Lukasz Fabianski is a talented young keeper who will be prone to errors. Mistakes are not exclusive to goalkeepers. Fabianski will have to take the same road as the likes of Alex Song, Abou Diaby

Match Review – Porto 2 Arsenal 1 – Champions League

There I was, writing in the match preview about how the Gunners have learnt lessons from recent weeks and will be putting that into practice in the Champions League where having a good defensive record is vital at this stage of the Champions League.

As well as Porto had played, Arsenal were beaten by only one team and it wasn’t the hosts. I have said it many times before and the same applies today, Arsenal had beaten themselves in Portugal. Just as they had at Old Trafford, City of Manchester and many more times this season.

Manuel Almunia has not been at his most consistent throughout the season so far and has had the finger pointed at him on a number of occasions but he is the number one for a reason, experience.

Lukasz Fabianski is a talented young keeper who will be prone to errors. Mistakes are not exclusive to goalkeepers. Fabianski will have to take the same road as the likes of Alex Song, Abou Diaby and any other player learning his trade. The difference is any mistake that Fabianski makes is likely to be punished at the top level and this was the case for the first goal.

Gael Clichy was beaten by the Porto wide man and his cross was poor, it should have been a routine claim from our keeper but instead he pushed it over the line and into his own net.

Another shot in the foot from an Arsenal defensive mistake.

The first half was very enjoyable, certainly not the typical Champions League first leg, both teams played good football and both looked to create chances.

I was amazed about how much space we had outside of their penalty area, the area that we cause the most amount of damage but for some reason we were not making the most of the space and time given. Cesc often drifted into fantastic areas outside the ‘D’ but he was often ignored and wider players were being found.

Nicklas Bendtner had a decent game overall, he won headers when needed, and worked hard for the team. The one aspect of his game that he needs to develop is his first touch. The ball ran away from him on a few occasions where as with someone like Van Persie, you notice how it sticks. This will hopefully come with more games for the great Dane.

It was his shot that deflected away for a corner on the 18th minute, the resulting corner found its way to Rosicky at the back post who headed back into the danger area for Campbell to power a header past the keeper from close range.

When was the last time we scored a goal by heading a corner back to an Arsenal player? Not for a long time and it was nice to see. Our last two goals have been scored from headers.

Our midfield was leaving too much space behind them and were often caught out with little slid balls into runners. Denilson was much improved and won the ball countless of times but nevertheless I think he could have dropped back and protected his center halves when Porto were starting to expose us.

Arsenal flew out of the traps after the break and should have been awarded the clearest of penalties when Rosicky was clearly fouled in the box. How both the linesman and the referee missed it is unthinkable. We have had so many penalties waved away since the Eduardo incident that I fail to believe that this is just coincidence.

Moments later ‘that goal’ was scored. Mistake after mistake was made by so many different people from the moment Campbell intentionally or accidentally nudged it back to Fabianski.

Error 1: Fabianski picking the ball up
Error 2: Campbell turning his back on the play and switching off instead of organising his defence
Error 3: Fabianski throwing the ball back and not paying attention to what is about to take place
Error 4: The referee not blowing his whistle to restart the play
Error 5: The referee getting himself in the most ridiculous of positions blocking off our defender
Error 6: Arsenal players strolling back with no urgency to defend the upcoming direct free kick

I could list a whole lot more if I had the time and space. We can shout and scream about an idiotic referee but the truth is the Arsenal defence and goalkeeper was just as much to blame.

The rest of the game turned into the kick Cesc Fabregas game. Give the referee some credit, he was consistent. Consistently disgraceful. He waited far too long to start dishing out cards to the Porto players who took it upon themselves to begin a rotational fouling game on our captain.

Apart from the obvious bad treatment, I thought Cesc was off his game. A few times he held onto the ball for too long when team mates where in good positions in the final third and that is not like Cesc.

Arsenal huffed and puffed and could not find a way through. Disappointing result but looking at the overall picture we are in a very strong position, even if we are losing the tie so far. I predicted a 1-0 defeat so I am feeling rather positive about our away goal and the Emirates home feeling behind us. On another day we could have scored a hat full of goals at their ground and they did not look strong defensively so I expect them to be more than tested in the return leg.

We may have gifted Porto the battle but at the Emirates the Gunners will declare war.