7 years since we last played a Champions League knockout game! Luck has favoured us a bit, we are visiting Porto in couple of hours and I’m all excited for it.
Mikel Arteta in his pre-match conference acknowledged the experience Porto have in Champions League, that we haven’t played a CL game in two or three months and the other teams are well prepared and can beat anyone on a given day.
In the team news, ex Porto man Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey were back in training but remains to be seen if they make the bench. Jesus, Zinchenko and Tomiyasu are out for the game while Timber is not yet recovered. If I have to guess, we would play with our strongest playing XI, Havertz in the middle with Declan Rice, and a front three of Saka, Trossard and Martinelli.
There’s something exciting about today. We are playing Porto on the back of two big wins 5-0 and 6-0 in PL and the confidence of the lads would be touching the ceiling. With a 2-legged system, you can always make a comeback if things don’t go in your favor at first, but I don’t want it to happen. I would love it if we bury the tie today with a 2-0/3-0 win and make sure we don’t let the 2nd leg come in the way of our Premier League run.
Premier League has a very certain way of play. Most of the teams prefer playing from the back, the movements and player’s position can be read in advance and Mikel or anyone for that matter can plan their strategies accordingly. Everybody knows how Pep is going to play and how he is going to set up the team on the field. It’s not going to change. He can tweak the system a bit but on a high level, it remains same. Teams from other leagues are not that predictable. You know very less about them, they can just sit back and keep a wall, or play on counter, or play a quick one touch football. And for some of these clubs, winning a game against Arsenal or Madrid is all they want. That’s what make them dangerous and that’s why the results often in CL (or Europe) are random. It comes down to “who put their body on the line”.
Can we do it today? We will get to know soon. Short one today, game is too late for me (1.30 AM IST) but I can manage a 4 hour sleep after a 7 year wait. See you during the game.
European games are always a bit special even when we lose. I can remember taking the kids to the games at Wembley – we didnt do very well at that venue but the atmosphere was brilliant – the kids were not sad that we lost because they had been lifted by the occasion.
AK – I agree we need a few goals tonight to put the tie to bed in the first leg and then El B can introduce some youngsters in the home leg (ooops dreaming again).
Playing XI is out, as expected –
Raya
White, Gabriel, Saliba, Kiwior
Odegaard, Rice, Havertz
Saka, Trossard, Martinelli
E. Nwaneri and Ayden Heaven makes the bench – must be a special day for the lads. Hopefully we go 4-0 up by 85th minute and they get to feature.
Norg,
Been so long I’m buzzing here, my other half has given up on me. Hopefully the night ends well.
#COYG
Same XI as Burnley right?
two goalies on the bench?
Well, Mikel never misses to surprise us.
KP
Yep, same one today
Raya almost cocked it up again…did he think it was a decade or so ago when players would wait for the ball to be retrieved from the stands???
how are we not down a goal…White is too often a defensive passenger in and around the box…we could be punished in a similar fashion to last season’s Europa ousting by Sporting if we don’t smarten the fuck up
We don’t know what to do with the ball…
Ambarish-Porto are literally saying to themselves they’re doing everything the exact same way as what we watched on film…no plan B but ample wasteful possession
Nerve-wracking. We’re gradually looking a bit more threatening but Porto are dangerous. Need to get a few balls over the top in the inside left channel to Martinelli. Porto playing a high line and the right sided defenders look vulnerable. Dec’s yellow card was an absolute joke.
If we don’t add some directness to our attack we could find ourselves on the wrong side of a 1-0 scoreline
another classic no shots on goal first-half effort
Kiwior better mind his P’s and Q’s or he’s going to be sent off, as he’s already on a yellow…stupid shirt tugs in the opposing team’s final third then gesturing towards the ref, especially in an away affair, isn’t a wise manuever
Rice had likewise better take care…he’s had two warnings after his early yellow
based on what’s on offer it’s hard to believe that this Porto side is worth 1/5th the amount of our side…this is when our big money purchases and/or those on exceptionally high wages need to make a difference…so far that hasn’t been the case, especially in the business end of the pitch
Porto are not playing fair – dont they know they should be playing like Burnley and West Ham.
another negative subbing off…not a shot on target yet you take off your “Striker” for a deeper-lying midfielder
Norg-no doubt….thats why I had a bit of a go at that Islington poster when he suggested that we had fixed the offensive side of things…context is so important
Havertz is as smooth as a crocodile’s back
Andy Townsend’s comment in the 89th minute, “it’s a game that doesn’t even deserve a goal”
can we find a way to muster a actual shot on target in extra time
an actual
a header off a set piece into the 14th row is the nearest we came to threatening the opposing goal
we’re a fucking embarassment…just as I had predicted at half, we end up on the short end of a 1-0 scoreline
that was a Ramsdale kind of save…Raya left his feet way too early
it won’t be long before rumours emerge involving our supposed pursuit of Galeno in the summer window
Just gave that away. Fucking stupid. No need for that cross field ball. Think we can still beat them in London but pretty weak display tonight.
gutless and guileless football managing at it’s finest
Porto will be tough to beat at the Emirates.