Benfica v Arsenal, 20:00 GMT (18/02, BT Sport 2)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Neutral venues. :lol:

A decent European name to play in this competition at least.

[Letters]

So. Presumably away goals still count double for the game which is declared our "away" game?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

They do indeed.

[Mac76]

i'd forgotten about this

3-0 Pizzi hatter

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Benfica: Leite, Verissimo, Otamendi, Vertonghen, Goncalves, Taarabt, Weigl, Pizzi, Grimaldo, Waldschmidt, Nunez.
Subs: Svilar, Vlachodimos, Gilberto, Everton, Gabriel, Cervi, Seferovic, Silva, Pedrinho, Tavares, Ferreira.

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, David Luiz, Gabriel, Cedric, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang.
Subs: Ryan, Hein, Chambers, Holding, Pablo Mari, Tierney, Elneny, Willian, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette, Nketiah.

[Mac76]

That lineup feels a bit over the top but maybe he wants to more or less win it in the first match

Either way Arteta really is determined to run Saka and Smith Rowe into the ground isn't he?

maybe it's so they get injured and he can then start Willian again...

[GP]

Either way Arteta really is determined to run Saka and Smith Rowe into the ground isn't he?



If he rested them today, you'd be moaning just as much.

[Mac76]

If he rested them today, you'd be moaning just as much.

no i wouldn't, they've both been playing a lot of minutes and we can't afford for them to be injured

if he's playing all these guys now then who's playing against Citeh?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Karen Cairney co-commentating.

My ears. :rose:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

no i wouldn't, they've bth been playign a lot of minutes and we can't afford for them to be injured

if he's playing all these guys now then who's playing against Citeh?

This game is far more important.

[Mac76]

Karen Cairney co-commentating.

My ears. :rose:

you'd rather Mcmanaman i suppose?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No.

[Mac76]

didn't take long for that spud **** vertongen to get fouling

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cedric whacks it out of play.

[GP]

What a miss! :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

What a miss Auba!

[Mac76]

Auba :doh:

[GP]

Is Karen her name or a description?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

How has Saka left himself offside there? :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Saka shot, easily saved.

[Mac76]

nice work from Odegaard in the buildup

[Mac76]

Xhaka starting to work on getting his yellow

[Mac76]

how many offsides now...? :rolleyes:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Odegaard went full Ozil though.

[Mac76]

should've scored probably

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Gabriel header, wide.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka nearly fucked it up.

Well done Ceballos.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-0 HT.

[Mac76]

not great so far, we need to score at least once in this match

[Gooner23]

Bit painful to watch this. Benfica parking the bus and we're just not playing with any real cutting edge. I'd like to see Pepe on the left, think we could do with the extra pace.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

How didn't ESR score? Offside or not.

[Mac76]

our passing is really sloppy

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Saka puts it wide.

Good play though.

[Mac76]

awful shot from Saka

we should be 3-0 up now

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pelanty to Benfica.

Doesn't hit his arm?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-0 Pizzi. :rose:

[Letters]

Literally just turned it on as they scored the pel.
Me :doh:

[Letters]

Pelanty to Benfica.

Doesn't hit his arm?
Only saw one very brief replay and looked like bullshit to me.
I mean, probably was a pel by the current law, but the law is an ass.
What the fuck is he supposed to do, chop his arms off?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

SAKA!!!

Wonderful goal.

[Letters]

So well worked.
Me :bow:

Oh fuck off... VAR check.

[GP]

VAR can chortle my sack

[Mac76]

even got through VAR

[McNamara That Ghost...]

VAR wasting everyone's time. Don't even know what they were checking.

[Letters]

Given! Phew!

[Letters]

VAR wasting everyone's time. Don't even know what they were checking.
Offside, I guess.

[Mac76]

Tierney coming on :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leno saves!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cedric off, Tierney on.

[GP]

KT! He's back! :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Nunez off, Everton on. :lol:

[Letters]

Auba just past the post. Good effort

[Mac76]

Auba misses again :(

[Mac76]

Xhaka slows down the play every time

[Letters]

Great ball for Auba, couldn’t quite get there.

[Mac76]

we really need another goal to give us a good chance

[GP]

Everton sould sign Everton

[Letters]

Hit it, Auba!

[GP]

GabiGol :bow:

[Mac76]

Pepe and Martinelli coming on :popcorn:

[Mac76]

nice ball from Tierney, shame Pepe didn't control it there

[Letters]

Good play and then a Bendtneresque first touch from Pepe

[Mac76]

how much time does Xhaka think we have left? two hours?

[Mac76]

WTF are we doing?

[Mac76]

Tierney :doh:

[Letters]

Tierney :doh:

:lol: indeed.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Woeful from Tierney there.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Willian and Elneny coming on. :lol:

[Mac76]

got to say we've been pretty bad in the second half

[Mac76]

Willian and Elneny coming on. :lol:

now it'll get worse...

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka and Pepe screwing it up.

[Mac76]

ffs stop passing backwards

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka has been fucking awful.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-1 FT. Oh well, the away goal at least.

[Mac76]

we were pretty dire in that second half but Benfica look beatable if we can get our act together next time