Wilshere has Barca game plan

Wilshere has Barca game plan

Published Feb. 14, 2011 7:15 a.m. ET

The Spanish giants were imperious against Arsenal last season when they knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage. Now almost 12 months on the two face each other again in the first knockout phase. Wilshere himself was not involved last season, but now he is a fully fledged England international and an integral part of Arsene Wenger's side. And Wilshere admits that Arsenal cannot try to match Barca on the footballing side and will need to change their style of play to get past the Catalan outfit. "I was at the Emirates for the first game against Barcelona last season and for the second one I was in Bolton, where I was on loan, watching on the television," said Wilshere. "I remember we played our game basically, passing it around, and this year we have to show them what we're about. When we've got the ball, we've got to keep it as well as they can. "Barcelona were great last year, especially in the first half at the Emirates. That's the game we want to play and they played us at our own game and they were brilliant. "This year we need to get in their faces and when we've got the ball try to keep it. "We've got to change our game a bit to play against Barcelona. We'll learn from last year. We need to be a bit nasty with them and get the ball back. "We have to press them as a team, there's no point one of us going after them. "But you want to win every game, so we'll go into the Barcelona match looking for the win. It's important we get a win to take to their place in the second leg."

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