Arsenal v Porto (agg 1-2): Its gunner be tough
So, after almost a month we can finally try and right the wrongs of the Porto game three weeks ago, and having not overturned a first leg deficit in Europe for over 30 years, there is a hell of a lot of work to do.
Lets put this in perspective: When this tie was drawn it was a good draw, Porto are not that much of a threat so anything but us going through tonight would be a failure in my mind. Are Arsenal better than Porto? Yes – so Arsenal should progress.
The task is made all the more tricky with Cesc Fabregas ruled out with his hamstring strain but Alex Song returns to the team after serving a league suspension at the weekend so he is a welcome return. It will be interesting to see if the boss decides to start with Andrey Arshavin after freely admitting he can’t last the 90 minutes. Will he go for it from the start to try and take advantage of the best team at our disposal and put Porto on the back foot? It will be interesting tactically.
In the Porto press conference yesterday their manager promised goals, is it a bluff or are they going to come out and attack? I think they might go for the away goal, if they get one, we need three to get through, so its vital we score the first goal to level out the tie, if we get in the ascendancy early on we can get into their heads, and when they start remembering they have never won on English soil thats when the heads could drop and we can capitalise.
In my book, Porto are not a great team so we should go through, after all we only need to win one nil, but as I said earlier, if we concede our lives are going to be made ten times more difficult.
With the absence of our top goalscorer someone is going to have to step up, be it Andrey Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Thomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott or Nicklas Bendtner – one of those players is going to have to perform better than they have all season and hopefully there won’t be too many nerves jangling come the 89 minute mark.
We need a commanding display from Almunia, Thomas Vermaelen and Sol Campbell, despite us needing goals the chances are they are going to have to mop up all the mess if moves break down and that brings me onto something else, over-comitting.
Its happened in every game against our rivals this season and we have been picked off, if Porto had an ounce of intelligence they will look to do the same. We must be careful.
We beat this lot 4-0 at home last season, they can’t have improved that much since then, call me ignorant but its my opinion.
Lets go and win this.
Til tomorrow. COME ON YOU REDSSS
Come on you goonerz!!!
not that tough afterall… brilliant game!
Great performance! and quite an impressive one, bearing in mind that Porto is an extremely competitive side. Did you know that this is the first time in Porto´s history, in all European competitions, that they fail to go through when winning the first leg? That´s right, every time Porto won the first leg they went on to qualify for the next round (that´s 24 times, according to Spanish TV which broadcasted the match live). What more can I say?, Arsenal goes through and makes history in the process. These guys are special, mark my words, special. What a talented bunch!
Everyone played their part – only Arsharvin and Campbell looked a bit shakey at times but nevertheless they produced a very fine display as a team. I would pick out Nasri and Song as too individuals who played a really significant part in the win. Nasri’s goal was class in a glass as Ray Hudson would say.
As for Bendtner… I was dead on about him – knew he’d find his accuracy soon and would fire in a few of goals. Didn’t expect a hat-trick though!! That will do his confidence no end of good. Not seen an Arsenal hat-trick for a while now (since Arsharvin last season?) so it will be especially uplifting. Bendtner was doing great work up front and charging back to help in defence. Steller display.
Oh yeah – not forgetting Eboue – he ran a mile before slotting home. He deserves a mention, been playing well that feller. Did we miss Fabregas? Did we heck. And he’ll be back sooner than we thought. Lovely.
I still support Arsenal despite the recent news They are the most skillful soccer team in the world