Mikel Arteta: Top Drawer

[Xoxo]

By the same logic, they're also not Liverpool, who we dominated and beat 3-1 at home just a few weeks ago.

Liverpool didn't parked the bus and try to hit us on counter, a tactic porto will defnitely employ at Emirates

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Porto played Mourinho anti-football and scored a fluke goal. There is really no reason to not be confident. The posters in question do seem to go through life scared.

They are different breed to you and I who grab the scorpion by the talil and bite their heads without hesitating at all.

 

[El Duderino]

Yeah I don't know where this confidence that we'll turn it around in the home fixture is coming from. There's absolutely no precedent for that under Arteta in the knockout stages. Quite the opposite in fact.

Biggest problem is that it was mostly mental. Players were under and over hitting the simplest of passes. Early yellows got to a lot of people.

This partially stems from our over careful approach to games, that fear of not losing the ball. That risk-averse nature of our football just gets juiced up in a serious tie like this.

The timing is just strange, specially since after Liverpool you'd figure this lot wouldn't fear Porto.

Trying to not lose the game costs us.

 

[Batman]

Biggest problem is that it was mostly mental. Players were under and over hitting the simplest of passes. Early yellows got to a lot of people.

This partially stems from our over careful approach to games, that fear of not losing the ball. That risk-averse nature of our football just gets juiced up in a serious tie like this.

The timing is just strange, specially since after Liverpool you'd figure this lot wouldn't fear Porto.

Trying to not lose the game costs us.

Yeah I could understand being jittery based on the quality of the opponent and/or being in an atmosphere that produces anxiety like Anfield or Dortmund but this was entirely self inflicted for reasons that don't make sense based on form.

 

[Fabregasm]

Trying to not lose the game costs us.

Particularly frustrating being a possession team trying not to lose. You bound to get almost no chances at all in the game.

If we have to go into any game with that mindset, it has to go with opponents that will dominate us on possession and then we have to execute good counter attacking plan whenever we win the ball back.

 

[db10_therza]

Porto played Mourinho anti-football and scored a fluke goal. There is really no reason to not be confident.

Yes especially because Mourinho-ball has never worked against Arsenal.

Oh wait…

 

[grange]

Yes especially because Mourinho-ball has never worked against Arsenal.

Oh wait…

There is a solution for that. Mik has to fight their manager.

 

[SA Gunner]

They don’t score that goal, and we are in a very good position going into the London tie. And we were almost there.

They scored the goal, they now have what they need to fall every second minute, try and injure our players and just look to sit back for 90 minutes.

We were always going to go super Saiyan in the second leg, now there’s just more urgency behind it. We dont have any injuries thank goodness, now we need to remain fit and prepare for that game.

And we’ll win the second leg and tie. Porto aren’t good enough, even when we play within ourselves. They’ll try to make it a Mourinho masterclass, but we’ll be prepared and desperate to fix this.

As for Arteta not being the one to deliver a CL? Sure you can hold that position.

Also remember that we’ve seen the best manager in the world bottle the CL for years and years. We’ve seen the second best manager in the world choke every time he comes up against Madrid.

Fine margins is the actual answer here I think. You need to stay switched on all the time.

 

[Batman]

They don’t score that goal, and we are in a very good position going into the London tie. And we were almost there.

They scored the goal, they now have what they need to fall every second minute, try and injure our players and just look to sit back for 90 minutes.

We were always going to go super Saiyan in the second leg, now there’s just more urgency behind it. We dont have any injuries thank goodness, now we need to remain fit and prepare for that game.

And we’ll win the second leg and tie. Porto aren’t good enough, even when we play within ourselves. They’ll try to make it a Mourinho masterclass, but we’ll be prepared and desperate to fix this.

As for Arteta not being the one to deliver a CL? Sure you can hold that position.

Also remember that we’ve seen the best manager in the world bottle the CL for years and years. We’ve seen the second best manager in the world choke every time he comes up against Madrid.

Fine margins is the actual answer here I think. You need to stay switched on all the time.

This post literally could have been copied and pasted from after the Sporting away result last season with the caveat that we're actually in a worse position now against a better team. Can we turn things around, beat them comfortably and go through? Absolutely, it's possible. Will we? I don't know how anyone could be so certain about that based upon how we typically respond in these scenarios which is not well.

Nobody can point to the previous instance of us managing this yet it's a foregone conclusion that we do it? In the build up to yesterday's match it was a foregone conclusion to many of us that we would end the tie in the first leg and roll over them. We see how well that worked out. These players and this manager frankly have done nothing to earn that sort of faith and so while we can absolutely all hope for the best and that they meet the moment, it makes absolutely no sense to treat it as a foregone conclusion based on present and historical evidence.

 

[Rasmi]

This post literally could have been copied and pasted from after the Sporting away result last season with the caveat that we're actually in a worse position now against a better team. Can we turn things around, beat them comfortably and go through? Absolutely, it's possible. Will we? I don't know how anyone could be so certain about that based upon how we typically respond in these scenarios which is not well.

Nobody can point to the previous instance of us managing this yet it's a foregone conclusion that we do it? in the build up to yesterday's match it was a foregone conclusion to many of us that we would end the tie in the first leg and roll over them. We see how well that worked out. These players and this manager frankly have done nothing to earn that sort of faith and so while we can absolutely all hope for the best and that they meet the moment, it makes absolutely no sense to treat it as a foregone conclusion based on present and historical evidence.

I agree except this porto team is not as good as the sporting team that knocked us out and don’t have same level of talent. They are very average even for porto standards.

 

[Batman]

I agree except this porto team is not as good as the sporting team that knocked us out and don’t have same level of talent. They are very average even for porto standards.

You could argue that this Arsenal team is also not as good as the team knocked out by Sporting last season and at any rate, this Porto team comes into the match at the Emirates in better position than Sporting did and with the CL being so much more important to this club in conjunction with the trailing, the kind of pressure our players don't cope with well will be magnified relative to last season.

 

[Rasmi]

You could argue that this Arsenal team is also not as good as the team knocked out by Sporting last season and at any rate, this Porto team comes into the match at the Emirates in better position than Sporting did and with the CL being so much more important to this club in conjunction with the trailing, the kind of pressure our players don't cope with well will be magnified relative to last season.

Vieira, Jorginho, Rice and Nelson started that game. The team that played porto is easily stronger than the team that played sporting at home where we had no saka or Ødegaard

 

[Batman]

Vieira, Jorginho, Rice and Nelson started that game. The team that played porto is easily stronger than the team that played sporting at home where we had no saka or Ødegaard

Saka and Ødegaard both subbed on in that match. Do you think that this version of Martinelli is better than the one that started the game that day? Is Havertz right now better than that version of Xhaka? Is the team to a man performing better or worse individually than last season? The point is really simple. Whatever you think about Porto being better or worse than that Sporting, the reality is that WE are in a worse position heading into the return leg than we were last season. That's inarguable.

 

[IrishGooner93]

Porto set up tactically similar to Fulham and Newcastle when they beat us and we created nothing. It's a big worry that he still hasn't solved this and how a team as supposedly talented as this isn't able to exploit the space in behind with its wingers.
Pushing up high but not pressing high in a mid block is a dream for most teams to play against yet its kryptonite for this arsenal side.

 

[Sanchez11]

People making excuses the fact remains he is still naive. All we had todo last night was up the tempo but we did it in flashes, too easy for Porto. Needs to stop being a wuss and go for it.

 

[pireshenry]

Saka and Ødegaard both subbed on in that match. Do you think that this version of Martinelli is better than the one that started the game that day? Is Havertz right now better than that version of Xhaka? Is the team to a man performing better or worse individually than last season? The point is really simple. Whatever you think about Porto being better or worse than that Sporting, the reality is that WE are in a worse position heading into the return leg than we were last season. That's inarguable.

How are we in a worse position? We are doing extremely well in the league, we recently beat Liverpool and scored 21 goals and conceded 2 across last 5 premier league games. What’s unarguable is that we are banging in goals left, right and center in the league and that our team is way better this year. We have tightened up our defense which is needed for a title run. We saw that last year. And to top it off we just scored 21 goals in 5 games and you think last years team is better?

 

[avenellroad]

Porto set up tactically similar to Fulham and Newcastle when they beat us and we created nothing. It's a big worry that he still hasn't solved this and how a team as supposedly talented as this isn't able to exploit the space in behind with its wingers.
Pushing up high but not pressing high in a mid block is a dream for most teams to play against yet its kryptonite for this arsenal side.

Yeah it’s a bit annoying that he hasn’t learnt from it.

We had to go over the press and play from there like we did in the Chelsea game. Took is too long to figure it out there and we only came away with a draw right at the end.

Porto were quite content to sit in their tight mid block and absolutely smash us when the ball went over the half way line

 

[Batman]

How are we in a worse position? We are doing extremely well in the league, we recently beat Liverpool and scored 21 goals and conceded 2 across last 5 premier league games. What’s unarguable is that we are banging in goals left, right and center in the league and that our team is way better this year. We have tightened up our defense which is needed for a title run. We saw that last year. And to top it off we just scored 21 goals in 5 games and you think last years team is better?

Let's go through some very basic questions you could have asked yourself before asking me this silly question. Is 3rd an objectively bettter or worse position than 1st? Is it a better position to be level in the 1st leg of a knockout tie or trailing? By the way, the answers to these 2 questions are both 'inarguable' which is the word you meant to use above. Had you just done this basic exercise before typing, you could have saved us both some time. Hope this helps.

 

[Riou]

... Klopp's so fine with this, that he seems pretty annoyed

 

[HagnSprayGooners]

How many of you are continuing with the Arteta Hokey Cokey tonight then?