Tonight would be a great opportunity to wipe part of Saturday’s horrific showing away into history. I am however slightly concerned that it could have a negative effect

I am on the train as I am writing this and some dude across from me has the champions league music as his ring tone, quite funny really. It certainly fits in with today’s MyVision.

Tonight would be a great opportunity to wipe part of Saturday’s horrific showing away into history. I am however slightly concerned that it could have a negative effect. We are such a confidence side that one bad game can throw us completely off track. I put forward the defeat at Old Trafford to end our 49 unbeaten record.

I am hoping that is not the case and we can pull out another Newcastle, Blackburn, Bolton performance to set us back on the straight and narrow.

Sami Nasri is back whey hey!! His creative passing and link up play was missing on Saturday which sounds like an excuse because he wasn’t missed against Bolton or Blackburn but his energy will certainly be a positive one. Either Eboue or Walcott should make way for him, as it is at home I would expect Eboue to sit out.

Nasri can be a difference between a draw and a victory. Cesc Fabregas is out of sorts at the moment and his creative passing has not been at its best so far, our forward players need that link up. Walcott and Eboue are two runners, they will not slide many balls through for the likes of Adebayor and Vela. Nasri will have to take over the mantel of chief creator until Cesc regains his form.

Arsene as expected is building his players back up before the game. He does this publicly before every big or important game. Sometimes it backfires and makes him look a little foolish but he will not care if his players develop their confidence over the course of the season.

I am praying for Djourou to be in the side in place of Toure or Gallas but I am not sure that Arsene will split them up just yet even though they need to be. Arsene Wenger has spoken about the height issue at the heart of defence.

“It is not only in the centre backs where we are short of height,” he said. “I am thinking about the total size of the team. I put in Alex Song for this reason at Bolton.

“We have worked on balls in the air [in training since Saturday] but if you put us against a basketball player, who is two metres five tall, it is difficult to get the ball.”

Its all well and good practicing set pieces but you need to practice against players who know how to win the ball. The problem is that we cannot defend corners and we cannot score corners so Gallas and Toure practicing against the likes of Van Persie, Denilson, Cesc etc is not really going to help.

There is a bit of negativity from Gooners about Kolo Toure’s comments about being ‘scared’ to face Hull City but I think it was just the wrong choice of word to use by Kolo who’s first language is not English. This problem is happening more and more with the amount of foreign players in the English league these days.

Even very good speakers of the language like Arsene Wenger has his words taken out of context.

Toure said:

“I was scared to play the game,” he said.

“Sometimes people, not the players, play the game before it’s started and that’s a problem because there are no small teams in the Premiership.

“Against Man United, everybody thinks it’s going to be a tight game, but when you play against Hull it’s harder because you are expected to win and score in the first minute, but it doesn’t happen like that.

“I was scared against Hull because there are no easy games.

“We are professional players and when we go out we want to play well and win.”

I love Kolo, like many Gooners but he has not been playing well for a long time now. Gallas is often the scapegoat but you have to praise his defending on the ground. Gallas has made many one on one tackles and has hardly put a foot wrong, in the air it is clear that there is a problem with Gallas but it is also Toure who loses his man, gets out jumped and does not attack the ball aggressively enough. I watched Djourou against Beattie last Tuesday and I thought he was very positive in the air alongside Song and he did not deserve to be dropped for Toure when he returned from injury.

Wenger may pull out a surprise and bring in the experienced Silvestre. It all depends on what has been happening in training.

Mean Lean Line Up

Mean Lean Prediction

The line up is my choice but I expect Adebayor to continue to spearhead the attack. Porto are a good footballing side who will be looking to keep the ball and pass through our defence. If we can approach the game the right way this time without nerves creeping in then I expect us to win 2-0 with Bendtner justifying his inclusion in the starting 11.

Going to watch Heroes now and do some work before it gets late and I get sacked. Enjoy the game.

Until tomorrow.

Your Vision

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