Sporting CP 1 Arsenal 5

The warm up 

Sporting CP v Arsenal

Tuesday November 26th, 2024

Estádio José Alvalade 

Champions League Matchday 5

If you'd asked me at the time the Champions League draw was made, out of Manchester City and Arsenal which game do you think Sporting would get a positive result from it would definitely have been the latter. I have this theory that Arsenal simply don't like being punched in the mouth. By the time the City game rolled around I had the feeling 48 hours before that we would win. Don't ask me why sometimes you just know. With this game however, with the new mister João Pereira, I've genuinely got no idea. It could end up another glorious European night in the history of Sporting or we could end up the wrong side of four goals. 

Naturally all eyes will be on Viktor Gyökeres once more especially given a summer where he was heavily linked with tonight's opponents. You hear whispers from certain camps where his agent suggested that he stayed with Sporting because the coach (whose name won't now be mentioned) was staying and quite frankly that's complete and utter bollocks. Sporting held firm on their stance that he could only go if the termination clause in his contract of €100m was paid. No club paid it and therefore there was no discussion to be had. The truth rarely if ever draws the interest of the general public at large and certainly not of football fans. At the moment everything the Swede touches turns to gold but it's starting to become all the more of a badly kept secret that his left knee could become an issue further down the line in his career. At the end of last season he played through the pain, eventually having an operation to fix an issue with the meniscus in his left knee which took him six weeks to recover from and the worry from the club's side is that the injury could recur at any point leading to suggestions as to why the club won't enforce his termination clause when it becomes active once more in the summer transfer window next year. The club have already publicly confirmed the clause isn't active in the winter transfer window so any clubs looking to take him would have to pay over the odds in January and the player has already spoken of his desire to remain in Lisbon until next summer. In the past week we had the former Arsenal and Sweden player Freddie Ljungberg discussing the state of the pitch for the recent Sweden game in Stockholm and hinting towards the growing whispers as he was quoted as saying "Imagine if Gyokeres gets injured... that’s 100 million euros." In his first press conference on Friday the new mister at Manchester United was quoted as saying "Viktor Gyökeres is a Sporting player. He has a game today, I hope he plays well, doesn't get injured and has a lot of success at Sporting." When, if ever, did you hear a manager wish a former player well but add a byline about not getting injured? Having been made aware of it months ago I've been having palpitations every time he goes down clutching his leg especially given the speight of injuries at the club this season already. We've seen Nuno Santos injured in preseason, battle back to fitness and then have his season ended to a second injury. Gonçalves had an issue early on and came back and is now ruled out until the end of the year. The Swede of course is the one whereby Sporting's season could really be derailed if something happens to him so maybe I should stop trying to jinx it. Still it will be nice for the Arsenal fans to get to watch the forward in person after the summer whereby the majority of their fans seemed under the impression you just had to ring the players doorbell in Lisboa and off he'd toddle. I'm still not convinced he goes to the Premier League either. Manchester United certainly weren't on his list of options on a personal level in the summer and any talk will depend on how the new mister gets on before now and the end of this season. I think the suggestion was that as an organisation the club is somewhat shambolic. People are desperate to make two plus two equal five. His dream I believe is to go to Real Madrid or a club in Serie A but we'll wait and see. Money talks as we all know but he has a clearly defined path he wants to follow. He always wanted only Sporting when offers came into Coventry City. His father remains a big influence in his life and will have a large say in where he goes. He held him back in Sweden and only at the age of 16 did he allow him his move to a bigger Swedish club. He wants to play every game, doesn't like to rest and will need to ultimately play for a side which allows him the freedom to move around the pitch as he's been allowed to do since last summer with Sporting to such a huge degree of success. Your club adapts to fit Viktor as a talisman, not the other way around. You could name an awful lot of attacking talent which has gone to the Premier League and failed but I'll use the example of Sébastien Haller going to West Ham from Eintracht Frankfurt in a €50m deal. In the 2018/19 season in the Bundesliga he was averaging a goal every other game, scored 15 in 29 appearances and weighed in with 9 assists. He flourished in a forward three, came to England and was never once used in the same system and was branded a huge flop but then continued to have success with Ajax, BVB and at international level with the Côte d'Ivoire so was the problem the player or the system? Gyökeres really started to thrive in the system at Coventry City employed by the now departed Mark Robins, purposely moved to Sporting to continue where his game would fit best so for me why would he go to a club like an Arsenal or a Chelsea who won't play him every week necessarily, won't allow him the same freedom, won't play in the system which suits his game best? It doesn't add up. The glove has to fit. Anyway enough about knees and summer transfers. For now he's the top scorer in Portugal, the top scorer in the Nation's League Campaign and joint top scorer in the Champions League. Last time out he gave his first answer to his critics about whether he could score against a big Premier League club. Then answered it twice more just for fun to walk off with the matchball in the 4-1 win at the Alvalade to Manchester City. Given the links all summer with the North London club you imagine he'd be highly motivated to add to his goal tally. We'll wait and see. 

Having played Friday night against Liga 3 opposition I can't say I learned much from the game other than the fact that João Pereira doesn't have the requisite coaching badges to allow him to actually be considered as Sporting coach. Every day is a school day as they say, if only he'd attended a few more before being handed the job. So one imagines if not holding the requisite UEFA pro licence stops him from discussing the game before and after in the Taça de Portugal it will certainly be the case in the Champions League and maybe that's not a bad thing as he goes into only his second game in his senior management career having moved up from Sporting B who lets not forget like Friday nights opponents Amarante ply their trade in one of the two Liga 3 divisions in Portugal. I wrote after Friday night's game that the mister won't be judged on that game or this one and that his time as coach will really only begin in earnest when they host Santa Clara… or technically in Portugal when he has earned his UEFA Pro licence if you're being really facetious. Friday was the minnows of Amarante, Tuesday will be the giants of Arsenal. It's like going go-kart racing one week and being handed the steering wheel to an F1 car the next. Let's not kid ourselves that we should win this game and especially not because we beat Manchester City 4-1. Life doesn't work like that so don't fool yourselves into believing that football does either. I wrote at the time that if Gyökeres scores early on with his one on one then we could probably claim to have really been in the game and maybe the better side overall but he didn't and we weren't. Oddly if you're reading this thinking well you were delusional enough to think that you'd win before kick off, true, but after the 90 minutes I wasn't delusional to claim we were the better side. Had City taken their chances there's no way we get the same opening three minutes that only just started to put the game out of City's reach in the second half. If Haaland scores his penalty then it's probably still game on for City. However let the history books reflect it finished 4-1 and if offered it to me now I'd take a draw against Arsenal. 

The two sides obviously have previous as Sporting knocked out Arsenal 5-3 on penalties in the Europa League following on from a 2-2 in the José Alvalade and a 1-1 draw AET at the Emirates. That was in the 2022/23 campaign. The second leg is best remembered for Pedro Gonçalves goal from six yards inside the Arsenal half which can be found on the link below if you're not familiar with it or just want a refresher. 

https://youtu.be/1W0FPLugoqw?si=B6SGpD9Iylag2pN6

I don't imagine Arteta will play such an understrength side as he did home and away last time around. There's the caveat you have to add when you talk about knocking the likes of Arsenal out of Europe or winning 4-1 against City. Yes they underestimated us or maybe overestimated their own abilities when fielding weakened teams but in both instances a full City or Arsenal XI will be good enough to beat a full Sporting XI at least 80% of the time. Sporting might claim the odd draw and a sporadic win but on paper at least the Premier League sides should be winning those games. 

My one big hope for the game is that Darren Fletcher isn't commentating on TNT. At least we know Parker from the Thunderbirds won't be doing co-comms either. Sorry I meant Noel Gallagher. What a fucking clown school that organisation is and don't get me started on their use of the Lisbon word. Fuck me. We are in twenty twenty four. Given the club introduced CR7 to the world I think even the family dog knows who you mean if you say just Sporting. The only acceptable choice of Arsenal fan to do the same would have to be Matt Lucas so he can reenact his George Dawes character from Shooting Stars. What are the scores on the board George Dawes? What did you make of player X's reaction to that challenge? He's a baby. 

Sporting will look to Inter's 1-0 win against Arsenal in the Champions League for inspiration for a game plan in which the Italians comfortably headed away a series of crosses from either wing for 90 minutes and scored the winner from their only shot on target. Conceding possession to the big boys is all well and good but City took just three minutes to score at the José Alvalade. Sporting will once more have to take full advantage of any space left behind the Arsenal defence and most importantly ensure they take their chances because as I said in the opening to this post I still believe this side doesn't like being punched in the mouth. Sporting played Friday night whilst Arsenal played Saturday afternoon. Arsenal will of course have the travel to Lisboa to contend with as well as the fact that an 8pm kick off for Sporting's players suits their natural body rhythms whilst Arsenal players will have to adjust. Yet even factoring in all this, to win this game would be a huge ask for Sporting despite all their success so far this season. They remain unbeaten in all competitions for now, whether we can still say the same come the final whistle will be another matter entirely but winning is a habit. This side has a resilience I've not seen in my time following the club since the days of Marco Silva in charge. They don't know when they're beaten. 2-0 down away to Braga finished 4-2 in Sporting's favour. 1-0 down to City finished 4-1 Sporting. 1-0 down away to PSV finished 1-1. So we shouldn't panic if we fall a goal behind. Maybe João Pereira will prove to be more tactically adept than he who will no longer be mentioned on these pages. Time will tell. He certainly won't do his reputation any harm if he gets a positive result. They're not having the perfect season in England or in Europe. Alongside the 1-0 loss to Inter they drew 0-0 in Bergamo to Atalanta. Bournemouth and Newcastle have beaten them in the Premier League, Brighton held them 1-1 at the Emirates. I'm going to stop now before I build my expectations up and my hopes rise. What will be will be. We're not going to win the Champions League and they can't take the 4-1 City win away from us and the goal is to win back to back titles not to beat Arsenal let's be fair. 

In the markets 

Sporting 2/1

Draw 5/2

Arsenal 5/4

Team News

Starting XI

Israel, St Juste, Diomande, Inácio, Quenda, Hjulmand, Morita, Araújo, Trincão, Gyökeres and Edwards 

Substitutes

Kovačević, Callai, Reis, Alves, Geny, Fresneda, Bragança, Esgaio, Brito, Simões, Harder, Couto

Huge news as the new mister João Pereira selects the ex-Spurs forward Marcus Edwards to face off against their biggest North London rivals. This must be the first time Edwards has started two games on the spin in a year and I cannot personally remember the old mister ever starting the pairing of Trincão and Edwards together. Happy to be proven wrong but even if I am wrong it won't have ever been more than once or twice so well done João Pereira on his debut in the Champions League for proving he's very much his own man. Could be a stroke of genius. Could be the umpteenth time I look a complete cock. Can't be any worse than Gyökeres and Paulinho as part of the front three. Edwards has that low centre of gravity that makes him a handful to mark in full flight and somehow an innate ability to make the ball look like it's stuck to his foot. It's always been Trincão, or Edwards and I know I've already written that but the Portuguese was scintillating to watch against Amarante whilst the Englishman scored a brace. I like it and I'm always being accused of being negative. Oh and there's some guy called Gyökeres, not sure what he's like. He might be OK. He didn't start the misters first game because of this Scandinavian hotshot Sporting have up front called Conrad Harder. The Swedish kid scored a penalty and hit two free kicks onto the post when he came on so you know maybe he could do OK with Sporting. 

Israel comes back into goal and Diomande who is apparently statistically the second best defensive header of a ball in football is back in the centre of the three. Handy fact if Arsenal repeat their game plan from away to Inter. Inácio didn't play against City and maybe a little cruelly I wrote that was a bonus for him as his growing reputation remains intact. Him and Debast both have that massive rick in them and I know what Sporting are like in Europe and if there's an error or a sending off my monies on Gonçalo. 

Thankfully Morita comes into midfield albeit I'll give some rare credit to Hollywood that he played well against Amarante with the caveat they are a Liga 3 side. Araújo also starts in place of Fresneda and Quenda returns for Esgaio. 

One of the obvious advantages of the succession planning with the coaches is that Pereira has worked with the youngsters already. He handed Simões his debut last time out. 19 year olds Alexandre Brito and Mauro Couto join 18 year old Miguel Alves on the bench having all played for Sporting B. 

First Half

I don't actually remember the last time I really had any anxiety coming into a Sporting game but I can't lie it's been back for this one during the daytime. The table doesn't lie. Sporting second on goal difference. Arsenal scored 3 in 4 games but only conceded once. Only one away win in 8 in all competitions. As long as we don't lose 5-0. Edwards inclusion has surprised me but has equally excited me. He likes a Champions League game, scored against the Spuds at their manor in the 1-1 draw. Please let my excitement last more than 3 minutes. 

Arsenal get us underway. Sporting attack right to left in their predominantly black kit with white and green trim

2 Yellow shown to Diomande. Hjulmand steps in and pushes the youngster away to stop him from talking his way off the pitch. 

3 Morita shows no mercy and with a shoulder barge drops Saka to the floor, the type of aggression we rarely see from a Sporting side 

6 GOAL Martinelli makes it Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1. Ball into the corridor of uncertainty from the right and it's tapped in from 3 yards. All too easy. 

19 Partey tries from 27 yards but straight at Israel

20 GOAL Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 2. Again all too easy. Ball from Partey into Saka, nutmeg on Israel and Havertz taps in from two yards. Sporting have offered nothing. At lunch I was thinking what would I write of they score five against us. I never found an answer but I might well have to. 

29 Saka shoots from 15 yards brings a diving save low to Israel's left. 

36 Rice from the right of the six yard box slices one into the stand behind Israel's goal. 

43 Quenda with the step over passes Rice and brings a save from Reya 

45 GOAL Corner from Rice finds Gabriel who runs unmarked to head in from 3 yards. Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 3

Half time 

Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 3 

I wrote previously that João Pereira won't be judged on the result of this game which is fortunate for him because that's as bad a performance I've seen from Sporting since away in Bergamo last season. Passing has been off, defending has been woeful. Nothing from an attacking sense. Arsenal fully deserve their lead. It's been painful. Not as painful as having to listen to Darren Fletcher on TNT. I'm off to wipe my bleeding ears. The only thing of note for Sporting has been the burst of pace from Quenda and the shot on goal a couple of minutes before half time. I have to admit I thought I was going to go through an entire half without a single thing positive to write about Sporting. Not that one single thing makes it any better. My mood isn't really being helped by the commentary in this game. Already up to 26 times we've been called by the wrong club name. No fucking need for it. 

Second half 

No changes at half time. Sporting get us back underway. 

46 Morita fires low from inside the D and brings a save from Raya out for a corner 

47 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Arsenal 3. Inácio who was 25/1 to score anytime slots home from 7 yards. Clearly I looked at it. Didn't bet it though. Shouldn't have taken the lions 47 minutes to start playing 

50 Gyökeres pulled down a yard outside the area. 

51 Free kick inside the D. Gyökeres had two hit the post against Amarante… not this time. It may still be travelling it went that high and fast

51 Raya yellow for time wasting. 

54 Sporting with the majority of possession but we saw this against Atalanta last season in Bergamo where the Italians sat back and took their foot off Sporting's neck 

56 St Juste header from 16 yards easily collected by Raya 

57 Edwards has dropped deeper this half and certainly looks better for it. He tries inside the D but his effort goes over. 

58 Cultured hoof from Arsenal which shows how the tide has turned this half. Arsenal know they can go through the gears at any point though so I'm not fooled 

60 Huge cheer as Timber throw in overturned and awarded to Sporting for time wasting. They've been at it all game and finally the referee has seen enough

61 Gyökeres fires over from 19 yards, always sailing. 

61 Beautiful composure in the box from Hjulmand as he clears his lines. Made it look like he was in an acre of space with time to write his memoir which he really didn't 

62 PENALTY Diomande penalised for bringing down Ødegaard in the box 

64 GOAL Saka spots the ball. Three steps back. Fires into the bottom right. Sporting CP 1 Arsenal 4. See my comment on 58 minutes. 

65 Geny and Bragança readied to come on. 

66 Gyökeres effort from 16 yards takes a wicked deflection and heads goalwards but Raya keeps the ball the right side of the line

67 ➡️ ⬅️ Araújo and Edwards make way

68 I'm still trying to work out what I'll write when Arsenal have scored five at full time. It'll be something simple. 

72 Hjulmand from 19 yards brings out a superb save from Raya down to his left. That was a real chance. 

74 Trincão shot deflects and pops up from 20 yards but over the head of Raya and the bar 

77 ➡️ ⬅️ Morita off for Harder. The Japanese international is on my shortlist of two for Man of the match. He's definitely put in a shift in all areas tonight. 

81 The cries of OLE coming from the away end now. This game died as a spectacle with about fifteen to play 

81 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Arsenal 5. Shot fired in from the D saved by Israel, bounced up to Trossard who heads in. Merino the player with the original shot. 

84 Hollywood shanks one into the stands from outside the box. Standard. Does his hair. Just a reminder of that caveat for his performance last week. 

85 Gyökeres smashes a shot from the left of the six yard box onto the left hand post. He started his run ten yards into the Arsenal half. 

87 ➡️ ⬅️ Inácio and Trincão replaced by Reis and Simões. McManaman on co-commentary thinks that Reis is one of the academy players. 

89 Save from Israel at least for now keeps it at 5. 

Plus two indicated 

+1 High and wide from 23 yards from Gyökeres 

+2 Hjulmand pings one in from 32 yards and brings an acrobatic save from Raya out for a corner 

+2 Harder flicks the ball forward on the edge of the six yard box to bring a save from Raya 

Full time 

Sporting CP 1 Arsenal 5 

The final word

What have we learned from tonight? Well the Premier League has a lot more money and quality than the Portuguese league. Arsenal did their homework and didn't make the same mistakes Manchester City did in terms of allowing space at the back for Sporting to operate their normal game in. My only surprise was we got the one goal and regular readers will know I don't post edit to make myself sound clever, you get an honest expectation before the game and an honest assessment after. I had a scoreline of 5-0 in my head this afternoon and yes I got excited at the prospect of Edwards playing but let's remember he's barely kicked a ball all season and he looked better when he finally found some space in the second half. 

Israel isn't an elite goalkeeper. We already knew that. We couldn't figure out Atalanta last season in the Europa League. Simple game plan, get the ball wide, stick it in low and Sporting don't know how to defend it. That's been an issue with the side right through the tenure of the previous mister. It's nothing new to watch Sporting trying to have to try to unlock a deeper lying defence, the difference is it's normally the defence of a smaller Portuguese side who invariably crumble at some point. We've seen Sporting struggle in games even when they're winning. The difference is when you've no space in the final third against Arsenal that they'll show you what happens when you're playing against a side who can transition from one end of the pitch to the other and punish you. 

Quenda isn't actually ready for this level and Geny for me has the better ability to beat his marker in a one on one situation. He's 17 though and the only way he gets better is from playing in games like this one so it's swings and roundabouts. Morita impressed again for me. I'd like to see his running stats post game and he is the player if I was a premier league manager that I'd be looking to buy. He's never going to go for silly money and if you got him for €10m you've got an absolute bargain. His game intelligence never gets noted which is ridiculous because it's obvious when you watch him play. 

This is all about levels and expectation management. It's too easy to hype this team to be something they're not. Yes they're still the best side in Portugal. Yet if they played in the Premier League with this squad even with Gyökeres up front we'd probably be fourth bottom. Declan Rice alone will have cost more than this Sporting squad. You know what even if that's not factually correct it's going to be buttons difference. I'll say with some degree of certainty however that Rice earns in a week what Diomande does in a year. So we shouldn't be surprised that we've had our arses handed to us. Judge us on merit when we play the likes of a PSV, Sturm Graz or Clubbe Brugge because that's our actual level. We have players that are capable of being successful in the Premier League but they've not come from the Premier League. Other than Trincão from Barcelona who flopped at his time with Wolves this is a rag tag side of players. So I can't have a go when they lose to an Arsenal side who finished second to Manchester City last season. A side who are paid hundreds of thousands every week, a side who've cost close to £700 million to put together under Arteta. 

I think someone finally had a word in the commentators ears at half time because the L word was only used eleven times in the second half. Fucking shit show outfit TNT. With that actual moan out the way all that's left is to give my man of the match. Only a choice of two players really, Morita and Hjulmand. Had the Japanese international stayed on it would have been a tougher call but in the end it has to go to Hjulmand. Put a shift in, calm under pressure, rarely lost the ball in possession with his passing, two efforts which brought good saves from Raya. Looks an absolute steal at €20m. Oddly he could end up going for the same level of money as Gyökeres because of the club having agreed a deal that the Swedish star can go for a knockdown price in the summer. They'll want close on what the clause is for Hjulmand and as he continues to grow they won't want to take less in the current market and nor should they.

Shout out to the Sporting youngsters who did knock Arsenal out this afternoon and showed the seniors the futures still bright for this club.