Quote Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn View Post
For someone who is so predictable that you can almost set your watch by him, I have to say I genuinely don’t know what Arteta is going to do with the lineup….and to be honest I’m not sure I’d know what to go with in his place

I think where you and I are probably in alignment is that we don’t want to see Sterling anywhere near the XI


I’d probably go for something like this


Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Partey, Odegaard, White, Nwaneri, Trossard


So what I would do is play White on the right…not as far forward as Saka might play but in front of Timber because he’s a decent crosser of the ball. On the left have Trossard and Nwaneri playing interchangeably through the front and centre, with Calafiori playing the full wing back role behind them (Lewis-Skelly more comfortable when playing the inverted role but we seriously have to jettison that bullshit now more than at any time, and I think Calafiori is better on the ball)


I’m far from confident about that, but that’s probably the best I can come up with given what’s available
I'd give the front 3 at least one chance to show what they can do. Nwaneri right, Trossard left and Sterling right through the centre. We'd be pinning a lot on White to play the whole 90 and especially to take on such a key, high intensity role. He'll need a few games.

I've laughed for years at the Sterling myth, about what a great player he is. For me he's always been shite, but there will be a degree of bias in that. Used to hate him diving around the place during his Liverpool and then, especially, City days. So let's assume there is something to that hype that has always surrounded him. This is his chance to show it, even a glimpse. Some reason to pin a hope on him to assist in dragging back the points on Liverpool. It's a long shot, like from here to the moon.