Nelson or Martinelli…. is my educated guess!
A squad of 20 players have travelled to Angers, a city in Western France not far from Nantes where I was only a few weeks ago (would have loved to attend tonight). I guess it is another friendly for Emery to test his youngsters as he is literally taking a whole busload of them. The squad in full (8 starting with ‘M’):
Martinez, Macey, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Medley, Monreal, Mkhi, Martinelli, Chambers, Sokratis, Thompson, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Willock, Burton, Olayinka, Auba, Nelson, Nketiah and John-Jules.
So assuming that Emery would like to start with the strongest available eleven from this lot, who would you put on the team sheet:
In goal to avoid a mess, it has to be Martinez.
At back to show no crack (if only LOL): Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sok, Monreal – Maybe Mustafi for AMN at RB.
In the middle will Emery solve the riddle? Xhaka-Wilson?
Attack(ing) for a Angers’ sack(ing): Mkhi in the middle feeding Nelson/Martinelli, Auba and Nketiah.
Yep that would work for me:
By TotalArsenal.
Bergkampesque 
From the previous thread…
The close season really means zero, TA…even if you’re motivated enough to do match previews for these games… 😉
Also, that was some tough stuff re: Kenny G(uendouzi)… Blackmailing the coach?… If Admir wants ANYTHING to do with Wenger, however, maybe you guys are onto something… 😮
Thanks for the added info on Eleneny’s house break-in, Eris…
Looking it up, I see no TV for tonight’s match (BEIN TV seems dropped from my satellite service, even the Spanish version which I think I used to get…) Oh well…
I’ve got further stories about Cafe Pepe, but those will have to wait… Gotta run…
Well he is playing tonight – Kenny G – and we are losing… 😉
Tell us (me via email) those Café Pepe stories, please!?
Nelson equalises – nice for him.
Well, how about some live-blogging, Mr. Total?… Or maybe just a line-up and some descriptions?…
I actually need help designing a logo for Cafe P.P. (where the periods are actually tiny little e-shaped things…) PP are the initials of where I hope to have a small (read: really small) coffee roasting business and I like that Pepe is the nickname for Joe (or Jose), which (of course) is a nickname for coffee itself. Finally, in an early Spanish class I asked the teacher to call me Pepe…and she obliged…so, I have been known (some 40 years ago) as Pepe…
Really, I’m just guessing that Pepe gets more of my caffe(inated) time than Elneny…who didn’t make the squad tonight…
Well Seventeenho the game is not on here either, unless I want to pay some obscure channel for this season’s Arsenal friendlies. Feck off I say to them! But Arsenal.com are reporting that the boys are taking pens at the moment… It is not clear to me why…
I like it that you have good pepe associations. Keep roastin’
Must’ve finished 1-1… Or in some other form of a draw… The dot.com says that Martinez saves the key penalty and Arsenal win…
Match report: https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/arsenal/2019-Jul-31/angers-1-1-arsenal-match-report
No announcement over there but it sounds like Pepe is pretty good from the spot… 🙂
Checking ahead, it also appears there’s no telly for the Barca friendly on Sunday…
Pepe takes an awesome pen, Seventeenho. Great run up and then boom!
17ht, Lol @ your nickname by Spanish teacher.
Couldn’t see the game either but, yeah, it ended 1-1 and because there was a cup (100 years anniversary of Angers) at stake, penalties decided it. First 4 kicks were excellent (even by Xhaka) while Mkhi conspired to send his kick high over the bar, at a chance to win it. Ex-Arsenal favourite and Angers’ player of the season last season, Jeff Renne-Adelaide, had his kick saved by Emi Martinez after some mind games to put off poor Jeff.
It’s Barcelona next Sunday then the season opener at Newcastle.
We should all be optimistic ahead of our first game of the season. I mean, our last Ivorian winger signed from Lille had a memorable debut on a season opener at Newcastle. 🙂
Speaking of players that play on the wing, what will happen with Mkhitaryan? I don’t know what to think about him anymore. I recall his misses from the Dortmund days and know how wasteful he can be. His passes can look like he took them with a wooden or metal leg and nothing like you would imagine a pass from your No. 10/wide playmaker. He can put a shift though, score a goal and create one when he is in a good mood. Which is not very often, sadly.
Selling him would be a reasonable thing – he is 30 on a high wage. However, that sale might make Aubameyang and our new friend Raiola angry which Raul wants to avoid.
Hey Admir
I liked Gervinhohoho a lot and he was another victim of the majority of fans’ inability to look beyond the occasional mistake/big miss. The man made things happen like nobody else did and his assist and goal stats were still okay.
All agreed re Mkhi – like Arshavin and Nasri he is a mood player and if he is indifferent or in a bad mood, expect nothing from him. But on a good day he is still awesome. I would invest in a psychiatrist for him……..
@TA
Gervinho was the right player at the right place at the wrong time. We had lost Fabregas when he came in and signed Özil when he left – either player would use his pace and ability to run behind the defence. His performances in Roma under his favourite coach Rudi Garcia were fantastic at times – he offered a threat down the wing that made my romanista friends cream themselves. His absence was visible every time as Roma couldn’t find a way to break down the opponents. However, once Roma lost their creativity in the middle and became flat (masters of draws at some point), Gerry didn’t perform either.
As for Pepe, like every other YT scout, I have become an expert on him and noticed that he is (too) reliant on his left foot, including moments when using right foot would be, er, right. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing – Robben, a benchmark for a world-class winger, used his right foot only for driving. Pepe’s shooting technique is not exactly a mouth-watering but his ability to properly perform a counter-attack is. That sort of defending – pin down opponents’ full-backs so that they shit themselves before they dare to overlap – might be important in the Bellerin-less weeks, especially at Anfield where we have lost 4-0 and 5-1 respectively in the last two seasons.
A comment is waiting due to s-word, TA. 😀
Good point about Gervinho needing service from midfield, Admir. I know that he had a good time in Rome and yes he had that ability to unlock defences. Iwobi has that too but also he will have to start delivering the hard stats soon (still young though).
Agreed re one-footedness – one of 17HT favourite footballer observations! 🙂 – but he is so quick footed, athletic and fast that it does not seem to matter much, and the Robben comparison works for me too.
New Post 🙂