they are a decent side but better at home, so I expect us to win 2-0 reasonably comfortably. it would be interesting to see if he rotates before the Monaco game or not.
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they are a decent side but better at home, so I expect us to win 2-0 reasonably comfortably. it would be interesting to see if he rotates before the Monaco game or not.
No point rotating for Monaco... we dont need to exert ourselves for a lost cause. Concentrate on getting as high as possible in the table and winning the FA Cup. It's pointless putting any eggs in the CL basket.
A cause is only lost when it's conceded prematurely or bottled. If they could beat us 3-1 at home then we can beat them 3-1 on their patch, it's a long way from a lost cause. You fight on all fronts because that's how you get momentum. Time and again in the past we took cup games lightly and it cost us across the board.Quote:
Originally Posted by fakeyank
We have also time and again lost key players by trying to fight for a match that has no relevance to us. Even if we win the match (which is highly unlikely), we will fold and die against the big boys.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
We have a decent squad now, players can be rotated. But there's no way we should be approaching any game as a lost cause. Don't bother flying to Monaco if that's the attitude. On another thread people are speculating Theo will never get another game. Well here's a game perfectly suited for him. Let him terrorise the Monaco defence while we go all out for goals. If we lose so be it but at least try. With the chavs out, the gypos on the way out and Marketing playing like Utd a win here and who's to say we couldn't pull out a couple of results in the next stage if we avoid Bayern or the cuntalans?
Likely quarters, PSG, Bayern, Marketing, Porto, Barca, Juve, Atletico (or Leverkusen) - why wouldn't we want to be involved? We can beat 5 of those opponents.
I agree with NQ.
I'd actually say it's highly likely we will win in Monaco. As much as history will tell you what a task we have it will also tell you that we tend to beat our opponents having allowed them to storm into the lead.....even if we do go out anyway.
2nd position or 4th makes no difference. Set out to win the game.
I think we will beat John West Spam too....
I see both sides of what you & FY are saying. I agree that Arsenal football club should never approach a game like this as a lost cause because as we've proven in previous years we can go to far better teams than Monaco & beat them by a few goals. The trouble for me is that we seem so tactically naive in Europe that to get through & cause more fixture pressure in what will be a tough run in for 4th place trying to win a cup that our manager is incapable of winning would seem pointless, apart from the financial reward. If we drop points in the league run in due to not playing our form players to protect for C.L. games, we could miss out on top 4. At present because our manager refuses to buy the quality required in certain positions, our ranking in Europe is one of a top 4 team in England, certainly not champions of Europe - this is what we have to aspire to under Wenger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
Walcott should play this game, good scoring record against West Ham
Arsenal: Ospina, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Bellerin, Flamini, Cazorla, Welbeck, Akpom
West Ham: Adrian, O'Brien, Collins, Kouyate, Cresswell, Song, Noble, Nolan (c), Jarvis, Downing, Sakho
Subs: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Onariase, Poyet, Cullen, Amalfitano, Nene
Arsenal XI: Ospina, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Bellerin, Flamini, Cazorla, Welbeck, Akpom
West Ham XI: Adrian, O'Brien, Collins, Kouyate, Cresswell, Song, Noble, Nolan (c), Jarvis, Downing, Sakho
Subs: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Onariase, Poyet, Cullen, Amalfitano, Nene