Arsenal (A) - Sun 21st Sept, 16:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[johnny crossan]

among the phone people

 

[Blu1]

We cannot lose this. The league table will not be looking good if we do.

Big game for the boys

 

[bridgeno1]

Will be very tough but we have players that can certainly hurt Arsenal. We may need the heroics that Donnarumma produced in the Champions League for PSG at the Emirates last year. Defence needs to be strong especially at set pieces. Need to watch the pace of Gyokeres also. Hopefully Rodri makes it.

Sake and Odergard will almost certainly return so Arsenal will line up

Raya

Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori

Rice Zubamendi Odegard

Saka Gyokeres Martinelli

Hopefully Stones is back and I'd go for this.

Donnarumma

Khusanov Stones Dias Gvardiol

Bernardo Rodri Reijnders

Foden Haaland Doku

A victory would be absolutely fantastic but 3 defeats out of 5 games looks very daunting and already 9 off Liverpool.

Come on City

No chance Saka will start. He may be on the bench as Arteta played Dowman in the U21s today indicating there's another right winger available but he's been injured for a month with a hamstring injury, we aren't starting him against Gvardiol for his 1st match back. Pep would be committing footballing suicide putting O Reilly at left back so I assume it will be Gvardiol at left back with Stones and Dias in the middle.

Will probably be Madueke on the right side for Arsenal and Eze on the left. If Odegaard hasn't recovered Arteta will play Merino alongside Rice and Zubimendi. Your defence will absolutely get bombarded at set pieces and also from Zubimendi crossing from deep - I don't see Arsenal trying to take risks in the final third unless we go behind.

The one person returning from injury who will for sure start is Saliba as Arteta will want him and Gabriel together up against Haaland.

Donnarumma put in the best keeper performance against us I've seen for many years in the CL semis last season so I'm pretty nervous about his ability.

 

[Karl8]

Really looking forward to this one. Should be a decent measure of where we are at.. the last couple of games will have definitely given the lads confidence. I’m stuck out in New York this week so may nip down Amity Hall and watch us spanked them cockney mugs with our yank mates. Cmon you blue boys , let’s tear the cockneys apart…..again

 

[Ric]

Given Pep’s propensity to rotate, it seems almost inconceivable to me that he could pick the same starting XI three times in the space of a week. Think we’ll see a couple of changes at least, not easy to predict where though. Possibly Ake and Savinho/Bobb for O’Reilly and Bernardo, or Gonzalez in for Rodri if he’s not fit to start.

 

[SkyBlueSW19]

We don't have to be best team over 90 minutes to win tomorrow. At a minimum we just need to score one goal. I'm confident we can do that.

 

[noseve]

A free hit. Sorry but I don’t see it that way. This mob aren’t that great and shit the bed the other week against Liverpool. We need to go at them and win.
If we lose tomorrow then I don’t care what anyone else says the leagues done. Can’t be losing three games in the first five and expect to put pressure on Liverpool.

It may be early on but we can’t afford to lose.

Do you honestly think that coaches get so bothered by league position so early, with such a small data set, with no teams having played the same opposition?

They'd all be having collective heart attacks by October every year.

I don't think that we are serious contenders anyway, but you clearly do, so I'll remind you that last season Liverpool dropped points equivalent to TEN defeats. That's losing more than every fourth game.

They still won the title by 10 points, meaning that theoretically they could have lost 13 games (more than one in three) and still won the title. Losing 3 games this early is hardly terminal.



As an aside, I'd like to know what gives you the confidence in our defence to think that we can mount a challenge?

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

I really can't believe people are judging where we are at after just 4 games. Talk about a small sample.

 

[Ric]

I’m seeing tomorrow as a bit of a free hit tbh. Don’t think we’re realistic title contenders at the moment, as we’re not as good/consistent as Liverpool or Arsenal yet.

Looking forward to seeing how we fare though, as confidence is higher after the last two results and there are quite a few positives going into this. Donnarumma’s introduction, Khusanov at RB, the return of Gvardiol, Rodri and Foden, the form of Doku & Haaland etc.

Main concern for me is losing the midfield battle and getting overrun there, but presumably/hopefully Pep has a plan for that, even it means a slightly more conservative starting XI.

 

[borassic]

among the phone people

That’s Piccadilly

 

[coolcity]

Well let’s hope you are correct but I don’t see anything to suggest this currently. Arsenal have a real structure to their play, defensively strong, excellent at set pieces and appear to have bought well this summer.

We’re still a work in process , defensively still look open at times, and the jury is still out on all the new signings.

Like you say the new players may bed in well and the team clicks but I think that is more hopeful than based on performances just yet.

I dint think the jury's oot on the new signings at all, I think we've made some fantastic signings, but I also don't expect them all to hit the ground running and know the intricacies of each other's game after just a couple of outings.

 

[supercity88]

I’m seeing tomorrow as a bit of a free hit tbh. Don’t think we’re realistic title contenders at the moment, as we’re not as good/consistent as Liverpool or Arsenal yet.

Looking forward to seeing how we fare though, as confidence is higher after the last two results and there are quite a few positives going into this. Donnarumma’s introduction, Khusanov at RB, the return of Gvardiol, Rodri and Foden, the form of Doku & Haaland etc.

Main concern for me is losing the midfield battle and getting overrun there, but presumably/hopefully Pep has a plan for that, even it means a slightly more conservative starting XI.

That's how I see it. I think we will be pragmatic. Pep won't care about the league table right now, it's about developing our system and structure. He might try and test us playing possession dominant football, but it's more likely to be a game plan we saw at Anfield against Klopp where we look to nullify them more than impose ourselves.

With Haaland, Doku and Foden in good form I would look to play forwards quickly and rely on them producing. Keep our shape otherwise. The best way of getting a result at this moment in time.

Avoiding defeat would be an excellent result and a fantastic week.

 

[coolcity]

But why not. Why the defeatist attitude. We have the greatest manager of all time. Arguably the best keeper in the world. The best forward in the world. Rodri and foden hopefully back in the groove. Gvaridol, kushanov and marmoush are excellent players. I also think reijndeers and Gonzalez are excellent midfielders and will do well for us.
We are better than a lot of our fanbase seem to think we are and with the squad we have should 100% competing for the league.

My take exactly. I don't understand the negativity on here, or all this "must win tommorow or we're out of it" crap. We were 10 points behind Liverpool at the end of the year in 2018-19 season but we still won it.

On top of that Liverpool have scraped 4 late wins and weren't exactly cunning today against a bang average Everton side. Their winning points total last season wouldn't have been enough to catch us in any of our last 6 title wins, a fact I've repeated several times. I dont see why this season will be any better for them from what I've seen so far, but we almost certainly will be be.

 

[coolcity]

Arsenal are big boys, solid. Not many teams will beat them this season. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t but we need to keep them honest

Which means, no cock ups. No Reijners getting caught on the ball and easy turnovers. No Donnarumma getting busy with strikers from corners

Be solid. Let’s show the league that whilst we might get beat, we ain’t easy anymore.

We never have been easy, we just had a bad patch last season due to a huge injury list. A couple of early defeats this season and from the way some of you talk you would think we were discussing avoiding relegation.

 

[supercity88]

I really can't believe people are judging where we are at after just 4 games. Talk about a small sample.

I think we should be positive with where we are at personally.

Spurs defeat was self inflicted. Brighton defeat looked like a lack of fitness late on. Then a win against the rags and against the Serie A winners. Pretty decent overall. Yes Napoli had ten men for most of it, but we looked pretty good and forced them into that position.

We look more solid defensively and better balanced. In a month or so we should click and then we might just look like the team of old again. Too late for the league this season, but no reason we cant challenge for the CL.

If you factor in Stones, Ait-Nouri, Gvardiol, Cherki, Foden and Savinho have all been/are injured plus Rodri still finding his form I think we are on a good place.

 

[coolcity]

Do you honestly think that coaches get so bothered by league position so early, with such a small data set, with no teams having played the same opposition?

They'd all be having collective heart attacks by October every year.

I don't think that we are serious contenders anyway, but you clearly do, so I'll remind you that last season Liverpool dropped points equivalent to TEN defeats. That's losing more than every fourth game.

They still won the title by 10 points, meaning that theoretically they could have lost 13 games (more than one in three) and still won the title. Losing 3 games this early is hardly terminal.



As an aside, I'd like to know what gives you the confidence in our defence to think that we can mount a challenge?

Why shouldn't we have confidence in our defence? Gvardiol is back which will make a difference and we now have Donnarumma which will help bring more stability

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Hard to call this one. On the one hand Arsenal have an excellent squad of players in good shape and are unbeaten against us in 5 games and dismantled us last season. That said we have started to show signs of coming back into form, plus Rodri missed our last 2 trips to the Emirates.

We seem to be more solid in our last two but I would have concerns with Madueke v O’Reilly. The midfield balance isn’t right yet. Reijnders gets forward well but the sacrifice is Bernardo out wide which stifles our creativity. Foden, Doku and Haaland will cause any team problems.

At this stage of the season a draw would be fine but a win would really set us up for a good run.

 

[coolcity]

I think we should be positive with where we are at personally.

Spurs defeat was self inflicted. Brighton defeat looked like a lack of fitness late on. Then a win against the rags and against the Serie A winners. Pretty decent overall. Yes Napoli had ten men for most of it, but we looked pretty good and forced them into that position.

We look more solid defensively and better balanced. In a month or so we should click and then we might just look like the team of old again. Too late for the league this season, but no reason we cant challenge for the CL.

If you factor in Stones, Ait-Nouri, Gvardiol, Cherki, Foden and Savinho have all been/are injured plus Rodri still finding his form I think we are on a good place.

Good post up to the point where you joined the group that have this bizarre misconception that "it's too late for us this season". I'm staggered at how many times I've read that.

 

[SWP's back]

You may be correct, but if so, what a depressing, soulless commentary on what football has become.

Become? ‘Twas ever thus.

 

[borassic]

Good post up to the point where you joined the group that have this bizarre misconception that "it's too late for us this season". I'm staggered at how many times I've read that.

Same here. Not saying we have a massive chance but the season is 4 games in!