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
The referee by the way is Sam Barrott (no me neither) who apparently reffed the reverse fixture in September. Can’t remember anything particularly egregious (I think pundits wanted him to send off Calafiori but he didn’t, so kudos for that I guess)
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.
Für eure Sicherheit
Sterling for me was a player who relied on pace, good low centre of gravity so he could be an absolute menace to deal with.
But the fact is the player who used to score against us (mainly for City) isn’t the player we’ve got. His legs have gone, I’ve seen him many times where he's trying to use trickery but he just isn’t quick enough to pull it off any longer and he’s never had much in the way of upper body strength to compensate. Guardiola knew what he was doing when he sold him to Chelsea he knew that he was done at the highest level.
Arteta, maybe because he knew him from when they were both at City thought he could work with him to get something out of him….but you can’t get blood out of a stone, can’t polish a turd (whatever expression you want to go with)
I have to say you probably do have a point about it being a bit much to play White for 90 minutes (on top of which a role he’s unfamiliar with)
Sterling is finished as a top level player but I don’t think we’ve got any choice but to play him now.
But you never know, this is his chance to prove that he’s still got something in the tank.
I hope we win, tbh.
0-4 tbh
All four Faes own goals