Loss Champions League Round of 16: FC Porto 1 - 0 Arsenal | Wednesday 21st February | KO: 20:00 GMT | TNT Sports

Prediction

Porto 0-2 Arsenal

 

[lomekian]

You mention players ages and I get it. But, many have played together for several seasons now. We had one of the youngest teams in history, years ago. That team reached the CL semi-finals.

It helps when the youngest is Fabregas who turned up like a 25 year old at 16! And when you've got Thierry Henry in his last absolute peak season taking the piss out of Real Madrid on his own...and a core where many of whom have played in the CL for several preceding seasons

 

[Farzad Stoned]

2 wins from 8 is a remarkable record to you?

How many draws does he have with those wins with teams that have a fraction of our talent?.Yes, considering the budget discrepancy if Wrexham beat Madrid 2 times out of 8 and draw a few matches the manager probably did a helluva of a job. I am just exaggerating the difference so you acknowledge the point

Besides it is irrelevant to the larger point that Mik can’t defeat the same exact playbook everyone uses

 

[dino bravo]

You could easily argue Porto should have won 2-0 with that miracle miss, very fortunate from that aspect.

Football doesn't work like that though. If they score that huge chance earlier on, we would have gone for it far more instead of accepting a '0-0'. We were clearly content with a draw, if we had gone behind, things change.

 

[GLITCH]

You mention players ages and I get it. But, many have played together for several seasons now. We had one of the youngest teams in history, years ago. That team reached the CL semi-finals.

Good point. That team was very talented and Wenger's teams played with a lot more freedom to express themselves. Perhaps it gave players more confidence to make things happen on their own.

 

[TheGreatWright8]

Football doesn't work like that though. If they score that huge chance earlier on, we would have gone for it far more instead of accepting a '0-0'. We were clearly content with a draw, if we had gone behind, things change.

Truth be told they had the better chances, can't remember one shot on goal target absolutely horrid. My point is though they should consider themselves lucky it was only 1 could have easily been worse.

 

[Synical]

I didn’t even realise until I heard the original version of the song

LOL, that's hilarious!

 

[Big Poppa]

How many draws does he have with those wins with teams that have a fraction of our talent?.Yes, considering the budget discrepancy if Wrexham beat Madrid 2 times out of 8 and draw a few matches the manager probably did a helluva of a job. I am just exaggerating the difference so you acknowledge the point

Besides it is irrelevant to the larger point that Mik can’t defeat the same exact playbook everyone uses

You are exaggerating the difference because you are struggling to make a point. Imagine comparing the gulf between Wrexham and Real Madrid to the gulf between Arsenal and any other PL side

The Everton side Dyche inherited outspent both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich since 2014.

Everton transfer spend bigger than Madrid and Bayern but new pattern emerges

I don't care whether you have a positive or negative opinion of Arteta. The more you double down on things like him being outwitted by Dyche, the more you undermine some of the valid points that are lost in all the diatribe.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

If we can't beat Porto at home, we don't deserve to progress to the next round.

I suspect it'll be a slog of a game....

 

[Farzad Stoned]

You are exaggerating the difference because you are struggling to make a point. Imagine comparing the gulf between Wrexham and Real Madrid to the gulf between Arsenal and any other PL side

The Everton side Dyche inherited outspent both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich since 2014.

Everton transfer spend bigger than Madrid and Bayern but new pattern emerges

I don't care whether you have a positive or negative opinion of Arteta. The more you double down on things like him being outwitted by Dyche, the more you undermine some of the valid points that are lost in all the diatribe.

He has been outwitted by Dyche with no money, and that is a black mark on his resume. How many wins does Mik have in 8 against Dyche with no money? Regardless that has been the playbook against us now by everyone for over a year and his answer is to hoof it to Saka faster

 

[Tom Mix]

Read the totality of what I wrote. THe point isn't that they are elite. The point is that they play in the Champions League every year, nearly always qaulify from their group, and beat at least one club bigger and more successful than them almost every season, even when they have their worst seasons in Europe, and 3 of the last 5 years they've been knocked out by teams that got to the final. This means that although they aren't great, they really know how to play in Europe, and are used to winning against big teams in one off games.

And pedigree does matter. Otherwise, why do Real Madrid excel in Europe every year despite fluctuating domestic form? Why did it take 100 point man City signing a cyborg to win it, previously bottling it against trash? Why couldn't PSG do anything in the tournament despite being stacked with superstars and frequently ahead in ties late on? Why in the last 35 years have there been only 3 new winners despite all the oil and oligarch cash, and even those took years in the tournament to get close to winning?

Its the same domestically. Why do Sp**s never win anything despite being on almost an equal footing resource wise with us and Liverpool?

I did read it. And maintain they are an average team by European CL standards, they have cost a fraction of our team and we should be beating them as I expect we will. They may have more European trophies but we are currently better than them and their past glories are no excuse for the limp ****show we saw from our team last night.

You are confusing pedigree with finance. Maybe I go back longer than you but I remember many joyful days in the 1970s when Real Madrid were regularly slaughtered, 3-0 4-0 by the likes of Kaiserslautern. It was money that bought the so-called galacticos and relieved them from two decades of mediocrity. Have a look at Barcelona's track record before the mid seventies.

There will be fewer and fewer new winners. Mostly it's basic statistics - there's already a lot of team who have won it - and the rest is the natural order in most European leagues which mans they are dominated by 2/3 teams and they've already won it. Bar oligarch money in new clubs and a few serial underachievers - such as Arsenal - this will be an increasing trend.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

In other news Catfish and the Bottlemen are playing later this month.

 

[dino bravo]

Truth be told they had the better chances, can't remember one shot on goal target absolutely horrid. My point is though they should consider themselves lucky it was only 1 could have easily been worse.

They had the better chance. We were horrible, but they were hardly any better. Two shots on target, one low pearoller and the goal which was a hit and hope from 25 yards. They were crap and I would be amazed if we didn't smash them at home with a competent referee.

 

[Sanis]

So our hope is that Porto will score two own goals. It's rather difficult to win with zero shots on target.

 

[Curtarc]

Arsenal has built one of the most expensive squads in Europe, Porto sells their best players every year and their current best player is a GK.

I don't see Diogo Costa staying another season here in Portugal. He improved massively over the last 2 years and got rid of his biggest weakness which was claiming crosses.

Another player to watch for is the defensive midfielder Alan Varela. He is having an amazing first season at Porto and he can only improve with time as he is only 22 years old.

Porto won't be playing in the Champion's League next season and their finances are terrible so they will be desperate to sell, might be a good opportunity to get some good deals on those two players.

Other than those two players, the rest of the Porto squad is filled with average players, with 2-3 other promissing young players that still have a lot to prove so I wouldn't bother with anyone else.

 

[Clrnc]

 

[GDeep™]

It was like watching a re-run of a lot of our premier league games, before we went on our goal fest. So there is a problem that is linked to Mick I’ll say.

2nd leg, we should batter them, they are a poor side, they look Europa League. But anything can happen now, we will probably need 3 to win in 90 minutes I think.

 

[HollandGooner]

It was like watching a re-run of a lot of our premier league games, before we went on our goal fest. So there is a problem that is linked to Mick I’ll say.

2nd leg, we should batter them, they are a poor side, they look Europa League. But anything can happen now, we will probably need 3 to win in 90 minutes I think.

If we score a goal fast we will get through.

 

[GDeep™]

Don’t know why there is a 3 week gap, the old format was better.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

Porto played mid block and Arteta couldn't find a way to break it.
And we can expect that they will play the same way in return leg.
I think that Eddie Howe also took notes.
Why Arsenal 's Biggest Weakness Was Exposed Against Porto

 

[lomekian]

I did read it. And maintain they are an average team by European CL standards, they have cost a fraction of our team and we should be beating them as I expect we will. They may have more European trophies but we are currently better than them and their past glories are no excuse for the limp ****show we saw from our team last night.

You are confusing pedigree with finance. Maybe I go back longer than you but I remember many joyful days in the 1970s when Real Madrid were regularly slaughtered, 3-0 4-0 by the likes of Kaiserslautern. It was money that bought the so-called galacticos and relieved them from two decades of mediocrity. Have a look at Barcelona's track record before the mid seventies.

There will be fewer and fewer new winners. Mostly it's basic statistics - there's already a lot of team who have won it - and the rest is the natural order in most European leagues which mans they are dominated by 2/3 teams and they've already won it. Bar oligarch money in new clubs and a few serial underachievers - such as Arsenal - this will be an increasing trend.

It it is that simple, why did it take City so long to win or even get to a final despite breaking hundreds of financial rules? (Were it not for Uefa having a statute of limitations they wouldn't have even been in the competition). Why did it take Abramovic a few years despite outspending everyone else, and in the end fluked it with the water boy? Why have PSG not done anything major in the tournament despite oil dosh and superstars for over a decade? Why do Sp**s never win anything despite being in the same ballpark as Liverpool and Arsenal resource wise?

A history of winning gives you confidence and aura, and a recent history of regular participation gives you familiarity and knowhow. This Porto team may be mediocre by the standards of the knockout rounds, but 2/3 of their players have a few years experience of continental competition. This team was unlucky to lose to Barca, lost by 1 goal over 2 legs to last year;s losing finalists and have beaten MIlan, Atletico and Juventus in recent years. Unless they have one of their emotional meltdowns, they are hard to beat, especially at their own ground.