Going to be a close game IMO. Reading that KDB may be out.. if thats the case, then thats a blessing in disguise.
2-1 to City
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Going to be a close game IMO. Reading that KDB may be out.. if thats the case, then thats a blessing in disguise.
2-1 to City
Arteta needs to stop being so cautious in these games against 'big' teams and show more ambition.
he needs to treat these fixtures more like those cup games we won last season
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I would like to see Aston Villa attitude against liverpool. They played without fear and attacked, rather than sit back and pray for a miracle.
City have plenty of vulnerabilities for us to exploit. I’m sure we can pub ourselves a result by playing that way but a lot depends on how sharp they are in attack. If they were anything like Liverpool were the other week then no amount of sitting back will help because we’ll just get overrun.
Hopefully Partey starts and can help us transition from defence to attack more effectively.
8-2 to us. Why not? We live in a clown world.
De Bruyne confirmed out for City.
Hoping to see Partey start, but suspect Arteta will go with Xhaka and Ceballos.
How could he NOT start the new guy? Especially in a match where there's nothing to lose. The fans want to see it, so give the fans what they want. Okay, so maybe the fans know fuck about football at a detailed level, and maybe we'll get our arses kicked if the fans get to decide. But we'll likely lose anyway. We always - fucking always - do in league matches that really matter. So drag a few positives out. Get the new guy on there and let him give us hope for the future when he puts in a brilliant performance. Or a Pepe encore in which case, well fuck that shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
i think it will be Xhaka and Elneny, and we'll have the usual seven defenders and leave whichever unfortunate front three he puts out there strandedQuote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
This is the worst Man City team in a while, they seem to have key players out too.
We could win this but the lineup and tactics need to be right, these are things that are a bit hit and miss with Arteta, I can see Partey being on the bench and him starting Xhaka.
Well if we play the same as we did against Liverpool cannot see us getting anything from this.
Might get Covid.Quote:
Originally Posted by dazthegooner
Which time? The one we lost or the 3 we won?Quote:
Originally Posted by dazthegooner
The one in the league.Quote:
Originally Posted by GP
I suspect he means the recent league game where we set ourselves up to lose, played like a team who thought they'd lose and hey, we lost...Quote:
Originally Posted by GP
Which one? The one we won or the one we lost?Quote:
Originally Posted by dazthegooner
:lol:
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by GP
Seriously, I’d be very wary about using that Villa result as any kind of blueprint to follow for the moment - if Liverpool start consistently losing games in the same manner then fair enough, but odds are it was just a freak result, and the next team that tries that against them will get annihilated.
Sure, some of the matches that the likes of Leeds, Leicester, etc have been involved in have been exciting... but they’ve also been utter chaos! One week you’re spanking City, the next you’re getting embarrassed by David Moyes from a zoom call! I’m not convinced there’s a great deal of thought or planning behind any of it - it just looks like the usual craziness you get in the first 10 weeks of any season before it settles into a rhythm.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as eager as the next Arsenal fan to see us playing more dominant, exciting, attacking football, but I really think we need to stick with the plan and build towards it in a more structured way: get the defensive side of things nailed down first and then start layering it on from there. I’ll admit that I’d like to get started on it pretty damned quickly now we’ve signed Gabriel and Partey - I really think those two were the big missing pieces - but maybe we should let Partey actually unpack before we start building teams around him? He’s only been in the country for about 6 days, and I’d be surprised if he’s taken part in more than 2 or 3 training sessions in that time (one of which was likely a meet-and-greet) - would be great to see him feature at some point today, but I really don’t think it would be shocking or unreasonable if he didn’t...
The Villa game had one very simple message - if you have ambition and don't fear the other side, and also of course play very well, you can beat these teams
if we go in acting all fearful again with an overly defensive lineup that doesn't give Citeh's defence anything to think about, we may as well forfeit the game without playing it
i'd go with a 4 3 3, something like this:
Leno
Bellerin Holding Gabriel AMN
Ceballos Partey Elneny
Pepe Auba Saka
What happened with Tierney? Did he ever get cleared to play?
I never saw it as fearful - I thought it was a clever way of weaponising the high press against opponents, and turning one of our many (many!) weaknesses into a strength. It carried an element of risk, of course, and we got caught out in that last league game against Liverpool, but as GP pointed out we’ve also won 5 of the last 6 games against Liverpool, City and Chelsea (picking up two bits of silverware along the way) (well... one and a half), so there’s obviously more to it than just keeping our guard up and hoping not to take a pounding.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I don’t particularly want to be playing this way forever, and I agree that we’re going to have to freshen things up pretty soon, before we become predictable - I just don’t get the criticism of Arteta’s management and decision-making? The results just don’t justify it. In a very short period of time, and in the middle of a global pandemic, he’s managed to get a broken, flawed, unbalanced group of players looking competitive, he’s sorted out the defence, he’s turned around the players’ and the group’s weak mentality and addressed the culture at the club, he’s winning tactical battles against top managers, he’s winning trophies... isn’t this everything we’ve been asking for the last 10 years?
It would seem so.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Outstanding!Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
Citeh: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Mahrez, Foden, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero.
Subs: Steffen, Stones, Gundogan, Torres, Fernandinho, Delap, Garcia.
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Saka, Xhaka, Ceballos, Willian, Aubameyang, Pepe.
Subs: Runarsson, David Luiz, Matiland-Niles, Elenny, Partey, Nketiah, Lacazette.
At least it's a more ambitious team selection, though it's strange how he'd pick Xhaka, Ceballos and Willian because that likely means Willian goes wide when we clearly saw he's 10x more effective playing more centrally. Unless he's pushing Ceballos wide.
We'll be bunched together in midfield defending anyway I would guess.
He's played Willian wide before
Glad Tierney's in, i heard some doubts about fitness as well as the isolation thing
Aguero starting for Citeh isn't such good news...
Holding injured in the warm up Luiz starts... :blink:
David Luiz starts. Holding. :doh:
Luiz in for Holding who was injured in the warmup :doh:
why is Elneny playing for City?
Why are we playing in some weird blue kit?
LOL. Foul on Saka. Play on!
is Willian really our centre forward?
when we have Auba??
Ceballos wide then, Willian central.
That's always a certain yellow isn't it?
Rodri booked.
Run at him!
Ref is a city fan then? Nice.