GunnerMania
Member
Its a comfortable victory....its good enough.
But porto were pathetic.....expected a better fight than what was on offer tonight.
-
! ! ! IMPORTANT MESSAGE ! ! !
Discussions about police investigations
In light of recent developments about a player from Premier League being arrested and until there is an official announcement, ALL users should refrain from discussing or speculating about situations around personal off-pitch matters related to any Arsenal player. This is to protect you and the forum.
Users who disregard this reminder will be issued warnings and their posts will get deleted from public.
CL: Arsenal vs Porto | 26/09/06
- Thread starter cubbz_th14
- Start date
- Replies 1,106
- Views 44,680
Its a comfortable victory....its good enough.
But porto were pathetic.....expected a better fight than what was on offer tonight.
Mostarac
Established Member
Very good match from us tonight, I was very impressed with what I saw. We opened the match well, too bad that Toure`s early goal was disallowed though. I thought that all departments of our team were working well tonight, especially going forward. Gallas, Toure, Eboue, Hleb, Gilberto and Thierry Henry were our best players tonight, even though the entire team impressed. Lehmann had not much to do, but he did well on the few chances Porto had tonight. Hoyte was quiet as usual, nothing spectacular(offers nothing going forward), but he is improving all the time. Toure was excellent once again, one of the best defenders in the world without a doubt. Gallas was our best player tonight I thought, excellent defensively and offensively, he was even involved in Hleb`s goal. Eboue impressed me in the 1st half, his run and assist for our first goal was incredible, thought he was a bit subdued in the 2nd half, and he has to improve defensively. Rosicky was impressive once again, not his best match for us, but still quite involved and did his stuff pretty well at times. Good to see how hard he worked defensively too. Gilberto continues to play well, again very solid performance from him. Cesc was quite good tonight, completely controlled our offensive play from his midfield position. What is it to say about Hleb, great performance, great goal and finally he even took some shots. Not too bad again for van Persie, played well in the 1st half, a bit quiet maybe in the 2nd half. Thierry Henry finally looks to be back in form for us, great headed goal, and some impressive technical abilities too. Great match, but the only thing which disappointed me was the way the crowd left the stadium in the 85th minute. Nothing significant, but still a bit strange for a importnant match like this one.
Can't understand why some are still complaining so much on the team's performace tonight. It's fine to pick a few places for improvement, but to downgrade the team's overall performance goes too far. No wonder Thierry mentioned some criticism on himself and Eboue. Some fans are just plainly picky.
Thierry scored with his HEADER and that came from EBOUE's cross. Besides the team kept a CS.
What more can you ask? Jens to do an Alonso goal?
Thierry scored with his HEADER and that came from EBOUE's cross. Besides the team kept a CS.
What more can you ask? Jens to do an Alonso goal?
maxxx
Active Member
tactica442 said:
I'm not complaining about the performance. I thought we were awesome and controlled the game.
tckdemig0d said:Fraxinus123 said:conclusion: OK,Arsenal has a fairly good team evethough Henry is your only worldclass player. But FC Porto is part of the WORLDCLASS CLUBS. We have a History behind us and big national, european and world titles. So for tomorrow guys, sorry but it will be in the worst cas a draw or a Porto win. U can cry and scream out loud but this is the truth. Ask any other european supporter. Good luck anyway
LMAO! choke on your own words did ya?
The only reason at all is that you have won the champions league... and your league isnt hard. winning the premiership is probably 3 times as hard. and if football ended today. porto will probably be higher in the *football rankings* on the only fact that youve actualy won the cup. nothing else.
To be fair, Porto allowed our midfielders too much space. Helb had plenty of room to turn with the ball. Porto's RB was all alone facing Thierry, without defensive support from teammates. Also, they didn't dive as many times as they used to.eye4goal said:
Maybe Porto's mamange didn't expect Hoyte would come up. That's why he didn't ask his players to attack Hoyte's side. I don't know whether Quaresma can play RM or not. If he can and the manager asked him to, Hoyte might have had more trouble in his zone.
Still Hoyte contributed to Arsenal's CS tonight. He didn't do too much trickery or try some flamboyant stuff with RvP. You could sense little nerve from him but his performance got better as the game went by. I just hope his confidence will improve game by game. IMO His problem lies in confidence really.
maxxx, I am not targeting you. I am just saying my impression from reading some posts in this thread.maxxx said:
quattro
Well-Known Member
the amount of moaning in this thread is seriously reaching ridiculous level. a comfortable win against a pretty well established side. 2 goals, clean sheet.
and still we are sh*te.
f*ckin hell... i hope you guys don't hang yourselves if ever we lose.
and still we are sh*te.
f*ckin hell... i hope you guys don't hang yourselves if ever we lose.
- Thread starter
- #1,010
cubbz_th14
Well-Known Member
had a good time at the game and i thought we performed well, eboue was a class act tonight, the porto fans shut up totally after the second goal - the zagreb fans in that regards were awesome, who keep howling till the final whistle - i though the ref. was a bit of a ****** and expectedly a chant moved around 'the refs a ******' - also 'stand up if you hate ashley' went around, not too strongly to my disappointment. all in all a fantastic result for us - pics later tomorrow - by the way i think RVP was blind-folded when he had that shot
tangoandrew
Member
Let's enjoy our win and the fact that the team is getting it and getting better after a dismal start.
It's painfully obvious that RVP is off today but the team performed well to more than offset that. The players are human and have their off-days. The team spirit showed when there is no display of frustrated moanings or groanings over the easy misses. Instead they worked for each other to cover and recover. I think King Kolo mentioned this at his last ATV interview.
I am looking fwd to every Arsenal game because the team is getting better and better. They have responded well and added some surprises in their already frightening offensive moves.
Anyway, it is good to hear the views of some people [Arsène, TH14 & Porto coach] involved with the match:
Arsène WENGER
"We have a young team and feel we can improve. The players that joined us are getting stronger and stronger. Players like William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky had great performances tonight."
"Overall it was a great team performance against a strong Porto side," said Wenger.
"We feel it is getting better every game. The width is better, when we have to play counter-attack we do it, when we have to be patient we do it. The players are mastering the size of the pitch much better and we slowly feel at home here.
"Thierry doesn't only play to score goals. But to score 50 in Europe is a tremendous performance. The numbers don't lie.
"You will not find many players who have scored more goals in Europe than he has."
'Sometimes he [HLEB] refuses to take his chance and hopefully that will convince him tonight that he can do that even more. We think with that desire he can get even more goals than that."
THIERRY HENRY
Henry believed it was a job well done, saying: 'I think it was. I think we played how we need to play at home. We passed the ball well around the box and scored at the crucial time.'
The French striker also insisted the Gunners would stick to the same approach, responding to those who had urged Henry to shoot on sight.
He told ITV4: 'I wanted to pass to Alexander. It is the way we play. We will never change. We need people to stay with us
'I did the same against Sheffield United at the weekend. I was giving some stick to Manu because he never crosses the ball or it goes behind the goal.
'But there you go. I'm scoring with my head.'
PORTO coach Manuel Ferreira admitted his side failed to live with Arsenal's pace, especially after they fell behind to Henry's 38th-minute header.
"Arsenal are a team with the ability to change a game very quickly. Their play was really fast and we couldn't keep up.
"As soon as they scored the second goal I knew it would be much much harder. We tried to keep the ball but they were really on a roll.
"We had to stick to our own system. If we had got into playing Arsenal's way the result could have been much worse."
It's painfully obvious that RVP is off today but the team performed well to more than offset that. The players are human and have their off-days. The team spirit showed when there is no display of frustrated moanings or groanings over the easy misses. Instead they worked for each other to cover and recover. I think King Kolo mentioned this at his last ATV interview.
I am looking fwd to every Arsenal game because the team is getting better and better. They have responded well and added some surprises in their already frightening offensive moves.
Anyway, it is good to hear the views of some people [Arsène, TH14 & Porto coach] involved with the match:
Arsène WENGER
"We have a young team and feel we can improve. The players that joined us are getting stronger and stronger. Players like William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky had great performances tonight."
"Overall it was a great team performance against a strong Porto side," said Wenger.
"We feel it is getting better every game. The width is better, when we have to play counter-attack we do it, when we have to be patient we do it. The players are mastering the size of the pitch much better and we slowly feel at home here.
"Thierry doesn't only play to score goals. But to score 50 in Europe is a tremendous performance. The numbers don't lie.
"You will not find many players who have scored more goals in Europe than he has."
'Sometimes he [HLEB] refuses to take his chance and hopefully that will convince him tonight that he can do that even more. We think with that desire he can get even more goals than that."
THIERRY HENRY
Henry believed it was a job well done, saying: 'I think it was. I think we played how we need to play at home. We passed the ball well around the box and scored at the crucial time.'
The French striker also insisted the Gunners would stick to the same approach, responding to those who had urged Henry to shoot on sight.
He told ITV4: 'I wanted to pass to Alexander. It is the way we play. We will never change. We need people to stay with us
'I did the same against Sheffield United at the weekend. I was giving some stick to Manu because he never crosses the ball or it goes behind the goal.
'But there you go. I'm scoring with my head.'
PORTO coach Manuel Ferreira admitted his side failed to live with Arsenal's pace, especially after they fell behind to Henry's 38th-minute header.
"Arsenal are a team with the ability to change a game very quickly. Their play was really fast and we couldn't keep up.
"As soon as they scored the second goal I knew it would be much much harder. We tried to keep the ball but they were really on a roll.
"We had to stick to our own system. If we had got into playing Arsenal's way the result could have been much worse."
tgr
Well-Known Member
henry half-centigoal. congratulations!
a great win anyway.
i begin to believe henry can head finally.
a great win anyway.
i begin to believe henry can head finally.
tangoandrew
Member
GALLAS has shown his attacking versatility again tonight. Took on the defence and passed to TH14 who brilliantly relayed to Hleb to score.
Wonderful attacking option and variety - confuses a defensive side that is sitting in front of the goal mouth.
We will see more of his exciting attacking forays that will result in goals. With Eboue getting better on the right side, the attacking options are awesome and it will stretch and wear down defences.
Can you imagine the TORTURE that the "Special [Moanrinho]One" has to go through in preparing to play Arsenal when watching videos of Arsenal-Gallas matches?
GALLAS is a class act and stood up to this arrogant brat who tried a 'mafia-family' line to ridicule Gallas. Having failed in using the high-handed insulting approach, he tried to use the Abramovich's roubles to bring Galals to submission. He thought Gallas is greedy like him and will bow before a fat pile of 'filthy' roubles.
The Special One has always been hitting at others but I think Gallas did a SPECIAL ONE on him - dealt a hugh blow to his fragile ego.
That is why it is going to be a TORTURE for him to watch Arsenal-Gallas, especially when Gallas is willing to playing at LB, and when Gallas is scoring, and when Gallas stands beside his shorty Cashley...
Wonderful attacking option and variety - confuses a defensive side that is sitting in front of the goal mouth.
We will see more of his exciting attacking forays that will result in goals. With Eboue getting better on the right side, the attacking options are awesome and it will stretch and wear down defences.
Can you imagine the TORTURE that the "Special [Moanrinho]One" has to go through in preparing to play Arsenal when watching videos of Arsenal-Gallas matches?
GALLAS is a class act and stood up to this arrogant brat who tried a 'mafia-family' line to ridicule Gallas. Having failed in using the high-handed insulting approach, he tried to use the Abramovich's roubles to bring Galals to submission. He thought Gallas is greedy like him and will bow before a fat pile of 'filthy' roubles.
The Special One has always been hitting at others but I think Gallas did a SPECIAL ONE on him - dealt a hugh blow to his fragile ego.
That is why it is going to be a TORTURE for him to watch Arsenal-Gallas, especially when Gallas is willing to playing at LB, and when Gallas is scoring, and when Gallas stands beside his shorty Cashley...
Mark
Established Member
From some of the stuff I've been reading on here, I'm worried I watched a different game...I was very happy with how almost everyone played.
This, for me, was one of the most convincing displays from this team for a while. They finally look like they understand each other and enjoy playing together. The only exceptions tonight were van Persie and Hoyte (although Justin was better today than previously). RvP's performance was worrying with moves often breaking down when we gave him the ball. Missing that early chance messed up his confidence I think, which is a shame as he showed some glimpses of invidual brilliance, but was unable to really make anything of them.
Toure, Gallas and Eboue were outstanding, the midfield looked very good again in a 4-5-1, and Henry is improving - totally f*cked up their RB in the second half.
The main thing about tonight though was that we were finally varying our play more. Both goals came from two things we've not been doing (both at the rough start of this season and much of last season) - heading in crosses into the box and shooting early. We put in a lot more crosses tonight, not all successful but that's not the point. We also took more shots when given the chance. It looked like a very sensible and balanced display all round and I am very pleased for us to have taken 6 points from two potentially tricky games. Not really sure why everyone is complaining.
This, for me, was one of the most convincing displays from this team for a while. They finally look like they understand each other and enjoy playing together. The only exceptions tonight were van Persie and Hoyte (although Justin was better today than previously). RvP's performance was worrying with moves often breaking down when we gave him the ball. Missing that early chance messed up his confidence I think, which is a shame as he showed some glimpses of invidual brilliance, but was unable to really make anything of them.
Toure, Gallas and Eboue were outstanding, the midfield looked very good again in a 4-5-1, and Henry is improving - totally f*cked up their RB in the second half.
The main thing about tonight though was that we were finally varying our play more. Both goals came from two things we've not been doing (both at the rough start of this season and much of last season) - heading in crosses into the box and shooting early. We put in a lot more crosses tonight, not all successful but that's not the point. We also took more shots when given the chance. It looked like a very sensible and balanced display all round and I am very pleased for us to have taken 6 points from two potentially tricky games. Not really sure why everyone is complaining.
RC8
Established Member
By reading the comments posted on this board I got the impression we played a terribly boring football, where Porto controlled the pace of the game, and Henry never touched the ball, except for the header.
It could not be further away from the truth, I just finished watching the whole game, and we were asolutely amazing. We completely dominated the game, we passed the ball around very well, sometimes at very fast speed. Had Toure's early goal not been disallowed, and/or RvP chance been a goal, this would have been a massacre.
I can't believe some of you are comparing our performance from today to Chelsea...
I remember one particular attempt, when after some slick passing Hoyte sent a cross that ended being picked up by Hleb at the other end. THAT play is something Chelsea would never, ever be able to do.
Our defense was rock solid, and we never seemed to lose composure.
When we don't score from our traditional passing style, you moan all day for a plan B. When we try other alternatives and we score in different ways, you moan because our traditional style didn't come out. You have issues, you just want attention.
Anyway, I'm very pleased with this performance, and I also love how we don't have serial divers in the team currently (first XI), and we seem to have an amazing team chemistry.
Cheers
EDIT: Mark, I completely agree with you, I wrote my post about an hour ago, and forgot to click submit, so I hadn't read your post. Nice to see the similarities in both.
It could not be further away from the truth, I just finished watching the whole game, and we were asolutely amazing. We completely dominated the game, we passed the ball around very well, sometimes at very fast speed. Had Toure's early goal not been disallowed, and/or RvP chance been a goal, this would have been a massacre.
I can't believe some of you are comparing our performance from today to Chelsea...
I remember one particular attempt, when after some slick passing Hoyte sent a cross that ended being picked up by Hleb at the other end. THAT play is something Chelsea would never, ever be able to do.
Our defense was rock solid, and we never seemed to lose composure.
When we don't score from our traditional passing style, you moan all day for a plan B. When we try other alternatives and we score in different ways, you moan because our traditional style didn't come out. You have issues, you just want attention.
Anyway, I'm very pleased with this performance, and I also love how we don't have serial divers in the team currently (first XI), and we seem to have an amazing team chemistry.
Cheers
EDIT: Mark, I completely agree with you, I wrote my post about an hour ago, and forgot to click submit, so I hadn't read your post. Nice to see the similarities in both.
quattro
Well-Known Member
QFT
IndoGunnerz
Active Member
great controlled performance by our lads
I knew the seconds Hleb scored the goal that it's all over
did anyone noticed when Lehmann bumble the ball and almost got in, both him and Gallas are laughing afterward ?
show how comfortable they are with the game
I knew the seconds Hleb scored the goal that it's all over
did anyone noticed when Lehmann bumble the ball and almost got in, both him and Gallas are laughing afterward ?
show how comfortable they are with the game
- Åñð®éw - said:tckdemig0d said:Fraxinus123 said:conclusion: OK,Arsenal has a fairly good team evethough Henry is your only worldclass player. But FC Porto is part of the WORLDCLASS CLUBS. We have a History behind us and big national, european and world titles. So for tomorrow guys, sorry but it will be in the worst cas a draw or a Porto win. U can cry and scream out loud but this is the truth. Ask any other european supporter. Good luck anyway
LMAO! choke on your own words did ya?
The only reason at all is that you have won the champions league... and your league isnt hard. winning the premiership is probably 3 times as hard. and if football ended today. porto will probably be higher in the *football rankings* on the only fact that youve actualy won the cup. nothing else.
As far as i know UEFA rank us as the 4th best team in the world in Europe.
I love the idea that 'Henry' is our only World Class player.
Didn't... 95% of our 1stXI play in the World Cup Finals?
A good win for the Gunners but one wonders what was happening yesterday.Arsenak played the 4-5-1 but in the first 25 minutes of the game when v.persie was crossing the ball so well why did not anyone attack the ball?But Robin himself was a culprit of a chance which he should have scored with or atleast,atleast hit it on target.
I was very happy to see eboue crossing one for henry,who seems to have worked on his heading over the summer.I feel this is a not a shoft of policy but another dimension in arsenal's game.We were effectively blocked out in the games against villa and borough.Crossing the ball has given us a new dimension.Teams cannot predict us anymore.They cant just sit back thinking that 'Oh,they are just gonna pass the ball around.A simple header may not be the arsenal way of scoring but it produces the results.I feel we have successfully fitted it in our total football approach and thus mixed the beautiful football with the result oriented part.
I was very happy to see eboue crossing one for henry,who seems to have worked on his heading over the summer.I feel this is a not a shoft of policy but another dimension in arsenal's game.We were effectively blocked out in the games against villa and borough.Crossing the ball has given us a new dimension.Teams cannot predict us anymore.They cant just sit back thinking that 'Oh,they are just gonna pass the ball around.A simple header may not be the arsenal way of scoring but it produces the results.I feel we have successfully fitted it in our total football approach and thus mixed the beautiful football with the result oriented part.
