Without Clichy and Sagna our back four looked all over the place, It didn’t help that Gallas was coming back in from injury. Silvestre had a pretty poor game in my eyes, and did not fill me with confidence

That was not the least bit surprising was it? With so many first team players out injured and rested it was asking a lot of players who haven’t had any consistent run of football to gel together and beat a decent Champions League team away from home.

The away support did their jobs well and applauded Emmanuel Eboue before the game, just as I expected from the away support who are known as the hardcore supporters who have been there during the not so great days before Arsene Wenger.

I was pleasantly surprised with the start of the game, Porto didn’t really have the ball for the first 10 minutes and we passed the ball around well, the problem was that we lacked the creativity to create any chances. When you do not have Cesc, Nasri, Van Persie and Rosicky in your side then you will struggle to make the killer pass that would unlock a defence.

Vela played out wide to add an extra number in midfield but it just meant that Bendtner was left far too isolated. Bendtner is not a player who can play up front on his own. He needs players closer to him so he can play give-an-go’s

I personally think that Arsene Wenger should take Bendtner out of the firing line because he is off form and is probably lacking in confidence, even a player with his supposed ego can lack self belief. Nothing was working for the Dane once again, he gave the ball away countless times and I am sure the Burnley game was still stuck in his mind. Bendtner is not all of a sudden a poor player. I still believe that he is the best link forward at the club, but he is 20 years old and is going through a bad period of form as EVERY 20 year old will do in their career.

Bendtner was not the only player who was giving the ball away. Aaron Ramsey was guilty of many miss placed passes and is often guilty of this even when he is on song and performing well. The reason why he will grow to be a world class performer is the way he wants the ball no matter how he is playing and who he is playing against. He looks mentally very strong for a 17 year old.

Denilson was another guilty member for giving the ball away too easily but I have to give him a lot of credit for his first half showing. He won the ball on countless opportunities and covered in areas when his teammates where absent. His engine is wonderful, he just needs to find consistency in his passing.

Without Clichy and Sagna our back four looked all over the place, It didn’t help that Gallas was coming back in from injury. Silvestre had a pretty poor game in my eyes, and did not fill me with confidence, he is one of the players who is not on the upward curve of progression because of his age but he is a good versatile back up defender but should not be first choice again.

A word on Abou Diaby who was replaced in the second half for Kieran Gibbs. Diaby was at fault for the first goal, his marking was pretty much non existent but it was his overall play that let him down. It was his first game for a few weeks due to yet another injury so you can understand the lack of match sharpness. Diaby still has not learned to pass the ball early enough. Time and time again he held onto possession for too long and eventually lost it. You can understand why we have not seen much of the Cesc – Diaby central partnership after all these years.

So we could well face one of the big boys which is just how we like it. Anyone up for some Barca revenge?

You can find Squid Boy’s Match Review in that link

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