Porto - Arsenal

[damian]

Amazing performance from everyone... Nasri and Rosicky did well especially, and Bendtner had four chances and scored three of them. Only negative was that we possibly gave Porto too many chances when we were 2 - 0 up (look at the Fiorentina - Munich game for why that's a bad thing!), but Nasri's goal killed the game off beautifully.

Calvin made a very good point.... Souness spent the entire review of Nasri's goal criticising the defending (which in fairness was a bit poor)... had it been Messi or Ronaldo, that would have been the most amazing goal ever.

[stevemackie2001]

i'm now hoping we get one of 3 teams from the Bordeaux, Sevilla or Bayern Munich...we can't let complacency set in, cos if we lose to a team like hull on saturday, it's all been in vain...but this is a great team potentially moving forward...

[damian]

Bordeaux or Olympiakos would be nice. I'd rather avoid the more "half decent" sides like Sevilla and Munich... we'll be complacent and ruin a decent chance. I'd rather play Inter, Barca or Madrid... at least we'll give 110%!

the only teams we absolutely must avoid are Chelsea and United. Not because we can't beat them at football, but because they have a mental edge over us, and we'll be beaten before we even walk on the pitch.

[Aaron]

ARSENAL

Manuel Almunia - 6.5: Didn't have much to do but when Porto showed a brief challenge early in the second half he made a couple of vital saves.

Gael Clichy - 7: A couple of errors including one that could have been costly as Hulk raced clear but overall it was a composed performance from Clichy and aided the attack well when needed.

Thomas Vermaelen - 7.5: A sound centre half display. Able in possession, great positional sense and not afraid to put his body on the line.

Sol Campbell - 6: Had a couple of shaky moments where he was caught in possession or a yard off the pace but he made some vital interceptions and his positioning was faultless. Would be severely tested against better opposition however.

Bakari Sagna - 7: Tested more than any Arsenal defender but stood tall and had a good game. Going forward he was an added threat with good delivery from the wing.

Vassiriki Diaby - 7: Simple passes keep things ticking over in the middle of the park. Showed on more than one occasion that he can beat his man with great close control, a very good all round effort.

Samir Nasri - 8: Superb solo goal to put the tie beyond Porto minutes after his goal line clearance. An intergral part of Arsenals' flowing attack, it was an excellent all round performance.

Alexandre Song - 6.5: One or two mishit passes, made a solid but unspectacular contribution and was on hand to tidy up in midfield in the rare times they lost possession.

Andrey Arshavin - 9: Unstoppable match winning performance from the Russian. He opened Porto up down the left and through the centre to gift two goals to Bendtner and put one on a plate for Eboue to finish things off.

Tomas Rosicky - 6: Was involved in some of the many flowing passing moves but never really excelled. One sloppy pass almost proved costly and was almost instantly replaced by Eboue.

Nicklas Bendtner - 9: A fine hat-trick to repay Wenger's faith. Like any good striker he got into the right positions and capitalised and did well besides dropping deep to link with the midfield.

Substitutes

Emmanuel Eboue - 7.5: Great when he came in, charging at the heart of the Porto defence. He scored one and won a penalty.

Denilson - 6: Wasn't really involved.

Theo Walcott - 6.5: Confident on the ball and looked a threat but didn't have enough time to influence. Perhaps the four goal cushion made life easier.

Agree with most of this. Perhaps a little harsh on Song and Rosicky. It isn't Song's job to stand out. It's the fact that Porto weren't allowed to play at all that made his performance good! Also, I thought Rosicky was involved in nearly everything and was very composed on the ball

[Bondurant]

Arshavin was excellent, looks so dangerous cutting in from the left. Nasri's pass for the first goal was sublime, great solo goal too, prefer Samir playing in midfield than the front three.

Thought Clichy had a good game and looked more like the player of a couple of years ago, a lot of sharp interceptions, made one mistake misjudging a header.

Interesting to see Walcott willing to cut onto his left foot a couple of times last night, haven't seen that before, if hes playing wide then he needs to be able to go either way.

[damian]

Arshavin was very good, but shouldn't have got 9/10 just because of the number of times he gave the ball away in midfield when we'd pushed forward. A better side would have punished us for that.

Vermaelen was excellent, didn't mention that before. The number of blocks he got in was sensational.

[Aaron]

Arshavin was very good, but shouldn't have got 9/10 just because of the number of times he gave the ball away in midfield when we'd pushed forward. A better side would have punished us for that.

Vermaelen was excellent, didn't mention that before. The number of blocks he got in was sensational.

I dunno, its hard to agree with that. I'd say 3 assists should get you a 9 by itself almost He had a header saved in the first half. He won a header against Bruno Alves for the 1st goal (he headed it to Nasri, then Nasri played him through) When have you ever seen Arshavin try to challenge let alone win headers For Bendtners second he turned about 4 people and then put it on a platter. For Eboue's he got the ball 20 metres inside his own half by showing more desire to get to the ball than the Porto player, ran 50-60 metres with it and played a perfect pass for Eboue. A bit hard not to give that 9 IMO

Agree about Vermaelen. Put his body on the line countless times and blocked everything. He seems to get blocks a fair bit actually

[abharrisson]

Bordeaux or Olympiakos would be nice. I'd rather avoid the more "half decent" sides like Sevilla and Munich... we'll be complacent and ruin a decent chance. I'd rather play Inter, Barca or Madrid... at least we'll give 110%!

the only teams we absolutely must avoid are Chelsea and United. Not because we can't beat them at football, but because they have a mental edge over us, and we'll be beaten before we even walk on the pitch.

I'd agree.... wenger says he wouldn't mind/even wants manu chelsea.... my position is lets play the weakest sides we can for as long as we can... it bossts confidence ( if we win obviously), the further we get the better our seeding next year, the further we get the more money we get, the further we get the more any players we sell will be worth, the further we get the more likely players are to stay, and of course the further we get the more chance we have of having better players back from injury........ we have to play the better sides at some stage, I'd just prefer to leave it as long as possible ( man U and chelsea also seem to be getting worse as the season progresses so then drawing each other plus then the winner drawing one of the other top sides for the semi's would be the ideal result for me... in fact I'd be happiest if they both got knocked out now.)

[Bondurant]

We defintely dont want an English side and Arsene secretly knows that, like Damian said we quite probably have a bit of a physchological complex against them at the moment, we got lucky drawing Porto so we will be pushing it to do it again, by the time of the semis we should hopefully be picking a first choice starting eleven.

[damian]

We defintely dont want an English side and Arsene secretly knows that, like Damian said we quite probably have a bit of a physchological complex against them at the moment, we got lucky drawing Porto so we will be pushing it to do it again, by the time of the semis we should hopefully be picking a first choice starting eleven.

Good point... Gallas is almost match ready, Cesc's injury won't keep him out for long, and Van Persie is due back early April (Arse.com lists the quarter final games as 30/31 March and 6/7 April... he could theoretically be back for those?)

[abharrisson]

We defintely dont want an English side and Arsene secretly knows that, like Damian said we quite probably have a bit of a physchological complex against them at the moment, we got lucky drawing Porto so we will be pushing it to do it again, by the time of the semis we should hopefully be picking a first choice starting eleven.

Good point... Gallas is almost match ready, Cesc's injury won't keep him out for long, and Van Persie is due back early April (Arse.com lists the quarter final games as 30/31 March and 6/7 April... he could theoretically be back for those?)

I'd love Van P to be back for the end of the season, although I have learned form bitter experience that while these players might be medically better, when they start training/playing they get little niggles which pushes them back a month and then tsome have to go in search of some form ( eg eduardo).. lets hope for the best.. I somehow feel the season might have been a little different if we had had Van P for more games.

[damian]

I think we can guarantee that RVP will be fit for the World Cup

[abharrisson]

I think we can guarantee that RVP will be fit for the World Cup

..... where after a few dazzaling performances to remind us what we've been missing he'll then break a bone and be out for most of next season as well..... I think the world cup will hit us particularly hard... we'll have excited money bags clubs tempting our gems away, our side ( becasue they are young) are more likely to pick up injuries etc, and as a young side they need the rest a summer off provides more than a seasoned old pro... it really wouldn't surprise me if we start next season with a long injury list and lacklustre performances ... all of course capped off by not being able to sign anyone as the prices get toio inflated for wnegers purse.