Arsenal
Off to Porto with doubts Good news and bad news
3-1 down no bother
By Boris Mellor
February 16 2010
I am posting this early for the Porto Game as I will have to leave home at 4:30 am tomorrow morning long before the Kremlin has issued its final edict on who is fit to play. The team leave from Luton this afternoon and Wenger has probably given his press conference, but at Arsenal.com news is not news until it is at least a couple of days old. They like it to ripen and mature.
Instead Arsenal fans have to read the news through the refracted lens of the media and blogs first, some of which proves to be true, after all if none of it was ever true then I would assume that most fans would stop reading it. But then who does keep reading those articles linking £30 million players with Arsenal two weeks after the window has shut? Do they think an exception will be made for Arsenal, after all Arshavin was signed half hour after the deadline so perhaps it will be stretched to two weeks. It's the hope I can't stand.
Bad News
Anyhow Arshavin is not a doubt, no he is a certainty to be unfit, but he promises to return for the mega battle against Sunderland. Meanwhile Gallas and Song are real doubts, well according to the media based on old news from Wenger, not fully confirmed by the Kremlin. So this means that Campbell could be up for his first CL game in a very long while.
Good News
The good news is that Eduardo should be fit, oh come on he had about 3 goals and 3 assists in his last fit month, any how he prefers European football, and it will be warmer in Porto, if not a lot wetter. It is also believed that Eastmond is in the squad.
Swallowing the phrase book
No disrespect to Portuguese speakers but I am struggling with the phrase book, apparently you have to swallow the end of words. I tried listening to some examples of pronunciation on the BBC website, everything ends in a mumble, well I should get the hang of it after all I live in London.
Swallowing the score
I don't get away to Europe very often (demands of work), and my last trip was to Villarreal, we weren't that good but we got a 1-1 draw with a brilliant equaliser by a player we no longer talk about, and we do not have his 5' 4" replacement to provide the magic either.
It was so much easier in black and white
I will come home happy with at least a 1-1 draw. I remember coming home happy from Anderlecht with a 3-1 defeat, but I don't think I would with this fragile bunch. The last time we lost to Porto we played a weakened team as the team had already qualified. Hopefully having the last game at home could prove to be a real advantage.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:02:18:19:45:03 by Padre Pio.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Udnerstand Porto does have ultras as well.
Safe and pleasant trip.
Arsenal squad:
Lukasz Fabianski
Vito Mannone
Nicklas Bendtner
Carlos Vela
Theo Walcott
Samir Nasri
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Tomas Rosicky
Abou Diaby
Cesc Fabregas
Gael Clichy
Thomas Vermaelen
Emmanuel Eboue
Mikael Silvestre
Sol Campbell
Armand Traore
Bacary Sagna
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:02:16:15:02:18 by pk_gunner.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Warning: Supporting Arsenal is not for the faint at heart... It requires hard balls...
Can We Now Trust The Process ๐ค๐คท๐ฟโโ๏ธ or Should We Still Remain Cautious ๐๐ฟโโ๏ธ
Now, SSN is reporting we've got 8 first teamers out for this game. I know Manuel, Arshavin, Song, Gallas, Eduardo, RVP and Djourou are all out. Who's the 8th?
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:PKGooner
Song, Arshavin, Gallas, Eduardo, Almunia out!
Arsenal squad:
Lukasz Fabianski
Vito Mannone
Nicklas Bendtner
Carlos Vela
Theo Walcott
Samir Nasri
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Tomas Rosicky
Abou Diaby
Cesc Fabregas
Gael Clichy
Thomas Vermaelen
Emmanuel Eboue
Mikael Silvestre
Sol Campbell
Armand Traore
Bacary Sagna
That squad is painful.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
- Albert Einstein
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:BootyDaddyQuote:PKGooner
Song, Arshavin, Gallas, Eduardo, Almunia out!
Arsenal squad:
Lukasz Fabianski
Vito Mannone
Nicklas Bendtner
Carlos Vela
Theo Walcott
Samir Nasri
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Tomas Rosicky
Abou Diaby
Cesc Fabregas
Gael Clichy
Thomas Vermaelen
Emmanuel Eboue
Mikael Silvestre
Sol Campbell
Armand Traore
Bacary Sagna
That squad is painful.
You'd be surprised at how many make our current squad.
Quote:GS1Quote:BootyDaddyQuote:PKGooner
Song, Arshavin, Gallas, Eduardo, Almunia out!
Arsenal squad:
Lukasz Fabianski
Vito Mannone
Nicklas Bendtner
Carlos Vela
Theo Walcott
Samir Nasri
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Tomas Rosicky
Abou Diaby
Cesc Fabregas
Gael Clichy
Thomas Vermaelen
Emmanuel Eboue
Mikael Silvestre
Sol Campbell
Armand Traore
Bacary Sagna
That squad is painful.
You'd be surprised at how many make our current squad.
Add those players out it's a better squad.
"๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐. ๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด."
Fabregas and Rosicky in the same midfield with Sagna and Campbell (excellent defenive intelligence) with Vermaelen and Clichy plus Eboue who was part of the team which impressed every one in Italy with it's Exceptionally Good Quality Of Defending in The Champions League.
Yeah there were injuries but those players in a one off game were good enough to hold their own against the best of the best.
What hurt that team more than anything was the way in which Wenger chose to use the players available.
He probably started Bendtner in that game. He probably did not even use Campbell as a sub and have Campbell go up the field for set pieces. Ie Wenger deliberately refused to even think about playing with a Plan B.
Porto made it to a CL final with a worse squad than that.
Arsenal Times | [www.gov.uk]
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
You can have a defender as old as Pepe is and be fine as long as you send your team out with a solid gameplan.
Arsenal Times | [www.gov.uk]
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
[news.bbc.co.uk]
That team was let down by bad goalkeeping.
Arsenal Times | [www.gov.uk]
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