PORTO CL THREAD

worthing gooner · Post by **worthing gooner** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:45 am

With regards to Nic scoring last night i think that it has made people realise that any of our players can contribute this season. Bendtner is by no means a fans favourite but if he is trying like he did on saturday and we dodge a bad result then he will learn from that. Â£40 million pound striker he aint but look at Torres at the mo!! I like Nic because he is getting in there and giving us something that we have benn lacking, a presence in the box, a scorer of scrappy goals.
So Nic carry on geez doing what your doing.

euphoricone · Post by **euphoricone** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:45 am

Without our best striker----van persie. Without our best midfielder---fabregas. Without our best defender ( relatively)---Gallas.

Nasri has played the role of fabregas today . This was all we needed.

Well played Arsenal, well played.

projoe · Post by **projoe** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:59 am

quality performance last night, apart from a few shaky moments at the back, but i think were all used to that by now

got a bad feeling were going to draw chelsea or united, then lose both legs which will knock confidence, then our title bid is in jeopardy

but lets hope we draw bordeaux/sevilla/munich

franksav63 · Post by **franksav63** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:39 am

Fantastic performance last night, we were quality going forward, I can't believe that we kept a clean sheet though, Campbell was giving me kittens all night.

Great goal by Nasri, there was a delayed reaction to it from the North Bank end, just couldn't see it going in, it got a bigger cheer when it was replayed. Quality.

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:09 am

Magic Hat wrote:Some concerning issues, our mentality early on in second half, Sol Campbell's performance, some ill discipline in failing to keep enough players back which is alarming.

Would rather concentrate on the positives. When your hatrick striker is outshone, you have had an exceptional attacking game. Nasri, Arshavin, Eboue rampaging while Song and Diaby kept control of the midfield, Clichy and Sagna providing width. Just glorious

I agree with that sentiment in the main and apart from one or two shaky moments and the first 10-15m of the 2nd half I thought that we were in complete control. Even apart from his goal I thought nasri was superb in possession last night and slotted in seamlessly to cesc's role which of course bears out what many of us have long believed that wenger has too many similar players (cesc, nasri, rosicky) whose natural positions are for this very position. I thought that clichy was outstanding again last night and TV5 and sagna also played well.

On the flip side I thought that sol was well shaky but unlike most of you I thought that song and diaby went missing far too much in stages of the game. In particular song's use of possession last night was as poor as it has been for some time and maybe showed up the rustiness of not having played at the weekend.

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:13 am

Its strange i thought Sol and Song has strong games and of course Nasri was MOTM

kg1794 · Post by **kg1794** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:15 am

augie wrote:
Magic Hat wrote:Some concerning issues, our mentality early on in second half, Sol Campbell's performance, some ill discipline in failing to keep enough players back which is alarming.

Would rather concentrate on the positives. When your hatrick striker is outshone, you have had an exceptional attacking game. Nasri, Arshavin, Eboue rampaging while Song and Diaby kept control of the midfield, Clichy and Sagna providing width. Just glorious

I agree with that sentiment in the main and apart from one or two shaky moments and the first 10-15m of the 2nd half I thought that we were in complete control. Even apart from his goal I thought nasri was superb in possession last night and slotted in seamlessly to cesc's role which of course bears out what many of us have long believed that wenger has too many similar players (cesc, nasri, rosicky) whose natural positions are for this very position. I thought that clichy was outstanding again last night and TV5 and sagna also played well.

On the flip side I thought that sol was well shaky but unlike most of you I thought that song and diaby went missing far too much in stages of the game. In particular song's use of possession last night was as poor as it has been for some time and maybe showed up the rustiness of not having played at the weekend.

Agree about Song, didn't think he acquitted himself well at all with regards to his decision making (i.e. his foraging forward). Some of his interceptions and tackles were fantastic though.

I thought Diaby played well but our midfield definitely looked overrun alot (at least that was my view from the upper tier)

North bank girl · Post by **North bank girl** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:37 am

I'm still on a high from last night!

Great game
Great Result

euphoricone · Post by **euphoricone** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:42 am

I thought song was instructed to play REALLY defensive and i also thought he did pretty well, looked solid . Sol looked a bit slow but yeah..first start at home...ofcourse hes gonna take some time to adapt. Diaby didnt shoot the entire game, it was strange but nice to see that he kept the passing game going. Nasri, against burnley itself i thought he looked like fabregas in that position and he just proved it against porto. MOTM for me too.

Captain Fabregas · Post by **Captain Fabregas** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:45 am

The thing about Song is that when he does lose the ball he will actually get off his arse and charge back to win it, unlike a certain brazillian

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:53 am

Have to say that wenger's substitutions again defied logic last night

If theo was left out cos of a groin problem (as wenger himself claimed before the match) then why bring him on in a game that was already in the bag ?

Why not bring in eduardo or vela and try and get them game time and hopefully a goal to build up their confidence ? We are still in with a chance of winning 2 competitions (

) so every player could be needed for a crucial run in and risking one players injury while ignoring 2 other players makes no fcuking sense to me

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:56 am

augie wrote:Have to say that wenger's substitutions again defied logic last night If theo was left out cos of a groin problem (as wenger himself claimed before the match) then why bring him on in a game that was already in the bag ?

I was confused by that one too

kg1794 · Post by **kg1794** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:59 am

flash gunner wrote:
augie wrote:Have to say that wenger's substitutions again defied logic last night If theo was left out cos of a groin problem (as wenger himself claimed before the match) then why bring him on in a game that was already in the bag ?
I was confused by that one too

Yep, Vela was surely more suitable to replace Arshavin since he plays on typically plays on the left of the front 3 (I know Eboue swapped over when Theo came on).

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:03 am

kg1794 wrote:
flash gunner wrote:
augie wrote:Have to say that wenger's substitutions again defied logic last night If theo was left out cos of a groin problem (as wenger himself claimed before the match) then why bring him on in a game that was already in the bag ?
I was confused by that one too
Yep, Vela was surely more suitable to replace Arshavin since he plays on typically plays on the left of the front 3 (I know Eboue swapped over when Theo came on).

It wasnt so much the positional sense of the substitution that got me but the risk of Theo further injuring himself in a game that was already won

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:04 am

By the way was anybody else impressed by their striker falcao ? Hadnt really seen much of him before these games but have to say that he impressed me a lot last night in his workrate, strength and his movement and powerful shooting

One of the things I like about these games is that it does give us a chance to look at players like this with a view to potential signings cos wenger doesnt shop locally