Porto v. Arsenal 2-0 (10/Dec/08)

Arsenal let out its choice to qualify as top seed when a rejuvenated Porto crashed the young guns in an encounter that was far from being decorous for the Gunneers. The team lack depth, offensive power and even defensive prowess. Aside the different conclusions that this match can bring, it was the expectancy over Eboué on recovering from his infamous mistake against Wigan that kept many Gooners on the tele. Both defensive backs, Eboué and Djorou, were new in the starting XI. Wenger seemed not to care the importance of ending in first place of the group. This makes us think if he cares about ANY competition at all. I have previously stated Wenger's Guru abilities, since he stated earlier before the match that "Porto have rejuvenating powers."





Anyway, the match started with a dangerous Alves shot at 9'. The Arsenal away form relied on a solid defending and despite the physical challenge by many Porto players the Londoners were holding tight. Diaby clearly was the mastermind in absence of rested Cesc. Reaching the 20' mark either sides did not offer too much. It was beginning to appear like a boring match from the old days, but then Carlos Vela made me laugh. I really do not know how they came to the conclusion that he must take free kicks, I mean if he wants to train he can do some at the TRAINING GROUND but, who cares right. The match showed no signs of progress with the 30' mark. Miguel Simón and Quique Wolff at least brought us some good and amusing commentaries. Lisandro shot saved by Almunia at 29', which was was curiously bad defended by Gallas, was a warning to the visiting side. Although the Welshman Ramsey shot was amongst Arsenal's midtime highlights, he was merely holding in the right side, suffering from the lack of depth that the nervous Eboué had. Reaching the end of the first half, at 39', it was Alves again, who headed without any mark and gave the lead to the Portuguese side. Porto was gaining confidence by the minute and by the time was off, Diaby and Song were conscious of the ammount of work they had done.





The second half was beginning to take its pace when a distracted Arsenal center back allowed Lisandro to score, obviosuly after a defensive wreckage of who else but Billy G. Ramsey's ability was not shown in the right side due to two things: the previously mention of Eboué's lack of depth and his lack of physical prowess. He could not fill the gap of the remaining fifteen meters in order to cross. The lack of ofensive power was also motivated by the fact that Bendtner had no ideas alone, in the box or wide on the wing. He lacks the brilliancy or the spark a Bergkamp or the "Unnamble" could have. He is, to resume, a regular central striker. This is confirmed by a quote that Simón stated and Wolff followed: "No hay peso en el área, no hay peso ofensivo." [There is no weight in the box, there's no offensive weight at all]. Young subs came in; Wilshere for Ramsey and Gibbs for Diaby. Eboué had another of his famous-to-forget nights. The visiting side had possession in the remaining twenty five minutes of the match but even with this not a single run to the box could be produced. Gibbs and the youngies were too shy to shot at glance and the counters were getting dangerous by the minute, with Billy G comanding the offside traps. The free-kicks were still a joke and even with the final push, due to game's inertia, the visiting side could not manage to get a ball in the box.
Strangely enough in the final stages of the game all offensive balls derived onto Wilshere. The final picture of the game was a disbanded Arsenal side that fell into the hands of an organized Porto. My advice to Gibbs: train your technique, not a bad player but that is the most important thing about football.


O Cesc, we give you everything and then you fuck us up. I have already said what I think about him leaving. His decision of playing on Spain is very respectable, but.....