FC Porto vs Arsenal – player ratings

Chris Wright

18th, February 2010

22 Comments

By Chris Wright.

PA-8370797

“Bendtner, still Bendtner, BENDTNER! …Oh dear”

Arsenal went down 2-1 at the Estadio do Dragao last night as two ‘school boy’ goals gave Porto a narrow victory. The Gunner’s didn’t play well enough to justify a win, but they certainly didn’t play badly enough to warrant a loss and a draw would have been a perfectly fair result.

Despite the setback, I still reckon Arsenal have the quality to beat Porto outright in the second leg and advance to the next round.

Here’s how I think they rated on the night…

FC PORTO

Helton Admirably dealt with all Arsenal could throw at him. 7

Pereira Lucky to avoid conceding a penalty when he clumsily bundled Rosicky over in the box, but otherwise, a solid defensive display from the Uruguayan. 6

Bruno Alves Repelled the Arsenal attack all night. Easy to see why some of Europe’s biggest clubs are interested in him. 7

Rolando See above, kept Bendtner quiet all night. 7

Fucile Spent most of the game on the floor or trying to wind up the Arsenal midfield. Gave Clichy problems when attacking down the right. 6.5

Fernando Excellent defensive display from the holding midfielder. Kept Fabregas, Diaby and Denilson in check single-handedly. 7.5 MAN OF THE MATCH

Ruben Micael A wonderful piece of quick thinking to pick out Falcao for Porto’s second goal. 6.5

Raul Meireles Kept the ball moving well. Did little to stand out though. 6

Varela It was his cross that Fabianski bungled into his own net for the first Porto goal. Looked lively all night. 6.5

Falcao Gave Campbell and Vermaelen the run-around all night with his dangerous movement. Reacted well to notch a fortuitous goal. 6.5

Hulk Looked well off the pace but displayed some nice touches in-and-around the box. 5.5

Costa Came on for Meireles on the hour mark. Kept things ticking over.

Belluschi Came on late and didn’t have enough time to impress. N/A

Gonzalez Again, came on late and struggled to get involved. N/A

ARSENAL

Fabianski Dropped clangers for both the Porto goals, particularly the first. Looked shaky and inspired little confidence, but pulled off a couple of smart saves. Arsenal need a new keeper. 3.5

Clichy Battled tirelessly up and down the wing but was unspectacular throughout. Constantly under pressure from Fucile and Varela. 6

Vermaelen Another solid performance from the Belgian. Made to work hard by the movement of the Porto strike force but coped well in the main. 6.5

Campbell Perhaps inevitable that he stood out considering the spotlight he was under, but looked a lot fitter than he did in his outing against Stoke a couple of weeks ago and showed no signs of tiring – even managing to get on the score sheet.  Strong and committed but perhaps partly culpable for Porto’s second goal. 7.5

Sagna Penned back in his own half for large periods of the game and looked to be getting increasingly frustrated because of it. A few rash tackles ensued but escaped without a booking. 6

Denilson Barely noticed him throughout. Did little of note but was disciplined enough to keep his position in front of the defense. 5 

Diaby Very poor. Hardly retained possession and frequently misplaced simple passes. Guilty of letting the opposition glide past him on a number of occasions. A few nice touches save him getting even lower marks. 4

Fabregas Struggled to ignite a misfiring midfield. Was on the receiving end of a few ‘robust’ tackles and did well to keep his temper in check. Used the ball competently but unspectacularly. 6

Rosicky Should have had a penalty after being upended in the second half. His headed assist for Campbell’s goal elevates him slightly above the rest of the Arsenal midfield. 6.5

Nasri Frustrating – worked hard but produced little. Some smart touches cannot disguise the fact that he tired very badly towards the end of the game. 6 

Bendtner Not good enough to lead the line on his own. Fluffed the only decent chance he created by rocketing over the bar from the edge of the area. 5

Walcott Had twenty minutes to run at the Porto defense and failed to beat the first man both times he attempted to. Time is running out for Theo to prove his numerous doubters wrong. 4

Vela Wasn’t on the pitch long enough to make an impact but I doubt he would have if he’d have played all game. N/A

Eboue Came on for the last few minutes and created a good opening for Fabregas. N/A

There we go. Agree/Disagree? Let’s hear it…

Posted in Arsenal, Champions League

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22 Comments

  1. Birkir says:

    I agreee soo much.. should have hyped diaby after liverpool game holy shit.. he played like shit.. and denilson is rubbish.. just a backup midfielder nothin else

  2. hoh says:

    u r sooooo dumb

  3. lej says:

    ridiculous – Diaby was our best player – stupid pr*ck

  4. Don says:

    Agree pretty much but thought maybe Rosicky was worth a little more. He worked hard and created opportunites – seem to have a bit more will and determiniation than the rest of the attack whilst still maintaing discipline. 7.5

  5. Chringle says:

    @ Lej: You cannot be serious man! He was terrible!

  6. Delboy Dublin says:

    @lej: Are you a Porto fan? (even if you are, Lucasz Flappy-Hands-ski was clearly Porto’s best player!)

  7. Kenneth Munn says:

    you fat bastard, did you see the game, idiot

  8. joni says:

    Who did the ratings? Stevie wonder?
    Fabianski 0!! U get a big fat zero for being braindead!
    Clichy -the worst left back in Europe bar none! We hv got to get rid of him asap..
    Nasri- the biggest shirker on the field.. Never does anything of note n never takes any responsibility
    Denilson n Bendtner-to their credit they tried their best and its not their fault they’re clearly not good enuff and still gets picked!
    Walcott- wats the point of theo fcking walcott!
    Sagna – the worst crosser of the ball in the history of football
    Diaby/Rosicsky- our 2 best players yesterday
    We hv a braindead manager Arsene to thank for nurturing the worst arsenal squad in my
    living memory! Tk u so much.. Arsene knows.. If ur young enough.. Ur good enough..

    Fcking arsenal

  9. bassie says:

    I don’t think you understand football and I dont think we saw the same game when you give Denilson and Diaby those marks. Arsenal lost due mistakes from the goalkeeper and we were never in any danger. The fact that its a game we didn’t deserve to lose shows that they played well.

  10. tom says:

    Wow, arsenal fans are a great bunch of fun aren’t they…. Anyway I’d say those marks are OK, its an opinion anyway just look at the above comments – not all of you could be pleased by whatever he said, what should he do? Just not write articles? Diaby was good up to a point but he lost the ball so much, he kept trying to do too much and not pass, very un-arsenal. Also if you don’t like Wenger you’re very close minded, just look at what he has achieved trophy wise, club development wise (the emirates is great for you guys) and on budget. He is running the club wisely and someday it could very easily all come crashing down on Chelsea, Man U, Man City and Liverpool. Be happy.

  11. The Belgian says:

    Spot on, Tom

  12. Anonymous says:

    i think 3.5 for fabianski is generous.

  13. Sensible rater says:

    ……r u sick?diaby was the man of the match!stupid porto fan

  14. anonymous says:

    YOU TWATS

  15. arsenal fan says:

    @ bassie your delusional if you think we were never under threat there were so many last man tackles needed. we didnt deserve the win and we barely deserved the draw. we only got more than 2 passes a handful of times. we played our WORSE game this whole season and ive watched every minute of arsenal this season. the most frustrating part is arsene wenger wont admit we played shit when we did and he wont put players in their place, he babies them to incompetency. yes mistakes cost us, but we keep making mistakes! he needs to let the players know the gravity of the situation he cant just be like it wont happen next time. a handful of mistakes have almost cost us our champions league campaign and nearly destroyed our league chances (when we were doing so good).

  16. JC says:

    I feel bad for Fabianski, instead of a rating, I want to give him a hug :(

  17. shaz says:

    i think arsenal could of played a bit betta cz we all no dat arsenal cn perform very much betta diaby iz a superb player an he didn’t show anything yesterday he onli showed a lill and fabianski iz totlaly shit stupid dickhead dunno y wenger makez him play he shud of brought a goalkeeper in the transfer window

  18. Baz says:

    @arsenal fan.. worst game of the season? and you’ve watched every game?

    i find that very hard to believe

    the two mistakes made it our worst game, bar those the overall performance in portugal was not half bad, take out the mistakes and you would have a different tune

    we actually managed to create chances this time out, which hasnt happened for some time

  19. jyfan says:

    Fabianski? MORE LIKE FLOPIANSKI!!!!!!!!! Everyone else tried their best particularly Campbell.

  20. Quack says:

    Everyone tried very hard on the night the best player for me was sol campell well done everyone who tried!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  21. Dave Watkins says:

    What a load of rubbish never seen such a messed up set of ratings. Look at our team and some of their Arsenal signed memorabilia on this website. They are a reputable company that hold sports mans dinners and raise money for various charities. How can the publish these ratings?

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