Category: Uncategorized

This saga has consummated much of the first half of this season and has probably decimated team spirit inside the Arsenal dressing room, not to mention team performance on the pitch from time to time. 

We are now entering the middle of the January transfer window and every Arsenal fan can be forgiving for wondering quietly whether or not either Sanchez or Ozil, or both, will stay or go. As this unfortunate debacle goes on, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal only have themselves to blame for it. With 18-24 months to go, if you cannot convince your two superstars to renew their contract, then be decisive and either pay what they want or ship them out (with 12 months remaining), and get quality replacements. You’ve gotta get maximum value for these players, and in today’s crazy market, these two players alone could have easily netted us over a cool £100 million. Alas, we fell asleep at the wheel, and this is where it has pathetically gotten us. 

But it is what it is, so what exactly do we do now and who do we want to see stay at the Emirates when the window closes? 

For me, Alexis Sanchez is a tremendous player with vast ability, passion, and dedication, but he is also a “gentle” mercenary (unlike Emmanuel Adebayor or Samir Nasri), unfortunately. The weird part is, I don’t actually blame him or fault him one bit. Had Arsenal addressed the team needs and surrounded Sanchez and Ozil with hardworking and quality players, we would have already won the league a couple of times by now. At 28-29 and in the final year of his contract, why should he work hard and run himself to the ground every match day when his teammates are reluctant to follow his example?

Watching Arsenal players press the opposing team is at times quite laughable, especially in midfield. Our idea of pressing the ball is to stay about 10 yards away from the ball carrier and keep backing down until we are inside or on the edge of our penalty area. Or have only one or two players do the pressing while everyone else stays far back resting and watching.  Sanchez, I think, is fed up with our work ethic as a team, our lack of discipline in critical moments, our inability to address long ago identified defensive frailties, and our refusal to meet his wage demands or at least come close to it.

I understand all that and if he wants to go and we all know he no longer wants to be a part of Arsenal, then let’s sell him to City quickly and get some decent money (£35-40 million) for him. He will get his customary “dream move” to City, play with a bunch of superstars, be coached by a superstar Manager, win plenty of silverware, and make serious money while at it. His mind was made up long ago and his heart is elsewhere. He only started playing well again this past couple of months because he wants to get out of town this January transfer window and is putting himself on the shopping window. It might be detrimental to the team spirit and performance if he is again forced to stay and, more than likely, I fear that he will put in average performances for a player of his quality. He is not going to the World Cup, therefore, he’s got nothing to worry about.

 

Ozil’s situation is a bit different, I feel. I believe he does love Arsenal and wants to stay but first needs certain guarantees and monetary compensation before re-signing. If he doesn’t get them, he will not re-sign and simply walk away in June. As they say, he’s got us by the balls. However, unlike Sanchez, Ozil’s got a World Cup to worry about and therefore, he will want to remain sharp and in form. He will want to shut the doubters up. He is a consummate professional and really cares about his beautiful craft. Besides, despite what all the haters say about him, Ozil is a truly gifted and extremely intelligent football player, and does do his part. Yes, it may look lethargic at times or look like he is not putting in a shift defensively on a regular basis but that is not his forte. That is not why he is on the team. His job is to be a facilitator and a creator.

If this team was able to convert just half the number of unbelievably easy chances Ozil creates during any given match, we would all be having a different conversation right now. There are many times when Ozil would bamboozle an entire defence with a simple-looking pass but extremely difficult to execute and I found myself wondering: “How the hell did he see and make that pass and make it look so simple? How did he know that the defenders wouldn’t be able to intercept that pass? Has he got eyes everywhere?” This Arsenal team is built around him, I think, and it would a great loss for us if he were to leave now or in the Summer. I like to compare Ozil to a super-gorgeous, high class, high maintenance girlfriend. You know the type of person she is before deciding to court and date her. Once she becomes your girlfriend, you know exactly what is required of you to keep her around. If you don’t fulfil her every wish/need, she will simply leave your for another lover. No bad feeling. Plain simple. Arsenal have got their “trophy girlfriend” but it remains to be seen whether they can keep “her”.

I truly love both Sanchez and Ozil and would be sad to see either go. But if I had to choose one over the other, I would choose Ozil every day of the week. Somehow, this current Arsenal team just does not look the same without Mesut Ozil playing. I really hope he does stay and renew his contract in the coming months.

Please Arsenal, pay Ozil what he wants now, sign hardworking quality players (especially in defence), replace Sanchez, sell Walcott, Debuchy, Akpom, and a few others and let’s move forward.

Thank you.

 Written by: Gino92

“The Nile”: A Case for Change

*** The Nile, located in the northeast of Africa is generally considered as the longest river on planet Earth.

*** Change is defined as “the act of making or becoming different”.

Many of you are probably wondering what does one have to do with the other. The simple answer is absolutely nothing. However, “The Nile”, when pronounced phonetically, sounds like “Denial”, which according to some definition, is “a refusal to believe or accept something as the truth”. This “Denial” absolutely has everything to do with “Change”, for one can easily refuse to accept change when one is living in a constant state of denial.

Forced Exile:

I used to be somewhat of a regular on this Arsenal blog (and others) but decided to take a much-needed sabbatical from blogging a couple of years ago when it became apparent to me that my love for Arsenal and my desire for the team to perform well to the highest standards were not been met and were actually starting to cause trouble in my personal life. You see, back then, every time Arsenal played awful and lost, it deeply affected my mood for the day or for the week, and I was inadvertently taking it out on my family. My son (11 years old at the time) pointed this out to me in the most honest way one day after another poor Arsenal performance. All he simply said when my wife and my small daughter came in the room was: “Arsenal just lost again. Here goes our weekend. Papa is very angry and is going to be in a bad mood all weekend.” He is an Arsenal fan just like me, and has been for the past 10 years. When I heard what he said that day, I decided right on the spot to still support Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, but to take a break from blogging, go into a “semi-retirement” and let results of Arsenal matches speak for themselves. Basically, to not let bad results and bad performances dictate my life. I still follow Bergkampesque and read every comment (some I agree with, some I don’t) as much as I can, and it has been quite an experience willing myself to not participate in any given debate.

Temporary Return:

So, why then am I breaking my silence to write this post? Well, the simple answer is that after much soul searching and internal deliberations, I have come to realize that I was delusional, I was living in total denial, in believing that Arsenal can achieve the utmost success in winning the Premier League and maybe one day, even the Champions League. Meanwhile, teams like Chelsea and Manchester City (granted their unbelievable wealth and financial doping) have surpassed us and left us in their rear-view mirror. And now in the past couple of seasons, teams like Liverpool and Tottenham have done the same, albeit they are not that far ahead at all but still ahead nonetheless. This has led me to wonder what the hell exactly is going on with Arsenal as a football club. How did we allow the team to regress instead of progressing? How did we allow superstars like Sanchez and Ozil to run down their contract to now 5-6 months and now hold the club to ransom?

Tipping Point:

A few days ago, I asked my son (now 13 years old) if he was excited about the start of the FA Cup and if he thought Arsenal would be able to mount a successful defence of their title. I also asked if he would like to watch the match. His answer shocked me. He said: “why even bother, they are going to lose anyway, against a Championship side because they don’t play well anymore, they are just not good enough anymore. They suck!” That answer both hurt me and woke me up from my fantasy land at the same. Have we become that bad that even a 13-year old diehard Arsenal fan can clearly see it? And if he (and other young fans like him) can see it, why can’t we? Why can’t Wenger? Why can’t Kroenke? Why can’t the B.o.D.? With the vast influx of money now in the Premier League, competition will be fiercer than ever before. Every single team can now attract quality players to complement their squad. Now is not the time to hide. Now is not the time to be in denial. Now is the time to wake up, remain united, and demand accountability from Stan Kroenke, from our B.o.D., from Arsene Wenger, and especially from our players. If we do nothing, we will look up every end of season and see at least 5 teams ahead of us. That is not acceptable. Something’s gotta give one way or the other.

My Solution:

Either Wenger completely remakes the team with a whole bunch of dedicated fighters full of heart and passion for the game (not whinny average primadonnas simply happy to collect their bloated pay checks every week). Or, he calls it quit at the end of this season (waiting until the end of next season when his contract expires might be too late to remove the toxic aroma and negativity surrounding the club, I worry). This is where change, though risky, can be good for the future of the Club. Leaving Arsenal would in no way, size, shape, or form diminish Arsene Wenger’s stature within the Club. He is and will most likely remain one of the best (if not the best) managers Arsenal will ever have. His love, loyalty, and achievements speak for themselves.

Unfortunately for him, we don’t live in the past. We live in the NOW and we hope for the FUTURE. And right now, that future looks pretty bleak and uncertain. This Arsenal ship has been listing badly over the past several years and because of the unbelievable trust, fatherly love, and sound fondness that Arsene Wenger has for his players, he can be totally blind and gets betrayed by his players too often with average performances followed by great performances followed by mediocre performances, etc. Some say Arsenal are so inconsistent. I say that’s wrong. Arsenal are consistent. They are consistently inconsistent. It equally pains me and annoys me whenever I hear match commentators (after a tough loss or a fantastic win) utter the phrase: “Typical Arsenal”, even though I know they are right. We need to somehow reverse this bad trend. In my humble opinion, a new approach is needed, a new direction is needed, new personnel are needed, a new Captain is needed at the helm to right this ship. CHANGE is needed. It will not be easy sailing. It will require our patience, our determination, our total commitment, and our profound support.

Change is the only constant thing in life. We must embrace it, not fear it.

And remember, there are no rewards without risks. I hope our just reward will ultimately be a swift return to the top, as it should be and must be.

As supporters, we all have differing opinions on these very sensitive subject matters. Please attempt to make constructive arguments, and do not belittle or hurl insults at the writer or at a commentator. Let’s share opinions and agree, disagree, or agree to disagree with each other but remain civil.

“Victory Through Harmony”

Thank you.

Written by: Gino92

Hope Alive for the Return Leg?

Antonio Conte and Arsene Wenger battle again, but the resources at hand would seem to favor Chelsea.

Here are the teams:

Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Drinkwater, Alonso, Hazard, Morata.
Subs: Eduardo, Luiz, Zappacosta, Bakayoko, Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi.

Arsenal: Ospina, Chambers, Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette.
Subs: Macey, Mavropanos, Mertesacker, Elneny, Nelson, Walcott, Sanchez.

Both teams make few changes from the starting 11s that played to a 2-2 draw just 10 days ago at the Emirates in Premier League action.  For Chelsea, Gary Cahill and Tiemoue Bakayoko sit, while Antonio Rudiger and Danny Drinkwater come in.  Arsenal’s changes seem more severe.  Out are Petr Cech, Mesut Ozil (and neither even make our bench) and Alexis Sanchez.  In come David Ospina, Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck, three players who were part of the group that suffered the 4-2 FA Cup loss at Nottingham Forest this past Sunday.

It’s a strong enough line-up to suggest that Wenger does not want to give up on the domestic cups completely.  The same rearguard–plus Ospina in net–will need to be substantially more solid as our attack looks a good deal less potent than the one set out in the PL match.  We made plenty of chances in that one but only two that got past Thibaut Cortois who was outstanding.  At the other end, some very mixed up defending was only spared by Chelsea wastefulness in front of goal and a strong performance by Cech.  Even in our stadium, a dubious call helped the blues to one of their goals; what will we get from the whistler tonight at Stamford Bridge?

We shall see, but consider me worried.  What are your thoughts?  Please join me in the comments as I try to explain the action as it happens.

Go on then…

by 17highburyterrace

Hard to determine who will play v Forest tomorrow. We start this year’s FA Cup competition with a difficult away fixture, and we are the (all time) Cup champions, so the line up will be need to be strong as not to go out in the first round.

At the back I expect a start for Ospina, Holding and Chambers. Who will play in the middle of defence? Either Mustafi again or Elneny.

In midfield, I expect Maitland to play again on the left, Debuchy on the right and Coquelin and Willock or Elneny in the middle.

In attack, we should see Welbeck and Walcott on the wings and possibly Lacazette in the centre. Maybe Nelson will start instead of Lacazette with Theo or Danny moving central. Possibly Ozil will get another game

I would start with the following eleven:

————————- Ospina—————————-

Debuchy — Chambers – Holding – Maitland

—————— Coq —- Elneny———————

———————– Ozil ——————————-

Nelson ———— Lacazette ————- Welbeck

Yep 4-2-1-3: solid at the back, strong and disciplined in the middle; Mesut in the attacking middle to create space and opportunities for the attackers. Theo on the bench as our speed weapon if required. I don’t think Wenger will go exactly for this formation but there is no fun in predicting his preferred lineup for tomorrow’s important FA Cup game.

COYGs!

By TotalArsenal

 

We really needed to win last night’s game but I reckon most of us are pleased with a draw in the end. To get back into the top four, we really need a good run of games with three points from most of them. We actually have not been playing bad at all, but too many draws have left us a dangerous number of points away from the top four.

Judging from our recent performances, I reckon we have the quality, passion and perseverance to finish well this season.

Eight observations from the Arsenal v Chelsea game:

1. We have a very strong spine. Cech-Mustafi-Jack/Xhaka-Ozil-Lacazette are all fine, top-quality players who play with passion for the shirt and fear nobody. I was impressed with all of them and let’s hope we will sign up Mesut and Jack asap. This is a spine we can build our team around (Cech may need replacing eventually, though);
2. Mesut is playing with such joy and incision at the moment. It was not a game to nominate a MOTM as the whole team worked hard and there were many fine performances, but Ozil played with pride for the shirt and was fully IN the game.
3. Hector Bellerin saved the game with a beast of a strike, and boy did he – and we! – need it! Many of us, me included, have been critical of him – his final attacking ball is not incisive enough and his defending should improve, and there were still such moments – but I loved his determination to fight on and not let his head drop after he gave away a debatable penalty. Games like these will turn him into a man and top Gunner.
4. How good is Maitland-Niles?! He glides over the pitch with such composure and determination! Top performance.
5. Oh Jackie-boy, what a goal was that! Boooooooooooooom! Another composed, passionate and wise performance: seeking out the limits and putting his heart into it from start to finish. And that hammer in the top corner will forever be in our minds!
6. Our attacking football was awesome for 90+ minutes. The Chavs’ defence was very, very good to keep us out for so long, but I loved our intensity, relentlessness and aggression when we attacked, using the wings really well and having enough players in the box to create proper chances time and again.
7. Really loved Alex Lacazette’s performance. He gave us his all and worked the Chavs’ defenders really, really well. We need either Ozil or Alexis to play closer to Lacazette as to benefit from all that hard work and help him to get more into scoring positions. Alexis for me is not that player. Sell him now and get new, team-playing blood this January!
8. Our defending was poor, but the boys worked their socks off and Mustafi was immense. I still have nightmares from those fast balls over the top that undid us so easily. I have no doubt that we would have defended much better with Koz and Nacho on the pitch, but that was still a shock to the system for us. Playing three at the back does not suit Chambers and Holding, it seems. But that is for another blog.

By TotalArsenal.

What a game we have tonight. Forget about the table, the contract sagas, our recent form; this is a game where pride and quality football are at the top of the agenda. It looks like Ozil has recovered from his Wengury, and Koz is a doubt, which probably means he will play too.

We could really do with a good win tonight and I reckon we will get it. I just feel it. For this we need Ozil to be fully fit which he most probably is. We also need Lacazette and Alexis to be in good form, and we need Koz and Mustafi to play together at the back. Furthermore, we need Jacka and Xhaka to play as a solid unit in the middle, and the rest to play as well as they can. Seventeenho will do a live blog later on, but I reckon the line-up will be something like this:

I would be inclined to play Debuchy ahead of Bellerin tonight, but Wenger will probably stick with the young Spaniard. A big game for Ainsley but with Koz behind him, he should be fine. I predict a goal by Granit tonight and one or two by Lacazetter.

Come on You Rip Roaring Gunners!

TotalArsenal.

We know by now that we cannot defend for the life of it, whether we play with three, four or ten in defence. Luckily, our attackers had their striker-boots on and Arsenal scored one more than they conceded, and that meant three points for the red and white adventurers of North-London. Our attacking football is of the highest order at times, and long may it continue.

Whatever Wenger tries, he just is not able to get the balance right between defending solidly and attacking decisively. Four teams scored more than us but at least six teams have conceded less, and our goal difference is a miserly 12 (sixth best in the league). Fortunately, we have Mustafi back – our lucky charm – and he worked his socks off to organise the defence and even score a cool-as-you-like goal himself. Clearly we need to get more value out of the wing-backs/full backs if we want to move forward. There is also an argument to improve the balance in central midfield, but I am more than happy with the combination of Xhaka and Jack(or Aaron) as our pivot. 17HT also pointed out to us that we miss Giroud at set-pieces; the extra height and great heading ability is indeed missed.

Up-front we saw a fine, selfless performance from Lacazette and two fab goals by Alexis, who is now stepping it up, it seems (and I wonder why…). Ozil worked hard and was unlucky not to score; judging from his performances, I am confident he will sign a new contract for Arsenal. In order to do this, we need to sell Alexis asap and get a quality replacement lined-up (ideally to start in January but next season is also fine). Jack is well back and he produced a peach of a long-distance pass for the Chilean’s second goal (our third) that settled the match for us.

Tomorrow we play hapless West Brom who struggle to score (just 14 in 20 games) but do better defensively (eighth best defence and conceded just three more goals than us).

I don’t expect many changes in the line-up; in fact, it would not surprise me if we see the same eleven from Thursday’s game. Monreal is a doubt and it may be good to give Koz a rest, as we will need him against the Chavs fully fit. So if Nacho is available, I expect him to start instead of Laurent. Xhaka may get a rest too, but it is hard to predict who will play tomorrow.

I would go for the following eleven:

Granit as our deepest midfielder doing the sweeping; Jack and Mesut in front of him pushing the game deep into WB’s half and dictating the game. Lacazetter and Welbeck to do the wing-play and support the full backs as much as possible. Alexis to focus on attack in the centre and come and get the ball centrally occasionally (and Laca or Danny to take the vacated space). If Granit or Nacho are not fully fit, I would replace them with Maitland Niles or Le Coq/ Koz or Chambers. All out attacking is our best chance of getting goals and it is definitely our best defence, so let’s just go out all guns blazing and win with at least one goal’s margin.

Enjoy the last game of the year, fine fellow BKers.

By TotalArsenal 

Of course, we must take them one game at a time, but this does seem a defining pair of games.

Not only will they mark Wenger’s 810th and 811th Premier League matches–putting his greatest rival, Ferguson, into the rear-view in this category (Ferguson still has more first division matches as manager)–but they will also mark the turn of the calendar year.  2017 most certainly had its ups and down.  Heading into a tricky set of January fixtures–we open by hosting defending League Champions, Chelsea, then play them twice more in the the League Cup semi-finals–it feels like Arsenal need to finish out the year on a high note.  We’ve only taken six points from the five league matches we’ve played in December; doubling that total by winning at Palace and WBA would certainly make the festive season seem a bit merrier.

And, as we should remember from our 3-nil loss in this same fixture back on 10 April, winning at Selhurst Park cannot be taken as a given.

That game was a true nadir for Arsenal and it was the match that prompted Wenger to switch to a formation featuring three center backs.  The change seemed to right our (sinking) ship, and we closed out the season with nine wins from our final ten matches, culminating with our victory in the FA Cup final in late May.

That was the high point of the calendar year.  Things have changed, however, and the three at the back formation has been scrapped after we conceded early goals vs Manchester United and away at Southampton in consecutive matches early in the month.  We chased those games by switching to a traditional back-4 set up and used a similar approach, albeit in turgid style, to eke out a nil-nil draw at West Ham and a 1-nil victory against Newcastle at home.  Last Friday night, the revived formation looked just as poor early on when Liverpool took a 2-nil advantage before we came roaring back with three goals of our own.  Unfortunately, we conceded a third and only took a point from that one, setting up the desperate need to win these next couple.

Will Wenger stay with the four man back-line?  Will he make some changes to his line-up?  What will be the key to getting us the full points tonight at Selhurst?

Your guess is as good as mine, but I will say this: it won’t be easy.

Palace began the season in dire form, sacking manager Frank de Boer after only four matches.  His replacement, Roy Hodgson, couldn’t stop the bleeding in his first three games but then beat Chelsea (by a score of 2-1) in his fourth.  They’ve only lost two matches since and none in their past eight.  Can Arsenal be the club that ends that streak?

A feature of CP’s fine run has been keeping goals out of their net.  From the Chelsea match forward, Palace has allowed 12 goals–while scoring 16 of their own.  (Over the same period we’ve conceded 15 while scoring 23.)  That’s not bad for a club that, early on at least, looked a sure bet for relegation.  Currently, they sit just one point above the bottom three clubs, meaning that their taste for additional points will not have been sated.  Moreover, they should be strengthened by the return of center-forward Christian Benteke after a one-match ban, as well as the fine form of Wilfried Zaha.  Many Gooners once stumped for Benteke’s big presence at our club, much as some believe Zaha should be targeted to bolster the attacking end of our midfield.  Those sorts of Arsenalistas might be wary of the trip to West London; most, I fear, will believe this match should be a simple and straightforward win even if current form would suggest otherwise.

So then, how should Wenger set out his team to give us our best chance tonight?

I believe he’ll stick with a back-4 but restore Sead Kolasinac to the left side of that line in place of Ainsley Maitland-Niles.  With Nacho Monreal out injured, Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny will likely start in the middle, while Hector Bellerin–to the dismay of many Gooners–has yet to lose Wenger’s support and will surely start at right back.  With Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud out with soft tissue injuries, the rest of team will likely feature the same guys who started vs Liverpool: Granit Xhaka, Jack Wilshere, Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette.

It won’t appear this way on the television coverage, but I’m putting it down as a 4-1-4-1 given that we need the full points tonight and should see plenty of the ball.

Cech

Bellerin–Koscielny–Mustafi–Kolasinac

Xhaka

Iwobi–Ozil–Wilshere–Alexis

Lacazette

Substitutes: Ospina, Mertesacker, Maitland-Niles, Coquelin, Elneny, Welbeck, Walcott

That’s just my prediction of the team I think Wenger will put out.  Others may believe the manager has other ideas.  Given almost a full week between this match and the previous one, I reckon the manager will think he can get by on just the two changes noted, saving more rotation oriented changes for the coming games with shorter rests in between.

Of course, Would-be-Wengers may have their own preferences.  Iwobi seems many Gooners’ scapegoat-flavor-of-the-moment, while Bellerin has been holding down the role in a longer term manner (perhaps since the torrid time he was treated to by the traveling support in this fixture back in April).  English boys Danny Welbeck and Maitland-Niles seem fan favorites–not to mention, of course, he who walks on water, (not so) young Jack (26 next Monday)–while Theo Walcott, most appear to think, is a couple of contracts past his sell-by date.  Personally, I like Mohamed Elneny, especially if Wenger prefers more of a 4-2-3-1 look, though Francis Coquelin might be even better suited if we’re looking to keep steady at the back and pack things up in the middle.

Those are just some of my ideas.  What are yours?

I’m a bit under the weather after perhaps having too much fun over a busy X-mas period.  Still, I hope to be around for some semblance of a live-blog.  Please join me in the comments as surely I’ll be needing some help… Almost as much as Arsenal need to get back to winning ways, end the calendar year in good fashion, and right the wrong that was heaped upon us back on April 10th.

Go on then…

by 17highburyterrace

Time to Stop the Klopp!!

Not much time to set up the live-blog here–and why not give Pony Eye’s preview as much time as we can?…

Here are the teams.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles; Wilshere, Xhaka; Iwobi, Ozil, Sanchez; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Ospina, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Elneny, Coquelin, Welbeck, Walcott.

Liverpool (4-3-3) Mignolet; Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson; Can, Henderson, Coutinho; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Substitutes: Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Milner, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Solanke.

Referee Martin Atkinson.

This is a big one in the battle for Champions League football.  Arsene Wenger has two full elevens at his disposal and this group is the same that started vs Newcastle.  It’s also a completely changed group from the one that beat West Ham in the league cup on Thursday.  Both matches finished 1-nil, and, tonight, a similar result, while not quite making amends for the deadline eve debacle at Anfield in August, would be just fine by me.

Come on you Gunners!!!

Gooners, please join me in the comments for some live-blog fun… Don’t be shy…

Go on then…

by 17highburyterrace

ARSENAL V LIVERPOOL PREVIEW: GET READY FOR ANOTHER WENGER MEETS KLOPP CLASSIC.

Klopp’s Liverpool is a relentless attacking machine. They pass the ball quickly and when out of possession immediately press the ball, irrespective of where the play is. They have speed merchants in Mo Salah and Saido Mane who play as wide forwards. In the false 9 position is the talented and hardworking, Firmino. These make up their front-three that we should expect to see against us in their usual 4:3:3 formation.

Their middle-three would be selected from Wijnaldum, Henderson, Coutinho, Can, Milner, the now fully fit, Lalana, and Oxlade Chamberlain. Klopp can go with any three and not lose sleep. But does he worry about his back line? They have shipped in 20 goals already in the league but, thanks to the 38 goals they have pumped into opposition nets (with Mo Salah leading the league scorers chart with 14 goals), they remain in contention for a champion’s league spot.

They walloped us in our 3rd game of the season by 4-0 at Anfield. It is now revenge time.

One thing I can say about this match is that it is not going to end in a goalless draw. The second thing is that the neutrals are in for a thriller. The third is that Wenger must have resolved any dilemma on how to approach the game. The Wenger that I know has already oiled all his guns ready to match fire with fire but trust that he has also touched the tip of his hat, an act of respect to a formidable foe. He, for example, would not have missed the fact that of the 21 goals so far scored from counter attacks in the league this season, Liverpool have scored seven of them (a whopping 33.33%). That’s an amazing stat when viewed against the backdrop that eleven premiership teams, including our offensively feared Arsenal, have scored zero goals from counters.

To bring this into a frightening context, when a corner kick is awarded against Liverpool the chances are stacked higher that it is the Reds who will reap a goal from it, unless the other team have taken good measures to guard against their devastating counterattacking potential. Such a measure can, for instance in our case, be to have one or two more of our men fewer in their box during our corner kicks and diverting them to bolstering the number of those stationed for Liverpool’s possible brake. Lest it has been forgotten, in our match at Anfield their 3rd goal was a lone Salah counter that arose from our corner-kick. Salah broke and went all the way, uncatchable.

Maitland-Niles recovery pace is astonishing. He and Bellerin can match the pace of Salah and Mane respectively. Incidentally, if played at the full back positions theirs would be the task of policing these two Liverpool’s speedsters. This represents a big call why both should be starters for us in this match. Kolasinac is super going forward but he could do better at tracking back. Monreal is ever excellent but Salah’s pace, one on one, would leave him stranded. Yet football is not just about pace. There are many things to it not least is that intangible called experience.

Maitland-Niles, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Monreal, Debuchy: which two of them should start at the full back positions when we come face to face with the Reds tonight?

Ramsey will be missed in the central areas of the field. He would have added a lot in providing our own ‘relentlessness’. Xhaka’s clock ticks too slowly for Liverpool’s high press. Coquelin wins the ball but can’t pass quickly enough. No point in winning it and immediately coughing it up. We have to hold the ball in spite of their press. That should be the key. Santi would have killed the Liverpool press, killed their game. In his absence, however, we have Elneny, the master of “pass and show” who’s never the man of the match yet never once out of his depth. Combine his ball security with the ingenuity of Jack, the quick passing of Iwobi plus Ozil dropping into vital spaces to lend a hand and the stage is well set for a classic Wenger meets Klopp tug-of-war, where attacking on both sides is configured as a tactics in defending. It doesn’t matter that on one side is harmonious music, on the other jangling heavy metal.

Liverpool are a very hardworking team. We need all our outfield players working very hard too and linking up play. For these two reasons I expect Wenger to opt for Welbeck over Sanchez and Lacazette over Giroud (injured). Liverpool often lose steam towards the end particularly when they play against teams that give them the run-around. Our boys should expect them to start off, as they normally do, at a bewildering tempo. Once these early forays are withstood they invariably get knocked down a notch. As the game wears on, they begin to slow. Maybe this would have been one of those matches that Giroud would have come off the bench to bang in one or two goals. Too bad he is out injured but I’d count on Sanchez coming off the bench to do exactly that. At the other end of the field Cech would have to be at his very best to achieve the amazing premiership record of a double century clean sheets.

Here is the line-up I would wish to see:

——————-Cech——————-

Niles—-Mustafi—-Koshienly—Monreal

Iwobi————-Elneny———–Wilshere

Ozil————-Lacazette———-Welbeck

SUBS : Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Xhaka, Nelson, Sanchez, Walcott.

COYG, bring the Emirate down for the boys and meanwhile don’t fail to let us have your opinions.

By Pony Eye.