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It was a much better performance from the Arsenal in response to the disappointment against Hull. Wenger only made one change (Nasri starting instead of Eboue), as if to make a point to all of us that he still had the confidence in the same players to do the job. And did they do it well. To be honest, I knew that the 11 against Hull was good enough, so it wasn’t a matter of ability or talent.

The game started off slowly for Arsenal. They looked to keep the ball and build their moves slowly. The Porto defence was well organized and they had put their side out in an attacking 4-3-3. There were 2-3 shots on goal initially for Arsenal. RvP made some space for himself outside the box and curled one in with his favourite left foot which was saved by the keeper. There was a beautiful through ball from Cesc into RvP down the right who managed to volley the ball into the ground and over the bar. There was a shot from Theo down the right, who had created his own space, which was tipped wide by the keeper.

The 2 best chances of the 1st 30 minutes came to Porto. They attacked well on the break and did so with pace. A good cross from the right was headed into the ground by Rodriguez which came off the bar. A good chance for Porto to go ahead. The next good chance came off a corner, the Arsenal defence not picking up the ball in the box. The ball was headed into the 6 yard box where 2 Porto players were unmarked, Lisandro almost scored but the ball was cleared off the line by Clichy. A close shave for Arsenal.

The first goal came on the 30 minute mark. A good ball down the right from Theo, who looked sharp in the 1st half, into the box to Adebayor. Ade took his time, waited for RvP to make his run into the box and crossed the ball from the by-line. RvP managed to poke it in with his left foot. The lead for Arsenal, finally. This was followed by a period of domination for Arsenal and the fear was that Arsenal would relax again. However, on 40 minutes, Arsenal won another corner, RvP swung the ball in nicely and Ade beat his defender to the ball, headed well and into the ground. It bounced into the goal. Arsenal now comfortably 2-0 ahead.

RvP linked up play well which was a sea change compared to Hull. He was willing to come back till the half way line to get involved, good to see. He looked constantly dangerous.
The 2nd half started off well for Arsenal, attacking the Porto goal. The ball rebounded off a defender on the right flank to Theo who passed the ball to RvP. RvP converted well with his left foot. The goalie should have done better but it was a decent finish from RvP, for his 2nd goal of the night. Arsenal 3 goals up.

Arsenal then won one of several corners, which was passed to Toure in the box. He crossed it to Theo who missed an open goal. He really should have converted that for the 4th of the night.
Almunia’s clearance was kept in play well by Sagna which resulted in a great run from Theo down the right. He managed to cross the ball into Nasri but the ball went wide off his thigh. Arsenal looked dominant now, and Porto had no answer.
Wenger made his 1st substitutions when Bendtner came on for RvP and Eboue came on for Nasri.

Cesc took one of his shots Cesc 30 yards, and goalie didn’t hold onto it. Ade tried to chip the rebound but couldn’t. Then came a good break from Arsenal, Theo once again, with the run down the right. His cross was deflected to Eboue off a defender, who passed to Bendtner. Bendtner was taken out from behind by Guarin for a clear penalty in the 70th minute. With RvP off the pitch, Ade converted the penalty for a 4-0 lead.

Theo was then replaced by Vela. Theo looked a constant threat down the right with his pace. His final product was sometimes disappointing, but his overall performance was very good. Arsenal still continued to attack. The build up was good, the ball was passed around nicely. Vela found himself into the box, created space for himself till he ran out of it, then passed it onto Bentner who took a shot into the defender. Porto briefly threatened in the 75th minute, but the shot was wide. The Porto side completely went to pieces in the 2nd half.

Cesc’ delivery from corners poor on the night as against Hull. I think this is still his pre-season as he doesn’t seem to be fully upto speed. Ade had a good game, looked lively, fully involved and finished well. There was a tremendous run by Bendtner into the box, then a beautiful pass to Ade who spurned a hat trick chance, by shooting just wide of the goal. Another chance created from beautiful work by Bendtner again, cut the ball into Vela who cut the ball back for Eboue. Eboue’s shot came off the keeper, who knew nothing about it. What a lucky save and Arsenal should have been atleast 5 or 6 nil ahead !

Bendtner looked really lively and was involved in almost every Arsenal chance after he came on. An absolutely commanding 2nd half performance from Arsenal, a half in which Porto didn’t turn up, to be honest. A solid result, to banish the memory of Hull, for the time being at least.

Well well, this was not the kind of match report I thought I would be writing. Although I expected a tough match from Hull, a defeat was certainly a shock, and certainly, the surprise result of the season so far. I expected a 2-1 result in favour of Arsenal as our defence looked a little suspect.

Arsenal made 11 changes expectedly, from the side that faced Sheffield United mid week with Denilson & Cesc starting off in central mid field. Arsenal started off well in the first 20 minutes, good passing movement and created some chances. Ade passed the ball to Cesc who shot wide from outside the box when he should have been on target. There was another move in which Eboue passed the ball to Cesc in the box who took the ball wide to the right, and instead of taking a shot, passed it to Gallas who then passed it to Ade. Welcome to the world of Arsenal J. To be honest, I would have preferred a few more shots on goal, as the keeper was never really tested in the 1st half.

Eboue had a good run down the left jinking past a couple of defenders, fired a good shot but it was deflected wide for a corner. Adebayor actually managed to score a goal from a good Sagna cross but he fouled a defender in the process. So the goal was disallowed. There was another good move down the left with Eboue getting the ball and should have taken a shot, but preferred to square the ball to RvP but the defender was the first to get to it.

The best chance fell to Theo, from an Eboue cross from the left flank. Theo should have tried to hit it first time with his left foot, but tried to take a touch with his right foot which was too heavy. The half ended with a a good run by Theo down the right, managed a low cross into Ade but good defending from Hull took the ball out for a corner.

Hull defended well, kept good shape after 20 minutes. There were no real chances for them and good defending from Gallas and Toure cut out the few promising moves. Cesc was off colour as were a few other players like RvP and Adebayor. The whole team looked off colour. Initially, Hull seemed to come out with a plan to kick Arsenal off the park. There was a foul on Theo, Eboue was hacked twice and Boateng fouled Cesc. The problem with these fouls was that there was no attempt to play the ball, and it was clear that the man was the target. Theo lost a bit of confidence due to the kicking and this will be an important lesson for the young lad. This showed up later in the half when Theo had a decent shot at goal but preferred to pass it to someone else.
The 2nd half started off better for Arsenal with an excellent run by Theo down the right, his pace really telling. He played the ball in across the 6 yard box which rebounded off Ade and then off Mcshane (I think) for an own goal. Arsenal then continued to put in some promising moves and attack Hull but none resulted in a goal.

Then, completely against the run of play, Geovanni was allowed too much time on the ball just outside the box, hit a sweet strike into the top corner. Almunia had no chance and it was a fantastic finish. That really seemed to lift the confidence of Hull, and from a corner, Cousin put Hull ahead into an unlikely lead. Gallas was at fault for this coz he completely lost his man. I’m extremely concerned about Gallas’ defending, this is not the first time that he has lost his man in the box and he needs to work on his game. Based on current form, Djourou should start ahead of Gallas.

After that, Arsenal pressed forward for an equalizer, but I thought the urgency was missing in the 70th minute. It was only as time progressed that the Arsenal side really sensed that they need to push things up. Wenger threw on Bendtner and Vela in an attempt to force the pace, but Hull defended extremely well.
There were a couple of Cescy shots from outside the box which produced good saves from the keeper. RvP hit wide from a good through ball from Toure. The best chance came off a corner which Gallas headed onto the crossbar, it came down and ricocheted off Vela for a goal kick.
On the whole, Hull deserved the 3 points, although a draw would have also been a decent result. They believed in themselves, had a game plan, kept their shape well even when they were put under tremendous pressure. There are a few questions that Arsenal need to answer. RvP was anonymous in the 1st half, although he came alive in the 2nd, as was Cesc. A disappointing result for Arsenal, and a good lesson for the team. They need to bounce back quickly from this, in the same manner as they did after the Fulham game.

This is something that I've been thinking about and has also been raised elsewhere: Should Wenger play the Carling Cup team for the FA Cup as well ? There are several reasons for this:

1. For some reason, Wenger doesnt priorise the FA Cup anymore. His main targets are the PL & CL, probably partially in acknowledgment that the squad isnt big enough to challenge on 4 fronts. Last season, Arsenal practically threw the game against ManU. Playing the kids will give the first team the rest they need, as I feel we're already a small squad. This will enable excellent rotation.

2. It will give these kids more of an opportunity to play together and heck, they have earned it. I'm not basing this solely on the 6-0 hammering of Sheffield, but the record over the past 3 years reads like this - semi final, final, semi final. Thats consistently good performances and all of them were pleasing ones as well.

3. It may be time to take Wenger's experiment to the next level. So far, the kids have consistently justified all the faith and confidence bestowed on them by Wenger, so you can argue that they have deserved the 'promotion', so to speak.

4. From a fans' perspective, I love to watch the kids play. I said this in my first post of the CC thread - I prefer to watch the CC rather than the FA Cup. There is an unbelievable amount of pride watching these kids passing the ball around, outplaying seasoned pros, playing the exact same way as the first team so there is no let up in the entertainment factor.

5. The CC may not be enough games for a team. Even if the team does well and reaches the semi-finals, its just 5 games in the season and one more, if we go through to the final. A lot of these youngsters need more competitive games under their belt, and perhaps, less of them will be sent out on loan if they get more games with the Arsenal. A few of these kids dont have any more competitive games to play in the 2nd half of the season.

6. There are some who believe that, instead of playing the complete CC team in the FA Cup, a few kids can be played alongside senior pros, to enable them to progress in a better manner. It will be a different experience for the kids and the extra experience on the pitch can help them.

7. An alternate view is that the presence of senior pros on the pitch might hamper the development of the kids, as they might feel inhibited by the seniors' presence. Kind of like the Henry situation, where the team would pass the ball to him and expect him to deliver instead of doing something with the ball themselves. That may have been a factor in the 5-1 defeat to Spurs in the CC last season, as pros like Gallas ad Adebayor played in that game.

8. In any case, I believe that the team will be equally competitive in the FA Cup, as there is a confidence that this team of kids can take on a lot of Premiership opponents. So we will not lose out on the chance to win the Cup. Personally, opposing teams are as competitive in the FA Cup as in the Carling Cup. If you look at the Newcastle & Blackburn sides we defeated last season in the CC, they were as good as their first team, meaning they would play that side even in the FA Cup. Our kids are good enough to take on whatever teams throw at us, including ManU and Chelsea.

Some of the views above (namely, pts 6 & 7) have been picked from a few forums online in order to supplement the original points which I thought of.

Take a bow, Arsene, take a bow! His philosophy of implicit trust and confidence in the Arsenal kids paid off with a comprehensive humiliation of Sheffield United 6-0 in the Carling Cup. What an awesome performance! When the team was announced, it consisted of several teenagers. In fact, at the final whistle, apart from Fabianski, the rest of the team were all teenagers. It was a fantastic vote of confidence in their abilities and the team did not let Arsene down.

The team lined up in their favourite 4-4-2 formation, with Song and Djourou at CB, Gibbs & Hoyte at full back, Ramsey & Randall as the central mid field partnership, Merida and Wilshere wide on the flanks and Vela and Bendtner up front. The first 20 minutes saw Arsenal settling down with their passing game. Mark Randall put in a couple of tough tackles and Ramsey looked comfortable in mid field. This team probably never played together, as it was a mix of a few first team players, reserve players and a few substitutes for the first team. However, it took only 31 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, Vela down the left and Bendtner combining well, with Bendtner curling the ball past Kenny into the right side of the net. A well deserved lead.

After that, it was Ramsey with a good run down the left, eventually crowded in the box with 3 defenders surrounding him, he managed to play a deft little back heel to Bendtner who finished off the chance with ease in the 42nd minute. Lovely play again from the Arsenal! Vela and Bendtner combined well for the 3rd soon after in the 44th minute, this time it was Bendtner with the assist and Vela finished off his chance well. It was 3-0 at half time, with Sheffield United not really testing Fabianski, apart from a couple of corners which he collected comfortably.

The 2nd half started off in the same vein, with Arsenal looking to extend the lead further. Gibbs played a long ball from left back and it was beautifully controlled by Vela with his shoulder, who then rounded the defender, waited for the goal keeper, Kenny to commit himself before chipping over him for his 2nd goal of the night. An audacious finish, and evidence of Vela’s confidence. Soon after, a corner was conceded by Sheffield in the 57th minute. It was taken by Merida and instead of crossing it into the box, it was played to Wilshere who was waiting a few yards outside the box, on the right. He took it well on his left foot and smashed it into the bottom corner. Arsenal were leading 5-0 and it was game over.

Fran Merida who had a good game, played a beautiful through ball down the right to Bendtner in the 64th minute, and he should have scored from an easy chance. He managed to put the ball just wide with the keeper beaten and no defender challenging him. A hat trick chance missed.
Arsenal looked really comfortable at this point and the intensity of the game reduced. The team looked to keep the ball, pass it around and not concede a goal which was important. Wenger made 3 changes in the 69th minute. Song came off with an injury (he landed awkwardly on his left foot while challenging for a header), Bendtner and Merida joining him. Their replacements were Henri Lansbury (normally plays mid field but played right back, I think), Jay Simpson (striker) and Francis Coquelin, the 17 year old French mid fielder.
The team still looked to attack with Coquelin looking sharp, and Lansbury had a shot on goal immediately. They contributed well to the build up. Jay Simpson had a couple of decent efforts on goal, but couldn’t convert any of them. Ramsey and Randall were controlling the game beautifully in the middle of the park. Sheffield had given up a long time back and were waiting for the final whistle.

In the 86th minute, Ramsey picked out Vela down the left who finished well again earning a well deserved hat trick. It was a solid, pleasing performance from the young gunners. The level of praise for each of them can never be enough. The team rarely looked like conceding a goal throughout the match, and always looked likely to score.

The full backs (Gibbs and Hoyte) had a good game. Whenever they had to defend, they tracked back. They overlapped very well with the wide players and were a constant attacking option down the flanks. The central defenders (Song and Djourou) were rarely troubled and dealt well with the occasional Sheffield attack. Fabianski had a couple of corners to deal with, but otherwise, was not called into play at all throughout the game. The central mid field partnership (Ramsey and Randall) was excellent. Ramsey looked real quality and the reason why Wenger paid 5M for him was on full display. He always looked to attack, had 2-3 assists on the night and his passing range was fantastic. I was also impressed by Randall, he showed a tough tackling side of him that I haven’t seen before, and the played the defensive anchor very well. Wishere and Merida were a constant attacking threat, combining well with the overlapping full backs. They preferred to cut in often and were not bullied off the ball.
The Vela Bendtner partnership is blossoming in full force. They looked good in pre-season, but they were simply fantastic on the night. They were both unselfish, setting up chances for the other and really seem to enjoy playing with each other.

Overall, an excellent performance. Its so pleasing to see the kids do well. On the evidence of this, Wenger could play the same team in the FA Cup as well, and progress far. It feels good to be a gooner.

The transfer window is finally over and now it is time to raise our heads and be fully committed to the season ahead.