Arsenal (a) pre-match thread

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Two things stood out in Zagreb, Mendy's runs down the left wing then crossing into the box, and Foden's energy. Pep probably won't start with either.
 
ws01 said:
Agree with Pep, it's too difficult to maintain the form we've shown in the past two seasons. Literally the two greatest seasons in Prem history. I'm backing us to lift again next season for Pep's swansong.

It's no excuse for the CL though. Round of 16, Quater Finals.... that's not going to cut it.
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A bit harsh seeing that 2 seasons ago we were robbed in the quarter's with unbelievable bad refereeing decisions and the same last season against spurs . It's certainly refereeing and var that has created the gap between the dippers and City and definitely not the standard of football between the two teams .
 
We should piss this but I’m dreading them running at our defence and us just pumping cross after cross high in to their area.
 
I am banning myself from this fucking forum. Everything we have achieved over the last two seasons, we then have a blip, and now the sniping and negativity, towards certain players and now even the manager is fucking disgusting. To say some of you younger fans wouldn’t have coped watching City in the 80’s and 90’s is a fucking understatement. This forum is becoming a freak show. Constant gripes about Pep, his tactics, his selections, his buys, his non-buys. Best football I have ever seen, I can cope with a fucking blip, uncomparable with the likes of Ball, Clarke, Machin, Neal, Pearce etc. Fucking spoiled mard arsed brats.
 
Arsenal are so shi*t it's unbelievable. Anything other than 3 points is unforgivable. We need to expose their midfield as players like Ozil Xhaka are a massive liability .
 
KnaresboroughBlue said:
He rested KDB and Silva for a reason. Can't see them not starting, so back to the bench for Foden I suspect but Foden's time is not far away and I suspect he will gradually be phased in as we prepare for Silva's departure.
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If this is not the time to play Foden, I fear it's never. Pep will get a new midfielder in the summer and Foden will be back to the bench. Seeing Pep's presser he seemed to think Foden has a lot of time which I don't think is true considering what fellow England U19 players are getting regular minutes and Phil needs to be in that Euro 2020 squad.
 
Easy said:
Can see a lot of goals in this match given both of us are weak in defense.

Gabby to continue scoring
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Hopefully it's just us that's scoring. We keep the ball and dominate the game I don't see our defense being tested much, their attack is inexperienced except Aubameyang who can't trouble us if we cut off the service.
 
BringBackSwales said:
I am banning myself from this fucking forum. Everything we have achieved over the last two seasons, we then have a blip, and now the sniping and negativity, towards certain players and now even the manager is fucking disgusting. To say some of you younger fans wouldn’t have coped watching City in the 80’s and 90’s is a fucking understatement. This forum is becoming a freak show. Constant gripes about Pep, his tactics, his selections, his buys, his non-buys. Best football I have ever seen, I can cope with a fucking blip, uncomparable with the likes of Ball, Clarke, Machin, Neal, Pearce etc. Fucking spoiled mard arsed brats.
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You are correct, we have been spoilt. Hope you do not really want your user name to happen?
 
Really dont understand the negativity ok yes were currently 17pts behind dippers but with the injurys we have had it was inevetable.plus points for future reference are gabriel now gets a decent run now to stamp his claim and foden can also make his presence felt and try to fill silvas boots.
 
BringBackSwales said:
I am banning myself from this fucking forum. Everything we have achieved over the last two seasons, we then have a blip, and now the sniping and negativity, towards certain players and now even the manager is fucking disgusting. To say some of you younger fans wouldn’t have coped watching City in the 80’s and 90’s is a fucking understatement. This forum is becoming a freak show. Constant gripes about Pep, his tactics, his selections, his buys, his non-buys. Best football I have ever seen, I can cope with a fucking blip, uncomparable with the likes of Ball, Clarke, Machin, Neal, Pearce etc. Fucking spoiled mard arsed brats.
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Well said, agree with all that. Let's get Frank Clark back, spoilt ****s
 
birchwoodgingerste said:
Really dont understand the negativity ok yes were currently 17pts behind dippers but with the injurys we have had it was inevetable.plus points for future reference are gabriel now gets a decent run now to stamp his claim and foden can also make his presence felt and try to fill silvas boots.
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We spent a lot of money in the last window to try and improve the squad further, Dippers spent nothing.... yet he were are with an enormous gap behind them. That might be a source of frustration for the supporters.

Yes injuries have contributed, but certainly not the full explanation - we've missed or not had certain key players over the past two seasons and have barely missed a beat.
 
ws01 said:
We spent a lot of money in the last window to try and improve the squad further, Dippers spent nothing.... yet he were are with an enormous gap behind them. That might be a source of frustration for the supporters.

Yes injuries have contributed, but certainly not the full explanation - we've missed or not had certain key players over the past two seasons and have barely missed a beat.
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It's hard for 3 seasons on a run to play at 98-100 points a season and when little things like ref decisions keep going against you, and major players are injured then we have a problem that is difficult to solve. You are right to say City collectively handled the loss of de Bruyne last season but don't forget we had the magical performances of Bernardo playing there and we could play Sane on the wing to cover his absence.

We have not had the players to step in to defence. Pep wont say it but Otamendi and Fernandinho are defending very poorly and they damage our team. It's a re-run for me of the first season. We can not play our football because we can not defend at the back. This is not really anyone's fault but it is fate. We have to maintain our focus, work hard and hope that the season is still alive by the time that Laporte returns. It has not helped us at all taking Fern out of defensive midfield as he has been one of the best players in the world at defending in front of his central defenders, and then we have de Bruyne physically not quite at his best and Silva's running power has gone just like it did with Yaya.

Today we have a unique problem in that the team is recovering after playing away in Europe. Arsenal played 2-3 key players but most of City's senior squad played / travelled. Teams often dip a lot after away games in Europe. Some of the top sides this weekend played poor games: Liverpool, Chelsea and Barcelona for example. It's not an iron-rule though see Bayern who won 6-1 at home (but they played an easy home game in midweek). Football is complicated. You can never know how a team is going to play when it is misfiring as we are.

I think Foden and Jesus will start and I think they may help us because of their physicality. They can protect our two central defenders by working hard in front of them. If Auba or Matinelli get the chance to run on them just 4-5 times we could easily concede though. It is impossible to play a side with top players and feel confident that this side will not concede.

We have to keep going until Laporte returns. Then if the morale is still there we will be ready.

I think Arsenal will start Pepe and Aubameyang and use pace to target our defence but mentally they are not strong. Score first and their mentality will dip and we could dominate but if we concede then they could play very well. They have the type of players who can hurt us. First goal is always crucial. Today even more so.
 
Big game today, Thinking there will be quite a lot of space in the arsenal half for Jesus to exploit

We just need to be a little more savvy at not congesting the pitch too much so he can have space to operate
 
Sterling - Jesus - Bernardo
Foden - Rodri - KDB
Mendy - Ferna - Garcia - Walker
Ederson​

I do not want Otamendi in this game. Please play Garcia.
 
watched mk dons vs oxford yesterday. oxford were dreadful, to save foden for them and play gundogan against arsenal would be bordering on sabotage.

going on yesterday oxford are going to kick the ankles off everybody, dont risk foden.

didnt foden get injured in a league cup before? against leicester was it?
 
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