Arsenal v Spurs Preview/Lineup: Arteta Will Not Repeat Guardiola’s Mistake

70 thoughts on “Arsenal v Spurs Preview/Lineup: Arteta Will Not Repeat Guardiola’s Mistake”

• William should not start this game pls cos he is a passenger, Arteta should not start William pls pls.we dont want to see that guy for now,pls go and watch him at our previous matches

• To Eris point late yesterday, I see where you’re coming from on Lacazette. But the way Arteta has him dropping deep is a failure. He battles in midfield, but he doesn’t possess a midfielders skill or pace, and gets nowhere near the opponents box, where he is best.

  TA I’m still on the Ainsley in midfield camp. I think he has a lot of talent and I want to exploit it, (i think his upside is so much higher than Elneny), plus we are clearly deficient there. It shows game after game. With Xhaka, I’m starting to have doubts.

  I see Martinelli is tweeting about getting back soon, with photos of training. I hope Arteta doesn’t choose to ignore him again, or worse. We need a player like him badly. He, along with Nelson, are a reason I didn’t want to sign Willian. I’ll be furious if he holds them back.

  I know we all love Saka, truly, but it’s about time he sbows some end product. It’s been a while watching him make impressive moves and end up without an assist or goal. Maybe he needs to be more selfish. I wouldn’t mind that in his case.

• Arsenal squad isn’t deep enough to deal with Spurs. What you can do is sit back, too and take your chances clinically as they come

• Hey J, I have high hopes for AMN too. Many have forgotten already how important XhakA was in our FA Cup victories. In big games I would certainly play him. But if Mikel wants to play something different then that is fine with me too.

• Jnyc, don’t get me wrong, but I married my wife for less. 🙂
  To say I agree with you on most points – especially on Elneny, Martinelli, Nelson, Willian and Saka – would be a massive understatement.

  Regarding Ainsley in midfield, Wenger has experienced with this formation, but didn’t work too well. However 3+ years have passed, and Maitland-Niles became an England international (as well as a fan favorite penalty taker), so I won’t mind having another go with this experiment. Yet, I’m not confident that Arteta would start it today.

  I think TA got both the defense and attack (players) right, but in midfield I’m quite sure Xhaka and Ceballos would start. And in 3-4-3 we should have another CB in the squad (Mari, Luiz or even Mustafi could be contenders), in 4-3-3 we need a further DM/CM/AM. And I’m a bit worried that Willock might have another start today, which could be good for him, but bad news for our NLD chances.

• Cheers PB, this is no game for Ceballos imo. He would be our weakest link in defence. The combo od XhakA and Ceballos just doesn’t work either.

  I agree that this is no game for Joe either. It needs men today.

• TA, I think Ceballos’ limitation is not really in defense, but having a binary switch that he either defends (and mostly looks for safe side passes), or supports the attack and then forgets to defend. According to WhoScored one of Dani’s 4 strengths is defensive contribution, and you can see in his stats that he makes 1.9 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per 90 minutes (while the same figure is 0.8 for AMN in both categories).
  https://www.whoscored.com/Players/144890/Show/Dani-Ceballos
  I’ve seen him doing fine defending work (last against Leeds, where he was WhoScored’s MotM even ahead of Leno, and he didn’t make any key passes either, only 3 dribbles, 4 tackles, and 2-2 interception/clearances). My problem with him was that he played too safe, and neither him nor Xhaka provided quality support to our attackers.
  But I think this is an organization or game management issue. Ceballos has the skills, but his participation is not yet optimized to our game-play. (Fun fact: probably that sentence would be valid about every Arsenal player bar Leno and Gabriel.)

• Cheers PB, that is the problem with stats. They focus on things that can be measured, counted. Ceballos has no positional awareness and reacts to the action of the here and now. That is the difference with the likes of Xhaka and Elneny (and AMN and Joe). A computer does not understand that.

• The Arsenal league n cup record vs Mourinho teams makes for awful reading, so if you are of a nervous disposition look away now!

  Played 21
  Won. 2
  Drawn. 8
  Lost. 11
  For. 15
  Against 33

• TA, the game does need men…..or boys with hearts of men! I feel we need a good mix of our academy lads in this one, seeing as the “men” have not given it their all, so far. We need boys who know what it means to win the/this derby as a lot rides on it. Throw on Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nelson, Saka and less so, Willock (I’d agree), but even he should play a part at some point.

  I am thinking Leno, Holding/Luis, Gabriel, Tierney, Bellerin, Partey, Xhaka, AM-N, Nelson, Auba, Saka….in a 3-4-3. Or if a 4-2-3-1, Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney,- Partey, Xhaka- Nelson, AM-N, Saka,- Auba.

  It is the NLD; there are no guarantees for the in-form side and Spurs know that too well.

• J, Lacazette is an interesting debate, yes he is slow and yes he looked to pull the strings against a weak Wien, but that was the only game to date where he’s actually played that deeper role with a striker in front of him, he’s usually expected to play the deep role and still get into the box as our centre forward with Aubameyang on the flank.
  Now if Arteta went full Europa at the Armatage Shanks arena then he’d have Auba up top and Lacazette in the spare space between midfield and attack.
  That would also mean going 4 2 3 1 and I’m not sure that that would be wise in this game, a game where we need to park our wish to be entertained and as Chelsea did last time out, match up and just grind it out.

  Come away from the Slum with a 0-0 and I’d love it, in fact that’s how I’d face up Mourinho teams every time, you just cancel each other out, but you don’t lose and if it’s a cup tie then take it to penalties.

  Arsenal have been mugged too many times to play the fool this time, we really need to wise up!

• Lol @ a computer does not understand that, TA.

  Kev, it is Mikel Arteta this time around. That’s the difference I rely on. I have wondered why he hasn’t called for a no-holds-barred, clear-the-air meeting with the group all this while, so I am glad he’s just done so with the players and there was real anger amongst them. That is a good thing. It will be fierce and well contested today.

• Agree with you, re the Lacazette debate, Kev. He’s been given too much to do for a striker, who should just be tasked with working around the opposition defence. Deep down, I would have liked to fit Laca in there, somehow, because he can withstand the meaty defensive game of Mourinho’s men, like Sissoko, Ndombele, Hojbjerg, Dier and Sanchez.

  Unless Auba steps up his game, it will be another frustrating evening for him and Arteta must not be afraid to take him off.

• Yes that is awful, Kev. Good morning to you!

  So that means there were just over two goals on average and we managed to score a single goal in two out of three games.

• PB, I also think Ceballos does have good defensive contributions and covers for Bellerin a lot. Like most Spanish players, he is adept at winning back possession too. But his general awareness can be a problem, while he also has the tendency to hold on to the ball longer than necessary; he is also capable of the odd misplaced pass to the opponent and in dangerous areas. The Spurs midfielder will gobble him up; he can only come on for this game late, when legs are tiring, or if Partey starts and he partners him.

  That fun fact is so true. Everyone needs to step it up today. And that’s the bottom line.

• Inclusion of Nelson could work, Eris. Still you predicted that Willian would score against the Spuddies a few weeks ago….. and I put him in the team!! hahaha 🙂

• Eris that last sentence is meant for Kev; it is the mobile oracle who predicted a goal from the former Blue Gunner. 🙂

• Eris, you have been Auba’s strongest critic on BK for a while. It is hard to argue against you as PEA has indeed looked absent, not engaged enough. Yet that does seem to be out of character for him and it may be due to a lack of form, confidence or, more likely, like of cohesion within the team. He is often so isolated.

  I think we will score once today and that may or may not be enough. Goalscorer will be somebody with Arsenal character, just like Rosicky or Flamini had when they scored at the toilet bowl. I feel it will come from the left and it will either be Auba, Saka, Xhaka or Tierney. I think it will be the wee Scotsman… 🙂

• We have the stamina/fitness advantage, as Spurs are full of important players who played 70-90 minutes this Thursday. Of course it could only be a decisive, difference-making factor if we step up the tempo and keep it tense until their legs give up.
  If we play sitting back and counter-attacks – as SAB recommended – than we give them beck the control…
  I would also prefer to field Partey, but I’m not sure that is a real option from medical point of view.

• Total, last season, we went to, if I recall, Wembley and were the better side until Kolasinac messed up and that is just classic vs Mourinho, he waits for us to do something dumb and we usually do!

  They won the game via a penalty and a dead ball situation, a corner or free kick I’m not sure now, but I recall that we came away thinking ‘how did we lose that?’ – again, classic Mourinho…

  Another stat is that Mourinho has never lost at home to Arsenal…

  Of course nothing lasts forever and if we did win it’s likely we’d go there next season and win with JM in charge still, possibly? But he has this hold over us, it’s not just luck it’s too deliberate for that, his teams seem to lull us into a false sense of security whilst waiting for us to mess us, maybe it’s just down to patience, concentration and organisation because there doesn’t seem to be any genius to his coaching but he’s an expert at motivation and psychology.

• Eric’s, I think that this Tottenham team more closely mirrors his best, first Chelsea team.

  Drogba = Kane

  A midfield of energetic, tall, physical, strong and quick midfielders.

  A defence of energetic, tall, physical, strong and quick defenders.

  A club with low expectations as Chelsea were first time around and Tottenham have been for years, this allows him time to develop his perfect squad, low on entertainment, high on efficiency.

  If Arteta and his team fail to focus and organise for the entire 90+ minutes we will concede and probably lose 2-1. Classic Mourinho.

• Eris

• Well said, Kev. He is like a spider in the web, Kev, just waiting for the heavenly butterfly to entangle itself and devour it. What saved us over the years is that no PL team after the first Chavs period have allowed him to play his Portuguese catenaccio anymore. The clubs and fans have asked for more attractive, attacking football… but these Spuddies are so so desperate to finally win something that they have made a deal with the devil. To fight a spider be a spider. 🙂

• Oh I have nothing against spiders and they are not the devil! 🙂

• That’s it Totalinho, we have to play smart and be prepared to take the draw if we can, we don’t want to be chasing this game, just accept our limitations and move on but don’t lose…

• In a way, the empty stadiums have helped Mourinho, no pressure from the fans and now they’re dreaming of 1960/61 again, so they’ll accept his dull, mind numbing football.

• Yes Kev, dont focus on needing to win this but needing not to lose it… then we might win it.

• Lol, Ta. Found myself scratching my head as to when I gave Willian a chance to score against the Spuds. Not that I won’t herald the second coming if he did score from a free kick or penalty; even a Howitzer from distance. I will take anything today.

  Kev and TA, you both make a good point about the need to be humble today so as not to fall prey to another JM special. I just feel we won’t do that, but you never know with Arteta.

• Eris, if Arteta would beat M today it would be something, given that he has already beaten Solks, Pep, Jurgen with the Teeth, Fat Fwank, Nuno this calendar year! 🙂

• Precisely, TA. Apart from setting us up well for cup games, Arteta seems to revel in the status of an underdog. Not a good thing when you think we should consider ourselves underdogs, in order to raise our game.

  As for my criticism of Auba, it’s borne out of how I know he can play and the fact he can help others raise their game, if they see that he cares and is busting a gut for the team. His pace, once touted as his key strength, no longer seems to be a factor and he won’t get stuck in. When you compare him to Jamie Vardy, with his movement and ability to drift all over the place, dizzying those tasked with marking him, you feel Auba with his better quality, should be doing even better. If the teammates know he will be in position, they will create the chances for him. Having said all that, it may be down to Arteta’s instructions. I love that we have Auba; I just want him to play like we know he can.

• Mourinho turned the Spuds around after they gifted West Ham a draw giving up 3 second half goals. He benched Ben Davies and Harry Winks, inserted Ndombele and Reguilon, and lit a fire under Hojlbjerg. Since, Tottenham went from being a flashy, open play, free-scoring team– to a physical, defensive group, who have handled the two most potent attacking teams in PL, exerting a stranglehold in midfield. Steven Bergwijn at LW has also been a handful.

  Feel it’s imperative that Arteta start a 3-back, with athleticism the key in MF. If Partey can start today (and signs point to that)– pair him with AMN to go toe-to toe with Holjbjerg, Ndombele and Sissoko. Use Saka and Bellerin (or Nelson) at WB spots. A front 3 of Laca and Pepe speared by Auba– all roaming and roving across the front.

  It’s going to be a grinder of a game. Give me Gunners with grit today.

  jw1

• According to the preliminary report (on LiveScore) Elneny and Lacazette both start, and we play a 3-4-3 as usual (Tierney, Gabriel and Holding in CB, Saka, Xhaka, Elneny & Hector in midfield, Auba, Laca and Willian in attack).

• The thing, jw1, is that Pepe isn’t eligible today. Bergwijn and Son are the reasons I would pick Am-N over Bellerin on the right. If Bellerin can fired up and be full blooded in defending instead of his tentative style, then I am okay with him because he is another who knows what this game means.

• According to TransferMarkt Alderweireld, Reguilon, Kane and Vinicius are injured, yet the former 3 are in the starting XI and Vinicius is on the bench. Either the medical staff made a m,iracle or Mourinho prefers to take some risks. Anyway it could be deliberate misninformation from their side…
  From the Spurs’ line-up Hoejbjerg, Son and Lo Celso started against LASK on Thursday, the rest are fresh(er).

• Team News: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, Xhaka, Saka; Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang

  Partey in the lineup!

  jw1

• 10/11, Laca for Elneny. Laca in the hole or Saka in midfield with the Auba left and Alex in attack…?

• Arsenal Team vs Tottenham Hotspur, with Subs:

  Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang

  Substitutes: Runarsson, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Ceballos, Willock, Nketiah

  So, no Nelson and AMN managed to make it to the bench. I like that Laca can start, just worried that we shall be one defensive injury away from having Mustafi on, when he may be rusty. No Luis on the subs bench.

• Eris, I am with you on Auba really. He is a pouncer and not a wolf like Vardy, but a bit more active leadership is required.

• The common sense line up I guess, I wonder if Partey will last the 90 minutes?

  No Nelson in the squad again, Nketiah and Niles on the bench.

• Only one defender on the bench.

• I guess XhakA or Elneny can play at the back if required, but not a good game to have to depend on Mustafi.

• If we line up like this I will be very excited :

  Leno
  Bells – Hold – Gab – Tierney
  Partey – – – – XhakA – – – – – Saka
  ——————Laca——————
  Willian——————Auba

• What a belter by Son. That one will beat any keeper, especially as no one expected him to do that in that situation. Still lacking in creative outlets but we can hurt them too. Only trouble is how we handle our defensive duties.

  Saka appears yet to settle into the game. Some lose controls and passing, plus hesitant decision making.

• We look a bit too static and there’s just no movement in the forward areas. Auba should be making those for the defenders to exploit. Bellerin must be more confident to pass to Willian when he is on the wings, instead of going backwards.

• We fell for that one. Probably from the training ground. With Elneny in midfield we would not have conceded that one. It is so predictable. They gave us the ball, simple one two….

  But yes it was a good shot, Eris

• Bellerin is such a disappointing player. In this day and age, how many times has he been caught making a foul throw? How hasn’t that been coached out of him?

• By my count four this season.

• Some good challenges being put up. More like it.

• Some good tackles, I would say. Good cross by Auba there but Willian wasn’t on same wavelength.

• Wow! We were just picked off there. And what timing to be conceding a second goal. Problem is we get the same situation and we fluff it .

• I thought Partey hasn’t looked right. We probably rushed him back too soon. He was off the pitch and put us in a 4 v 2 situation. Not looking good. We may just have to throw some caution to the wind now and risk a thumping.

• Not sure how Arteta plays this one now. But he gets paid to make decisions in times as this. We would need to be clinical, take any chances and some dose of luck now.

• Despite the 2 goals this is not a bad game. We dominate midfield, have 62% possession, don’t find even half-chances, so it’s not a matter of clinical finishing, as there is nothing to finish. Tottenham create their chances and finish them, these are the slight differences between the 2 teams.

• I wanted to play XhakA, Partey, Elneny in midfield. Our right midfield is so open, and Bels and Holding have not got a clue.

• Not so much holding TA– as it is Bellerin.
  Out of position. Poor passes and slow in decision making.

• Whenever Holding or Bellerin have the ball in our half they get pressed really hard because they’re seen as the weakness in our defence, both Scum goals have come down that side, Saka seems like a little boy out there, Willian has shown more in this game but it’s still not enough, Lacazette is working hard, as is Xhaka but they just aren’t quick enough. Tottenham all look like athletes and we look like Arsenal have looked since Vieira left.

• I’ve never known a time when our throw ins have been so abjectly poor.

• Saka is one of the few positives tonight. That boy fights for the shirt.

• If we can keep it at 2 for them and keep plugging away, you never know. The change is not so much a slight on Bellerin as it is the need to score a goal and sacrifice someone. Bellerin was the right man to take off in the circumstances we are in. He needs to take throw in practice and a bit of defending practice too.

  Auba still has to make the effort when he gets a sniff. There was this chance and I was thinking why isn’t he diving in for that one with some muscle?

• Mourinho is just a master of the dark arts of the game. The changes he’s been making late on were intended to just disrupt the play for us, as we were on the up.

• I am just so mad at losing to Mou in the same way we used to see even under Arsene but to top it off now he is doing it to us with spurs. I am scratching my head at why Elneny didnt start and to be honest I felt we shouldnt rush Partey back for this one especially with all the coming fixtures. It something Arsene used to do and we got burned again for it just hope Thomas isnt out too long. To top off Mikel seems to wait too long for some of his subs just as Arsene used to do. Guess I am just in a sour mood lol nothing constructive to say just yet but this blog will pick me up.

• I also have difficulties finding something constructive, except from that we weren’t that bad as we were against Aston Villa and Leeds. We lost against a clearly better team (who wasn’t any better than Arsenal last season, but let’s not get into the whys and hows) who were more organized at defense and utilized their 31% ball possession way more effectively and efficiently. I’m quite sad as I’m not used to see Arsenal being the worse team on the pitch unless we play against Liverpool or Manchester City, but at least we were not unlucky tonight.

  The only slightly positive thing is that I’m reading player ratings posts and I managed to find a source (FootballCritic) where Xhaka was the Star Man (MotM) on the whole pitch – while the 4 behind obviously belong to Spurs – and was given this evaluation to his 7.7 rating:
  “Arsenal’s defeat would have been even bigger if it hadn’t been for the sterling work of midfield general Xhaka. The Switzerland international gave everything for the cause. He put in numerous tackles [pitch-high 4], won seven of his 11 duels and made four fouls in a bid to stop a rampant Spurs side. His passing was also excellent as he boasted a 92 per cent completion rate on his 106 passes. If only every Arsenal player had shown the same desire and competence on Sunday.”

• What the F**k has happened to Auba – do we have another Ozil situation on our hands?

• It’s great being a football fan and commenting in retrospect about what now seems to be far from sensible decisions, I do it all the time but then I’m a fan and I don’t always think with my head.

  Big football clubs like Arsenal are run by serious, professional people who are where they are because they have a special talent (coaching) or that they’re unemotional when it comes to making large financial decisions like transfers and contracts, that is they think with their brain and weigh up all the consequences.

  So with my hindsight glasses on I’m now wondering if we as a club have just saddled ourselves with a mountain of unnecessary debt whilst baring in mind the recent experiences of the club with a certain Mesut Ozil to reference?

  Willian of course springs to mind, a player I was broadly in favour of seeing us sign but who now looks to be another major drain on our resources for a minimal return. I still cannot see anything he does that Reiss Nelson cannot emulate.

  Then David Luiz, I was pretty cool on us resigning him but it seemed that Mikel wanted him a lot and as he should know best – shouldn’t he?
  This has led to William Saliba floating in limbo, a £27m investment who could have been a very useful addition to our squad. I’m not happy at all about how things are going with him.

  PE Aubameyang, who after Saka signed I felt was the best signing of the summer, but who now looks as effective as Yaya Sanogo. Now hopefully this is an aberration and he’ll soon be back on track, but I can’t help worrying that we’ve gone and done it again and tied ourselves to a long, expensive contract with an over 30 footballer.

  All these deals must have had Arteta’s approval and I trust him broadly to know what he’s doing even if I’m getting a bit concerned – and the club have backed him which is good. But I’m minded to recall how careful Arsene Wenger used to be with players over 30 when he first joined Arsenal.

  Strangely enough Arsene went against his own advice later in his time at Arsenal and with very mixed results, I mean for every Lehmann there was a Silvestre etc.

  For a club whose squad is full of a lot of overpaid players who we can’t shift because of inflated salaries it now seems in retrospect that we’ve gone and done it again…

• Kev you know my thoughts on signing Willian at the time. I’m hoping to be proven wrong long term, but it’s a no brainer for me. Having Reiss Nelson involved today would have been preferable as always. Remember our boy Martinelli returns soon and it’s another player in the way of him getting minutes.

  But in Willians defense, the horrible style of play from the whole team could really be affecting him. We’re a bunch of crossers.

  Luiz I was definitely leaning towards not re-signing, but.. number 1 I wanted to trust the manager, and number 2, I thought we would be using him in a 3 CB formation. I definitely wouldn’t have signed him as the manager knowing we might not use him where he fits better.

• Opposing teams are allowing us to have the ball and daring us to beat them. I don’t think we’ve been outplaying folks at all, teams just know the recipe for defeating us is more or less self implosion.

  It’s getting real hard to watch the club right now. Everything is bad! Why are we using the same naive tactics in the league week after week? We only try new things in Europa and while I understand that we don’t have Arteta’s ideal personnel to play the way he wants to, there has to be more that he can do with the current group. I want Arteta to succeed but he’s quickly running out of time…

• Yeah Arteta is slipping into the danger zone now and contrary to the belief that home crowds could help our impatient fanbase could make it even more unpleasant at home although I must say the 2000 that attended midweek were behind the team. I was just very surprised our gameplan was to attack spurs when we have shown time and again this personnel has not clicked yet. I would have almost been a little more confident with the Europa team in this one. Was Nelson dropped or did he have some injury concern I just cant see how he could not make the bench after his last performance and in fact I had him starting.

  Willian wasnt too bad but just isnt producing much in the way of end product. Bellerin had his struggles defensively but I thought once again going forward he produced the most danger with his runs and subsequent crosses but there was nobody killing themselves to get to the end of them. I remember in one instance where Laca for some reason hesitated and just wouldnt attack the cross. Again I feel Joe is that one player with the Ramsey like will to arrive in the box for those types of crosses or pullbacks. As some have mentioned Auba is just lacking as a leader his body language is off. At this point I would rather have Tierney as a captain but I know its early and he hasnt had a long run in the side.

• With everyone playing a low block/parking the bus/sitting deep/2 blocks of 4, in general but almost always against us, it makes the signing of a proper centre forward quite important this January, Aubameyang can’t do it so what’s the alternative if the club are sticking with Arteta – as in my opinion they should? And who can we get whether it be an interim signing or long term?

  Man Utd went out and signed Reg Varney (Cavani), Chelsea have Abrahams, West Ham have Haller/Antonio, Leeds have Bamford, Southampton have Ings, Everton, Burnley, Totts, all have a proper centre forward, except us and Liverpool and Man City when Aguero is injured as he increasingly is.

  There’s a few positions (as there always seems to be) that need attention this January and especially this coming summer. The next two windows will define Arteta’s reign so he has to get it right if he wants to survive in this short term memory sport/business. But he needs to get our attack sorted and pronto or he won’t survive because the natives are getting restless.

• Superb and well-balanced comments, guys. Top stuff.

  New Post New Post 🙂

• 

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