The creative hub

Following on from both comments I made yesterday and an article by Chris Michaels, it now seems entirely possible that Arsenal may have very little choice in whether William Gallas remains in North London when his contract expires in the summer. Perusing this evening's Evening Standard on the homeward bound train, it seems Roma were in town last night and keen for Gallas to reunite with his former Chelsea boss, Claudio Ranieri. I don't know what's going to happen there, but for what seems like the millionth time, I hope Gallas decides to stay with us.

And performances like last night's can only encourage the Frenchman to believe that this Arsenal side has a bright future. Now, seeing as I seemed to be one of the few unworried by the "threat" of a Porto team that has now scored no goals, whilst conceding eleven in 270 minutes in north London, it would be unwise to get too carried away with last night's performance. All it offered to me, personally, was confirmation that there are some excellent footballers currently plying their trade in north London and that we are not, as someone asserted in the Football365 Mailbox earlier this week, a team containing just two players. Cesc and Vermaelen, if you have time for such a notion. But I guess it may have offered those of you struggling to believe in Arsenal some kind of hope.

Because to overturn a first leg deficit, and do it in such style, is something that is deserving of praise. The highest praise perhaps, especially once the absence of the spine of the team is factored in. But perhaps we are now seeing, belatedly, the emergence of a new spine. Vermaelen was all over the Porto attack last night, blocking and tackling in a manner that all of us who grew up with George Graham's defence will have appreciated. Even if he needs to be reminded from to time that he is a defender first and foremost. Alex Song is quietly emerging as a real force in his position as the screen in front of the defence. Perhaps in Song's case, it would be more accurate to say, "has quietly emerged". Whatever, he will certainly be a contender when player of the season time rolls around on Arse.com. And up front... up front we have Nicklas Bendtner.

Slaughtered routinely by fans who look only at the chances he missed on Saturday, the chances he has missed in the past but yesterday he gave a real demonstration of why his absence at the same time as Robin van Persie's was such a blow. Okay, if you wanted to be harsh, and I don't, you could point to the tap into an unguarded net for goal number one, the "I've done all the hard work for you, now here's the ball, put it away" set up from Andrei Arshavin and, of course, the penalty in the last minute. A penalty, incidentally, that resulted in one of the most unlikely, yet enduring images seen at the Grove thus far, as Eboue and Bendtner, arm in arm, ran around the pitch in celebration - who'd have thought that would happen a year ago?

But it's the willingness to get into those positions, the reading of the game that gets him into position time and time and time again that is important. I said it a couple of days ago, he is young and the chances are that he will continue to have days like the one he suffered against Burnley from time to time. But as he gets older, more experienced and calmer in front of goal, he will put more of those away than he will miss. And, as I've said before, he is able to link up play in that position in a way that Arshavin and Eduardo simply are not capable of doing.

It was almost written, well it was written by the manager in his programme notes yesterday evening, that Bendtner would score the opening goal last night, but to score a hat trick immediately following a game like Saturday's hints at a strength of character and a willingness to keep coming back that should be commended. It's a rather graphic demonstration, too, that if you support a player and give him your trust, rather than turning your back on him on the basis of a bad day, he will repay you - so to all of us who gave him what was, in my mind at least, a heartfelt standing ovation on Saturday, I say well done.

It would be remiss, of course, to pretend that last night was all about Bendtner because Andrei Arshavin made his first start in a month and was far, far too good for the Porto defence. Heavily involved in the first goal, the Píres like creator of the second and Bergkamp like for Eboue's wonderful counter attack goal; he even had time to miss an open goal before nearly scoring what would have been the goal of the season with his head after sumptuous build up play. I think it's safe to say he's missed us almost as much as we've missed him. Tomas Rosicky, too, for the first half at least, was magnificent. He may not have directly created any of the goals, but his changes in tempo and direction, his intelligence was too much for the Porto defence.

Saving the best for last; Cesc's absence last night had people wondering who was going to replace him as the creative hub, I must say they had to have been people who didn't watch the Burnley game because the answer was there. Well, last night, with all of Europe watching, some of it at least, Samir Nasri stepped up and filled the captain's shoes to a point where his absence was not felt. Not one bit. Nasri it was who created the situation for the crucial, opening goal - how good was it, how much of a difference to score so early, by the way? - Nasri who was who prevented the aggregate scores being levelled as we wobbled early in the second half and Nasri it was who brought the house down with the goal that effectively killed the tie at the climax of Porto's attacking 15 minutes. No words I have seen have done justice to the succession of feints and turns that did for the Porto defence, so I'm not going to try here. Suffice it to say that the three players he went past as if they were training ground dummies are probably still spinning now.

It would be typical of our luck if Nasri, having shifted inside to such effect (not that this should be a surprise as he was playing in his favoured position) was to fall victim to the central midfield curse that has come for Ramsey and Cesc, whilst making habitual stops for both Diaby and Denilson. My hope is that he wasn't too seriously injured. My second hope is that if he is, we have Cesc available for Saturday evening in Hull. An injury to Samir could be the only hope he has of getting back into the team!

So we can relax and look forward to the quarter final draw, though if Arsène is seriously looking for a tie with either Chelsea or Manchester United, he's on his own, let them beat each other up first, I say. And on that note...

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