Arsenal V West Ham - EPL- Tue 15th April- 19:45 KO

Half the team will be dead, but it's a must win for the fourth place trophy.

Ches

Gibbs
Kosc (Should be back)
BFG
Jenks

Kallstrom
Rosicky

Pods
Santi
Gnabry (where is he?)

Giroud

3-0

Ozil hattrick

Huge game that we must win.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Huge game that we must win.

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You could even say it's a must win game :coffee:

i think we'll draw 0-0. Can't see where the goals are going to come from.

We're still on for the cup double (4th place cup + FA cup) which is nice.

I think we'll pub most of our wins 1-0 as we dont have any goals or creativity at the moment. Ozil coming back should provide us with some threat in the final third as wel as Ramsey regaining full match fitness.

1-0.

4-0

Can this be abandoned if we only have 2 keepers and 1 cb and 1rb fit? :shrug:

Lets not forget west ham are the only team this season we have beaten after conceding the first goal and that's despite Carlton sanogo Cole missing a couple of sitters first.

A win is a must :d

Even we can make this an easy 3 points. We won't - but we could.

We should win this. But I worry about our lack of game changers.

Is Rosicky Dead? Is Gnabry missing? Is Kos dead?

If the answer is yes to all the above, the team should be

Flappy/Chezza (dont give a fuck really)

Sagna Verm Per Gibbs

Santi Flamini Ramsey

Ox Giroud Podolski

We'll win this and we'll win it well.

A morale and confidence boosting 4-0 victory, which will no doubt springboard our late rally to retain the much coveted 4th place trophy.

#COYG :scarf:

oh, and if you want to take a bet, bet on this game to be a draw. My last 3 match threads ended in a draw :lol:

Ozil, Koscielny and Diaby all back in training.

Diaby :lol:

Good news!

Diaby to come back and put in a worldie of a performance at the cup final, then pick up an injury and be out for a year.

Diaby? :faint:

When is he due to get injured in training? Around 4pm?

Ches, Sagna, Mert, Kos, Gibbs, Kallstom, Rosicky, Ox, Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla

obviously dependant on injuries but Ramsey wont start and flamini suspended so our options in the middle are very limited.

Arsenal will play like Arsenal so we will struggle, this game probably depends on which West Ham turn up, as they are effectively safe i think they wont be that up for it so we should probably just about sneak this but could be a 0-0 or 1-1 too.

for me what is badly lacking for us at the moment is pace, i think Giroud is spent and he should not be starting again for us this season.

If it was me i'd play Podolski up front with Sanogo and Gnabry on the wings, Sanogo can't play up front on his own his first touch is shocking but i reckon he could run in behind some of the sides we have left this season and lay a few on for Podolski to finish.
In midfield for Tuesday at least play Ox, Cazorla and Rosicky...Arteta cannot be allowed to play for us ever again.
Giroud is the kind of player who can still have a role to play if we are leading a game, his best goal scoring contributions in the last few years have been when he has been brought on from the bench when we are leading.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

for me what is badly lacking for us at the moment is pace, i think Giroud is spent and he should not be starting again for us this season.

If it was me i'd play Podolski up front with Sanogo and Gnabry on the wings, Sanogo can't play up front on his own his first touch is shocking but i reckon he could run in behind some of the sides we have left this season and lay a few on for Podolski to finish.
In midfield for Tuesday at least play Ox, Cazorla and Rosicky...Arteta cannot be allowed to play for us ever again.
Giroud is the kind of player who can still have a role to play if we are leading a game, his best goal scoring contributions in the last few years have been when he has been brought on from the bench when we are leading.

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I agree about pace. We lack pace up front, in the middle, at the back, everywhere! I'd be interested to see the numbers of how many back passes we made this season or passes between Sagna, Kos and Mert.
I dont necessarily agree about Giroud. I think he just needs to be coached to not have his back to the goal 24/7. Tell him its ok to make runs and not always look to do a lay up for the midfielders. Show him videos of Drogba, Lukaku, Costa to get an understanding on how to take on defenders. He is still our best striker and I think he will be awesome with another striker with him. Part of the reason why I am, and always have been a big fan of 4-4-2.

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Originally Posted by fakeyank

I agree about pace. We lack pace up front, in the middle, at the back, everywhere! I'd be interested to see the numbers of how many back passes we made this season or passes between Sagna, Kos and Mert.
I dont necessarily agree about Giroud. I think he just needs to be coached to not have his back to the goal 24/7. Tell him its ok to make runs and not always look to do a lay up for the midfielders. Show him videos of Drogba, Lukaku, Costa to get an understanding on how to take on defenders. He is still our best striker and I think he will be awesome with another striker with him. Part of the reason why I am, and always have been a big fan of 4-4-2.

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Hmmm that's possible but at the same time, you can't coach a player to improve those aspects of his game to have that desired effect with five games remaining. Wenger has to realise its not working and bench him, and then maybe you have the off season to coach him...because Didier Deschamps won't start with him for France

4-4-2 doesn't work anymore, it's a good system in itself but only if you are playing another side that plays 4-4-2 otherwise you will find yourself swamped in midfield.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

for me what is badly lacking for us at the moment is pace, i think Giroud is spent and he should not be starting again for us this season.

If it was me i'd play Podolski up front with Sanogo and Gnabry on the wings, Sanogo can't play up front on his own his first touch is shocking but i reckon he could run in behind some of the sides we have left this season and lay a few on for Podolski to finish.
In midfield for Tuesday at least play Ox, Cazorla and Rosicky...Arteta cannot be allowed to play for us ever again.
Giroud is the kind of player who can still have a role to play if we are leading a game, his best goal scoring contributions in the last few years have been when he has been brought on from the bench when we are leading.

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That is a rather fanciful idea. An experiemental forward line is not something we can entertain right now. One more slip up could see us out of the top 4 running almost regardless of Everton's remaining games. I've rarely seen a forward more poor than Podolski in the central forward's role and I don't really see what qualities Sanogo has that lands him in good stead for a wide position. Gnabry is barely fit.

I agree with your sentiments about the 442. I've seen us be about as tactically naive in every way possible....so I don't want to see us out numbered in midfield by playing 442 for the sake of playing two forwards who are either appalling or in appalling form.

Id play Kim kallstrom instead of Arteta. If Arteta is our only DM, we are fked. No matter how bad the opposition midfield, is they will run right over him.

Arteta is an average player who seems to have regressed since he joined us. When he was at Everton he'd play anywhere accross the midfield and got a lot of goals for them. Today, he is one of the worst DCMs in the top 7.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

That is a rather fanciful idea. An experiemental forward line is not something we can entertain right now. One more slip up could see us out of the top 4 running almost regardless of Everton's remaining games. I've rarely seen a forward more poor than Podolski in the central forward's role and I don't really see what qualities Sanogo has that lands him in good stead for a wide position. Gnabry is barely fit.

I agree with your sentiments about the 442. I've seen us be about as tactically naive in every way possible....so I don't want to see us out numbered in midfield by playing 442 for the sake of playing two forwards who are either appalling or in appalling form.

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I disagree i don't think we have anything to lose when we are already in a situation where we are just not scoring goals and letting them in the other end. I don't think we can afford to be conservative

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Originally Posted by AFC Leveller

Arteta is an average player who seems to have regressed since he joined us. When he was at Everton he'd play anywhere accross the midfield and got a lot of goals for them. Today, he is one of the worst DCMs in the top 7.

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He was never a DCM, and although Everton played him across the midfield they never used him to protect the back four, he is too one footed and slow. He was essentially always a bit of a luxury player who had a good goalscoring rate, was a good dead ball player....but he was brought in to replace Fabregas something he was not up to the task of. And since then he's been dropped deeper and deeper by the manager....he has a good work rate and on the odd game he can make a difference but asking him to play in that DCM Role game in, game out is a fools errand and unfair on him.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

He was never a DCM, and although Everton played him across the midfield they never used him to protect the back four, he is too one footed and slow. He was essentially always a bit of a luxury player who had a good goalscoring rate, was a good dead ball player....but he was brought in to replace Fabregas something he was not up to the task of. And since then he's been dropped deeper and deeper by the manager....he has a good work rate and on the odd game he can make a difference but asking him to play in that DCM Role game in, game out is a fools errand and unfair on him.

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Askn yourself this, why has the manager played him as a DCM for 2 seasons now when its clear as day that he's not up to it? same goes for Giroud, a guy who is limited and slow. We wer ein for strikers and DCMs in the summer so its clear the manager himself wasnt too convinced either but nothing was done about it in the end and both these players have played ore than any other outfield players in the team (i dont think we'd have lost heavily against the top sides had we signed a striker (Higuain) and a DCM (Bender) last summer).

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Originally Posted by AFC Leveller

Askn yourself this, why has the manager played him as a DCM for 2 seasons now when its clear as day that he's not up to it? same goes for Giroud, a guy who is limited and slow. We wer ein for strikers and DCMs in the summer so its clear the manager himself wasnt too convinced either but nothing was done about it in the end and both these players have played ore than any other outfield players in the team (i dont think we'd have lost heavily against the top sides had we signed a striker (Higuain) and a DCM (Bender) last summer).

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Well put, Wenger is at fault for it.

Had we got in either Gustavo/Bender, Higuain and a left winger (we were linked to Jovetic/Bernard all summer) , I think we would've had a good chance of the league.

Anyways, massive game tonight.

It'll be tough trying to break them down really, can't see where we're going to get the goals from.

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Originally Posted by AFC Leveller

Askn yourself this, why has the manager played him as a DCM for 2 seasons now when its clear as day that he's not up to it? same goes for Giroud, a guy who is limited and slow. We wer ein for strikers and DCMs in the summer so its clear the manager himself wasnt too convinced either but nothing was done about it in the end and both these players have played ore than any other outfield players in the team (i dont think we'd have lost heavily against the top sides had we signed a striker (Higuain) and a DCM (Bender) last summer).

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I don't really see what the point is your making, or indeed what point you seem to think i appear to be making?. Clearly we should have signed a DCM, the scary thing is if Flamini hadn't signed for us as a result of Arteta's injury we'd have had no-one else there.
I personally would have signed Diame rather than Bender but that's me.

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Originally Posted by Munchies

Anyways, massive game tonight.

It'll be tough trying to break them down really, can't see where we're going to get the goals from.

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Well this is why i think we need to take a risk, stop being conservative, stop playing Giroud up front on his own and stop playing Cazorla on the wing so we can accomodate Arteta in the centre.

Take the risk of playing Sanogo tonight, not up front but on the wing....terrible touch but amazing burst of pace and strength, and then do the same with Gnabry on the right. We are 5th as a result of beasting our top players week in week out and as a result of having no pace in the side, so playing it safe clearly hasn't worked...we have nothing to lose.

Arsenal:
Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Arteta, Rosicky, Kallstrom, Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud

West Ham:
Adrian, Reid, Tomkins, Jarvis, Armero, Carroll, Noble, Demel, Diame, Downing, Nocerino

HD Skysports : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/17751835

Show has just started.

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Originally Posted by Munchies

Arsenal:
Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Arteta, Rosicky, Kallstrom, Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud

West Ham:
Adrian, Reid, Tomkins, Jarvis, Armero, Carroll, Noble, Demel, Diame, Downing, Nocerino

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Sigh....i think it's not hard to fathom why there is hardly anyone on this board who wants him to be the manager anymore.

Merse spot on: 'No pace in the team, no runs up front. I don't know what Podolski does'

:lol:

You don't need pace to make runs and it's no good having pace if you don't know how to use it.

Overmars :bow:

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Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...

You don't need pace to make runs and it's no good having pace if you don't know how to use it.

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Pretty much.

Just a brain is required. Unfortunately for us our forwards don't even have that.

'WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT ?!?!??!??'

That Adam's goal :bow: