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Bolton Wanderers Sat 11th September 2010; 15:00, Emirates Stadium

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I’m contemplating starting a helpline for all the faint-hearted souls out there who can’t take this roller coaster torture that our beloved Arsenal is unleashing.

I’m too young to die of a heart attack induced by following the Arsenal who have developed an unhealthy propensity to score late in games. 18 goals in the last 5 to 10 minutes of matches with 3 of them coming with the very last kick of the game is not good for anyone’s heart.

I sometimes make a point of reading comments and thoughts Arsenal fans post on blogs and boards during the actual game, and these totally reflect the roller coaster emotions that we all go through. One second, folks are cursing out the team, the next second, the players are the best thing that’s ever happened to the club.

There was even a chap who decided to thank Jesus Christ for the last minute goal yesterday. However, a couple of fans took offence and quickly pointed out that the goal had nothing to do with Jesus Christ and it started from Denilson’s pass to Nasri, who exchanged passes with Rosicky before Walcott laid the ball off to Sagna to cross for Bendtner’s headed bullet into the net.

That’s what you get when following such an emotive game. Hindsight does help though, and you get to appreciate why you love to follow the Arsenal and the joy this team brings to us every day.

The most positive aspect of the game for me was that even with minutes to go, the team didn’t lump the ball forward and hope for the best. We patiently built our play and went about the business of wearing down the Wolves and it paid off.

At the end of January, I wrote a column on ACLF suggesting why Arsenal can do without buying a new striker
. My assertion was that a combination of Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo was a better proposition for Arsenal than buying a striker because people thought that’s what we needed.

Bendtner’s 7 goal return in 8 games or so is a better return than any big name, big money striker we could have bought off the shelf could have guaranteed.

The thing is this though – Bendtner is scoring match changing goals. Whether it’s the first goal of the game, the equalizer, or the match winner, he is quietly but surely chipping in.

Not just this season, Bendtner also scored some very crucial match winning goals last season in very tight games that could have gone either way.

Some still argue that Bendtner has yet to prove himself. I personally think that it’s absolute nonsense to question what his contribution and impact to the team is. It’s not just about the goals, the Great Dane’s link play and influence in the team is paramount.

He was the provider for both goals against Barcelona, and yesterday he popped up again with that rocket into the back of Wolves net.

Mick McCarthy was already counting his point and getting ready to wax lyrical in front of the cameras about the performance of his 10 men. With 44 seconds to go before the final whistle, it was hard to see how Arsenal would come back.

The look on McCarthy’s face when shaking hands with Wenger was priceless. It was like someone had just stolen his family silver while grazing his testicles. He was a beaten man.

Considering that he decided to applaud his captain for a show of violent conduct, I have no sympathy whatsoever with McCarthy and his team. I’m just thankful that Tomas Rosicky can still walk without the aid of crutches.

It was great to see the Arsenal players remonstrate and fight for their team mate and the longer the referee delayed taking out the yellow card, the more it became obvious that Henry was destined for an early shower.

The title race is still on, and we still have the momentum. Most of us would have preferred a draw between Manchester United and Chelsea, but we’ll take a Chelsea win for now.

Let’s hope Tottenham and Liverpool are strong enough to assist us against Chelsea, and let’s hope we continue with the rich vein of form that we’re showing.

I’m still baffled though, by the Arsenal fans (actually – Arsenal customers) who decided that they’re not going to support their team to the end. They clearly don’t have faith in the team to complete a job, and perhaps they should go and support another team and give the opportunity of a seat in the stadium to more worthy fans.

I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again. This team deserves better support than the fair weather plastics who can’t be bothered to wait for the final whistle.

Over to Saloner.


“1-0 to the Arsenal” rarely felt as sweet:

Virtually all the dailies this morning are reporting statistics that should hearten all Arsenal fans: We are unbeaten in the last 8 league games, seven of them wins; We have scored goals in the last 10 minutes in nine consecutive games now; We have scored the decisive goal in stoppage time in three of our last six games.

In the aftermath of our losses to Man United and Chelsea, speculation was rife about our ability to bounce back. Those statistics represent a decisive answer.

Given that injuries have left us short of full strength virtually throughout the season, and that key players – Eduardo, Rosicky, and Vela most importantly – are yet to find form, those statistics become the more impressive.

Whatever our shortcomings, character we possess aplenty. For a young team maturing painfully from adolescence into adulthood, that’s a good place to begin from.

The match, for all practical purposes, turned out to be Hahnemann Vs. the Arsenal, and that’s not to deride the rest of the Wolves’ squad. But for him, we should have been out of sight thirty minutes into the game, perhaps 5 goals to the good.

Eduardo not yet being at his best didn’t aid the cause either, though it is heartening we can yet throw in Nasri and Bendtner and hope to snatch games late in the day. Player availability, and our fixture list, being what they are, we really can’t be choosers.

When earlier this season, we held our nerve in the aftermath of Ramsey’s injury to win at Stoke, quite a few voices suggested the result was a decisive one in our title chase. We at SCA, by contrast, have opined that every game post Chelsea was equally important to our quest.

But last night I genuinely felt that the team turned a decisive corner in the title race. Something about the reactions of the team, Wenger, and the entire coaching staff suggested that now they genuinely believed – When was the last time one saw Wenger run to Pat Rice and embrace him?

Well aware that a draw would mark the funeral of our aspirations, we refused to give up in the face of Hahnemann’s obduracy and the near extinction of our hopes well into stoppage time.

Dear readers, I think we are home to a team of champions. Yes, there are lots of aspects that need addressing before we become the finished article; but spirit isn’t something you can coach – teams, and players, either have it or they don’t.

We can agree, I hope, that this team has the commodity in truckloads, and that’s 90% of the job done.

I must digress to thank one of our older readers who alerted us to this team’s potential while I, at least, was ambivalent about their prospects.

Flint McCullough, who has followed the Arsenal longer than I’ve been alive (I’m 36, for perspective), was way ahead of the pack when he quite firmly maintained, often in the face of frustration, that we were indeed witness to a champion team developing at the Arsenal.

I decisively came around to his view last night. I owe you one Flint; your loyalty and perspective set an example for us younger fans. Thank you.

Looking ahead, we play Barcelona without Arshavin, Fabregas and Gallas. If Diaby, Rosicky, and Song raise their games – and I’d be surprised if the team haven’t been hard at work on these in training – I think we can, against the odds admittedly, do the job at the Camp Nou.

There seems to be a lot of talk about starting with Vela and Walcott as pacy wingers, but Vela has yet to find his feet, and I favour starting with Rosicky, off his best though he is, for his experience.

As with the first leg, we, as underdogs, have little to lose. The fact that we braved a terrifying assault and snatched a draw suggests it isn’t a lost cause by any means either. I hope the side go out on the day and give it their all; I, personally, won’t ask for more.

We know well, especially with this team, that it isn’t over till the Fat Lady packs her case up and leaves. Here’s to more of the same spirit come Tuesday.

Comments (14)

If there’s two things this Arsenal team are guilty of, it’s the fact that this season, they don’t know how to lie down and die; and secondly, they have perfected the art of inducing heart attacks amongst the supporters.

I don’t think there’s a script at London Colney that encourages the team to do anything the easy way, and it has to be said, it ain’t good for the heart. I wouldn’t have it any other way though – it’s beautiful.

Last night was one of the most entertaining matches I’ve ever watched. Don’t get me wrong, as an Arsenal fan, it was bloody uncomfortable at least in the first half, but Barcelona came to play, and play they did.

The Catalans produced a master class in possession football that totally starved the Arsenal, a situation that I honestly don’t remember us ever being in.

I guess we were all feeling the same way other teams feel when we run riot all over the Premiership with our possession football. Nothing wrong with occasionally getting a dose of your own medicine.

Once Arsenal had jolted themselves out of the self inflicted stage fright, I was reminded about why I love this team so much. This season, we’ve risen from the dead more times than Lazarus or any phoenix, and the fighting spirit, courage, tenacity and character of the team makes me so proud.

Even so, the match last night was filled with irony from every corner.

The irony that Almunia is the only reason Arsenal are still in with a chance to upset the apple cart, yet a few days ago, he was the Anti-Christ if you believed what you read on the internet.

The irony that Barcelona were guilty of everything Arsenal have been accused of for years – playing pretty and majestic football yet failing to kill off teams that are screaming to be executed and buried. How many times have we been told that the only statistic that counts is the one on the scoreboard?

The irony that despite being kept under unimaginable pressure, Arsenal knuckled down, fought like mad and took their chances. How many times have we been hit hard by teams who are ruthlessly efficient despite our dominance in possession?

The irony that Arsenal’s ’scapegoats du jour’ – Denilson, Walcott and Bendtner – played out of their skins and were the players who totally changed the game for Arsenal. How many times have these characters been bashed beyond recognition and charged with the crime of being unfit to wear the Arsenal shirt?

The irony that despite risking Fabregas, the Arsenal captain has already done enough to leave his mark by opening the door for his team-mates to finish a job at the Camp Nou. How many inspirational leaders on the pitch give you an equalizer, and takes out two key players (Pique and Puyol) from the next tie?

I can just picture Cesc cursing “If I ain’t playing next week then these 2 bastards ain’t playing either”. Getting two players suspended and burying a penalty for good measure is a job well done for the captain.

The irony that Leonel Messi (was he really playing last night?) was sacrificed when they went down to 10 men to give him a breather after spending most of the game in Denilson’s pocket.

The irony that Barcelona are shit scared of Theo Walcott (who totally made Maxwell his bitch), yet they refused to give Arsenal the ball and bullied us all over the park in the first half.

In truth, we started the game really badly and froze, but the spirited return and strong finish will do our confidence the world of good. It was evident that the key to Barca’s game is working harder without the ball than they do with the ball.

They showed they can’t sustain that tempo for the whole game, and Arsenal’s propensity to be anal with fitness and our ’never say die’ spirit became their worst nightmare.

The match wouldn’t be the match without the roller coaster reactions all over the web and all over news columns and air waves. Reading some of the comments on the Arsenal boards during the game, I must say that I thought I was in a psychiatric ward with schizophrenics running the show.

There is the mother of all ironies there when you see Arsenal fans spew so much garbage and show their total lack of belief in this Arsenal team, and their total lack of fighting spirit as Arsenal fans.

How is it that Arsenal supporters expect their team to fight to the death (and believe me – this team has fought admirably to the death all season), yet at the small experience of adversity, these same so called fans whimper away and hide behind the sofa.

Get a frigging spine I say to all those who still have the audacity to question the resolve and determination of this team. Yes, you may question tactics and individual or collective team performances, but it’s unacceptable to question this teams resolve.

If you want to understand what type of fans I’m talking about, check out our definitive anatomy of an Arsenal doom and gloom merchant.

Also, if you think Arsenal fans were pissed off, try checking out how Barca fans feel for throwing the game away.

And of course, the equation wouldn’t be complete without the hypocrisy of the media. I found it painful to listen to the ITV commentary, even when we had the comeback on and were giving Barca grief in the last half an hour.

I switched over to Radio 5 live only to find Alan Green reading out Arsenal’s obituary.

If Manchester United had fought back the way we did and clawed back an impossible 2 nil deficit – they would be waxing lyrical about Man United. Nobody remembered that United were totally bitch-slapped by Bayern Munich for 88 minutes in May 1999 before they smuggled the European cup from the Camp Nou to the horror of the Bavarians.

If Liverpool had fought back the way we did and got the 2 goals back, the media will be waxing lyrical about the invincibility of Gerrard and Torez. Nobody remembered that Liverpool were totally bitch-slapped by AC Milan in Istanbul in May 2005 before they too smuggled the European cup from under the jaws of the Italians.

When is it that this Arsenal team will get the respect its due – instead of the snide and contemptuous remarks about Arsenal getting away with murder?

The media didn’t give us a chance in hell to even make it to the 4th place champions league spot, let alone challenge for both the EPL and Champions League titles. What hypocrisy the show for applying selective amnesia to the mental strength of the teams they favour, yet the evidence is all there that Arsenal have time and time shown that despite adversity, they have formidable mental strength.

They point out that we can’t do it in 5 days time because – wait for this, we have key players out with injury.

So what’s new? Arsenal is still here and we refuse to go away.

Mar
14

The Arsenal Great Dane Bites

Posted by: Darius Stone | Comments (17)

Who said ugly stuff can’t be beautiful?

I’ve got to tell you, heart attacks don’t come any easier than when the Gunners decide to toy around with their duty of care towards their fans well-being.

Last time I contemplated taking pills to calm my nerves in the dying stages of a game was when Everton parked a HGV truck in front of our goal when they visited in early January. The ’never say die’ spirit and tenacity shown in that game was admirable as Little Mozart got Arsenal out of a sticky situation with a last minute leveller.

Perhaps it was a bit naive not to expect Hull City to unleash the customary brand of insalubrious football that we’ve come to expect. They didn’t disappoint at all as their game plan was dirtier than the local land fill site in Humberside.

Forget the heart attacks – and incidentally, Wenger also confessed that his team could have given him a heart attack too. The best part of the game for me was that Arsenal won ugly.

From the fading white lines on the pitch, I wasn’t sure whether the Gunners were playing Hull City football club or whether it was Hull Kingston Rovers rugby club. George Boateng, a serial violent offender against Arsenal was more dangerous than an armed robber lurking the streets of the underworld.

That the Hull captain didn’t knee cap Bacary Sagna is both a miracle and a mystery in equal measure. He got away with murder for his attempt to gouge out Bendy’s eye – so let’s just be thankful we still have the players we went to Hull with.

I was talking to a friend last night discussing the match and both of us concurred that we were elated with the win, regardless of the fact that it came ugly. Arsenal is so often accused of not knowing how to be pragmatic and not willing to compromise to reach our goals.

The funny thing also is that when Arsenal actually win ugly, we’re so often accused of not playing well, and not dictating the game as champions-elect would.

Yet when Chelsea or Manchester United win ugly and grind out a result – they are hailed as true champions material and their ability to play really badly yet come out with a result is seen as the stuff champions are made of.

Well, yesterday, I was so proud of this team for defying conventional wisdom and showing that they will fight tooth and nail until the last minute of every game. It’s nice to know that when it comes to goals scored in the last 10 minutes of matches, we’re at the top of the league with 15 goals.

You’d think that with that record, ’squeaky bum time’ would be something we’re used to. I think what’s different here is that the EPL title is actually up for grabs, and that alone, makes these late goals a cause for concern for my fragile heart.

I wouldn’t change it for the world though – this roller coaster of a ride will make any title we clinch the sweetest title I’ve ever experienced.

Most of all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Phil Brown bitch about Sol Campbell still being on the pitch. He got a free penalty and he should just be thankful to the gods of the Humber bridge and shut his trap.

He was jumping up and down in excitement every time there was a 50-50 tackle hoping to will their players to ’take out’ more of us, but when it turns out that we too can roll up our sleeves and get out our knuckle dusters, then the whole world is unfair.

I was also very happy for Denilson, who despite his critics, was the architect of Nicklas Bendtner’s goal.

Nicklas Bendtner has scored 6 times in 5 Premier league appearances since his return from injury. I dare anyone to tell me a striker Arsenal could have bought in January for under £15 million who could have given you that return. A new cliché is out in town suggesting that Arsenal don’t have a recognized striker. Who actually defines what a recognized striker is? Because they clearly haven’t been watching the Great Dane.

When referring to Bendtner’s impact in this team, I hear a lot of people say ”he’s one for the future” or “he’s got really great potential”, etc.

Bendtner is here and he’s doing the job he’s paid to do. Those who have an in-built prejudice are finding it hard to remove the log in their eye that’s stopping them from seeing that Arsenal’s Great Dane is on fire.

Just like he did last season in big games by scoring the winning or match changing goals, yesterday Bendtner stamped his authority as an attack dog not to be ignored in this title race.

And as his new agent Stan Collymore says ”he’s one ‘ell of a massive unit up front”

8 to go in the cup final series. How’s your heart doing?

Comments (17)

There are few nights that would rival the sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that Arsenal supporters around the world experienced last night. Yet it wasn’t for the fact that the Gunners secured a quarter final spot in the Champions League.

In a lot of ways, the display of total football last night, and the panache and arrogance it was delivered with clouds the significance of moving to the next stage of the competition.

It’s because of matches like last night’s that we all stand up and applaud the work of art that is Wengerball. It’s because of last night that we are reminded why we so love this game of football and why we swear by it.

It’s because of last night that we recognize how privileged we are to be able to witness before our very own eyes, the development of a group of players who together, are destined to become the best generation of Arsenal players that this club has ever seen.

Yet all around the Oscar winning performance that was the Samir Nasri show, the wretched voices of hackery and punditry defecated the air waves with pathetic attempts to belittle what was a master class in football.

They spewed their verbal diarrhoea and negativity in the commentary as they shamelessly looked for excuses to find fault with Arsenal’s game. They suffocated the pre and post match commentary with tired clichés and diatribe about Arsenal’s perceived weaknesses.

They jostled and positioned themselves – buttocks firmly planted on the fence hoping to pounce if Arsenal failed, and pretending to laud the Gunners when we went through.

The disappointment in their faces and voices were louder than a thousand words. Through gritted teeth, they tried to garner the courage to set aside their prejudice and contempt of Arsenal and do the right thing of clapping their hands and stamping their feet in recognition of what was without a doubt, one of the best football matches we have ever witnessed.

Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Graham Souness, Mr. Ruud Gullit, most definitely Mr. Tony Adams (legend you are, but you need to get your snout out of the pigs trough and get some fresh air away from the bile that is tabloid punditry; being an Arsenal legend doesn’t give you the licence to unleash your negative diatribe to get a pay cheque from these cretins).

Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Stan Collymore, Mr. Alan Brazil – and you know what – every miserable piece of anti-Arsenal &^&! Who works for Talk Shite radio. Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Alan Green and Mr. Mike Ingam and Mr. Graham Taylor as you try to lace your supposed love for Arsenal football with constant perceived negativity as if as insurance just in case Arsenal fall apart.

Last night was a night to stand up and bow to the privilege of being witnesses to a work of art. It wasn’t a night to pull out the ’Arsenal don’t have it in ‘em, especially without Cesc Fabregas’ nonsense of a script.

And all this without 3 of the best Arsenal players in William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. Clearly someone didn’t give Samir Nasri the memo that dictated that Arsenal would struggle without our talismanic Captain Fabulous. If you believed everything you read in the papers, you’d think Arsenal were doomed to struggle following Fabregas’s injury over the weekend.

Take nothing away from a collective team performance that oozed class and professionalism. Take nothing away from the individual brilliance and magic from Samir Nasri that suggested Arsene Wenger might have just invested in Bobby Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Alex Hleb all rolled in one.

The last time I saw a goal like that was when a certain Diego Armando Maradona waltz through the entire England team and scored what in my view is the best individual goal I have ever witnessed – well, maybe until Nasri’s goal last night. Are you watching Maradona? Or was it ’Are you watching Stan Collymore?’

What about our very own B52 bomber. It was only yesterday that I said I was quite content and happy to live with Bendtner’s transgressions for the simple reason that he shamelessly put himself about and got into scoring positions despite his nightmare at the weekend.

For that effort and courage alone, you have to admire the kid. Last night’s hat-trick couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. If it’s any compliment, the Sun newspaper rarely issues a full hearted apology to anybody, let alone a 21 year old kid from Denmark.

What a way to stick two fingers up to all the critics of the weekend past and ram their criticism down their throats. This is not the first time Bendtner has produced match winning performances for Arsenal, and you really have to be a hater to think Bendy won’t be up there with the best.

And I haven’t even mentioned Arsenal’s ’Goal machine’ – Stand up and be counted Mr. Emmanuel Eboue. I would argue that Eboue is one of the most valuable players in the Premier league. Not in monetary terms per se – for player prices are just stupidly inflated.

Emmanuel Eboue is the most dependable versatile player there is in town. He can play left back, right back, left midfield, right midfield, central midfield and even as a relief striker if he needed to. Hell – if you gave Eboue the gloves, he’d stand between the sticks and do a job.

He’s not flashy and is not a ’champagne’ player – but he is dependable when doing the job asked of him and a manager can never ask for more than that from a player.

It’s a trip to Hull on Saturday evening, but for now, we must and we should get drunk in the enjoyment of the pure entertainment and total football that has reminded us all why we love and support the best football club in the world.

Three points were a must and we got them; so far so good.

While Fabregas’s injury is a worry, we aren’t exactly impoverished for creative players who can run the show from midfield, so it’s not worth losing sleep over his injury just yet.

Tomorrow’s game against Porto is crucial, and Fabregas has been a captain by appointment and performance. It isn’t to undermine either fact when I think that between Rosicky, Nasri and, in a pinch, Arshavin, the creative core is in competent hands.

Samir Nasri, evidently the man of the match on Saturday seems to be regaining his vim and that bodes well for the games ahead. What a lovely tango that was between Fabregas and he to open our scoring. Marvellous stuff.

Further up the field we continue to indulge in that familiar vice; profligacy in front of goal. I have previously observed that we need Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela and Walcott to find their feet to better negotiate the games ahead and so far only Walcott has shown signs of dusting away the cobwebs.

Whilst it wasn’t a sterling performance I’m delighted at the goal Theo got and the effort he put in as both his physique and confidence would benefit. Nicklas Bendtner, on the other hand, blows hot and cold. Just one of those days? I hope he doesn’t have many more such through the remainder of the season.

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Comments (12)
Arsenal midfielder, Aaron Ramsey

Arsenal midfielder, Aaron Ramsey

Aaron Ramsey didn’t suffer an accident last evening at the Britannia stadium. He was the victim of the consequences of a dangerous delusion, unrestrained by the deterrent of severe penalty, that’s abroad in English football.

The young Welsh rising star wasn’t the first to suffer, neither will he be the last – unless the authorities stand up to common sense and show that they’re not straw men.

That delusion is the celebration of the “physical nature” of the English game by the media. The portrayal of this physicality is presented as representative of the spirit and endeavour of noble, brave, poorer underdogs against their monetarily and technically richer cousins.

Any complaints by the victims, moreover, is put down to cowardice with the usual lines about “lacking stomach for a scrap” & “being soft” doing their tired lines.

Couple these misguided notions with the lack of severe penalties for transgressions, and thuggery disguised as application is the natural consequence. Several teams have resorted to this license to do anything and everything to salvage games.

Read More→

As I threw my hands up in exasperation last night, the question about when a hill of beans becomes a mountain lingered in my head. That was me just pissed off at our breath-taking propensity to engineer individual moments of madness that pretty much unravels the collective team effort.

After being scraped off the ceiling, I had a beer and watched a classic stand up comedy routine from 1981 by Richard Pryor. Of late, movies seem to do the trick for me, especially to inject a dose of reason and perspective with the elapsing time.

So what really pissed me off? Probably the fact that I don’t like losing, but I guess one team inevitably loses in a game of this type. I think it was more the individual mistakes that led to the goal, but just for the record – I came off the ceiling and can happily look at this in the cold light of day.

Firstly, it was a great match for most part. Any neutral would have loved watching last night’s game as it ebbed and flowed. Believe it or not, there was not one offside decision and I can’t ever recall a match going all the way without an offside decision being given.

I didn’t want to leave the room lest I missed a counter attack. Apart from the errors that led to the goals against us, Arsenal played relatively well for a visiting team to the Estadio do Dragão.

It seems the lessons from recent defeats about keeping our shape and dealing with counter attacks have been learnt. I don’t recall a time when I thought we were in imminent danger of conceding a goal from a counter attack.

In respect of a free flowing attacking game, both teams have to be given credit for making it a great game of football to watch. Not that there weren’t sloppy and lethargic spells during the game, but the two teams applied themselves well.

From Arsenal’s point of view, it was great to see Bendtner getting into the attacking flow of things. We eventually scored from a corner resulting from Bendy’s deflected shot, and in all honesty, Bendy had started to celebrate for the ball was enroute into the net when it was deflected.

The look on Bendtner’s face with his hands behind his head pretty much said ”how the hell didn’t that ball go into the net”.

Porto had clearly been studying our games against Man United and Chelsea. They targeted Clichy’s left flank in what the industry now considers Arsenal’s defensive Achilles heel. I recently wrote about the mental fortitude and discipline Arsenal needs to make the system we play a success. There was a classic lapse of this for Porto’s first goal.

Silvestre Varela should have never been given the freedom of the park to bomb down our left flank, and the sequence of individual lapses that amount to a hill of beans that I talk about played right in front of our eyes. Nasri didn’t track quick enough, Clichy didn’t deal with Varela well enough (and he really should have), and Fabianski became the second Arsenal goal keeper to score a goal in less than 3 weeks – albeit at the wrong end of the pitch.

Watch The Goals And Highlights

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Fabianski’s judgement could have been spot on as he moved to anticipate Varela’s cross, and I guess you can argue all day whether it was a really bad shot from the Porto player that went the wrong side of Wookash. Varela probably couldn’t care less, and why should he.

For the second goal, I can live with the first mistake made when Wookash picked up the back pass. However, his judgement to give a demanding referee the ball will probably haunt him for a long time to come. This was one of them cases where Wookash should have taken one for the team and refused to give the ball to the referee until Arsenal had regrouped.

It most definitely would have cost him a yellow card, but it would have been one card that the Arsenal players and supporters celebrated.

Campbell should have punched the referee out of the way for blocking his run towards Falcao and taken a yellow or red card for ‘dealing’ with foreign objects obstructing access to the ball. If the referee had any conscience, he’d have had Porto retake the free kick because his positioning blocked Campbell.

Denilson, who in recent times has become the doom and gloom brigade’s ’scapegoat du jour’ had a shaky start but he settled down and I feel he had a good enough game. Like with AC Milan and Man United the previous evening, both Arsenal and Porto went through a spell of giving the ball away like they were being paid to do it.

Porto also employed the unsavoury tactic of rotational fouling targeting Cesc Fabregas. This cowardly and irritating strategy not only broke Arsenal’s flow, but it’s that cumulative tackling that ends up causing niggly injuries that will affect our players as the season goes on.

Martin Hansson (of the France-Irish World cup qualifier fame) should have handed over more yellow cards to Porto players for this rotational fowling was a deliberate well thought out strategy that had intent written all over it.

Part of the reason I was pissed off after that second goal was this. The referee made a technically correct decision to give the indirect free kick to Porto, but having done that – it was totally unfair for him not to allow Arsenal the right to defend it.

Considering the drama this referee is capable of, I concluded that there’s absolutely no point in expecting any less from him. My exasperation then moved to Campbell and Fabianski for giving the referee the opportunity to gift Porto an open net – and also for not taking a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the stadium to stop the free kick being taken until Arsenal were ready.

All in all, the minimum we can now demand from this team is the right to sing ’One nil to the Arsenal’ on March 9th. Any win will do, but if Porto score twice at the Emirates, we have to win with a 2 goal margin because of the away goal rule.

I don’t think Arsenal is out of the tie and I believe we have a great home advantage. This habit of the Gunners doing things the hard way is what’s making my doctor contemplate referring me to a shrink.

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