'd fancy the boost it would give us to carry us all the way.

At least we can have a good trial run for the Barca game against stoke 2moro......

OH DEAR

I will stump up the cash for someone to take Messi out one way or another.

Double negative there ajwb. But I do agree with you. We have a great deal to fear. If Messi gets crocked in the interim I reckon we might stand a chance.

We didnt do that badly last time we played them. We drew 2-2 at home and took the lead away with Mikel Feckin Silvestre playing centre back. Also we had no Arhavin, Gallas, RVP or Song and were in the game until the same old naivety struck just before half time. Of course Barca are super favourites but what have we go to lose? There is also a 1 in 4 chance we may have broken our trophy drought by then as well, so the pressure could be off.

"I dont think we have nothing to fear against them ,we can show that we're on par if not better than Barca" - please let me know the kind of psychotropic drug you're using, I'm interested in getting some. At least we'll have one less competition to worry about once we're very easily eliminated.

If nothing else, it's another opportunity for us to benchmark ourselves against the very best. I don't expect us to go through, but I am certainly looking for some improvement from last year's mauling. We concede far too many goals against average teams, so we'll have to outscore Barca to beat them. Not likely.

We seem to play better when there aren't many expectations of us. Know one will give us a chance to get within 5 of them, who knows, stranger things have happened and Walcott scares them hence Messi's comments after the WC. Still think we'll lose but we have a shot to nothing.

I've been bed ridden with debilitating Man-flu all week ... terminal the doctors tell me, so I'd forgotten about the draw. This hardly makes me feel any better boys. Thanks a lot.

Ouch...

yous are ****ed unless something happens to the messi-ah or xavi

message for Jaelle ;Gooner vin ;Rock 7and wyn mills why are you so bloody negative, have some faith in your team, your supposed to come on to the web site with at least some pretence of being a positive supporter at the moment you sound like a bunch of whinging whyning god were going to get stuffed plonkers have some faith and stop with the negative vibes

You're ****ed.

I honestly think this is the perfect draw. Either we shock everyone and beat them proving to our boys and the world we're ready... or we lose and the squad can focus on the league.

Bring them on I say. This time hopefully with a full first team squad fit, we can go out and prove to those bloody Catalans once and for all whose DNA is better

it is a pity that Uefa and Fifa practices has now turn to be an indoor arrangement ... it started from the England World cup bide where an unexpected Russians where chosen ahead of the much expected England, and thereafter we all witnessed the selection of World footballer of the year , where players like Diego Folan and Shinelder of Inter-Milan were all missing , choosing a world cup missing messi ahead of them... what a pity.. now its the turn of the CL draws, the same of the same , i am afraid football has gone from natural practices in terms of arrangement. we will surprise all in taking Barca out of the CL this time, i am praying for injury free

It does ***** me off a bit when you have people on here slating the team for not having the "belief" to beat the likes of utd...chelsea. Whats the point in them having the belief if we haven't! Do you think West Brom came to the Emirates thinking "nah ***** this were going to get hammered"? They came had a *****ing good go and got there rewards! I have no doubt if we have a poor game against Barca we will lose, but I could say that about many other teams. I REALLY do believe with a full strength 11 firing from ALL cylinders on our best day we CAN beat anyone. Barca are not *****ing invincible....they HAVE lost games recently you know, and to some pretty pathetic teams. SNAP OUT OF IT GUYS! YES they are favourites....so *****ing what. Shall we just roll over and pull our pants down?? We must play our game ....and at pace. As soon as we lost the "dear in the headlights" after being 2-0 down in the first game, we played our own game with pace, high up the pitch and it scared them to death! 10 more mins on the clock and we would have been going to Barca for the 2nd leg with a lead! Barca's only way of defending is by attacking. When teams put there back line under pressure they fold. I don't rate any of there back line....I think the rest of the team flatters there back line. The key is making there full backs defend, because there both useless at it....There defencive game is basically keeping there opposite number deep in there own half, there fantastic going forward yes, which means there will always be ACRES of space behind them........this is why THEO was so effective against Barca and why Alves wont relish having theo rip him a new ass again. We have to keep there fullbacks in there own half if were to have any hope, and the only way to do that is to play them at there own game high up the pitch. If we sit back and try to nullify them we will get hammered.....simple. Its not the way we play anyway.

Cornish Gooner, how on earth am I being negative? I stated a perfectly honest opinion that we are in this position because we failed to get the right result at Shatkar, largely due to a complacency Wenger has himself admitted. He said after that game that he'd learnt a lesson about losing focus ( a staggering confession from a man has been taking his team into Europe for many successive seasons). The team promptly went on to show the same complacency at Braga. Is it any wonder some of us would rather not get our hopes up too high? The Barcelona draw is a good test for us, but surely one it would have been better to have avoided until later. I am simply sceptical about all the bravado surrounding this tie, and claims about 'having to beat the best teams anyway'. NO, this is a tie we should have avoided. This is about winning the competition. On current form you'd have to say we are not favourites to progress, unless Barca's form drops and we find a level of confidence and belief that is not entirely evident if we take last Monday's performance as any yardstick. Those who think we've progressed massively should watch a few Barcelona games and then put our progress into some perspective. If you want to dance around with joy please be my guest. But please don't try to tell me how to act as a fan.

wyn mills the intention wasnt to tell you how to act as a fan ive supported arsenal since iwent to my first match at highbury in 1952 as a 10 year old i was trying to make the point that no matter who the opposition the belief that we can and have done, stuffed the best the rest of the world has thrown at us over the years should always be there dont take things so personally, to me all arsenal fans are the crem"e de la crem"e

Cornish, Whinging plonker? I have huge faith in the team, but I choose, for the sake of my health and sanity, to temper that faith with some perspective. While I admire your bravado we've been doing this Champions League lark for a few seasons now so we all know it takes more than blind faith to win it. We need to be prepared to learn some lessons and humility from past campaigns, hopefully before we get knocked out again. Mate, I do have the belief we can beat Barcelona, but its not blind belief. Does it follow that because Rubin took 2 points off Barca we will too? That same logic says we should have taken at least 2 points off Braga having thrashed them at home. Take off the rose-tinted specs and acknowledge the strengths of our opponents, as someone above has said already. Only by doing this will we devise a strategy to beat them. I'd rather everyone gave us little chance. That way I know the team will really be up for it.

Sure g76. I see all fellow gooners as friends. We have different opinions is all.

Well as a City supporter I say you had bad luck with the draw but you can only do your best. I think that on a day anything can happen and if your team is up & firing then you can beat them. I think you have a hard job ahead of you but good luck anyway. BTW a merry Xmas to you all and good luck in 2011 to you and your families.

Careful GV. Claims of negativity coming your way!

Yes we should have won all our games to top the group, but we didnt. so what? we shouldn't turn up because its Barca. Granted they are favourites to go ahead, but there have been games where we were pitted against the very best in Europe and we scaled through. Barca are a diferent brood - faster, stronger and hungrier in front of goal - than we are. And they pass better and are in the form of their lives. Yeah Yeah.. We will come with our game and enjoy the spoils (whatever that is). Com'on u gunners, lets enjoy the game, i'm pretty sure its not gonna be a bashing, for either side.

u guys should just forfeit and save yourself the embarrassment no offense.