Chippy_boy said:
proudbear said:
Plaything of the gods said:
So A says "I like cats" and B says "I don't like dogs" and you conclude from that that everyone is against dogs?
I checked on the BBC website this morning because I was curious about how the Arse result was treated vis-à-vis the City result (I'm just kinda like that). And, do you know what? There wasn't much to choose between them.
This.
Theres hardly any difference between them, one says Arsenals chances are dim, the other says Citys chance are dim. Then describe what happened. Both very similar and i dont see any bias to be honest.
I am not sure anyone is claiming that every single report is biased against us, every single journalist has it in for us. In fact no-one is suggesting that. There is no coordinated "agenda" with secret meetings, phone calls and agreements.
But that does not mean there isn't an overall bias when you look at ALL of the articles from all of the media and all of the journalists over time. If you take that more rounded appraisal, I think is plain to see that City get more critical press than (say) United. I really don't see how anyone can argue agains that. It's pretty bleeding obvious imho.
The question is why, not if. And again imho, it's because of a number of factors but high up on the list are (a) we are not a London club and (b) there are more raggy journlists around than pro-city ones.
Read the whole of the McNulty reports then read these
Mesut Ozil needs a break to ease his Arsenal misery
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When Arsene Wenger finally answered demands to stop treating Arsenal's money like it was his own and spent £42.4m to buy Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, it was with Champions League nights against sides such as Bayern Munich in mind.
Arsenal's manager set aside his reputation for parsimony to bring in a 25-year-old Germany international with a world-class reputation.
Ozil's signing last September was widely greeted as a watershed, the moment Wenger announced Arsenal's return to the big spenders and major league players. Few argued with his purchase.
On Wednesday night, those days looked an age away. Against Bundesliga champions Bayern, Ozil was presented with a chance to answer growing criticisms of his recent form. Instead, the midfielder had a nightmare.
Bayern left Emirates Stadium with a 2-0 victory in their last-16 first-leg clash. The result surely condemns Arsenal to a Champions League exit at the hands of a side who knocked them out at the same stage last season. And as it all played out, last summer's golden boy cut a desolate figure.
Analysis
Image of Chris Waddle
Chris Waddle
Former England winger on BBC Radio 5 live
"Arsenal got into them at the start, and asked chances of Bayern Munich. At 1-0 with 11 v 11 gave Arsenal a decent chance - but their defending at the death has cost them. The difference from Manchester City's defeat by Barcelona was that City sat back from the start and asked for trouble. I thought Arsenal's gameplan was excellent until the red card."
How different it could have been for Ozil - and, more pertinently, Arsenal - had he taken a chance in the opening minutes when he drew a foul from Bayern's Jerome Boateng to earn a penalty.
The midfielder had failed with a spot-kick during a group-stage victory over Marseille in November. In the absence of more regular penalty takers Mikel Arteta and Olivier Giroud on Wednesday, Ozil ignored the lessons of that miss.
Instead, he once more sidled hesitantly up to the spot-kick before delivering a feeble effort that was saved by his old school companion Manuel Neuer.
If it was a bitter blow for Arsenal, it visibly drew the air out of Ozil. He shrank before the eyes of Emirates Stadium, retreating from the action to an unacceptable extent, confidence drained by his failure.
And for the first time, on a night when Arsenal's supporters delivered magnificent backing for a team that produced such a commendable effort in defeat, Ozil was singled out for criticism, especially when he failed to react to a quickly-taken Bayern corner.
He was even rebuked by team-mate Mathieu Flamini as he loitered on the margins of the game while his Arsenal colleagues battled gamely to cope with Bayern's torture by possession. Their situation was exacerbated as they were reduced to 10 men when keeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for fouling Arjen Robben, leading to another penalty, missed this time by Bayern's David Alaba.
Wenger admitted Ozil suffered after missing the penalty, revealing he spotted him still shaking his head 10 minutes later. That begged the question: why was the lively Santi Cazorla sacrificed instead in the reshuffle caused by Szczesny's red card?
So the questions grow about the expensive buy from Madrid - as does the need to put his situation into perspective.
In the inevitable social media inquest, Ozil was accused of lacking effort and lacking interest. These are two very dangerous allegations to make about a proud professional footballer. A player of his quality deserves more respect than that.
Those questioning his effort may be interested to know he ran 11.69 kilometres, but the real concern was how he retreated from where the real action was. He was bought to make the defining contributions. He has not made enough.
Ozil's languid body language does not help his cause and there are undoubted areas for improvement - remember how he was on the rough end of countryman Per Mertesacker's tongue for failing to acknowledge Arsenal's fans at the end of the 6-3 loss at Manchester City in December?
On Wednesday, as in the 5-1 Premier League defeat at Liverpool on 8 February, Ozil looked lightweight, off the pace and reluctant to join the battle when it was at its height. He has looked out of place.
And yet it is premature to suggest Wenger, having finally been persuaded to spend the cash, may have lavished it on a player who, although gifted, currently looks unsuited to the rigours of the Premier League.
Ozil has clearly found it a tough physical adjustment and yet his graceful style was warmly welcomed. The odds are on this being a tough period of adjustment. Even one of his great predecessors for Germany, Michael Ballack, watched him closely and said: "He looks a bit lost in this team. It seems like he does not have the acceptance of his team."
After watching Ozil's form fall off a cliff in the face of Bayern's relentless passing, surely it is time for Wenger to pull him out of the firing line and reserve him for efforts later in the season.
His night was in the starkest contrast to that of an excellent game's finest performer, his international team-mate Toni Kroos.
Manchester United manager David Moyes was at Emirates Stadium to watch the Bayern midfielder, who is in a contract stalemate with his club and is valued at around £50m.
Kroos has been linked with a move to Old Trafford - but Wednesday night may have been as close as Moyes gets to the 24-year-old. That is because the idea of such a talent not gracing the Champions League - a competition United look increasingly unlikely to trouble next season - is almost an insult to his talent.
And the notion that a club as streetwise and ambitious as Bayern do not realise what a mistake it would to allow him to escape also stretches credibility.
Why would Kroos even contemplate leaving Bayern for United if they could only offer him (perhaps at best) the Europa League, and are currently cast adrift of the Bundesliga champions when it comes to quality?
Passed out
Bayern attempted 863 passes during the 90 minutes, 95% of which were successful.
Bayern goalscorer Toni Kroos completed 147 passes, the same number completed by all 12 Arsenal outfield players combined.
Arsenal had only 12% of possession in the second half.
Kroos was peerless against Arsenal. His opening contribution was a shot that was destined for the top corner until Szczesny saved brilliantly and he showed wonderful technique to sweep the opening goal high past his deputy Lukasz Fabianski.
He attempted 127 passes in the Arsenal half and was successful with 96.1% of them. Kroos chalked up 147 passes in total, the same number completed by all 12 of Arsenal's outfield players - including substitutes - put together. Kroos is the player of Pep Guardiola's dreams on that basis alone, even before you come to his quality.
It was all too much for Arsenal, as substitute Thomas Muller added the second that surely puts this tie out of their reach.
Arsenal's supporters recognised their team's efforts. In a thrilling opening half-hour, they had Bayern on the back foot - but there was a very obvious clue to one of their problems.
Wenger plumped for rookie 21-year-old Yaya Sanogo as his attacker ahead of Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski. It almost amounted to an experiment in a game of such magnitude and while there is clearly raw material to work with, this should not be the time or place for such things at a club with Arsenal's ambitions.
It exposed a failure to add to striking resources, a problem made worse by Theo Walcott's serious injury.
For all that, this was also a night when Arsenal showed guts and fight, commodities they have been accused of lacking in the past.
It will surely not be enough to save them from Champions League elimination - but the Premier League title and the FA Cup remain as targets.
Ozil still has the ability to make his mark on those competitions. But after this nightmare, it may be time to release him from his misery for a while.
CITY GAME
Man City v Barcelona: Manuel Pellegrini faces Uefa action
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Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini's grievances stretched as far as Sweden and the San Siro in his ill-advised attack on the integrity of referee Jonas Eriksson after defeat by Barcelona.
In reality, while he ponders the punishment Uefa will surely inflict upon him, Pellegrini should look much closer to home for reasons why City's Champions League ambitions are surely over for another season.
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Manuel Pellegrini criticises referee Eriksson
The normally taciturn Chilean, whose deadpan delivery, stone face and straight bat answers have become his trademark this season, made up for lost time with a comprehensive verbal destruction of Eriksson's performance in City's 2-0 loss - while insulting Sweden into the bargain.
Pellegrini had legitimate arguments about Lionel Messi's penalty that broke the deadlock in the 54th minute of this last 16 first-leg tie. Jesus Navas did appear to be fouled by Sergio Busquets in the build-up and City will argue long and hard that initial contact between Martin Demichelis and Messi took place outside the area.
Experts in the rulebook will pick over whether the foul continued into the area but the offence was unquestionably deserving of the red card that came Demichelis's way and left City in reduced circumstances, and numbers, at a crucial phase.
What was not deserved, and what is unlikely to go unchecked, was Pellegrini's subsequent scattergun attack on Eriksson (and indeed Sweden as a footballing nation) that hinted at desperation as well as frustration from a man most of us thought was above such dark arts.
And undermining it all was an error by Pellegrini himself in selecting Demichelis, a defender no longer suited to the demands of this level, a selection that exposed a failure in City's transfer strategy, a failure to buy a world-class central defender to partner the outstanding Vincent Kompany.
Pellegrini and City's executive staff added glitter in the shape of Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic and Fernandinho - but with the hugely promising Matija Nastasic suffering a touch of Second Season Syndrome and Joleon Lescott seemingly cut from favour, the summer signing of Demichelis carried the appearance of a sticking plaster, and not a particularly effective one.
Analysis from Etihad Stadium
Image of Robbie Savage
Robbie Savage
BBC Sport pundit
"To stop Barcelona you have to do it as a unit - if you do it individually they will pass around you. You have to be incredibly fit and get numbers around them. It only takes one person to switch off and you get punished. Inevitably, if you have Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, who are great at keeping the ball, you will be physically tested - and you could see Manchester City were very tired at the end."
For all the arguments about not liking two central defenders favouring the same foot, surely the dependable Lescott presented a better bet than Demichelis, who admittedly did well before the foul but was found wanting in one moment - which is all it took in the shape of Andres Iniesta's perfect pass and Messi's darting run.
There was much to admire about City's performance but not in Pellegrini's sour after-match barbs at Eriksson.
Make no mistake, if Jose Mourinho had cast such aspersions on an official we would be heading straight into "enemy of football" territory, a charge Uefa levelled at Chelsea's manager following criticism of Swedish referee Anders Frisk after a Champions League game against Barcelona in 2005.
The fact that it was Pellegrini made it more surprising - but no more palatable.
He opened by announcing Eriksson was "not impartial to both teams", a statement alone guaranteed to have Uefa's book flying in his direction.
To then claim a referee from a country such as Sweden (apparently too small and unimportant to provide an official for such a key game) should not have taken charge was bizarre and bad enough even before Pellegrini suggested Eriksson was making amends for not giving Barcelona a penalty in the 2012 quarter-final against AC Milan in the San Siro.
If Eriksson made mistakes, and he did, to dress them up as some sort of payback to Barcelona for previous injustices is to enter very dangerous ground for any losing manager.
This was a side of Pellegrini we had not seen before. Proof, perhaps, the pressures at this level gets to them all eventually. There is always a tipping point and this was Pellegrini's.
"The Engineer", measured and cerebral, was meant to be the anti-Mourinho. Not on this night. Perhaps it was because he knew the damage, especially that inflicted by Dani Alves's last-minute second goal, was done.
Perhaps it was a smokescreen to cover up such a disappointing defeat - unlikely.
Subdued City
Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Dani Alves
Barcelona's share of the possession over the course of the first leg against Manchester City was 68.4%
Source: Opta
Frustration was at the root of it all. Frustration, maybe, that despite getting so much right Pellegrini got one crucial decision wrong. Demichelis is a favoured son of Pellegrini and has had a fine career but he always gives strikers a chance, and those in the class of Messi only need one.
Pellegrini was correct to err on the side of caution in his team selection, using Negredo as a single striker rather than use two and open up City to the threat of being outnumbered in midfield, as they were in defeat to Bayern Munich in the group stage.
And the utilisation of Aleksandar Kolarov in front of Gael Clichy on the left flank was smart as a shield against the threat of Dani Alves - but Demichelis was the weak link in the chain and this is where City's Champions League hopes were broken.
It makes City's pursuit of Porto's Eliaquim Mangala, rated at £35m, all the more understandable but this is a deal that must wait until the summer.
City were also robbed of the world-class threat of Sergio Aguero and his return in time for the second leg at the Nou Camp will surely be in vain.
Pellegrini's side showed commendable spirit and their Champions League graph has the right trajectory. It was always going to be a gradual process to make their presence felt in this tournament and this year has been a vast improvement on last season's abject campaign.
There is still a gap to bridge, however, and despite this not quite being the Barcelona vintage of three years ago there is still just too much street-wisdom, too much experience, and too much Messi for City to unseat them yet.
The miracle at the Nou Camp may yet be delivered but all logic points towards City's tilt at a quadruple being reduced to a treble after the second leg.
City's players can be satisfied that they did not let themselves down and their magnificent support did themselves credit. The only black mark is that, on this occasion at least, the same did not apply to a normally dignified manager.
