Can we take any positives from the match aganst Porto?

First the few positives to about the match –

·         For the first time Wenger played Eboue and Silvestre in their rightful positions (as backups for Sagna and Clichy respectively).

·         Denilson showed that though we feel we need a DM at least he is better than all our other options in central midfield.

·         Djourou is probably the best defender we have at Arsenal right now.

As for the rest, I feel an urge to do a player by player analysis of each player –

 Almunia – Did ok as a player, but lacked the leadership aspects that you need from your captain. He should have been shouting at his players and getting them to make an effort in the game.

Eboue – I am happy he played in the position he is made for. He gave away the ball regularly, but the effort was there and given more match practice in that slot he should improve. At least he was long way from being the worst player on the pitch.

Gallas – Totally disinterested to play for Arsenal. It may hurt our ambitions for this season, but I feel we have to sell him off in January and make our dressing room a better place and save some money on his huge salary.

Djourou – My man for the day. Played well, showed what we have been missing by playing the shorter (supposedly more mobile) defenders (Gallas, Toure and Silvestre). I strongly feel he should be chosen in the team ahead of Gallas, Toure and Silvestre.

Silvestre – Finally played in the slot I had hoped he was bought for i.e. the backup of Clichy. However, showed he is an absolute disaster for us. He was responsible for the second goal. He had no understanding of passing and receiving passes from anyone i.e. Song, Denilson, Vela, Diaby, Gibbs and even Randall. If this is what Wenger is going to buy when we ask for experienced players, then we are better off not buying them at all. He is my joint worst player of the day.

Ramsey – Showed that he has potential, showed that he is still maturing, and showed that he is not a right side midfielder. He is at the same stage as Walcott was when he joined Arsenal. Play him off and on, give him another 2 years and he should be at least what Denilson is today. Probably the only spark we had in the first half.

Denilson – Showed that he is head and shoulders above his competitors for the midfield slot. Also showed he is not what Arsenal’s first choice central midfielder should be. Didn’t create anything, gave away the ball at times and as usual gets muscled off at times. He was industrious and the better moments I remember of him from the game were when he made tackles to get the ball.

Song – He didn’t have a great game but didn’t have a bad one either. Did his job, but need more from him.

Diaby – The other half of the worst player of the day. He was solely responsible for the first goal. He gave away the ball every time he got it, struggled to find his own players. If we going by the booing standards he probably deserved as many boos as Eboue did in the last game. All this was probably down to him not being match fit and rushed into the team

Vela – Was played wide on the left, which is not his position and had a totally out of sync Silvestre, Diaby and Bendtner as the guys nearest to him at all times. Probably with better players around (Clichy and Fabregas) he could have done more.

Bendtner – The one thing Bendtner does is to make me appreciate the likes of Adebayor more and more. This guy doesn’t work hard at all. Is probably in the worst form of his life. I just hope we don’t have to depend on him for any of the crucial games in our season.

 

Subs:

Wilshere – Probably similar feedback as Ramsey. He has potential (bags of it), he provided a bit of spark but he is too young for this level. Give him games off and on and another 3 years and we should have another Nasri on the right wing.

 

Gibbs – Played in his old role (left wing) for the first time this season. Was good in patches, tried building up something with Wilshere and got a free kick in a good place. He wasn’t helped by having to play with Silvestre. Hopefully he can improve his defensive capabilities and we can get rid of Silvestre by the end of season.

 

Randall – Probably the best I have seen from Randall till now. But given the fact that I hadn’t seen anything good from him till now, I guess he was just ok. He started off with a Porto player jinking a ball right through his legs when he went for his first tackle. Apart from that he was fine. But he is very skinny and needs to bulk up. Whether he can be a future Arsenal player…I don’t think so.