Arsenal (H) - Sun 22nd Sept, 16:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[Fordyboy46]

Midfield worry’s me for this especially with no foden or Kova They will counter & they can past Rodri on his own. We also have no real creativity.

Odd jack, foden & Kova on the bench

Saved for the big one next Tuesday, lol

 

[striver]

I'm thinking our midfield is going to be by-passed. Probably lots of 'to me, to you' football from us with the way they will set up. les arse will use the counter attack well today.

I want to see us moving the ball quicker, use Eddie's long pass out to Erl to break them.

Hopefully I'm wrong but cannot see us winning. 1-1 maybe.

c'mon , it's not the same chaos like last szn with alvarez in there (christ) , it's more balanced but lacks creativity

 

[Claytop]

Doesn’t look like we’re going for the total control version of this game.

Could be some goals if they give it a go.

 

[Ric]

Bit surprised by that starting XI tbh, was convinced that Foden would start in De Bruyne’s absence. No Grealish unexpected too. Plenty of attacking threat in the front three though.

 

[jimharri]

Disappointing that Kev hasn't made the squad. But I guess this is likely to be the way of things this season. These non impact injuries he's picking up are a regular occurrence this last few seasons. I'm guessing his game time will be quite limited this season. He's not capable of 50 games in a season, let alone 60-70. Time for Phil to inherit the crown. Only thing is, he's still not available either. Is it Covid he's suffering from?

 

[Damien10]

I’d rather play with more control and less risk yes.
If the two wingers play as I know they are capable then I shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Like I said previously we haven’t played our two positive wingers in the last two games and we failed to control the game. Our best games so far this season have been with Doku & Savio out wide. I’m watching with an Arsenal fan today, he was hoping we wouldn’t go Doku & Savio.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Have to be honest, I think Pep has named better XI’s

 

[super_city_si]

Crazy decision, you'd start him over Bernardo today for sure

Can only think hes still at 60% after whatever bug he had. If was a stomach issue, then they really sap you. As always, pep plays the long game.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

With that team we should be flying out of the traps

 

[Gone for a Burton]

Surprised no Phil, we need some pace in midfield to get through the lines and ahead of the attackers.

We need to be very aggressive and not be exposed to turnovers.

Plenty on the bench to change things if necessary.

 

[Dave El Magico]

Surprised that we are starting Doku and Savinho as neither really track back too willingly. I thought that Grealish would have been in.

 

[eversince 76]

I really don’t care about the starting 11. I stopped doing this for years now as we’ve won 6 out of 7 PL titles.
I used to worry if Rodri went missing, but Kovacic showed enough to made me think otherwise.

It’ll be another tactical game I’m afraid. Closer to last years’ 0-0 than the 4-1 a year before that.
Just want the 3 points today and the tempo hopefully a bit higher than last Wednesday.

 

[Phil1]

I see the logic of the wingers though even if it’s a bit risky.
Pep will be aware that Arsenal are likely to sit in so two direct players going down their throats could bare more fruit than our normal patient build up.
We will find out soon enough it it was the right decision.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

I think it’s quite harsh on grealish and Lewis. Surprised foden isn’t starting either.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Disappointing that Kev hasn't made the squad. But I guess this is likely to be the way of things this season. These non impact injuries he's picking up are a regular occurrence this last few seasons. I'm guessing his game time will be quite limited this season. He's not capable of 50 games in a season, let alone 60-70. Time for Phil to inherit the crown. Only thing is, he's still not available either. Is it Covid he's suffering from?

It's a mystery re Foden mate, thought he would be primed to start today after getting 45 mins against Inter. Weird!

 

[Eccles Blue]

Sami Nasri’s looking good here. Not sure who he’s working for but he’s all wired up. There’s more media than ever today and some of these boxes had better go before ko or I’ll be kicking up a fuss. We can barely see over them. :-(

 

[Gumzy97]

Like I said previously we haven’t played our two positive wingers in the last two games and we failed to control the game. Our best games so far this season have been with Doku & Savio out wide. I’m watching with an Arsenal fan today, he was hoping we wouldn’t go Doku & Savio.

Doku and savio starting reminds me of the podcast Pep did where he said to counter teams that defend deep you need dribblers. Doku and Savio are that. Its where that obsession with wingers comes from.

 

[waspish]

Pep trying to make it an end to end game maybe?

 

[Damien10]

This obsession with total control will kill us when Pep decides to leave.

Spain adapted, and they was the best team to watch this Euros. The balance between control and positive runners worked brilliantly.

 

[Phil1]

Like I said previously we haven’t played our two positive wingers in the last two games and we failed to control the game. Our best games so far this season have been with Doku & Savio out wide. I’m watching with an Arsenal fan today, he was hoping we wouldn’t go Doku & Savio.

Yeah, it’s no biggie, I’m quite happy with my view whilst you’re happy with yours.