Blowing away hull handover

Published : Oct 11, 2008 00:00 IST

The game looked as if it had been laid on expressly to bolster Arsenal's morale, writes Kevin McCarra.

Arsenal. They were overwhelmed by a side that replenished any confidence that had seeped away in the home defeat by Hull. Arsene Wenger's men have put themselves clear at the top of Group G in the Champions League, but they are not utterly beyond criticism. When this game was goalless there was trepidation at a corner kick, as if there had been a flashback to the earlier events. Gael Clichy cleared the prodded effort with which Lisandro might have put Porto ahead.

Still the crowd surely did not leave speaking of that. It made more sense to guffaw over close-range misses by Theo Walcott and the substitute Emmanuel Eboue that would have made the scoreline even more one-sided.

A moment should be spared to reflect on what a drubbing this was for Porto, champions of their country and twice winners of the European Cup. Wenger had reason to keep faith with familiar players. The threat of change, in any case, is often better than an actual reshaping of a side.

There were no reprisals for that loss to Hull, unless you truly believe that Eboue was the chief culprit in the debacle. The Ivorian alone was relegated to the bench. Wenger should continue fretting about his centre-backs, but their chief deficiency is in the air and Porto lacked a striker to intimidate the captain William Gallas as Daniel Cousin had.

This was ultimately a rout for Arsenal. The short passage of play in the first-half that illustrated the potentially treacherous character of games in this tournament will have been forgotten by now.

After 12 minutes, Robin van Persie made space for himself despite the presence of the centre-half Bruno Alves and struck a drive that called for a save by the goalkeeper Helton. Immediately Porto tore free on their right, with Lisandro picking out Tomas Costa for a cross that was headed down by Cristian Rodriguez, with the ball bouncing onto the top of the bar.

None the less, the openings were mostly Arsenal's. Whatever the superiority in technique, Porto were less adventurous than Hull had been and they had capitulated long before the end. There was a flow to Wenger's side as when Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie set up Walcott for a drive from an angle that Helton turned behind.

Arsenal moved with their characteristic fluidity and therefore made space. As it so often does, that approach led to a goal that was simple to convert. A beautiful spin and pass from Fabregas sent Emmanuel Adebayor behind the defence and Van Persie took the first of his two goals from the cut-back in the 31st minute. When Arsenal perform as they intend to, the inclination to walk the ball into the net is the soul of efficiency rather than ruinous self-indulgence.

Their other goal before the interval was atypical, resulting as it did from a set-piece. Van Persie took the corner in the 40th minute and Adebayor climbed above Rolando for a downward header that bounced over both Nelson Benitez and Helton. Events were largely therapeutic for Arsenal.

The side knew then that their customary authority in this stadium had returned. Their fun is misery for whoever happens to be on the pitch with them. A sense of exuberance was unmistakable when Gallas got involved in an attack on the right to feed Bacary Sagna and, just when the move seemed to have broken down, after 48 minutes, Walcott laid the ball into the path of Van Persie for the Dutchman to score with an excellent finish.

Merriment had taken hold of a crowd that must have been tense beforehand. "Are you Tottenham in disguise?" they bayed at Porto. Jesualdo Ferreira's team were helpless to react. The gusto of Arsenal was uncontainable at their next opening in the 53rd minute when it was their centre-back Kolo Toure who rolled the ball into the middle, only for Walcott, unaccountably, to fire off-target. By that juncture, any lapse had its idiosyncratic charm. Walcott himself provided the set-up in the 58th minute and this time it was Samir Nasri who misused it. There was indignity for Ferreira. Porto may very well go through to the knockout stage but his team, for all their achievements, hardly seemed to belong in Arsenal's company.

They would have been relieved when Wenger made a couple of substitutions, but the tempo of the game was not broken. Within seconds, Helton was parrying an effort from Fabregas and Adebayor should have slotted in the rebound.

The forward did add a fourth from the penalty spot in the 71st minute after a frustrated and undisciplined Freddy Guarin fouled the substitute Nicklas Bendtner. Ultimately, the game looked as if it had been laid on expressly to bolster Arsenal's morale.

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