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Now I wrote the article at a time when Flamini was a regular, and noted that Wenger could get away with selecting short men whilst he had a midfield which could press up and keep the ball moving. Yet according to Wenger he had intended to play Diaby. The problem with the midfield now is that Cesc has to go deep whilst the slow paced Denilson tries to make the play. The team has lost tempo, and had a hard job maintaining it on Saturday. As Wenger continued to speak I began to wonder if he would bring some tall men in for Porto.

Walking the ball in??

Thank goodness Nasri is back hopefully he will give the Gunners more ideas than they had against the Tigers. Rather than walk the ball in they began to resort to lobbing the ball into the City area, that and numerous crosses delivered only one decent header in the second half.

What wouldn't I have given to see the ball walked in like they did away at Bolton. There was little finesse on show here, just a lot of miss hit passes and crosses that the Hull keeper handled easily enough.

Rotation not punishment

Wenger says he will make changes, but not too many. His main reason for change is that you can't keep playing the same eleven all the time. He has rejected the idea that Toure will be moved into midfield, and was evasive about Silvestre. So I expect changes in midfield and strikers.

Nasri could be given a central midfield role; he could play well with Cesc as he would produce the plays that Denilson sometimes misses. For when Cesc goes deep the team misses out on a lot of offensive play, that wouldn't be the case with Nasri. Nasri also looks more likely to score. Meanwhile I think RvP does not look scoring that many this season, Bendtner and Vela deserve more of a chance. Indeed I thought Walcott was unlucky to be taken off against Hull; RvP was far more deserving of an early bath.

However Wenger is right it is only one game, it is no time to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is no point in replacing the whole eleven. Defender's need to build up steady partnerships by playing regularly; it is tempting to want Gallas dropped but making too many changes against a fast moving Porto could also prove risky. Nonetheless a few changes are needed and Gooners will wait to see what they are with bated breath.

Possible Squad

Nasri could be a welcome return, but unfortunately Song has failed to recover from the Carling Cup injury, even though he sat on the bench for the Hull game.

Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri, Walcott, Adebayor, Van Persie, Fabianski, Djourou, Vela, Bendtner, Gibbs,  Eboue, Silvestre.

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