No TV Highlight for Porto game for public?Why ?

By Myles Palmer

I enjoyed the Porto game as a farce.

There was no point in getting angry or frustrated.

We just laughed.

I've given up on Wenger long ago. I hope the board have a shortlist by now.

Wenger showed his contempt for us when he ｄ ｒｏｐped Arshavin for the Chelsea semi-final. He showed his contempt for the 9,500 fans at Old Trafford when he got stuffed 4-0 in the FA Cup, and he showed his contempt for the 6,500 Gooners at Stoke, when he chucked the FA Cup again with a 3-1 defeat.

So we now know how profoundly selfish he is, how arrogant he is, how he doesn't listen, how deeply misguided his Youth Project has proved to be. The greatest spin-doctor in the history of organised sport has recently told us that third place is a bigger achievement than winning a domestic cup.

Wenger's only interest is his own vision of how he wants his babies to play for him. Everything else is subordinated to that.

He chucked the FA Cup to give his team a week to prepare to play the weakest Porto side for years. And then they lost 2-1.

But because Porto are so bad, Arsenal will reach the last eight. That's obvious.

Having said that, I like the way Porto play. But Hulk is wrong for their style. Even so, if Hulk had not been so rusty they would have won 4-1, not 2-1. The way Porto try to play is more intelligent and more varied and more entertatining than the way Arsenal try to play.

Porto have won the European Cup twice. And no London club has ever won it. Spurs could not beat Benfica, Wenger's Arsenal have only reached one final, and Chelsea have still never won it.

Porto is a small club in a small country. They don't have Arsenal's huge income, so they have to buy 60% of an Argentinian player and sell him on after two years.

The dopey Denilson kicked off Wednesdsay night's farce with an unbelievably sloppy pass to Falcao, who spurted beyond Sol Campbell, who made a brilliant recovery tackle.

The clueless Clichy was annihilated by right winger Varela all night and when Varela's mishit cross was slapped into the net by the fumbling Fabianski, the farce had hit a high point as early as the 11th minute

Fabiansksi's blunder made it 1-0.

Then Arsenal scored a George Graham goal from  set-piece. Nasri corner, Vermaelen flick on to the unmarked Rosicky, heads back for Sol to butt in from three yards.

Seven minutes after conceding, Arsenal got the goal back. A very good goal at an important time

What did I think of the rest of the game?

Sol and Rosicky played well, so did Vermaelen. Sagna twice spoke to Fabianski and said, "Talk to us !!! But a minute later, when the Pole should have called and put his foot through Sol's accidental backpass, he picked the ball up!!!

What language do they defend in? What language do they call in? Why can't Arsenal's keeper and centre half communicate? Is goalkeeping coach Gerry Peyton any good? Is he any good?

By tomorrow I will have forgotten the game. I will have forgotten the night of the fumbling Fabianski and the rusty Hulk, forgotten the farcical arrival of Walcott, forgotten the farcical Mexican Robbie Fowler trotting on, soon followed by the farcical Ivory Coast right back who has spent the last two years playing every position but right back.

But I will remember Cesc Fabregas's interview.

The sensible captain stood there and told the truth. He stood there with blood leaking from a cut mouth and told the truth.

He doesn't want to be in the Colney creche any more. He's surrounded mediocrity. He wants to play in a team of men and win trophies. He will go to Barcelona for 45 million euros.

He put on a brave face but admitted Arsenal are too soft.

On the quickly taken free-kick, Fabregas said,"Maybe as a player I would have done the same."

What went wrong tonight?

"The goals.When you concede these goals, I'm sorry, you cannot go anywhere.Schoolboy goals.What can you do? Nothing to complain.

"After the second goal, we went down.We are still a little but soft in that aspect, as a team, when we concede a goal, maybe. Sometimes we are not strong enough to lift ourselves up.That's whaat happened, really.We were not strong enough to stand up and play well. But until the second goal we were having a very good game."

After that interview, ITVs studio pundit Paulo Sosa said, "Big, strong words for his team.When you arive at this level, you need to be much better than this."

Paulo Sosa played for Sporting and was sold to Juventus in 1994. He said he had gone to Serie A "to find out if I'm any good." He was voted best foreign player in his first season and Juventus won the Champions League in 1996. He moved to Borussia Dortmund and won it again in 1997.

When Paulo Sosa was at Sporting he played in midfield with Luis Figo and Balakov, George Graham tried to sign Balakov. George said, "I can offer you six grand a week" and Balakjov said, "I'm on eight at Sporting." What a great player Balakov was ! Wow!

I would love to know who is on Ivan Gazidis's short list.

The bad news as that Arsenal can't get Capello, Hiddink's gone to Turkey, and Mourinho's too vindictive and confrontational.

But the good news is that the world is full of football coaches. Many of them are not French. And none of the others try to re-invent a sport that doesn't need re-inventing. All of the other coaches would have a proper goalkeeper and play a striker. The last time a striker scored a goal for Arsenal was Eduardo against Portsmouth. That was on December 30.

Is fourth in England and eighth in Europe good enough to fill 149 boxes and 9,000 premium seats?

In the summer 40 boxes come up for renewal. I'm told there's only seven boxes that Arsenal are "worried about" for next season.

Regular Gooners buy season tickets costing £1,200 to £18,000 a year. They are very loyal. They keep paying, year after year, to watch respectable failure by a team who are the most consistent also-rans in the history of European competition.

Porto are top 16, Arsenal are top eight. So Arsenal will go through to the last eight.

Feb 19, 2010