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.
sorry I was addressing you Norg with my opening comment.
KP, I can see where your coming from, and my recent posts have all been positive that was from our momentum since the Dubai break. I felt if we followed the same tactics we’d get the result I predicted.
We played to not get beat by defending in the final 3rd as we always do with Ode running at full pelt flapping his arms and probably snarling. Does he ever get a tackle in on the deeper of the back four? Hardly ever. In that part of Ode’s play, he’s very Ozilesque.
Like you I was expecting a result and we shit the bed big time. Watching the game they contained us well. They knew where the ball would be heading to Saka or Marts. We don’t do central surging runs and dribbles because we sold Bolagun and have no-one who is capable. Jesus always ends up being dispossessed. Ethan Nwaneri looks to have very silky feet and fitted in perfectly in his last cameo. I would imagine he can play through the middle with good runs with the ball at his feet.
Ethan’s obstacle is the same as ESR, which is El B
If Porto get an early goal at the Emirates, we will be back to at least we can concentrate on the PL old chestnut. The familiar old Arteta story.
All we have is hope my friend. We can’t dare to dream, it only ends in tears and pain.
to no one’s surprise I have a tendency to go a tad overboard at times, which is undoubtedly the result of having to endure these anemic performances time and time again…to be fair to Porto they should have won this match by 2 or 3 goals, as they missed two or three golden opportunities, twice when Raya stupidly vacated his box and another when Galeno shockingly missed wide 2 feet from goal…now if this were against a defensive stalwart, like Juve of a decade prior, it would still be cause for concern, but for it to happen against a bang average Porto side is almost inexcusable…once again it’s important to reiterate that we didn’t register a single shot on target, yet our overtly negative tactician of a manager made but one sub, which saw a deeper-lying midfielder replace our false 9ish Striker, then he proceeded to publicly sewer the players for their lack of offensive output…which begs the question, just how ineffective does Havertz have to be before he gets the Vaudevillian hook like MA’s old buddy Willian???
now, of course, we could still rectify this situation with a decisive victory at home in the return fixture, but that’s certainly not a given in light of our propensity to cock things up when it matters most…for the time being I’ll try to remain cautiously optimistic, as we’re a substantially better team on paper, but I’m still not convinced we have the finishing skills required to win in spite of the manager
TRVL
What far too many Arsenal fans can’t see or get is the insipid performances outnumber the good ones.
Arteta will have a run of shit performances (with results in there) and then really shit results, just as the fans get a bit restless he’ll go on a mini run of good matches and results and the fanboys forget all what’s gone on beforehand.
Tony
I expect typing your posts can easily be achieved whilst watching last nights game. The quality was sadly lacking and typing lengthy posts at the same time should be quite easy.
The 70’s and 80’s were more free and easy. Players and celebrities were more accessible. A nobody like me has met lots of ‘somebodys’ during my years and in some cases more than just a passing word.
If I recall you were involved in the music industry. When I moved to London I lived in Muswell Hill – at the time it was bedsit / shared flat land and up and coming groups made it their HQ. Footballers were just as accessible.I worked in the East End – Lampard Snr could often be found propping up the bar in the Bakers Arms, Hurst & Peters were involved in the Two Puddings and Bobby Moore drank in the Burford Arms.
At AFC Terry Neil took us to 3 cup finals but after that we were very hit & miss under Don Howe. Then along came GG and despite not having the spending power of Liverpool and United he achieved a huge amount. He got caught with a brown envelope in his hand – probably the normal practice at the time. I am sure he could have taken us further but didnt get the chance. As well as trousering a large wedge he probably also caught DHW doing something he shouldnt on the board room table.
should be PHW.
Marc-when one closely examines the similarities between this and the latter days Wenger tenure, those with their blinders firmly affixed might be suitably shocked
common Wenger complaints:
(1) poor recruitment drives where we either settled or largely ignored our most pressing needs (i.e. the DM/Striker position)
(2) lack of tactical flexibility
(3) choosing favourties over the greater good
(4) monopolizing all things football-related, then surrounding himself with “yes” men
(5) never taking responsibility/always blaming others for oft-times self-inflicted failures
(6) cocking up the winter window
(7) having, at best, a pedestrian European record
(8) underachieving in the business end of the season
(9) fragile yet bloated ego
(10) passing the ball into the net tactical approach
sound familiar…btw this isn’t an exhaustive list, so feel free to add any I may have missed…Cheers
TRVL
Wenger got old and old people don’t like change or people challenging them – Arteta’s a whole other story.
Of course the biggest difference is Wenger just didn’t want to spend money (a very long completely different conversation) and Arteta spends (other peoples!) money like a drunk socialist.
Any time I get talk of “look what Arteta’s doing” I always have to smile – he’s got a fucking squad worth a BILLION £ anything he does is the bare minimum unless he starts winning PL’s or CL’s.
Marc-I’m a big proponent of the whole Wenger “didn’t want to spend money” gig, unlike many who claimed it was a Kroenke mandated frugal agenda…that was the Professor wanted to look like an under budget genius and not wanting to have anyone usurping his monopolistic control of the locker room…imagine what might have been if Arteta had simply adopted the most positive managerial traits of both Wenger and Pep
TRVL
11. Just plain stubborn.
Yes men hasn’t reached Wenger levels apart from the goalkeeping coach. Any that any good are seeking opportunities elsewhere.
Hi Marc
… spends money like a drunk socialist (hic!).
You know I can never resist offering some mild rebuttals.
Brilliant dissociation if I may say. Your mate Rishi has brought us the highest rates of income tax in living memory and your home girl Truss and Conservative posterboy Kamikaze Kwarteng fucked our economy quicker than it took for that lettuce to go rotten. Public services in shreds, recession, stagnant output – Britain is about as depressing a place as the inside of Arteta’s addled cabeza. Has your mortgage gone up yet? 😊I paid north of 35 big ones in tax last year thanks to your Tory acolytes.
You’re going to have to vote Labour soon because they’re going to be the only mainstream pro-capitalist party remaining in Ingerland after the Torys are vaporised – but you’ll be fine ideologically at least. Starmer is morphing into a more Thatcherite version of Tony Blair. Let that sink in.
Marc – In case you come to your political senses, I’ll keep a welcome in the hillsides mate 🏴!
You going tomorrow?
Kroenke
I hate to break this to you but we have a socialist government already.
It can call itself Conservative or Tory but its policies are left wing. Its why so many Tory voters will either not vote at the next election or vote for alternative parties like Reform.
Lol Marc – Friday joke day is a thing on the plastic Pedro’s site of doom.
Suggesting the Tories are socialist is akin to calling Putin or Netanyahu a pacifist. Racist immigration policies, privatisation, austerity, not giving a fuck about the impact of Covid and being in the thrall of markets are not in the modern Marxist playbook. You’ll have to try a bit harder than that.
You’re joking right? Either that or you’ve drank too many pints of Nigel Farage’s piss. Made my day that has. Laurence Fox level politics.
The quality of todays MP’s is roughly the same as the quality of the current AFC Manager. Both major parties struggle to put forward a decent leader.
The more I read media-types, especially Ornstein, discussing MA’s summertime pursuit of Neto, the more concerned I get about our MIT being in charge of recruitment…it’s not that I don’t rate PN, in fact quite the contrary, but considering the 80+m transfer fee, the massive wage package we will undoubtedly offer, his atrocious injury history and the fact that he primarily plays in the same position as Saka, this seems like a nonsensical “luxury” reach
not only does his present contract not expire until 2027, he will likewise have several suitors of note, so the Wolves will have considerable leverage, even if he tries to force his way out…in order to both encourage him to “help” with the process and lure him away from the competition, we will undoubtedly need to blow him away with our wage offer and other assurnaces…considering what we’re presently paying both Havertz and Jesus, it scares me to think what that number might look like, as his projected ceiling will be substantially higher…as for his injury history, he’s missed 88 games since the spring of 2021, a number that would even make Partey blush…as to the whole positional gig, it would likely mean one of two things, either he’s going to be shoehorned in or one of our present wingers will be sold on…knowing how Arteta has operated thus far, it probably means Marts will be moved and Neto will be playing on his “off” wing, ironically along side another shoehorned player, Timber
of course all of this is speculative, but Ornstein rarely offers up transfer tidbits about our club without it having some merit….not to mention, rumours regarding MA’s admiration MA for this particular player have been making their rounds for the past couple seasons…like I said earlier, I do like what this player brings to the party, but I can’t even fathom how our club, with it’s historical injury-related struggles, could ever pursue a player who’s spent so much time in the treatment room, especially at his age(23)…here’s hoping the adults in the room don’t kowtow to the whims of our manager again, like with Havertz, and we set our sights on our most pressing positional need, a readymade Striker with goals aplenty in his boots
as for our match against Newcastle, which I won’t be able to watch live, as I have a function I must attend, I wouldn’t be surprised if they counter-attacked us with pace, much like Porto, especially if Isak is back in the fold…the very fact that MA will be under some pressure to prove that our anemic mid-week performance was an anomaly, could leave us open to that sort of tactical approach…that said, our stubborn manager could quite easily lean into the same gameplan, as he believed there was goals to be had against Porto that we simply squandered, in the hopes of generating a self-absorbed “told you so” moment…who knows, maybe he’ll go off script and start a few from the splinter crew, so that he will have a built-in excuse if things go awry…Cheers
Norg
It is easier at my age to write directly after watching the game. Although when I watch I generally comment during the game and note the stats during the game.
Our overly emotional attachment to our club especially for me makes it all the more memorable together with the fact that our play is repetitive, as are our mistakes.
I’m just a few years younger at 68, and just getting my 6-pack back, I let slip at 66. After decades in gyms and sports I had accrued a few niggling injuries that needed 48+ months to completely clear up. TRVL will know what I’m saying.
Now I’m back in my gym at my house and enjoying getting fit again. Muscle memory obviously plays a big part. If you put in the decades, keep a good nutrition and maintain max fluid intake, you can keep a good late fitness.
I had a quintuple bypass in my mid 80s, so a big wake up call to my misspent youth, spent as you rightly remember in the music industry with all the cavalier sex drugs and rock and roll of that era. The stories you heard are all lies. The real events were far worse😂
Your comments and east end recollections made me remember times when West Ham players would come to give out our end of season medals. Johnny Sissons I think was one. Our club owner was an ex East End barrow boy, which covered many sins I later found out.
Musicians are really approachable if common sense is used, as it was back in the day with you no doubt. I was fortunate to have worked with some of the best from both sides of the pond with gold and silver discs awarded for my sound engineering craft.
As for tonight’s game where it’s on at 3am my time – for reasons only the football money makers know, we should, with home advantage, collect all 3 points.
The Bar Codes will have other ideas, of course, but I think the Arsenal faithful will be vocal after our Porto non event.
If you and Marc go, I hope it’s a good watch.
We just don’t know, do we? We could as easily score 5 as lose by 2! On paper we should win 3:1 if the Maya midget plays on his latest form.
Ramsdale plays and more likely to keep a clean sheet. Saliba looks like he needs a rest, so playing White in his natural position of RCB makes most sense. Make Cedric earn his corn even if only for 60 minutes.
ESR at 8 and Matinelli at 9 with I’d put Saka LW to link up with ESR and Nelson at RW.
Shake it up and give steady Eddie something to think about, right?
Sadly, this is El B we are talking about, so it will be wash rinse repeat all game with non sensical in-game subs and still get the points.
I’ll watch in the morning and hope to have something good to write about.
Meanwhile Ireland are schooling Wales with some excellent rugby from many of the Irish players. Wales are 2nd best all over the park.
Scotland v the Sassanaks a little later. Should be a very good game in my birth city of Edinburgh.
Have a good one………..🙏
Back to the drawing board for Bothwick’s England after repeated attempts to slow the a swashbuckling rugby the Scottish played at electric pace, you would be more used to seeing in New Zealand.
Great game for the neutrals and Scottish where acquiring shares in whiskey for a short spike would be advised.
Looking at fotmob it shows the only change is Jorginho at 8. Better than Havertz but weaker than ESR.
Wash rinse repeat and 3 points will have to do as Eddie Howe will make sure Newcastle show up unlike the last two.
Apologies for no match day blog.. been busy with the bread and butter job.
Jorginho starts in the midfield and Havertz up top. I would have still stuck with Trossard though.
Does Arteta even know there’s such a thing as roatation?