Archive for October 1st, 2008

Are Hull that much better than Porto?

8 comments October 1st, 2008

Arsenal 4 – 0 Porto (Van Persie 31, 48, Adebayor 70, 71 pen); Highlights courtesy of 101greatgoals

Football is so weird.

It’s weird that we can lose at home to Hull, then be several bad misses away from putting double figures past Porto.

It’s also weird that a side can dominate their domestic league so regularly and be such a force at home in the Champions League, and yet so utterly terrible at home.  But Porto are not alone: look at Celtic.

The Portugese were absolutely dreadful.  Apart from an opening quarter in which they struck the bar with an impressive counter attack and swung in a couple of dangerous set-pieces (our defending at corners was still worryingly woeful), they offered little.  And at the back, they made us look solid.  That’s all you need to know.

After all the rumours about potential changes, the side was almost identical to the one that lost to Hull.  Samir Nasri was the only new face, replacing Emmanuel Eboue.  On reflection, it was a wise move: the lads out there had plenty to prove.

After overcoming those early scares, we took control with two goals before half time.  I particularly enjoyed the first: a long ball controlled by the head of Adebayor, before Cesc Fabregas slipped the Togolese striker in behind the back line.  Adebayor waited for what seemed like an eternity before squaring and the onrushing Van Persie poked home.

The two strikers, who had both come in for plenty of criticism on Saturday, again combined for the second goal.  This time it was Van Persie’s inswinging corner, and Adebayor’s powerful header bounced in off the bar.  I have a sneaking suspicion the final contact might have come off the head of the defender, but no-one else seems to agree.  Anyhow, what mattered was that it was two nil, and pretty much game over.

The result was confirmed shortly after half-time.  Some more terrible defending from Porto allowed Walcott to play in Van Persie, who probably couldn’t believe his luck when he was allowed to glide past his marker and poke home another.

The fourth came from the penalty spot.  A needless foul on Nicklas Bendtner saw Adebayor step up to stroke home the fourth.  Four nil, with two goals each for the main strikers: not a bad result at all.

And it could have been better.  Walcott hit the post when scoring seemed easier, a Theo cross struck Nasri’s knee and flew just wide, and Adebayor dragged a chance for a hatrick wide.  Carlos Vela made another impressive cameo, and our attacing game was certainly back on track.

The important thing now is not to get carried away.  Perhaps after comfortable wins at Blackburn and Bolton, complacency had set into the senior side.  Hopefully the lessons learnt against Hull will stay at the forefront of our minds for the remainder of the season.


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