Arsenal Vs City Pre Match Thread

[ST Coleridge]

This idea of going 442 and being battered doesn't make any sense ! it depends on the players you have and the way you are playing 2 upfront pressing you can play with 6 in the mid doesn't mean you are you going to win

As for Nasri well 3 games there in all of them he was a passenger

I agree with the first bit - people get far too hung up on the idea that you have to play with 3/5 in midfield any time you come up against a decent side. If Silva and Nasri play quite narrow, we often end up with four players in fairly central areas anyway. It does need the two strikers to press well, though.

That's also not to say that there aren't occasions where it might be advisable to play like that, e.g. against an obviously superior passing side like Bayern. Whether a match away at Arsenal falls into that category, I'm not sure.

I suppose it's perhaps inevitable that every time we lose a game while playing two up front, people will turn around and accuse Pellegrini of getting his tactics wrong/being tactically naive etc (often when it has more to do with individual players simply being well off the mark in terms of their performance). Yet I've seldom heard anyone say that we won a match precisely because we played two strikers, something which modern defences simply aren't that used to coping with, and which played a huge role in us twatting Utd, Arsenal, Spurs etc. last season.

Yeah, but...

a) Whatever way you look at it, if you remove Aguero or Dzeko and replace them with Fernandinho (or another defensive midfielder) we're obviously going to be harder to play through. I know what you're saying, in that we'll lose the advantage of two up top, but the cavalier approach has looked borderline naive at times.

b) We're down to two strikers, we surely have to rotate over these next three games?

 

[Ric]

Can't see Fernando on any of the training pictures today, has to be a major doubt for Saturday.

 

[Love_Each_Day]

Arsenal have a go at us home or away, we set up negatively a lot of the time. I'm not expecting us to put 6 past them every time but for me we've been a bit too cautious against them, away at least. You have to defend at times at the emirates but we go away to better teams than Arsenal and it isn't as much of a siege as it ends up being at theirs.

Edit Sorry meant to quote you Blue Is the Opposite of Blue.

 

[sh249]

This idea of going 442 and being battered doesn't make any sense ! it depends on the players you have and the way you are playing 2 upfront pressing you can play with 6 in the mid doesn't mean you are you going to win

As for Nasri well 3 games there in all of them he was a passenger

I agree with the first bit - people get far too hung up on the idea that you have to play with 3/5 in midfield any time you come up against a decent side. If Silva and Nasri play quite narrow, we often end up with four players in fairly central areas anyway. It does need the two strikers to press well, though.

That's also not to say that there aren't occasions where it might be advisable to play like that, e.g. against an obviously superior passing side like Bayern. Whether a match away at Arsenal falls into that category, I'm not sure.

I suppose it's perhaps inevitable that every time we lose a game while playing two up front, people will turn around and accuse Pellegrini of getting his tactics wrong/being tactically naive etc (often when it has more to do with individual players simply being well off the mark in terms of their performance). Yet I've seldom heard anyone say that we won a match precisely because we played two strikers, something which modern defences simply aren't that used to coping with, and which played a huge role in us twatting Utd, Arsenal, Spurs etc. last season.

Yeah, but...

a) Whatever way you look at it, if you remove Aguero or Dzeko and replace them with Fernandinho (or another defensive midfielder) we're obviously going to be harder to play through. I know what you're saying, in that we'll lose the advantage of two up top, but the cavalier approach has looked borderline naive at times.

b) We're down to two strikers, we surely have to rotate over these next three games?

Yeah, I agree with b in this particular case - circumstances probably do dictate that we should only play with one out-and-out striker, though my preference would be to then play Silva in behind Aguero and Dzeko. My point in the above was more a general comment on the idea that, irrespective of who is available, we always should play with 3/5 in midfield against decent opposition.

 

[kaz7]

Can't see Fernando on any of the training pictures today, has to be a major doubt for Saturday.

At least Dhino is back,i thought he was away with Brazil

 

[super_city_si]

Can't see Fernando on any of the training pictures today, has to be a major doubt for Saturday.

Dont Like :(

 

[CityFan94]

Fernando is a huge miss, this is exactly the type of game we need him for.

I'd go with a 4-3-3:

--------------------------Hart--------------------
Zabaleta--Kompany--Mangala--Clichy
-------------------Fernandinho--------------
------------------Milner---Yaya---------------
Silva----------------Aguero---------Jovetic

Subs: Willy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Lampard, Nasri, Navas, Dzeko.

I think it's vital we play 3 in the middle, we all saw what happened in the CS when we only played 2. Ideally we would have Fernando in there, but it's between Milner and Lampard for that third spot beside Fernandinho and Yaya.

There's no way I'd start Nasri. He's shown far too many times he goes missing against Arsenal.

Plenty of options of the bench for us which really could be the difference - I think this will be a really close game.

Arsenal 1-2 Man City

 

[Chris in London]

IIRC in our last five visits to the emirates (all competitions) we have won two, drawn two and lost one.

I'd take a draw if it was offered, but I don't go there with any fear.

They are a good team, but the evidence of this season so far might suggest, curiously, that we are better equipped to handle good teams who will attack us than bad teams who will not.

 

[Blue Is the Opposite of Blue]

IIRC in our last five visits to the emirates (all competitions) we have won two, drawn two and lost one.

13/14 - 1-1
12/13 - 2-0
11/12 - 0-1 (1-0)
10/11 - 0-0

 

[ST Coleridge]

Can't see Fernando on any of the training pictures today, has to be a major doubt for Saturday.

At least Dhino is back,i thought he was away with Brazil

It was always going to be tight for Fernando to make it. I'm a bit more concerned that Yaya will be up to speed.

Anyway, my t'pence worth:

_____________Hart
Zab____Mang___Komp___Clichy
________Lamp__'Dinho
Navas______Yaya________Silva
____________Kun

Lampard's more than able for the occasion, Navas is included for counter-attacking purposes. Aguero to be subbed around the 65min mark, with Dzeko sharing the burden. 1-3 City.