Porto pump holes A Champs last 16 Weds 21st Feb KO 8pm

[TeeCee]

Shit performance but the reality is, we'll do them at home. A few years ago we would have lost 2 or 3-0 with a performance that bad. Silver lining is, it should shake everyone up, think everyone was thinking we are world class!

[mcdowell42]

Saw a stat earlier,upto 64 mins the ref had awarded 29 free kicks

[SteveO 35]

Shades of Monaco under Wenger when we had supposedly an easy draw and Dad's army Milan.

Awful. Lazy. Sloppy. Boring.

Like nearly every away display in a big game in Europe for the past 10 years or more

I posted earlier today that the last time we competed in this competition was 2010 - 14 years ago…. When we beat this lot 5-0


Let’s face it we have no chance of beating this lot 5-0 in the second leg…

We're out mate. Sadly we will back wasting everyone's time in it again next year. Cruise the group. Fluff the last 16. Hello Arsene, is that you?

[TeeCee]

Saw a stat earlier,upto 64 mins the ref had awarded 29 free kicks

28 to Porto?

[Thynker]

36 free kicks according to the BBC

[Thynker]

Saw a stat earlier,upto 64 mins the ref had awarded 29 free kicks

28 to Porto?

22/14.

Not once did he book them for diving/feigning

[SteveO 35]

What Porto did and how their players behaved is part of playing in Europe. Not pretty, not nice. Other teams find a way to deal with it. Liverpool would have won that tonight. No excuses

[rodders999]

The sooner we’re out of this the sooner we can concentrate on finishing 3rd in the league

[augie]

Just shows thr tactical ineptness of the manager and wenger.

We are a better team than Porto. There 3rd in a farmers league. Yes we are jo where near as good as 2 or 3 posters on here, 1 who should know better, think, but we should still be beating these mugs.

All due to a complete and utter inability to adjust tactics in game and react to what's going on. Wenger couldn't do it, this lightweight can't.

Why we will always fall short jo matter how much he spends.

I'm honestly not having a pop at you here per se cos I have seen a few comments on here in recent weeks suggesting various european leagues are "farmers leagues", but my response to that would be to take a step back and look at exactly how piss poor the premier league is these days. I honestly cant remember a time when so many teams were getting hammerings and this notion that english football is so competitive with no easy games is fast becoming a total myth. The gap between the haves and have nots has never been wider imo - at one stage of this season (about a month ago) manure had lost one third of all competitive games they had played this season, and yet they now sit just 5pts off top 4, and that is absolutely shocking This AFC team wouldnt keep the ball kicked out to the wenger team of the early 2000s, and GG's team would also turn them over, yet we have morons quoting stats and talking bollox about a combined front 3 negates the need for a quality number 9

[Perryashburtongroves]

I have a memory of us losing there in the second round in about 2010 and then thrashing them at home in the second leg. Also have a memory of Fabianski managing to push one into his own net in that game there.

[rodders999]

I have a memory of us losing there in the second round in about 2010 and then thrashing them at home in the second leg. Also have a memory of Fabianski managing to push one into his own net in that game there.

Lord Bendtner with the hat-trick in that game.

[DB10GOONER]

Tbh, with the exception of Tomi (and there's plenty on here that don't rate him either) I'm in no rush to see any of them available for selection.

I would say they are a better bet to come on in the closing stages of a Champions league match to see it out than need to blood Walters / Nwaneri / Myles-Skelley cos we have no other option ( Cedric )

I'm worried about the decisions that Arteta will make when these blokes are fit, especially Jesus and Zinchenko. I perfectly understand that we shouldn't be getting carried away with the recent results, even though you can only beat what's in front of you, but what Arteta should definitely be taking from the last couple of games is how much more solid and effective the structure of the team looks by playing a conventional back four and no inverted bollocks.

Every player in the side, including Trossard and Kiwior, has done enough to earn the right to start the next game. Kiwior might well wobble if put under pressure, but we'll see. Unfortunately, I think that Arteta will have Jesus and Zinchenko straight back in the side as soon as they're fit.

Problem is Arteta is so desperate to be seen as a genius influential game changing manager he thinks in his head that he invented the inverted full back horseshit and will stick with it even while it proves him wrong game after game.

Any coincidence we've looked more solid defensively and more cohesive as a unit since we dropped the inverted cuntology? Can Arteta see that? I agree with you and really doubt it to be honest. He has an ego the size of a whale's cock.

We haven’t stopped the inverting, White was doing it from the right hand side v Burnley and I think West ham too, it’s just that he does it in a much more unobtrusive fashion than Zinchencko did, as White realises his limitations, and is there as an option to support Saka and ballon d’or candidate Odegaard rather than attempt to be the star of the show that Zinchencko tries to be.
I also have not seen White be half way in the opposition half on the wrong side to his position (yet) and then get caught out !

I wouldn't call what White does being fully inverted. He is more disciplined. Zinchenko plays fully inverted to the absolute detriment of our left side and the broader team.

It's not having Zinchenko inverted that has contributed to the improvement because we are not offering teams an easy out down our left to both relieve pressure and start breakaway attacks.

[xgtdec]

I have a memory of us losing there in the second round in about 2010 and then thrashing them at home in the second leg. Also have a memory of Fabianski managing to push one into his own net in that game there.

Lord Bendtner with the hat-trick in that game.

I loved that game, Barry was 80/1 for that hat trick and I’d a tenner on it, cloud 9 for weeks after it

[BFG4]

The ref was dogshit but he wasn't the reason that their keeper could have stood scratching his ass for 90 minutes with the amount of chances we created. Again, the plan for any opposition is simple, double up on Saka and Martinelli and we'll be fucking clueless. We are supposedly one of the favourites(no chance) and are currently playing without a striker - and when Jesus does return, he'll offer fuck all. There is nothing more Wengeresque than waiting to be booted from the CL just to play to qualify for it all over again

[SteveO 35]

I have a memory of us losing there in the second round in about 2010 and then thrashing them at home in the second leg. Also have a memory of Fabianski managing to push one into his own net in that game there.

Lord Bendtner with the hat-trick in that game.

The much maligned Lord Bendtner....who actually was a better centre forward than anyone we have now