Arsenal 1-0 Porto (Agg 1-1 - 4-2 on pels) - Player rating and Match reaction

Raya 8 - Have to say probably his best game for Arsenal, made smart saves during open play and made two good stops in the shootout, including fucking around with the heads of the Porto penalty takers


White 7 - Less effective going forward than he was against Brentford but along with the other defenders tidy and denying them space


Saliba 6.5 - Another solid performance, struggled with Evanilson a bit at first but grew into the game


Gabriel 7 - Same as Saliba, solid


Kiwior 7.5 - Good defending one on one


Jorginho 6 - One of our best passers, but there was very little space to exploit and doesn’t generally make his mark in these kind of physical games


Rice 7 - Didn’t have the space to influence things going forward but did a tidy job defensively. Possibly should have been subbed in extra time as clearly tiring


Odegaard 8 - Created the goal for Trossard and produced an excellent finish for goal that was ruled out.


Saka 6 - Didn’t really ever beat his full back, given his excellent performances of late…a bit muted


Trossard 7 - Good clinical finishing but his overall influence on the game barring the goal was minimal


Havertz 7 - Did well holding the ball up, I think on balance can’t have too many complaints about disallowed goal for his pulling Pepe back but coped well with deep defending and physicality



Subs


Jesus 7 - Still not fully fit, but was equally unlucky not to score just after coming on


Nketiah 6 - Peripheral


Zinchenko 5.5 - Lack of defensive discipline



Wasn’t a great performance, struggled to create much….and taken to the wire by a side that I think is inferior to us in almost every aspect. Whilst I do think we still lack that game plan against shit house teams to deal with them more efficiently, we showed grit and determination if not as much attacking fluency as we’d like to see.
Although their time wasting, their diving etc is frustrating and referees do need to come down harder on it…I think we took the lesson from the first leg…less sloppiness overall even if it did mean we approached the game with a bit more caution.

But you’re not going to play well every week, doesn’t matter who you are. Brentford and Porto were tough games which required us to show some mettle and we did that. I think we’ve come through these games and we take confidence and momentum into the tests to come

Hardly any mistakes from us (apart from Zinchenko’s usual party tricks) and with the game on a knife edge that was really encouraging. Concentration levels were spot on. Massive performance from Odegaard, thought he led by example and was the one constantly apply pressure to their back line.

A lot of people felt we’d blow Porto away but I never once thought this would be an easy win. Sometimes the occasion itself is a bit of a leveller and while they might not have the quality we do, they’re still vastly experienced at this level and on the balance of play across both legs there was hardly anything in it.

The break has come at the right time and it might even be good for us to go into the City game off the back of the internationals. I wonder if making the game a bitty and stodgy affair might suit us more in terms of getting a result there.

Also great to end the keeper debate once and for all now.

A Ramsdale howler and Raya heroics within a few days.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Also great to end the keeper debate once and for all now.

A Ramsdale howler and Raya heroics within a few days.

---

Yeah. Arteta has got this one right. I don't think Raya is a significant upgrade but his distribution is better and overall he suits our style better.
I do feel sorry for Ramsdale though, I don't think it's been handled well and I hope Ramsdale finds another club to be a bigger part of next season. He deserves that.

Nasty spoiling pricks that they were, Porto played very well and largely neutralised us in both legs. I think we have to admit that we were made to be sub par in terms of our recent performances, and this had the feel of a big boys' game. I think that it showed that CL football at the sharp end is a different animal to the EPL, for all that some people assumed that a team third in the Primeira Liga (albeit that league's form team) would be equivalent to one in the lower reaches of a superior league - especially away from home.

I think that this will be a good lesson for our largely inexperienced (in Europe) players and manager, though and what was most impressive is that we didn't falter and passed maybe Arteta's sternest test yet - with the weight of 14 years and the pressure to show that we do not bottle when the chips are down riding on this tie. The penalties were great testament to our determination and mental strength that I hope serves us well going forwards.

...and yes, Arteta has got the Raya decision right. Same goes for Havertz; and Kiwior; and Jorghino; and Trossard...there's a trend here :whistle:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IBK

Nasty spoiling pricks that they were, Porto played very well and largely neutralised us in both legs. I think we have to admit that we were made to be sub par in terms of our recent performances, and this had the feel of a big boys' game. I think that it showed that CL football at the sharp end is a different animal to the EPL, for all that some people assumed that a team third in the Primeira Liga (albeit that league's form team) would be equivalent to one in the lower reaches of a superior league - especially away from home.

I think that this will be a good lesson for our largely inexperienced (in Europe) players and manager, though and what was most impressive is that we didn't falter and passed maybe Arteta's sternest test yet - with the weight of 14 years and the pressure to show that we do not bottle when the chips are down riding on this tie. The penalties were great testament to our determination and mental strength that I hope serves us well going forwards.

...and yes, Arteta has got the Raya decision right. Same goes for Havertz; and Kiwior; and Jorghino; and Trossard...there's a trend here :whistle:

---

It’s not the same extent as it was under Wenger where we could be undone by Rory Delap, a beach towel and a long throw but when we are nullified by such tactics it’s kind of incumbent on us to find a way around it, so I think it’s a bit of a cop out to say they made us play not so well. When in fact the actual explanation is we played into their hands.


Barcelona who have been considerably weakened to the point where id be reasonably confident of getting past them over two legs, beat Porto home and away in the group stage….so presumably had more success in counteracting the dark arts.
Whether we like teams that play that way or not (and I don’t…I think Atletico who are the masters of it are a fucking disgrace) we can’t take the view that because teams shouldn’t be like that, that they won’t.


Im not saying we are making excuses either, Arteta to his credit seems to understand it’s fair game in a way that Wenger just wouldn’t. Nor am I saying the referees shouldn’t do more to punish time wasting, or that the home crowd should not react with vociferous displeasure at grown men throwing themselves about like cirque de soleil rejects.

Now this brings us on to the type of player we have, as I stated in my player ratings Jorginho is probably not the best player for instances such as these (it’s not to say we were wrong to start him, It didn’t do Rice any favours having him play alone there in Portugal and he looked dead on his feet in extra time last night). His ball distribution is excellent, he’s got an eye for finding a pass that is up there with players like Ozil. But when you’re dealing with a team that’s very defensively disciplined and doesn’t give you any space or room to move into…it rather negates his usefulness (not that he did anything wrong last night either I should add)

However actually if you go back a year I was one of the dissenting voices who said signing Jorginho made sense, where I’m reluctant is to keep him beyond the sticking plaster measure he was meant to be

Arteta seemingly wants to bring in a player like Zubimendi who looks like a younger version of Jorginho with a bit more dynamism. I’m not sure we necessarily need that, I think we need a bulldozer who can break up play…so I’d rather see us go for a player with premier league experience like Onana. But I suspect one way or the other, Arteta and I are never going to see eye to eye on transfers

Kiwior? The only thing I’ve ever said about him is that I don’t think he’s a natural full back, I think the fact that he’s been very useful to us has shown he’s grown as a defender with more game time.


Havertz is still in my book a luxury signing. I’ve always liked him as a player and felt that Chelsea weren’t getting the best out of him. But I thought to put in an exceptional performance like he did in a European cup final meant there had to be some talent there. But he wasn’t a priority. Neither in my view was Raya…and I don’t think he’s as effective a shot stopper as Ramsdale.


Trossard I wasn’t fond of the idea of signing but have been reasonably happy with from the outset